#i am projecting in some ways but i also see other traits and its

[lesbianraskolnikov]

It is kind of funny thinking on my headcanon like naturally im googling that where im like Did anyone else have this thought and a few people yes! I tend to see other diagnoses which are usually fair. But also stumbling upon someone else thinking that by chance was so DELIGHTFUL i still clap when i see others mention it like YES!!! YEAH!!!!

[kiththecat]

this is going to sound so ubnoxious, but i saw a lifesteal confession and immediately realised that im probably guilty of the exact thing it was talking about (people mostly caring about branzy when it comes to lifesteal and clownzy). but after a minute of thinking (🤔<- like this) i could kiiiinda pinpoint why and i thought it'd be interesting enough to vocalise, at least.

in my head, there's a very clear line between "the guy whose vidoes i watch while eating lunch" and "the guy i make fanworks of." even though its technically the same guy. i love watching branzy's videos. he's extremely entertaining and talented. but i also have a separate version of him that's based on the character he plays. the guy who in many cases has a story that ends up being very tied to clowns. being the most important person to the deadliest guy is a compelling character and i find that very fun to explore in writing. admittedly the bit they've got going on where they flirt unprompted is still kinda peak and that is definitely something i'd want to see more of.  very chill about it though. *wink*

however, and this is where i wholeheartedly agree with everything in the confession. i really dislike it when the comment section on branzy's videos mention clown in a video clown's barely in. cc!branzy could spend five hundred hours working on a minecraft project and if clownpierce happens to be eluded to, then that's what a lot of the comments will be about. now i LOVE clownzy crumbs because i'm a pathetic individual, but there are so many other things to talk about in branzy's non-lifesteal content than the gay bit he did two years ago. 

anyway here are some elements of branzy's character that i really appriciate bout him

he is like a jack of all trades. sure he's not the very very best in any field, but he's a great builder, great redstoner, great at survival things, great at the game in general. i think his strongest trait is just how dedicated he is to whatever he decides to do. he loves a challenge, he loves overkill and theatrics, he needs mental stimulation and work or else he dies.

in after hours smp he commited so many crimes... so many. one thing i loved is that for that video he had to research these crimes and come up with a minecraft equivalent. he's extremely creative and his brain works in weird, sort of morbid and somehow also cutesy ways.

or in the video where he's building a computer in minecraft with rek. one moment he doesn't get what's happening and he asks rek to "explain it to me like im a puppy" or something. and it's such a silly little moment but i like that he just found no shame in asking. in general he's just very down to earth and shameless.

he is not in any way morally upstanding. if he saw a big read button that said "press this to kill one hundred random children" he'd not hesitate. if the button was protected with top security measures he'd do whatever it takes to get past them. he does not care about good and bad. please never give him morals.

his love language is killing his friends for fun

okay here's a personal preference but he needs to have some wacky job. if you're writing this man he needs to be money laundering. or running a pyramid scheme. why would anyone put him in a school, or a cafe. he's a palm reader who sucks but takes money before readings and runs away. he's running a sweatshop and all the worker uniforms are weird costumes. he's a janitor but he uses special access to steal things. he has one hundred different identities. why am i describing stanley pines.

moving on.

there is so much love in him. he loves the craft (insert trademark mark here), he loves the people around him, he finds joy in pretty flowers, he finds joy in setting pretty flowers on fire.

many more things to say but the gist is. bramzycraft....

he's a dad now and i think that's beautiful. buuuuuuuuut the baby doesnt have anything to do with toxic yaoi (that we know of... 👁️👁️) so how important is it REALLY.

clownzy jesus out.

[officialspec]

can you pleeeeease post your dm sexuality/gender hcs on here.... 🥺 i don't have a twitter but i wanna know. it's like a pandora's box to me now i'm like scratching at the door. let me in

heres the link 2 the thread (mild spoilers btw) ill post a transcript under the cut for ppl who dont have twitter

first off i think laios relationship to sex is super removed for like 50 reasons without even getting into his actual sexuality

he grew up in a place with very repressed ideas about sex and has a lot of fear about asserting his presence in situations

his special interest takes precedent over any social interactions he has and the level of closeness he feels towards people

he has a hard time figuring out his feelings towards other people both bc hes autistic and bc he has freaky deviantart fetishes that make sex in his mind a very abstract concept <- this one is me projecting mostly

that aside, i feel like gender-wise hes attracted to ppl so infrequently it may as well be entirely case-by-case

the idea of him being gay appeals to me from the 'raised with traditional values he Does Not fit into/hasnt begun to question it yet' perspective, i lauve characters who put a lot of stock into performing a role thats expected of them and fail miserably for unknown (gay) reasons

from his perspective tho i dont think he would ever really label himself anything. hes going to pride parades in the shirt+shorts Ally Fit to clap for his friends

hes also 'cis by indifference' imo... i love tmasc laios hcs it just doesnt mesh w his personal history to me. i do think hes got some kind of therian gender thing going on (not trans or nb but a secret third thing) but i cant see him changing anything abt his appearance/pronouns to accommodate that post-canon. hes just doin his thang

falin is in a similar boat for gender. i LOOVE tfem falin but the village repression thing has been bugging at me so i dont think i subscribe to it anymore (canon purist sorry) BUT if u hold that hc i am clapping and cheering regardless

instead i was propagandised to a while back and i LOVEEE the idea that being fused w a male dragon and the residual traits she has after being revived have given her a type of gender euphoria she didnt realise she was missing. a little boygirl swagger if u will

sexuality-wise i also dont think she would care to label herself, shes a lesbian by virtue of only being interested in One woman and zero other people. without marcille i do think shes still exclusively attracted to women, and i like to imagine she might experiment around a bit during her travels post-canon (pre-relationship). hearing abt it might put marcille on the news though

marcille is very simple That is a transfem lesbian. she cant get pregnant, shes obsessed w being femme and all that combined w her half-tallman struggles to be seen as 'properly feminine' by elf standards reads very transfeminine to Me. also her bookboy crush REEKS of comphet its not subtle

i think a more comfortable marcy might have the space to experiment w being elf butch like her manga boys but thats mainly self indulgence for me. utena could have saved her

senshi is gay his whole thing is abt not being able to perform dwarven masculinity to a proper standard (soft hearted, not as strong or rugged as his peers) which is like gaycoding 101. also hes a bear. homosexuality be damned by boy can work a grill

adding onto this i rly think senshi got some type of euphoria from being an elf in the changeling chapters. he was feeling himself so much i think he was using it as an outlet to have fun being a little fem and fruity without needing to justify it. do u understand

i dont have any particular opinions abt him gender-wise beyond that. his bulge is an essential part of his character design but i also saw a transmasc senshi a couple days ago that made me nod my head thoughtfully so i could go either way

chilchuck is cis and bisexual this is just canon. not even just his old man crush on senshi altho i do think thats very funny but they put his ass on a cover themed like hes in a dating sim with all the men and women in the cast and then slapped it in front of a chapter called "bicorn". i simply cant pass up that kind of overt signaling. its so fucking funny what else is there to say truly

izu to ME is a transmasc aroace lesbian (this one has the least basis in canon i just know it to be true) shes a little genderfluid with it nd uses he/she i think. i like to imagine she consistently uses masculine personal pronouns to refer to herself either way tho (boku, ore)

i think izutsumis gender/sexuality is entirely secondary in priorities to her body dysphoria. she has a lot of learning and acceptance 2 do before that kind of self discovery is on the docket and in my mind eschewing gender on some level is part of that. get sillay

shuro is cishet but at least he feels bad about it. next listen listen to me i dont think he would ever actually examine this but i need u to put on ur tin foil hat with me for one second. i think estrogen could have saved her. i have more thoughts on this but im not gonna propagandise too much on this post just know that im right

kabru is a transmasc bisexual this is also practically text. his whole thing of being treated like a doll by milsiril to put in pretty dresses, plus i think it would be pretty easy for him to stealth in the west since tallmen are seen as inherently more masculine than elves

(i also think changing genders is just more common for elves. theyre androgynous enough that it wouldnt be hard and like who in their right miiiiind would be the same gender for 500 years. dwarves too)

i think he started presenting as male socially in the west but didnt need to consider medical transition until he moved to a more mixed culture where other races might see him as a woman

i dont have to explain the bisexual part. have u seen him

namari is a butch bisexual this is just canon straight up. shes not transmasc but i think the default settings for dwarven women is like 4 years of T regardless. shes a hit at all the local cruising spots despite her renfaire nerdisms i know this

and just bc im thinking abt em kiki and kaka are identical and kiki is tfem :} theyre both attracted to women but kaka is a sub so i forgive him

THATS ALL 4 NOW theres a lot of characters so i cant have thoughts abt all of them at once but i hope this was good. im right about everything forever as per usual

[rory-multifandom-mess]

IT’S TIME FOR THE in-depth scene-by-scene character analysis on No Way

THIS POST IS HEAVILY INSPIRED BY @skythealmighty 'S WHEEL ANALYSIS!!!! GO READ IT RIGHT NEOW ITS REALLY GOOD

TL;DR: No Way has one of the most prominent character development arcs in this show, from starting off as naive and overly trusting of Clock to being paranoid and distrusting of anyone new, a lot like Wheel was from the very beginning. Oh and also Tile is a BITCH-

WARNING: Long ass post with 11 THOUSAND words and exactly two pictures so have fun and good luck LMAOOO

Ok, alright, so. The analysis isn’t going to be very serious up until 4:00, since that’s when things started to get really bad for them. But I’ll still do all the other episodes because I’m . incredibly normal! This will get updated once 8:00 releases on the 22nd so umm. Yeah ANYWAYS

IT’S TIME FOR THE [1:00] - Who’s Jason??

0:19 - “I don’t think I had anything in particular planned for today but I am content” “Wow! That’s nice.” “NO! That’s boring, there’s nothing to do!!” “I don’t think they were talking to you..” “Uh- Wha-” [glass shattering noise]

There isn’t much to point out here, other than No Way being a supportive friend to 57-ball, but I would like to note No Way’s expressions when Refill Station does their whole. Thing. They get startled from the shatter, so much so that they take a step back, and just look at RF all confused and kind of concerned as they walk away. 57-ball doesn’t even look confused, he kinda just looks. Done LMAO

2:24 - “Compete in my competition show!!” “Oh!! Uhh…” “Okay I’m in!”

Note No Way’s immediate compliance and almost clear excitement in the way they move their arms, a very clear contrast from everyone else’s blank stares (and Vase’s hesitancy. And Wheel’s >:|). This will be important later on methinks.

4:39 - “Okay, street sign, car tire, and… pool ball. Dang!! If only you were like a street lamp or crossing signal or something, would have had a cool team name idea for that.”

Nothing too notable here, I just like that they immediately started talking and took a page out of Polka Dot’s book with her thought process. The two have a few things in common, one of which being that they’re both kinda immediately into the competition when it starts. I also want to point out the expression shifts, especially with 57-ball. He looks almost offended at what No Way said and I don’t think they even realize that. It’s a nice touch!

I also want to note the way No Way looks at Wheel during the team name jingle. They almost look sympathetic? Like an “aw man, that sucks.” 

6:56 - “Ok, well, we gotta get this card as far away from here as possible if we don’t want the host to hear it.” “Ok.” [Wheel kicks the card] “N- NO WAY.” [win sound]

Nothing to note here. I just like how this is the only thing No Way says in this entire sequence and it's some really dumb pun about their name. Makes me laugh every time

I also really like how the same win sound plays when Vase says “no way” even though it had nothing to do with them

10:39 - [After credits scene]

This is just silly to me because at the bottom of the screen you can see No Way and Wheel run by. Like. Why is Wheel chasing them. Why are they running. What happened here LMFAO

(UPDATE AFTER HAVING A FEW PEOPLE READ THIS: THEY ARE CANONICALLY PLAYING TAG I’M GOING TO SCREAM THAT'S SO CUTE)

END OF EPISODE THOUGHTS: This episode mostly acts as an introduction to the characters, so there isn’t much to say here. Other than, like, No Way’s basic personality traits; good friend, kind, supportive, excitable, doesn’t always realize what they’re saying can be seen as offensive. Maybe has ADHD but I might just be projecting because they’re my favorite. That’s not a personality trait but . shut up

IT’S TIME FOR THE [2:00] - Best Source For Weather Information

0:29 - “I NOMINATE NO WAY!” “I’m already out man… anyways, it says next up is Words With Friends Tile.”

I want to point out the fact No Way is holding a clipboard and paper. I think this just shows they’re pretty smart, despite some moments where it would seem the opposite. I think, as of now, they’re pretty naive, especially when it comes to Clock. As if to contrast Wheel’s paranoia about Clock, they seem to immediately trust them. Though so does like, everyone else except for Wheel so I might just be looking too deep into things. 

I also want to note their tone of voice when they say next up was WWFT because they also sound kind of confused and slightly surprised. They were likely thinking the same thing as Wheel (“He doesn’t have any eyes!”) but didn’t say anything, probably because them and Tile are friends

I also like how they look very slightly surprised when Tile and Wheel start fighting. Maybe not surprised, but more just like “Oh! Okay!”

0:51 - “Okay then, how about instead of Tile we put The Sun up there?” “Yayyy!!” “Okay. Three, two, one, go!!”

I really like No Way’s voice. Anyway, this is another point to them being pretty smart; it seems like they’re the one who organized this whole staring contest game, given the clipboard and them doing the countdown. Granted I don’t think they realized having 57-ball stare directly into the sun would be a bad idea.

3:56 - “Oohhh yeaaa, we’re so back!!” “Ooohh! Where did you go?” “You just don’t get it dude.” [Gasp] “Wooaaoowwww!!” [Clock claps their hands]

Another moment of No Way being naive. I also think their reaction to WWTF is a mix of them just being fairly excited for the next challenge and also just being friends with Tile in general. I like to think they think everything Tile does is cool. Writing wise, this is likely just to play into Tile’s whole cool guy bit. This scene also somewhat confuses me because, like No Way, I also don’t get it. (Come to think of it I wonder if this was meant to be like a fourth wall break from Tile?)

4:23 - “The first HALF of you will be safe, while the rest of you will be up for elimination.” “Seems simple enou- wait a second, there’s only 9 of uhhhhhh UUUAAAAA–” [enter: no ways] “what is happening….”

Ah yes, what I think is the start of No Way’s … iffyness? I guess? The way they say “what is happening” almost makes it sound like the process of being split into two people made them feel sick, and this is aided by their expression. Also, their face as it was happening makes me think that it was painful, which isn’t much of a surprise. They did not like this.

4:37 - “Get your good pal to the finish line and you’ll be safe!” “This doesn’t seem very fair…” “Sure it is!” “Oh ok!”

This feels like another point to them being naive and very trusting of Clock. At first they still seem very affected by the being split in two bit, going through the logic in their head, but then when Clock says it's definitely fair, the logic shifts. They’re likely thinking “Well, they are the host, so they must know what’s best for their challenges!”

