#it's still really fucking sick that the metaphors and parallels are still there and that we have people here who told us about it

[bewareofthenewphannie]

I feel like I should say, just for the record, that I do think it's very much possible and plausible that dnp thought this through much more but this was just dan's way of getting the idea of what they wanted to achieve visually across to pj.

and in no way do I want to invalidate all the so very fascinating points that have been brought in these analysis, I genuinely learned a few new things through them and I am so thankful for everyone who wrote theories and essays.

also, even if some things weren't intended, they are still there. I'm no expert on this in the slightest (so additions are very welcome as always) but I do think it's a very interesting debate about art in general. what role does the intent of the artist play? do metaphors have to be placed into the art consciously by the artist to carry meaning? can we, as the audience, interpret the source material in completely new ways? is the perception of art also part of the art itself?

phannies: hundreds of words analysing the themes and motifs of "Slime", the implications of Baphomet being portrayed, queerness and the parallels between dnpc's imagery and tarot cards in extemely well written and interesting essays

dan:

[that-disabled-princess]

You know what, I'm making The Post.

Disability parallels in Carry On and why they matter

We know Simon's wings and tail are a metaphor for his queerness, but what about the disability parallels? The disability parallels in Simon's wings and tail, in Baz's vampirism, in Simon losing his magic.

Simon's wings and tail make life difficult for him. When he wears clothing at all, he has to either accommodate his wings and tail or deal with crushing them under clothing. Crushing them and that extra pressure can hurt like hell and really distract you, but having to constantly worry about accommodating yourself is also a huge pain. It takes a long time--learning to accommodate yourself and your disabilities in a world that just doesn't want to let you.

I'm pro-Simon keeping his wings and tail for this reason.

Baz's vampirism, while a metaphor for queerness, is also a metaphor for chronic illnesses. I don't have a chronic illness myself, so I can't really speak to this one, but it's still important to talk about the parallel. He has dietary accommodations he needs to survive, and not many people around him willing to accommodate that because of fear and prejudice.

As for Baz's leg... Oh, I'm so sick of the abled healing the disabled narrative. Let Baz be disabled. Let him have a fucked-up leg and use a posh cane. Let Simon and Baz be disabled boyfriends together.

Simon's magic is a whole other can of worms to open, but @messofthejess opened it this morning and I'm crawling through the unpleasant sliminess with them.

Simon losing his magic is an important disability parallel. He's had magic his entire life--had magic as a part of his body his entire life, even if he hated it the whole time--and now that part of himself, of his identity, is gone. Who is he without his magic? Who is he when the world he lives in revolves around and caters to people with magic? Who is he when people won't slow down to match the pace he's going at when he can no longer keep up?

Simon has to learn to live without his magic. Because as @ebbpettier said, tape exists. And sometimes wanting to go back to the way things were means you never move forward or grow. Because things will never go back to the way they were, too much has happened. You can never go back. Sometimes growing means letting go.

There are people who will accommodate Simon. He'll find his people. We all will. It'll be rough, it'll be hard, it'll take literal blood and sweat and an ocean of tears, but he'll get there.

These disability parallels are important and I think they should be talked about more.

[liquidstar]

do u have any recs for folks newer to the yuri genre? I've never really read any manga other than shounen and some magical girl stuff

Omg i can totally give yuri recs. (And which ones to stay away from. Sakura Kiss has cousin shit in it, Citrus has stepsister dubcon, Dragon Maid has lolicon, Happy Sugar Life is also lolicon but it’s edgy about it and tries to act like this makes it deep, we can do better)

Anyway here’s my actual recs! I'm going to give details but if you don't wanna read them I bolded all the titles.

YuriKuma Arashi (By Ikuhara of Revolutionary Girl Utena fame), is about lesbian bears. But it’s actually a metaphor for the simultaneous objectification and demonization of lesbians, the expectation both for purity and predation. There are some nitpicks I have with it like the sexualization being a bit too much to bring the point home, but overall I do like its themes and its message. And I think the ending pulls everything together really nicely. There is both a manga and an anime, and I believe the anime came first. I’ve only seen the anime so I’m not sure if/how the manga deviates!!!! 

Bloom Into You is an absolute must. Like, for real, I think it’s one of the best romances out there, yuri or otherwise. It gets really deep into both characters' respective psyches and the ways that they’re both Very Screwed Up when it comes to love and romance, or really just life in general. Giving details would be doing them a disservice honestly. Both characters are very messy but also do try their best to genuinely communicate, and what comes of that is a lot of teenage lesbian drama, but the growth they both experience though it TOGETHER is just great, and you can tell they care about each other so much.

Okay this one I’m not really recommending for the good writing, it’s more-so just really cool. Liberta (EXPLICIT) is a series about a vampire who can turn her body into guns and a human woman who is sick of being seen as lesser in her ordinary life. And then they fall in love and are vampires together. The artstyle and character designs are awesome and it has some really cool fight scenes. However it also has full blown barely censored sex scenes. A few of them. One of the women uses her tail at some point. If that’s not what your cup of tea is, give it a pass. 

Anyway for something more wholesome you should check out The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All, which I’m actually not fully caught up on bc life, but has still been a super fun read so far. It’s about a girl who works at a music store, and her classmate who gets a crush on her while she’s at work. The classmate doesn’t realize that they’re the same person, due to her looking different at work, and thinks her worksona is a guy. Hijinks ensue. 

Otherside Picnic is also highly recommended. Its manga adaptation is lagging behind the light novel, which I can’t find a translation of online (But if anyone can help me out w that 🙏). The story itself is about two college students who go on adventures to a parallel plane of reality, which contains cosmic horrors who can only communicate with humans through fear so intense it will make you go insane. They’re also looking for someone who went missing, and gain cool powers like Ghost Hand and Sans Eye. Yes this is still a yuri series and it’s also really really extremely fucking cool. 

She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, is a slice of life story about… Well exactly what it says. A woman with a passion for cooking, making lots of food and sharing it with her neighbor, and they end up bonding through this. It’s also like, cool to see a big butch woman for a change! The story itself is very straightforward but I love watching the relationship progress as well as the mc question her sexuality. This story will absolutely make you super hungry though.

Show Me Your Bust (EXPLICIT) is also exactly what it says on the tin, though it’s technically a webtoon. Again this is a series with explicit sex scenes, but it actually does have a story and actual depth to its characters. Honestly there’s a lot to unpack with all of them and a lot of the relationships aren’t totally healthy but it’s a drama so that’s the point. 

A Monster Wants To Eat Me is actually hard to describe without spoilers. It’s about a girl who lives by the sea, meeting a mysterious girl with eyes that remind her of the ocean itself. The girl says that she’s actually been looking for the mc for a long time, and it’s revealed that….

And lastly I wanna mention Hanamonogatari, a story about an old widow who begins to regain confidence in herself as she experiments with make-up with the help of another old lady who works at a local cosmetic store. Honestly it’s very very very sweet, it’s rare to get romances like this of old women when so much of the focus of romances (yuri or otherwise) is often on the characters being attractive. I also really appreciate how the make-up is being used specifically to accentuate their wrinkles. Not hide them. Because aging is beautiful too. Sadly IVE ONLY READ TWO CHAPTERS BECAUSE I DONT THINK THE REST ARE TRANSLATED IF ANYONE OUT THERE CAN HELP ME PLEASE DO 🙏

[ciaran]

ep10 thoughts (spoilers for trigun stampede 10)

it's very obvious that Vash's pain tolerance is at best highly variable and most probably obscenely high. he gets shot and makes barely any sound, without even giving the impression that he is deliberately keeping himself quiet, and then walks off. also what an insanely good character beat!!! I'm going to throw up.

i actually wonder to what extent (and I've been having this thought since the plant reveals dropped, around that time) Vash's extreme compassion for humans is inherent to him on a species level. most of the plants we've seen haven't been characterized (as much as they've been shown as having an internality) as...disliking the way they're used even though it's clearly bad for them? like this isn't scanning as a metaphor for slavery, more for symbiotic relationships or parasitic mutualism. not that i think that's a decent status quo but, ah. thoughts.

Vash apologizing repeatedly to Wolfwood ;_; WAIT SHIRTLESS VASH REVEAL????? IM SHAKING LIKE A CHIHUAHUA RN

“I can imagine, even if i don't want to, how a misfit like you is being treated by humans,” I'm going to climb into a rocket and blow myself up to fuck. what the fuck

i need to print every line of dialogue from this scene onto the inside of my skull they're giving me EVERYTHING i want

then we're immediately catapulted into some kind of sick and twisted old man yaoi between Doctor human experimentation and our good friend Roberto

side note it's very funny to me that the Meryl/Roberto dynamic parallels the Vash/Wolfwood dynamic in the sense of: idealistic person walks into trouble and their cynical, substance abusing boyfriend/mentor trudges despairingly after them to keep them alive another day. top tier

i love a good artificial and fucked up child I'll be honest. also Roberto saying “the important thing is how you feel when you see these children”...i may be reading too much into his character but his addiction and cynicism make sense to me from the perspective of this—essentially okay if ordinarily messy person trying to survive in a world where every daily decision runs counter to the basic morality he cannot silence no matter how much he drinks. which adds a certain tint to how he views Meryl? i don't precisely love their relationship as is (i would want a few more layers folded into it) but I'm inclined to view it more favourably in this episode.

SO I TYPED OUT "interesting backstory for Elendira" and then this guy said "he" so i was like "what" but INTERESTING BACKSTORY FOR ELENDIRA. PLEASE LET HER BE TRANSFEM STILL.

weirdly paced runaway scene though, really hollow and... tonally dissonant voice acting when i didn't notice a problem before. direction issue? it really jarring :/

VASH'S LITTLE WAVE AFTER THE ELEVATOR DOOR CLOSES IS SO. BABY BOY YOU HAVE MY WHOLE HEART

huh, Roberto really let them walk into a trap and then abandoned them there. stone cold! i like that in a guy

“I hate you” “me too, we might get along well” Wolfwood will find a kid who looks traumatized and unsupervised and be like “is anyone going to be an elder brother to them” and not wait for an answer.

oh, Roberto NO. this is so annoying. let me have a good dynamic between them for ONE episode before it gets utterly killed oh my god. violently irritating stuff.

thematically, i like that Meryl receives the message that it's okay to run away if you're scared from her mentor, who has literally always advocated for this while also following Meryl into trouble quite frequently. it's also very...i don't have a word for this but i see it happen often, where one character hears something alone that other characters need to hear too, that type of emotional beat; this is a message that Vash needs, and Meryl is meant to pass it to him. but it's also for her! i like that Roberto emphasizes on some level the importance of not dying for a cause, for knowing your limits and sticking to them even when the world is demanding too much from you—but then he dies for it? hmm.

this monologue from Wolfwood is very interesting, isn't it? “i don't have time to hesitate for the fear of making sacrifices, i have to make a choice. i will do anything to protect the things i cherish. i am the guide, after all... what a great babysitter i am; i managed to bring you here alive when you're always asking to get killed” oh Wolfwood i will kiss you and your Judas parallels directly on the mouth. with tongue. and feed you olives <3

���thank you for all this time” aaaaaaaaaa

he has stubble in this episode I'm about to burst into tears. i need to make a list of Wolfwood's hottest features starting with 1. betrayed the love of his life (or tried to, i suspect it won't stick) 2. STUBBLE!!!!!

