#im just very passionate about them

[anotherferalrat]

YOU COWARDS.

You fools!

I have. SCOURED. The shiguang tag on ao3.

And you mfs have failled me.

WHERE'S ALL THE POST S2 ROYALTY AUS??? IT WAS LITERALLY. RIGHT. THERE. CHENG XIAOSHI WAS LU GUANG'S KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR. LI TIANCHEN LITERALLY WENT you both are the homosexual supporting cast and this is MYYYY fanfic.

WHERE'S THE PRINCE XIAOSHI AND ADVISOR LU GUANG FICS? WHERE'S XIAOSHI BEING THE PRINCE LOVED BY ALL AND LU GUANG DIRTYING HIS HANDS AND CORRUPTING HIS MORALS TO SECRETLY KEEP THE KINGDOM SAFE??

Where. Is the prince lu guang. With his personal bodyguard/knight xiaoshi fics? Where's the angst where cheng xiaoshi feels useless bc lu guang keeps trying to sacrifice himself whenever they're in danger?? WHERE'S LU GUANG NEARLY DRIVING HIS KINGDOM INTO THE GROUND OR GIVING UP HIS THRONE BECAUSE PRINCE LI FROM A NEIGHBORING KINGDOM KIDNAPS THE PERSON MOST IMPORTANT TO HIM

WHEREEEEE. IS THE INHERENT ANGSTTT. OF LOVING SOMEONE YOU CAN NEVER HAVE. BECAUSE OF YOUR STATION but doing it anyways<3?????

[p4nishers]

can't believe tom hiddleston ACTUALLY interrupted the interviewer to say "one last thing, i think mobius is loki's friend and i don't think loki has ever had a friend before" like king. i love how u felt the need to add that truly

[aroaceleovaldez]

in your most recent tyson post, you said something about leo being distinctly autistic-coded and I was wondering if you could elaborate on that? it sounds really interesting (sorry if you've already posted something on this, I couldn't find anything though)

Of course! I do have a specific tag for talking about Leo's autistic-coding/traits - [here], and [one for Nico as well].

The main aspects with Leo being autistic-coded actually have a lot to do with Nico being autistic-coded, because it's the comparisons between the two that most clearly indicate Leo is autistic-coded rather than it just being his ADHD or etc.

So with Nico being autistic-coded, it's very clear in the Titan's Curse that he's intended to be autistic. First, the first series has a repeating pattern of secondary characters being very distinctly neurodivergent-coded in different ways (Annabeth's adhd/dyslexia, Tyson's down syndrome-coding, Nico's autism-coding). With Nico's introduction, he's pretty stereotypically autistic and we're given a lot of descriptors about him that are notably not attributed to him being ADHD, like it would be for other demigod characters. He doesn't register social cues such as people getting annoyed at him, he's asking/making inappropriate or impolite questions/comments, he gets particularly upset about change (such as Bianca joining the Hunt) and generally gets emotional, and one of his most notable traits he's introduced with is the fact that he has a special interest (MythoMagic) - and we're shown that this special interest particularly colors how Nico navigates the world. While ADHD has hyperfixations, we don't really get much acknowledgement of hyperfixations with demigods usually - Annabeth gets a little, but most others don't and it's not nearly as focused-in on as Nico's is.

Then as the series continues we see these traits stick with him and him start to show or voice more traits that similarly indicate he's autistic: He regularly mentions how he doesn't understand living people and prefers the company of the dead (social issues). He has more notable stims than other demigods (twisting his ring, fiddling with bones, etc). He's indicated to have strong sensory preferences (usually wearing mostly black/aversion to bright colors, usually wearing layers/his coat, multiple times he's described as wearing loose/baggy clothing or clothes too big for him). He has specific comfort items (his ring, likely his jacket(s) as well). We later get even more information about his special interests (Mythomagic/mythology/history and an older interest in pirates - the latter he specifically notes likely heavily influenced his feelings towards Percy). He struggles with emotions and facial expressions and tone. He struggles particularly with ostracism and feeling like he doesn't fit in and has something distinctly different about him from the people around him (who notably, all have ADHD, which indicates it isn't the ADHD that's making him feel that way), and other characters regularly describe him as being off-putting because of his strange behaviors - again, different from specific ADHD traits they recognize. And that last point is kind of notable because we have Hazel and Bianca for comparison - we know people are off-put by both Nico and Hazel because of being children of Hades/Pluto and their powers/aura, but other characters get past that general feeling of discomfort way faster with Hazel. And even after characters get past the death stuff with Nico, there's a second thing that they aren't moving past that isn't a factor with Hazel (Nico's autism).

