#its just that the negative ones are longer and more fun to talk about lol
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here are some "quick" rvb restoration thoughts before i go to bed that i may expand upon later, in no particular order:
this movie was ABOUT tucker but tucker is not in it. there is a tucker sized hole. we see tucker only a little bit more than we see donut, but tucker is still there the whole time!!! at the beginning, i was excited for the tucker whump, but does it count if not a single character reacts to the truly horrifying news that their friend has been controlled for a few months by eight or nine ais, at least two of which have tried to kill him and everyone you love before? like even if they had retconned red and blue teams being friends (which they didn't), you're telling me that we never get to see wash's reaction to this news? carolina's? two people who lost a different friend to this exact gruesome process of de-personing? no one ever tells carolina that tucker is in there and no one objects when tex goes to fucking decapitate him? like i get that caboose was the only person to see that tucker was actually still in there, and he can't really be trusted to communicate things clearly, but they could have even just included some sort of discussion where they decide that they think that tucker would rather be dead than be dragged along in this parody of life (and with the way the ais were torturing him, he probably would have agreed.)
speaking of caboose knowing that tucker is still in there - grif and simmons abandoning caboose rubbed me SO wrong. usually if a character is trying not to involve themselves, they'll "run away" to the nearest place to hide, not GET ON A SHIP TO FLY AWAY LEAVING CABOOSE TO DIE AT POSSESSED TUCKER'S HANDS. i get why they (the writers) did it, but that doesn't mean i have to like it lol
why weren't they FRIENDS ANYMORE
where was donut
what was that wash b-plot. what did the wash b-plot add?? what it did: make me feel weird about dr. grey's character, kill doc off screen, and make wash useless in the main plot. what it did not do: make sense. when did wash get injured post chorus? why is he hallucinating, period? why was he institutionalized? (and why is the room number the same as his prison number?) why did they spend so much time on it for it to have no real conclusion? they didn't need to have this weird "wash is hanging onto the past via doc" plot to have the carolina-wash-freelancer ghost heart-to-heart. (also i have never laughed so hard as when i saw the post pointing out that they left wyoming out bc neither my friend or i noticed lol) why wouldn't he know there was a manual way to activate the recovery beacon since he was LITERALLY recovery one? so many questions, no answers. what have you done to my boy, burnie.
the pacing was ATROCIOUS. nothing happened for the first half of the movie, a bunch of stuff happened in the second half, and none of it felt resolved.
where was donut
why was everyone separated at the beginning? why was no one worried about it? where was donut? where was carolina? why was no one worried about where tucker was? had caboose been the lone blue for the few months that tucker was gone and wash was hospitalized? genuinely, my friend and i thought that the reds and caboose had been mind wiped and dropped into their undisclosed locations without knowing why, and the plot was gonna be them all reuniting and piecing together what had happened and getting tucker back. alas.
it felt like it was the grif-simmons-caboose show, which was interesting because that's not a problem i feel like i've had before with this show. even if i saw less of a particular character than i wanted to. they usually have a pretty good balance of characters and this movie felt like they suddenly Realized how many characters they had and fumbled it.
i did actually really like the tex reveal that was BOSS i LOVED IT
i have more thoughts but this is far too long already so i'll save it for later lmao
#my brain is collapsing with the number of thoughts i have#they're not all negative#its just that the negative ones are longer and more fun to talk about lol#most of these are tuckington focused bc. cmon guys. its on the tin#the no long term consequences for tucker also was weird#the man was tortured for A LITERAL DECADE#if you have tucker using the same language about ais and hallucination doc and wash then there should be similar consequences#rvb#rvb restoration#rvb restoration spoilers#red vs blue
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reading inky mystery
good morning yâall, it is currently 3AM right now and i have developed some very strong opinions about inky mystery that i need to projectile vomit onto the internet. this is gonna be like a book review so i have some disclaimers/warnings:
#1: this âreviewâ is not intended for the author, TAP, or anyone directly involved with the writing of IM. this is readers-only!
#3: i will most likely say very few positive things about the fic so if you donât want to see negative remarks about your fav fic/story, maybe donât read this. and also if you canât handle strong language.
#4: i have not read all of IM, and there is a reason why. i will explain later on but i donât need anyone to try and avoid spoilers. i donât care for this fic enough to worry about that. talk to your heartâs content, i want to hear what yâall have to say!!!!
#5: i still enjoy inky mystery and its concepts and the overall story ideas. i think itâs fun and a cool spin on the original qftim au (an au that had so much potential and such shitty execution) and love how the fic has created an entire community around it! donât get this twisted, i got nothing against IM or TAP.
now iâm gonna put the âreviewâ (more like a rant) under a cut so as to not take up space on peopleâs dashes more than i already have lolâhave fun!!
with such an interesting and promising premise, inky mystery has so far been a frustrating disappointment. i started reading it a while ago (had to stop because of school) and picked up again last night, hoping to get further into the fic and reach the parts that seem to be much more compelling than the exposition. iâm only on chapter 20 and already want to just stop reading it altogether. the more i progress through this the more i think to myself, âis this fic even worth reading 2.5 million words and 335 chapters?â as iâve come to the beginning of chapter 21, iâm starting to think it most definitely is not.
obviously the biggest criticism is the length. there is absolutely no reason for why this fic is like 3 times longer than the fucking BIBLE. twelve âbooksâ for what? to leave us in the same spot of the plot for the fifth time in a row when the conflict could have been resolved in almost half a chapter? the over-explanation of everything and the placement of practically useless dialogue is excruciating. i donât understand how having chapter long bits of the warner shenanigans was necessary; i get it was meant for comedy but i donât think they should dragged any longer than like a paragraph. their dialogue gets old incredibly fast, and itâs just a hinder to the ficâs flow. and before anyone says anythingâI HAVE WATCHED ANIMANIACS BEFORE. in fact, i used to be obsessed with them and watched every episode until it stopped airing in 2014. i know theyâre supposed to be the way they are in the fic but Holy SHIT DUDE. SHUT THEM THE FUCK UP ALREADY.