KNIVES!!! also I've been really enjoying the cuts to Knives playing the piano between scenes. so beautiful, so tender. augh. brotherly reunion ;_;

i have so many thoughts about the scene between Vash and Knives but starting with “you're just trying to make up for the big fall” no honey i think it goes back further than that but also! Vash is the most guilt-ridden man of all guilt-ridden men. so yes. head full

“Nicholas, have you put down your cross?” oh they gave him a cross just for dialogue like this to hit like a truck. i get it. I'm dying fr. "and what if i have" while carrying. denial is a river in egypt

“the redemption will never end: no matter what you do, the humans will never forgive your sins before they die” okay lots to unpack there also. he's right! but also. lots to unpack

is this Knives plan with collecting the dying plants? to send them out in a blaze of glory to make Vash a plant with the ability to create? that's SO sick and twisted i love it. freak rights who is doing it like Knives Millions for his baby brother

incredibly satisfying episode, 10/10 would watch again.

[atowncalledher]

FUCK IT this is the autistic tgirl infodumping site I'm gonna talk about one of my favorite songs ever.

And even if you don't read the rest of the post go listen the this song, it's insanely good. Then listen to the rest of their songs. Summer's Here (And I Don't Want To Die!) is very seasonally appropriate.

(tw discussion of death, terminal illness)

First off, IWALOID? One of my favorite vocaloid producers. They wrote seven absolute BANGERS then fucked off entirely. Icon behavior. What I really love about them is the way that they write lyrics; the word choice feels so genuine while taking very mundane things into a poetic context. I don't think that most other songwriters would go for both "Watching Spongebob on my own, 'cause I'd rather be alone" and "You and me with no spatial dichotomy" and have them both sound so genuine. The writing is some times flowery, but in a way that people that I know actually talk (I definitely do it too, I think it's a bit of the 'being a kid who read books more than I talked to other kids' kinda thing). BTW another vocaloid artist that does this really well is Ippo.tsk (my other favorite vocaloid artist lmao).

But none of this is about Starbearers, which honestly shifted my whole perspective on how songs can be written (I was like sixteen so like, it was prime time for my mind to be blown but still) and how song structures and lyrics can intertwine thematically to enhance the emotional impact of a song.

I also want to preface this by saying that while I know a decent bit about music theory and poetry, every time I try to dig into the academic side of things my eyes glaze over (I swear I've fubking TRIED I just can't do it) so this is all going described in the ways that I've taught myself to understand things, and so some of the language might not be super clear or whatever.

OK so Starbearers is about the relationship between two people, one of whom dies of an unspecified terminal illness. The song has three choruses that split it into three different sections, each essentially re-contextualizing the speaker's relationship with the other person.

The first verse is the speaker recalling a period of time pre-illness, focused on their naivety and the carefree way in which these two people spent their time. It is very grounded in a physical space with phrases like "The cool breeze in late July; A sense of wonder lingered in the air" and "Your house's wind chimes break the summer air; So gently to remind us that we were there". This section (I think very intentionally) strays away from making any sort of metaphorical statements (for reasons that I'll get to later) or lending any strong emotions to the scene. It's supposed to feel serene and calm to set up the emotional gut punch of the later ones, and the following chorus follows the vibe while introducing some disparaging language from the part of the speaker, such as them calling themselves "the Time wasters of life, not so useful..." who "Just keep living like our lives are here to stay; No thoughts of getting torn away". FORESHADOWING!!!

The second verse, much like the first, keeps the listener grounded in a physical space with "Sinister chill of waiting rooms", talking about doctor visits and treatments and stuff. While there are some neat parallel phrases, like taking "A sense of wonder lingered in the air" and changing it to "A sense of worry lingered in the air" it just follows the arc of steadily building tension until the next chorus...

Where the speaker has an emotional breakdown. The whole section is about them venting their rage and sorrow about the whole situation, and in response the lyrics get more and more metaphorical;" a hopeless cause of life", "drink the air", and "your sickness... rips my fucking heart out of my chest". I think that there two reasons for this. As humans, I think that when emotions feel bigger and more impactful than we have words to describe we turn to metaphor, which both helps us process the emotions and also help us describe what it feels like better to other people. The second is that when there is ONE thing that could break down someone's fragile emotional state when mentioned, people will dance around it to not say it directly. These are definitely things in English, idk if it works similarly in other languages or not. But the most important part of this section of the song, for the purposes of this analysis, is that it continues the building tension. The speaker is going through the stages of grief, and the musical and lyrical tension is building up and up to match the emotional intensity until the whole thing has to boil over.

And this is when the high-intensity instrumental accompaniment drops out and we're left with just vocals and a single relatively chill guitar track. I'm just going to copy paste the whole thing because it's basically the thesis of the whole track:

"Take some time to just reflect upon your feelings...

Then leave your feelings behind you in the dust"

"Even when I'm gone, I will always be with you."

"No use in cryin' now."

This is the only point in the song where the other party, the terminally ill person, has the speaking part. And this is what they choose to say. You gotta move on.

This flows right on into the third chorus, the very first lines of which pull the metaphorical ground out from under us. The other two thirds of the song keep themselves pretty well grounded, but this one immediately sends us right into space. Literally.

"We are the

Starbearers of life

Cling to moments that we shine, often brief

Your supernova sings to me"

Right up into space. By bringing us out of a grounded space and into the realm of metaphor, we get the impression of the speaker approaching life from a whole new perspective, with a whole new reverence. The song continues by bringing us back into the grounded space of the first verse, with "Cloudless summer nights" and a "cooling breeze" referencing the line "The cool breeze in late July" from the first verse. And then the line "And those chimes outside your door... Are still ringing in my ears" referencing "Your house's wind chimes break the summer air". The wind chimes fulfill the same purpose in both places "to remind us that we were there". They remind the speaker that life is best spent happily, with the people that you love. That's symbolism, baby.

But the thing that really gets me is how much the first two choruses are building up to the third one, and how the theme of the piece is reinforced by the musical structure underneath. If we take the first line from each chorus:

"We [are] the time wasters of life"

"[We are] a hopeless cause of life"

"We are the Starbearers of life"

These three together form a really powerful tricolon crescendo when we put them together. These are presented as three different lenses through which the speaker is seeing themselves and the other person in the poem, and musically they are all the same part of the chorus melody. Because they are all three describing the same subject, they are inherently the same and of equal importance. Wasting time is of the same importance as grief, and of moving forwards. They are all one and the same.

We are the Starbearers of life - we are the ones that make life worth living. It is internal and connected to all other people, who each make each other's lives worth living.

We are a hopeless cause of life - there is no greater purpose, there is nothing external to give us hope.

We are the time wasters of life - pretty self explanatory, I think. Wasting time is just another lens through which to view spending time.

But the We in each of these phrases is the same people. Each is simply another way to view the same thing.

We are wasting time, we are hopeless, and we are the stars in each other's lives.

It is the time that we waste together that gives light to each other's lives.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

One of my favorite things about this song is that it uses metaphor in such an intentional way. A lot of other songs that hit really hard emotionally for me layer on metaphors from the very first lines, like boygenius's Not Strong Enough or Pattern's Simple Folds (both of which can make me bawl my eyes out on a bad day). But Starbearers builds it slowly, pulling its punches right until the end, and I think that's part of why it hits so hard at the third chorus. It's an inspiring piece of songwriting and I strive to imitate just a fraction of its emotional impact in my own writing. It's one of my favorite pieces of music and I hope everyone else can appreciate it as much as I do.

[wow-its-me]

so I caught up on the afterparty,,,,,,, I really thought I had figured it out,,,, but now I have no fucking clue

so lets run through our options again (while I did catch a couple of the "not the" clues idk who they relate to, and while I did see a few things that were clearly ciphers,,, i'm terrible at solving them, so this isn't taking those into account)

Grace - while I no longer have any idea who it is, I still know who its not, Grace didn't do it. It's too clear, she was the first suspect, and her story has been confirmed by multiple other witness testimonies. I also don't think she was int he room when Edger died, that she snuck out to be with Hannah. this does make her look more guilty,,, but still

Sebastian - Has a lot to gain, IF he was able to take over the company before they realized Edgar is dead. He's extremely suspicious, and is already lying about his childhood, family, and even accent. The theory that the connect 4 game was really over Roxana only adds to this. His motive also parallels jasper from season 1, who also made a cameo in his episode. But how would this effect the narrative? Both Aniq and Zoe are currently struggling with the idea that it could be someone they're close with. They have to learn to "not fuck the arsonist". Sebastian being the killer simply dosn't lead to a satisfying arc. I still think he must have had something to do with it though, even if he wasn't the one who pulled the metaphorical trigger. He wanted Edgar dead, and he wanted to walk free, with two ways to win. To be clear, I don't think he's the main guy, but he did at least know of and encourage the plan

Travis - I did not suspect Travis, AT ALL, before this episode, I simply didn't think he could pull it off, and with him trying the poison himself? there's no way that was all a show to prove his innocence. I currently agree with the theory that Edgars company was the one who scammed him out off all his money, it isn't unbelievable that he could've killed Edgar with some messed up vigilante intentions, to protect others, to prove that these rich assholes can't just get away with whatever they want. he snuck into the Afterparty, and continues to sick himself in the investigation, where he doesn't need to be. If he was the killer, why didn't he just leave after the crime was done? My theory is that he was planning to kill Edgar that morning, but when he got there he was already dead, which is why he was the first to the door.

Feng - I don't think its Feng, while he was struggling the whole night, financially it almost would've made more sense for him to want Edgar alive, he was also paying a kid to record him all night, which he probably wouldn't do if he was planning to kill someone? he does feed Edgar the bing, but the times don't line up for that to've been the poison.

Isabel - The cake. like Aniq stated in the episode, the times don't line up, and the lizard didn't eat it. If Edgar did put something in her cake it would probably be something easy that he had on hand, like Adderall. This in combination with the Adderall Grace gave him could've lead to an accidental overdose. I don't think this was all that was going on. Its a murder mystery, theres going to be a murderer.

Ulysses - He keeps getting involved where he isn't needed, he learned about the wedding very last minute, and knows nothing about the groom. If anything, I think we've all heard the theory that ulysses tried to poison Feng, but Edgar drank it. But if ulysses was really going to kill his brother, would he really do it at his Nice's (daughter's?????) wedding? Even though he the only one with a movie against Feng and presents himself as extreamly kind and easy going? I think the drink swap was a red herring.

Vivian - She's up to something,,,, right? she's the only one who refused to talk, which she probably wouldn't do unless she at least knew something. even if she is super cheap, the stealing the poisonous center pieces is sill pretty sus. But she doesn't have a motive, maybe she meant to poison Ulysses, but it got to Edgar? the would also work with Danner's fire and the lesson Aniq is learning about figuring out who the killer is, no matter who it is.

Hannah- Yeah. Hannah did it. I'm going with the multiple attempts thing. she worked with Sebastian to poison Edgar at the Afterparty, then left, and told grace when she visited her that night, so that they could be together. Grace still loves Hannah and wants her to get away with it. unless she didn't????? idk honestly idk anything

Zoe - I haven't ruled her out just yet. Similarly to how Yasper helped with the investigation in season 1. It would also take Danner's lesson to a whole new level, as she not just someone Aniq is close to, but someone the viewers have grown attached to, and don't even consider a suspect

in conclusion- laishfuagsfafgw/uFGKAUJGFKASFKUASFG.KASGFKASFGASFGSIFGKSAHSGDAAHDJAGDAJGD I GUESS WE'LL KNOW EVENTUALLY

[bromcommie]

i don't even know if this is stucky but i must know more about "bayou hurricane blues 2009" from the wip tag game (if you're up to sharing!) <333

Hi! Thank you for the ask<33 and I absolutely love sharing. Oversharing, even.

