#i just have a really specific image of who this guy is and he FASCINATES me

[zan0tix]

JAKE AND TRANSFEMININITY: PART 1

IVE ALWAYS WANTED TO TALK ABOUT THIS im gona make a series of posts about jake because. Im crazy and i like writing (will also help me with writing my scripts bc im bad at doing that but im good at yapping on social media lol)

This first post will be about Grandpa Harley because yknow he was the foundation for Jakes text later.

(Take these with a grain of salt bc this is skaianet archive stuff) but Its stated over and over that HIC in both universes Despised Jake because he was a boy and saw him as an annoyance. (The reason he is even named Jake is because HIC just swapped a letter from Jane to make a male name) and this started a pattern of jake being waved off and disregarded.

Already day fucking one as a baby Jake isnt doing gender right😭 his name is a reminder that he isnt what people want him to be.

So he left home and sought off to find adventure at age 13. His shitty home-life already left him with a fraught relationship to his autonomy and control over his life (Again skaianet archives grab that Salt) But he gets groomed and taken advantage of by an older man. I believe this only further Jakes feelings of helplessness and desire to exert power over something.

Grandpa harley would then proceed to try so hard to embody the Old most admirable western masculine archetype to a T. The wealthy globe trotting adventurer/entrepreneur/inventor with female lovers galore and nothing tying him down! A mans man who isnt afraid to get his hands dirty, wrestle a few animals. Wield violence to exert power and control (hunting animals) I see this as his outlet to exert autonomy and establish an Identity for himself but its at the expense of innocent lives. But its how you are seen as successful and powerful living under patriarchy and imperial capitalism.

Though while being this stereotype of old timey masculinity, he has this fascination with a specific brand of femininity. A delicately composed vision, a photoshoot, a performance. Something unachievable.

Its something he brings everywhere he goes. The blue ladies photos and imagery litter both his Hauntswitch house and Jades island house juxtaposing all of his Trophies (taxidermied animals that he obtained through overtly violent masculine means) With his self titled “Beauties/Daughters of Eclectica” (IF THAT ISNT THE MOST OLD GAY MAN THING YOUVE EVER READ. BUT ANYWAY)

Hussie always describes it as “Haha old man jake is horny for blue ladies” but i think the fact he views them as aspirational figures, and holds them in such high regard, Telling Jade that She should aspire to be like them and maybe one day she could take a place amongst them in their elegance and beauty I believe was him projecting; where he believes he isnt able to emulate them because he is a man so he tells jade to instead. (then we see teen jake who is living in more progressive times with his blue lady equivalents and he Directly attempts to Emulate them)

I think theres something more happening here guys nerm..

A. Claire was a Ballerina, A performer of a very traditionally feminine art that is calculated, asking for pin point accuracy with your body as the instrument. The fact he was her “Biggest fan” I assume he went to see alot of her performances and greatly admired her for her beauty and performance skills.

Ive said it before but I dont think he was attracted to her sexually, I think he wished he could be what she was. Embody a finely tuned image of femininity he was barred from ever exploring, so he was drawn to women who could do what he couldnt. And i believe he conflated his gender envy with attraction (teen jake does this too really hard but well get there later) because they didnt have the terms for gender envy or anything back then. Jake grew up in the 1920s. I assume he believed his feelings were average hetero attraction and not something deeper.

I feel like its an elaborate gag that Jake made himself into a straight up Caricature of the burly gruff Adventurer Man. His houses are overflowing with hunting trophies and weaponry like hes over compensating Its insanely comical when you know Really on the inside hes a gay man with a great affection and identification with the effeminate and is actually really loud about it but everyone brushes it off as “Haha what a kooky old geezer!” OBVIOUSLY ALL OF THIS FUNNY. Homestuck is a tragicomedy, everything is simultaneously one huge elaborate gag but also offering commentary on what its pointing and laughing at, in this case its cisheteronormativity (thats the same for an ungodly amount of cases with this work)

I find it tragic, poetic, and endlessly hilarious that his final moments were spent Roleplaying Heterosexuality with a doll He dressed up and put makeup on; made with his image of femininity, and he dies by his own gun, the same kind of weapons that he used to exert violence upon innocent animals in attempt to posture his masculine persona. The ones he arrived to earth with, he was pushed and destined to embody this image of masculinity because of the world he was sent to and the connotations of violence instilled into those weapons by society and reality by Lord English; a being his alt universe self played a great part in shaping. Who too wields a Gun as one of his signature weapons.

Blows smoke off the red hot irony pistols! 😉

PART 2 WILL COME SOON (will add link when it does)

[spirit-tracks]

I was going through a few of my old posts and reminded myself about the original hero of the Four Sword. Not the one from Four Swords or Four Sword Adventures, the one who came before them.

This one.

This legend.

We never play as him. We don't know what he looked like, how old he was. We never hear tell of him again after this, no more context for who he was or why he stepped up to defeat Vaati.

Going off the fact that he possessed the Four Sword, I'm going to assume he was a descendent of Minish Cap Link, who created the Four Sword and likely kept it to pass onto his successor. What I love most about him is how CRYPTIC he was. He came out of the forest one day, talked shit about the local evil sorcerer, kicked his ass, dropped his sword like it personally offended him and promptly fucked off back into the forest, never to be seen again.

This story paints a very specific picture about the guy, (for me personally at least). Guy dropped hero business like it was retail and waltzed off until the woods forever, so I mean, he must not have liked the job very much. He left the sword, too, which further implies he wanted nothing else to do with it. He must've been arrogant and very self-assured if he so bluntly announced he could defeat Vaati (and i mean, he was right). Considering no one believed the maidens when they said he could split himself into four people, he must've stayed solo most of the time until he really needed to split. Maybe he just didn't like being split, or maybe it helped him keep a low profile. Maybe he didn't want the attention.

In any case, his vibes are immaculate. Go, antisocial king. There will be urban legends for about you for years to come.

[randoimago]

Hello is it okay if I could please have headcanons for yusuke and akechi and joker and futaba from persona 5 with a animator s/o like the reader does anime or cartoon animation and probably still watches cartoons and old animated movies as someone who wants to study animation I just wanna share my passion with these guys

Fandom: Persona 5

Character(s): Akechi, Joker, Futaba, Yusuke

Note(s): Sure thing!!

Akechi

He's tried watching you animate before and he had to walk away after he watched you draw the same shape for what felt like a hundred times. He knows animation takes a lot of time and patience but he doesn't have either of those to watch.

Akechi will pull you away from the TV or whatever you're doing with your animation to spend time with him. And to make sure you've eaten or taken care of yourself. He's definitely a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to that.

