#especially when they're established to all be EXTREMELY DIFFERENT CHARACTERS with DIFFERENT DYNAMICS

[ipatrichor]

my thoughts on dead boy detectives after watching episode one

okay first of all i gotta say i love the vibe. two ghosty boys running around solving cases and helping trapped spirits move on? that's so fun i love them

tbh. i don't know whats going on btween these two if it's platonic romantic whatever and i don't think any distinction can be drawn that matters. maybe that's the aro in me but they are each other's most important person and who cares about the semantics!!!

charles trying to get edwin to learn self-defense is very sweet. however i will say girl how has this not happened sooner. you literally just got chased through london by a knife ghost and your next case involves fistfighting a possessed psychic Please learn to throw a punch minimum. i would say learning how to fall properly is more important but it's not like they can get more dead. so.

unless they go to the afterlife or something i guess? interesting stakes, especially with the lady from the end of the episode who's looking for them. also the scene hanging outside the window was very sweet, with edwin promising he won't let them get separated. at this point i think it could go either way whether that was to establish their dynamic or to foreshadow, so we'll have to wait and see if the promise holds, but either way very touching moment

crystal my girl crystal!!!! i love her so much holy shit she is so messy!!!! i love love love her getting angry about her shitty situation bc. yeah! that's scary as hell having amnesia bc ur literal demon ex stole your memories and she's got no one except the boys, one of whom very openly doesn't want her around. that's really rough and i Love that she blows up at them about it in a moment of extreme stress instead of being unnaturally chill about an objectively awful situation like many mystical characters (especially when they're women)

anyway i think crystal should get a knife and stabbing privileges. she'd for sure misuse them but i think it'd be funny

edwin is so real for the 70 years in hell thing. girl if i was in the torture dimension for SEVEN DECADES i'd be awful to everyone, it's actually impressive that he restrains himself to being a petty bitch. good for him tbh, i think he's earned the snark. don't get me wrong it's unhelpful and sometimes downright mean, but it's also funny so i'm letting it slide

the witch... esther i think? god what do i say about her. ok im first gonna start with this: she's fucking chilling, it's so scary watching her body the group with ease until charles basically hail-marys and possesses her AND EVEN THEN it's for less than a minute til she forces him out!! it feels like encountering the bbeg when your party is level five- you know you can't touch her and have to play the situation carefully so she doesn't just end you, and the win is getting away with a different objective (here saving the kid) while knowing she's gonna be actively hostile to you now. scary stuff!

idk if this is the popular opinion or not but i just don't find her hot 😭 like yeah she's serving incredible cunt, but her awful pta mom energy keeps that from being attractive. idk if it's the mommy issues but i would feel unsafe and constantly judged in her presence which is usually a dealbreaker for me finding people hot. sorry ma'am i deeply respect your vibe and the cunt you serve i would just avoid u like hell if u were real

the whole snake in a bone dimension in her cupboard is pretty cool though, and i love that her blowing smoke in people's faces isn't just a power play but a paralytic that's So clever

any other thoughts.... the girl with long hair is pretty, and that interaction with crystal has me wondering if the show got cancelled for lesbianism. i feel like maybe not? idk, if it was the start of a relationship that seems weirdly at odds with the tone of the rest of the show, so im leaning more towards crystal was picking up a weird psychic vibe from her that might be important later. who knows though!! i'll just have to find out haha

anyway i got sucked back into reading a novel but i should get caught up on that sometime today and then it's on to episode two, lol. very interested to find out what's up with the cat's vague ominous warning and what esther's gonna do when she finds out they rescued the kid she kidnapped

[mattoidmeerkat]

as the number #1 brain parasites truther on here, i'm curious on your feelings about the upcoming bobby plot. do u trust that they're gonna do right by our boy? or do u think it's possible the brain parasites might strike again? 😭

obviously i'm sooooooo excited to get more bobby lore, but there's just a tiny little part of me that's scared we might end up getting some bullshit ass story that's entirely ooc for bobby. ik he's been safe so far w/ the characterization, but idk man. i always get a little anxious when i hear a character's getting new lore drops

Not sure how I feel about that title. 😅️

I have been unhappy with a Bobby arc before. This was at the end of Season 5 after we had seen him struggle with being there for everyone, clearly heading to a breaking point, and then the resolution of his arc was basically a footnote in Eddie's storyline. (With Athena's visible concerns just being forgotten about completely.) This was the first time I was really disappointed in a storyline involving Athena and/or Bobby. (Sure, never dealing with any of his injuries considering his past has always been annoying, but this felt different.) I told myself it was the end of the season, and they just ran out of time to address Bobby's arc properly. The episode still annoys me, but I've made my peace with it because it left enough space for us to fill in the gabs. (There are some amazing writers out there who wrote their takes on how Bathena managed to go from 5x18 to 6x01, and I'm so grateful!)

Then Season 6 aired and that just felt very thought through. The setup for the Tanya storyline was great and 6x03 amazing. While focused on Athena, the story still showed and developed her relationship with Bobby as well. Hoover (my beloved) then also helped explore their new dynamic as empty nesters. We got episodes like What's Your Fantasy? showing us how comfortably they'd settled into their empty nest leading into the Wendall arc (that we all wished had been set up earlier for more emotional impact of his death) which really showed us how far those two have come together and individually. (Athena's approach to addiction and AA in Season 4 vs. attending a meeting with Bobby; Bobby trying to keep Athena out of his AA life vs. inviting her into his this part of his world)

The back half of Season 6 showed us even more of their development and growth. The blind faith in Recovery? Excellent. The adorableness and sexiness of Mixed Feeling? Perfect. The bitter-sweet anniversary in Love is in the Air? What an amazing way to show us how far they've come. Pay it Forward? *chef's kiss* We saw them really grow into a deep, stable relationship where they enjoyed spending time together not only around others but especially finally also just by themselves.

And then 7x01 happened. Abandon 'Ships. What a fitting title. This episode was no comparison to 5x18 because back then the end of the season productions stress and time constraints played a big role. None of that really applied here. They came off the longest hiatus ever. The actor's strike was still going on when the writers came back. It was the beginning of the season. There really was no other explanation for what they did with Athena, then they actively and purposely decided to put a plot they wanted to tell (Athena's increasingly erratic behavior confusing Bobby for what I assume was the laughs?) above who the characters were at that point in time. And that really struck me. This was the old showrunner coming in and just not caring about the previous episode(s) and season(s).

So now we are here, looking forward to (or bracing ourselves for?) this new Bobby arc at the end of an extremely condensed season, with them still filming much later than usual. With a showrunner who under much better circumstances just recently has shown that he will blatantly ignore established timelines and character development when it stands in the way of the particular story he wants to tell. (And I'm not saying he's not entitled to do that. It's his show.) So I'm setting my hopes and expectations very, very low. Because I'd rather be positively surprised by a brilliant continuation of Bobby's character arc than be deeply disappointed by another case of the brain parasites.

[acacia-may]

Hi Acacia!

I'm so happy to see you back here 💕

Anyway for the ship ask game I'd like to ask about Zora x Nebra and Finral x Vanessa. 😉

Hi Lola! Thank you so much for your ask and the welcome back. It's nice to be back, and I'm very excited to answer your ask. Thanks for sending it in and for playing! 💖

Zora x Nebra I honestly never thought about or would have thought about if not for the fandom. I'm not sure I can really imagine my personal perceptions of Zora and Nebra really getting along with each other seeing as they are so different as people and have such wildly different priorities and values, but if they did manage to come to appreciate, respect, and even admire their differences (as they do in some of the great fics I've had the pleasure to read about them ��), then I could definitely support the ship. I can also see how the banter they might have would be fun and entertaining. I just personally don't have much of an opinion on it or any clear ideas on how it would happen or what their interactions with each other would be like, so I'd say I'm pretty neutral on this one personally, but I do see the appeal. ^^

Finral x Vanessa is a favorite pairing of mine for sure, though I also love them in a purely platonic sense as well. I did the big write up about them here, but to summarize, the Finral and Vanessa dynamic whether romantic or platonic has always been one of my favorite things in all of Black Clover. They just know each other so well, are so good for each other, and just care for each other so much and so deeply as friends. They're basically platonic soulmates in my opinion. For that reason, there is definitely a part of me that doesn't want to change the dynamic at all and doesn't want it to go to a romantic place. It is so beautiful and so healthy just as friendship and the world needs more examples of healthy, deep, and platonic relationships (and male-female friendships especially!), but... on the other hand, I'll admit imagining their friendship taking a more romantic turn someday is a huge guilty pleasure for me.

I'm usually not much into romance in fiction or in real life, but best friends to lovers (when it's done well) can really get to me, and in this particular case, I think, after everything Vanessa and Finral have both been through and suffered in their lives, it's just nice to imagine that they get to have a happy future and a relationship that's comfortable and easy with someone who really understands them—someone who is genuinely supportive and who truly sees them for who they are: both the good and the bad and who chooses to loves them anyway. 🩷💚

And I don't think it is completely impossible for them for find it with each other (even if it's definitely unlikely, especially now that Finral's history with Finesse has been established). While I do believe they are genuinely best friends (and not in any sort of "mutual pining" situation or something like that), the idea of them as a ship does make sense to me because I can imagine their relationship taking a more romantic turn under certain, specific circumstances (that take place way, way in the future after Finral does some serious soul-searching: learns to love himself, kicks that incessant flirting habit, builds confidence, and sorts out what it is that he actually wants, just to name a few things), and I can imagine a world where they could end up romantically interested in each other and happy together in that way, in a relationship that develops healthily and naturally by just building on that strong friendship foundation they already have kind of like the ‘icing on the cake’ of their already amazing bond. It's not impossible, I think, and I'll admit it is something I really enjoy thinking about and sometimes exploring in my fics.