It's not stucky - stucky's mentioned, but not the focus. I started it during the CATWS10 event for the Sam prompts, and it was supposed to be just two parallel memories at first: him and Riley on leave having a stupid fun time in New Orleans (Riley gets a tattoo lol) but also discussing doubts about their second tour, and then him and Steve post-WS taking a break from looking for Bucky and having some uncomfortable (but ultimately loving) discussions during the 4th of July.

I couldn't complete it in time, but it's really gotten away from me since. Turned more into Sam's retrospective about different relationships in his life, memories from growing up/pre-CATWS and his feelings about community and purpose and (to a lesser extent) being in the service. Snippet under the cut:

Sam was usually the one jumping in headfirst, and Riley was the one making the sign of the cross Sam'd give him shit for later before jumping right along with him. It's a dizzying reversal. He's not exactly sure what to do with it, and so he says the only truth he can think of. It's a given, really, or it should be: simple enough to fit into words and big enough to break through them, to feel overwhelming and awkward leaving his mouth. "You know I got your back, right? No matter what' you're thinking or what you decide, I got your six." Riley shakes his head, won't meet his eye like it's not the answer he was looking for; like maybe it's the answer he needed to hear the most. "That mean you're my guardian angel, Wilson?" "Hey, you're the one who's got wings scrawled on his ass." He takes a sip from the glass, mulls it around his mouth to buy himself some time like that might help wash out the feeling of being in uncharted waters. Some things never really needed saying between them before, but this is different. "Just means— I hear you, all right. And if you wanna jump ship after this, then yeah. Yeah, I got your back. I've been... I've been sea-sick for a long time, too." Riley's eyes still have that glassy, caught-out look to them, but after a minute his mouth ticks up at the corner. "You're heavy on the metaphors tonight, man." Sam groans. This is what he gets. "Oh, okay—" "No, I mean—it's very romantic, all this. The light, the summer breeze, you waxin' poetry about our camaraderie— you about to drop onto one knee? I mean, I'm pretty sure someone's pissed on this sidewalk more than once, but hell, I'll take it." ""Fuck off, Baker, Jesus Christ," he says, laughing. Safe back in familiar territory. "I'm about to ask for a reassigment is what I'm about to do."

[shinygemstone]

sorry that you got threats!!

anyways uhhh ramble about your wip. i know you're writing something 👀

Bet.

So, I've been working on this thing for a while now. It's about a dysfunctional family (the mom is a terf and one of the kids is transmasc, which is the quickest summary of one of the ways they're all dysfunctional) and there's this fantasy world that serves as a metaphor for escapism, except I'm beginning to wonder if it's really the best way to go about it.

The central character, Tresta, is the youngest of the four, and is definitely in denial about her family. She's thirteen in the current wip, and thinks everything is normal. She complains about her parents to her friends, but her friends complain about their parents too, so she assumes everyone has trouble with their parents. The middle two siblings, Kassie and Luca (tboy) have fully accepted everything, and Luca wants to go no contact asap while Kassie wants to keep communication channels open with the dad because while he sucks and is a massive enabler and is actively cheating on his wife with her first love, he's not as bad as the mom.

Now, if I changed things, one key thing would be altered. The oldest sibling, Aria, would not have anyone think she's dead. Aria is the golden child, and would probably join an mlm, a cult, or become a tradwife because her mother unintentionally groomed her to be very susceptible to that sort of thing. Aria is very naive, even moreso than Tresta, who is eleven years younger than her. In the current wip, she found a portal to a fantasy world and got groomed by the king of one of the countries in that fantasy world, marrying him shortly after turning 18. Fun stuff. Aria is very silly because she's a victim, but she's not fully innocent. Aria pushed Luca into his role as the scapegoat and Tresta into her role as the forgotten child.

That, of course, leaves out Kassie. Kassie doesn't fit squarely into one of the three categories - her mother flips between neglecting her and getting mad at her for little stuff when she knows Aria is alive, and between doting on her Successful Little Girl and getting mad at her for little stuff when she doesn't. Kassie is also her father's favorite - he reasonably keeps his distance from Aria, is disappointed in Luca, and resents Tresta. Kassie is very aware of these dynamics. She loves her family and gets that they're all flawed human beings, and does her best to make sure things end well for them as much as possible, and is kind of Luca's lifeline.

Luca is so silly and transgender and mentally ill. He's meant to parallel Aria in certain ways. Luca was shielded from the world like Aria was until he came out, when he was branded as sick and delusional by his mother. Thankfully, the rest of the family was supportive and basically forced her to play nice. Still fucked him up though, especially since he lost his dad's support once he decided not to go to college. At this point in his life, he could either give up and go to college and rack up immense amounts of debt to please his dad or detransition to please his mom. Luca isn't a pushover, so he's doing neither, but it's hard to save money to leave when he's expected to do the lion's share of taking care of Tresta, as well as paying rent and buying his own gas and personal items. Man is also depressed, and his parents brush him off. Kassie tries to help, but she's a broke ass college kid, and Tresta is thirteen.

Speaking of Tresta, I never mentioned the fact that her conception nearly destroyed her parents' marriage. For context, the agreement when Ken (dad) married Penelope (mom) was three kids. Well, after Luca's birth, the two drifted apart, and when Luca was 4-5 they started trying to get closer and fucked more. Well, one day, they accidentally conceived another child. Ken wanted to abort Tresta. Penelope lost her shit. This wasn't the first bit of conflict between the two, but it was the one that ended up defining their marriage.

Point is I love these silly mentally ill bitches and will have lots of fun with whatever I decide to do with them <3

[darkcircles4lyfe]

Death to All Might, Rebirth to Yagi Toshinori

So about All Might. I’ve been extremely wary of talking about what could happen to him because straight up saying “I don’t think he’s gonna die” is asking the universe to spite me. Plus it also feels like a room full of people turning to stare at me as if I said the Sun isn’t a star. Man has death flags everywhere, I know. 

But, okay, *Bill Nye voice* consider the following:

Mr. Yagi here, if he overheard everything, just received the final nail in the coffin on his career. His time as the symbol of peace is not only over, it was in fact partially responsible for the current state of things, since he once did so much on his own that his absence now makes heroes and civilians alike ill-prepared to cope. I think it was very apt for that one guy to be wearing an All Might shirt--he was acting as a mouthpiece for the latent societal problems embedded in All Might’s legacy. 

We know already that he’s been feeling useless. I love this scene and although I’m not gonna talk about it right this second, remember what Aizawa says about just “being here” being enough:

And we know from conversations with Inko that Toshinori is also reframed his purpose around looking after Izuku. But in the end, Izuku rejected his help, and it was his classmates instead who were able to save him. Now the very progress of humanity is rejecting him too. You may me wondering how on Earth I don’t see the logical conclusion of all this being his death. Hold on. It actually has a lot to do with the fact that we’re all expecting it. Nighteye himself saw it, and despite any contrary convictions anyone might have, the plot doesn’t seem to be veering away from that end. All Might Is Gonna Die, says absolutely everything. 

It’s occurring to me that I have previous experience with this kind of plotline that probably little to no one else in this fandom shares, being that I’ve read a certain book series in which the main character is told in no uncertain terms that he will die (no, I’m not talking about hp). The series in question is T*e Und*rland Chronicl*s (censoring so it doesn’t get put in their side of tumblr) and I’m sorry but I’m about to go on a shameless tangent about it and spoil the ending for you.

So in this series there is a prophecy in every book, each one having something to do with war and conflict, and so far all of them have been right. In the last book [mc] finds out that it’s prophesied that he will be killed. Lots of the things in the prophecies are convoluted and metaphorical, but no, this one literally says “when the [mc’s title] has been killed.” He spends the whole book coming to terms with this, and he gives into it, only to find himself waking up in the hospital instead. “Wow, plot twist. /s” you may be thinking, and yeah sure, the mc in a kids book survived, big shocker. But it doesn't end there. After the war, there are peace talks, but they escalate until the two sides are on the verge of declaring war again. And [mc], bless him, has just been caught in the middle of all of this the entire time. He’s sick as shit of fighting, of watching the suffering and death of people he cares about. He draws his sword against both of them angrily, gives a speech saying he won’t take a side, and then promptly breaks his sword across his knee: “There. [mc’s title in the prophecies] is dead. I killed him.” He’s giving a huge middle finger to everyone there, to the man who wrote the prophecies, to the entire fucked up culture of it all. And so something that was taken literally turns out to be metaphorical. That is, if you still believe in the prophecies at all.

Hopefully you’re catching my drift here. What I’m saying is, even though this other series has nothing to do with bnha, it goes to show sometimes it’s the most absolute certainties that are red herrings, and a “death” can consequently be a symbolic one. In All Might’s case, it could be the death of hero society and a rejection of his own past. In other words, character development for Toshinori himself that reflects on the way the world is changing, too. Also there’s the fact that the mc from that other series I’m trying not to name has an honorary title, and I’m imagining that role he occupied “dying” could correspond to something that amounts to, “All Might is dead. I (Yagi Toshinori) killed him.” 

And here’s another thing: we also have to ask ourselves what good a dead Toshinori is to Izuku, narratively speaking. Yes, Izuku has spent his whole life idolizing even the more toxic parts of All Might, and his idealized vision of his hero does need to “die.” But how about Toshinori as a father figure?  Izuku regretting that his last interaction with Toshinori was to reject his help may drive home the fact that he shouldn’t go off on his own, but at this point it’s kinda redundant. If anything it would negate some of the progress that was just made because it’d make him extra paranoid about losing other people too. To be honest, the whole “Uncle Ben” trope, the mentor/father figure who dies and gives the mc a reason to do better, is so tired. Experiencing the death of a loved one really doesn’t deserve to be romanticized like that. I might as well admit that I’m speaking from experience, and let me tell you, losing someone you love suddenly, when you weren’t around, and with unfinished business--it makes you paranoid as hell that it will happen again. It literally gives me nightmares. Y’all, I cannot stress enough that trauma does not equal character development. Granted, just because I know this doesn’t mean Horikoshi does, but in general he does seem to lead his characters toward healing.

Okay, back to the present. Toshinori is turning away from UA. He likely feels useless and rejected. We can infer that what happens next will involve Stain, and we have a couple of extra clues to go with it: Stain considers All Might a true hero, and has stated that he would let All Might kill him. And since Horikoshi loves his parallels, we also have this fight between Endeavor and this random villain who admires him so much that he wants to die by Endeavor’s hand:

This suggests a confrontation in which Stain challenges All Might to live up to himself as he once was, so that as a hero he can vanquish Stain and symbolically overcome society's perversion of that role. But based on what All Might has learned about the system he upheld, Stain is wrong. All Might is not a “true hero” in the sense that the societal issues Stain witnessed exist not in spite of All Might, but (in part) because of him, because he took too much of the responsibility for himself.