Doesn't really watch cartoons with you, but he does listen as you talk about some specific effect or frame of animation. Akechi doesn't completely understand what you're talking about but you look happy so it's good enough for him.

Futaba

Oh she thinks it's really cool that you do animation. Might ask if you could show her a bit of the software you use. She's not artistic, but she loves technology and learning new things that you can do with it.

She's more than happy to watch whatever anime or cartoon with you. Probably asks you a bunch of questions about the animation too. She knows you pause and rewind quite a bit to watch the details of something multiple times so she tries her best to see whatever you saw.

Futaba would jokingly suggest doing stop motion animation with Phantom Thief dolls or something. If you decide to go with it then she'll gladly come up with a script and get to work while you get your own stuff set up.

Joker

There's many times when he'll go to spend time with you only for you to be involved in your animation. He doesn't mind it since you've visited him when he was making lockpicks or tending to Le Blanc. He doesn't know everything about animation, but he enjoys listening to you talk about it.

He likes whenever you go on tangents or talk to him a mile a minute about some new technique you learned or some new feature you figured out to help you animate more smoothly.

He is always happy to sit with you and watch some anime or something and see how you react to the animation in it. He doesn't quite know why he feels more kind after watching Studio Ghibli with you, but he's not going to object with how you seem to be very enraptured with the animation.

Yusuke

The idea of making a picture or image move is fascinating to him. He's a fan of most art mediums so if you'd like to practice animation by having him sketch a couple things out then he'd be glad too.

Yusuke is the most fascinated with 3D animation. Watching you rotating the character or object and changing details is something he enjoys doing. Although he does throw in his own input of what needs more shadows or changing the texture of something.

He'd try his hand at traditional animation if you explain it to him. Yes, it's very time consuming, but it's a new art medium and he is determined to make an attempt. The issue is he's a perfectionist so you probably won't speak to him for a few weeks while he's working on this. At least he's supportive of your career?

Taglist:

@reo-the-leo @abellaheart-blog

[hinamie]

My I ask why are you a gojohater? I am a gojolover and love your gojopieces and love your portrayal of Gojo and Megumi, and I've known you're a gojohater since before I hit follow, but I am honestly curious haha I am a gojolover, but I love criticism of Gojo (and anyone tbh but him in specific precisely because I like him a lot) both narratively and metanarratively, both his writing and his personality. So I am really curious, all the more because I always love your takes on him not just in image, but in concept. Many of my fave people to talk about my fave characters are haters of my characters, it's alright, truly. I really mean no harm. I'm just super curious because I think it could be very juicy and intricate analysis given your portrayals of Gojo xD

I am asking on anon because I'm shy and you're a big account, but I could ask off anon too if you're not comfortable with answering this question without putting a face on the sender, or in public as a whole. I am not shy enough that it would be a problem to me if you prefer it. Of course, please feel free to ignore my question too if you don't want to reply for whatever reason (even just not being in the mood, that's good enough reason in my books xD)

In any case, thanks for drawing and sharing your art with us!

Hi anon! i’m glad you like my art of him but if you’re expecting an intricate analysis on gojo you’ve come to the wrong blog :’> 

as fr my thoughts on him,,, listen. I hate on him as a meme gsdhjf it’s not that serious. i’ll come out and say it, I don’t /actually/ hate the guy, really the extent of it is just that I think he's annoying a lot of the time and not in a way that endears him to me. however when I started watching jjk I’ll admit I Was charmed by him! And even now I can recognize tht there’s undeniably a lot to his character that makes him super interesting, I think that his loneliness and burden of being the strongest hidden under a carefree mask r things that make him rly compelling. i like that he’s insane i like that he’s strong to the point of being unreachably Alone, i LOVE that despite that he cares so much about the kids and tries to connect with and protect them at every opportunity. he’s a tragic tragic character and annoying or not, I eat that up

my beef is with fanon gojo ghjgshd seeing the way that the audience treats him soured him for me Bad. It’s so hard to see a character for the tragedy of their desire for connection when the entirety of their personality and the significance of all their fascinating story beats are entirely drowned out by mischaracterization and audience horniness. he overshadows everything he’s in because That Type of gojo fan sees him and gets tunnel vision regarding everything else—see the people who were threatening gege's life over killing him and Hard banking on a gojo comeback until the very end despite th narrative uproot it would cause. someone could make the most emotionally poignant piece of gojo-centric content and you’d still have probably a majority of his fans doing nothing but barking because that’s their 6’4 dom top or whatever. 

atp i’m used to seeing it but it still makes me angry that such a deep character with so much story significance is completely objectified by ppl who claim to be his fans. that’s not my business tho, engage with media however u want, just know that i Am judging you

so long story short i hate on him out of principle. i saw the way fandom treats him and i simply decided that yeah i dont like this i will not contribute. i will not show him any love beyond the art i make of him. but I wouldn’t dedicate so much time and effort to making art of a character if I truly hated them lmao i’m not that dedicated to the bit

[kismet-cat]

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot is how Jowd and Yomiel are parallel to each other. They’re both so stuck in worldviews that are blatantly wrong- Jowd thinking everything is his fault, and Yomiel thinking everything is the fault of everyone BUT him. To an outside observer, both these views are totally stupid, but the two of them feel like they HAVE to believe it or else everything they’re doing will be for nothing. If jowd is wrong, that means kamila did it, and he can’t let himself believe his kid could do that, it would destroy him. He’s so willing to take on the guilt because he feels responsible for not stopping the tragedy- even when it was literally impossible for him to foresee or stop. If Yomiel is wrong, then it means that literally everything he’s been doing since dying is useless and he’s the one responsible for the deaths of both Sissels, and he can’t believe that or he’ll sink even further down. So the two of them both push on, warping the truth until it suits their narratives, both of which are steeped in self-hatred. It’s a good thing they never met up before their respective character developments- like Yomiel said, Jowd would have loved to be executed by his own daughter. Sorry for talking so much I just think they’re fascinating!!! I love ghost trick!!!

No need to apologize, I love hearing other people's Ghost Trick takes/analysis! Especially along these lines!

This specific parallel is def one I've thought about too, and you put it very well! For me, it all comes back to the set of questions I posed in this post as being at the core of Ghost Trick's story:

1. When something terrible happens to you, what do you do with that trauma? 2. When you do something terrible, when you make a terrible mistake, what do you do with that guilt?

Like you said, Jowd is a person who, in response to both questions, internalizes all the blame; whereas Yomiel, in response to both (pre Chapter 17), externalizes all his hatred. And yes, from an outside perspective they're kind of ridiculous — just look at how many chatters in the secret sleepover society streams (and other lps I've watched) have been reacting to Jowd as a character.