They are definitely in the "guilty pleasure ship" category, but I do think it makes sense (to an extent) and it's extremely compelling for me and one of my favorite canon character x canon character pairings in Black Clover.

[leorai4life]

Analysing Leorai - differentiating rumours from reality (a 3 part analysis)

Introduction

To this day, Leorai (2012) remains a controversial ship as many view it as incestrious and therefore taboo. I understand why many would view it as much - especially if those in question haven't watched the 2012 show - and that without proper analysis the concept of "adoptive brother and sister in love" sounds pretty bad. However, I for one can say with certainty that Leorai is not a ship that is not as simple as revolving around two adopted siblings in love - as characters, be it platonically or romantically, Leo and Karai's relationship has many layers that cannot be dulled down to being one thing or the other.

Before I start this analysis, I just want to say if you're an anti Leorai shipper or just not a big fan of shipping in general, that's cool! I'm not trying to convince you to like this ship or anything - however I do hope that in reading this you can learn to respect those who do ship it.

Aspect Analysis 1 - Siblings? So, a common argument for why Leorai is "wrong" is that it's promoting incest. Well let's look at Leo and Karai's parental relationships and discuss that:

Although they both technically share a father, Splinter is barely granted the chance to form a paternal bond with Karai due to the fact that he didn't get to raise her, nor spend time with her once the truth had been revealed. Even when she was brought back to the lair and reunited with her blood father, she still chose getting vengeance over getting to know and love her blood father. Leo on the other hand was raised by Splinter since he was a child and views him as his beloved father and sensei. He looks up to his adoptive father for guidance and emotional support; he is Leo's role model, and essentially all Leo wishes to be as the new sensei.

When we compare the bond Leo has with Splinter to Karai's, Leo had more experience being Splinter's son/ward than Karai did. Even Splinter's death had more of an impact on Leo than it did Karai; Leo was filled with anger and despair and continued to "talk" to Splinter when seeking guidance, whilst upon hearing of his death Karai's response was more reserved than distraught. This is an understandable reaction, as within a couple of weeks Karai had had her whole life exposed as a lie, became a mutant, got brainwashed and on top of all that didn't even get to form an emotional and parental connection with her one true father before he too was taken from her. So yeah, it's no wonder she wasn't able to emotionally process his death like the others did (heck, even April and Casey are more bonded with Splinter than Karai is).

So to relate back to my initial point of both Leo and Karai technically sharing a father, they each share him for a different reason: Leo is Splinter's son by a lifelong bond, whilst Karai is Splinter's daughter by blood. This difference in reasoning does not make either one of them any less of Splinter's child, but this difference does make them be less seen as siblings from each other's POV. Leo was raised with his blood-brothers by the same father/sensei, under the same roof and with a shared family dynamic - so he of course views them as siblings. This is why something like Raph x Leo differs drastically from Leorai as Raph and Leo have always treated one another as siblings because it's what they're used to - so turning that dynamic romantic would make both of them extremely uncomfortable. However, Karai enters the Turtles' lives when they're well into their teens - aka, when they're beyond extreme (emphasis on extreme) influence. On top of that, her first introduction to them was 'Shredder's daughter'/'a Foot Clan kunoichi' - so taking her home and attempting to accept her as a sister didn't really work as there was an already established family dynamic between the brothers and Splinter which Karai hadn't been around to be a part of. This is why she's mainly viewed as a close friend/distant family by the bois (although bless Mikey for at least ATTEMPTING to give her the opportunity to be their sister).

Karai even distances herself from forming any sort of familial bond with the Turtles by refusing to join their Dojo and rarely instigating missions with them unless absolutely desperate - instead she opts to rebuild the Foot Clan under her rule and take her life into her own hands. And if anything, she builds herself in the image of The Shredder - a powerful leader with an arsenal of ninjas at her disposal - but with the heart and honour of her father. When Mikey queried why Karai didn't come home with them, Leo states "Well, she's not a little kid anymore - she wants to take control of her own life"; in a way, this indicates that Karai doesn't want the burden of being a part of a family. Perhaps after living a life of lies under a tyrannical "father" she just wanted to be her own person on her own - literally (well, aside from Shini).

So to answer the query of "Aren't they technically siblings?" the answer is logically no, as they do not share a sibling bond psychologically or even biologically; Leo is literally a giant talking turtle mutant...she's a human-mutant hybrid...they literally could not be more NOT related lol.

Anyways, onto the next point:

Aspect Analysis 2 - "The Turtles are blood relatives of Splinter"

I see a lot of antis use this point in an argument, saying that the Turtles share blood with Splinter so they are blood relatives.

Now speaking specifically about the 2012 show, we never get an official confirmation that the brothers and Splinter share blood. I've even searched interviews with Ciro Nieli and the most he's said is that "All the turtles share a piece of Splinter" - though he was talking trait-wise...so...yeah.

My personal view is that since they are linked to the last thing they touched (be it the pet store owner, a bunch of curious kids or Splinter himself), I do believe they share a connection with Splinter - but not in the sense that the same blood runs through their veins. I believe that when the Turtles and Splinter mutated, the Turtles humanoid appearance was created by the shared contact of the pet store owner, curious kids, and of course Splinter. The mutagen used the fundamentals of all these humans' DNA to basically ~evolutionise~ the Turtles into their humanoid selves (think of it as though they're a combination of turtle and a dose of general human DNA).

As far as I can tell, the only thing the human interaction with Hamato Yoshi (Splinter) got them is some of his core traits - a sense of honour and leadership for Leo, a fierce and protective fighting spirit for Raph, creativity and ability to improvise when under pressure for Mikey, and ingenuity for Donnie. Physically, it seems only Donnie gained something from Splinter (his reddish-brown eyes and natural tall stature) whilst the other brothers must have gained their distinctive physical traits from the other human contacts; such as Mikey, Raph and Leo having different eye colours than Splinter, Mikey's freckles, and Donnie's overbite and gap tooth. My personal headcanon is that Mikey got his empathic traits and love for pets from the pet shop owner hehe.

So essentially Splinter's foundational pieces of DNA helped to shape their roles on the team (leader, warrior, inventor and creative-and-spontaneous-ball-of-butt-kicking).

I guess a question would be "but if they all did a blood test, would Splinter be found to be related????" - my answer to that is yes, though very distantly, as their main DNA result would be a turtle (duh...) whilst the rest is a jumble of the other humans' DNA. Think of it as though you did a DNA test and got a match with a bunch of random people - it is possible to share a small amount of DNA with someone and not be related. In other words, it's possible to share genetic material and not share a common ancestor or any identifiable genealogical connection.

Aspect Analysis 3 - "INCEST!"?

This relates back to point 1 where I discussed whether Leo and Karai see each other as siblings and whether shipping them should be considered promotion of incestrious behaviours. This answer is actually really simple: no, Leorai does not encourage incest.

Why not? Because incest, by definition means "sexual relations between people classed as being too closely related to marry each other". And guess what? Not only are Leo and Karai not closely related, but they never did the deed, or even kissed. They didn't even become 'official' official in the show, so calling Leorai incest is not a fact.

In all honesty, Leorai is my favourite ship of the show because unlike the other ships they didn't need to be physical with each other (e.g. kissing, arms around each other, tight hugs, carrying in arms) to show the audience that they cared deeply for one another. They showed their love through emotional connection and the "little things". Leorai is much like Zutara for me in this sense; I'm happy with what we got because it felt more like two characters building a genuine connection that would lead to an eventual romantic relationship (be it in show or not) than having to shove it in our faces that "tHEY'rE iN LOve beCaUSe tHEy KisSed!" (*cough* Kataang).

If you as a writer can make two characters have a romantic connection without having to make them get physical then you know you've written a relationship - heck, you know you've written the characters - right. And my personal headcanon is that Leo and Karai would share an asexual relationship eventually; no smut, just wholesome love :3

To conclude: Leorai is not incest. Not biologically, not psychologically, and not even romantically. I know not everyone will agree with this as many prefer to just stick with the most popular opinion so they don't cause controversy and that's fine - but heck, I'm tired of hiding my love for this ship cuz "I'll upset someone". That someone can be offended all they want, but I'm still not gonna change myself to suit their agenda.

I'm too old to keep getting involved in anti-ship nonsense (in ANY fandom, tbh), so if you're an anti reading this I'm not gonna try fight your opinion. You can have it, and I'll respect it cuz it's your opinion. I just hope that one day we as the internet can evolve to a point where we're smart enough to just not actively search for something we despise and only focus on what makes us happy.

As for my fellow Leorai shippers- thank you for reading my ramble! I love and appreciate all of you that continue to stand by this ship, and I hope to give you more Leorai content soon! Hopefully one that isn't a ramble, haha 💙🖤

Thanks again for reading, and have a good day/evening!