Stain probably had no idea about the personal cost of All Might’s lonely burden until after the fact. Maybe he’s seeing it now. So then perhaps the confrontation would be more about Stain claiming he’s just as fake as the rest. Either way, Toshinori has the opportunity to denounce himself and be rid of “All Might,”  to stop living in his own shadow. Nighteye’s vision has been defied before, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the combination of society shifting + Toshinori’s own conviction is enough to do it again and work fate in his favor.

He is not All Might. He is Yagi Toshinori: quirkless, worn down, and directionless except for his dedication to Izuku. If he survives his interaction with Stain, he can resolve his imperfect mentorship by confessing about his shortcomings and simply supporting Izuku as a part of his family, not as his teacher (as Aizawa said, just “being there”). And that’s how you really get character development, for both of them. I mean, shit, imagine Toshinori straight up telling Izuku to stop calling him All Might.

[gregorygerwitz]

Tell me about your pd thoughts if you'd like to share them?

I wasn't even going to share my thoughts because the only way I can make them coherent is by rewatching the s10 premiere and I... don't want to do that. I didn't actively enjoy the Voight-centric episode. shocker.

Some thoughts (not complete in any way) under the cut. Beware of spoilers. mentions of drug use because... they really decided to hurt us with that premiere, huh?

Were there parts of it I enjoyed? Yeah. But I... do not care about Voight's problems. I have never liked him as a character. When I found out he was still in charge in s9 during my binge last year, I was angry. I'm still angry. Do I understand why he's acting like this? Yeah, grief and guilt are fucking wild they'll make people do things they normally wouldn't, and the things Voight was doing in 10x01, the instances where he was actively putting his team in danger - Torres, Jay, Hailey, all of them - that isn't Voight behavior.

The lying, the secrecy, the going off on his own and acting against orders? That's pretty normal for Voight, unfortunately. I hate it, but I can't change him. At this point I genuinely don't think he can be changed, because I don't think he wants to? He's doing exactly what I predicted back in May, pushing Jay away and not letting him help, so I'll take that as a little win, personally.

My post last night about my thoughts was about Voight's continued bullshit. I'm tired of it. While some of the stuff he said about Upstead was true, it was a very cruel and unnecessary moment in the episode, honestly. I see the metaphor in him stepping in during their moment in Mouse's cage of all places and that being representative of him meddling in their marriage and their dynamic, but I think it's a stupid, contrived way to write Jesse out of the show.

Voight needs to face consequences for his actions, not get a longer leash from the higher ups. I... do not like the new chief. It's very much so going to turn into an Old Boys Club between him and Voight, and apparently we're not even going to have Jay there to balance that out, so I'm going to complain the entire time.

Um... lightning round? because some of the episode actually fed me really well?

I got to see Greg the mouse pretty early on in the episode, that was nice. I love that little guy.

Jay's little smile when picking up Torres was so cute, actually. He's grown on you, Halstead. You like him. You're gonna miss him when you leave.

Heroin/opioid cases in general always make me think about Mouse, for the obvious reasons, so I got to sit in that little bubble for an hour. That was fun for me. (+ the first half of the episode with the kid who OD'd and the parents being uncaring about it? it's not a one-to-one parallel to my Mouse backstory but I'm living off of crumbs I'll take it I love being sad and suffering)

Mom! Not enough mom but also... I got a glimpse of mom 😊

I'm gonna get hate for this but like... I don't care about Upstead? But I don't know how I feel about their relationship being dragged through the mud for the sake of a plot device. Their marriage is still fairly new? Let them breathe?

I'm also sitting here wondering how Hailey goes from feeling Like This about Voight to supposedly "confiding in him" about Jay in two episodes. Because... I think Hailey might hate Voight more than me. Which is fair. Because holy shit the stuff he's doing is awful, even by Hank Voight standards.

TLDR;; I'm really sick and tired of The Hank Voight show, and all the things he said to Jay and Hailey toward the end of the episode made me super uncomfortable. Basically threatening to fire them because of the shit that he is putting them through is giving me major s4 vibes - namely some of Voight's bullshit being the thing that pushed Mouse out the door way back when.

That being said, if Jay and Mouse's exits parallel each other? I'm going to be the most annoying person in the world. And I won't apologize for any of it. I will complain the whole time though because I'm sick and tired of Voight creating this toxic, unhealthy environment for his team and then not facing any kind of repercussion for it. Because at this point it's manipulative and controlling and I still get angry about this exact same shit in s4 at least once a week.

[wolfstar-in-color]

July Colorful Column: Remus is a Crip, and We Can Write Him Better.

There is one thing that can get me to close a fic so voraciously I don’t even make sure I’m not closing other essential tabs in the process. It doesn’t matter how much I’m loving the fic, how well written I think it is, or how desperately I want to know how it ends. Once I read this sentence, I am done.

It’s written in a variety of different ways, but it always goes something like this: “You don’t want me,” Remus said, “I am too sick/broken/poor/old/[insert chosen self-demeaning adjective here].”

You’re familiar with the trope. The trope is canonical. And if you’ve been around the wolfstar fandom for longer than a few minutes, you’ve read the trope. Maybe you love the trope! Maybe you’ve written the trope! Maybe you’re about to stop reading this column, because the trope rings true to you and you feel a little attacked!

Now, let’s get one thing out of the way right now: I am not saying the trope is wrong. I am not saying it’s bad. I am not saying we should stop writing it. We all have things we don’t like to see in our chosen fics. Maybe you can’t stand Leather Jacket Motorbike Sirius? Maybe you think Elbow Patch Remus is overdone? Or maybe your pet peeves are based in something a little deeper - maybe you think Poor Latino Remus is an irresponsible depiction, or that PWPs are too reductive? Whatever it is, we all have our things.

Let me tell you about my thing. When I first became very ill several years ago, there were various low points in which I felt I had become inherently unlovable. This is, more or less, a normal reaction. When your body stops doing things it used to be able to do - or starts doing things you were quite alright without, thank you very much - it changes the way you relate to your body. You don’t want to hear my whole disability history, so yada yada yada, most people eventually come to accept their limitations. It’s a very painful existence, one in which you constantly tell yourself your disability has transformed you into a burdensome, unworthy member of society, and if nothing else, it’s not terribly sustainable. Being disabled takes grit! It takes power! It takes a truly absurd amount of medical self-advocacy! Hating yourself? Thinking yourself unworthy of love? No one has time for that. 

Of course, I’m being hyperbolic. Plenty of disabled people struggle with these feelings many years into their disabilities, and never really get over them. But here’s the thing. We experience those stories ALL THE TIME. Remember Rain Man? Or Million Dollar Baby? Or that one with the actress from Game of Thrones and that British actor who seemed like he was going to have a promising career but then didn't? Those are all stories about sad, bitter disabled people and their sad, bitter lives, two out of three of which end in the character completing suicide because they simply couldn’t imagine having to live as a disabled person. (I mean, come on media, I get that we're less likely to enjoy a leisurely Saturday hike, but our parking is SUBLIME.) When was the last time you engaged with media that depicted a happy disabled person? A complex disabled person? A disabled person who has sex? No really, these aren’t hypothetical questions, can you please drop a rec in the notes?? Because I am desperate.

There are lots of problems with this trope, and they’ve been discussed ad nauseam by people with PhDs. I’m not actually interested in talking about how this trope leads to a more prevalent societal idea that disabled people are unworthy of love, or contributes to the kind of political thought processes that keep disabled people purposefully disenfranchised. I’m just a bitch on Tumblr, and I have a bone to pick: the thing I really hate about the trope? It’s boring. I’m bored. You know how, like, halfway through Grey’s Anatomy you realized they were just recycling the same plot points over and over again and there was just no WAY anyone working at a hospital prone to THAT MANY disasters would stay on staff? It's like that. I love a recycled trope as much as the next person (There Was Only One Bed, anyone?). But I need. Something. Else.

Remus is disabled. BOLD claim. WILD speculation. Except, not really. You simply - no matter how you flip it, slice it, puree it, or deconstruct it - cannot tell me Remus Lupin is not disabled. Most of us, by this point, are probably familiar with the way that One Canonical Author intended One Dashing Werewolf to be “a metaphor for those illnesses that carry stigma, like HIV and AIDS” [I’m sorry to link you to an outside source quoting She Who Must Not Be Named, but we’re professionals here]. Which is... a thing. It’s been discussed. And, listen, there’s no denying that this parallel is a problematic interpretation of people who have HIV/AIDS and all such similar “those illnesses” (though I’ll admit that I, too, am perennially apt to turn into a raging beast liable to harm anything that crosses my path, but that’s more linked to the at-least-once-monthly recollection that One Day At A Time got cancelled). Critiques aside, Remus Lupin is a character who - due to a condition that affects him physically, mentally, emotionally, and intellectually - is repeatedly marginalized, oppressed, denied political and social power, and ostracized due to unfounded fear that he is infectious to others. Does that sound familiar?

We’re not going to argue about whether or not “Remus is canonically disabled as fuck” is a fair reading. And the reason we’re not going to argue about whether or not it’s a fair reading is because I haven’t read canon in 10-plus years and you will win the argument. Canon is only marginally relevant here. The icon of this blog is brown, curly haired Remus Lupin kissing his trans boyfriend, Sirius Black. We are obviously not too terribly invested in canon. The wolfstar fandom is now a community with over 25,000 AO3 fics, entire careers launched from drawing or writing or cosplaying this non-canonical pairing. We love to play around here with storylines and universes and races and genders and sexualities and all kinds of things, but most of the time? Remus is still disabled. He’s disabled as a werewolf in canon-compliant works, he’s disabled in the AUs where he was injured or abused or kidnapped or harmed as a child, he’s disabled in the stories that read him as chronically ill or bipolar or traumatized or blind or Deaf. I’d go so far as to say that he is one of very few characters in the Wide Wonderful World of media who is, in as close to his essence as one can be, always disabled. And that means? Don’t shoot the messenger... but we could stand to be a tiny bit more responsible with how we portray him. 

Disabled people are complicated. As much as I’d like to pretend we are always level-headed, confident, and ready to assert our inherent worth, we are still just humans. We have bad days. We doubt our worth. We sometimes go out with guys who complain about our steroid-induced weight gain (it was a long time ago, Tumblr, okay??). But, we also have joy and fun and good days and sex and happiness and families and so many other things. 

Remus is a disabled character, and as such, it’s only fair that he’d have those unworthy moments. But - I propose - Remus is also a crip. What is a crip? A crip - like a queer - is someone who eschews the limited boundaries placed on their bodies, who rejects a hierarchy of oppression in favor of an intersectional analysis of lived experience, who isn’t interested in being the tragic figure responsible for helping people with dominant identities realize how good they have it. Crips interpret their disabilities however they want, rethinking bodies and medicine and pleasure and pain and even time itself. Crips are political, community-minded, and in search of liberation. 

Remus is a character who struggles with his disability, sure. But he’s also a character who leverages his physical condition to attempt to shift communities towards his political leanings, advocates for the rights of those who share his physical condition, and has super hot sex with his wrongfully convicted boyfriend ultimately goes on to build community and family. Having a condition that quite literally cripples you, over which you have no control, and through which you are often read as a social pariah? That’s disability. But using said condition as a means through which to build advocacy and community? Now that’s some crip shit. 