But one of the things fiction arguably exists for is to present characters that take such ideas to such extremes for the sake of exploring those questions and making a greater point; it's the premise "What if there was guy who ___? Wouldn't that be fucked up or what?". And for me (and a lot of people, clearly) Ghost Trick succeeds in getting you to take those characters seriously, because they and the people around them take their own stakes seriously, while ultimately making it clear that their responses were irrational.

...And hey, while I'm here:

Cabanela's answer to the second question is to bury all evidence of it, to Not Think About It, to become (or at least project the image of) a person who would never make that kind of mistake. Meanwhile, his answer to the first question, if we say the terrible thing in question is his best friend confessing to killing his wife and asking to be executed, is to dedicate himself to trying to undo it, to set things right, everything else in his life be damned.

These answers are "better" than Jowd's and Yomiel's — they certainly cause less extreme collateral damage — but they still aren't ideal. After all, Ghost Trick is a game that highly values the forging/maintaining of bonds with others and being honest/open with them as the key to both parties' success. It's what saves the day in the end. Without Sissel, all Cabanela's efforts to save Jowd and protect Lynne would have amounted to nothing.

No, the person with the "correct" answer is Lynne. She doesn't really have to grapple with the second question (which is maybe my personal biggest disappointment with her character), but her answer to the first question is clear: Become the kind of person who prevents such things from happening to others, or who can be the one to help them when it does. Always believe in people, and in the ability of things to turn out right.

Now, it must be said: the reason she comes to this answer is not because she was born a perfect idealist. It's because, in that worst moment of her life, someone was there to save and then reassure her; to inspire her. Jowd.

It's her truth, but it's not, say, Yomiel's.

But. It's a truth that inspires the rest of the cast (Sissel and Jowd primarily). And, because of her insistence in it, they're able to go back, defy fate, and make it The Truth of the narrative.

(Sissel similarly only has to really deal with the first question because Reasons, and his answer evolves over the course of the game, from "focus on the wrong that was done to you and what you can do to make yourself feel better about it above everything and everyone else" (doesn't that sound familiar?) to be more aligned with Lynne: "use what you learned/gained from that unfortunate occurrence to help others". And Missile is basically on the "right" wavelength the whole time, which is why everyone agrees he's the Bestest Boy.)

[slime-sandwhich-nom]

Can I just say that I enjoy a lot fairy world and I would love to see how the daily life is for a fairy there?

Fairy world is this big place that lives in the clouds and shows to be a mix of modern technology and old classic structures and I love it.

it's all so damn whimsical, all colorful and probably even the food has glitter there.

Some places recall Greeks and Roman architecture and it's lovely to see, reminds me of where I live :] (which is italy, specifically the capital, so you can guess why i love to see it.)

And some are more modern. They blend in really well.

The houses too are really cool looking because they're like the basic ass house but they have this sort of medieval kind of vibe especially for the roof, and there's castles there too !

they have their own set of grass, trees, and things and it's so cool it reminds me of these kinds of images in Minecraft

And it's also cool to see how fairies have a lot of things that are similar if not the same to what humans have, like cars for example (Cosmo has one, too. He can drive yes.)

And it makes me think that fairies just took those things from humans from their personal experiences as godparents, especially because Cosmo and Wanda always seem to be super fascinated by what humans have and enjoy messing around with it.

And it's a nice break from the whole "forest themed fairies" and such. (Which I love mind you, but it's really nice to see fairies as these silly guys who live in a metropolitan city.)

It's funny to see fairies as these completely non human beings who still implemented human creations in their own place because they thought it was cool.

Also the rainbow bridge is cool as fuck they probably only got it because jorgan can't fly for shit and probably also for cars and trucks, I know big daddy has a company that revolves around trucks if I remember right.

Fairy world just gives me the vibe of these creatures trying to mimic what humans do in their silly whimsical way because they think humans do things in a really entertaining way (no magic)

[chewyjellycable]

Guys I'm thinking about Shadow Milk again. Unlike this post, I'm going to go into a lot of off-the-wall theories with little to no explanation other than it sounds cool as Hell.

Shadow Milk pre-deceit must have held so much weight on his shoulders. To be the sole wielder of knowledge, he'd know the strengths of lying to others more than anyone else. And since he's the holder of it, no one would question him if he lied on purpose. (This point is used against PV in the future.)

Bringing something specific that I find fascinating- it's SM's connection to the Dark Side of the Moon. This means that he has a connection to Dark Moon Magic. For those who don't know or need a refresher, Dark Moon Magic is something that both White Lily and Pure Vanilla have delved into before.

My theory is that something related to this forbidden form of magic messed with a pre-corrupt SM's head and aided in molding him into a beast of deceit. Perhaps it showed him truths that he was not prepared to see? Maybe it scrambled up what the truth really was by making him a paranoid mess from the overwhelming power? In any case, I have a feeling that this is one of the reasons for what happened to the Beasts- but particularly SM, since we don't know enough about the others to deduce much. (Though I personally like to believe that SM was shown something of his friends suffering like some form of prediction and went on to look further into Dark Moon Magic in order to find a way to prevent this.)

Bringing back the connection to Pure Vanilla, SM actively attempts to get in his head. I feel like this is because SM himself had to deal with that nagging sensation before and after his corruption due to Dark Moon Magic, and thusly knows how to do such properly. He wants to drag PV into the same thing that he was dragged into, wanting his forced successor to suffer with some kind of poetic justice. Another connection between the two is PV was the first of his friends to reawaken, just as SM was the first beast to escape the tree.

Side note, I just wish to bring up that one of PV's nightmarish images he had to endure was the ancients being strung up similar to how he and his friends were strung up towards the end of Beast Yeast. I made this connection while doing research on PV's end of things and it stuck with me.

TL;DR - Thinking about Shadow Milk's past and how it could parallel Pure Vanilla is super fun to think about. SM having some relation to Dark Moon Magic and how haunting that magic seems to be for those that research it- how it leads to so much misfortune- makes me think that it had something to do with SM's corruption. Thank you for coming to my TEd Talk

[autisticgirliesbracket]

What makes Steris Harms from Mistborn Era 2 the autistic girlie ever of all time? Here's what the people have to say:

Steris-related asks/reblogs: x This post will be updated after each round!

Image ID in alt text and under the readmore.