As a side note, I like 57-balls “what” before he gets interrupted by Wheel. He’s probably thinking, “how is their opinion so easily swayed. What.”

6:03 - [Pretty much just No Way struggling to get No Ways to move, punching it, trying to throw it only to find its too heavy and hurting themself, and then trying to hit it with their sign pole and going FLYING]

No Way is quick to get frustrated and resorts to getting physical when No Ways doesn’t budge. Though it is likely that they spent some time just yelling at it before they tried punching, just off-screen. This could also possibly be showing us that No Way is kind of weak and uncoordinated, given how easily they fell backward trying to pick No Ways up and the way they hadn’t even swung the sign pole before getting flung over the railing. Of course, the frustration could also come from being stressed about the fact No Ways even exists, as they aren’t shown to get particularly frustrated fast when things don’t go their way later on.

6:30 - “aaaaAAAAAA OUGH- That was awful…” “Welcome to being a winner, Octagon!! Because you just won th-” “Wai- I wo- I won the???” “I didn’t finish my sentence, w-what are you doing here Octagon?” “I’m not an octagon, I’m No Way!! See?- uuhh…” “You’ll need your friend here too to be safe as well reme-” [Slowed Down Win Sound] “No Way is safe!” “Woohoo!” “Now that’s cool brah.”

Ok a lot happens here so I’ll try to break it down. 

Despite likely knowing better, No Way gets very excited at the prospect of winning The   , and even stims a little bit, despite the fact it’s impossible for them to have won the whole competition right then and there. 

When Clock doesn’t recognize them, they almost look offended, and their tone while explaining that they aren’t just an octagon reflects that. The way they try to grab their sign pole without realizing it isn’t there anymore makes me think that they’re forgetful, since they just forgot they took it off not even a minute ago. I’m not sure how to explain the way they reacted to realizing it wasn’t there anymore, but the noise they make is really funny to me.

No Way gets startled by No Ways just sorta Sliding In, though this fear is immediately left behind and replaced with excitement upon learning they were safe.

Important mention: The little dance they do with Tile. Friendship! Yaay!

7:05 - “...and now both No Ways and No Way are safe.”

No Way almost looks at No Ways with a very unsure look on their face, like they still aren’t sure of what to make of it. They know that they don’t exactly like it, but they also know it’s almost like… a part of them? They are very confused and conflicted about the existence of this creature.

8:01 - “AYGHAGHUUSHASAAH-” [No Way and No Ways become one again] “Ughh, Clock please never do that again.”

This shit is PAINFUL for them, judging by their expressions as they’re being merged (though they are very fast). They sound sick to their stomach again when they ask Clock to never do that again. Like I said before, the start of their iffyness about this. They are still naive though, that’s for sure.

END OF EPISODE THOUGHTS: This episode mostly highlights two traits; their naivety and that they are actually fairly smart and shouldn’t be written off as dumb just because they’re naive, since being naive doesn’t always mean the person is stupid. I also just want to say that them being naive and excitable in this episode is important for later. Oh also, sprinkling in a little bit of mind fuckery too. For fun.

IT’S TIME FOR THE [3:00] - Next

1:18 - [Clock typing away on a keyboard] “Go ahead, do it!!! Just do it al-” [Blue screen] “What is that thing?” “I don’t know??”

No Way (and 57-ball) look so extremely concerned and afraid for Wheel, especially with the way they have their hands positioned, their expression (with the tiny dot eyes for a second and exaggerated D:), and how they’re the first person to ask what the blue screen and selection box around Wheel is. This is a clear representation of how much they really do care about their friends, which is backed by their concern for Refill Station back in the first episode and other moments in episodes further ahead.

4:27 - “Oh! Sounds like it’s time for the challenge, wanna come with?” “Sure!” “Alright, hold on!” [Music]

POLKAWAY FRIENDSHIP YAAAY. I feel like these two are also synonymous with each other but I’ll get into that later. I’m noting this not only because it's a favorite scene of mine, but also this shows how “go with the flow” No Way is. They grab onto the polka dot and as they’re flying, they look scared to fall off or something. And then two seconds before this sequence ends, they start to look sick. This, along with how sick they sounded last episode when it came to No Ways, leads me to believe that they might have a weak stomach or just get motion sick easily

4:41 - “Where’s Refill Station?” “Oh I forgot about him. He’ll make his way over eventually I’m sure.”

Very small moment but important to me. They are the first person to realize Refill Station was missing and ask about them, and Polka Dot even states she straight up just forgot about him. Yet another instance of No Way caring for their friends.

5:09 - “Also, you should be happy I don’t have to cut any of you in half this time…..” (fear)

Oh Boy Oh Boy! I don’t know why Clock said this– whether it was out of malice or just a statement since, y’know, they aren’t exactly wrong– but No Way’s reaction of pure fear is a sign (heh) that they were likely somewhat traumatized by the experience. Oh yeah, now we’re finally getting somewhere with this.

5:54 - ”Sure was nice of clock to give us these cups right Tile?” “Mhm.” “...uhhh you doin alright?” “I had this really good fruit earlier brah, it tasted really good and it was super juicy, and tasted really good man!” “Uhmm okay.” “AND it was full of water, dude! Bro, I think Clock would like it a lot.” “Are you sure? It seems like people are already on their way to that lake over there, we gotta be quick!” “Don’t worry man, it’s right next to the lake anyway!” “Alright…”

I think No Way commenting on it being nice that Clock gave them cups could be them trying to convince themselves of that, given how almost awkward it sounds, and especially with the way they ask Tile for feedback. Or maybe I’m just straight up wrong and they’re just looking on the bright side. (most likely the latter)

Once again with No Way caring about their friends! They immediately think something might be wrong with Tile because he gives a response that isn’t typical for him. 

As Tile is describing the fruit he had earlier, No Way looks at their cup like they’re considering something, likely about using the fruit instead of just getting water. They look and sound preoccupied when they give the response of just “uhmm, okay.”

When they ask if Tile is sure and mentions the others going to the lake, it's pretty obvious how much they want to actually win the challenge, probably because they’ve been on a pretty good winning streak. 

This isn’t fully related to No Way but this is my 4th time watching this and I’m noticing how lowkey manipulative Tile sounds here, like he’s trying to keep No Way from being safe by pulling them away from the lake to get this fruit he’s talking about. Mostly saying this because of how he adds the bit about Clock (putting emphasis on the “AND”) after No Way doesn’t show interest in the fruit at first. 

7:39 - “Thank you for telling me about this juicy snack! I think I’ll be on my way to take this over to Clock now, and- AAGHHHHH- oughh!” “Aww yeaahh!! Green can’t say we’re not cool now!” (music) “Tile. TILE.” “Bro what is it.” “The fruit…!!” “Yeah bro I………oh. Okay! You wanna jump in the water and get it?” “No way!! You’re the one who…”

I want to focus on No Way’s expression here- specifically when Tile shoves Green out of the tree. They look so surprised and I feel like there’s at least a hint of concern in there. Surprised because oh my god, Tile, how could you do that?? And concerned because that impact sounded really bad for Green. The way they stare for a little drives this home too. (say it with me now: NO WAY CARES A LOT ABOUT THEIR FRIENDS)

When they start trying to get Tile’s attention, they sound and look frustrated, obviously partially because Tile was just sorta dancing and took a moment to respond, but also because he just shoved their friend out of a tree.

For like, a millisecond before No Way reminds Tile of the fruit, they seem to be trying to think about something. At first glance, I’d assume they forgot about what they were supposed to be doing, but now I think this is a moment of them thinking about whether or not to bring up what Tile just did, ultimately deciding to just bring up the fruit again.

No Way instantly refuses to jump into the water themself, and proceeds to almost tell Tile that he should do it instead because… Well, because he shoved Green and the fruit out of the tree. Though they backtrack on this to instead suggest they do Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide. I think they backtrack and suggest RPS entirely because they know Tile so well, and they know he won’t just do it if they tell him to. Also, I think them almost bringing up the shoving incident would’ve been one of those “take accountability of your actions” type things

Also I like their face when Tile says “you’re on.” smug little shit

8:37 - “What?? Where’d the lake go?” “eeughhh….. I don’t feel so good.” “Yaa bro, Green looks like he’s seen better days. I say we just take the fruit back and dip.”

No Way being the first to question when weird shit happens ….

IMPORTANT POINT HERE. I want to specifically point out the way No Way looks at Green with a sad/sympathetic look on their face. Well– okay. If you look close enough, No Way isn’t actually looking at Green, and is instead looking at the spot in front of him. From the look on their face, it’s like they’re thinking about if this is really ethical. They care about Green, that much is obvious, and they also care about Tile. While yes, Green did technically try to steal the fruit from them, that didn’t give Tile the right to seriously injure him. It’s like a moral dilemma. Of course their thought process gets interrupted by the MASS AMOUNT OF WATER FALLING TOWARDS THEM-

…Also more of Tile being kind of an asshole

9:10 - “WAAAIITTTT!! HERE HERE I HAVE SOME!” “Yeaa, The Sun and Vase are good.” “Rrrgh-” (Music)

Ah, their final desperate attempt to be safe despite knowing it’s probably over. Also, their frustration boiling over in the form of them yelling into the sky like an anime protag. This is likely mostly frustration due to losing the challenge, but I imagine it’s also because they had wasted so much time with Tile.

END OF EPISODE THOUGHTS: Man, the sudden realization I had about Tile midway through this is crazy. He almost seems unsympathetic to, like, everyone, and this even happens throughout the show too. Anyways, No Way gets a little more frustrated this episode! Especially with Tile. The fall of NoTile friendship….

IT’S TIME FOR THE [4:00] - Do NOT Use The Popcorn Button

0:30 - “Soo! What are we doin here?” “Not being in the water? I can only swim for so long, I’m made out of metal y’know??” “Yaahh I don’t know what they’re talking about, I just like this tree.” “Okay!” “WOAH BRO, WHAAAA” “Wh- WHAT why did you do that?!”

No Way is so frustrated here bro. Completely fair too. They’re exhausted from trying to swim, finally made it to the tree to rest, and then Clock comes and interrupts it. They looked so relaxed before Clock landed in the tree and startled them so bad they almost fell out of it. Also the way No Way deadpans when Tile flings himself over is funny.

No Way immediately asks Clock why they knocked Tile out of the tree, offended and upset about it for him. It’s like they’re slowly starting to be done with Clock’s shenanigans.

0:46 - “It’s ti- *ringnti* It’s 4 o’clock, meaning that it is time-” “For the elimina-” “The challenge!” “Huh?-” “Yea, I meant the elimination.”

No Way looks so sad here, and from the way their voice shakes slightly, they were definitely dreading it. They hadn’t been through a single elimination yet, having been on a winning streak until now. From what we can tell, they have no idea what even happens at an elimination, only that afterwards, they’re missing a group member. Their confusion, and the way they look at Clock when their ringer just sorta… floats back onto their head drives home this feeling that they’re starting to distrust Clock a little more, or at least just be extremely confused at them. Rightfully so.

1:45 - [No Way fucking drowning] “Okay…. I can’t understand you. Here, how about this.” “Thank goodness… I-I’m breathing underwater??” 

No Way being the only one to question when things don’t make sense again. Not even Wheel says anything, and Green is just . okay with this.

1:58 - “Woah, what’s wrong with you?” “I shouldn’t BE here, I didn’t even lose the last challenge!” “Why don’t you just leave then?-” “You don’t WANT me here??” “No! No! I didn’t say tha-”

Say it with me guys! NO WAY CARES A LOT ABOUT THEIR FRIENDS!!! They immediately notice that Wheel is absolutely fuming and asks what’s wrong, tries to provide a solution, but when Wheel takes it the wrong way, they instantly backpedal, trying to reassure him that they didn’t mean it that way. And then Tile interrupts by telling Wheel he’s a loser (BEING AN ASSHOLE AGAI-)

2:26 - “Fantastic, now there’s only 3 of us here again.” “Three?? Who’s missing?” “I don’t know, don’t ask me.” “I wasn’t.” “You just did.” “I- D- Clock, we’re missing Refill Station.”

Frustration at Green because of the misunderstanding.

First to point out Refill Station being missing. Again. Say it with me g- ok I’m done with that bit

Honorable mention to No Way falling backwards when Refill Station slams into the ground, suggesting they’re pretty clumsy I think.

I’m not time stamping this as a point since it doesn't really feel significant enough but when Clock mistakenly says Wheel got 0 votes at 3:57, No Way’s brow raises and they frown a little more, like they’re surprised at the 0 votes and possibly even worried. Y’all know what I’m gonna say at this point

4:25 - “The only one to not make it over 1,000 votes this time was Green, who only got 843” “Oh nooo.. I wasn’t expecting to get out so soon :(“ “Oh.. Hey! Maybe you might be able to come back later on.” “I-I don’t know.. That’s why I’ve been so worried, a part of me feels l-” “Huh? Green?-” 

OH BOY OH BOY. I think this is the first time where we haven’t had a moment of the last safe contestant going “yay! I mean-” and I think that says something about No Way’s character. They’re most likely relieved they aren’t out of the game, but they know Green, their friend, is eliminated. So instead of celebrating their safety, they immediately try to reassure Green that maybe he can rejoin the show! It’s very obvious here that No Way has no idea what happens to eliminated contestants up until Green’s disappearance. They even call out for him, looking around as if he was still there. That is, until the radio catches their attention. Also the weird distorted music coming from the Radio is really off putting.

4:49 - “..Clock, what happened to Green?” “I already said earlier, I have no idea! Quite convenient that the eliminated contestants just disappear though!” “Just disap- You have no idea what’s going on here?!-”

Green’s elimination is a monumental part of No Way’s character development. 4 episodes in and they have finally learned what happens when someone is eliminated, and it’s terrifying in such a subtle way. Just like that, everything No Way assumed about the eliminations - about this contest - was swept away. Green just disappeared. Not a trace of him was left behind– nothing but that creepy vintage radio. And when they go to Clock, someone who they think is completely in control of this elimination, they’re met with an answer no one wants to hear. They don’t know. The contestants just disappear. And it’s here where No Way finally realizes that Clock isn’t as trustworthy as they originally thought. The start of the horrors for them, if you will.

5:35 - [Loud clattering sound] “What… just happened?”

No Way being the first to question the weird shit again. That’s all really

5:53 - “Hold on… teams?? But, Clock, what ever happened to-” “There’s no more teams! There’s no more teams.” “Yeah! Here are your teams for the challenge, and only this challenge!!”

Ok this might seem like nothing but hear me out. Look at No Way’s face during the ‘flashback’ part. They look curious, intrigued. Interested. Now look at their face during the more recent scene. They look sadder. Less energetic. Exhausted. It almost looks like they’re not even paying attention, still stuck on what happened with Green.