listen. i know this was originally written in 2017, but if youâre still updating this into 2024, at this point you need to remake the whole fic and shorten it. the way the author is updating the fic with basically filler makes me feel like they care more about creating content for their readers rather than actually writing a coherent narrative. you donât need to take down the OG fic but there has got to be a way to shorten it so it doesnât take literally a week straight to finish the fic in one sitting.
anyways. apart from that, i need to say that the writing style is so juvenile in a way that feels aggravating. i read the most recent chapter to see if anything changed and while it certainly improved in small ways, i feel like TAP still hasnât learned how to not make sentences like four words long and dialogue sequences that donât make up half the chapter. i also feel like the narrative is justâŠholding the readers hand and explaining every little thing like they expect the reader not to have any media literacy at all. i donât need to know explicitly that boris and bendy are tired from walking for hours, i knew that from your narration mentioning their legs aching and them getting mucky from clambering in the forest.
next, i hate the random inclusion of unnecessary characters. the way the two detectives seem to only show up when itâs convenient and how the warners were used basically like a deus ex machina is frustrating. donât introduce so many characters with so much detail and then have them show up like twice. i donât know how to explain this because itâs almost 4AM now and my brain is foggy but god. when those two fox characters were randomly introduced at the end of idk what chapter to have a completely useless conversation with the detectives i felt so annoyed. i donât know if they have any real significance later on in the story (and i donât mean that they show up to say hi later) and honestly i cannot be bothered to find out if they do, but if they donât, that entire section of the chapter was fucking stupid. let your MAIN CHARACTERS learn information from other sources for the love of god.
in the end, i donât know if iâll ever finish Inky Mystery, at least not anytime soon. i had fun at the start and now iâm just annoyed and frustrated. also, to the wiki people, PLEASE MAKE CHAPTER SUMMARIES AND SHITâIT WOULD BE A DREAM FOR THOSE OF US WHO DONâT WANT TO SIT THROUGH 2.5 MILLION WORDS FOR PLOT AND STORY!!!!
also, i am not claiming to be a better writer or have superior knowledge to TAP. i think TAP is good at writing, but has some flaws that really limit their full potential. i myself am an amateur writer with no training or anything, but i am a reader, so thatâs why iâm yapping.
ALSO ALSO, i am not doing this to shit on TAP or IM or anyone who likes this story and everything. like i said, i actually like IM and really want to get into it so i can make fanart and everything, but it has been a struggle and i want to voice that because this is my blog and i use it like a virtual diary. i will continue to skim and push through IM, and will most definitely use it as a learning tool for my own au, SITP.
again, this review was made with zero malice in mind. however if anyone wants to say anything iâm 100% open to conversation, and if this reaches TAPâs screen somehow, please know iâm not trying to be a hater!!! i love your ideas and the community youâve created, promise!!!! iâm done now cus iâm tired and need to sleep so bye to anybody who read through this beast of a post lol plus i donât have the energy to write all i wanted to say. sorry if thereâs any mistakes iâm falling asleep as i write LMAO
bye!!!!!!
#mud.txt#fic review#babitim#bendy and boris in the inky mystery#the inky mystery#babqftim#qftim#bendy and boris quest for the ink machine#quest for the ink machine
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sorry for the essay in your asks Iâm just studying child development/psych and I Have Thoughts
nonono ur so fine! i enjoy conversing abt it :] im a psych major so were in similar boats! i keep being disappointed in my fellow students ways of talking about children, especially in childhood development focused classes, and there was a particular instance i will never forget of describing a a case study of a young child who was being violent to others, and the first and only question another student asked being "is this disorder often found in serial killers? cause this sounds like what ive heard abt serial killers" and my jaw fucking dropped. I was wearing a mask so no one really noticed but MY first reaction to the case study was "hey a lot of these behaviors were present in MY BROTHER and while he's doing a lot better i wonder if there's anything i can learn from this study that might help him" and we didn't get even close to that. i didn't need psych classes to be appalled at the way adults think of and treat children, but it was certainly not fun. these things are also deeply personal to me because of my own violent behavior as a child due to an amount of trauma that would easily quadruple the length of this post. luckily for me, my mother had similar experiences and reactions to them, and was able to meet me where I was at and found outlets for energy and stress even before she knew about all of the things that were happening to me. getting into martial arts (and later therapy) was not a cure all but was incredibly effective in stopping me from attacking other children and feel more capable of expressing what i was feeling. I was still a kid so its not like i became perfect lmao but it helped a lot. my mom didn't have the same treatment and to this day will get comments about people who knew her as a child that are "just glad she's not a serial killer" and it very much affects her to this day. i know friends who have been told BY TEACHERS that they seem like they could be a serial killer when they grow up. my uncle, who died by suicide, was the son of a serial killer and his family refused to raise or help him because they were afraid he'd "turn out like his father" of whom he never met due to being born in prison. in turn he was extremely abused by the foster care system and relied on intensely unhealthy coping mechanisms and struggled to raise his children and died as their sole provider and leaving them behind. My brother has also displayed violent behavior and made violent threats to other people and struggled with a lot of things because of that. people frequently express they're glad he's not in prison. i may have clung to specifically the serial killer comments a bit longer than necessary because of personal association, but while it's something i study, it's also deeply close to home, and i know how awful long terms affects can be. while that context is not necessary to know why i care so heavily about this, it does make insensitive off hand comments from my alleged peers cut deep.