[Image ID. White slide with a greyscale illustration of Steris on the left, taken from the 'The Bands of Mourning' novel. On the right there are text boxes which read,

"She has lists for everything. Every possibility, every outcome, she has a list for it. Evacuating the city? She has 15 different ways it could be done. City under a tsunami threat? She's got procedures. Needs to take her husband's place in a senate meeting? Don't worry, she's got a list of every senator and good talking points to impress them specifically. She loves taxes, treats them like a puzzle. She doesn't understand how to talk to people. No one ever gave her the sex talk and she doesn't understand what's expected of her in that department. She threatened to throw up on the table of a war meeting to get people to stop yelling and listen to what she had to say. (She keeps medicine in her purse to do just that if she needs to) She DID use that medicine to get her and her fiance out of a party so he could go chase bad guys. Her 'tism captivates her fiance so much he is so fascinated with her. I love her and my god she's got the 'tism something massive"

"It's canonical!"

"She was intentionally written as autistic. I love her"

"She's canonically autistic as confirmed by the author. As far as some of the textual evidence, she loves, and I mean really loves, lists; she makes so many lists and plans in order to navigate her world, and it means a lot if she's willing to change those plans for someone. She's prepared for everything; for one example, while staying at a hotel/inn, she gave the innkeeper a pamphlet full of all the different disasters that could happen while she and her companions were there and what to do in each case (including 'framed for murder,' which was like a dozen pages in and actually happened); for another example, when getting ready for her first wedding attempt, she tried to determine which of her fiance's enemies would show up, and she got several backups of their equivalent of wedding rings in case anything bad went down. And when she was first arranging her engagement to him, she wrote a many-pages-long contract for it, which included a provision for how they should go about it if either of them took a lover (her father cheated on her mother, so from her experience this was just a logical thing to factor into the plans, but also she'd been rejected by a few suitors in the past so she didn't expect much affection from this one--fortunately, time proved her wrong in this instance. By the end of the series they're quite in love, and enjoy dates like 'working on their house finances' or 'doing amateur metallurgy'). She can easily come off stiff and cold to someone who doesn't understand her well; part of it is the pressure she has, as a noblewoman expected to be competent in high society, to mask a lot, and she generally treats the details of social interaction as something to memorize, eventually explaining to her fiance (once they've known each other a while, and they're thawing out) that she has to prepare her witty quips way ahead of time, lest it all come out wrong." End ID.]

[hellonerf]

this strawpage... @_@ anon ok i love thinking alot abt 1p&2p caname now how they'd all interact with each other (all a ruse to drive the two canames closer together as most things are) conjuring things in my mind now

funnily enough i think 1Pcana 2Pame is actually likely to go well together haha.... maybe at first cana is like wow (T_T) hes even more of an asshole than the ame i know... then blablabla WHAT?! he is being sincere transparent ?!?!?!?! the bewilderment of seeing a version of ur brother without his constant effort into projecting a specific image... i think cana is always. a little fascinated by these kinds of moments from ame but its moments he has to wrestle out of or comes after a kind of peak of things building up... and here it just comes out of this new ame?! without prompting?!? only awhile after they just met?!?! so heres the little weird bonding theyd have afterwards... easing of first impression hostilities.... and 2Pame is like haha a polite cana can u imagine... haha lol... haha hes sooo nicer and accomodates to me hahaa.. (looks down at feet).... then theyre projecting images of their dear brother with more agreeable behaviors into the other hahaha i love it.... both going if only he was this likeable!

even so i love base caname so in my mind this still comes to a head like... well you cant replace the bond and shared memories here... and i think 2Pame especially is more anxious or fidgety that this cana doesn't know the same things the other does... ohh hes nicer (missing the kind of specific care he needs)(looks around nervously) and 1Pcana is just not used to how this ame is... unable to talk to him about his little grievances... or joke about the same things they hate... this ame wont just sleep in the couch with me... (7_7) what will they do now?!

on the opposite end i think 1Pame and 2Pcana would just not like each other LOL i think i mentioned them before, finding what they could be interesting. i still find them interesting but in the way that i really dont think theyd get along and its really funny to me. just from first impression theyre like i dont like this guy... and then upon spending more time theyre like i REALLY dont like this guy... from 1Pame specifically i think hes just someone who doesnt mesh well with tough or more hostile demeanor guys i think... he doesnt like accomodating people and hes definitely not interested in this. this jerk?! (he was also kindof a jerk). especially since he looks like cana... i think he can deal with people who are colder like that if there is a semblance of attention or affection there.. with this new cana hes like u wont be nice to me and u wont even pay attention to me. (kills him in his mind). meanwhile 2Pcana is like hes annoying (without the inherent fondness he'd have for his ame from their shared childhood) Lol...

i think theyd just butt heads all the time... nobody willing to give in... especially especially since they look like someone they love. 1Pames just like what the hell :( wheres my cana who puts his hand in his face all exasperated and then drives me to where i asked him to anyways :( what the hell :( kill this fake cana with flamethrowers now (gritting teeth). and 2Pcana also cant stand him hes like this fakeness... fake politeness... who is this for. why are u saying excuse me. hate this performative behavior... (throws cigarette in his face). its like the worst traits of their loved one was put to the max... theyre like. sick of this guy already...

in my beautiful world ofcourse this makes the canames be like ok... so i love my... not his others... i just love him! all canames are beautiful and really funny and fun and cute! thank you anon idk if u'll end up seeing my ranting or if ur from twitter and not tumblr... but its really fun for me...

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Right, I'm back. I didn't post anything yesterday because I thought it's best not to rush. But it was indeed fascinating to see reactions in real time to the photo. Yes, I'm talking about the photo posted on IG of JM, JK and another person.

I think I must have read opinions that varied on a entire spectrum and expressed quite vehemently. It's safe to say everyone has really strong opinions and you either condemn it or you're totally fine with it, as long as you pick a side and don't question anything. In sitautions such as these, the tendency to add just a touch of conspiracy is right there. And it gets a pass when there's a lack of information, a language barrier, etc.

I too have my own questions and observations, to which I don't necesarily need an answer, but I'll just write them down.

1. I couldn't help but think of how deep the level of social media stalking is in this fandom. I looked up the account immediately as I saw a screenshot because initially there was confusion about the source. That guy made no previous photo uploads of either JM or JK. At a first glance, there is nothing to connect him to them. And still he had fan accounts following him, before it all blew up and he gained a lot more. My question is, how did that happen? Are there people who look up Jimin's followers list and they try to figure out if there's someone from an inner circle? In all those 50 million people? Do they check some select few accounts daily to see if there's a possibility of a post? The logistics of this are giving me a headache. Or maybe there's some obvious, easier answer and I don't know it.

2. Considering that the account is public, it's not like the photo is leaked. I don't know exactly the nature of the relationship that man has/had with JM & JK and I do not wish to make any speculation with regards to his intentions.