6:05 - “Nonono! This team will get a special visitor!” [GASP] “Please please plea-” [Samsung ringtone] “Aww man- Can I switch teams??” 

They hate this guy (No Ways) (added this entirely because I like the way No Way says that last line. Scratches my brain good)

6:17 - “Okay!! You all have 30 seconds! “This again, I ended up coming up with the team name by accident last time, do you have any ideas?” “Uhhhh, Vase… Star…. Street sign….. …. Eheh…-” “It’s alright, we can come back to you. How about you?” “.......” “..Who is that?” 

No Way’s head is no longer in the game. Before Vase starts talking, you can see No Way staring into the distance. Whether or not they’re staring specifically at something or not we don’t know, but they certainly are not paying attention. All of their energy and effort to compete from episode 1 is gone, and judging by the way they hang their head when Vase says they’ll come back to them, they feel bad about it. Like, they feel like they should put more effort in, if not just for the competition but for their team too.

Also I never noticed it but Vase rolls her eyes at them. That’s kinda mean ma’am :( 

6:32 - “Here are your team names!” “Hm??” “Meet team [buzzing sound]” “This the best!” “That was not 30 seconds.”

No Way, again, sounds and looks so done here. They may have not been completely paying attention, but they know that absolutely wasn’t enough time and they are frustrated. Hashtag done with Clock fr. I’m so sorry

8:16 - [The Sun telling them a recipe. I am NOT typing allat] “Ohhnono, we’re overthinking it, we can just make some nice simple toast for Clock!” “We don’t really have a toaster around her- oh- ohhhh!”

Ok so two bits. No Way has the clipboard and paper again and is actively writing down the recipe The Sun is giving them. But then not even a second later, they didn't realize they could just use The Sun as a toaster. This is a good reminder of their intelligence, while also letting us know that, again, they aren’t completely in the moment. That or they were just so focused on the recipe that they actually didn’t even think of that. ADHD havin’ a-

9:33 - “I know for a fact I saw a store or something nearby, but whatever, we’ll just have to be quick, clock’s starting to look bore- Where Is The Bread.” “So like, I've heard that you needed your bread toasted and I uhhh sort of put it in that sun right there… sorry.” “Yea.” “AAGH-!! Nnoo! I am not gonna be losing a second time in a row like that, one second!” “Uhm..”

NO WAY HATES THIS GUY!! (No Ways). Their frustration grows, which sort of morphs its way into determination. Now that I really think about it, No Way has been a bit of a “challenge beast,” as Wheel would say. Also I think it’s kind of cute how every time No Way gets overly frustrated they put their hands on their head. I don’t know what you would call that but it’s something I’ve noticed.

END OF EPISODE THOUGHTS: Y’know before I started writing this, I always thought No Way’s character development started in 5:00 after Wheel’s elimination. Now I know I was extremely wrong actually. From here I think it’s very clear how their development is going. They aren’t as naive as before and they’ve lost a lot of that previous motivation and excitement for the show.

IT’S TIME FOR THE [5:00] - Fifty-Seven Tears Of The Star

0:39 - “Welp… Tile’s dead again..” “What?! Tile’s gone??” “Let’s go get ‘em back.” “I’ll do it!” “Huh?” [Refill Station slaps down a random fucking door] “Refill Station.”

Ok I know I keep saying this but No Way is so done. Normally I think they would still be worried about Tile, but they’ve either been desensitized to all the dying or they’re just too exhausted to care. I feel like this is further proven by the moment with Refill Station– the way they say his name in such an exasperated way before just turning and walking away.

1:02 - “NO! No… I just think.. We should look for Tile!” “...” “NO YOU’RE JUST SAYING THAT ‘CUZ YOU’RE SAFE!” “...”

Notice how No Way looks so disinterested during the first frame switch to them and Vase. They look like they aren’t even paying attention again, staring at the ground all exhausted. But then after Wheel yells at them, their attention is grabbed and they look concerned and confused, sharing a glance with Vase. I think this is once again them caring about their friend. I mean, Wheel is essentially yelling at nothing since neither No Way nor Vase even said anything in response. Is bro okay? (bro was not ok)

1:14 - “Hey Polka Dot, you didn’t tell me about this. What’s going on here?” “It popped up like 20 minutes ago. Why is everyone expecting me to know anyways??” “B-because… come on.”

The sass on this guy. 

Jokes aside though, I think their friendship with Polka Dot is very important. In this moment, they don’t seem as eugh as before, and before they give her a little bit of sass, they try to find a good way to say it nicely. Also, they sound genuinely concerned in the first sentence here.

1:22 - “Fair point, but I seriously don’t know what this thing is.” “Have you tried- OUGH-”

Ok. This is a funny scene and makes me laugh every time. But I want to focus on No Way’s reaction here. And I’ll actually add a picture this time 

At first, No Way jumps a little, probably because a piano just came flying out of that thing and nearly hit them. But then they get this over exaggerated look of fear and concern on their face. I’ve said this a kajillion times before, but No Way genuinely cares a lot about their friends, no matter how uninterested and demotivated they might be. They are scared for Vase because they know how fragile she is and she just got hit with a grand piano. Though they somewhat immediately relax again when they find Vase is perfectly fine.

1:26 - “OWWHH?? Wh- who’s piano is this???” “Not mine, but hey! This is pretty cool, have you ever wanted to play piano?”

This is really important to me because this is almost like how No Way was with Green right before he was eliminated. Instead of thinking about the negative implications behind this piano just… appearing out of this weird portal, they think on the bright side of things. I notice they tend to do that a lot, almost like they’re the optimist in the group, almost like how Polka Dot is. There it is again- Polka Dot and No Way being similar to one another. 

2:02 - “Clock brought me back, duh.” “Where IS Clock?” 

This has nothing to do with No Way’s character development but on my rewatch before this one I realized you can see them fix themself in the background of this scene and I thought I’d share that.

2:24 - “I’m not even gonna ask.” “Clock! What happened???” “What?” “You’re green-” “Oh! I just took a little nap!!” 

Once Again! No Way Is Being Caring And Friendly! Even though they’re kind of done with Clock’s shenaniganry they still act caring towards them! Though it is likely that they’ve kind of gotten over their doneness. Maybe spending time with friends (like Polka Dot and Vase) has helped them regain their footing again. I also think this is one of those “first to question when things are weird” moments, which I think is even more noticeable when you pair it with Vase’s “I’m not even gonna ask.”

6:02 - “You are the FINAL member left on our original team and I want you to know that I wish you luck!” “Oh! Thanks…”

I’ll get to Wheel’s actual elimination in a second, but I want to focus on No Way’s expressions as Wheel is talking to them. At first when Wheel comes up to them, they look a little surprised, like they weren’t expecting him to talk to them. And then when they realize what Wheel is saying is positive, they smile and thank him, with a little nervous hand behind their head. I like the detail of the little brow furrow as they thank Wheel, it makes it feel very sincere and genuine and like its genuinely special to them. 

6:07 - “Soo, what now?” [Wheel starts to crack and cries out in pain] “What… is.. This?!-” “That’s not cool bruh.” “nonono… GO GO GO GO!!-”

Ah yes. The elimination. I’ve seen lots of people talk about this, specifically No Way’s reaction, but I’m going to do it again because I want to.

When Wheel starts to crack, No Way cringes and flinches back slightly. This is painful to watch- visceral and horrible in every way. Mind you, this is only the second elimination No Way has seen. This is just bad in every way, so much more aggressive than Green’s elimination just last episode. They are scared and worried for Wheel, and it’s fairly obvious that they hate seeing their friends hurt. Then, right before Wheel explodes, they reach out for him. They try to help, to find a way to console him despite the blistering pain shooting through him. Despite the fact they are scared, they still try to help. They care so much about their friends. While the others trying to run away, they stick by him until the end. But then they realize Wheel is about to literally explode and they back up a little, covering their face to prepare for the impact.

This is so subtle yet so impactful for them and their character development. It’s such a clear view into who they are just by the way they try to help their friend, even though there is nothing within their power that they could have done. 

Also I know this isn’t about Tile but this is also more of Tile being EVIL because of the L he gives Wheel. Wtf bro

7:14 - “I’m not teaming with any of these randos.” “Really?”

I wanna note No Way’s expressions here (again). At first, before Tile says he isn’t gonna team with any of the original ITFT members, No Way almost looks like they were going to call out to him, probably to be like “hey! Since we can choose our teams this time, maybe we can team up!” But then after Tile says what he does, they look sad and maybe even a little bit surprised. Their expression makes me think that they might be wondering what they did wrong for Tile to randomly decide not to team with them. (this is somewhat influenced by the wiki implying that No Way still thinks they’re friends with Tile)

I also want to note something a little more silly: Refill Station literally falling to their knees at Tile’s remark and looking like he just killed their entire family

7:26 - “THERE ARE 34 OF US IN TOTAL, THAT SIMPLY DOES NOT ADD UP, AS 6x6, IT EQUALS 36.” “Wait, you’re right! You must be great at math!” “I AM A   CALCULATOR.” 

I like this scene because it kind of contradicts what happens immediately after TI-30 comes up to them. When talking to TI-30, they’re smiling, probably because they think he’s cool. Them pointing out that he’s great at math leads me to believe they have a hard time with it (same). This scene also makes me think they have ADHD even more because they pointed out something obvious and then TI-30 gave a sarcastic (i don’t think that’s the right word, but it's similar to that) response and No Way did NOT pick up on it.

7:39 - “Mathematics?? I LOVE mathematics! That’s when I can collect friends!” “You collect friends in math class?” “No? What’s math class?” “Are you a FAKE MATH FAN???” “Pff, of course not! Check this out! One times one is one! One times two is two! One times three is three-”

Okay now this part- I know in the subtitles it doesn’t have any of what No Way “said” in it, but they do make a few sounds. I’ll get to those in a second, but I want to point out their expression when Whiteberry pulled them closer to herself; They look scared. I’m not entirely sure why, but to me it seems like it was because of the sudden and unwanted physical touch. Their face always confused me here though.

Anyway, moving on to the point I actually wanted to make- when Strawberry Milk asks Whiteberry if she is a fake math fan, you can hear No Way go “uh…” in the background. And then, when Whiteberry is listing off the timetables, you can hear them go “hm..” again and they furrow their brow a little. They are extremely unsure about Whiteberry and Strawberry Milk joining their team. They’re either assessing whether or not they will be useful (not likely, considering their character), or the two are generally just off putting to them. I think there is also the chance that they aren’t sure about teaming with people they haven’t met before, like they still really wish they could team up with their actual friends for some normalcy.

11:05 - “Hey… hey!” “huh?-” “You doin alright?” “Yeaa… it’s been a long day, this felt like the longest two minutes of my life. Mh- so… we just need one more person here?” “I’m… going to be here.” “Oh.”

ANOTHER IMPORTANT POINT. This scene with Lava Cake is a culmination of everything that has happened to No Way, this moment of getting to just chill for a moment causing all of that exhaustion to creep up on them again, so much so that they fall asleep standing up. They even sound exhausted (props to Derpadon for the amazing voice acting btw), speaking slowly and yawning in the middle of their sentence. Writing wise, this is a perfect way to remind the viewers that all of this is happening in a SINGULAR DAY. I also like how Lava Cake wakes them up by just ramming into them considering his lack of arms. Also. The sound effect. Smile. And finally, their very minimal reaction to Xiru joining their team randomly. I don’t know what this means other than “they are exhausted” but it is funny to me

13:23 - [Lava Cake, Whiteberry, and Strawberry Milk get electrocuted] “AAAAAAAA!!” “NOOOO” “OHH MYY GOODNESS!! AAAAAaaaa!!” “Ohno!” “Keep climbing, stop sign. They. Will. Be fine.” “Ugh, right…”

THIS!!! This scene. No Way’s concern for people they barely even know and someone who isn’t even on their team– this is another one of those clear representations of who No Way is as a person, reaching out for the three of them even though they clearly couldn’t even reach them. And even when TI-30 tells them to keep climbing, they still look worried and maybe even a little conflicted about continuing to climb when they’re missing two of their teammates. Their tone even reflects this, and there’s almost a sense of urgency underneath too. I reckon they might be a little scared of being up for elimination now, especially with what they saw with Wheel.

16:15 - “Team Refill is on their way, I can throw you from here.” “wwOOAHH CALCULATOR- NO!” “It must be done.” “But-” “It must be done-” (cough) “It must be done. Trust me.” [gimmie that baby and I yeet it off the tower /ref]

This will get really long if I include the next part so I’m separating it. Anyways, No Way’s reaction to being thrown here is really important to me here. The way they tell TI-30 to not throw them makes it clear they don’t trust him, a STARK contrast to the way they were immediately trusting of Clock when she first showed up. Also, TI-30’s ambition here and the way he doesn’t even give No Way a chance to protest any further is almost like foreshadowing that he would be/is a “challenge beast.”

16:30 - “aaaaaaAAAAAAAAA- OUGH!” “wwwoahhhWOOAAHH woah… ooh.. Wh- what is this…??”

THE HORRORS! The existentialism! All bundled up in one little stop sign. I don’t really have any notes on this other than this being a catalyst for the way they act in 6:00 up until they Fucking Die. Seeing this weird, giant green thing in the sky, seeing Clock’s tail plugged into something that should not even exist is mindbreaking to them. It doesn’t make any sense– it should be literally impossible. But it’s there. It’s there and it shouldn’t be. And then when it comes unplugged? It just… disappears. Fades out of existence. “What the fuck did I just see??” - No Way, probably.

END OF EPISODE THOUGHTS: DETRIMENTAL EPISODE!!!! I think this is my favorite episode so far actually. It’s just so interesting?? And when the LORE really starts to kick up. Also it made me like No Way a lot more so !!! yippee. Smiles

IT’S TIME FOR THE [6:00] - Will You Ever Know?

5:27 - “You’ll need at least one of your team members to get to the other side of the planet to complete the challenge. The three teams that DON’T make-” “But I have to get back to the… Ughh… wait-” “No Way!! Hello!” “Uh.. Hi?”

Yeah so, No Way is 100% stuck on that Fucking Thing Up There. But they’ve known Clock for 6 hours now and know that they aren’t going to listen to them or even know what it is if they ask. And, once again, being unsure about Whiteberry. I also get the impression that they didn’t fully .. focus? On Whiteberry, because immediately after their short “uh.. Hi?” they turn to Clock to ask questions; getting to that now.

5:38 - “Uh- Clock, didn’t you say the challenge was to get to the other side of the planet?” “Yes!” “Aand we have how much time?” “17 minutes!” “What.” “Happy Valentine's Day!! You’re not REALLY gonna have to go that far at all! Check this out!” “Valentines Day..?-” “You ask WAY too many questions dude.”

No Way asking the right questions again. This is where them questioning everything becomes very important, and I think Tile commenting on it brings its importance to the viewers attention.