[altschmerzes]

Other people have mentioned this too, but something I really enjoy about your fics is how you write the different team dynamics, and the friendships Jamie has built with all of them. Your younger!Jamie AU is definitely going to be a really interesting take on all of this, and I was just wondering - what relationships/interactions between Jamie and the team are you most looking forward to writing?

thank youuuuuuuu wah i'm so glad you enjoy that aspect of it!! it's one of my absolute favourite things to write about, i love pulling the lesser focused-on players into it particularly. like i said the other day i'm really, REALLY looking forward to thierry and richard's upcoming scenes in 'the same story' especially.

YEAH THAT'S GONNA BE AN ADVENTURE FOR SUUUURE. obviously there's like. ted and roy and company, and Everyone's got stuff in here, but there's some particular stuff i'm looking forward to as well. i've always been extremely invested in jamie and dani's dynamic and this au is gonna be a very fun version of that - particularly the trickshot competition from 1x06, which i'm doing an au version of! there's some very interesting stuff going on with jamie and sam too. the bad ground their relationship starts off on courtesy of jamie is obviously very different here, given that jamie is like. y'know. fifteen and has zero power here this time, he's not on the team, he has no real 'status' to speak of and no sway on other people. but his like..... being a jerk to sam and the others (which he is! because if he wasn't a horrible little brat it would not be like. true to the character lskdjfs this is an au version of the narrative but he's still Who He Is.) is still impactful and a significant demoralizing factor when ted first arrives. it's more that it takes the shape this time of jamie sort of.... representing, in their eyes and particularly in sam's, the wider community and how they're feeling about the team. it feels like the community itself is sneering at them, which isn't. helpful.

(plus he's a sort of. element of the place that's indicative of how badly things were being run under the joint leadership of rupert and cartrick. there's a lot that goes into 'what had to go wrong here for a teenager who works part-time as basically a handyman is just allowed to Be Like This and nobody really bats an eye' and a lot of it is down to 'rupert didn't care and set a standard of not caring about Anything pretty much and cartrick thought it was funny in a pathetic circus clown sort of way')

SO yeah there's a different vibe but some very interesting ground there with his like. difficult relationships at first, particularly sam.

i'm also looking forward to writing julie and leslie higgins and how they're feeling about/interacting with the whole thing? also, and this might be a weird pull, but michelle has a fairly small but significant role in this au wrt jamie specifically and i'm actually really looking forward to that.

and finally there's a whole like..... this is a lesser element of the fic that sort of orbits the general plot and established characters but i sorta needed some peers for jamie to have, particularly given a lot of his worse behaviour in the front half of season 1 was directed at his teammates/peers. so that didn't quite fit when he's in such a different role, so there needed to be a context for that, and for his subsequent major apology/amends stuff (which is still gonna happen with the team, he's gonna apologize to them for how things went, but it's a smaller deal and an easier process given he's a kid and he couldn't really. do much to them in this situation.). that's where the park kids come in! i decided to build him a little group of teen friends that he has from school and that he hangs out with all the time in the park ted walks through every day to get to work. one of them is one we already know through a few encounters with ted, shannon, who gets built out a little more into a more Present character, and there's a couple other kids i just wholesale made up to flesh out his peer group more (for fun and profit, their names are dean, asher, and eleanor). shannon is the one we're gonna see the most of and they're not a major part of the plot by far - i know people get like..... twitchy with non-canon characters lmao - but i'm excited about the role they DO have and i think it's gonna be pretty fun.

[roguestorm]

are you rewatching legends of tomorrow or just thinking about it either way :) <-- me smiling. ALSO would love to hear your thoughts on rip hunter. i always could not stand him i think mostly because i didnt like his facial hair but it seems like you like him? what were your thoughts on his big smooch with gideon

Yeah, I've been watching a few episodes! Not in order or anything, just grazing. I missed Zari :(

I might have interesting thoughts on Rip Hunter, but also like. The baseline of these thoughts is that I think he's hot, and he's played by Arthur Darvill from Doctor Who, and I love angsty team leaders. So if you don't already buy into him because of those things, maybe he's a boring and uninteresting character! But I personally think he's hot, and I love his dynamic with Sara, especially after Sara takes over as Captain.

I do think it's fun that he's like a much more important character in S1 than somebody like Mick and then Mick sticks around for several more seasons and is much more important to the Legends overall.

The Gideon smooch is kind of fun! I'm pro-Captain/ship romance. (Although I will admit that I'm a Rip/Sara shipper.)

I like thinking about Constantine and Rip together because they both fill roughly the same role (shitty British man in long coat), but they're also very different - Rip's angst, for example, is extremely heterosexual. This is another reason why Rip/Gideon is kind of fun, in that a Captain/ship romance is inherently queer, and therefore challenges the dimensions of the relationships that have been established for him.

These thoughts are pretty scattered, I don't have like a thesis statement about him, but I was watching Legends when it first came out and I loved him and I wanted him and Sara to end up together. All things considered, I can probably be content that that didn't happen lol

[flowerbloom-arts]

thoughts on the joxter x moominpappa ship?

I'll start off bluntly and say that I don't like the ship.

Not to say that it's invalid, it just feels ill-fitting for the 2 characters at least with the way I've seen it presented.

(BIG ramble down below)

I think it mostly hinges on Snufmin's existence and thus it being a funny situation. But I don't think Moominpappa and the Joxter would ever be interested in each other in that way.

Moominpappa explicitly does not care for Joxter, he views him as incompetent yet mysterious, but rewarding to impress. Moominpappa doesn't think of him very highly, but not in an active rivalry sort of way, he just doesn't capture his interest with bright starry eyes like Hodgkins does.

I blame the 90s series with its bare-bones characterization (and mischaracterization/misrepresentation) of the characters, making them and their dynamics so boring that it leaves it all to the imagination of the audience, which gives way to the most stereotypical fandom archetypes for the characters you can dream of. Most of the ship hinges on these fanon characterizations; characterizing Moominpappa and the Joxter's relationship as a rivalry with romantic tension or as Joxter being the annoying one of the duo while Moominpappa is the Regularly Annoyed Guy.

The only people the Joxter has expressed interest in is the Mymble (romantically) and the Muddler (which he seems to have a close bond with, to the point where he stands up for him and shares food with him), I always imagined the Joxter saw Moominpappa as an annoying enigma who is far too easy to mess with and only cares for Hodgkins so they don't interact much, much of the same goes for how the Muddler views Moominpappa aswell.

I also don't understand the romanticization of the main ship's fathers having dated in the past beyond how funny the situation is. It makes me very uncomfortable to think about and I wouldn't feel so inclined if I was either Snufkin or Moomintroll. If someone would go for a "the Joxter and Moominpappa fell out so it's so romantic how Snufkin and Moomintroll got together" and uses that as some cosmic fate angle I just don't.... Know how to feel about that. It just further cements Joxpappa as purely an extension of Snufmin and Snufmin is already a ship I'm getting tired of.

We also know too much about Moominpappa, I think. The only people who occupy his mind in a very positive way are Hodgkins and Moominmamma, he sure does have friends but they're just friends to him, Hodgkins and Moominmamma were very formative people for him and isn't the type to give that honor to anyone he liked. When it comes to the Joxter and the Muddler there's plenty of wiggle room and room for speculation, Moominpappa is established as an unreliable narrator (which is an issue I'm afraid I've been having to ignore because it extremely complicates things) but what he felt at the time was real to him, we get to see inside his head throughout the books, while the Muddler and the Joxter and Hodgkins get none of that privilege. Thus it feels wrong to me to force a ship that never had a hint, especially with Moominpappa in the picture.

I also don't see the narrative benefit of Joxpappa, it doesn't fit neatly into Moominpappa's arc or themes. The dynamic of high-strung attention-seeker vs wants-to-live-life and lazy cat is a fun dynamic to think about to be sure, but I can't imagine a romantic aspect to it because they haven't actively butt heads except for the time Moominpappa was being the worst when it came to the Island Ghost debacle.

I ship the Muddler and the Joxter because the nervous wreck and aforementioned cat dynamic is both fun and gives way to many interesting themes that are backed with the pre-established dynamic of the book. I see them as two completely different people brought together by the commonality of being considered strange and having a need to care for each other.

I ship Moominmamma and Moominpappa (although relatively recently) because I see these two different people who love each other in different intensities and would do anything for each other as we see in many adaptations. I see them as opposites holding paws because their opposing traits are what keep the other from falling into extremes and they just want to make each other happy (even if Moominpappa is more than selfish and both of them rely heavily of gender norms).

The Joxter and Moominpappa I can see potential in but the fandom has soured the appeal to me in more ways than one. The intensity isn't there, there is no strong feelings for each other or even opinions, they're incredibly lukewarm and often get on each other's nerves but they don't interact enough for it to be a big pattern.

A better parallel to Snufmin would quite literally be Moominpappa and Hodgkins. Because much like Moomintroll does for Snufkin, Moominpappa has a great and obvious admiration for the man and has more than a few rambles talking about him, he payed attention to his body language, he enjoyed him immensely despite the lack of social skills, he got legitimately depressed when he left for work for a long time, he was part of his special thanks in the preface next to his wife and the Hattifatteners who gave him the adventure he craved for a long time. Hodgkins is Moominpappa's true Snufkin - albeit I don't think it can be read romantically like Snufmin, more in a fatherly manner, but it's far, far more than he could ever have with the Joxter.

And as a Moominpappa kinnie I do say most of this should be accurate.

Anyway how's about we focus on real dyanmics instead of fake ones for a bit? I'm craving Moominpappa and Hodgkins father-son bonding.