SORRY this got tangenty and heavy and complaining abt psych majors is not targeted towards u anon lol its just exhausting to have been around unforgiving teachers and adults and seeing its negative affects on me, my family, and my friends, and then seeing similar mindsets in my generation that claims to want to be better than our predecessors. psych is genuinely interesting to me, and due to my early intervention and good luck with therapists, ive seen what benefits people can glean from experiences with the psychiatric field. unfortunately, ive also seen countless ways its failed countless people, and being able to see the start of harmful thinking in my peers makes it incredibly difficult to be optimistic and also pisses me off lmao. as much as this is my choice of career and it matters to me, there are extremely harmful ideas that make up the foundation of modern (and obviously past) psych and seeing people take this at face value makes me spectacularly miserable. đ« đ« but its very nice (and refreshing) to talk to other ppl abt these topics from a shared pov that kids aren't evil. Which sounds so much simpler and more common than it actually is đźâđš
#rhis got so off topic its kind of embarrassing for me but um yeah. i like talking abt these things a lot :]#asks#anonymous#suicide mention#ask to tag further!! im saying this a lot lol but this is heavy stuff
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this might be blasphemy to a war & peace fan such as yourself (in which case, i apologise) but the only war & peace content i've come into contact with is the bbc mini series from 2016 and i was just wondering what you thought of that? i remember thoroughly enjoying it (i do love james norton, aneurin barnard, and callum turner), but i have no idea how faithful/good the adaptation is. i was just curious about your thoughts :)
Oh boy. Ok, well first, I'm really flattered that you're asking, honestly. I'm just one person with an opinion after all lol. But ok, if you're up for a longer read (and don't mind negative reviews too much) I did reaction/review posts as I watched. That will give you a pretty detailed overview of my thoughts, though mind that they're definitely coming from the POV of someone who loves the book and is watching an adaptation as an adaptation not it's own independent thing.
I was always so into the book that I really couldn't imagine how watching this show as an independent thing would feel. As an adaptation...I didn't hate it entirely? But it my second-to-last favorite adaptation, maaaybe tied with the 1970s BBC adaptation. The only one I like less is the 1950s US movie. (The ones I always recommend are the Soviet one, if you want something super faithful but don't mind something very is Very Clearly An Old Movie In Every Way or the 2007, which takes a lot more liberties but is relatively modern and fun as it's own thing, and I think is faithful in spirit and characterizations for the most part let's not talk about 2007 Anatole despite not always being super plot-faithful.)
The 2016 does have it's virtues I suppose, but everything I can think of, I can think of another adaptation that did it better. Faithfulness to plot isn't really it's problem, granted. It's actually quite faithful to actual plot points/beats and has some minor characters other adaptations skip (Boris, Berg). But it's baffling to me in its many instances of re-writing canon scenes that didn't need to be at all. The casting is very meh. The only actors I think fit their parts truly well from the major characters are the ones for Pierre, NIkolai (despite being blonde), Sonya and Marya. Granted, Middleton wasn't so much a badly cast Helene as just the part was poorly written and maybe directed. I like Turner and he's not a bad Anatole either, tbf, but again....this was not the right casting decision, especially when you have Norton as Andrei Bolkonsky. But it's not just the casting. The characterizations also often felt off in a really weird way that can be hard to articulate and describe overall??
The pacing was way too fast. Let's not talk about the costumes.
hnjdgl So yea tl;dr: it's not the worst thing I've seen and if I hadn't read the book I'd probably enjoy it fine, but as an adaptation, while hitting a lot of plot points and being relatively accurate in terms of those, it leaves a lot to be desired imo.
#war and peace#war and peace bbc#war and peace 2016#i don't remember what my tag is for this#asked and answered#op
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sanna â 21 â infp â request are: open
â masterlist
â about me
â request rules
â news:
10-5-24: so it took me longer than i thought to get that out, i just don't have the energy to write during the weekday's bc of my job. but yay just posted my first invincible fic, honestly, i wasn't really feeling it at the beginning and wasn't sure how to end it, but i wanted to write something for mark and that something i sure did write.
9-29-24: hey guys, i went through a breakup last month, not very fun and so i haven't really been on, that being said it gave me a ton of negative feelings to channel into angsty fanfiction, I'm starting to write one today, so that will be out soon
8-7-24: so i was later posting than i planned on, but in my defense, it is a totally different fic from the one i was talking about lolol. its a total vent post <3 love those
8-3-24: hiya blogosphere, just reached 100 followers! only two years in lol. realistically, it would have been way sooner if i posted more often than once every 8 months but what can you do about it. anyways i am currently working on a gojo x reader fic, i think i will have it posted tomorrow? who knows, definitely not me
7-31-24: just posted my first jjk x reader, yippee! i'm not to sure of myself writing for those characters yet so this one felt weird, as well as the fact that i made sukuna a cephalopod so we will see how this does lol
â older news
i do not currently write anything that would warrant my blog being 18+
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Hi, im asking this fully out of confusion and curiosity. I have been American my whole life, all 3 odd decades of it, and have never heard of "usamericans" till this year.
I'm asking this as I see you use the term so maybe you can point me to the answer: Where the hell did that come from? Are there other people who call themselves Americans who need to be differentiated from us who have used it, as far as I'm aware, exclusively for well over 2 centuries?
This is fully confusion cause like. I've never been usamerican just. American. And as far as I was aware no one else used American exclusively, as the south and central Americans I know use the names of their country's to identify themselves.
Basic internet search doesn't really give me answers and either I live further under a rock than I thought or this is an extremely new term?
Why are people specifying something that was already specific. I'm inclined to dislike it as it always tends to feel derogatory and not in the usual making fun of Americans way about our spelling and hard Rs ya know? It sounds like the pretentious bastard that is "well actually"ing a conversation into the floor.
Or is this just a tic toc trend?
Idk I hope this isn't weird, im just so confused. Im pretty sure ive been on Tumblr longer than you've been able to read. And mean that in the same tone as an old person complaining about the rain and their knees, I'm glad there's younger people on here, its just the Internet I grew up with is very very different then the one you have and it turns me around backwards cause I thought I knew my way around here but all these weird useless things show up that apparently mean things to people.
Idk, I guess im just asking are people actually being derogatory or are they just following a new trend or what?
Thanks for your time. And hopefully a consideration for an answer. And dont feel nervous voting. It's your right and I'm proud of you for exercising it. It feels weird every time but very good and I've voted every year I could.