So that brings us to Leo - Leo is paralleled to Nico a lot. And there's some very specific traits about him that we know are autistic-coding because of how they're used with Nico: He similarly struggles with social cues/etc, and in a very similar parallel to Nico describes how he prefers the company of machines to people because machines make more sense to him. He has similar types of clothing/sensory preferences (again some stuff with layers but also - pockets! He likes having pockets and things to put stuff in! He's even introduced as having a jacket with lots of pockets), and he has a distinct special interest (machinery) that we specifically know heavily influences how he views and navigates the world (constantly comparing things to machinery, describing things with machinery metaphors/terminology, etc etc). He even describes his entire general worldview to Hazel and it's a machine metaphor. He also similarly struggles with ostracization like Nico does, the only difference being that Leo specifically puts on a persona to compensate for areas he knows he's lacking in and very explicitly describes it as a means to make people like him, because without it he normally struggles to fit in (He's masking!). We also see notes of characters describing that similar discomfort with Leo's behaviors that they do with Nico, except without the aura of death this time. And when we're in Leo's POVs we see a very stark difference between his masking and his actual personality/behaviors such as his internal dialogues or how he behaves when he's alone. Also, like Nico, he stims more than other demigods, though for Leo it's more attributed to his ADHD. Leo also, more often than most, similarly struggles with tone and reading the room, such as making misplaced jokes/comments or etc.

But yeah! It's really interesting. Also it's just a fun thing that ADHD/dyslexia and autism have comorbidity, so it makes sense that we see demigods who are also autistic. It's also really fun to look at how other characters are coded in the series, what coding looks like in the riordanverse specifically (usually it's tied into the mythological stuff - like Chiron being in a wheelchair but he's actually a centaur, Grover being introduced as having a muscular disease but he's actually a satyr, demigods having adhd/dyslexia, Tyson being coded as having down syndrome but he's a cyclops, etc etc - it's a lot of specific metaphor stuff that I've talked about a bit before), and to look at how characters are compared to one another.

[bitchthefuck1]

The thing about Francesca is that it isn't just saying "loving you is worth any punishment," it's saying "a punishment that keeps me with you is no punishment at all." It's not that you can brave a hurricane if it's the cost of loving someone, it's that standing in a hurricane for eternity with the person you love is still an eternity with the person you love, and how could you be happy with anything else?

[luck-of-the-drawings]

POOR GABRIEL MONTEZ! YOU NEVER SAW THIS COMING DID YOU? ALL YOU WANTED WAS POWER. SECURITY. SAFETY. & THATS EXACTLY WHAT YOU GOT! JUST IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR BODY. LETS JUST HOPE NO ONE FUCKS THIS UP. LETS JUST HOPE YOU WONT HAVE TO CLEAN UP THE MESS.

[theokusgallery]

Hiiii I saw you say you have Notes on your Remus and Janus designs 👀👀?

Could we see/hear some tidbits?

FOR SURE !! Here's what the original doodles for their designs look like, first off, (I know you didn't ask for Virgil but I did these three at the same time)

When I drew this I had just finished an exam and had to wait another hour until I could leave the classroom, so I wrote down enough notes that I had to flip the page instead:

Virgil:

- Virgil has light brown hair that he dyes black (badly). It is essential that the dye job look like shit. It looks artificial, his roots are showing, there's patches where the color didn't take, etc etc.

- He also has blue eyes, which I decided on mostly because it makes it even more clear that his hair isn't naturally black.

- He wears earrings, but his ears aren't actually pierced — they're fake little little clip-on things.

- He wears black nail polish at all times, but it's always chipped because he gets the cheapest stuff he can get his hands on.