Honorary mention: funny flat “What” moment. These will never not make me laugh dawg

5:58 - “What… Are they doing…” “Looks like some sort of funny dance, I can do that too you know!” 

Very minimal thing but No Way’s expressions are very telling of how they feel. First, with watching Clock literally fold the Fucking PLANET, they look. EXTREMELY confused and even a little bit disturbed. Nothing is making sense to them anymore, and I think they’re finally realizing that nothing ever made sense in the first place, ever since Clock showed up at least. And then when Refill Station starts dancing, I think it’s good to compare their expression with Polka Dot’s. Polka Dot looks at RF with like a… “Why are you like this?” look. Words are hard and I don’t exactly know how to describe her expression, but it’s mostly like a “What. Why. What is wrong with you.” Meanwhile, No Way looks at him with more confusion and a hint of worry compared to Polka Dot. To me, No Way looks like they’re thinking “How can you act like this when Clock is literally reforming the planet right in front of us. How can you just stand there and dance when all of this is happening?” Almost like how 57-Ball questioned their naivety.

6:33 - “WAIT! NO WAY!” “What??” “Hey it’s- it’s me, uh- Shrimpy, I think you should let me come along!” “Oh… Uh.. Why’s that?” “Because I remember you getting the farthest up Clock’s wire!” “Right. That… sure was strange.” 

Splitting up this scene because it’s kinda long

The quick way No Way says “what?” almost sounds exasperated and surprised, almost like they were distracted or just not paying attention before Shrimpy called their name.

Their voice is very soft when they ask why Shrimpy thinks that, and they’re almost hesitant.

Focus on the way No Way responds when Shrimpy brings up the last challenge. Instead of being happy about winning, they say it was strange. And I don’t think they were talking about the fact they won was strange, though it is easy to think that at first glance. I believe they were referring to the fact that Clock's tail was plugged into the sky in the first place. Getting to the top of that wire was so mind-bending to them that they don’t even care enough to remember that it was even a challenge, judging by the way they say “right” at the start of their sentence. And even though this is affecting them so badly, they can’t even think of how to explain. More on that later.

6:45 - “So… maybe your prize for winning should be to have an extra team member!” “But.. you weren’t even on my team.. And uh.. Xiru got more votes than you.. If I remember correctly.” “Oh Xiru… he wouldn’t even want to go, right buddy?” “Bye.” “See?” “Ok fair point, let’s go.”

I think the more No Way loses that naivety from the beginning of the show, the more we see their more intelligent side. If this was still No Way from 1:00, They would have immediately agreed to letting Shrimpy join their team. But they didn’t. They asked Shrimpy to explain why twice, and they only finally agreed when Shrimpy gave them actual, proper reasons and even proved the second reason. There’s a few reasons why I think this change happened, but the biggest one is because they didn’t do that with Clock. They didn’t ask questions, and now their friends are disappearing and Wheel fucking exploded and they’re traumatized. Nothing is good anymore. They can’t afford to trust the wrong person again- they can’t afford to not question things anymore.

Honorary mention: Whiteberry making weird ass faces in the background of both of these timestamps. ITFT crew fr doing a little bit of anything

9:35 - “You could buy a zoo with all the doctor bills he paaaid!~” “Whiteberry, please! STOP- STOP SINGING. Stop singing, please.” “Why are you so stressed out anyways? What’s been going on?” “During the last challenge I… saw something. Something that- like- I- I don’t know, I- I can’t describe it, it feels like one of those things that like- you feel like you’re not supposed to see… y’know?” 

Splitting this up again because it’s long.

Before I get to my main point with this quote, this is another moment of all the stress and exhaustion of the past 5 hours catching up with them. Whiteberry’s singing is grating to them because it’s making it hard to think. Reminder, they’ve likely been dead for a while, since Clock only brought them back when they announced the challenge. They haven’t had any time at all to even think about what they saw, and Whiteberry is making it even harder to think and that is frustrating to them. They need to understand- they want to understand whatever the hell that was because maybe it could explain all the weird stuff that’s been going on– maybe it would explain why Clock is even there in the first place.

This is where I elaborate more on my point of “And even though this is affecting them so badly, they can’t even think of how to explain,” because they say it themselves. They start their explanation off with a good foundation, but when they get to the part where they have to actually describe it, they can’t. They say something extremely vague, which Shrimpy takes completely wrong (or just doesn't take seriously because she’s stupid). So No Way has this… thing that they saw, that they don’t understand, but they can’t talk to anyone about it because they don’t even know how to explain it, no one they trust is around, and the two they are with are … kinda dumb. Looking at you Shrimpy.

Also, side note, I LOVE the surreal, almost ethereal yet foreboding music that plays as No Way explains what they saw, accompanied with the flashback of them falling being shrouded in green haze. It really adds a lot to the scene. The crew always has such great music choices

9:55 - “Well, yea, I get it. I see things like that all the time! Like that rock. Ooh, and that rock too! And… Ooh, this right here is the ultra rare SHINY rock! You only see them in…”

Ok, nothing too big here, but No Way’s deadpan look while Shrimpy is going off about rocks is very funny to me. I can feel the “Bruh.” from here.

12:46 - “I wonder what the others are up to?” [Oil Pastel goes flying over No Way, Shrimpy, and Whiteberry’s heads] “Oh– what was that?” …13:40 - [Forky screaming as he and Oil Pastel fly back over No Way, Shrimpy and Whiteberry’s heads] “No way, again?” “I think it was just a bird!” “Okay…”

Used two timestamps for this because I’m making the same point with them.

Focus on No Way’s tone and expression here, especially in their first little quote. They sound and look a little scared, so it’s probably safe to assume they’re on edge now. And then when Forky and Oil Pastel go flying past again, No Way is surprised again and a little concerned since that time there was screaming. And then when Shrimpy says they think it was a bird, they squint at her suspiciously, and also like “Are You Stupid?” I imagine they don’t say anything about it though because they just don’t have the energy.

14:49 - “Hey, woah! The Sun, what’s going on??” “I’m trying to find Oi- Toys… TOY STORY!!” “I mean… we might still have enough time, we can help you find them really quick.” “EEK!” “Should we follow you? Or…”

No Way is such a good friend, immediately offering to help The Sun look for OP and Forky the moment they can tell something is wrong despite the challenge. And when The Sun hides in the ground, they ask if they should just follow him. Granted, they didn’t realize The Sun was actually scared, but it happened so fast so I don’t blame them.

The point I’m trying to make here is that despite the challenge, despite the stress they’re under, they are still trying to care for their friends and help them where they can. Another very good representation of their character.

15:03 - “No Way…” “Huh? Yeah, what-” [GASP!] [Distorted noises] “DANCE TO THE MUSIC!” [No Way Go Bye Bye]

YET ANOTHER DETRIMENTAL MOMENT FOR NO WAY’S CHARACTER!!! YAAAY MORE TRAUMA– this is really all I have to say. Other than the fact they were completely distracted by The Sun to even remember they were hearing weird, creepy ass music earlier. Their head is so not in the game.

END OF EPISODE THOUGHTS: I REALIZED SO MANY PAINFUL THINGS THIS EPISODE. By so many I mean exactly one. In the Wheel analysis I mentioned earlier, Rocket mentioned how Wheel was constantly on edge and untrusting of Clock and paranoid about that day. Something bad was going to happen and holy fuck was he right. Here’s why I’m bringing this up. NO WAY IS DEALING WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT LISTENING TO WHEEL. At the start, Wheel was untrusting, scared, and defensive. No Way was naive, trusted Clock right off the bat, and happily obliged with whatever they said. They didn’t listen to Wheel’s warnings, to Wheel’s protests and fear. And now they are paying the price. They are experiencing what Wheel was warning them about in its entirety. They’ve lost their whimsy, their passion, their excitement for this competition. Now they don’t know who to trust other than the original contestants, and their numbers are dwindling by the episode. They have no one to talk to, no one to turn to. Just like how Wheel was from the beginning. I Am In Active Pain. Anyway, next up: I finally explain why I think No Way and Polka Dot are so similar after about like 9,000 words.

IT’S TIME FOR THE [7:00] - Stop and Look. Realize.

3:07 - [Clock finally brings everyone who died last episode back]

Not much to add here other than this screenshot

Yeah they felt that shit

3:14 - “Where’s Vase…?” “The elimination already happened, she got out.” 

Part of this is something I didn’t notice until now, but anyway. Pay extremely close attention to No Way here. When they get revived, their immediate thought- the first thing they notice- is that Vase is missing, another person they were close with. They have one of those little stress lines under their eye and the tone they have is very clearly worry with a hint of dread. Like they know what the answer is, but they don’t want it to be true. And when Inky confirms it, their face drops slightly. First their brows raise in mild surprise when Inky says the elimination has already happened, and when he says Vase is gone, their brow furrows and their mouth hangs open slightly. They’re devastated. Another one of their friends, gone.

3:17 - “I don’t understand, we were walking through the tunnels in the challenge an-” [Fridge DJ plays music] “YOU. Am I the only one… who thinks he shouldn’t be here?” “Press the music button, or turn the dial to another station! [Fridge DJ plays music]

No Way’s mind is not only not in the game, but it’s also just. Scrambled, considering how fast they change topics here (from Vase to the last challenge). Fridge DJ literally murdering them has added yet another layer of stress to their already growing pile, and the fact Fridge DJ is still there makes it even worse. No Way's hesitance to even ask their question makes me think they’re scared to even ask it, like Fridge DJ might not like it and attack. It’s a fair assumption to make, given they don’t know Fridge DJ for anything other than the mindless killing spree he went on earlier. This is backed by the way they back away and tense up when FDJ comes right up to them, only to then look uncomfortable and confused as he does his little dance. 

Some side notes about voice acting and sound design: I really like the way No Way says “YOU.” here, really shows how much they are affected by what Fridge DJ did. I also really like how you can hear a very faint and muffled “DANCE TO THE MUSIC!” before the week song starts and No Way turns around. Whether this is Fridge DJ actually saying that again or it’s just a representation of the trauma No Way endured is unsure, but it’s such a cool detail that I never noticed before. The more I think about it, the more I realize it is definitely the latter. The last thing they heard before being ripped in half is FDJ’s “DANCE TO THE MUSIC!” and it’s clear from their pose when Clock brings them back that it was a painful, agonizing experience. That’s why they’re so much more affected by this death compared to the previous two. 

3:31 - “No Way, what do you mean? This is our… BEST FRIEND!” “I am so confused.” “Confused? I think it's time to shake up the game a little bit then!”

The expression work on No Way here is just amazing. They look so, so tired when they put their hand to their hand and close their eyes, a gesture which makes me think they have a headache. Or maybe they just do that because I have noticed they tend to touch their face a lot, who knows. Then when Clock pops up next to them, they get startled again before looking at Clock with such a nervous look. They’re tired, they miss their friends, it’s been 7 hours of non-stop challenge after challenge, they’re likely still processing and trying to figure out what that giant green thing in the sky was, and now they have to deal with Fridge DJ existing and Shrimpy and Whiteberry somehow not remembering anything he did??? It’s almost too much. And yet they feel trapped. Like they have to keep participating because they don’t know what Clock is actually capable of. Maybe they’re scared of making Clock mad.

3:57 - “Why… did they do that?” “Alright breh! Final five!” “Tile tha-” “Shut up, dude.”

I’M SHOOTING TILE IN THE DENNY’S PARKING LOT. I mean who said that

Jokes aside though, now that I’ve done this whole thing, this scene hits a lot harder. The look No Way had on their face before looking at Tile– I don’t know how to describe it. It almost feels like a silent “I don’t know” in response to Snapped Skateboard’s question. And then they get upset at what Tile says, about to correct him by saying that whatever the fuck Clock just did to Refill Station wasn’t an elimination. But then Tile interrupts them by blatantly telling them to shut up.

But No Way doesn’t get mad. They don’t even look that devastated. They just stare and watch Tile walk off. They get such a sad yet… reserved look on their face. It’s silent. Not a sound is made. And I think those 4 seconds of silence after Tile tells them to shut up is so impactful. It forces you to focus on the only movement on screen; the way No Way lets their arms fall to their sides again, the way their expression shifts into a look of resignation. I think they finally realized here that Tile isn’t friends with them anymore. Why this even happened, they don’t know. But it did. And it’s right in their face.

AND IT MAKES ME SO MAD BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK TILE. THEY ALREADY HAVE SO MUCH GOING ON AND YOU JUST HAD TO TELL THEM TO SHUT UP LIKE THAT??? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU WHY ARE YOU EVIL. IM EXECUTING YOU NEXT TUESDAY WATCH YOUR FUCKING BACK YOU LITTLE YELLOW SHI

4:27 - “Whoever opens the box first will be the winner.” [accordion noise] “of the challenge.” “Okay, I mean, this should be easy, just give us the box, Clock.” [Clock starts to back away] “Clock…” [Cartoony aah running] “Clock- NO. COME BACK, CLOCK NO!-” [No Way sighs.] “1.5 meters of elevation. Great. er-” [Fridge DJ playing music] “You know what. I have something else I gotta take care of first.”

I love this scene. A lot. When Clock runs into the tree and No Way sighs in exasperation, the expression on their face is just … beautiful in the way that it displays so much emotion. Like, this is truly their boiling point. They are so exhausted. At first they look at TI-30 as he’s talking, but then they hear Fridge DJ’s music and now that is all they can hear. They look pissed now. They are so done with this damn toy and finally decide they need to do something about it. Fuck the challenge, that isn’t even the worst of their problems at this point.

Also, as a side note, I really love the way Oil Pastel encourages them here. It’s very sweet. I like to think this is partly because she’s like “yeah go get that murderer away from my partner”

5:50 - [Fridge DJ playing music] “Hey! Fridge DJ!” “I… Um… sorry, I mean Shrimpy, Whiteberry, how could just party with them like this? They killed all of us like an hour ago!” “I don’t remember that, I just think you’re just a party pooper!” “Yeah! Fridge DJ wouldn’t hurt a fly, he’s just so joyous!!” “That is correct!” “JOYOUUUUS!”

Ok a few things here. At first when I watched this scene, I thought No Way genuinely made the mistake of getting Fridge DJ’s attention first. But upon watching closer, I realize that’s not right at all. As they approach FDJ, they are PISSED and are clearly glaring right at them. That expression carries over to them yelling its name. But then when FDJ abruptly stops the music and looks at them, they freeze, and if you pause on time, they look scared, then uncomfortable, then they apologize and go to Shrimpy and Whiteberry. This isn’t an accidental mistake, this is No Way backing down last second because they are scared of Fridge DJ. Terrified, even. They had so much confidence when going up to her, but when she actually stopped and they had to actually face her, they froze. They chose to beat around the bush and try to talk some sense into Whiteberry and Shrimpy. They are TRAUMATIZED.