:)
đ„- for the long ask
Woah. Okay! So I honestly don't remember when I first saw people using "usamerican" but it's just a combination US and American. It's absolutely a semantics thing as far as I know, like, "America is actually the continent so technically American includes the US, Canada, and also most US Americans don't specify they're talking about North America so it also includes Central & South."
I once shared a post about it (but knowing me I likely won't be able to find it.) If it's a tiktok trend that's definitely not where I got it from lmao, I only have tumblr at this point. I think it's just an easy way to be clear about which North/South American country you're talking about! I've never seen it as a derogatory thing or anything negative like that lol.
It's consistent. If you're talking about a Central American country, you say it's from Central America, same for South America. So it only makes sense to do the same for North America, right? But NA is the US and Canada, so when talking about the US specifically, US America is a good way to do that. And on Tumblr it just makes sense to shorten it to "usamerican" for tagging purposes. I've honestly never checked if anyone else tags it that way, but it's mostly for me anyway lol.
I hope that was a satisfactory enough answer, and I hope it made even a shred of sense lol! I'm not used to answering questions like this :D
And thank you! For the voting reassurance (I'm really gonna need it :D) and for putting the time to want to learn about something new! I wish I could've been more smart about it, but it's not something I ever really thought deeply about. Have a good day!
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Whoa I just looked up that Popcorn guy and was having a good time reading his bio until the end đ RIP HOMIE đđđ I think popcorn and bumblebezos should do a collab tbh and make like a peach schnapps and cut preacher Bill out of the deal.
Brain: yeah, and then they can run him out of town and turn the church into a cool speakeasy with live jazz
Me: I don't think its even prohibition times tho
Brain: Loretta can be the bouncer
Me: haha she can herd the drunks outta there when they've had too much
he was ostracized. No one wanted to talk to him but Alan Hamby gave him a shot at being the farmhand, and well, Hal is still there.
HAHAHA I'M NOT CRYING YOU;RE CRYING đ. I feel dumb saying this after that thing about "cool felons" last time lol but I'm now actively trying to be sincere about at least ONE (1) thing every day and I don't think giving my coffee order counts so here it goes lol:
It really does suck that some "crimes against society" are more negatively perceived than others. Bc I feel like it was just pure chance that my inner toxicity manifested as petty theft/trespassing/vandalism, or was channeled into not so peaceful protesting for something I felt an affinity to, when I probably could just as easily been that person that drives drunk or operates dangerous machinery when high. If it weren't for the fact that I don't driving and alcohol tastes foul af to me, I could definitely have been the young adult person that gets a DUI while trying to reclaim their teenage rebellion years in university lol.
So even though I joke about it now, I feel bad when people say stuff like "oh well at least you aren't THAT kind of person/did THAT kind of crime" bc like, bitch I could have lmao. Not to downplay the fact that drunk driving does objectively have a higher risk of harming other people, but it just feels weird that some offences make you a "worse person" when like all of us basically had the same lapse in judgement/self control but some of us end up suffering the consequences for that mistake more or for longer. đ€·ââïž
haha yuck, feelings and guilt right?? Anyway, so is he also a leper but not as much as a leper as Cole? What is the misfit hierarchy here? If there was a purge and only one spot left in the safe house who's getting it?
but Hal does drive. If he didnât then Bee would take him home. Â
This is hilarious tho. It's like me passively aggressively arguing with my mom for half an hour and then being like "also can I get a ride to the mall after school pls"
Just for reference, like I live in a small town population wise, but itâs quite large (living in the mountains you canât just build anywhere).
Me, having played many world-building games, but speaking like I know based on life experience: Yes, I also know this. I am very familiar with the difficulties of developing farmland and infrastructure on rough terrain. On the flip side, kind of gives you an advantage in a wartime scenario tho, as the land serves as an additional defence against invaders.
Literally, my teenage years consisted of us riding through the national state park on a 1.5 lane road. Thatâs fun when you come across a car coming towards you.
so do u usually play chicken or like how do u win here
What if there is very few places to eat?? She might have to go to the next town over in order to get food.
omg imagine not having 46 restaurants available on your local ubereats I'm sweating lmao. (I feel like u said there was only one uber driver in your whole area and he was unreliable? lol omg)
he did create an apple tree called the Red Chief, thereâs only one of those apples in the world, and you have to go very early in the season to get some of those apples, and they cost more than the regular apples, and theyâre delicious!
lol, there's only ONE of these apples in the world and we ate it so it's got now!! đ€Łđ€Ł I totally get having apple preferences tho. The only apples I will eat are Jazz, Pink Lady or Fiji if that's the only option but I don't like golden delicious or anything else mushy or overly sweet.
Tbh I thought fruit was only lucrative in Japan lol where a watermelon can be hundreds of dollars or something and people will actually buy it... and its not even like expensive bc its from wholefoods it's like specially grown or engineered to be the tastiest and most aesthetically pleasing or something haha.
True story, not about a body, although I would assume there is many out there in the woods. But there was an Olympic bomber that lived in the Appalachian woods for five years before the FBI caught him.
IS THIS THAT RUDOPLH GUY??? that's the only cabin in the woods bomber I can think of other than ted kaz.. kaczy... the Unabomber.
tangent, but this is why I've always respected FBI more than CIA. bc I feel like CIA get like an expense card, they get to travel and do all the glamourous infiltrate this high society network shit, and 75% of the time FBI people are just in the middle of small-town nowhere, staking out a swamp or rural woods waiting for an unhinged person to take a break from writing their manifesto to go out and get some firewood or catch a fish. They're LUCKY if they end up in a nice town like Twin Peaks.
I can attest that sex education in a small town in the Bible Belt SUCKS! LikeâŠitâs horrible, and they never talked about a clit. Even a few years ago when I had cousins in school. They didnât know the basic anatomy of their body. Why??? Â
Wait what would they even learn about in sex-ed then? like is this just putting condoms on bananas? Or do they only learn about the post-sex stuff like childcare?
 Thatâs why I prefer multi part fics instead of one shots. Most one shots is just about the smut. I like a bit more meat đ I donât know if that is the best word to use in this scenario, but oh well.