3. I think the outrage was mostly caused by jikookers bringing back to the surface that old photo under the heart arch. Which indeed paints a certain picture, but it's also not the most incriminatory thing out there. I don't think there's any real actual danger, considering that it was supposedly taken from Jungkook's dad Kakao talk. If that's true then it means the dad was ok with showing it.

3. What I personally believe should not have happened was to circulate that photo so easily on social media. People knew about it for a long time, even before someone posted it on I-Jikook twitter. But in cases like these, the photos will always be revealed. They will leave the group chats and out into the wild usually for a petty reason. Because at the end of the day, that's the issue. It has nothing to do with giving a shit about the people in the photo, it's about winning a shipping argument, about screaming "we won". Win what exactly???? It shows who is in it for the fantasy. No single argument could work for them. Replying on and on about deleting doesn't matter.

4. Maybe my last point, but this situation has revealed some things which were already known, but maybe not really articulated specifically all the time. As people not only part of the fandom, but also using social media 24/7, our ideas about privacy and what we should have access to when it comes to public figures has certainly been influenced by the current landscape. In the case of JM & JK particularly, they have been sharing pieces of themselves for more than a decade. It was the BH strategy, the BTS brand. It worked wonders because look at the huge fandom it gathered and the relationship that was built between idol and fan. Hell, Jungkook is doubling down heavy on it with his livestreams. How can anyone really expect a mass of people to really stop and think about privacy? We ourselves as regular people curate our social media image and we voice our opinions and share the places we go to, who are our friends, what parties we attended, when we get into a relationship. Every mundane or special occassion is posted for public consumption. I'm not saying this as some excuse that would justify sharing what looks like a private photo. What I'm saying is that it's to be expected in a way. As harsh as it is, but we live in this reality where the line between the public and private sphere is getting more invisible day by day.

What I think it's scary is that if there's a situation in which an actual compromising photo would somehow be leaked and which can be in the detriment of the people in it for various reasons, so called fans would still share it as proof. Because it doesn't matter for them. It's the high of finding it, of screaming about it on social media, without thinking for more than a second about possible implications. Everything needs to be done fast, regardless of consequences because people need to feed themselves with gossip and leaks.

I'm really just rambling here and not making too much sense. Anyway, I think we should always take a step back and really assess the situation and not scream about it, regardless of our position. Not everything is a threat, or privacy violation or putting people in danger, but it doesn't mean that it needs to be treated lightly as if it's no big deal (which usually comes from people who care more about their own safisfaction and feeling like a "winner").

[acourtofthought]

idk what's so hard to understand from the bonus chapter.

it doesn't matter Az re-gifted the necklace (it was a shitty move but that wasn't the point), it doesn't matter that he said to gifted to anyone and not specifically Gwyn or it doesn't matter that he said he doesn't consider Gwyn as his friend.

the point is Az thought about her smile when (or if) she receives the gift. that something glowed in his chest. a thing of secret, lovely beauty. all the while his encounter with Elain was also a secret but that was "wrong. it was so wrong."

can't they really see the difference? there's no big secret behind it. it is as it is, no need to "read between the lines" IT'S SIMPLE AS THAT FFS

It really is as simple as that. Sure, it's a fascinating bonus chapter to break down, it's a study of contrasts. Az starts out feeling envious, worthless, negative, etc. He's once again chasing phantoms in his fixation with Elain just as he's been chasing them for centuries with Mor. I do think he was in love with Mor but he also spent all that time waiting for a bond with her to snap. Then when his brothers were mated to two sisters, he wanted what they had, he wanted to be part of the brothers with bonds club because he's convinced that would fulfill the gaping hole he has of wanting to belong. The fact that not only was he not given a bond but he wasn't given a very specific kind of bond like Rhys and Cassian got (with two of three Archerons) is wreaking havoc on his mentality. But obsessing over Elain is a dead end road for him because not once did he say he loved Elain despite not having a bond with her. He wants a mating bond, something she cannot give to him. At the start of the bonus I think he had it in his mind that the bond is the answer to all his self worth issues and that's where his focus is, has been. Really, that whole first half is about himself, not about Elain. He doesn't think of how she's healing, doesn't think about whether she's happy, how much bravery she's been showing, doesn't think to offer her support in any way. Then we have him at a very low point after his conversation with Rhys but shortly after, we see him climbing out of that hole he's been in. It starts slowly at first, we see him still trying to cling on to his moodiness. But he can't even help it when his interactions with Gwyn lead him from his darkness, bringing him some of the first peace he's had in how long now? And he's barely focused on himself in the second half. He's thinking of Gwyn's charm, how he's glad she's in such a better place from how he found her two years ago, showing admiration for her technique. Elain hasn't done anything to deserve Az's thoughts of her but when being around one female leaves you feeling horrible and the other leaves you feeling hopeful, I think it's pretty easy to see which direction the author is heading. In other stories with the "broody guy feel self worth issues pines after the sunshine girl" trope, there's only one female love interest so you know that's the trope the author is going with and who is ending up with who. Elsie Silver has a book, Photo Finish like this and it's adorable. But when the author introduces two possible love interests and one leaves the MMC feeling "wrong" and the other one leaves him feeling full of hope, a rare feeling for someone like Az, it's a big deal. At that point it's clear the author is not going with the trope they keep trying to force onto Az.

And when his bonus chapter ends with Az pushing down the thoughts of the way Gwyn made him feel (not Elain), it's a mirror image to the way Nesta's eyes chased Cassian back all the way on his return to Velaris at the end of his. But as always it seems they become so fixated on single lines like "He wouldn't go so far as to call Gwyn a friend" or the fact that he turned around and told Clotho to give it to anyone while blatantly ignoring lines like "he hadn't gotten that far in his planning, certainly not beyond the fantasies he pleasured himself too" and the fact that at one point Feyre called Rhys her enemy and Nesta kneed Cassian in the balls that they miss the bigger picture

And you're right, in the end the gift doesn't matter. That necklace could disappear and never make it on page again and what will remain as the important thing is how giving that gift to each of the two females made him feel. For Elain, it left Az feeling wrong and tainted. With Gwyn, it left him feeling a spark inside his chest and with a smile that it brought to his face.

[good-to-drive]

Hi! I swear I don't mean to be annoying but genuinely curious what's the difference between Paul fans praising Paul in a post vs say, fans of any other beatle. Is it the overt defensiveness? Also, isn't reiterating Paul's sins every time kind of being like the 'John beet wif' meme everytime there's positive discussion re the band/John ?

Hi!

Don't worry, you're not annoying, but I was planning on deleting this (frankly I delete most of the asks I get from Paul girls) until I realized you're (perhaps unintentionally) coming very close to a legitimate point. Also, I get the feeling that you're genuinely interested in an answer, which is always nice.