Also y’know it kind of makes sense that Shrimpy wouldn’t remember what happened BUT WHITEBERRY HAS GOT TO REMEMBER. SHE LITERALLY WITNESSED NO WAY GET RIPPED IN HALF and probably saw what remained of Shrimpy. But nah that didn’t happen what are you talking about. Yet No Way and Oil Pastel remember?? I mean I get No Way remembering, but that’s probably gotta do with trauma. I think I just don’t know enough about Oil Pastel to think of a reason why she would also remember.

EDIT AFTER AVICON READ THIS: Shrimpy is just stupid and Whiteberry doesn’t care. That’s why they’re gaslighting No Way. Oil Pastel is actually smart, that’s why he remembers LMAO.

6:09 - “Of course they would say that, they’re CLEARLY lying, but why?” [Oil Pastel nudges them. They gasp.] “I get it now! He’s gonna drown them in the river!” “Ohhh! A river! Let’s cross it!” “Yeah!” “THREE! Little birdies, sitting way up high,” “haha, nice!” “We gotta see Fridge DJ cross!” “No!” [No Way grabs onto Fridge DJ’s back] “Bye bye! Birdie bye bye!” “Woah… WOAH” “YAY!” “All right!”

Ok I know these quotes are getting REALLY long but BEAR WITH ME.

No Way DOES NOT UNDERSTAND. They don’t understand why Fridge DJ is doing this, they don’t understand why Fridge DJ did any of that stuff last episode, they don’t understand why Whiteberry and Shrimpy are just so totally okay with this dude– and at this point their mind is filling in blanks. Like I mentioned before, all they know about Fridge DJ is from its random murder spree from the water damage, but they don’t know that was just water damage, so they jump to conclusions. And when they make the conclusion about the river, they immediately try to drag Fridge DJ into the river themself in a desperate act to try and “save” Whiteberry and Shrimpy. They’re paranoid. They are paranoid that people are going to get hurt again because of FDJ. Y’know who else was paranoid? Wheel. FULL FUCKING CIRCLE IM GONNA THROW U-

6:31 - “Hide and seek!” “I see you!” “Aww, I’ll find a better hiding spot next time!” “I was hiding here too!” [Fridge DJ laughs and then honks] “Can you name 57 vegetables that start with the letter J? We can!” “wuh- NO NO AA-”

This is really important to me. Before FDJ shows up in the bush No Way and Oil Pastel are hiding in, No Way is glaring HARD, angrily, almost confidently. But then the moment FDJ starts speaking directly next to them, their expression immediately shifts to FEAR. And then they panic and literally run away. It’s a really funny scene if you’re watching it surface level, but when you dive deep, this is literally trauma at its finest. Notice how No Way is hiding in the bush, yet I bet they’ve somehow convinced themself that it’s doing something. Finding excuses to hide away from FDJ. They feel very non-confrontational, or maybe it’s just fueled by fear. (I would say cowardice but that’s mean)

6:43 - “Let’s play tag!” “Yeah!!” “Agh, no… They’re gonna get away!” “No.” [What the fuck john wick bullshit is this– WHY DID NO WAY GET HIT WITH A BASEBALL] “Oh.. that was weird… Why’d you do that?” [Whiteberry and Shrimpy laughing] “This is so pointless.”

No Way is so over this. They’re So Fucking Over This. After everything that happened, Shrimpy and Whiteberry just do not care, no matter what they or Oil Pastel do, they Do Not Care. And the crazy part is, after this scene, we just. Don’t see them again. They literally gave up. They just stopped. That was it. Their “this is so pointless” was literally an admission of defeat. The very culmination of the past 6, 7 hours of stress has finally got to them. And mind you, all of the really bad trauma happened within like. 2 hours if we’re excluding witnessing Green’s elimination. That’s. That’s a lot to go through in that short amount of time.

7:12 - “Hey Polka Dot, did you hear the challenge?” “Yep.” “So, are we gonna do it?” “Nnnnno. Because I can’t stand this thing Clock is doing! It was fun at first but it’s been nonstop hours of these “challenges.” My friends are disappearing one-by-one, I’m just… upset! That I can’t do anything about it and I have nowhere else to go.”

FINALLY. I HAVE FINALLY GOTTEN TO WHERE I WILL ELABORATE ON THIS. Throughout the series, Polka Dot has gone through the same development just a little bit later and a little bit differently. She went from using her polkadot portals willy-nilly, to warning Wind Up Toy that going in them is dangerous. She went from opting to using her abstracted form on challenges where it’s technically cheating to not even trying, and she even remarks “I had a feeling this was gonna happen” when Clock pulls their “No Flyers Allowed!” thing with The Sun. She’s clearly had less energy as the episodes went on– from naive and excitable to mellow and quiet, questioning things sometimes – just like No Way. And when things came to a head in 6:00 and 7:00, she became jaded, done with the games. She rushes along the elimination and doesn’t even care that Vase just. Exploded, even if she was friends with her or not. 

While she and No Way are very similar, they have one very important difference. Polka Dot actually had someone to talk to. She had someone in her corner, even when all of her original friends were gone. No Way has no one. They tried to talk to Shrimpy, but Shrimpy just … was Shrimpy. Shrimpy and Whiteberry wouldn’t even listen to them. Tile hates them for some fucking reason. Vase is gone. 57-Ball is gone. Wheel is gone. 

15:59 - [Voting screen]

Ok this isn’t important but look at No Way’s sad little face on the voting screen. Now compare it to their intrigued, curious, and a little bit surprised face on 3:00’s voting screen. I feel like this is such a good comparison to make when you’re thinking about their character development. 

END OF EPISODE THOUGHTS: No Way is really well written this episode. They don’t have any Funny Haha moments (other than deadpan faces at comedic times.) and are just. Serious. Their interactions with Fridge DJ and the way they acted around Shrimpy and Whiteberry were great ways to show how a traumatic event like getting Ripped In Half can affect a person.

CONCLUSION:

No Way arguably has gone through the most amount of character development in the series. They start it off in a good place; friendly, trusting, seeing the good in others, caring about their friends. But as time goes on, more and more things start to happen. And now, they are completely different. They’re paranoid and scared and worried, and their mind is a mess. They have no one to turn to or talk to, so they have to deal with all of this stress on their own. And that’s.. That’s not great. Especially with all of this happening in a SINGULAR DAY.

Ok. That’s all I had to say. This whole thing made me even less normal about No Way than when I started. Thank you for reading this fucking thing ??? hope you liked it. Goodbye forever(/j)

[cripplecharacters]

Hi, Im writing two autistic characters and I would like some advice for their backstory. I myself am autistic and Im using them to project my own experiences, but Id like to ask for some outside opinions as well. The two characters are twins, the sister was always better at masking than the brother, who also had really bad sensory issues. In the future they ended up having a falling out when their friend group all goes out to a concert, and the brother can’t enjoy it because the noise hurts his ears. Afterwards they go to a restaurant and they have an arguement because the brother can’t eat the food due to his sensory issues (keep in mind neither of them are diagnosed) and they’ve been on not the best terms since and low contact. The main reason why its such a big deal is because it was meant to celebrate one of their friends (brother’s best friend) getting into their dream college.

Their story basically tackles the brother learning that he isn’t a burden on the people around him, while the sister also tackles her own internalized ableism.

Hi asker,

So their backstory seems to me, based on the information I have from this ask, that the sister is generally being at least somewhat ableist towards her brother. And since they are both undiagnosed, there's also an element of not understanding sensory needs (especially the brother's) because they aren't necessarily attributing it to being a disability trait. Since the sister masks more than the brother, perhaps she is seeing his sensory issues as something he should be able to control or something of the sort. And the event you describe is kind of the tipping point for their relationship.

Please correct me if I'm wrong there, by the way.

So, I'm not sure on advice on what specifically you want regarding the backstory, but it does seem like a pretty realistic situation, especially in regards to the way you want the story to go. It seems like it's open for character development for both the characters, and probably the friends too.

As a note to your story, not the backstory, internalized ableism is mostly about being ableist to yourself. Disabled people can be ableist to other disabled people, sometimes as a result of internalized ableism and sometimes it's just entirely externalized ableism. The sister does I bet have internalized ableism about herself, and can be ableist towards her brother and his needs. If you want her to address her internalized ableism, she should probably address ableist behavior she's had towards her brother, too.

Some general questions I have that you might want to ask yourself are:

what exactly bothers the sister so much about this? yes, it's about their friend getting into their dream college so i can get that she's mad they didn't celebrate 'accordingly,' but is there anything else?

what does the brother say or do when he gets invited to things like the concert or the restaurant where he can't eat anything? did he know he wouldn't be able to enjoy them? was he hoping to anyway? did he not know and is just finding out how hard that was going to be for him?

what does the brother feel about how his sister has acted? likewise, what does the sister feel about how her brother acted?

do either of them ever figure out they're autistic?

what do the friends feel like about the falling out? they were there. and the way the friends feel and react likely affects how Brother and Sister feel and react as well -- friends can take sides, try to stay out of it, etc.

you say the sister is better at masking than the brother. how does she feel about that? how does she feel about masking? what exactly does she have to mask?

how does the brother feel about his own masking ability? about his sister's ability to do the same?

also, do either of them understand this as masking or is it more of a "i'm sure everyone's doing this all the time. whatever" type of situation?

By the way, I put these questions not because I think you haven't posed any of these questions to yourself already. You probably have asked yourself at least some of them, and know probably many of the answers even if you haven't specifically asked yourself the question.

Mostly I'm putting them out there because answering them and/or knowing you already have the answer can help you like, feel comfortable in how you are telling the story and characterizing these characters.

You currently seem to have a pretty reasonable starting point that makes sense within the story you want to tell. This feels like something that, yeah, that could just happen in real life, and probably has. I think that's likely what you were going for, from what I can gather, so, that would work out!

Hope this helps,

mod sparrow

[the-s1lly-corner]

Hii~ as you know its spooky month!! ;)

So i was thinking about a demon reader for the tadc cast

The reader looks like a stereotypical demon( horns ,hooves ,maybe a tail idk) BUT is chaotic good

I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Ty❤️

TADC cast x demon!reader !

gonna knock this request out real fast then go lay down; i feel all uehdoivnffvnelfnfv but i am still on that grind !!!!!!! (please dont be like me please work on trying to create a healthy work/life balance and take care of yourself) short segments for this one sorry anon :(

CAINE:

honestly he would occasionally make himself look like an angel to match with you; give himself a halo and wings and all that! loves your energy, i said it once and ill say it again, i think caine would love a chaotic reader who keeps him guessing! keep this man on his toes, hes into that, keeps things fun!

POMNI:

naturally a little put off at first but warms up to you. does she think you can be a little too much? yeah, sometimes... does she know you mean well? yeah, and she tries not to hold your way of doing things against you! sometimes you let her fidget with your tail if shes feeling nervous about something

RAGATHA:

"you may be a demon but you're the sweetest person i know!", does not miss a day where she says she loves you.. should you ever think badly of yourself and believe there was a reason you were made into a demon in this world, ragatha will immediately dismiss any bad idea you have about yourself

JAX:

SAY IT WITH ME NOW!!! ITS ADMINS FAVORITE JAX HC!!! if you have a tail hes gonna fidget with it!! bonus if it wags around, like in the tail haver reader in a previous post; this dude would find it cute too... thrives in your chaos, you two just bounce off each other... not uncommon for jax to do a little prank and you trying to correct what he messed with in the most.. well chaotic way.. probably ends with more people confused or annoyed, though

KINGER:

probably thinks youre a legitimate demon for a minute before realizing, oh wait no you arent youre just like. funky like that, digital world stuff. please try to tone down any chaotic activities around him, he is already freaking out enough as things are TToTT

ZOOBLE:

i think they would be similar to pomni, kind of put off by your energy but knows youre not a threat. plus they would rather hang out with you than half of the people here so hey, i guess you can say youre winning. thinks your horns are cool, regardless of what shape you as the reader imagine them to be. i think i also mentioned that zooble seems like the type to be into darker stuff and i think that would also tie in with supernatural stuff, and well, demons are supernatural, right? i mean youre not really a demon, but the appreciation is still there

GANGLE:

maybe this is self projection again, or maybe its because i think gangle would be an artist and this is just. a common artist trait, but they would think youre like. really pretty. thinks demons and monsters are cute, has definitely played a monster dating sim at some point before getting stuck in the digital world

not much else to say i just think this idea was a little funny for gangle.. i can kinda see zooble being a monster dating sim fan... maybe i just kin them both

[sympathytea]

[ID in alt] Zam! The Prince in Yellow himself! This is mainly a design I mocked up to make writing him easier on my brain since having a physical image for me to reference and describe is significantly easier on my brain than not having one. Uh reason he doesn't have the trident this fic is (so far) taking place inbetween ep 4 and 5 rather than like. post finale ok? ok. more fun stuff under the cut (maskless included, along with other details on the fic that i'm writing!!!)

[ID in alt] Kept seeing everyone draw him half blind? Love that for him. I'm assuming that's a reference to his LifeSteal designs either way i think the concept is sick and wanted to work with a character that has that detail worked into the fic as something they need to work with/around since this is a combat heavy series which I'd imagine wouldn't be easy to do with one eye, but not impossible. girlboss is gonna have it rough in the fic though tried to make the scar more obviously trident-shaped? since that's where I'd imagine he'd get it assuming he was sent to the sword civilization against his will? rather than to actually retrieve the eternal sword on his own accord like Tabi was. idk hopefully s2 don't fuck me up some expression testing + additional notes on behavior

(excuse him he's been shaved for this, also IDs in alt) disclaimer uh. very minimal research was done for his behaviors. i'm not a medical professional but i did find a giant thread full of folks who had half-blindness who did mention the head tilt thing as a thing that they did, facial paralysis is from the injury assuming the trident went deep enough to do nerve damage thus the whole 'one side moves other side doesn't' my apolocheese for inaccuracy I'm sure that the tilt thing and the facial paralysis thing are probably a bit too extreme to some folks but due to my artstyle being very exaggerated, this too had to be exaggerated for it to be something noticeable, otherwise its completely hidden despite me being mostly focused towards expressions i have made a decision that might seem jarring to some to..limit the faces of characters in my fic. mainly because all of them are hiding or masking something underneath, it just suits them well to have this be a trait that everyone in pvp civilization shares in various ways Characters like Evbo, Julie, Tabi and Parrot are more obvious masking via emotional repression rather than a physical mask that they wear Wemmbu, Ferre, The Guard Friend and Zam mask due to wearing some form of face covering but once that face covering comes off then they start to be a bit more honest, not having anywhere to hide MinuteTech masks via..other means. More on him specifically later when i get around to designing him. he's fascinating is all im gonna say There are of course other characters in this fic, Marty and Ellie are two iron-sword level specific OCs I made for the sole purpose of being evil, and they are shockingly the only two people in the fic that are full on honest with themselves and others. They have their shit figured out (so I wont feel bad killing them off hehe) PVP Language guy and the similar Wooden Plank guy are the two non-main characters turned major characters that due to their species, literally don't have a face nor a proper voice for others to understand what they are thinking, but if you give them a way to talk, then they will! This project be warned: gonna take a long time. I'm notoriously slow at pumping good quality stuff out. I'm working on like 4? other character refs at the time of writing this and I am nowhere near finished with any of them. Dear god.