- His hair (especially his bangs) get very long at times because he gets too socially anxious to go to the hairdresser. Back in middle school, he used to have Janus cut them for him (Remus could have done a better job but trusting him with scissors would have been a mistake). Now he mostly cuts it off by himself — it looks about as good as his dye job.

- Virgil's purple hoodie is a leftover from Remus' fashion design endeavors that Remus thought didn't look weird enough.

Janus:

- He has naturally strawberry blonde hair. The length is very important to him — he started growing it towards the end of middle school. (He allows Remus to experiment with hairdos sometimes as long as he doesn't cut anything off. I need to draw that sometime)

- I'm not entirely settled on his eye color. I know at least one of his eyes is a very pretty brown, but I have half a mind to give him a yellow glass eye for his left side — I'm not sure it'd make any logistic sense for his situation, though

- He got his ears actually pierced when he was 16.

- He also may or may not have a forked tongue. Not sure how I'd ever be able to show that off — but if he does have one, then Remus definitely was the one to encourage him to do it.

- His fashion style was definitely influenced by being around Remus (who may have used him as a mannequin/dummy because he's small.) so much. Remus also attempted to make clothes for him, but Janus is very fancy and picky, so he doesn't wear those clothes very often (though he might accessorize with stuff Remus made for him occasionally).

Remus:

- He has naturally very dark hair. He uses temporary/surface level dyes a lot, but if he's using permanent or semi-permanent dyes, he's usually limiting himself to the grey streak — it's kind of a sample strand, since it's already bleached. He 100% copied his hairstyle from Roman's.

- He (and Roman, of course) has greenish blue eyes.

- Janus paid for him to get his ears (and eyebrows) professionally pierced because otherwise he was just going to do it himself with a sewing needle.

- He has a lot of very shitty stick-and-poke tattoos he made/makes on himself. They're almost always hidden by his outfits.

- Speaking of which, Remus makes most of his outfits costumes himself. The quality of the work may vary, but they are always way too over-the-top for casual wear, because he stands out anyway, so... in for a penny, right. (As I said in the tags of a post: he is very creative and has no shame or social anxiety at all, so he had his whole aesthetic ("overdramatic green") figured out by the time he was 13)

- He also has SH scars, but, again — they're hidden by his outfits 99% of the time. He's a slut who never shows an inch of skin

[bfdifan26]

can you draw some seven x nine art

>:3

listen to valentine by laufey then youll understand (also keep giving me requests today i like to see it as giving people presents)

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

i have this really stupid idea in my head that im frankly a little obsessed with and the idea is this: trent crimm doing a drunk history episode on ted lasso's first tenure at richmond. is that how drunk history works? i don't think so. do i care? absolutely not. it's a special episode who cares because this image is not only hysterical to me but treasured. i treasure this image. i hold it close in my heart and also laugh and laugh and laugh.

[usertoxicyaoi]

anyway people on mdl, and even just general bl watchers that dont watch jbls for whatever reason, will always make me feel a little ... bewildered. they will say things like "japan only makes slice of life/food centered/cute/puppy love bls and thats it" (when i can eaaaasily list off so many darker themed jbls but ok ig yall arent looking and when you do, suddenly its ~too dark~? but ok.). they call segasaki and ritsu and kijima "red flags" and okay yeah *hand waves* whatever, they are. and good for them that they are!!! gooood. see? japan doesnt just make fluffy. but yall couldn't even handle them! whilst in the same breath saying that japan doesnt produce more of these kinda characters and more spicier stories (and they do but yall arent loooking!!!) and when they do and when they start showing the sliiiightest bit of obsessive possesive behaviour, they're squirming uncomfortable in their seats!!! people couldn't even stomach shows like taikan yohou. taikan yohou. and thats like. my favourite show of all time and its not even That Bad yall. ohmygod. but oh no! "oh poor yoh!!! whatever will he do now!!!! trapped in segasaki's enclosure!!!! i don't like this power imbalance beteeen them!!!!" when THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT, my friend!!!!! and yoh enjoooooys that and when he doesnt he says it out loud that he doesnt!!!

so! people couldn't even stomach taikan yohou. god knows WHAT they will say about happy of the end and love is like a poison that will be coming out soon! and never mind even going near sei no gekiyaku or koi kogare utae bc if they thought taikan yohou was "~dark~" when it barely even touched the surface! then sei no gekiyaku and koi kogare utae? will have their heads Gone, spiralling, trying desperately to find a light switch and some bleach to erase their memory!!!!