Personally, I love disabled!Remus Lupin. But I love crip!Remus Lupin even more. I’d love to see more of a Remus who owns his disability, who covets what makes him unique, and who never ever again tells a potential romantic partner they are too good for him because of his disability. This trope - unlike There Was Only One Bed! - sometimes actually hurts to read. Where’s Remus who thinks a potential romantic partner isn’t good enough for him? Where’s Remus who insists his partners learn more about his condition in order to treat him properly? Where’s sexy wheelchair user Remus? Where’s Remus who uses his werewolf transformations as an excuse to travel the world? Where’s crip Remus??

We don’t have to put “you don’t want me” Remus entirely to bed. It is but one of many repeated tropes that are - in the words of The Hot Priest from Fleabag - morally a bit dubious. And let’s face it - we don’t always come to fandom for its moral superiority (as much as we sometimes like to think we do). 

This is not a condemnation - it is an invitation. Able-bodied folks are all but an injury, illness, or couple decades away from being disabled. And when you get here, I sincerely hope you don’t waste your time on “you don’t want me”ing back and forth with the people you love. I’m inviting you to come to the crip side now. We have snacks, and without all the “you don’t want me” talk, we get to the juicy parts much faster. 

Colorfully,

Mod Theo

[solena2]

So.

Tommy isn’t Theseus. Every time I see Techno’s analogy about Tommy being Theseus brought up I’m filled with endless rage and I’ve DECIDED!

That it’s about time I explained just why it’s so objectively incorrect.

-

First: a bit of backstory on Theseus, because I doubt many of you actually know much about him beyond what Techno said in his “so you want to be a hero” speech, which left out a lot of relevant details.

Theseus was a demigod with two fathers and one mother. His fathers were king Aegeus of Athens and the sea god Poseidon, and his mother was Aethra, Aegeus’ wife. Aethra raised Theseus on her own, far from Athens to avoid him being assassinated.

Aegeus left him nothing but a sword with the Athenian crest and a pair of sandals, buried under a rock so no one else could get them.

When Theseus came of age, he took the sword and sandals and headed up to Athens, slaying various monsters along the way. (It pains me to abbreviate it that much, but Techno left out everything before the Minotaur so it won’t help me much in debunking his analogy.)

Once he got to Athens, he met up with his dad, chased out his stepmom Medea, (yes, that Medea) and killed some people. Then comes the relevant part.

Crete had won a war against Athens a while back, and because of this, every seven years Athens was forced to send 14 tributes to be killed by the Minotaur. (Yes, this inspired the Hunger Games)

Theseus decided he’d volunteer and kill the Minotaur, thus ending the tribute system for good and getting one over on Athens. He promised his dad that if he won, he’d come back in a ship with white sails, as opposed to the standard mourning black that signified the death of the tributes.

So he went to Crete, met king Minos and his daughters Ariadne and Phaedra, and got sent into the labyrinth. Ariadne gave him a magic ball of string that kept him from getting lost, allowing him to find the Minotaur and then safely get out afterwards, providing he could kill it.

He killed it, led his other 13 tributes out, and sailed back home. On the way, Athena told him to leave Ariadne stranded on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean, so he immediately did so, because Theseus was an asshole.

He got home, his dad committed suicide because Theseus forgot the white sails and his dad assumed he’d died, Theseus became king and married Phaedra, and then the fun began, because again, Theseus was an asshole.

First, he cheated on Phaedra with Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, so she left and took the kids. Next, he and his other asshole friend Pirithous decided to kidnap themselves some new wives. Theseus decided on Helen of Troy, who was a child at the time, and Pirithous decided on Persephone, which resulted in both him and Theseus getting stuck in the Underworld for a while due to pissing off Hades.

Once he got back up, he killed his son for fucking his wife, which is messed up on many levels, and then left Athens because his people were rightfully not super okay with that.

Then he goes and meets Lycomedes, who throws him off a cliff.

-

Next, let’s talk about Techno’s speech a bit.

He starts off by accusing Tommy of being a power hungry dictator (paraphrased), before asking him if he wants to be a hero.

Then, he provides what is apparently the archetypal example of heroism, something often associated with selflessness, kindness, and generally giving at least one singular solitary fuck about other people.

Theseus! Heroic hero who does heroic things, like, uhhh *checks notes* cheating on his wife, kidnapping children with plans to forcefully marry them, leaving people alone on tiny islands with no supplies, killing his kid, etc. etc...

So we’re off to a great start.

Then, he gives a short summary of Theseus’ life and times! He skips the first part of his life completely, which is hilarious to me because it’s the only time Theseus ever did anything actually heroic or selfless, and gets straight to the meat!

“Let me tell you a story, Tommy. A story of a man called Theseus. His country was in danger, he sent himself forward! Into enemy lines. He slayed the Minotaur! And saved his city. You know what they did to him, Tommy? They exiled him. He died in disgrace, despised by his people. That’s what happens to heroes, Tommy.”

-Technoblade

So first off, he doesn’t mention... really anything other than the Minotaur and the exile, which is leaving out a lot of relevant details, like why Theseus was exiled. (You know, killing his son in cold blood?)

Second, he doesn’t give details in general. Not that he should’ve given a full telling, or anything, but I’m always surprised by the shortness of this speech when I go back and listen to it. He pretty much just gives the barest bones of an argument and expects his audience to take it at face value. (Which they do, but it’s still bad practice)

From the more accurate (if still brief) summary if Theseus’ life I’ve just given, I’m sure you can see why this might be more than a bit dubious, as an analogy. Given cc!Technoblade is literally an English major, and doubtless knows significantly more about the myth than I do, I’d imagine this was never intended to be taken at face value.

Over and over again, c!Techno proves himself to be an unreliable narrator, and over and over again, the fandom at large takes his word as gospel.

-

Now, as far as a more in depth argument for Tommy as Theseus goes, I will attempt to debunk that as well, because there are some genuinely good points to be made.

First of all, most people make Dream out to be the Minotaur. Given the time this speech was made, I imagine Schlatt was the intended target of that, but with latter events in mind, Dream does make much more sense.

I’d say this is honestly pretty fair, but I don’t think Tommy takes the role of Theseus in that narrative. I’d argue he’s much more analogous to the role of Ariadne, giving the tools required to defeat Dream but ultimately not doing so through his own power, but because someone chose to take those tools and make use of them. This also provides the very interesting characterization of Punz as Theseus, which is an incredibly unique take that I hope some a Punz enthusiast does something with, because I don’t know enough about his lore to make a good analysis on that.

The idea of Schlatt as the Minotaur, as was probably intended by Techno at the time, makes much more sense, though I still think other characters fit the role better. Firstly, Schlatt wasn’t killed, he died of a heart attack, and if someone had killed him I think it’s more likely to have been Wilbur or Techno who did it than Tommy, as Tommy was still very hopeful and idealistic at the time, at least compared to his character now. You could posit Tommy as Ariadne again in this situation, given he was the one to mastermind the final charge, and though I think Tommy as Ariadne is an idea that’s worth further exploration, I’d say Fundy futs the Ariadne role here much better, with him giving the spy’s diary before being effectively shunned and left out in the cold by both Pogtopia and Manburg, much like Ariadne was abandoned in the original myth.

I’d posit the Theseus in this scenario as Techno, Wilbur, or possibly Philza, as they were the ones to actually kill things in the 16th, though Techno and Wilbur’s killings were more in the metaphorical sense, taking the second life of L’manburg.

As for the exile, Tommy exile was alike to that of Theseus only in concept. Both were sent from their kingdoms for a crime, resulting in a falling out with someone close to them, and had a precarious relationship with heights while they were gone, but that’s about where the similarities end and even then they’re superficial.

First of all, Tommy’s exile was far more because Dream was looking for an excuse to do it than because briefing actually means anything on the SMP, given how Dream had been griefing bases and blaming Tommy for it for a while before it went down. (Fun fact, Bad and Skeppy were going to burn one of his discs over this, but one of them got sick so they had to cancel the stream.)

Theseus’ exile, on the other hand, was entirely deserved, especially when you consider how serious a crime killing family was in Ancient Greek culture. It was pretty much the biggest no-no in existence, and I’m almost surprised he wasn’t just straight up executed for it.

Second, Tommy’s falling out with Tubbo was almost entirely due to outside forces, (Dream) rather than because anything Tommy had done. Though Tommy’s cavalierness towards the trial and attempts to threaten Dream with Spirit doubtless didn’t help things, Dream surrounding L’manburg in obsidian walls and threatening them to exile Tommy was entirely his own choice, and not something that can be pinned on Tommy, no matter what the apologists may say.

Meanwhile, Theseus’ falling out with Phaedra had begun long before his exile with him cheating on her. Him killing his son was merely the last in a long line of dominos to completely destroy their relationship.

Last, Tommy nearly killing himself is very different from Theseus being pushed off a cliff. Tommy’s near suicide was the direct result of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of c!Dream for what was canonically, I believe, several months? (Correct me if I’m wrong on that one.) Tommy almost jumping off a pillar because he was deliberately isolated from his support systems is nothing like Theseus being killed because he was a cocky asshole who thought he was god.

-

So that’s why I don’t think Tommy is anything like Theseus, and why I’m filled with endless rage by the completely uncritical acceptance of this parallel, but it’s not the whole reason it pisses me off.

It also pisses me off because, as stated earlier, cc!Techno is an English major. He knew what he was doing with this. The fandom’s insistence on refusing to acknowledge his character as an unreliable narrator is, in my opinion, acting as a massive kneecap to what could be a great analysis of how he thinks.

Specifically: why does c!Technoblade think Tommy is like Theseus?

Of all the Greek heroes to pick, why that one? Was it just the tantalizing opportunity to parallel Schlatt with a horned monster, or was it because c!Techno has some genuine in-character reason to think this myth specifically applies to Tommy.

Now, we all know people in the SMP have a habit of analogizing Wilbur and Tommy. The assumption Tommy wanted to be president, the belief that Tommy nominated Tubbo directly, the belief that he was intentionally deceiving Techno about Pogtopia’s intentions regarding Manburg... all of these stem from Wilbur. There are more cases of this, of course, but several analyses have been done in the subject already, and this is long enough without more padding.

So why does Techno think Tommy is Theseus? Well, it’s simple, isn’t it?

Wilbur is Theseus.

To be continued, because this is already too long and my brain hurts.

[chalkrevelations]

OK, y’all, I’m back, finally, with Word of Honor Episode 8, and I have … a LOT of notes on this one. I’m trying to figure out how to organize this. Buckle up, I guess, because this is kind of a long one.

First of all, the usual warning: SPOILERS. This is a re-watch, so there are spoilers not only for this episode, but for the entire show. Scroll away and come back later if you want to watch all 36.5 eps unspoiled.