That being said, I do want to point out that I never said I have a problem with people praising Paul. If you follow this blog, I praise him a lot. I very specifically said I have a problem with people being "delusional and defensive about celebrities," and the fact that you translated this to "praising Paul" honestly raises an interesting point, but also imho seems like a very harsh perspective on him. There are so many wonderful things to say about Paul that are not remotely unreasonable, because there are many wonderful things about him as a human being.

Also, "bringing up Paul's sins" was actually a comment from a reblog, and while I think they also make a good point it's separate from what I originally said. What I said is that it's frustrating that delusional and defensive behavior from stans brings out negativity towards the celebrity when the celebrity themselves did nothing wrong, and that this is really prevalent in discussion around Paul because in the mainstream Beatles narrative he's usually the hero to John's villain.

All that aside, where I think you're very nearly making a good point is where you compare this to discussing John's history of violence.

The tendency to black-and-white people is present in every conversation, it's just part of how we speak as a culture (or possibly as a species). I like to call it the AITA mentality – the tendency to approach situations from the perspective of “who's the bad guy?” rather than actually trying to draw insight and understand the motivations, emotions, schemas, and experiences involved. (Not that r/AITA invented this mentality, but they did crystallize it into an acronym.) In this fandom that's usually Paul as a kind of heroic victim and John as pitifully evil, which is itself arguably (partly) a delayed reaction to unfair criticism of Paul in the past. It does both men a terrible disservice, converting them into one-dimensional caricatures rather than real, fascinating people.

Reversing this mentality to “Paul was the real villain actually” would very much be unreasonable, which is ironically the exact point of my original post, but the larger point is that the way stan culture poisons any meaningful discussion of a major historical figure by calling it “bashing” to acknowledge actions/beliefs/experiences that conflict with a black-and-white narrative is genuinely sad and frustrating. It makes it hard for people who are legitimately interested in them to have a conversation, and is in my experience a much more prevalent issue than people pushing back by bringing up things that shatter the one-dimensional image.

In regards to John specifically, it would indeed be impossible to understand him without taking into account the predilection to violence that defined so much of his early life and helped develop his belief system, and that's a point that he himself made multiple times. I don't really care for the condescending "John beet wif" characterization of people who acknowledge this, or even people who are disturbed by it. I've said many times that there are valid reasons to condemn everyone in this story. When I say there's a lack of nuance, I don't mean we need to ignore the real harm that John, Paul, George, and Ringo all caused. That's not nuance. Nuance is acknowledging how and why they came to that point, that it was one facet of a larger and more complex character, and trying to develop insight into their social roles and perspectives without trying to snap them into preset hero or villain roles.

And your bringing up John's history of violence was (ironically) a very illustrative example, because he himself was so insistent on it being acknowledged. He did not want to be spoken about in black-and-white terms, not even if it meant being heroized, so it's unnecessary and counterproductive to demand that he should be. Positivity about the band can -- and indeed must -- coexist with knowledge of who they were as full, complete human beings. It's sometimes hard and disillusioning, I get that, but it's just so fucking essential.

[inkdemonapologist]

Do you ever think about how Nathan Arch is canonically Joey’s sugar daddy?

YALL HAVE A WILD DEFINITION OF “CANONICALLY” SOMETIMES

What we know (assuming there's no exciting new nathan lore im gonna discover when i read FtB, in which case don't tell me lmao), canonically, is that Nathan gave Joey a lot of advice about starting his company, some more advice while JDS was running and looked over the land for the Bendyland park with him, and that when things got real bad for JDS, Joey wrote to Nathan, hemming and hawing about how he normally definitely wouldn’t do this, to ask for a specific amount of money to help with the bills. We also can assume he’s a little older than Joey, since they were in the military together when Joey was too young to be in the military. 

What is not hard AT ALL to read between the lines is that Nathan had a big crush on Joey Drew, source: every footnote in the Illusion of Living, several audiologs in BatDR. 

What is certainly possible to believe is that Joey would never mention if Nathan was giving him consistent financial support, and that Nathan would similarly gloss over it, because he likes the image of Joey as a clever self-made man who deserves his success and wants to preserve Joey’s good name. 

We actually don’t know if Nathan gave Joey any money, we just know that Joey asked for it, and that everything we know about Nathan suggests he would’ve been happy to help (and everything we know about Joey suggests he would’ve downplayed how much he really needed and thus the studio going under anyway does not mean Nathan ignored the request.) So it’s quite reasonable to suspect he did, but even THAT isn’t canon confirmed.

And, like, not to be That Guy except that this is my blog and I can That Guy to my heart’s content — giving someone money does not make you a sugar daddy. SUGAR DADDY IS A TRANSACTIONAL RELATIONSHIP and gay relations between Joey Drew and Nathan Arch are the realm of headcanon. LIKE, A HEADCANON THAT CAN BE VERY STRONGLY SUPPORTED AND ARGUED FOR, if someone told me "wow joey and nathan DEFINITELY had something going on" I would laugh and agree, but it's an interpretation nonetheless. You could make an equally strong argument that Nathan is closer to what the kids call a simp, praising Joey’s brilliance and helping him with his problems and eagerly paying his bills because of a huge unrequited crush that Joey took advantage of but never returned. There's several ways to read it. 

But... I do think a lot about how these two stayed in contact, stayed friends, even though Joey always seemed to be playing a role around Nathan, never quite felt comfortable explaining the things he felt most passionately about. He tells him about Bendyland, but clams up when Nathan doesn’t understand why it matters so much to him. It doesn’t seem like Joey ever tells him about Audrey; even though Nathan can hear the joy in his voice and notes that his old friend sounds more like himself than he has in a long time, he never knows why. Nathan is so so so taken with Joey, but there’s something about Nathan that Joey doesn’t trust. 

Interesting that Joey never does brag about Nathan investing in him as proof of his own business acumen, though he doesn’t mind bragging about the investment of a grief-stricken mother who only regarded him as a polite young man. What’s threatening, then, about the idea of Nathan supporting him? It’s interesting the way Nathan is fascinated with every part of him and Joey always holds himself at arm’s length. Interesting how Joey enjoys his company, but gets uncomfortable and changes the subject whenever Nathan regards him, positively, as someone who pulled himself up to success out of nothing. Interesting to compare Nathan to Kyle, the other rich friend of Joey's who gets called a “sugar daddy” by the fandom (despite being younger than Joey), how Joey is uncomfortable when Kyle prods him about his status and tries to take credit for him, and then the way Nathan doesn’t do this but Joey still shies away whenever he hits the edges of those topics. ...It’s almost more interesting if Joey was trying his absolute hardest to avoid Nathan funding him, despite the fact that Nathan was clearly taken with him and probably would have been happy to help. What strings were attached to Kyle that Joey was afraid to find in Nathan?