[queen0fm0nsterz]

Why didn’t the lady just turn six into a nome? Is she stupid???

I was gonna tell you I slept with your mom but I actually may have a serious answer to this.

One of the very important things the DLC did to enhance the plot of LN (and the character of the Lady overall) is that is gave us a very precious interaction where comparisons can be drawn: it shows us how the Lady would react to a normal kid VS how she reacts to Six.

When circling around the defenseless Runaway Kid, the Lady takes her time with approaching him. She goes around him thrice, with each approach getting closer and closer until by the last one she's essentially face to face with him. It almost feels like she's studying him, in a way, before she decides what she ultimately wants to do with him.

You'd think she would take the time to kill him instantly, especially since he was unlucky enough to catch her during one of her most vulnerable moments, but instead she opts to turn him into a Nome after she slides directly in front of him and gets a clear view of him. By the looks of it, it really seemed like she was trying to check something.

(You can watch this video so you can see what I'm talking about. Go to minute 23:58 so you can see what I mean)

When she sees Six, however, she's immediately on the run after her. What's strange is that eventually when Six escapes her the first time and reaches the corridor on the other side, she lets her get the mirror relatively unharmed, and then follows the... "ritual", let's call it that, to a tee. So much so that when she loses, she doesn't retaliate. She accepts defeat. Going as far as to move to make room for Six to bite her neck -- as if she already knew what was going to happen.

(As you can see, her pose here has changed. She's holding herself up to be right at Six's height with her neck.)

When Six does bite her, the Lady lifts her hand as a reflex, but does not make a motion to grab or push Six away. Regardless of whether she was defeated or not, she is still the larger being. If she was to push Six away - especially now that she's weakened by her hunger - the kid would either fall on the ground or, at worse, bite her hand. Nothing life threatening.

What gets me is that SHE, who is so keen on keeping the Maw alive and who is the reason the whole operation is even still going to begin with, the living heart (figuratively) of the submarine, would let herself be defeated without so much as a complaint... UNLESS this is the way to ensure the Maw's survival.

This Lady dies here, sure, but through this process, the Maw gains an heir. The Maw has lived before her, and with this, it will most likely live after her. So her duty is done, essentially. Obviously, though, because she is human, the Lady does not want to just die and give up without a fight at least -- which is what leads to the non-canonical deaths (a.k.a. every time the player gets caught by her and she instantly kills you) and possibly to the ritual even being structured the way it is when Six comes around.

More than a ritual, it is rite of passage, if you will. "The Lady Circles" does sound very solemn and contained, starting with a lone and low percussion that one could compare to the "starting horn", as in the beginning of the battle.

Six is "off limits". In the sense that she can't be turned into a Nome because of her position in the Maw's system. In the words of Tarsier themselves:

Beyond Six's control, because she did not want to be on the Maw in the first place -- but beyond the Lady's, too. Because she doesn't want to die and be replaced. But it's part of the cycle taking place in the Maw, as it has been for a long time, so the Lady must accept it, whether she likes it or not.

Now, whether the Maw did actually survive thanks to Six staying or not... that is up in the air, as of now. We'll find out eventually.

[nartml]

Hinata, Hinata, Hinata. How's my favourite little slave owner doing? She okay? Well, not for long now, because I'm about to rip into her.

Here's the situation. She's bland. Frumpy. Too timid, too shy, too "kind", too awkward, too privileged, too busy idolizing Naruto and putting him before her kids, to be a Shinobi. To have the guts to do something about the slavery going on in her own family. To even acknowledge it.