So, this is an ep that’s really good to me, because the found-family dynamic is one of the things that sold me on the show, and a ton of the ensemble work that builds and enriches that dynamic is centered on scenes about food and eating together, on literally nourishing the body(ies) of the family, from A-Xiang’s repeated instances of cooking bread on a stick over a fire, to fish soup with Ye Baiyi, to Wen Kexing’s elaborate New Year’s meal, and all the various and sundry restaurant sit-downs in between. Feeding each other and eating together is how these characters form bonds. Alternately, inability to provide sustenance or rejection of food implies distance. The point at which Zhou Zishu is still denying Chengling’s request to become his disciple, he’s unable to cook a fish properly for the poor kid to eat. Cao Weining falls in love at first sight and immediately buys A-Xiang not one, but two dinners, because the first one gets cold and he’s going to spend the rest of his life providing the best (emotional) nourishment he can for her. Paying for Ye Bayi’s meal earns a favor from him. When A-Xiang is separated from Wen Kexing and Zhang Chengling and Zhou Zishu, she eats up the little corn family she sees as representative of them, as if she can keep them with her by taking the food that represents them into herself. Despite the fact that Zhou Zishu is losing his sense of taste (evidenced by his ability to suck down wine that any and everyone else spits out in disgust), he continues to fully participate in meals, sharing food and both accepting and providing choice bits to Chengling and WKX at Siji Manor, in a scene that is possibly the most heartfelt domestic bit of the show. Rejecting (dramatically so) the table that’s been set for him by Prince Jin is symbolic of Zhou Zishu’s rejection of their relationship. And as we ultimately learn from Ye Baiyi’s storyline, eating is what makes us human, with all of our messy, painful, gorgeous connections to the world, in contrast to the icy seclusion of immortality. Which makes me feel some kind of way about the facts that WKX started out by burning A-Xiang’s mouth on too-hot porridge before he learned how to take care of her and was saved by her in Ghost Valley and that A-Xiang and WKX, who are both trying to find their way back to the human world from the world of ghosts, become the primary physical nourishers in their relationships with Cao Weining, Zhang Chengling, and Zhou Zishu. It also makes me feel some kind of other (ambivalent) way that part and parcel of the immortality Ye Baiyi achieves for a time and passes on is predicated on being willing to only eat and drink ice and snow, and the symbolic ways that separates you from the rest of the world and from forming the various connections we see forged through food.

All of which is to say that I’m delighted by this ep, where one of the first scenes is an extremely awkward dinner scene at the restaurant with ZZS, WKX, A-Xiang and Cao Weining, which not only plays into a lot of that, but is also comedy gold, and possibly one of the best scenes of the ep (and I say that knowing we’re eventually going to be getting to Han Ying, My Beloved). It’s hilarious how irritated WKX is by the mere fact of Cao Weining’s existence (JunJun, your little pouty face, it’s amazing). And it is triply hilarious how much of a whole-ass troll ZZS manages to be when he realizes the opportunity this presents. I’m not sure we’ve seen ZZS this cheerful … well, yet, at this point in the show, as when he’s just realized how much WKX clearly disapproves of this character who’s after his baby girl and how much of a chance this provides to fuck with WKX. It’s such an asshole move, but at the same time, it’s so weirdly charming to see him willing to play like this. It gives us a great character grace note right in the middle of the comedy - it’s the sort of teasing we see from him with Jiuxiao over the hairpin in Ep 1, and at the same time, it’s also kind of subtle, I think, in the way it calls back to almost the entire ZZS-WKX relationship up to this point. ZZS has clearly been paying attention – almost everything he says to Cao Weining is him giving up with both hands stuff that WKX has had to pry out of him with a crowbar. And it’s blazingly obvious that it’s deliberate. When he compliments CWN, ZZS comments that “it’s our fate to meet each other,” directly echoing what WKX said to ZZS in Ep 2. He waves off the price of dinner, telling CWN that “money is just a possession” after making WKX beg for his wallet and deploy the Sadness Eyebrows before he was willing to hand it over in the last ep. He immediately volunteers his name (or, at least, the name he’s using, Zhou Xu), and asks CWN’s in return. He waxes eloquent about CWN’s sect and background. WKX’s entire face journey through all of this is a delight to watch. ZZS repeats that it’s their fate to meet, and WKX’s eyes almost roll out of his head. ZZS invites CWN to sit and have a drink together, and WKX’s mouth literally drops open. Finally, when WKX learns that A-Xiang is not going to make this interloper go away because he’s her ticket into Yueyang sect, he orders her to go find his wallet (presumably knowing that CWN will follow her when she leaves). As CWN leaves, ZZS reassures him that making friends is “mostly about resonance,” and the implication I presume, is that there is resonance between ZZS and CWN (and yeah, in more ways than one, as CWN will be the ZZS stand-in as these two relationships grow more and more parallel), in contrast to a supposed lack of resonance between ZZS and WKX. I … am not entirely sure that this is just to fuck with WKX, although it’s definitely part and parcel of that, or if it’s a little bit of ZZS trying to convince himself, particularly given a moment later in the ep, which I’ll get to later. In which case, sure, A-Xu. You keep telling yourself that. You didn’t get off at ALL on him staring at you like you’re the most gorgeous thing on earth. Uh-huh.

Outside, A-Xiang and CWN have a little foodie moment together, and if there ever was a fandom that needed a food-truck AU, it’s this one. I’m SO glad that after A-Xiang and Cao-dage got married, they settled down together and opened that little restaurant just down the mountain from Siji Manor. (Shut. Up.) Meanwhile, ZZS and WKX continue to drink inside, now that they’ve gotten rid of the kids. They discuss Mo Huaiyang (:spits:), with ZZS calling him a “cunning old fox” and wondering what a big rabbit like CWN is doing in his den (owowowoOW). WKX promises to get A-Xiang to check on ZZS’s disciple inside Yueyang Sect – he kind of emphasizes that your disciple bit, like he doesn’t really care at all what happens to Chengling, nuh-uh. OK, my dude, you keep telling yourself that, I guess. There’s yet another discussion about Philanthropist Wen’s real motives, which he claims are to empty out hell, which is metaphorically taken to mean saving the damned, although he probably literally means razing Ghost Valley and maybe the jianghu along with it, as he warns ZZS once again that “the fiercest ghosts tend to disguise themselves as human.” And because everything has a triple meaning in this show, this also, again, is also, again, a warning about himself – that he may look human, but he’s not, really.

Meanwhile, Chengling’s been delivered to Gao Chong at Yueyang Sect, where he’s undergoing the worst kind of family bonding. We learn where ShenShen gets his sparkling way with people, when Gao Chong’s first move is to frown at Chengling, feel his biceps and want to know if he’s sick, because he’s such a weakling. We also see where ShenShen gets the yelling and threats of violence. Both Gao Chong and ShenShen put the press on Chengling for the Glazed Armor, as he continues to insist he doesn’t remember anything about it, while Zhao Jing continues to be the “reasonable” one, tearfully telling Gao Chong to be nicer to the traumatized orphan for the sake of his father, oh, oops, I didn’t mean to remind Da-ge of the estrangement with Mirror Lake that’s mentally torturing him now and make him so emotional that this conversation gets cut short, no really, that was not my intention at all, my bad. Sure, buddy. Anyway, this gives us confirmation that Zhang Yusen hadn’t been interacting with his Five Lakes brothers for a while before Mirror Lake was targeted. But never mind that, you can trust us, Gao Chong tells Chengling, and follows up by asking him: Besides us, who can you trust? Which does not actually sound that trustworthy, my guy, and I begin to suspect that Five Lakes Alliance is running things because you’re the biggest bullies, as not a single one of you seems to know how to be the least bit politic. Except for Awful Yifu, who’s not so much adept at politics as at skullduggery. ANYWAY, when asked who he can trust, we can see Chengling thinking “MY NEW DADS” like it’s lit up in neon over his head. We also see him continue to press or clutch the place on his abdomen where we previously saw his injury, so that’s still bothering him, and I can’t imagine why it might do that any time he has to argue with one of these Five Lakes assholes about the Glazed Armor, amirite? I do also notice, though, that he calls both Gao Chong and Zhao Jing “bobo,” which I think is a more familial term for uncle? as opposed to “shishu” for ShenShen, which is martial, and I’m not sure exactly what distinction he’s driving home by doing so, but there you go. Chengling is sent away to rest, and on leaving the hall he immediately gets bullied by Xie Wuyang, one of Zhao Jing’s undercover Yueyang twinks, before being rescued by Gao Xiaolian, daughter of Gao Chong. She takes him to his new room, which faces right onto the training grounds, because no one’s told him yet how much he needs to build himself up, right? And we get to see a bunch of little Yueyang shits who acted like good boys and promised Xiaolian to her face that they would train with Chengling but who then immediately turn around and start mocking him as soon as she goes away, so WKX’s assessment of how the jianghu is full of assholes continues to look kind of correct. What is Cao Weining doing in this whole hive of scum and villainy?

We get a brief detour here to go with Xiaolian to meet Cao Weining and A-Xiang, and she agrees to let A-Xiang stay with her, before a disciple comes to get her to help set up for taking Chengling to worship at the Five Lakes Alliance memorial. Xiaolian helpfully lets us know that this is weird, because it’s going to be dark soon. A-Xiang sneaks away and informs WKX and ZZS that this is weird, because it’s going to be dark soon. ZZS and WKX also spot some of the Tian Chuang Action Lanterns and surmise that some “feudal lords” seen outside the city are up to no good, so they go and skulk in the bushes along the road to the Five Lakes Alliance monument.

This is getting super-long, so I’m going to get right to the next important part, which is the bit where Han Ying (My Beloved) and his Tian Chuang forces have laid a trap for Gao Chong and Chengling on the way back from the monument, and they try to kidnap Chengling. Han Ying continues to be cold, haughty, and capable at his job right up to the moment when ZZS jumps out of the bushes to foil the kidnapping with his signature Swiftly Moving Steps and a frankly ridiculous bit of gauzy fabric tied around the bottom half of his face as a disguise. Han Ying’s instant change of demeanor is something to behold – he can’t even notice that WKX has him by the throat around the hearts in his eyes as he recognizes ZZS. Which, let’s face it, he ought to, because ZZS spent a decade and a half running around with all of these guys with the bottom half of his face covered, so you’d think more of them would recognize him, but apparently the Cover Girl bangs throw them off. Anyway, WKX grabs Han Ying and they use him as a hostage to get Tian Chuang to release Gao Chong, Chengling and a bunch of Yueyang disciples. Once everyone else is gone, WKX and ZZS drag Han Ying into the bushes, where he hits his knees ten times faster than WKX has yet for ZZS, so maybe it’s WKX’s own fault that he’s left standing around, ignored and vinegary. Han Ying is back to the puppy-dog he was around ZZS in Ep 1, and interestingly, the way Zhang Zhehan is styled here makes ZZS look more severe than he has in a while – he’s got a lot of his hair up in the high pony that looks a bit like the topknot from the front, all the rest of his hair is back behind his shoulders, and his bangs are pushed back out of his face more than usual, making him look more like his Tian Chuang self as he talks to Han Ying. Who he calls Ying’er, and omg, fuck you subtitles, for not including this because HE CALLS HIM YING’ER AND I’M DYING. (Also, oh god, I just realized that the Ying of his name is the same character as “hero.” Which, just, the simple fact of it, of course, but also it was used in the “hero saving the beauty/beauty saving the hero” (overdubbed) lip-read from Ep 6, and now I’m dying on the floor, because that’s kind of a weird little link between Zhen Yan WKX and Han Ying already. It’s likely coincidence, but it’s potentially USEFUL, yes, all my fic writers out there?) Anyway, Han Ying is desperately worried - he knows something’s wrong, because ZZS isn’t bothering to disguise himself with that awful fake face anymore to keep himself safe from Prince Jin’s spies, and also, HOW IS YOUR INJURY, MY LORD? (DO YOU NEED SOMEONE TO TAKE TENDER CARE OF YOU?) WKX continues to look vaguely uncomfortable about this whole thing that’s going on right in front of his salad. Han Ying swears he’ll do anything for ZZS. WKX clears his throat loudly to draw attention and suggestively asks if he should leave for a while. (I am not shitposting here, this actually, literally happens.) ZSS literally huffs in annoyance and ignores him. He tells Han Ying that he saw signs of Tian Chuang at Yueyang and thought they were after him. We can see Han Ying thinking, “No, if I’d known you were here, you’d have found me on my knees by your bedside waiting patiently like a good boy.” We learn that Duang Pengju (that asshole) has had Han Ying looking for the Glazed Armor since the Mirror Lake massacre, probably to take credit for anything he finds. Han Ying reiterates that he’ll do anything for ZZS, and ZZS tells him to stay out of all this, saying that what Han Ying can do for him is stay alive (well, OW).