Thats all for now, though. Until I post again!

[shegeekery]

Reparenting Loki

I want to talk about a dynamic in the Loki/Mobius relationship (in the Loki TV-series) that I've seen touched on but not really discussed in depth.

Note to Lokius-lovers: nothing I say here in any way precludes a healthy romantic relationship. They're both consenting adults, after all, and this wasn't a formal therapist-client relationship.

There's a technique in therapy called "reparenting". The idea is that trauma and behaviors caused by bad parenting can be addressed to some extent if the therapist assumes the role of a "good parent".

I think we can all agree that the "All-Father" was crap as an actual father. Odin knew that Loki took after him even more than Thor did, but many of those shared traits were things that he tried to hide from everyone, while Thor better represented the image he wanted to project. The result was a cruel favoritism, which was picked up by Thor and the rest of the Asgardians. Frigga's love and support wasn't enough to counteract that cruelty, particularly in a strongly patriarchal society like Asgard.

Side note (because I'm that kind of geek): there were so many similarities between Odin and Loki (Odin's friend and blood-brother rather than his son) in the old Norse myths that some scholars have suggested that Loki was at one point simply an aspect of Odin. There's also evidence that the stories as they came down to us were manipulated by the Christians who committed them to writing to shoehorn Loki into something more like the Christian Devil.

Anyway, getting back to our guys... Within the context of the TVA, Mobius represented an authority figure to Loki, who had a long history of rebelling against (or betraying) authority for obvious reasons.

I think the first turning point in the relationship for Loki was:

Loki: I am smart!

Mobius: I know. Loki is rarely left speechless, but his only response to Mobius's simple affirmation was a very un-Loki-like "Okay..." He didn't know how to respond because he wasn't used to that kind of thing, particularly from someone who had power over him. It happened again with:

Loki: A villain.

Mobius: That's not how I see it.

The dynamic between these two people throughout Season 1 was like that. Mobius's genuine love (whether you read it as romantic, platonic, fatherly, brotherly, or a mix of any or all of these) for and non-judgmental acceptance of Loki was apparent from the start, but of course Loki's experiences during his very long lifetime made it nearly impossible for him to trust that until Mobius's actions convinced him that it was real. Learning to trust Mobius also allowed Loki to see himself in a new light.

For his part, Mobius consistently modeled what a good father would have been: loving and accepting, yes, but still able to apply "tough love" when that was warranted. Mobius didn't put Loki into the bad-memory loop to punish him because he was angry (though he was angry, or at least a bit hurt and disappointed). He was just trying to force Loki to acknowledge a truth about himself so that they could move forward — and it worked!

Mobius's instincts and experience as an actual father to two boys, one reasonably well-behaved and the other a mischievous troublemaker, served him well in this, even if he didn't consciously remember his life on the timeline.

Mobius all but confirmed this when he said:

Mobius:  I see a scared little boy, shivering in the cold... 

It's also significant that when Loki brought this up later, he called it "patronizing", which we usually use to mean "condescending", but can also mean "supporting" and has its root in the Latin word "pater" (father).

I see the hug in episode 1-5 as a sign that the reparenting had taken hold, and that Loki, while not completely healed (it would take a lot more than that!), was at least in a place where he could trust someone, accept love/friendship, and think beyond his own wants and needs.

By Season 2, the relationship between the two men was evolving into one of equals, but even then Loki still occasionally looked to Mobius for guidance. Mobius's approval had become important to him. When Loki witnessed the firm but compassionate way in which Don dealt with two boys who were so like himself and Thor (despite being a stressed-out single dad rather than a god-king with tremendous resources at his disposal), he had to have seen that this was at the core of who Mobius was. Moreover, Loki — and any viewers who had similarly survived a traumatic childhood full of emotional abuse and neglect — probably guessed that Don himself was a survivor who was determined to see to it that his boys would never have to deal with that. If that was the case, then Mobius didn't just see his own son in Loki. He saw himself and couldn't help but empathize.

Don wasn't perfect. His frustration with his younger son was very evident, but Loki, observing, could see the love that lay under it. He may even have thought of times when Odin was driven to anger by Loki's actions and realized that the anger didn't necessarily mean that Odin didn't really love him. Learning to forgive what can be forgiven is another aspect of recovering from childhood trauma.

It's worth remembering that Mobius knew Loki in much the same way we do. We got to see the things that Loki never let anybody see: the fear, the vulnerability, the pain, the longing, and the sadness. (Doesn't hurt that TH can turn a simple reaction shot into a freakin' soliloquy!) The difference is that, while we only get to see the highlights (and lowlights) of Loki's life, Mobius had access to all of it and he had centuries to study it.

Mobius literally knew Loki better than anyone else in (or out) of the multiverse. How could he not love him? And for Loki, knowing that somebody who knew him that well genuinely cared so much for him (same with Sylvie, who understood him in ways that only another Loki could and vice-versa) had to have shaken him to his core and made him rethink a lot of things. The fact that it was Mobius to whom Loki turned in episode 2.6 when he thought he might have to kill Sylvie shows how much he still looked up to Mobius in many ways.

This was a show about redemption, yes, but also about healing from childhood trauma. They did an amazing job with it.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

imagine Killer being both really touch starved and extremely touch averse especially if he has bad germaphobia.

Everytime Killer feels the brush of someone bones against his own it burns it reminds him of the story of Icarus flying too close to the sky his was wings burn and he drowns in the cold water below. Killer isn't sure if he would rather be burned or drown in the empty cold feeling. Going back and forth to wanting any form of touch and then immediately hating it and wanting them to stop. Its more then just that. He hasn't been touched by someone in so long that every touch feels like too much, it makes him feel vulnerable and weak, along with feelings of extreme disgust and even fear.

Also little extra blurb about Killer with germaphobia as someone who's a major germaphobe it can become more or less intense depending on emotions especially things like anxiety the more anxious I am the more germaphobic I get. Often having to repeat reassuring mantra to lower the anxiety of germs. I imagine it could go anywhere from freely touching things unless especially gross from being Unwilling to touch anything without a feeling if dudgust or fear abd feeling the need to wash anything that touched what was perched as germs which for me can be things like a house key, tables, door knobs, etc I really want some nice gloves to protect my hands cause I keep overwashing them.

Also Killer gives strong ocd vibes or im just projecting and germaphobia is common in those with ocd. I feel like his training and life with Chara would have him develop ocd. He wants things done a certain way or feels like something bad will happen or its just the obviously correct way to be done. Can also see him doing little rituals that he feels increases his luck or things that have to be done to not be cursed with bad luck. Turning the door knob to his room at least three times to ensure its locked, never walking on the opposite side of a pole as someone else, avoiding the first or last step, etc. (These are all things I do lol)

~Musical Anon

Stares at my Stage 4 Killer with OCPD adaptations headcanon. (Definitely not the same as OCD, but the need for order, control, things have to happen like this, you have to follow the rules and the routines, I have to be perfect to be safe/loved/accepted.

When in St4 the rules are the agreements of the Deal and the outlines of the Directive, but the traits would likely show up in other Stages such as 2.

The intense fear of something bad happening if it isn’t done or a rule isn’t followed is moreso from trauma and conditioning and likely indoctrination, although I can definitely see him having some type of compulsions and rituals alleviate fear/anxiety, ones tied to survival and the fear of failure perhaps—such as, in the context of my little directive headcanons—drawing little upside down hearts somewhere whenever subconsciously anxious or fearful (although 2 would deny feeling absolutely anything) or as a mindless automatic habit or whenever prevented from killing a target as if to appease some unseen watching force.

And in lower Stages, doing this absentmindedly when stressed or scared—such as whenever awaiting a punishment for failing a mission in some way (especially if he either accidentally slipped up and killed someone or was trigged into Stage 4, or simply to handle the dissonance of not killing a target) mindlessly drawing little upside down hearts on his arms with his fingers or in the air and not really understanding why. )

I can also see him absently checking and rechecking everything (such as rather obsessively checking up on the gang and that they’re still alive and attended to, not because he really cares too much about the outcome, but because the actions give him a sense of control and makes sure he’s adhering to his duties as Nightmares right hand), and probably forming rituals around the steps of caring for his weapons and tools, and arranging them in certain ways because it feels more familiar that way and he does it almost automatically now.

[pixie-felix]

okay SO. mommy kink x skz, the polls are WRONG and lemme tell you why. 😤 (this is all in fun and not actually meant to be taken seriously/aggressively just fyi lol)

going into this saying theyre all into calling their partner mommy bc this is for fun and i can make them into whatever i want bc its not real lol

for accidentally saying it with the hyung line the very CLEAR answer is changbin. that man can't double task for SHIT, as has been proven on multiple occasions. so if hes having sex hes 100% not focusing on whats coming out of his mouth hes only focused on the other person and whoopsie daisy hes gonna say whatever comes to mind and not even realize it.

why not the other guys? chan is too in his head. he's going to be focused too much to let something slip like that. hes a PERFECTIONIST to an insane degree, he thought about what hes gonna say as soon as he felt the mood change or probably even before that tbh i wouldnt be surprised if he has like a default "script" of some sort for sex lol. minho personally i just cant see making a mistake like that? i actually dont have a reason other than i dont think he would lmao. hes a brat so i think hed be more likely to keep from calling his partner that on purpose to piss them off more than anything. and hyunjin i have a similar reasoning as chan, i just think hed be too locked in to say that on accident. hes silly for sure (#paboracha) but he's also very romantic and i think he would be too focused to let it slip on accident. i also cant imagine that sex with hyunjin would involve any less planning than mood lighting, candles/incense, and music bc hes just Like That.

accidentally saying it with the others, definitely jisung ngl. the mans a freak (affectionate) and hed absolutely be too far gone into it to realize what hes saying. just fully drunk off it all saying whatever shit comes to mind and yeah thatll slip out at some point.

felix wouldnt say it on accident, i personally feel like hed be pretty open with what he likes in bed with his partner and he would have talked about it beforehand. seungmin i think is pretty quiet in general and wouldnt talk much during. (im autistic and i see traits of that in him (and chan tbh) a lot and so i might be projecting with that one but idkidk(also not diagnosing him obvi, im not a doctor or anything i just relate to him often. ok? ok)) jeongin would be too shy to say it, he gets babied a lot anyways and i feel like hed be worried about his partner seeing him differently or less grownup ig.

for "accidentally" *wink wink* saying it, minho. i can see it happening when hes been with someone for a bit and things have been ~getting heated~ but haven't escalated all the way yet. hes been teasing all day like the menace he is (god i love that man, i want to slap him so bad) and then he lets it slip and oops~ did i say that out loud~ oh no~~

i think the others would be too self conscious to say it on "accident" on purpose like that. chan would overthink it too much, changbin would be too shy, and hyunjin would be too embarrassed.

second half, i see it in a tier list.

1. felix

2. seungmin

3. jisung

4. jeongin

felix is first cuz hes a lil shit and a menace, try and convince me otherwise (you cant). hes just got the vibe of >:) all the time and i can totally see him pretending to accidentally call his partner that to stir shit up. i can see seungmin saying it after talking with his partner about kinks and whatnot and he wants to drop hints thats what he likes but is really bad at hints so he just straight up calls them mommy lol am i projecting again maybe jisung is too much of a baby boy type in my head to imagine him saying it for menace reasons but i could see him doing it to try and get out of trouble. :P like he accidentally broke a thing or missed a date or something and "sorry mommy 🥺 oh oops~ i didnt mean to say that~" kind of a deal. jeongin might if he was really into it but too embarrassed to bring it up, i can see him calling his partner that to try and test the waters.

ok sorry for the very long message lol but like i said on your polls account, i have Opinions on this topic!!

BRO YOU CAN'T LEAVE THIS MANY WONDERFUL WORDS (twice!!) IN MY INBOX AND NOT CHOOSE AN EMOJI FOR YOURSELF 😭😭😭

HOW AM I GONNA TAG YOU IN THINGS!?

welp, since you came here from a place of science, I'm assigning you as 🥼 anon. for now.

please feel free to choose your own emoji! (if you're going to come back with more thoughts, which I hope you are, because we are conducting some Very Important Science here and I like the way you words.)

for those that don't follow the science blog or just love cross referencing like I do, the science we're talking about can be found here and here.

Binnie accidentally calling you mommy... yeah, I totally see that.

especially those times when you're taking care of him- when his eyes are closed and his face scrunched up in pleasure because you're edging him with your hands, or a vibrator... or maybe you're giving him a stellar blow job? or maybe you're on top, and he's tied to the bed and just getting so lost in the pleasure that it... slips out.

"mommy."

yeah, that's a scenario that's gonna be living in my mind for a few days. no rent, no utilities. heck, it can even sleep in my bed. Binnie in my bed, now that is the dream.

if anyone wants to chip in with how they'd respond to Changbin calling you mommy, I'd love to hear about it.

oh wow, the idea of Chan having a shagging script in his head is both hilarious and mildly depressing 😂 I LOVE IT.

I definitely see what you're saying there- I feel like you'd have to know him really well AND really work him up AND be in a long term romantic tangle to get him to slip off script, as it were.

(sorry one night stands, he's sticking to the script for you. but hey, you're still getting the full perfomance so you can't complain too much, right?)

when he does get truly lost in the sauce and starts improvising (I am really running with the script metaphor, can you tell I love it?) I think rather than calling you mommy... well.

*checks personal bias, consults the fandom, peruses the polls* let's just say it's a different kink that spills out.

Minho doesn't make mistakes.

Minho is a perfectionist menace who likes making you squirm, and will for sure say it "accidentally" if he knows it'll get under you skin. and if he knows you're into it, I feel like he's going to abuse this power outside of the bedroom. "accidentally", of course.

like whenyou're out at kbbq with the rest of skz, and they are having an argument a *passionate* discussion, and Minho ends whatever 4D statement that wa zooming through his brain he'll end it with the iconic "I know you know Lee Know".

and then grin at you with glorious faux-innocent innocence and add: "mommy knows too~"

Sex with Hyunjin is a serious affair.

omg having an affair with hyunjin, now there's an idea, that's gotta be some ride or die burn the word tragic angst romance for sure goddamn it pixie now is not the time for more ideas CONCENTRATE WOMAN

mood lighting, candles, music, wine, silk sheets... yeah. Hyunjin doesn't fuck around when he's fucking around.

oh dear that was weak I must be dehydrated or tired or something, note to self take better care of the flesh prison so that the brain words properly.

yes, sex with Hyunjin is planned out (not in the perfectionist-with-a-script Chan way). in a no distractions, "I'm gonna love you until the world ends", this-is-our-bubble-of-romance-and-no-one-else-can-touch-us kinda way.

even when he's so far gone that he wouldn't notice a literal elephant in the room, he's too focused on you and your pleasure (and yeah, his too eventually, but he gets off on getting you off so 💁‍♀️) to say any words that aren't basically him offering you prayers of worship.

oh god more bad wording on my part I really should try sleep more but if I don't finish answering this now it's gonna get lost in my drafts and I won't answer it until 🥼 anon ins't checking in to see if I've replied and it will just be a terrible time what is punctuation again I forget

I'm sorry if the rest of this seems rushed, I'm running out of brain batteries. I should research super energy foods and recipies or something. does anyone have any suggestions?