I'm not going to believe that your decision to use "meat" here was anything but intentional and deliberate!!
I was going to make a joke about me being a scrabble champion bc I can think of many alternative words to use there (more substance/story/context/background/plot/etc), but then I realized u could probably think of just as many if not more alternative words that wouldn't even occur to me b/c of my low spice tolerance lmao (more... filling? that's the best I've got man)
Stained Like Georgia Clay, Part 4
Summary:Â Cole takes you out to the middle of nowhere
Pairings:Â Cole Turner X Reader
Rating:Â explicit
Warnings: explicit language, explicit sexual content, teasing, a bit of thigh riding (If you squint), ab riding, mutual fingering, squirting, 18+ ONLY
Word Count:Â 5K
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hi Raytorosaurus, in the beginning of your post you said Ray has done interviews, podcasts, and blogged in recent years, can you please link me to those things? I would be extremely and eternally grateful <3
yes ofc!! this one by tom bryant (author of not the life it seems) is my favourite! and not just because ray talks about how much he loves being a stay at home dad doing chores while his wife gets her master's degree. it's just sweet, and goes a little more in depth into remember the laughter's concept than some of these other interviews.
this one isn't remember the laughter related, but tom bryant also did this interview with him the year before, after he released for the lost and brave dedicated to leelah alcorn (cw non-graphic discussion of suicide). it's really fucking sweet. ray talks a lot about his family and about fatherhood and about how he wants to raise his kids to be as kind and socially conscious as possible in pretty much all of the interviews i've linked here, but i really fucking love this thing he says in this one in particular:
"If ever my son was having a rough time I would just hope that he would trust me and allow me to be there for him. Itâs common for parents and older people to look at youth in a negative way and to not respect the young as people. My wife always says that a lot of parents treat their kids like property â the whole, âthis is my house, these are my rules and you must abide by my lawâ. You have to put yourself on the same level as your kid, you have to relate to them as a person. I hope that thereâs more understanding about the differences between people in the future that my son grows up in.â
at the risk of sounding like a broken record, this one is also really fucking sweet. again he talks about the values he wants to impart on his kids, and how his son is featured in the lucky ones playing his child's percussion set :'''')
this one is a bit longer and just rly cute lol like just fun vibes
there's a couple of shorter ones here and here that are also worth a read. there's also this review that i like - it's not 100% positive but the writer does make a point of saying he's shocked the album didn't get much attention despite ray having been in mcr. yeah me too dude :(
this is a podcast he appeared on - he did at least one or two others but i think sadly they've been lost to time :(((((( but god this one is so sweet he's just sooooo. so <3. ray also says the band broke up a few weeks after his son was born in september 2012 which is interesting lol.
sadly a bunch of his blog stuff has been lost to time because the wayback machine has done a spotty job of archiving it but you can try to explore around the archived pages a bit. if you click around to different dates or subpages you can see some of his photography (tho sadly a lot of it hasn't been saved :((( ) and a few blog posts. you might even come across his shitty vent poetry lol <3333
and then i love this interview sooooo much too like this writer really gets it. ray talks about how he got obsessed with this free climber after watching a mountaineering documentary which inspired the great beyond, so the great beyond actually features a fucking chalk bag as a percussion instrument because he's insane and i love him. it also has the line "enthusiasm leaking from him like a punctured capri-sun" LOL. and then it wraps up with this statement that i really love:
Mixed, engineered and almost entirely performed by Toro, âRemember The Laughterâ is very much this manâs pride and joy. Every nuance of the record is explained with intricate detail and the subject matter held within comes straight from his heart. Whether you like it or not remains to be seen, as its influences are often drawn from well outside the My Chemical Romance sphere. Whether you listen to it or not, though, really comes down to this: do you want to hear some honest music?
because honestly that's the one common thread through all of mcr's discography and every single one of their solo projects. they are all 100% earnest. they all access that honesty in different ways and ray's definitely not a super accomplished lyricist so some of the lines on rtl verge on corny or schmaltzy sometimes but they never, ever sound fake or inauthentic. he wrote the album imagining he was speaking the lyrics to his son to instill a sense of hope in him about the world so he'd grow up with the belief that he was capable of making it a better place and he fucking means every word of it bro. he's ray toro :( i like him :((((
#reread a bunch of these while i was putting this together and now i'm down so fucking bad for him this happens every time#like why are you the most lovable man in the universe huh#anyway sorry this took me a while to get to life is crazy huh#answered#ray toro#rtl#interview#ref
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Brain topic du jour is reflecting on the frankly weird as fuck pattern in Dickâs life where....he barely ever experiences losses one at a time. Most of the loss heâs experienced in his life is compounded by him losing multiple people and other elements of stability all at the exact same time.
1) When his parents died, in some continuities this is coupled with him losing his extended family of his aunt and cousin as well, with his uncle left comatose and on life support for years before he eventually died as well. Even in continuities without Richard, Karla and John, the loss of Dickâs parents is compounded by the additional loss of his circus family in the sense that he was taken away from them by the state and their constant reassuring presences in his life were no longer comforts he was able to rely on.
2) When Jason died, Dick didnât just lose his brother, as the tragedy was compounded by Bruceâs reaction. Iâll never be able to gloss over the effects of NTT #55, personally, because I think its too key to Dickâs entire characterization and the specific direction his character took in the years that followed this, to like....disregard that Bruce however unintentionally, while lost in his own grief, added to Dickâs own sense of loss for Jason in probably the worst way possible. As by kicking Dick out and telling him to leave his keys, Dick - having no way to know or guess that theyâd ever reconcile, just like he never actually went back to the circus being a regular presence for him - to Dick, this was in essence the equivalent of his childhood tragedy all over again. Losing not just one family member, but his whole family in one sweep, and all the comforts and stability offered by a home he was forced to leave. Even Dickâs contact with Alfred was minimal for awhile, because why would the guy who basically JUST saw history repeat itself and was like, well I know how THIS tends to play out.....why would he think that if Alfred felt forced to actually choose between his loyalties to Bruce and Dick respectively, that Alfred would pick Dick over the man heâd known and raised from childhood himself?