[buqbite]

ok so!!!! i have. so many thoughts about penacony. aventurine the man you are...... his obsession with facades and masks... his future self shit talking him.... 2.1 truly delivered. his dynamic with ratio is also so interesting.... the contrasts... aven not taking care of himself at all vs ratio the self care king........

there's so much unexplored potential for a friendship between acheron and aven... their similarities as people who lost everything ... how acheron works in the shadows and aventurine flaunts himself yet acheron is much more willing to be... openly vulnerable about her past? as compared to aven..... i care them both dearly anyway!!! i have many thoughts on 2.2 but i don't want to intrude or make this too long ajshldfkjasdjf but yes!!!! im having a good time so far (though i'm kinda fed up with the sunday boss fight) and !!!! looking forward to meeting aven again (myriad celestia trailer!) + seeing what other adventures the astral express goes on...

I FORGOT TO REPLY SORRY

aventurine is just such a fun guy. i become attached to characters who try to sell a specific image of themselves pretty much immediately, because the gradual detachment from their own identity and struggle to properly connect with others is always a delight to see. and aven does it so well! he's completely out of touch with himself - kakavasha and aventurine are practically different people by now.

i care deeply about depictions of cptsd in media, particularly when they acknowledge that it really isnt just depression + anxiety + flashback induced panic attacks in a spot the person you ship them with can conveniently find them in and calm them down. such a big part of it is the way it can completely fuck up your self-concept and worldview cuz yknow. your brain structure is altered. it's the key factor in that disconnect that i just talked about. and that constant sense of impending doom and emptiness are a part of that, which often leads to stupidly reckless behavior. i don't even need to bring up aven's whole gambling thing here, do i?

(also please do note that, as i wrote this bit, welt was even further on the forefront of my mind than he usually is. because of course he would be)

him and ratio are also a fun match, because ratio does not care for the way aventurine flaunts himself (to pretend he has his shit together) in the slightest. he'd do a good job at getting aven to just... slow down, and wouldn't allow their relationship to develop into something unhealthy either.

(its one of the reasons i like avenpaz + ratio, bc aven and topaz on their own would most certainly enable each other's bad habits. they have a bit too much in common in that regard.)

AND ACHERON. ACHERON...

miss raiden bosenmori mei i love you so damn much. she does the "oh, i'm doomed? my struggle was meaningless? well if nothing matters then i will do what i want" thing so well, and every dynamic she has with the other characters is fascinating to me.

one really big thing to consider is that, since acheron's whole backstory is essentially the bad ending of honkai impact 3rd, she's already seen all of this dreamscape shit. she's been living in the waking world for a long time now. in the quest "when the sacred ginmill closes," her and welt talk about kevin kaslana, someone who used his last resort to try and save humanity from the uphill battle against the honkai and plunge all of humanity into a dreamscape (etc), robbing it of its future.

a big part of hi3 is the direness of the situation, and the way people push themselves to go further and further in hopes of reaching this unattainable peace. it's an absolutely sisyphian task. and acheron let go - she defeated her version of kevin (why would you name him that) and let her homeworld be enveloped by the nihility.

so acheron's been there. she lost the people she loved, struggled against a meaningless end and was changed so irreversibly that she's not even human anymore. and there's a lot of potential for her to properly guide aventurine out of the nihility (i mean that's kind of her job?) and onto a path that's a lot more meaningful to him.

also, i'm saving a lot of my acheron thoughts for when i actually finish hi3, but there's a few dynamics that i could pick apart and think about forever. my favorites being aventurine and his whole (gestures at this post) stuff, black swan as someone whose whole being consists of memories while acheron perpetually erases them, welt as someone who shares the same experiences and black hole related powers, and firefly, who exists in the moment because she can't dream in the first place, and chooses to fight against the inevitable without being afraid of it.

...also also also i fucking love black holes and i love how it's connected to sun imagery and i think the idea of icarus reaching the sun only to discover a hopeless abyss beyond it is my favorite hsr symbolism thing ever. black holes are like THE thing to show hopelessness and meaninglessness and emptiness and a point of no return, because they devour everything and leave nothing. we don't truly know what lies within a black hole!! we might never find out!!! there are so many suns out there that will end up as black holes but we can appreciate their beauty nonetheless, can't we??? ive never seen a character with black hole (or sun) imagery that didn't fuck severely. a person who will figuratively consume you in your entirety if you get too close. they can't even help it. it gets me every single fucking time. can you guys tell that interstellar changed my brain chemistry when i first watched it as a kid. i need to punch a wall

[knight-princess]

Willow month: TV Show (Full Series/Specific Episode) or Movie

Look you guys know the movie was a whole lot of fun and I absolutely adored the whole series, but for the sake of this event I decided to pick an episode to talk about in more detail instead of “the show was fucking awesome and made me loose my mind” (which I could do for days, and have been doing, how long have I had this side blog, six months? More? Who even knows and I still find things to talk about) and on top of that I’m gonna have to be predictable: Beyond the Shattered Sea

This is such a good episode. It was probably my most rewatched of any of the episodes of the show, with the Wildwood as a close second

All of the characters have important moments in their arcs in this episode, and the writing, directing and acting is on full display, and it’s all immaculate. From Elora and Willow’s training sessions (“so, what did we learn?”/“that you’re a little mean?”/“sure” lol have I mentioned I love their dynamic so much?) to Kit and Jade’s flirty sparring (I could watch for hours), to Boorman’s agonising over the Cuirass and the Lux (seeing him, alone, attempt to get it to work and it not work was such a goddamn heartbreaking scene) to Graydon’s beautiful love confession (he and Elora training together also: pure adorableness) and Kit and Elora jumping off the edge of the world, together, united, finally, I loved every minute of it. For the Glory instantly became a favourite song, Kenneth (“I shall name you Kenneth, after the protagonist of the romantic farce I’m writing” Graydon I love you), just all of it. Truly a stellar episode for the characters and the story