Jeongin being too shy to say it AND being worried about his partner babying him/putting him in the maknae box is a vibe I can 100% get behind. maybe if his partner brings it up as a kink they have he can get into it, but even if it's something he really wants there's no way in hell he's admitting it.

you know what else I can get behind?

FELIX BEING A MENACE.

LOOK AT HIM.

LOOK AT HIM.

A MENACE.

HE'S MADE OF MISCHIEF AND PIXIE DUST AND >:)

and not only would he "accidentally" call you mommy to rile you up, he'd do it in that voice. you know the one. the one so deep you can feel it in your guts.

Seungmin getting frustrated that you're not picking up on his hints so just straight up calls you mommy is a VIBE and I'm here for it. This is another one I feel would happen outside the bedroom before making it to the actual sheets.

like you're passing him a glass of orange juice and he takes it, looks you dead in the eye, and says "thanks mommy" completely deadpan.

he's got such a good poker face you're not going to be able to tell if he's joking, and while you're error 404'ing he's going to be watching your reactions like a hawk to gauge your response.

oh, and if you're into it he's totally gonna abuse it in the bedroom.

BABY👏 BOY👏 JISUNG👏

I don't know if you've read any of the filth things I've written with kiwi anon and lollipop anon, but baby boy Jisung using his boba eyes and squishy cute subby adorableness to abuse his mommy privileges is basically the backbone of this blog.

maybe this is the origin story- him saying it accidentally to get out of trouble. and it worked. and now it's a problem.

how are you gonna say no to these boba eyes?

and now you're facing that plus 🥺"mommy?"

yeah.

no.

I'm a strong willed woman but the way I would crumble if he called me mommy and then looked at me like this:

rip my spine from my body and call me an earthworm, he is getting whatever he wants, whenever he wants it, the amount of crimes I would commit for this man is concerning. not even in a sexual way, I would happily cause a world of chaos just to make him smile.

okay, we're getting into "would you love me if I was a worm" territory, (yes Hannie ofc I would), so I'm gonna log off for a bit now.

I'll answer your second ask as soon as I can :)

(🥝🍭🥞🦇 I've read all of your messages (multiple times), answers are coming I promise)

[lets-try-some-writing]

⭐️ You got anything cool you wanna share? 👀

Of course!

Pretender AU Ramble:

The Pretender AU is currently my favorite Tumblr AU and let me tell you, I am slow writing for it because the plot THICKENS. The idea came into being when I saw an image of some creepy looking Megatron & Optimus artwork. Then as I sat down with my writing buddy to discuss the AU and go over some of the asks I have gotten for it to create a coherent plot, things got deeper than they originally were.

Literally no one is the good guy in the Pretender AU, despite how it may look. Megatron may seem like the hero, but he is still on his crazy train (which will be showcased later). Optimus may seem like a monster (which he is), but if you look at it, he is simply a being who was born of the wrong host. If ANYONE else had been his host, he would have been fine and the Pretenders could have integrated without issue most likely. Orion Pax would have learned of them, and possibly even gone so far as to create an alliance with these beings considering they operate a great deal like an ant colony and their abilities cannot be overlooked.

Why do I bring this up? Because Megatron is a hypocrite. He wishes to free all sentient beings. Well guess what? The Pretenders are very much sentient. He can't see that, or rather he refuses to due to the trauma of witnessing Orion Pax's slow death. He also does not see many others as sentient in light of his fear of the Pretenders. The Insecticons are on the chopping block just because they share traits with the Pretenders. Beastformers have never been looked on fondly, and in light of the Pretenders, they are also not taken to kindly. By seeing them this way, they have turned to the Pretenders (which will be shown in later writing I have planned).

By refusing to see the Pretenders are sentient beings, many other minor factions are also being thrown under the bus. This has unintentionally given the Pretenders the tools they need to endure. The Pretenders were made for a purpose, and they are really fragging good at doing their job. But Megatron refusing to let go of his personal vendetta was pretty much the only thing dragging out the war. And by doing so, he forced the Pretenders to become less emotive, more calculating, and hyperactive. It is a self destructive cycle and no one is the good guy here. Both factions make things worse for each other and they make the other group more and more fanatical just by existing. There is no victory here.

Well.

That is except for Smokescreen.

He plays the LONG game.

Extra:

Fun fact about the LTSW writing process:

Almost ALL of my fics and AU's are run past my dear friend @spreadwardiard. I come up with the concept and the base for the plot, and then they help me build the idea until we settle on an amazing story. Occasionally I work on something entirely alone, but at this point pretty everything except surprise gifts/small writing projects unworthy of serious note are given to them to think about prior to the actual written work being completed.

My work would not be nearly as interesting without their input. Having a friend to polish up an idea with really is a lifesaver.

You can tell which AU's I didn't run past them because I either don't touch them anymore, the plot/timeline is rather disjointed, or its a goofy thought rather than anything super serious. That's how much I lean on the commentary of others to really get the ball rolling for my work.

[aheathen-conceivably]

Hi! No rush on answering this at all. I just saw your post about how much new stuff you were writing for the Darlingtons, and I was just curious if your method of plotting had changed any. I remembered you explaining once how you planned out general plot beats but also left a significant amount up to what the game would tell you - like how Rosella was originally going to have an affair with George's husband (his name escapes me right now, lol), but in game Rosella didn't seem interested in men, and therefore the story shifted to what we know now. Simply curious if that's still the case or not. Either way, love your work!

Awww hello, Emzy, dear! Always a joy to see your lil icon ☺️

So I’ll be the first to admit that I can’t pinpoint exactly what I’ve explained about my process in the past, partially because I have a supremely shitty memory but also because the process has morphed over time! But more or less the way I’ve always planned is that I have ideas for “moments”, some big like the Titanic and others relatively small like individual scenes or even snippets of dialogue. How I connect those moments is something that has some flexibility.

However, I wouldn’t say that gameplay really influences this at all? So like for Rosella, it wasn’t so much that “in game” (like through preferences, actions, traits, etc) influenced me, more that as I thought on who she was and how she got to that “moment,” all the details became more clear. It’s almost like a block of marble, in that the more you chip away at the structure, the clearer the object becomes, even though you went into the project with a clear goal. Unfortunately gameplay does not do much to help illuminate that path, although I do think seeing the characters is inspiration in and of itself, and does serve to bring them and their motivations to life.

What I will say has changed is that I now have more and more of those “moments.” So as the plots, characters, and years gain momentum, they begin to draw lines amongst themselves or produce consequences that in turn connect the dots almost on their own. So yes, now more than in the 1900s for example, I am functioning in my own web of plot points more than I am still figuring out how to make large connections between “moments”, if that makes sense? But simultaneously this also creates its own need for more developments, connections, and jumps, so it’s always a give and take between planning, writing, and feeling out how exactly to connect all these things together in a way that feels genuine for the characters that have revealed more of themselves with each passing year.

Anywho, I hope this made a lick of sense! Thanks for the question my dear ☺️

[lampost-in-winter]

So weird theory time: Humans also come from spirits

Okay so, for the longest time after DAI I kinda thought that Cole's stoyline was foreshadowing that the humans also came from the Fade in a different way from the elves. Which is probably nonsense but... maybe there's something to it?

I've seen people point out that is strange that the ancient elves needed lyrium to manifest, when a (likely less powerful) spirit like Cole could manifest a body by will alone. But I think what we are presented with are two different kinds of manifestations, in very different contexts and with different end results. On the one hand, the type of manifestation that Cole performs may have been impossible in a world without the Veil (as in, the degree of separation from the Fade that the Veil provides might give a spirit the firmer grasp on material reality needed to construct a stable body without magical aids). On the other hand, we must recall that in the "Manifestation" regret mural, Mythal says that the lyrium "gives [the first elves] the strength we had when we were of the Fade. We are the best of physical and spirit." The lyrium allowed the spirits that became the first elves to retain more of their spiritual nature while manifesting, which may be one of the reasons why they were so powerful in magic. Compare to Cole in the "become more human" (and therefore more of the physical world) route, who sees his spiritual powers weakened (he cannot make people forget him anymore). Could it be that two different types of spiritual manifestation could give rise to two different new species?

So I have, like, very little evidence for this, but let me present exhibit A, this project Joplin concept art that drives me insane:

The tiny text at the bottom left of the image says: "This sequence was an early fail state. Solas succeeds in his ritual, life as Thedas knows it comes to an end, and the ancient elves return."

We don't talk enough about this concept art! This is the only solid evidence we have of what was originally planned that would happen when the Veil fell, and it's so much more interesting and tragic than "the world will be flooded by demons"!

But I'd like to focus now on the third vignette in the second row:

Notice how the humans' "souls" abandon them when the Veil falls (I'm assuming humans based on height and proportions, and pressuming than the fall of the Veil won't kill elves, as hinted in Tevinter Nights). The one on the left looks reminiscent of the neural system-like design for spirits in Veilguard. The humans also seem to get a sort of third eye as the spirit abandons them; we know that having many eyes is a trait usually associated with spirits/demons. (1)

What I am getting at is: humans could be embodied spirits that became so in the same way as Cole, without lyrium involved; the fall of the Veil would forcefully separate the spirit from its physical vessel, thus ending humanity as Thedas knows it. My favorite version of this, is that some spirits got trapped outside of the Fade when the Veil was created, in a place with no access to lyrium; as the brand new Veil still didn't have any "thinned" parts, and the early spirits may not have known how to possess physical beings, fully adapting to the physical world by manifesting physical bodies without lyrium was the only way these exhiled spirits could survive.

Exhibit B is even more flimsy, but that isn't going to stop me: in-world beliefs point to humans first coming from Par Vollen (before it was invaded by the qunari), and the codex entry "The Pyramids of Par Vollen" from DAI points out that the pyramids built by these ancient human lined up with the constellation Solium which is associated with Elgar'nan. The same codex says that these early humans seem to have worshipped, or at least have in an important place of their mythology, "tall, horned" figures. The codex suggests several explanations for this; "What were these horned figures to the ancients of Par Vollen? Priests, ritualistically crowned? Heroes? Gods, perhaps?"

And who do we know that have crowns that might look like horns depending on the depiction?

So there's a good chance that the first humans in Thedas worshipped Elgar'nan/The Evanuris. So what if there were spirits that were part of ancient Elvhenan's society and worshipped the Evanuris, and when the Veil was created, they were separated irreparably from the Fade and took on bodies as best they could without lyrium, but still kept on with their worship of the elven gods, even as they slowly forgot their origins? (2)

Again, I know this is far-fetched. But having the humans be the only main species in the lore that wasn't artificially created in some way (elves from spirits using lyrium, dwarves made by titans, qunari hinted at being the result of some kind of experiment with dragon blood), at the same time that they are the Christian-coded, oppressive majority group in contemporary Thedas, has never sit right with me. And if you really wanted to get kinky with it, you could draw a paralellism between Elves - Humans - Darkspawn as unnaturally crated life forms that were the consequence of violent acts and that have caused much destruction by their existence, and examine a bit why one or other may draw more sympathy from us, which are easier to accept as "real people" despite their origins and which aren't, and what that says about how we subconsciously define personhood.

(1) The third eye is also reminiscent of the Titans and the dwarves severed from the Titans we see in other Joplin/DATV concept art. But if the third eye were a marker of tranquility/having been severed from the source of your dreams–or your soul, how could the fall of the Veil have tranquilized people? It goes against everything we know about the process. I find that option harder to explain.

(2) Another option is that Veilguard canonizing that humans existed in Thedas before the Veil is not a retcon, and that they were a minoritarian group that only lived in Par Vollen and were originally conquered by the Evanuris and worshipped them; the new conditions created by the Veil and the fall of the Elvhen empire later created the ideal conditions for them to massively reproduce and expand . Which still wouldn't explain why there aren't any mentions of humans living in ancient times in either elven or dwarven lore, in any place of the franchise other than the "Regrets of the Dread Wolf" quest.

[mbti-notes]

Anon wrote: Hello! I really love this blog and the amount of details that are written in here. I genuinely dont think Ive ever found this much information about mbti that also takes into context development of certain functions, circumstances and other stuff like that. I was so used to type descriptions that simply just slap labels on you like oh you have any sense of a long term goal? AND like wearing black? AND avoid people? Must be an INTJ fr (this is an overexaggeration. or maybe not). Truly appreciate your work!

Im writing to make sure I got my own typing correct. Or in case I have mistyped myself to at least know which functions or function dynamics should I focus on to find my actual type. I keep concluding that I might be an ENTP but even having concluded that I always start questioning my type all over again. I consider every type under the sun only to land on ENTP again. But something doesn’t sit right with me with this typing. It could be right it could be wrong.

I will provide some information about myself for context. English is NOT my first language. I dont think I struggle with it at all but I might not know it well enough to see my own mistakes. I speak 4 languages which comes with the downside of being slightly trash at all of them. My mental state is not the best to say the least and in the past year ive developed severe social anxiety (however it vanishes the moment im even the slightest bit of comfortable). As for my age Im 18 years old, havent even started college yet. I dont know why would this matter but im a girl (maybe it could correlate with perceptions or expressions of type? I dont know?). Its pretty safe to say whatever my type is my functions are neither mature or developed. Lets get into it.

Constantly coming up with a bunch of ideas that at times are barely even realistic (but I fully believe they are 100% achievable regardless) has always been a driving force for me. I cant imagine myself without that trait. It helps me stay positive and at ease. I really need something to look forward to to keep me happy. I get carried away a lot by the smallest concept of an idea and tend to see potential in everything. Even when everything goes wrong I tend to picture all the possible ways that everything could go right in the future to keep myself hopeful and occupied. New things is something that gives me energy and inspiration. I love starting new projects (im a very creative person but I will not be diving too deep into that) whether its writing, sketching, drawing etc. I find it very exciting. However, I have never fully finished anything in my life because I always prefer starting something new completely, doing something else and abandon whatever I had started especially if it got to a point where it had become mundane or headache-ish. I am bad with follow-through in all aspects of my life. Academic, even. I know what needs to be done. Im excited to start a process and tend to see it as something interesting but eventually I get tired and half-ass most of whatever process that was. Im pretty sure all of this is a sign of dominant Ne which comes hand in hand with inferior Si.