3) Titans Hunt. I know I harp on this one a lot, but you canât deny that it fits the pattern. Dick didnât just lose one friend and teammate.....he lost Joey, he lost a good four or five lesser known Titans who nevertheless were people he viewed as directly HIS responsibility to keep safe. With these tragedies compounded by the fact that though comics played out a lot more slowburn and extended stories over years back then, like.....the aftermath of Titans Hunt was still everpresent and directly died into Dickâs reactions and emotions during the Mirage storyline and everything that happened with the failed wedding and his breakup with Kory AND the fact that he was literally forced off the team heâd basically founded, by the government agency that took over the team and appointed Roy as its leader in his stead.
3) Graduation Day. The second time the Titans disbanded it was again not due to a singular loss, because Dick didnât just lose Donna at this point, but also Lilith died in the exact same story and though Lilith is criminally underused, like, sheâs also one of Dickâs oldest friends. She was literally the first Titan to join after the original five. This then led into the Outsiders era, where Dick was shown to still be reeling from the losses of this story for an extended period of time, and in a fun parallel to the Titans Hunt aftermath, Dick was also ousted from his leadership of THIS team by essentially a vote of no confidence by his teammates (and uh, Bruce too, literally).
4) The Blockbuster arc. Where Dickâs emotional state was due to a continued string of multiple losses. He lost his apartment building and almost every one of the neighbors heâd built a community out of, as weâd been shown him actively involving himself in their lives and vice versa for YEARS before this point. Then he lost his circus, his childhood home, burned to the ground and with dozens of deaths - both spectators and actual performers Dick had known and loved as a child. Then he lost his relationship with Barbara, his sense of self-security and autonomy to Tarantula, he lost another teen vigilante who died in his colors, the mantle HEâD created, when Stephanie was believed dead in War Games, and it all culminated in losing the city heâd invested himself in as his CHOSEN home, the place he dedicated himself to protecting, when Chemo blew it up.
Oh just for the record - my nonexistent passport to the magical kingdom of Narnia for a fic that raises the point when bringing up Timâs losses in the Red Robin era, that like.....ALL of the above happened at literally the EXACT SAME TIME as all Timâs referenced losses occurred. Obviously Steph meant more to Tim than Dick on a personal level, but I also included her largely as an anchor point to the timeline, to show how that death, and not long after that Jack Drakeâs and then Superboyâs.... occurred right smack in the middle of one of the absolute WORST periods of Dickâs life. To be clear, I donât intend this to suggest that no actually, Dick had it harder than Tim - nah.Â
No thank you. Hard pass. I hate that sort of thing even in support of my own faves over other characters. No, instead the thing Iâd love to see explored more is just in light of the SPECIFIC angle fics take here - that Dickâs actions while Bruce was lost in time showed an obliviousness to everything Tim had lost lately - for literally ANYONE to bring up or introduce into the timeline here an awareness of everything Dick had lost AT THE EXACT SAME TIME PERIOD. To establish that actually, Dick didnât just ânot understand what it was likeâ - rather, its more accurate to say that nobody in universe around this time ever shows an awareness of Dickâs own losses and says oh wait, that doesnât track then.Â
Because obviously, with this stuff put in proper perspective, Dick understands VERY VERY WELL the exact thing weâre accusing him of not understanding by being oblivious to Timâs losses that heâs not actually oblivious to because he tries to talk to Tim about them all the time, while meanwhile its everyone else who has absolutely mum to say about the fact that Dickâs emotional state is compromised to hell and back at this point, not JUST because of losing Bruce, but also because *gestures wildly* literally ALL OF THE ABOVE in the exact same time frame Timâs extended losses happened in.
And okay I am going to indulge in slight tiny itty bitty pettiness and point out my ire that so many fics set during this time tend to recite listicles of Timâs losses, with Steph, Kon and Jack Drake at the very top of said list....while paying no attention whatsoever to the fact that STEPH WAS LITERALLY BACK BY THE TIME THE RED ROBIN SERIES HAPPENED. Sheâs LITERALLY a person Dick sends to check up on Tim after Tim turns Dick away when he tries himself. How are you gonna stress the impact Stephâs loss has on Tim when youâre not even acknowledging STEPHâS RIGHT HERE IN THE EXACT SPECIFIC CANON STORY YOUâRE CITING??? I just. afhioskhflafhlafhklfahlfa.Â
And not to put too fine a point on it, but you know who ELSE was also back at the same time? CONNOR. Superboy LITERALLY was already back to life by the time the Red Robin series even began. Like, the issue where a resurrected Kon and Cassie (Wonder Girl) have a heart to heart about the fact that Tim and Cassie âconnectedâ during his absence and Connor stresses that this doesnât bother him or make him feel negatively towards either of them at all, because hello, he was literally dead at the time, why would he mind that two of the people he loves most in the world sought comfort in each other? Yeah, that issue? Literally came out BEFORE Tim even became Red Robin.
I MEAN. Iâm just saying, when people constantly take shots at Dickâs choices during this period because of how much Tim had lost before Bruce already, in order to shift focus away from the fact that Dick lost Bruce every bit as much as Tim did......and you repeatedly emphasize the SAME three names as the focal point of Timâs losses while paying no acknowledgment whatsoever to everything Dick lost at the exact same time Tim lost these three.....it quickly becomes kiiiiiiinda relevant in my opinion THAT TWO OF THE THREE NAMES CONSTANTLY MENTIONED AS BEING TIMâS LOSSES ARE NO LONGER EVEN LOST BY THE TIME THE SUBJECT COMES UP. Again, Iâm just saying! Pettily, mind you! I am aware of the pettiness, I just beg awareness of like *again gesticulates wildly at all of the above* ALL THAT!
LOL.
But I digress.