That's annoying. Unfortunately, she, much like Sakura, was born in a world much too harsh for her. She doesn't fit in. She doesn't have what it takes to live up to the expectations placed on her as the heir (which is why Hiashi had to pass it down to Hanabi, a much more capable kunoichi, and no matter how much you vilify him for it, he was right to do so. He has a duty to his clan, he needs to be responsible. There's no space for coddling). She's preoccupied with stalking her crush from afar.

She's unimportant. She's just...there. Neji suffered the fate of his father saving her, a true loss of a much more important, likable, skilled character.

And she, instead of at least realizing, acknowledging how fucked it is that there are literal slaves in her family, whose lives are treated as lesser than hers, she just fawns over Naruto again.

In the fight with Pain, her confession was selfish, a suicide mission which endangered the lives of everyone, and specifically the fate of her bodyguard that told her that he'd get in trouble if something happened to her. She blatantly disregarded every warning she was given to not approach the battle.

All to confess her feelings to a stranger (because that's who Naruto is to her. He's a stranger, whom she knows only about his never-give-up mentality. And she, well. She is someone Naruto barely spoke to ever), get one panelled, and traumatize Naruto who would have to suffer with the guilt of knowing someone died for him out there. You could say he went ballistic over the fact that Hinata was injured and he loved her so, but the fact that he never once sought after her and ignored her love confession is proof enough that he only cared about her well-being as a mere comrade. Just knowing she's alive was good enough for him. Because Naruto is Naruto, and like it or not, he generally cares about people.

Her whole character falls apart the moment I erase her infatuation with Naruto; all the evidence you need that she's horribly written and shallow (Something also purposefully done by Kishimoto).

Hinata is simply privileged and irrelevant, in all the sense of the words. Seeing her stans point fingers and make fun of Sakura without realizing that they're both equally bad is hilarious.

Hinata wasn't made for the world of Shinobi, and it's blatantly clear.

[skitskatdacat63]

Vettonso x Similar Helmets

SV Germany 2012 x FA Monaco 2013: Gold & Dark Red

I think a lot about Vettonso and their mutual relationship witn gold. They're both golden boys, they're both seen lit gold by the sunshine on many podiums throughout the years, both have worn golden boots, and as you can see here: both have worn golden helmets. The parallels in these particular helmets makes me feel insane. Both are: gold with dark red accents, both have their birthplace's coat of arms(Bergstraße and Asturias), both have team animal motifs, and both have symbols to represent their two championships(You by now know the signifigance of the ones on Fernando's helmet, but I think the ones on Seb's are actually a callback to his Formula BMW days when he used to put the smiley stickers on his car for every win.)

And did you know both of these helmets were designed by the same helmet design company? Yep, both of these are JMD helmets. I know JMD helmets are/were pretty popular, but still, there's something to me about Fernando commissioning the same designer that Seb has been using since he was a literal child. Parallels, am I right?

SV Japan 2010 x FA Japan 2023: White with Black & Red

Haha I remember @protocolseben and I discussing this a bit back in September when Fernando's helmet dropped. I honestly think Seb is such an innovator and trailblazer in terms of helmet design, and you can see his influence in helmet design as recently as this past season. I'm not sure if he was the first ever driver to don a matte white helmet with red accents as a representation of the Japanese flag, but it certainly envoked him in my mind when I saw Fernando's!!

I think Fernando's is pretty similar to all of Seb's 2010-2012 Japan helmets but I like this one the most so! I think if Seb wasn't restrained by the Red Bull logo, he def wouldv'e put the red circle where Nando put his so I think Fernando did a really good job, even if unintentionally, at emulating Seb's sense of design.

SV Singapore 2012 x FA Singapore 2012: Sparkly!

Like I said in the one above, it's crazy how much Seb influenced helmet design. He was pretty much the pioneer of sparkly helmets for Singapore, right? It drives me absolutely insane that there's actually pictures of them together in such similar designed helmets. It's kinda funny actually that even though they're pretty deep in the championship fight at this point, and Seb just got one up on Fernando; Fernando is wearing a helmet that is a direct influence from Seb!!! Is that not insane???