My memory can be pretty good and at times pretty detailed. Remembering names and concepts that I care about isn’t a problem. Also there are movies that at some point i watched so many times that I knew them by heart. I don’t forget important dates or birthdays. However I tend to fully believe that I will get to places on time even tho I started my route late. I mix up paperwork, make very stupid mistakes despite double-checking. Im impatient. I leave things I dont wanna deal with for later and then completely forget about them, or believe they will somehow resolve on their own. I have a bad sense of limits. I genuinely believe that everything is always achievable and I almost consider myself immune to threats that are proven to be very much real. I know this isn’t a sign of very terrible inferior Si but I do think that it is still inferior rather than tertiary, auxilary etc. Dominant Si is completely out of the question.

Im pretty sure ive experienced Si grip episodes. Once my hope and ideas are gone it gets really bad. I dont know what do with my self, I overthink about every past mistake I ever made, how things should’ve been if I didnt mess up. Health in the traditional sense however is not a big theme. Its mostly about appearance and the littlest flaws that I think of obsessively and cant seem to find a way to fix. Also it includes obsession over the way the smallest changes in diet, activity etc can ruin my appearance beyond repair. This has led to an ED and exhaustive expercise in the past. During times like that I could also obsess over things like typology and think that im doomed because I dont match any type 100%, think that im lying to myself about my typing etc. Its as if there is no solution for any problem ever, no hope, just doom.

What throws me off is related to the awkwardness ive developed lately due to a series of bad events, an on-and-off toxic relationship (that I always considered toxic but still saw some potential in it, some fun in it) and other things. I used to blame the awkwardness on potential dominant Ti (awkward INTP trope. I get that this is a stereotype). But now that I thought about it more and read your page ive realized that the whole awkwardness comes from a place of being afraid of judgment, not living up to some societal standart, being ostracized from social environments and overthinking about where my place is within social dynamics and acting according to that. Because of this the way I act is so vastly different among different places that im barely even the same person. Ive received critism and comments about my behavior that are basically polar opposites. Which has nothing to do with Ti and everything to do with Fe.

Now maybe it could be a Fe grip type of situation which would still make me an INTP. However this is probably unlikely as during healthier times or places it comes very naturally to me to connect with people, find common ground, figure them out, joke around etc. Maybe this is an ongoing Ne-Fe loop type of situation which would make me an ENTP. Or maybe even this is a Ti grip kind of situation which would make me an ESFJ?? Or maybe its just an unfortunate situation because I seriously doubt that my Fe could be dominant. I am concerned with social things but mostly just how I look, how my actions appear to others (I have a need to sort of justify them or overexplain them. I have a need to make self deprecating jokes or excuses to cover my own shortcomings or otherwise i see them as unresolved issues), how I compare to others in various different ways, affirmation from others, having enough social connections to not be alone cause its beyond simply depressing to me. At the same time, its very difficult for me to be touchy-feely, say genuinely loving words or responding to loving phrases. I find them too serious and somehow scary. When someone expresses their love to me its basically a new obligation to not let them down. If I express too much love directly to someone it makes me too vulnerable and I dont like that. I show my love either by actions, making jokes about it indirectly or trying to cheer someone up. Also I can get so possessive of friendships that I get ditched (I get that its toxic but ive fixed it).

As for Ti I dont consioucly create frameworks and analyze and analyze and analyze. Maybe I do but it kinda goes under the radar. I need things to make sense to me but its more instinctive. Its not a major criteria for me to pursue something. As in, bonus points If it makes sense but even if it doesnt I dont care that much as long as it looks good. I engage in active analyzing and put things into a mental hierarchy when I really need it in order to understand/remember something for a grade (school) or im just painfully bored with nothing else to do. Doesnt last too long tho. When a real-life situation genuinely requires much thinking I tend to go with the first thought that sort of makes sense without overanalyzing it and simply focusing on the possibilites my choice has to offer. Thinking too intensely even tho im capable of it genuinely makes my brain hurt.

Does all of this sound like Ne-Fe looping or something else entirely?

I know this is a LOT of information. You cant even imagine how many times I tried to shorten it up but it was impossible to fully shorten it without leaving out details that could potentionally be crucial for my question. I really want to get into Type Development but I cant do that unless I know my type for sure.

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It's not a lot. Actually, though you've succeeded in being concise, it's still not enough information.

The first point you brought up is very important. Too many people rely on stereotypes to figure out their type because they lack in depth knowledge of the types and/or themselves. It basically means going by superficial appearances. This is prone to error because it relies on behavior and overlooks cognition. Types can often resemble each other on the surface because there will always be some overlap when it comes to behavior. Unfortunately, if you're unable to get a deeper understanding of the theory and/or yourself, you'll likely get stuck at the level of appearances and always feel unsure about your type.

As you've mentioned, you're young/immature and haven't had much chance to develop your functions so far. Low self-awareness is to be expected for certain groups, but it poses a problem for type assessment when it means you don't have enough insight into yourself. Low self-awareness can eventually be remedied through doing more self-reflection or simply giving yourself more time to mature through life experience. I sometimes suggest to teenagers to hold off on type assessment for a few years for this reason.

While your writing is helpfully descriptive, you seem unable to provide deeper explanations about what really motivates you or WHY you really think/behave as you do. It seems you are very motivated by "possibility", which is a key observation. But this alone isn't enough because it's not exclusive to ENTPs or Ne doms. It seems you are also motivated to fit in, due to fear of rejection. This is a more complex issue. Unless you dig deeper into the psychological origins, it remains unclear whether it's related to Fe or something else entirely. Other possible relevant factors include ego development problems, gender expectations, negative past experiences, etc. These two driving forces aren't enough to build a strong case.

Your work is good... so far... but it's still incomplete. As I explain in the study guides, my method begins by taking all 16 types into consideration. Through process of elimination, I narrow down the options to the most plausible candidate. Unfortunately, when you only write up one type instead of doing a thorough comparison between the top 2-3 possible types, it doesn't provide me with enough information to do a full analysis. I'm unable to confirm a particular type until I can ensure that no other type fits better.

Right now, I can only conclude that ENTP may or may not be correct, which is no better than when you started. One glaring problem in your description is the troubling lack of Ti detail, to the point where I wonder why you think you're TP in the first place. However, it's unclear whether this is because of low awareness of Ti or because you don't actually use it. From this, the only new piece of information I can offer is that INTP is ruled out. Unfortunately, there isn't enough information to rule out similar looking types that frequently mistype as ENTP such as ENFP, ESFJ, ENFJ. In terms of next steps, I suggest you give these types serious examination and rule them out.

[asherlockstudy]

um im just scrolling through the streamys tag and i saw your posts and i thought "oh they seem cool i wonder what the blog is like"... then i went scrolling and you mentioned link coming out??? huh??? (i haven't watched gmm in like years year years) you seem like a level headed person to ask.... link is... gay? did this happen recently??? i am so confused but i know that if i google im gonna get garbage results. so yeah

Hello! Sorry for the late reply, hope you get to see this.

The answer is... yes and no. While there isn't anything explicit / certain / definite over all this time, it seems there is some restlessness on their side, with several projects such as their recent scripted videos, but also as far back as Hazel, the GMEs and Ear Biscuits that point towards the possibility of them taking a very slow, long way towards this direction, especially Link. In fact it seems like Link can't stand being in the closet anymore but Rhett dreads leaving it. That's my general impression.

While I might be considered the most stark supporter of this theory around here (or at least the one who verbalizes it the most), a few days ago more people started considering it thanks to a moment during GME where Link did something very close to a coming-out.

In case you haven't watched any of the GMEs, GME (Good Mythical Evening) is a paid live show they do once a year, which is like the strictly adult version of GMM. There, strong references to sex are allowed and they also drink enough to get inebriated and foul language is also allowed to some degree.

All that on its own would be already a lot to consider, but GME has also strong homoerotic traits since Rhett and Link play a lot with their ship there. Last year, they re-enacted rhink fics where they were having sex (basically handjobs?), I don't remember exactly. And they acted LIKE they were doing it. This year, they took it up a notch and Rhett actually sucked Link's nipple, among other things. And I mean, he really did it. For a few seconds. But he did it...properly. Don't ask me why they do this stuff. I don't know. I think nobody knows. I am just presenting you the facts so I can give you an idea about what is going on.

So, during a game in this latest GME, this dialogue took place regarding what the act of "docking" is:

Rhett: I was right! It is a gay thing! Stevie: Whaaat? I mean, well, Link also agreed with your answer so... Rhett: We both get points! Hold on, though... one guy needs to be circumcised. Link: Yeah you only need one circumcision for docking. Stevie: Oh you're asking ME? Rhett: I think..... I don't know a lot about this but I think only one guy needs to be uncircumcised. Link: Do you think docking actually happens? Because I don't think docking increases pleasure. Rhett: I don't know, man. I can't do it, man. My parents didn't give me a choice. They just circumcised me, man. Link: I know, but even after you're circumcised, you can try. Rhett: With someone who's not circumcised...... And also, I am not gay. Link: Hey, that's okay. It's okay. Rhett: Yeah, I mean, it's cool to not be gay! Link: No, it's not "cool"- Rhett: No, it's "okay" to not be gay! By "cool" I meant it is "okay" to not be gay! Link: But just go ahead and explain yourself completely. Rhett: But I might do it for scientific purposes! Link: This is what I wish you would do when I say something stupid. Rhett: If they needed to figure it out, if two scientists wanted to figure out whether two guys need to be uncircumcised, I'd be like "okay", I mean, I'd check with my wife first. Link: Yeah, but just say it is equally cool to be gay. Rhett: It is cool to be whatever you wanna be. Link: Yeah. Exactly. It's cool to be whatever you need, you want to be, you are. It's cool to be who you are. That's what I am deriving. Rhett: Yeah, that's the coolest you can be, to just be who you are. Right, Stevie? Link: I, you know what, I feel like, Stevie, I feel like I have been on a journey. Stevie: Okay. Rhett: Yeah. Link: To know- to figure out who I am. Rhett (mutters): Yeah, yeah, right. Link: And it's extremely rewarding, challenging and- Rhett: But we won't be docking later... Link: And..... rewarding. And we wanna- Yeah... can you... I was saying something important. Rhett: Because we're both circumcised. Link: Yes, but we are not gonna be docking later. Rhett: Right, because we're both circumcised. Link: But you can be circumcised and still have enough of a skin left after the circumcision to dock... In Good Mythical More we are gonna answer questions from the crew and we 're gonna have conversations about - (meanwhile Rhett talks simultaneously and almost over him about unimportant docking musings) Link: ...Right, so if you are not gonna come to Good Mythical More, please you can still get a ticket, join us for Good Mythical More, but for now we're gonna move on. Rhett (sarcastically): Don't you want more of this? Link: In the More. Stevie moves on with the game.

So, what happens next, Link also had two-three more moments when he seemed to consider talking about something and Rhett explicitly told him "Whatever it is you want to say, just keep it to yourself" and also in another moment "You can tell your Uber driver on your way home but not here".

During the More, at which Link hinted, there was a red box with nosy questions asked from the crew. Rhett was the one taking the questions and reading them. He chose to not read loudly and thus answer at least two questions, even though he pulled them out of the box.

Link eventually did not make any more similar statements.

You should also know that a couple of weeks ago, during the GME promo, Link had said that one reason we should watch the GME show was that he might even make an emotional speech before its end.

Another thing, the last months Link has also expressed in interviews and even in a college graduation that it is important to find who you are and explore your identity, addressing this especially to young adults. He always seems emotionally charged when he does it.

That's it. To me it just seems like there's one explanation only, but I will leave you to your own conclusions.

And one last detail. Rhett did everything in his power to not let Link finish what he started - almost bullied him out of it. Despite all that, notice what he said. While Link was trying to say whatever he was trying to say, Rhett said:

But we're not gonna be docking later.................. because we're both circumcised.

And he repeated the explanation once more.

+++

[kagdowo]

Ok to answer your tags. flynn is way too active (involved with the self/ self serving) and way too good at self care to be a seer. (also the idk about you until we've hung out enough and then i'll die for you but i'll never tell you but that's another thing entirely)

a good example of echo project seer would be cameron wilson from arches vn (seer of doom, dersite) or dave halloway (seer of time prospit)

Flynn just has too much of the akward cohabitation with his aspect too much of self imposed rules. and not enough of trying to foster pseudo mage like traits into other to be a seer.

altough yes you are right flynn is the ragest bitch to have ever raged. (you could argue that flynn ending and him spectatulary failing at self care by getting himself killed is a seerish trait. but the devil is in the details. seer hurts themselves with their opposite aspect. by misfiring their twin witch impulse (especially the women) terezi had relationship problems rose was alcoholic etc....

Mage get burned by their primary aspect while gaining instinctive non scholar insigth about it. (flynn get burned by rage when his fury against secrets and lie as well as general skepticism led him to be burned in the mine, murdoch get burned by blood with his abusive familly situation)

all in all flynn has all the akwardness the wanting to dance by their own rules the attuning to his aspect as personal insights of a mages.

i am literally a seer so i know one when i see one. P.S other fvn seers might include cordelia hendricks (seer of hope prospit) porter moore (seer of blood no idea of his lunar sway) and klaus from dawn chorus (seer of void, no idea for his sway either)

omg wow thank u so much for ur reaponse!! this was such a fun breakdown to read, and now that I’ve read it I wholeheartedly agree with u on flynn being a mage of rage.

i always had a hard time conceptualizing / understanding the mage class- like, i understood they suffer from their aspect in some way and in the process gain intuitive knowledge about it, but that was the extent of my understanding.

seers too- like, lmao now that i’m thinking about it i think i had an even looser grasp on seers than i had on mages! i didnt even know about the twin witch impulse stuff, or the stuff about fostering psuedo mages

it all makes perfect sense tho, and i’m a bit embarrassed i never really caught on to a lot of this before (especially embarrassed that i forgot seers were the passive to mages, not the other way around lol)

regardless tho, thanks so much for taking the time to write all this!! i especially love how u provided examples of other seers/mages in other fvn titles. (cameron as a seer of doom is so real but its also such a sad title, which tracks but still 😭)

i gotta ask if u’ve thought about the rest of the casts’ titles? i’ve thought about it a bit, but as shown, i don’t really have the greatest grasp of classpecting so a lot of what i have is really half baked

i think leo is definitely bloodbound and possible a prospit dreamer? or maybe he’s a prince and he’s just mirroring blood so he’s actually a prince of breath? or something?

carl feels possibly space or breath bound? maybe a page too?

jenna is either light or mind? as for class idrk

tj could be either void or hope? void cuz of syd and hope cuz of his faith and how he parallels flynn (lol i know very superficial). and as for his class… idk honestly lol

and chase… idk really lmao, maybe heart? since he’s sort of the heart of the narrative? don’t really know what class i’d give chase either tbh

and the sydney… probably doombound, right? or time, since his death sort of starts the clockdown towards the town’s undoing?