[somebody-909]

Stalkyoo After the Formal (pt.1) - Role Reversal and Yeong-Gi's Denial of His Feelings

The black and white formal acts as a turning point in Shin-ae and Yeong-gi’s relationship, establishing their friendship and giving them moments of romantic tension.

It all leads to the emotional finale on the hospital balcony, where Yeong-gi first feels genuine romantic feelings for Shin-Ae.

This analysis looks at key moments that show how Shin-ae and Yeong-gi’s relationship changes after the formal arc — displaying emerging romantic feelings, and why their roles seemed to have reversed: it is now Yeong-gi who is hesitant to get any closer to Shin-ae, and she is the one eager to connect with him.

Ep. 75 | Elevator - Why the awkwardness and melancholy?

When Yeong-gi first sees Shin-ae after the balcony he seems quite... polite and distanced. He doesn’t act like the Yeong-gi of the past at all. He doesn't joke around with her like he used to... He doesn't smile or act friendly and he awkwardly turns away after looking at her.

He only smiles in the first panel, and his expression is… complicated. Note his soft smile, slightly closed eyes and slightly furrowed brows.

It's a soft, fond but slightly melancholic look.

This mixed expression is caused by genuine fondness for the person it’s for, with the additional tension and slight melancholy/sadness caused by the fact that this fondness is unspoken. This Look™, is the first expression he gives her after the balcony.

(But if I’m speaking more subjectively, this is the look people give those they love, but where it is unspoken. The melancholy associated with the expression makes it less likely to be purely platonic in nature — platonic friendships don’t often have this sense of something hidden and unspoken, and more often have relatively straightforward reciprocal affection. The romantic nature is also emphasized since The Look™ is being given to someone Yeong-gi has known for only a few weeks/months.)

At the least, this unspoken fondness may explain why Yeong-gi seems so awkward afterward:

He senses a difference in their feelings towards each other (he feels this because he is somewhat aware of the true nature of his, but Shin-ae is not/would not be at this stage)

He does not appreciate the nature of these feelings and does not want to entertain them (for reasons mentioned in my balcony analysis)

Shin-Ae also notices his odd demeanour and tells him she thought he'd be more excited - Yeong-gi's behaviour is purposefully shown to be different now. It's hard to imagine this is the same guy who'd joke around, easily and outwardly showing his joy to be around Shin-ae.

In Ep. 78, Yeong-gi is called by Shin-ae after she’s forced late when Dieter passes out. He has The Look™ while speaking to her. (Notably, Yeong-gi only has this look when they are not directly looking at each other). When Yeong-gi picks her up, he seems awkward once again… especially due to seeming like a third wheel in Shin-ae and Dieter's budding relationship.

He has The Look™ in images 1, 2, and 4. And in image 3, he seems very awkward being with Shin-Ae and Dieter. (I'd argue his expression also shows displeasure — he slightly, and under-the-surface, doesn't like what's happening).

Ep. 85 | A Bear and Allergies - Compassion, but only at a distance

After Shin-ae’s sister invades her home and Shin-ae calls over the bois, she is obviously quite unnerved and uneasy. Yeong-gi immediately recognizes this and in aims of comforting her, tells Dieter to give her a hug (which he is unable to do without freaking out so he gives Shin-ae a hug using a bear as proxy).

Yeong-gi understands how Shin-ae feels and wants to comfort her, but instead of doing this himself (eg. by talking to her, giving her a pat on the shoulder, etc...), he tells Dieter to. Although he's being a good wingman, there’s an interesting sense of Yeong-gi making sure to keep his distance, even if he wants to be there for her.

When Shin-ae notices Yeong-gi’s allergic reaction (which they think may be a fever), she reaches to touch his forehead to gauge his temperature — he quickly declines and moves her hand aside.

In my black and white formal analysis, I discuss the motif of distance and how it’s seen in Shin-ae and Yeong-gi’s dynamic — and how it’s represented through touch and their hands. Characters who want to connect emotionally will also show physical signs they do (like extending your hand to someone). Emotional connection often requires characters to physically be present together as well. Characters who want to avoid connection avoid touch and keep their distance.

Here, Shin-ae shows a desire to “reach” Yeong-gi by helping him, and this is reflected when she extends her hand and reaches to touch his forehead. A refusal of her touch in this case is also a refusal of her help and her attempt to connect to him. Shin-ae shows some slight discomfort at this – it was a harmless attempt to help him, but he doesn’t want her to.

Yeong-gi follows with an explicit verbal refusal:

“Again, you don’t have to worry about me… You just had your home broken into, you need to put yourself before me, alright?”

This is fitting with Yeong-gi’s overarching character arc — he has an extremely low sense of self-worth that prevents him from accepting others’ concern. Him telling Shin-ae to put herself before him also fits his thinking: that those he cares about are more important than him, Shin-ae included. And it doesn’t matter if what she actually wants is to help him.*

*This is an interesting trait of Yeong-gi's... despite caring deeply for Shin-Ae, he undermines her intelligence and wishes by not accepting her affection for him, and carefully controlling how close she gets. Although born from insecurity, it is also, fascinatingly, covertly manipulative.

Ep. 85-6 | Bills - I care about you

Yeong-gi asks Shin-ae if she is able to get to where she is staying for the night and she gives him more information than he asks for, showing new emotional vulnerability. He notices this and gives her The Look™ — he appreciates that she is now more open to him.

When Yeong-gi sees her overdue bills, he makes sure to let her know that her financial struggles do not determine her worth and anyone who tells her otherwise isn’t worth her time.

“Remember you’ve always got someone to lean on with your friends, okay?”

His spiel is incredibly heartwarming, and we can understand that he states these things from his own heart. However, he keeps it impersonal, stating "your friends" (not “me” or “us”) and instead allowing Shin-Ae to define whether he fits under that category as well. Yeong-gi is no longer trying to assert his friendship anymore.

After opening up more in response and letting the boys take her to the hospital to stay with her father, she removes the "Stalker" in Yeong-gi's contact name in her phone, showing development in their relationship since they first met and a large difference in how she sees him now — they're friends, and she thinks so too.

Ep. 89 | Insolence, but only for Shin-ae (and only in secret) & a Kousuke/Yeong-gi parallel

After learning of Shin-Ae's etiquette classes, Yeong-gi enters Kousuke’s office, specifically to start trouble with him. Yeong-gi is shown to try his best lately to obey his family members (namely his father), but once again we see how he is fine with starting trouble, even if it costs him, if it's for those he cares about — despite Kousuke reminding Yeong-gi of the repercussions of getting in trouble with their father, Yeong-gi doesn’t back down.

Kousuke: “You know you’re only going to anger father if he catches you being indolent.”

Yeong-gi: “I don’t give a crap if he finds out.”

Yeong-gi then aggressively asks him about the classes Kousuke put her in:

Kousuke: “It’s for her own good.”

Yeong-gi: “What do you mean, her own good?”

Kousuke: “... She’s the worst employee I’ve ever seen, so I signed her up for classes to fix her issues.”

Yeong-gi: “Have you ever voiced your concerns… tell her what she can improve upon? … She may have her flaws, but she’s a lot more capable than you think!”

Kousuke: “I’m preparing her for what’s to come her way in the future.”

Yeong-gi: “You don’t even know if she wants this career for her future! Everytime I see her, she’s miserable. Like she wants to leave. She’s uncomfortable!”

In my black and white formal analysis, I discuss how there are multiple instances— where Yeong-gi and Kousuke, as well as how they affect Shin-Ae, are purposefully contrasted — and this is paralleled here.

Consistently in these instances, (although Kousuke’s intentions are often good) Yeong-gi is shown to be the one who best understands Shin-Ae. At the very least, Yeong-gi is shown here to care for Shin-Ae enough to confront his brother and potentially face the wrath of his father, despite trying especially hard to be in their good graces recently.

However, it is important to note — Yeong-gi goes out of his way to ensure his intentions of helping Shin-ae are indirect and she does not know. Instead, he tries to help her in roundabout ways, secretly.

Yeong-gi does not want his good intentions to reach her.

Conclusions

Yeong-gi displays a notable difference in how he acts, especially around Shin-ae. His new emerging feelings conflict his insecurities, resulting in a standoffish Yeong-gi who is secretive in his affection, and calculatingly tries to distance himself from Shin-ae. But... this isn't what he truly wants, and is instead, another form of self-sabotage.

However, as time goes on, Yeong-gi cannot keep this facade up indefinitely... and he's occasionally caught off guard, giving us glimpses into what he truly feels.

[medschoolash]

(I sent that first anon, I don't feel I conveyed what I was taking issue with super well) I don't mind Daemon doing bad things or being morally grey, I LOVE morally questionable characters, and p much all of GRRM's are. It's just that there is still a line for me, and I would struggle to root for a couple that felt it was all built on a man going to serial killer lengths to possess a woman, especially as a woman myself. There'd be a difference in murdering someone for (insert various political reasons here) and walking up to a random infant and killing them, in terms of doing bad and or morally questionable things, if that makes sense? I am not at all trying to preach or argue so I hope it doesn't come across that way, I just feel like they're being blunt and there's more complex things they can do than that sort of plot, if they go that way. (I also don't like how they've made the Targaryens seem worse and Alicent seem so much more innocent compared to the book, I don't trust HBO with this family)

oh, I understood you anon no worries! I totally think it's okay to have a boundary you won't cross when it comes to bad behavior. I personally wouldn't care but I don't think there is anything wrong with people finding it unsettling that a character they want to see with their favorite romantically might become a very homicidal serial killer. I can see how something like that would sully the relationship you enjoy between two people. At the end of the day, everyone has their limits so I get it.