After this, we get a scene of ZZS and WKX still hanging around by the side of the road after dark. ZZS sincerely thanks WKX for his help, and says he owes WKX a favor. WKX asks him what’s really going on with ZZS and Chengling. ZZS says that he couldn’t stand around and do nothing while this kid was in danger, likely stirring some Zhen Yan feels in WKX that we don’t officially know about yet, at this point. ZZS asks WKX, again, about his Weird Thing about the Five Lakes Alliance and whether it was a coincidence that WKX was at Mirror Lake for the massacre. WKX goes vaguely Ghost Valley Master wild-eyed and says of course not! before laughing and saying, “I followed you, remember?” He gets friend-zoned and follows up by asking ZZS, “Why don’t you ask what I think of you?” ZZS – pretty unconvincingly, tbqh – says he doesn’t care and stomps off, leaving WKX to stare after him soulfully and call him zhiji. Much like that resonance thing earlier - you keep telling yourself that, A-Xu. The next time we see them, they’re at the marketplace, probably the next day, and you remember that thing I said about bonding via food? We’ve come back full circle to that, too. Zhen Yan WKX is 7 years old again, he wants some reassurance that he is ZZS’s super-special friend, and he works his way through the marketplace making ZZS buy him every sweet thing to eat that he can find. Every time ZZS has to pull out his wallet, he makes this pissy little face, but he keeps paying. ZZS is hopeless at cooking, but if you can’t make your own, store-bought will do, WKX is craving reassurance, and as uncomfortable as ZZS is with how close WKX has gotten at this point, he continues to provide it. I also want to point out another censorship dub here, thanks again to AvenueX on Youtube: As they’re figting over the way WKX is spending ZZS’s money in this scene, when WKX tries to grab ZZS’s hand, and ZZS is all ‘”Don’t touch me,” the voice dubbing has WKX say that repaying ZZS is no big deal, he’ll just let ZZS order him around, with ZZS’s response being to tell him to get lost, then. OTOH, lip-read gives us, from WKX, that it’s no big deal, he’ll sell the rest of his life to ZZS, with ZZS’s response as a threat to sell him to a brothel, then. :hands:

Quick wrap-up from there: They go watch some exotic dancers, only there turns out to be an unexpected pile of heads in the follow-up magician’s act, which turn out to be from the guys who were in the “bridal party” at the Ghost Valley “wedding” a few eps ago, and everyone swears vengeance against the Ghost Valley. WKX and ZZS go to visit Chengling, who is supposedly sick and can’t see them, but they get introduced to Gao Chong. Gao Chong and WKX are weird at each other, and ZZS is increasingly suspicious. He’s got his thinky face on, and we don’t get any literally pokey fingers, but I can’t help but think there are some mental pokey fingers going on, as he turns over all the info he knows in his head. Then some Yueyang disciple comes shrieking in about a dead body, omg, death, destruction, death, and Gao Chong is all, Seriously? In front of guests? before we’re out.

[cheylouwho]

Since I hopefully won't be repeating someone else's choice, Doubling Down! I think it's a really clever ep with how it parallels Heidi and Cartman's toxic relationship with Garrison and what he and the guy he's a metaphor for are doing to American politics, plus that pink elephants bit with Kyle always kills me. 10/10 from me, what do you make of it?

Press Release Sunday Ask Game: Send me An Episode

Doubling Down for me is still very fresh in my mind, being an episode that I watched via livestream. The pink elephants parody bit I barely remembered on my first watch because I was literally laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes and I couldn't actually focus on what was happening, so I had better appreciation for it the second time I watched it during the reairing before the following episodes premiere. By that point I remember being pretty sick of heiman beating a dead horse, and I was so sure that was going to be the end of that nonsense, but we know how that ended up. I thought this episode was one of the last really impactful Garrison/Heiman episode period, everything after that was exhausting (the only exception is the fox trap joke from the season finale, that was genuinely so fucking funny to me). For that reason I give it a 7/10. It was really fun but still not anywhere in my top 10 episodes.

[crazynekochan]

Dangan Persona Palace #8 (holy shit, this's a long one)

[Haven't written for this AU in ages but college sucks. Thank god for summer] Ruled by Hajime Hinata/Izuru Kamukura (it’s a weird mix). Captives are Chiaki Nanami and Nagito Komaeda (will be trapped forever if not rescued in time). This one is rather odd since, in the original timeline, Hajime and Izuru share the same body while in this timeline, as facilitated by the big bad, Izuru is his own person. Hajime's shadow is rather basic, he's the king of the castle, self-aggrandizing, and yet clearly insecure about himself. But Izuru's shadow is where things start going sideways then take a sharp corkscrew on different axes because he's the head patient of the facility, bound up in a straitjacket over a hospital gown, representing how Izuru (either version), just feels like some sick experiment. But there’s something off: Izuru in this version as his own person is just bad with emotions, but the shadow represents both universes’ versions of Izuru, so the shadow Izuru switches between being very emotional yet showing it poorly and having no emotions at all. In addition, the shadows also fuse into a combined form on occasion, looking like a filthy mental patient with a crown on their head that shocks them on occasion (like electroshock therapy that Hajime was subjected to as part of the IK project). In his boss form, the shadows split into 2 enemies: the Beggar King with 10K Faces (shadow Hajime, representing him as the Wild Card with a ton of Personas) and the Faceless 100-armed Mad God (shadow Izuru, representing how even with his many talents, he feels emotionless and empty). The actual palace itself is a strange mix of a standard fancy castle and an abandoned hospital where horrific experiments were performed on the patients. Many of the rooms and puzzles rely on the mixing of the 2. The enemy shadows mostly are various gods and deities, generally high-ranking ones, or absolute horror shows. What is very significant are the 2 mini-boss fights of this palace: a Shadow Nagito and Shadow Chiaki, set near the end of the hospital side and castle side respectively. This is technically related to plot developments a bit later on in the story but for the moment let's just call it "magic fuckery" and move on. Basically, Shadow Nagito is considered the model patient of the asylum while Shadow Chiaki is the "King's" closest advisor. The fight against Shadow Nagito is honestly really sad because it's very clear that he doesn't really understand what's going on or why he's hurting people, with this overwhelming sense of dread and misery coming from the Shadow. The fight itself is just as bad as you'd expect fighting a version of Nagito with his insane luck. His boss form is a torn to all hell voodoo doll of himself with a massive pin straight through his head among others. He uses Curse and Bless skills and almost every turn, he either misses or gets crits, with actually hitting him being a similar pain in the ass for anyone without a high luck stat or right after he got a critical hit on someone. Fortunately, his terrible health means that the Shadow has similar bad health and frankly, his defense is absolutely godawful, so if you can actually hit him, it would be a short fight. He's beaten down and honestly so fucking sad that they just have to take him to his room to rest and just take the key off of him to the final area. Now the fight against Shadow Chiaki, that's the real son of a bitch right there. The shadow is sincerely, incredibly bored by pretty much anything that comes to her path and she just wants shit to be over with already, sheesh, completely against how much real Chiaki cares. Because she's partially based on the original human Chiaki and there's some of the AI Chiaki from DR2, so when her actual fight comes, the Shadow's form (a spin on Sleeping Beauty where she's more of a very bored hikikomori, still in PJs and not even bothering to try sitting up) is glitching like a video game. That's not the worst part of it, though. The worst part comes when Akane, as one of the ones with the best speed, makes her first

attack and turns out, the glitching makes Akane glitch out as well, which is pretty much a special status where you act as erratically as possible and pretty much scrambles the metaphorical controls to hell and back. Akane tried to grab an item to cure the status and threw Kazuichi at the Shadow too, making him a liability too. So now part of the party is "glitched" and since they don't know how to fix them without possibly hurting them or risking getting infected in case it's a contagious effect, it's pretty much persona skills and items only until the fight ends. A detail made significantly harder by the fact that Shadow Chiaki, like regular Chiaki, knows everything about video games and basically it's a ton of meta bullshit that makes it one of the most annoying fights in the history of Persona or even the MegaTen franchise. By some great fortune, she's got bad defense and speed stats so if you can outspeed her, you can kill her fast. After the battle, shadow Chiaki retreats right away, conveniently leaving the key to the final boss room. In the final room, the 2 shadows are bickering while Nagito and Chiaki are in 2 cells behind them, respectively furnished like a very fancy hospital room and an awesome gamer pad. Which would be very nice if they weren't being held captive by the manifestations of their best friends' (lover in Nagito's case about Hajime) worst repressed parts of themselves in a parallel world. They confront the Shadows, both of them highly unamused with their "real" counterparts and especially taking time to just eviscerate pretty much every failing the Hinata-Kamukuras ever had, in this timeline and the original. Then, with that all resolved, they morph into the boss forms and thus start one of the hardest battles the party had ever faced because my god, these fuckers will just not go down! But that's not the end of everything, sadly, because there's a 2nd fight after this that I will elaborate on in the next part because this is getting way too long

---

Mod: The fighting against all the shadows must be pure hell. Because Nagito's BS luck is straight up unfair in every way there is. Chiaki's glitch status effect is disturbingly scary. And fighting against Hajime and especially Izuru is basically god tier level of difficult, since in the original (canon game) timeline he is basically superhuman and unbeatable. Also the designs you came up with rock! I can't even say with one I like the most, since all sound so awesome and fitting to them all. Well done

Going through the palace must be so confusing for the party. Because they can understand Hajime's part. He has one hell of an ego and thinks he's better than everyone else despite him really not being any better than anyone and being rather average. However Izuru makes no sense to them until they at some point find out the truth of the new time line, since Izuru isn't an experiment here after all unlike before

[casmybelovedass]

The Destiel Folder: Season 10

[Season 4; Season 5; Season 6; Season 7; Season 8; Season 9]

Episode 1:

Cas is slowly dying, practically naked, in a bed, and the first thing he says when talking about Dean is "I miss him" (6:35), with a soft smile. "Why would he just disappear?"

... I'm sorry but If Cas Were A Woman, this would look like a scene from a movie or something, where the wife talks to a friend over the phone about her missing husband. JUST SAYING

Crowley: "The girl seemed nice. Slightly damaged. I could see the old you falling for that." (9:29) uhm... who else is "nice and slightly" damaged? I don't know... CASTIEL??!!!

So... these two men (actors Todd Mann and Brad Mann) we see with the DemonGang, are real life twins (9:14).

At (27:18), Crowley states him and Dean did "extroardinary things to triplets" ... and, well, the only twins with a possible other sibling we see are... them

And this is not the first time we hear about Dean doing "things to triplets" with a buddy of his (15x07)... and the first time he was NOT a demon... so, there's that. And triplets don't necessarily mean "all females"

Cas, while talking about the good things that come with choices, mentions "hope, love, dreams" (39:06), and Hannah points out that "those are human things". Human things...