But it’s the setting that sets the episode apart for me

This. The Shattered Sea that no one has ever crossed, where all the maps end. Image credit to @hgstuff for the gorgeous headers. I cannot get enough of looking at these. From the stark and desolate emptiness to the breathtakingly beautiful, the Shattered Sea is a peak location for a pre finale episode. And then the way all the characters have to reckon with things deep inside themselves as they make their way across the vast unknown. The way they set off with the mudmander sleigh, but you can’t make it across that way: you have to walk it, on your own two feet. The journey across the Shattered Sea is your own to walk; no one can do it for you. The way it’s set up is great too. The foreboding, the ominous way it’s described and set up by Zeb, that he and his fellows walked for days, for years, till their swords rusted and they went mad and turned on each other, murdered each other . . . That the sea goes on forever. And then to be on it, the endless shallow water, far as the eye can see. The lack of discernible time. The way the unending, unvarying uniformity begins to feel oppressive - but, just as it is oppressive and smothering, so too is it beautiful

The way the starry sky is reflected in the water is one of the most gorgeous visuals I think I have ever seen in anything ever, and it’s backdrop to a lovely scene between Kit and Elora. It’s in this conversation you can really feel that connection, see it, that growing bond. The cliff at the edge of the world is wonderful and such an interesting premise, the leap of faith you have to take to get to the Immemorial City. And the way Kit and Jade have their romantic moment silhouetted against a sunset just exploding with colour. It’s a beautiful, fascinating setting and I adored every bit of it

So yeah. Fabulous episode all round really

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Trimax Thoughts Vol. 14 Pt. 2

We're in the home stretch... last stream of consciousness post! The story ends with these last four chapters...

Oh. Ok. Immediately hitting me with this on the first page. "What's there left to see?" "Let's see the world together." "I wanted to see tomorrow with him." Just another way of showing us that Vash is not driven to survive this fight anymore.

!!! The lights again! He heard Meryl!!! AGHHHHH

I'm actually a little unsure of who is saying the "hey, come on, Vash the Stampede" lines. I'm assuming he's saying this to himself. I don't think anyone else makes sense.

The ambiguity of this situation is so fascinating, and it all comes from the way we almost never see the Plants' true perspectives. We know, at least, that they talk amongst themselves. Before the battle began, the ones who were not fused were concerned and worried over the outcome, and what the right decision is. Knives claims here that they were all united in their hatred of humans over the abuse they suffered, but we also see these dreams that Knives sees also of a mix of human cruelty and kindness - the same thing they transfer to the humans when the feathers start falling. They also all know and seem to like Vash - honestly, I'm of the mind that the Plants feel somewhat neutral about humans overall, and are primarily concerned with not hurting their own kind - which includes both Knives and Vash. Unfortunately, they have very little control or free will in this situation. There are two possibilities for the emotions of the fused entity here:

Knives, having walled himself from truly fusing so he can still direct it and maintain his sense of self, is simply feeling his own hatred, intensified by the power boost from the rest of the Plants - and Vash's interference is something he feels due to having a stronger connection with him specifically.

The Plants, having a less defined sense of self in general, feel whatever the dominant consciousness feels - so all the fused Plants really do feel hatred for humanity. When Vash connects though, they feel his grief and sorrow, as he is the one with the stronger Gate.

I think the second option makes more sense - and this kind of makes this whole situation even more tragic for the Plants... it makes it even harder to glean what they actually want. (Though the situation could be drastically improved if they were recognized as conscious entities - that at least would be a start.)

I like that we still, even in the final act, see Vash allowed to be a bit afraid and hesitant - he definitely knows this is going to be overwhelming and probably going to hurt a lot. With him being as exhausted and prepared to die as he is, he could've just been written as utterly indifferent to the pain but no, even with all that, he's still got a bit of a preservation instinct. It's very real actually.

"I felt that! Where are you?!" "Don't touch me!" <- ...brothers...

Oh it's actually breaking apart... but um. What happens to the Plants...? :(

"I beg of you... once again... grant me that ticket." 😭

MERYL YOU ARE THE STRONGEST PERSON IN THIS MANGA I LOVE YOU FOREVER

YES!

Also this means they're all going to see Vash too, doesn't it?

WAIT. HOLY SHIT THIS IS THE PLANTS. They call him Red Brother? That is so cute... And they are convinced to give love and peace a try because Vash knows and loves both of them... humans and Plants...

(I actually am now thinking, because of the feather we saw on Vash before, that he wasn't talking to himself but that was in fact the Plants urging him to get up... I wasn't aware they could use speech or just images/emotions, so I wasn't sure.)

:') (I was so scared for them guys. But this is interesting - can progress be made so they don't have to live in the lightbulbs? That would be a good step towards instating more autonomy for them.)

AAAAAAAAAAA :''')

"But I will not yield. Our past and our future will not allow it." <-Sunk cost fallacy again. I wonder just how much of the conflict in this series are the characters feeling unable to change simply because they've "come this far". Might be interesting to go back and look on a re-read.

Knives... :(

"I was the one who broke away." 🫠

That's what she told him??? aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

IN COMES CHRONICA WITH A STEEL CHAIR

Vash saved him!!!

Oh. The wings... they each only have one... because they shouldn't have been separate like that...

Help girl I am. On the floor. Crying.

"Oh and welcome to No Man's Land." Livio you are so funny

WHAT WAS THE REASON. I AM ALREADY CRYING STOOOOP

Love the return of Vash's old wanted poster. Lol.

Hair down Vash with dark hair :)

Knives... I find it so interesting again that Knives immediately tries to barter Vash as necessary to these people so that he'll save him. But the doctor was actually convinced by the sight of Vash's injuries and the desperation in Knives' voice. It's so minor but it's still such good characterization and further proof that the ideal of kindness is present in ordinary people.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The symbolism of him creating an apple tree as a gesture of what is both thanks and trust... but Knives, ffs, why would you just disappear on your brother without telling him. UGH. He used the last of his power, didn't he. Healed Vash's injury as much as he could then created the tree. Is he dead, or did he just lose corporeality or something? I'm honestly not sure. Either way, Vash lost his brother too after they just got each other back.

Begging him to start singing his murder song again

It was at this moment he knew. He fucked up.

Aww! They are going to be such a good team now that Vash is going to hopefully stop running off. DUDE.

HJHSBJHCBZJHVSBJV WHAT

I did not get the song I was expecting, but the fact that these two apparently play a song about Vash to signal the start of their broadcast is so funny. What is happening.

OMG Sheryl and Lina!!! Badwick and his family! Brilliant Dynamites Neon!

LIVIO!!! And the kids and Miss Melanie... at Wolfwood's grave... (Livio I love your new look.)

:')

"The same song of humanity still sang."

What a beautiful end to this story... thank you everyone in the book club (and to Rev for organizing it!); I had so much fun with this. I can't wait to go through the tag some more and go back through everyone's posts again - I fell behind a few times so I want to do a re-read of everyone's analyses and thoughts. I'll have a few more posts probably, but for now... thanks for what was a really fun experience everyone! I think this manga's story and characters will stay with me a long while.