I'm personally hoping we get to see obsessive jealous daemon but I don't think we'll see him take it that far . I agree that there are a lot of ways they can show Daemon being morally grey and I'm sure we will see plenty of that which is another reason why I don't think they go that particular direction with him even if I think it wouldn't be pure character assassination for him if it did happen.

I'm gonna kinda disagree that they have made the Targaryens seem worse than Alicent. I don't think they've truly drawn any lines in the sand when it comes to the two families. So far the Targaryens haven't done anything horrendous. Viscerys is a weak king but he's not a horrible king. Most of his better decisions have been pretty decent. Sure Daemon ain't shit but even his foolishness is isolated to his family dynamic or war. We don't see him out there terrorizing the common folk just for the hell of it. Rhaenyra is a pretty sympathetic character most of the time even when she's being a little reckless. Alicent so far has been shown to be a pawn of her father who has been shown to be a manipulative weasel but I wouldn't say she's been completely innocent. She made the choice to keep her relationship with viscerys a secret from Rhaenyra, she could have told her. She has also willingly done her father's bidding during her marriage. She was also extremely judgemental towards Rhaenyra last episode even though I did like that she went to bat for her. Ultimately I think the only takeway about Alicent the show has firmly established is that she's a young woman trapped in the patriarchy like most high-born women and Rhaenyra and the things going on around her are slowly shaping her into the woman that she will eventually become. We have yet to see exactly what that means yet so it's almost impossible to make a judgment on whether she's good or bad. At least that's my perspective on it. I understand that book readers have a much different perspective since what we see at this point in the show is different from what was written on the pages. I can also understand not trusting HBO but I wonder if having George himself involved might help put you more at ease? I always thought book readers would like that aspect.

[flufffysocks]

let's talk about andi mack's worldbuilding

sorry this took forever to make! i've been pretty busy with school stuff and i kind of lost my inspiration for a bit, but i ultimately really enjoyed writing it! i wish i could've included more pics (tumblr has a max of 10 per post), and it kinda turned from less of a mini analysis to more of an extremely long rant... but i hope it's still a fun read!

i've been rewatching the show over the past few weeks (thanks again to @disneymack for the link!), and i’ve been noticing a lot that i never did the first time around. this is really the first time i’ve watched the show from start to finish since it aired, and it honestly feels so different this time - probably a combination of the fact that i’m not as focused on plot and can appreciate the show as a whole, and also that the fandom is much, much smaller now, so there’s a lot less noise. so the way i’m consuming this show feels super different than it did the first time, but the show itself doesn’t - it’s just as warm and comforting to me as it was the first time around, if not more so.

i think a lot of that can be attributed to andi mack’s “worldbuilding”. i’m not quite sure that this is the right word in this context, to be honest, because i mostly see it used in reference to fantasy and sci-fi universes, but it just sort of feels right to me for andi mack, because you can really tell how much love and care went into constructing this universe. for clarity, worldbuilding is “the process of creating an imaginary world�� in its simplest sense. there’s two main types: hard worldbuilding, which involves inventing entire universes, languages, people, cultures, places, foods, etc. from scratch (think “lord of the rings” or “dune”), and soft worldbuilding, in which the creators don’t explicitly state or explain much about the fictional universe, but rather let it’s nature reveal itself as the story progresses (think studio ghibli films). andi mack to me falls in the soft worldbuilding category. even though it takes place in a realistic fiction universe, there’s a lot of aspects to it that are inexplicably novel in really subtle ways.

so watching the show now, i’ve noticed that the worldbuilding comes primarily from two things - setting and props, and oftentimes the both of them in tandem (because a big part of setting in filmmaking does depend on the props placed in it!).

one of the most obvious examples is the spoon. it really is a sort of quintessential, tropic setting in that it's the main gang's "spot", which automatically gives it a warm and homey feel to it. and its set design only amplifies this:

the choice to make it a very traditional 50s-style diner creates a very nostalgic, retro feel to it, which is something that's really consistent throughout the show, as you'll see. from the round stools at the bar, to the booths, to the staff uniforms, this is very obvious. the thing that i found especially interesting about it though is the choice of color. the typical 50s diner is outfitted with metallic surfaces and red accented furnishings, but the spoon is very distinctly not this.

instead, it's dressed in vibrant teal and orange, giving it a very fresh and modern take on a classic look. so it still maintains that feeling of being funky and retro, but that doesn't retract from the fact that the show is set distinctly in modern times.

of course, this could just be a one-off quirky set piece, but this idea of modernizing and novelizing "retro" things is a really common motif throughout the show. take red rooster records. i mean, it's a record shop - need i say more? it's obviously a very prominent store in shadyside, at least for the main characters, but there's no apparent reason why it is (until season 2 when bowie starts working there, and jonah starts performing there). a lot of the time, though, it functions solely as a record shop. vinyl obviously isn't the most practical or convenient way of listening to music, but it's had its resurgence in pop culture even in the real world, mostly due to its aesthetic value, so it's safe to say that it serves the same purpose in the andi mack universe.

the fringe seems to be nostalgic of a different era, specifically the Y2K/early 2000s period (because it's meant to be bex's territory and symbolic of who she used to be, and its later transformation into cloud 10 is representative of her character arc, but that's beside the point). to be honest, exactly what this store was supposed to be always confused me. it was kind of a combination party store/clothing store/makeup store/beauty parlor? i think that's sort of the point of it though, it's supposed to feel very grunge-y and chaotic (within the confines of a relatively mellow-toned show, of course), and it's supposed to act as a sort of treasure chest of little curios that both make the place interesting and allow the characters to interact with it.

and, of course, there's andi shack. this is really the cherry on top of all of andi mack's sets, just because it's so distinctly andi. it serves such amazing narrative purpose for her (ex. the storyline where cece and ham were going to move - i really loved this because it highlights its place in the andi mack universe so well, and i'm a sucker for the paper cranes shot + i'm still salty that sadie's cranes didn't make it into the finale) and it's the perfect reflection of andi's character development because of how dynamic it is (the crafts and art supplies can get moved around or switched out, and there's always new creations visible).

going back to the nostalgia motif though, the "shack" aspect of it always struck me as very treehouse-like. personally, whenever i think of treehouses, there's this very golden sheen of childhood about it, if that makes sense. i've always seen treehouses in media as a sort of shelter for characters' youthful innocence and idealistic memories. for example, the episode "up a tree" from good luck charlie, the episode "treehouse" from modern family, and "to all the boys 2" all use a treehouse setting as a device to explore the character's desire to hold onto their perfect image of their childhood (side note: this exact theme is actually explored in andi mack in the episode "perfect day 2.0"!). andi shack is no exception to this, but it harnesses this childhood idealism in the same way that it captures the nostalgia of the 50s in the spoon, or the early 2000s in the fringe. it's not some image of a distant past being reflected through that setting; it's very present, and very alive, because it reflects andi as she is in the given moment.

some honorable mentions of more one-off settings include the ferris wheel (from "the snorpion"), the alley art gallery (from "a walker to remember"), SAVA, the color factory (from "it's a dilemna"), and my personal favorite, the cake shop (from "that syncing feeling").

[every time i watch this episode i want to eat those cakes so bad]

these settings have less of a distinctly nostalgic feel (especially the color factory, which is a very late 2010s, instagram era setting), but they all definitely have an aura of perfection about them. andi mack is all about bright, colorful visuals, and these settings really play to that, making the andi mack universe seem really fun and inviting, and frankly very instagrammable (literally so, when it comes to the color factory!).

props, on the other hand, are probably a much less obvious tool of worldbuilding. they definitely take up less space in the frame and are generally not as noticeable (i'm sure i'll have missed a bunch that will be great examples, but i'm kind of coming up with all of this off the top of my head), but they really tie everything together.

for example, bex's box, bex's polaroid, and the old tv at the mack apartment (the tv is usually only visible in the periphery of some shots, so you might not catch it at first glance) all complement that very retro aesthetic established through the settings (especially the polaroid and the tv, because there's really no good reason that the characters would otherwise be using these).

besides this, andi's artistic nature provides the perfect excuse for plenty of colorful, crafty props to amplify the visuals and the tone. obviously, as i discussed before, andi shack is the best example of this because it's filled with interesting props. but you also see bits of andi's (and other people's) crafts popping up throughout the show (ex. the tape on the fridge in the mack apartment, andi's and libby's headbands in "the new girls", walker's shoes, andi's phone case, and of course, the bracelet). not only does doing this really solidify this talent as an essential tenet of andi's character, but it also just makes the entirety of shadyside feel like an extension of andi shack. the whole town is a canvas for her crafts (or art, depending on how you want to look at it. i say it's both), and it immensely adds to shadyside's idealism. because who wouldn't want to live in a world made of andi mack's creations?

and, while it's not exactly a prop, the characters' wardrobe is undoubtedly a major influence on the show's worldbuilding. true to it's nature as a disney channel show, all of the characters are always dressed in exceptionally curated outfits of whatever the current trends are, making the show that much more visually appealing. i won't elaborate too much on this, because i could honestly write a whole other analysis on andi mack's fashion (my favorites are andi's and bex's outfits! and kudos to the costume designer(s) for creating such wonderful and in-character wardrobes!). but, i think it's a really really important aspect of how the show's universe is perceived, so it had to be touched upon.