Cas is talking about his own personal experiences with creating chaos, so those are the things he felt after rebelling for... Dean... WOW. ICWAW, it would totally be read it as a reference to Dean. A romantic one. Fight me

Episode 2:

Cas is dying, just got back from a fight that left him wounded, doesn't have enough power to heal himself, is on a mission to restore Heaven, and once again he chooses to go save Dean (9:35), and the way rage builds in his eyes when learning Dean has become a demon. Look at this shit

I might be crazy, but this feels like a touching metaphor to me:

"I think you don't know what you want. Tell me, Dean. What are you? A demon? [...] Maybe you're human. [...] Why don't you do us all a great, big favor... and pick a bloody side!" (22:22)

METAPHOR

Episode 3:

We are reminded that, even tho in terrible conditions, on the verge of death, Cas is willing to risk it all to save Dean, and is devastated by the thought of Dean not making it (4:47 - 5:17)

This is so funny to me, I'm sorry, but Cas is so visibly uncomfortable with Hannah touching him, it's hilarious (15:58)

"I've been around humans for long enough to see how easily distractions occur. Emotions, feelings... They're dangerous temptations." (22:32) like rebelling against your own kind, destroying your home, falling... all for a human?

"I'm trying to keep our priorities clear." Moments earlier, Cas listed "Getting to Dean" (22:17) before anything else. In fact, Hannah says "I am very clear of my priorities... and yours." = Dean (23:00)

Cas is not sure whether the cure will kill Dean or not, and in any case, he wraps his arms around him, and softly says "It's over... Dean it's over." (35:40) as if hushing him to sleep, in what could have been their last moments together... wow. Think about this ICWAW

"Well, I can see his point. Only humans can feel real joy, but... also such profound pain. This is easier." (36:17) Look at the way Sam is looking at Cas looking at Dean

BITCH OKAY!!

SAM KNOWS

POSSIBILE future Empty reference "real joy"

Cas already stated he misses being human, but knows how fragile they are in both body and spirit:

Castiel really wants to be with Dean. For real. But maybe he thinks (see season 9) him being an angel is an obstacle to their feelings.

Only by being human he can truly be happy (MMMMMMHH SEASON 15), but isn't sure he could handle the pain that comes with it. A possible rejection, the thought of Dean dying, him leaving Dean... MMMMHHHHH

"You look terrible." [...] "Well, you, on the other hand, you... *checks out Cas* Looking good." (39:09) full homo right there. Also parallel with Ketch in 13x18 ("You don't look good." "Yeah, well, you're not my type, either.")

The way they are looking at each other here... man.

Cas is so happy to have Dean back, and Dean looks hurt about Cas leaving so soon.

"So... so, you're back?" "At least temporarily." (39:27) bitch, you know that's not what he ment.

In all of this, Cas is trying to make Dean feel better about the whole situation (DAT SMILE 40:18), and Dean replies with "I'm glad you're back, man.", basically no-homoing himself...

Cas starts walking out of the room, but stops and turns back [insert concerned husband here] (40:27), and Dean has that hopeful look in his eyes, like Cas is going to stay, and the hurtful look comes back as soon as Cas is gone

Episode 4:

"On your knees!" "Wow, I'm awfully flattered-" (34:33) SASSY BI DEAN IS THE DEAN WE DESERVE

Episode 5:

Fucking kill me NOW!!! Dean's reaction to Destiel is PRICELESS!! And even before he learns what that is, he just looks at the girls playing him and Cas and... freezes for a moment (13:18) And the eyebrow raise thingy at (13:34)... what's going on in your brain, Dean?

I'd like to point out that the Italian translation for "You can't spell 'subtext' without S-E-X" is, for once, AMAZING:

"It's just that... their bond is so strong it has subtext of a... sexual nature."

THANK YOU ITALIAN DUB! JUST THIS ONCE, THANK YOU! (13:43)

Also at (9:44) Dean immediately reacts to the implication of Wincest subtext, shutting it down and telling the girls to take a step back, but with Destiel he is like... alright

... this is so fucking cute, (25:54) Dean adjusts the girl playing Cas' tie so that it's messed up like the real Cas'. ADORABLE

SAM SHIPS IT (13:57) and is teasing the SHIT out of Dean, who reacts like someone being teased about their crush. Just saying (14:08 - 14:52) [AND THIS HAPPENS IN FRONT OF A PINK-BLUE WALL]

"I know I have expressed some differences of opinion regarding this version of Supernatural." (26:44) ... oookay meta? *turns to "Cas"* "And I want you to put as much sub into that text as you possibly can." ... oKAY?!

Episode 7:

Cas being extremely uncomfortable with women is too fucking funny to me (5:03 - 12:51)

Episode 9:

(15:13) Alright, so, this is a date... what now? Anyway, nice bi flannel, Dean. And the little sweet smiles you two are giving each other? So fucking precious (16:01)

"I ain't exactly a role model." "That's not true." (16:07) how Dean looks at Cas right after that? BABIES!

"How are you, Dean?" "Fine." "*I-call-bullshit look*" "I'm great!" "No, you're not." (16:18) #MARRIED

As Cas is choke-holding a guy, Dean, clearly amused (almost proudly), says "I'd do what he says." (22:17) Like that time with Raphael in 5x03, Dean likes it when Cas gets rough

Episode 10:

Shut the fuck up and marry each other already so you can finally actually BE the old married couple™️ you ALREADY ARE (22:17)

This is the "My husband is so FUCKING STUPID" look (22:30)

"I was hoping you might reach out to her." "... Me? I'm probably the last person she'd want to hear from." [...] "All I know... is she won't talk to me." (23:03) #MARRIED, PARENTS, PERIODT

Shut the fuck up. Cas is the dad trying to figure out technology (23:36) "I'll text you her number. I like texting. Emotions!" DAD

Cas worries about Dean like a wife would with an alcoholic husband

Of all the things Dean could be MAD about at Metateon... the first thing he can think of is him stealing Cas' grace (31:33) (okay, maybe he is going in chronological order but STILL)

Episode 11:

[I AM SO SO SO SORRY BUT DEAN USED THE ALIAS "PRESLEY" (18:55) I AM NOT OKAY]

Episode 14:

Have this deleted scene: Castiel and Crowley bitching over Dean, and Crowley calling Dean Cas' boyfriend

This is some hell of a goodbye-eye-love-making scene (26:57)

Cain compares himself to Dean... and CAS TO HIS WIFE COLLETTE [PARALLELS]

"You're living my life in reverse [...]

First you'd kill Crowley. You'd get it done, no remorse. (Cain had been killing his descendants, for whom he didn't care much)

And then you'd kill the angel, Castiel. Now, that one... that, I suspect, would hurt something awful. [And than Sam is Able, bla bla...]"

AM I WRONG?! YOU'RE GONNA LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME THAT I'M WRONG??!!!

Dean gives the First Blade to Cas... oKAY (37:10)

Worried brother-in-laws (41:27)

Episode 16:

This is such a good source of hidden meanings scene! Dean starts his "confession" as a scam. Everything he says at first is to attract the spirit.

He starts talking about seeing lots of women, not being able to control himself, and being sick of it. Then the real confession begins...

Dean feels he's going to die soon, and fears not death itself, but what he would be missing from his life.

"There's things... people, feelings that I... I would experience differently than I had before. Or even for the first time." (25:28) and the priest believes Dean is talking about love.

Well... "people, feelings"... who could he be referring to? Does Dean want love all of a sudden? People he wants to experience for the first time... uhmmmm... Is Dean opening up to his attraction to MEN??!! Or one angel in particular?

ICWAW we would guess Dean was talking about Cas

"Who mixes their blood and bones into paint? No woman has ever done that for me." (39:19) UHM- Dean, what about

6x20 "He has bled, died bla bla bla for us",

7x21 "I'm always happy to bleed for the Winchesters" or

9x22 "You just gave up an entire army for one guy"

ICWAW we would ALL roll our eyes at this statement and scream CAS

THE GUY BLED, LOST HIS HOME, REBELLED, DIED FOR YOU!! HE REBUILT YOU PIECE BY PIECE FROM HELL- SAVED YOU DOZENS OF TIMES!!!

Episode 17:

About saving Dean from the Mark: "We won't- (free Metatron)" "Yes, you will... because you're desperate." (9:44) Hannah knows. Let's remark that

"All I'm getting from you is... colours." (14:26) bitch he is a walking 🌈PRIDE FLAG🏳️‍🌈

Notice how, when we get a Sam-Cas centred episode, we don't get the same interactions with Dean-Cas? Why this?

Dean is always ready to call Cas a "brother", but the only one true bromance here is Sam and Cas'. There are no longing stares, no weird sexual filled dialogue nor tension, NO LONGING STARES

Facts, my people. Facts

Episode 18:

"You killed my friend." "Oh, pff, Dean is fine, mostly. Can't you get past that?" "Never." (12:39)

Charlie being excited about meeting Dean's famous boyfriend is WHOLESOME (37:34)

To have Cas back, 100%, safe and sound, is a win for Dean (38:58) and the face Cas makes after Dean hits him with another no-homo "It's good to have you back, pal." is "UHH not this again". Charlie already ships it

Episode 20:

A #MARRIED couple and their daughter. NO ARGUMENTS VALID (7:06)

Look at how they enter the motel (16:22)

OH MY GOOOOOD!!! #PARENTS coming back home from shopping!! THE HAND ON THE SHOULDER!!! Also

"Happy birthday. I got it at the Hot Topical" DAD

Dean: "Imma head back over there." Cas: "I'm coming with you." Claire: "I'm coming with you too." (17:24) #FAMILY

A fucking family comedy about a dad confronting the daughter's boyfriend and the other dad scolding him:

"What did you do to him?" "I didn't lay a hand on him!" "Dean, that isn't exactly true." "... Well, I didn't kill the guy." (17:14)

Surprisingly enough, this is not the first nor last time Dean acts like a dad to a lost child (AND TWO OF THESE TIMES THE KID IS SOMEHOW RELATED TO CAS) (21:54)

Episode 22:

C: "Claire, you are not going out there. [...] It's too dangerous. I can't let anything happen to you." D: "Claire, you're not going." C: "You're not either, Dean." D: "What?" (19:29)

#FAMILY DON'T TALK TO ME!

"No fighting. [...] Both of you." AAAAAA

This doesn't fucking matter, but Dean just said "... for the ladies. Or the fellas. I don't judge." (36:23)

Cas' speech to Dean... wow. "So if there's even a small chance that we can save you... I won't let you walk out of this room." (39:20)

I hate this scene. (40:11)

Dean is overwhelmed by Charlie's death, Sam and Cas' betrayal, the Mark changing him and all the other shit.

The Mark is taking over, and Dean can't (and won't) help it. Cas knows it. He doesn't want to hurt Dean. He is not even resisting. Doesn't put up a fight.

And just like Colette with Cain, Castiel only asks Dean one thing: "Stop." (40:38) [9x11]

Parallel to 8x07:

The only thing that stops Cas from killing Dean, is him begging, clutching onto his sleeve.

"Dean... please..." (41:08) Cas pleading Dean, clutching to his arm, makes him resist the urge to kill him.

Episode 23:

You can find gifs and the script of some deleted (destiel) scenes in this post by @charlie-minion

As the Mark eats Dean... he starts feeling guilt for the people he hurt... first on the list: Cas (14:54)

(This gif is not mine)

Well... what a season.

[Season 11>>]