Also, Fernando trying to be camp with trying the now in vogue sparkly Singapore helmet, and Seb accidentally completely blew him out of the water with his outrageous light up LED constellation helmet. But god yeah....to have pics of them in matching helmets from this era particuarly makes me emotional ;;;

SV Hungary 2021 x FA 2022: Pink with Dark Blue

I really could've picked any of Seb's 2021 helmets, but I thought this one matched the best with Fernando's main 2021 helmet(with the color pallet.) Also one thing, it's crazy how much control BWT has as a sponsor, I don't think I've ever seen another sponsor go so hard at having a chokehold on individuality. I like that we got pink liveries and pink helmets, but I don't think they should have that much control.

I'm almost kinda sad there wasn't any Miami GP in 2021, because I think that was the only unique helmet Fernando had in 2022. But these match pretty well! Pretty in pink!! It's crazy that their parallels in the 2020s are ongoing even before Fernando actually takes over Seb's seat. Thanks BWT I guess?

SV Abu Dhabi 2022 x FA Abu Dhabi 2022: Fernando's Seb Tribute Helmet

AND HERE WE HAVE THE PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE!!! The ultimate conclusion, it literally couldn't get better than this!! This is still unbelievable, like how is this an actual thing that happened!? Fernando intentionally branding his helmet, the only symbol of individuality in F1, with his rival's flag colors, HIS FLAG!!!!! Not to mention the literal "Vettono Best Moments" collage he posted alongside it....and the hand-holding....and everything that happened with them at Abu Dhabi 2022....

But god, after years of incidentally making parallel helmet designs, Fernando decided to officially tie the knot of the red string of fate, and make a helmet directly referencing Seb's. I think it's funny because as I said with two of the previously mentioned ones, those Fernando designs are pretty much inspired by Seb's, and here he is openly making one directly inspired by Seb. I don't really have words for how this actually makes me feel because it's just. Yeah. The most open and clear declaration of love and respect and admiration one could ever make. TO ME.

[poppytuft]

the bear s3 spoilers

below the cut! thinking about claire and stuff we saw this season re: carmy/syd/the restaurant/donna, just finished the season so itll be a mess and also im comin in way too hot on this so my bad

sometimes...... sometimes i believe you guys are all watching different tv. im not sure how this season didnt feel like a direct through line from s2?? and im not sure WHY everyone is SO MAD about claire LITERALLY "haunting" this season. girl. come on. we need to have a sit down talk about how the berzatto generational trauma is the real meat of this show (this will make sense, just trust me). thats the MAIN EMOTIONAL POINT. syd's relationship with her dad, marcus and his mom, richie and evie, even tina and louie are all examples of parental relationships that are tender, sweet, supportive, etc. these are INTENTIONAL!! by creating these relationships we see PLAINLY how fucked donna is and how much she fucked up all of these kids. thats why "ice chips" was such a FANTASTIC episode. there was SO MUCH unpacked, so much revealed, so much worked through with sugar and her but at the end of the day she's still learning how to unlearn all of this horrific narcissistic bullshit. SHES STILL UNLEARNING THOUGH. thats where fucking DONNA of all people sits right now——somehow, she's learning how to heal. EVERYONE IS LEARNING. that's also what is so important about that episode.

now lets look at carmy. in "ice chips" we are LITERALLY told about how each berzatto is born: mikey fighting against the idea of being alive at all, nat into a quiet, soothing room, and CARMY is fucking born into EVERYONE SCREAMING and ARGUING and FIGHTING. we are BLATANTLY told that all carmy has ever known is HELL and all he's ever known how to communicate is through exploding. this is so violently against what we also know about his personality from childhood in "fishes" (anxious growing up, arts-oriented, had a hard time making friends). now, he works a violently stressful job, processing the trauma from both his mother (and chef fields [joel mchale], realistically) through the high-stress environment.

NOW. ENTER CLAIRE.