[^ some of my favorite outfits from the show! i am so obsessed with andi's jacket in the finale, and i aspire to be at bex's level of being a leather jacket bisexual]

and lastly, phones. this is a bit of an interesting case (pun intended), because the way they're used fluctuates a bit throughout the show, but i definitely noticed that at least in the first season terri minsky tried to avoid using them altogether. these efforts at distancing from modern tech really grounds the show in it's idealist, nostalgia-heavy roots, so even when the characters start using their phones more later in the show, they don't alter the viewer's impression of the andi mack universe very much.

so, what does all of this have to do with worldbuilding? in andi mack's case, because it's set in a realistic universe and not a fantasy one, a lot of what sets it apart from the real world comes down to tone. because, as much as this world is based on our own, it really does feel separate from it, like an alternate reality that's just slightly more perfect than ours, which makes all the difference. it's the idealism in color and composition in andi mack's settings that makes it so unmistakably andi mack. even the weather is always sunny and perfect (which is incredibly ironic because the town is called shadyside - yes, i am very proud of that observation).

the andi mack universe resides somewhere in this perfect medium that makes it feel like a small town in the middle of nowhere (almost like hill valley in 1955 from "back to the future"), but at the same time like an enclave within a big city (because of its proximity to so many modern, unique, and honestly very classy looking establishments). it is, essentially, an unattainable dream land that tricks you into believing it is attainable because it's just real enough.

all this to say, andi mack does an amazing job of creating of polished, perfect world for its characters. this is pretty common among disney channel and nickelodeon shows, but because most other shows tend to be filmed in a studio with three-wall sets, andi mack is really set apart from them in that it automatically feels more real and tangible. it has its quintessential recurring locations, but it has far more of them (most disney/nick shows usually only have 3-4 recurring settings), and it has a lot more one-off locations. it's also a lot more considerate when it comes to its props, so rather than the show just looking garish and aggressively trendy, it has a distinctive style that's actually appropriate to the characters and the story. overall this creates the effect of expanding the universe, making shadyside feel like it really is a part of a wider world, rather than an artificial bubble. it's idealism is, first and foremost, grounded in reality, and that provides a basis for its brilliant, creative, and relatable storytelling.

tl;dr: andi mack's sets and props give it a very retro and nostalgic tone which makes its whole universe seem super perfect and i want to live there so bad!!

[n1kolaiz]

ENTJ + INFJ DYNAMIC

BSD MANGA CHAPTER 54-57 SPOILERS

Chapter 54 introduced Mushitaro Oguri, and his background involving Yokomizo was ever so intriguing to me. So unfortunately, here I am.

Mushitaro and Yokomizo's dynamic:

The 'Commander' meets the 'Idealist.'

Alright, I won't go into the details about the case of Yokomizo's death, because there's no way in hell I can explain it fluently at all. So if you need further reference to what these few chapters are about, popopretty's post would elaborate on the details and whatnot.

Before I start, here's a bit of little introduction to both individual characters:

MUSHITARO OGURI

Mushitaro appears to take a lot of pride in his ability, which contributes to his arrogant complex altogether. He had his own desires and goals, and lived out his days just to fulfil them.

His ability is called the 'Perfect Crime,' which allows him to erase any trail of evidence pertaining to whatever crime he had committed. Hence, he is also known as the 'infallible Detective-killer.'

Until Ranpo proved him wrongヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉﾞ

His personality type is most likely 'ENTJ,' the 'Commander.'

- ENTJs are known to have exceptional leadership skills. They are confident in themselves and what they do; basically, they don't have the tendency to second-guess what they are capable of. This explains Mushitaro's ambition to achieve his ends, and his ability goes the extra mile of complimenting his success rate greatly. Whether his motives or the end results were morally good or evil, it didn't matter to Mushitaro— as long as his wishes were fulfilled.

"With tyrants and demons, I'll make deal with a demon. That's in my nature."

- They're also quite outspoken with their opinions. It's a fairly minor detail, but this shows why he wasn't afraid to express the distaste he had for mystery novels to Yokomizo— including the extravagant ideas and serpentine stories his close friend based his life upon and discussed with him.

- The subtle insensitivity mixed in with an ENTJ's preference of logic over emotion highlights one of their core weaknesses: which brings us back to Mushitaro's ability to kill his friend. Say you were to put a person with a deeply compassionate heart, who's also very well in-tact when it comes to identifying emotions and being empathetical to other's feelings: would that person be able to kill a friend they'd known for so long? For the sole reason of making his last mystery novel a deathless enigma? This is very subjective perspective, but I believe that if Mushitaro was more of an emotionalist rather than a strategist, things would have turned out different for Yokomizo's eventual fate.

Side note: His insensitivity did, however, find its limit when he realised how devastating it was to have killed his own friend with his hands. Even though there's a wide scale that measures how insensitive a person can be, they are, in fact, still human beings capable of feeling. Killing someone dear to you is no easy task; there is a breaking point for the hardest of hearts.

SEISHI YOKOMIZO

Yokimozo, also known as Kindaichi, was a mystery writer who was very particular about detail and being exclusive, especially when it came to his works. His last wish he pursued to achieve before a terminal illness took his life was done by formulating a 'mystery that transcended reality.'

"I hate regret. So I've done whatever I've wanted to do. Up until now, it's been a satisfying life. But now… I've been given a time limit…Before then, I have to complete the ultimate mystery."

His personality type is identified as 'INFJ,' also known as the 'Idealist.'

- INFJ's are deeply creative and artistic, but they express it in various different ways. For Yokomizo, he portrayed his brilliant artistic skill through his writings revolving around mysteries and their compelling depths. The fictional character's namesake was also a mystery novel writer. Yokomizo was pretty well-versed with how mysteries worked and how their details ravelled themselves into elegantly, well-established riddles, which only added to his natural flair of writing.

- Generally, INFJs are reserved, but incredibly idealistic. Yokomizo was seen to be very abstract in his idea of thinking, and this is due to the fact that INFJs have a thing for pondering about life and the meaning behind everything.

"Mushi-kun, I bet you're laughing at me for destroying myself for the sake of mystery. But if that's the case, maybe there's no such thing as unshakable values. Maybe it's up to us to decide what to put value in and what to live for. After all, we have the right to turn our own decisions into our entire world. It is, foolishly enough, the greatest luxury afforded to mankind."

- As for their weaknesses, some INFJs are very hard to get to know. They are mysterious at times, which prevents them from being flamboyant with their thoughts and opinions. Yokomizo had a very lighthearted, mystifying nature, which made him a very interesting character altogether. Despite having a high regard for their intimate relationships— INFJs can be quite private. Mushitaro vaguely points out his self-contained, introverted mannerisms in this panel:

Now, I'll get to my point.

ENTJs and INFJs don't ideally match up, but when it comes to general friendships, there are a few details that suggest an accomodating dynamic between the two personality types. These qualities emanate from Mushitaro and Yokomizo's friendship with each other.

Opposites attract in most cases, correct?

Well, in this case, ENTJs and INFJs have a lot of similarities:

intelligent

intuitive in thinking

determined

goal-oriented

But the more numerable contrasting qualities is what really brings out the agreeable traits between Mushitaro and Yokozimo. Think of it as a system where two opposites mutually keep each other in check:

1. Mushitaro bases his life on the gaining his own needs and wants, and is very firm in his sense of realism, while Yokomizo is more focused on the deep, complexities of life itself. This may come off as impractical to ENTJs, but also compliments their coordination with INFJs. Realism limits idealism, but idealists can also expand the boundaries realists place themselves in.

2. INFJs accept people and ideas as they are, not willing to put others down just to prove themselves right. Yokozimo's tolerant behaviour stands in contrast with how authoritative Mushitaro is, especially when it boils down to his arrogance— he isn't afraid to spit his pride right into his opponent's face.

Kneel, detectives! I am the king of crime! No one can force me to sin and repent!

Just for laughs reference^

So it's safe to say that because Yokomizo had an acquired sense of serenity and open-mindedness, he was able to tolerate Mushitaro's extravagant, subtle histrionic characteristics, which were laced with his superior complex.

3. In the manga, Yokomizo speaks and converses with Mushitaro in a way that suggests that he is careful with his words. INFJs are gentle and generally sensitive to the needs of others, so they tend to be careful with what comes out of their mouths. Mushitaro, like most ENTJs, are quite blunt. This points back to how insensitive they come off, even if they don't actually mean it. So when it comes to Yokozimo explaining tales of mystery to Mushitaro, Mushitaro doesn't hesitate to mock Yokozimo; but because of how understanding Yokozimo is, he doesn't take Mushitaro's opinions too seriously to the point of discounting the value of their friendship, because he knew Mushitaro didn't use his words with the intention to harm.

If you were to place a more dominant persona in Yokomizo's position, I doubt that that person would be able to tolerate such behaviours. Then again, this is crucially subjective.