5) When Bruce was believed dead while he was lost in the timestream. Again, Dick didnât just lose the father who had been the only parent in his life for almost TWICE as long as his first parents......this was coupled with the loss of numerous other sources of stability in Dickâs life. Thereâs the matter of his personal sense of identity and self-expression....Dick FOUGHT against becoming Batman, trying to handle Gotham in Bruceâs absence as Nightwing for as long as he could, because he knew being Batman was very much NOT going to be good for him. He put so much of himself into building his identity as Nightwing, establishing himself in that role, that self-image, that yes, I maintain it was an actual LOSS for Dick, to feel like he had no choice but to give that up and everything it meant to him and his own life, in order to essentially live Bruceâs life for him in his absence.Â
Because it wasnât just being Batman that Dick was struggling with at this time....he also had to act as the patriarch to the Wayne family, essentially raise Bruceâs ten year old son, step into Bruceâs old role in Wayne Enterprises, all while getting no acknowledgment for any of this, for literally LIVING his fatherâs life instead of the life Dick had worked so hard to build for HIMSELF....because of course Dickâs actions and struggles couldnât even be advertised beyond the family and close friends, because the whole point of him doing all this was so that nobody else even realized that Bruce wasnât really there anymore. Dick didnât just assume Bruceâs responsibilities. Dick assumed Bruceâs life, so thoroughly that most people didnât even put together that Bruce was âdead,â between Dick handling Bruceâs actual roles and responsibilities while Hush made public appearances as him.Â
Like, when youâre living someone elseâs life so completely that nobody can tell theyâre even gone....how on earth does that leave any time or space for you to have ANY kind of life of your OWN, yâknow? Not to mention the fact that like in so many times previously....all this meant that Dick couldnât even afford to let his grief for his own losses show, because he wasnât supposed to be grieving any losses in the first place, that was the whole point of the con!
Additionally, couple this with the fact that throughout this time period, Dick didnât have Tim to lean on at all, because it was never that Dick kicked Tim out or neglected him or didnât care....heâd actively stressed how much he needed Tim, because the partner Tim was convinced Dick chose âoverâ him - Dick was the first one to admit back then that he DIDNâT trust Damian yet, couldnât afford to, because he was all too aware that Damian didnât give a fuck about him yet and couldnât be guaranteed to step in to have Dickâs back - because that required mutual trust that Dick literally just hadnât had time to build yet. And add to THAT the fact that during this time, Jason was actively antagonizing the family and Dick in particular at every turn, trying to bring them all down and basically write over what all of them saw as Bruceâs legacy with Jasonâs own version of what he thought that should look like.
Also also, take into account that unlike how often we see fanon depict Dick as just too stubborn or proud to ask for help, thereâs the fact that he actually had very few avenues TO ask for help! As already established, he DID ask Tim for help. Not like Jason was an option at this time, and Dickâs friends werenât actually just sitting waiting in the wings and groaning about the fact that Dick was trying to do all of this solo....nah, they kinda had their own problems, which Dick was all too aware of?
Like the fact that in the wake of Final Crisis, it wasnât just Bruce that was believed lost. Many other key Leaguers like Martian Manhunter were dead or lost, with others struggling to fill the gaps left in their absence. Cry For Justice happened right after Final Crisis too....that story where Lian was murdered? So it wasnât like Dick was remotely going to try leaning on Roy when Roy had just lost his freaking DAUGHTER and very much wasnât handling it well (and not to overshadow Royâs loss at ALL, but please letâs not act like Dick - who had literally been the person to put a baby Lian in Royâs arms for the first time and had known that girl for pretty much her entire life - like, it shouldnât be used to detract from Royâs loss at all, but it shouldnât have to, to just acknowledge that Lianâs loss right at this exact time was painful as fuck to Dick, whoâd loved his niece like crazy.)
The pattern of compounding, concurrent losses in Dickâs life. Iâm just saying. Its there.
And it extends into the New 52 as well, where Forever Evil came right on the heels of Dick losing his circus in THIS continuity to the Joker, just as a way to hurt him in Death of A Family. And with the aftermath of Forever Evil and Dickâs own literal death, being like....the complete loss of Dickâs entire life, even though he was revived quickly. That didnât mean he got to live HIS life though, since Dick Grayson was believed dead and he was told had to remain so, so its like fuck whatever he actually wanted to do as he went about on the Spyral mission aka something that pinched his own sense of morality and personal agenda at every turn and was kinda the last thing a therapist would recommend for a trauma recovery period, lol. And like, for all the focus that was paid to how Dickâs family were hurt because they believed theyâd lost him when he was actually alive, letâs not forget that for all intents and purposes, Dick DID lose his family in the wake of his resurrection because he was flat out told over and over that due to what âheâd LET happen to himâ he was an ACTIVE danger to them, and thus wasnât allowed by Bruce to contact any of them or lean on them to any degree, until Bruce got amnesia and stopped blocking Dickâs pleas to return home by just not being there to pick up the secret phone line at all.Â
(And omg, the obliviousness that just EMANATES off the hot takes that Dick had a âchoiceâ in all this and he still CHOSE to do what Bruce told him....like. LOLOL, stop being pissy about me bringing up the term abuse apologism when its literal victim blaming to paint the guy who had to be beaten into âagreeingâ to the Spyral mission in the immediate wake of the trauma of DYING, all while his father vocally blamed him for his own suffering and the âthreatâ he now posed to his family, keying directly into the guilt complex Bruce knows damn well is at the core of most of Dickâs motivations.....fucking please. Thereâs no choice in all that. Thatâs active emotional, mental and physical abuse aimed at directly manipulating Dickâs actions, delivered by the guy who knows Dick best in the world and whose approval - particularly when Dick is at absolute rock bottom aka Current Location - matters more to Dick than just about anything because his sense of self-worth has more in common with dog shit than actual dog shit does. Or something. Idk. That analogy got away from me. But like. You get it.)
BUT. I. DIE. GRESS. (I guess).
Aaaaaaanyway, so yeah! That repeating pattern throughout Dickâs life of âloss? What loss (singular)? My losses only come in groups, lolol, fuuuuuunâ - mmmm. Yeah. So thatâs whatâs on MY brain right now. Thoughts?