HOW is she not fascinating to you all. we don't see her whole story (because the bear, duh) but we are given just enough pieces here to put together that her story runs parallel to carmy's. how are you not getting this. walk with me.

claire. glasses, nerdy, quiet, sweet, girl next door. family friend! cute, but considered mid for a long time by everyone at school, but suddenly the berzatto men all badger carm, "oh she got a glow up, oh shes looking for you, she wants to see you," etc etc etc. what happened in between?

she finds herself. she finds the stressful thing she LOVES, which is the hospital. her job is objectively more stressful than carmy's (illustrated by that scene earlier in the season but i forgot the episode, where claire talks about the girl who got her shit wrecked by the glass table), and while we don't have an exact understanding of what her home life was like, we understand that her and carmy both have a level of internal anxiety that thrives on the stress of their careers. HOWEVER, claire does it because she loves it. carmy just doesn't know how to stop.

this is what makes claire feel like "peace" to carmy——because her high-stress job is a choice, an active choice she is making because it fulfills her. it's not to prove her dead brother wrong, or to honor his own legacy, or to prove that dickbag boss wrong, or to leave a mark on the world, or to make her own life worthwhile, or to prove that she doesn't need anyone else. she genuinely enjoys helping people even when the days are stressful, or scary. he's obsessed with this. he wants to know how she does this. every day she leaves that stress at home——and he wants to learn how to do that too.

claire is VITAL to this season and to understanding carmy's stress——and how far back he is in his healing process. it should only become more and more apparent, as we see characters like tina (the beef/the bear became vital to her success/development as a chef AND person, both for the people AND her love of food), marcus (not hiding his grief, but using it to help rationalize how much his mother loved him and wanted to be surrounded by people that love him), and richie (finding a purpose through service/expo and understanding he can start over again) push through their own traumas and struggles to become better people. if donna can be not only present at sugar's bedside during labor, but WELCOMED at this point in the show, it makes carmy's inability to heal all the more present. claire is an important part of this puzzle: she helps us see a window into a world where carmy is balanced emotionally, but unbalanced professionally, because he has no idea how to make the two coexist.

however, the idea that he can be balanced emotionally at all is so fucking enticing——with the help of someone who experiences stress in the same way as him (and who is familiar with his familial trauma), he has the opportunity to grow up and move on from his family trauma and wounds perpetuated by the industry he works in.

on the flip side of this....... his inability to process any of this is starting to impact syd. and frankly, that's some bullshit. his lack of communication, inability to community build/trust ANYONE, and his violent stubbornness is pushing her into the same space that he was in under chef fields, in a much slower, more subtle manner, and for slightly different reasons. her panic attack at the end of the season could read in two directions to me: her stress over the responsibility of changing so many people's lives has boiled over once she remembered that the beef once was truly great (hey five star review on the fridge!), OR, she realizes how much she isn't in it for the food. fuck a Michelin star: she wants to cook with her family. chef terry says at the end of "forever", in the garage with carmy, that she's so grateful she got to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, where she wanted, with the people she wanted to do it with. sydney is so close to having those things at the bear——but carmy's dysfunction is keeping it just out of arms reach. the two of them are now on opposite sides of the approach from last season: syd dying for a star, and carmy dying to cook for the woman he loved. now, carmy is hungy for recognition again, desperate to prove something, and sydney is remembering (thanks to the conversation with other chefs during the ever funeral service) why she loved cooking in the first place. so this leaves us to wonder: should she stick it out? for the people? or make something of herself? is she carmy, or is she terry? i guess we will just have to see.

all this to say: every character is connected. the bear is a show about family, found and blood, and the choices we make for, with, and because of the people we love, for better or for worse. food is only the center of it, because it's the center of all of our lives. you can't hate claire without understanding where she sits in the web of the berzatto family. and really, you can't hate her if you understand what her presence means for carmy, for syd, and the restaurant as a whole.

[codecicle]

actually yknow what hey it's neil! o/ I've been fronting all day. mutuals/friends if you wanna send me an ask I'll assign you a camera

[deoidesign]

I bought a very nice at home printer and a very nice at home cutting machine!

Because of this, I'm opening a merch tier on my Patreon for 2024!

And, I can print out your favorite panels for you on my shop now ^^ (I can also print of any of my illustrations! I'll add more paper sizes later as I figure out how to ship them 🧡)

[moomeecore]

im actually really good at admitting when i dont know things its just that people keep talking to me about things that i know a lot about and am objectively correct on