I suppose the main thing I wanted to point out was how ENTJs and INFJs balanced each other out by cancelling out each other's extreme traits, and keeping each other in the middle of the equilibrium altogether. But another thing I'd like to point out to sum up Mushitaro and Yokozimo's relationship was this: the fact that Mushitaro had to kill his own friend to grant his dying wish. Dying for someone or by someone's hands is easier than killing someone, especially if that someone is dear to you, no? I guess that's the part I can't fathom— it was the type of relationship that stood out way more than I had expected. Say, the roles were switched, would Yokomizo actually kill Mushitaro? Or would Mushitaro think of such an incomprehensible way to die in the first place? Or what if these two friends had different, more superior traits that coexisted in conflict all the time, would Yokomizo even depend on Mushitaro with such a task?

The speculations are endless, or maybe it's pretty straightforward. Though, I hope this made sense.

Okay, I'm done rambling for now. Thank you for reading!

[ayamadori]

I LOVE COLA LOSERS - HERES WHY

This is a long essay-ish thing that dives a bit into my thoughts about Cola Losers, analysing the two boys dynamic and it's potential for Eduardos characterization. This is in no way linked to the actual real life people involved, but only the cartoon characters.

1. EDUARDO - PRE/POST-LEGACY

Pre-legacy Eduardo (as seen mainly in Hammer & Fail) is the perfect flat mean girls parody character. He comes off though as much more catty than your TV show bully, especially when he is constantly looking for a new way to make fun of Edds crew with his friends Jon and Mark. At the same time, he's still intended to be Edds counterpart - often seen in green and drinking diet cola. This similarity yet also laced with major differences causes ire from Edd, who views him with comedic contempt.

Pre-legacy Eduardo is a good example of Eddsworld constantly using (and sometimes twisting) well-known tropes in fun ways to generate more laughs. The neighbors fills a fun and vital role in the Eddsworld ecosystem.

Legacy however takes him into a different direction. According to the legacy documentary, Paul Ter Voorde had noticed some liking for Eduardo and chose it as a chance to expand on his character. Legacy offers us a way to view Eduardo beyond the intended flatness of his pre-legacy self, opening up a chance for a bit more nuance and depth to be added to him.

2. POWEREDD AND EDUARDOS INSECURITY

PowerEdd is the legacy episode (and probably the episode in the whole series) that focuses on Eduardo the most, especially as he features as the villain. Poweredd in my eyes delves into 2 ways to interpret Eduardos characterization (and his insecurity) here. One i'd like to think of as the "pre-legacy inspired" and the other one as "legacy inspired".

| PRE-LEGACY INSPIRED; This interpretation relies on PowerEdd being a parodic exploration on superhero tropes - Eduardos disproportionate reaction to his "backstory" pokes fun of dramatic villain backstories by making Eduardos motive for his grudge seem like a silly and small thing. The episode itself is seen here as a humorous take on the superpowers trope and fits into that framework. This view relies upon the knowledge of Eduardos role in pre-legacy.

|LEGACY-INSPIRED; This takes Paul Ter Voordes statement of Eduardo into account. PowerEdd could be seen as a genuine attempt at lampshading Eduardos insecurity and his struggle with possible low self esteem. These aspects together create a superiority/inferiority complex of the highest caliber.

Eduardos behavior fits into that idea (seeing as he acts tougher than he is now in contrast to his meeker past self, goes extremely far to protect his pride as to try to destruct the source of his anxiety, makes his peers also act uncharacteristic which fails i.e Jon etc.)

It's a rather well-known phenomena in psychology that the individual who often feels a threat towards their sense of self (and thus security) uses a illusion of a tougher, more intimidating facade in order to feel comfortable with themselves.

The main argument here is that PowerEdd is not making fun of Eduardos superiority/inferiority complex, but rather tries to lampshade it and imply that this seemingly innocous event is not the /major/ cause of his insecurity, but rather the single drop that filled the glass over. Since i dont wanna base too much on assumptions, i wont expand on what these other possible events could be. But in the end, the result is quite obvious; it makes Eduardo go in a constant frenzy to prove himself superior to Edd at all times. He projected all his insecurities into this single event where his artwork came in second place, and the person who won over him.

3. HOW THIS ASPECT IS DEALT WITH

In their final confrontation in Poweredd, Edd questions Eduardos motivation for his actions. Edd (the audience proxy in this case) dont react though with mocking this reason or laughing at it. Edd actually takes it seriously and even apologizes for what he did, realising that the seemingly innocous action ended up being part of something bigger and more harmful.

This fully throws a confused Eduardo off, who had (most likely) been expecting a offensive reaction that'd validate his paranoia. But this doesn't happen. The narrative takes his frustration seriously, which is what i find so interesting and likeable about it. This so large seeming conflict diffuses so quickly because of Edds sincerity, a underexplored yet charming quality about him.

4. EDD IS NOT MUCH OF A THREAT

What made Eduardo waver and change his mind? He reaches the epiphany that Edds way too much of a dumbass to be a threat at all. Eduardo had been trying so hard the whole to prove himself to someone, to /something/ as being the better one. However, the real fool was Eduardo himself.

Edd is the furtherest from a threat that you can imagine. Honestly, he never really intentionally targets Eduardo with malicious intent (definitely prone to teasing though lol), and it's often the result of Eduardos own actions than anything else. Edd mostly minds his own businiess, and is upon a second look a rather sensible guy.

It makes Eduardo feels stupid for misjudging him, and you know he reaches that conclusion since he goes as far as to use up his last bunch of powers to defend Edd.

5. COLA LOSERS (ENCORE)

I felt like i wanted to establish all the points from earlier since they play a significant role to the way i view Edd and Eduardos dynamic. Edds relaxed and casual demeanor contrasts amusingly to Eduardos high-strung, much more neurotic tendencies. This difference makes for a surface-level funny competetive dynamic.

However, Edd is hardly a malicious person. He's not someone who actively tries to taunt Eduardo in a way intended to cause genuine harm. He's a bit silly and stupid, and his taunting of Eduardo is more based in neighbor shenegians rather than anything else. The whole point is that Edd could actually do more positive than negative for Eduardo - he can engage in a rivalry with him, but one that Eduardos actually comfortable with. Especially since by the end of PowerEdd, you can notice Eduardo clearly has nothing against Edd anymore (though still finds him annoying lol).

Something i rarely see mentioned when people talk about these two is that if they got to engage further in Eddsworld minus the grudge, Eduardo could actually make a change for the better and get something better from it. Not to mention, it hardly has to be a full on competition all the time - they could have moments where they're more friendly only to go back to being rivals again.

TDLR: I really love Cola Losers.

[itsclydebitches]

The Crosshair stuff is a symptom of the lacklustre character establishment of it's main cast. Crosshair is the only Bad Batcher with a defined character to pull from, even if it's wrapped in the cluster fuck of the show being indecisive about the Inhibitor chips's abilities. The rest don't have a developed enough personality to draw from, they're archetypes who'll voice the position the plot needs them to occupy at the moment. What they'll defend in one episode they'll decry the next.

TBB characters are definitely archetypal, though I'm not sure I'd agree that this is inherently a bad thing and/or that it's at the root of the Crosshair messiness. Archetypes don't necessarily equal a lack of a character, just a character that we've seen many times before. Unless you prioritize novelty in your storytelling (which many people do), there's nothing inherently wrong with taking the "dumb," but emotionally intelligent brute, the socially inept genius, the stoic leader, and the "evil" asshole, cramming them in a small ship together, and letting sparks fly. The reason that dynamic works — as it has worked many times before — is because it pits such differing personalities against one another, resulting in both great teamwork and amusing conflict: such as when Wrecker is gleefully stuffing Lula in a pissed-off Crosshair's face. The contrast is fun and that contrast stems primarily from keeping their personalities simple and defined. Unless you really know what you're doing, the more you mess with those personality boxes, the less individualized your characters feel. See: the RWBYJNOR team who have, over the years, lost both their specialized skills and their distinguishing personality traits. The person who just blushed sweetly and awkwardly rubbed a hand behind their neck... was it Ruby? Oscar? Blake? Yang? Jaune? Even Nora? Could be any of them because at this point their core personalities have flattened. Though it's definitely not to everyone's taste, the black and white differences between TBB was kind of refreshing. Throw out a line of dialogue and you can easily figure out who said it. There's something to be said for that level of understanding about a character, even if the understanding itself is simple.

Personally, I'd say the problem lies not in creating another team where everyone has a distinct skill and a stereotypical personality to match, but rather in severely underutilizing the thing that shook that dynamic up: Echo.

Look, I ADORE Omega. I was cheering for my fictional daughter through every step of this season (quite literally during "Replacements"). But—but—if we wanted to push things in the character development department, I'd relegate her to season two. Omega's character serves as the audience surrogate/newbie/hopeful optimist archetype and that's great... provided that you ignore how Echo was already positioned to fill those roles. He became the newest member of TBB, but we skipped over his integration to instead introduce another new member. And, as much as I love her, Omega doesn't push TBB the way that Echo could.

TCW introduced a severe dislike for the "regs," something the first episode of TBB re-emphasized through the cafeteria scene, and then what do you know, the newest member is a former reg. I was expecting there to be a lot of tension stemming from that as the group worked to overcome their prejudice, a prejudice we now know is born of harassment and, interestingly, a sense of superiority. That's one of the few places where TBB does something unexpected: rather than suffering severe insecurity about being "defective," TBB is proud of their differences. (Or, at least, they've embraced pride to cover insecurity.) But unlike a reg's haircut, tattoos, or name, theirs isn't an individuality that they chose. The Kaminoans made them to be different. "I like to blow stuff up because I LIKE TO BLOW STUFF UP" Wrecker roars, but it's a moment that foreshadows his eventual fall to the chip: "No one controls me." Except, you know, he is controllable. There's a story there about characters trying to remain proud of skills and personalities that they know are engineered, trying to embrace individuality when they know they're controllable, who long for the stability and connection of their brothers, but reject the uniformity of "real" clones... and then there's Echo, suddenly on the scene, a former "real" clone who now is nothing like the majority of his brothers, whose differences were also forced on him by another, who should likewise be grappling with embracing his individuality vs. hating how it separates him from what he once knew... that's a lot. Echo could have — arguably should have — been the catalyst for a ton of self-reflection within TBB, mirroring his own development, and resulting in archetypal characters who nevertheless have a secondary layer of nuance.

But none of that happened because Omega became the focus instead, a character who forced TBB to struggle with taking care of a child, not struggle with their own identities. I'd thought for a hot second that the conflict would be whether soldiers could raise a child at all — whether they'd have to change for Omega's benefit — but instead she rather quickly became a soldier of her own, despite how often the dialogue insisted she wasn't. Here's her weapon. Here's her memorizing orders. Here's her first mission alone. Here's her almost never struggling with the horrors that she's experienced; she's as emotionally sturdy as the men bred for war. Omega develops, which is fantastic to watch, but the downside is that everyone else, our title characters, remain pretty static. I think if we'd had a season of Echo joining TBB, perhaps taking place a little before Order 66, and then Omega came on the scene, we would have seen a bit more depth to their characters, simply by virtue of Echo being a character whose personality and problems would inevitably push them. Omega doesn't push them. She's wonderful... and from a writing standpoint that's kinda the problem. She's always optimistic, always compassionate, doesn't take long to get good at these complex skills, never wavers in being satisfied and happy with this life. TBB never had to change to care for her, Omega just did them the courtesy of becoming another elite-soldier capable of keeping up with their dangerous, crazy lives. Her presence is a constant joy and benefit to the team, adding only good things to the status quo they'd developed. Echo? His arrival should, theoretically, have shaken the status quo like whoa. Here's this traumatized reg trying to become a member of a four-unit team who have an Us vs. Them approach to life. That's a recipe for conflict and development.

However, just because I can see other possibilities for TBB doesn't mean I think what we got is wrong. Yeah, it's simple in many respects and as said, the comparative complexity of Crosshair's situation might not end well, but beyond that, simple isn't inherently bad. I found it a lot of fun to watch a found family of extreme personalities take in a wonderful child and go on adventures together. I don't need every show — particularly every Star Wars show — to be a deep dive into complex storytelling. It can be enough to just embrace predictability, especially since the predictable became predictable because lots of people liked those choices.

[thellamalair]

Hi, thanks for sharing your reading of that "what you really are" quote. Can I ask though, what do you think Mary means Sherlock and John could _become_ more specifically? She seems to imply it's something they a) aren't already and b) could not be while she was around. And as you said, we already know they help people & save lives and they know that too (wedding speech) - also within the show they're already famous (press conferences, everyone recognises them) for that,not for their brokenness.

Hi Anon! Thanks for the ask, sorry it took a bit for me to answer, I had think about it for a couple of hours.

I need to start this by saying that I’m not happy about Mary’s redemption arc, but that being said, it is what we got (unless we get more evidence) so I’m going to have to look at it from the perspective of darling Mary, reformed ex-assassin that genuinely cares about both John and Sherlock.

So I’m going to have to go back to the quote for this:

“I know you two. And if I’m gone, I know what you could become, because I know who you really are. A junkie who solves crimes to get high and a doctor who never came home from the war […]“

So this could be read a couple of different ways. I’m gonna start with the one that seems likely to her character as presented to us by TPTB. 

I think that Mary is extremely self-aware. If you take them at their word, that the dynamic trio are really what they show they are, then Mary knows that she comes between them. She’s tried before the wedding to make them see that they could still do what they love even with her in the picture, but things get in the way, her shooting Sherlock, Sherlock shooting Magnussen, the exile, THE BABY, AJ, and she must realize how much of a stress agent she became in their relationship, even though they’ve apparently made their peace with everything and found some semblance of peace [if you ask me, had she not died, they’d have gotten divorced anyway, because I think John had reached his boiling point after Morocco, and that’s not my johnlocker heart speaking, I promise]

So, going by hairstyle and lack of any signs of pregnancy, I think we can assume that she recorded the videos either before she left John to go take the target off their backs[which seems likely, as insurance in case something happened to her before returning] or after they got back from Morocco, which tbh I don’t think she had the time.

The first idea I had was that if she died, John would be less family oriented [which tbh I didn’t see anyway in TST, they both seemed to pass Rosie off on each other or other people pretty often so it doesn’t really seem that it kept John from cases all that often], but had she died less…ehu, melodramatically, John’s responsibility towards Rosie would have increased drastically,  so he’d have to cut down on time with Sherlock too manage his shit, and that would make him stir-crazy for a few years, so it could be taken as a reminder that they need each other, to make time for each other. Though now that I’ve written it it doesn’t make that much sense. So. Next one.

I think the DVDs were filmed to be sent off in case her death would come about in sort of the same circumstances (and I’ve seen people complaining about the DVDs existing at all, but do you really think that if she was an ex-assassin she wouldn’t have a network of contacts that could deliver a couple of DVDs in case the worst happened?). By that point, her past had come knocking on her door twice, so she would have had to think about a way to do damage control because you can’t outrun your past forever. And if it hadn’t been her past, with the lives they led as Sherlock’s friends, one could think that it might be possible that any of them could die at any point. She might even have thought about John’s reaction, and how he’d shift the blame on Sherlock because yes…Sherlock’s a show off, and he did make a vow he failed to fulfill [god, could they foreshadow it more aggressively in TST? if we took a shot every time Sherlock said he’ll keep her safe….], she could reasonably predict they’d have a falling out. 

Writing this, it occurs to me that Sherlock might have turned to drugs anyway even without her explicit instructions because of the guilt, and her DVD to Sherlock, in addition to helping him and guiding him in saving John, might have also been her way of micro-managing the way he went about his self-destruction, potentially stopping him from spiraling out of control by giving him a goal to strive for, but I’m going to have to think about this a bit more [yes I know fandom wants to believe that Mary had it out for Sherlock and turned him towards drugs with malicious intent, but until we are told otherwise, I’m taking their Mary at face value]. 

So in this sense, I think what Mary could be saying with “I know what you could become” [especially considering that it is immediately followed by “a junkie who solves cases to get high and a doctor who never returned from the war”] is that she knows that both of them could go off the deep end, and might end up as the darkest version of themselves because they don’t have each other to fall back on and balance each other out. And it remains a reminder that they need each other. She reminds them that they have to possibility to be great together, to make each other the best possible version of themselves, to channel the grief and anger and resentment in the adventures, and saving people [hunting things, the family business].

As for the they know they save people and they’re famous… You have to remember, while John forgave Sherlock, at that point I don’t think he fully trusted him anymore [just saying that he was a bit more cautious, more hardened]. Not after knowing he’d fake his suicide and not after seeing him relapse. And Sherlock doesn’t trust himself either. He miscalculates with John’s feelings, Magnussen, with Norbury, with Culverton [he wasn’t expecting to be choked] and then all the fuckery that happened in TFP [which btw, I completely loved for all the character development]. Plus Sherlock doesn’t count on John anymore for a while there. He doesn’t think he deserves forgiveness, and he doesn’t know if he will receive it. He’s a bit of a mess. For all that they’re famous they are also infamous. Sherlock sky-rocketed to fame via John’s blog but his image was also tarnished and dragged through the mud. And although we don’t see it, John quite possibly was dragged along with him for a while. And then he dramatically come back to life. Plus the public’s image of him is of the cold sociopath, so mostly a last resort when people couldn’t find suitable help elsewhere.

So potentially she could have guessed that her death would create even more of a rift between them. It’s not so much about what they weren’t already, or what they couldn’t be with her alive, it’s more about the possibility of what they would be on their own, and how self-destructive they could become. And she probably wants to stop that from happening so she sends John a reminder of who they SHOULD be, who they’re meant to be and what their purpose is, after what I assume, she deems a suitable mourning period. Because she can’t predict what they go through in TFP.

It’s intended as I said… a reminder of who they should be. What their collective purpose is. What will make them whole. Appeals to John’s instinct to protect and Sherlock’s desire for justice. 

But by the time it gets to John, it’s more a cementer of their dynamic. By that time, John has seen how far Sherlock would really go to save him from himself, and he witnesses Sherlock’s personal growth, and receives an insight into his psyche with everything they go through. And Sherlock gets to finally become the person he’s meant to, with John right by his side. They’ve already rebuilt their bridges, and become stronger in their bonds and re-established their trust in each other. So when it comes, her message cements who they are going to be going forward. And it’s a blessing to move on. 

So that’s about it for my interpretation of it. I might think of other possibilities but I think that if you want to discuss those you can DM me. 

So in a way, I guess it could also be read as a blessing to be a couple. I don’t think she meant it as a romantic couple but anyone could read it however they want, this is just my take on it.

Sorry for the use of [] instead of parentheses but it’s a long thing to write and I’m just too lazy to hit shift 0 every time I have a comment.