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*rubs hands together*
The first thing to talk about with this episode is the pacing, and I think this might contribute to why people think itâs the best/least bad of Season 4 (personally, Iâd rather watch âFurious Fuâ but thatâs just me; also, this isnât the only contributing factor as to why I think people might feel this way, but Iâll get there later).
The episode has a very serious pacing issue, particularly with its more intense scenes. Thereâs only one minute of time dedicated to Ladybug landing on her bed, de-transforming, and her snapping at her friends plus them leaving. More time was spent on Chat Noir and Ladybug in the movie theater and Ladybug storming out.
I particularly remember watching the episode and getting eighteen minutes in, at which point I had the realization of, âIt feels like nothingâs happened?â
This episode is supposed to be a big gut punch, but the season has been going by at the speed of sound, like theyâre trying desperately to play all their cards at once (Lukanette break-up, Adrimi break-up, then Alya is told Marinetteâs secret identity). Instead of letting things build and play out for a while in the interest of suspense, the show just throws whatever will get a big reaction out of the fandom (whether positive or negative) and it doesnât care how shoddily put together everything is. The first two episodes feel like hastily put together drafts, and while this one is technically more put together, it still feels like a draft.
Letâs just start with Chat Noir, who feels completely out of place in the episode. Not only does he imply that he intentionally calls Ladybug âBugabooâ (which she has told him to stop doing) in order to get a reaction out of her, but when Ladybug insists that she doesnât want to talk, he tricks her into thinking that he has a good location to do so (and my heart breaks a little at how readily she trusts him) only to then take her to a romantic movie, then shush her when she calls him out for it because she âsaid she didnât want to talk.â
Gee, and people wonder why she didnât tell him her secret (even outside of âChat Blancâ existing)?
And... look, I know itâs a joke, but I do not find it funny. The âjokeâ is basically that Chat Noir is taking advantage of the situation to flirt with Ladybug, and though I find it at least mildly cathartic that Ladybug is unaffected by all the people staring at them while Chat Noir is embarrassed, this episode is coming right after the one where Kagami broke up with Adrien, and here Chat Noir is getting his flirt game on. I already talked about all my problems with âLiesâ so I wonât do it again, but Iâll just say that itâs not a mystery why Ladybug doesnât want to talk to him and would rather avoid her problems.
(Not to mention that Ladybug knows that Chat Noir likes her, so talking about her romantic problems with him is awkward to say the least and would come off as insensitive.)
Honestly, at this point I feel like they must be building to something with Chat, like Ladybug finally going off of him with no mercy and that forces him to give up/fall out of love for her because reverse love square, but if thatâs what they intend to go for, then that means Marinette is going to fall for this guy whoâs repeatedly disrespected her feelings for multiple seasons, almost abandoned her and let Paris drown because she wouldnât tell him a secret that wasnât hers to tell, and just generally all the other things he did????
Ugh, I donât wanna think about it. Letâs just move on.
Talking about Ladybug and her rant next, it basically summarizes the whole show in a nutshell, but simultaneously casts a shadow of sorts over âTruthâ for people who maybe missed the episode entirely (which is also sort of the show in a nutshell). I mean, Ladybug confirming to the audience that she was genuinely in love and happy with Luka (you canât watch how depressed she was over the break-up and not think that) was great, but Ladybugâs dialog implies that Luka âhated secretsâ and thatâs why they broke up, when Luka was more just... hurt that she couldnât be honest with him, and he didnât actively hate secrets. Marinette broke up with him because she felt like she had to; because she had to keep ditching and lie to him.
In addition, what she says also hints to the audience that theyâve both held and kissed each other, which not only indicates cowardice on the part of the staff (âyeah this happened but--um--off-screen; weâd still like credit tho plzâ), but may perhaps go back to the theory I had about how Adrimi and Lukanette were supposed to last longer in Season 4 but their arcs got cut (based on the Adrimi kiss having supposed to have gone off). This could mean that Ladybugâs statement was originally accurate to canon but the scenes got cut and the scriptwriters just awkwardly left it in, which is made more awkward by the cinema scene in âTruthâ that felt like Luka and Marinette were kissing for the first time (again, alluding to the whole, âthis entire season has been a draftâ thing).
Also, if you think about what that actually means - that Luka and Marinette did have successful dates and kisses but they were off-screen - then all it adds up to is that showing Marinette happy and comfortable was something that the series didnât deem as âinteresting/fun enoughâ to show, because Marinette being happy isnât something they want to see; only watching her be miserable, which is exactly what Ladybug says, along with how everything was âalmost too simple, too easy,â because Marinette isnât allowed to have nice things without being jammed through the wringer first.
And... sure, letâs say that Chat Noir thought the movie was genuinely a good idea; letâs assume that it could be a joke, him wanting to flirt, and him believing that itâd make her feel better somehow.
If thatâs the case, then whereâs the apology when it fails miserably? Ladybug goes from her semi-anxious state at the start of the episode (a little scatterbrained but ultimately just looking for a distraction), to outright enraged by the movie, and then to this upon leaving the cinema.
She just got her heart broken from being forced to break up with a boy she genuinely wanted to be with and thereâs not a single, âOkay, maybe coming here was a bad idea, Iâm sorry,â (which couldâve been seen as another joke with the audience like âlol no duh Chat Noirâ so thereâs no excuse not to have it) or, âMy bad, that was insensitive of me. I really thought this wouldâve helped but I wasnât thinking about what you wouldâve wanted.â
No. The only people Chat apologizes to are the other people at the theater because heâs embarrassed by Ladybugâs reactions, yet he himself feels no remorse for taking her there and has the gall to go on now about how heâs âthere for her if she wants to talk.â
Again, itâs no wonder Ladybug doesnât want to open up to him.
And Iâm sorry, I just donât buy that Marinette suddenly has all this free time. Itâs one thing for her to have a little more time now that sheâs broken up with her boyfriend (likely avoiding spending time with him altogether now), but âTruthâ went out of its way to talk about all of the emergencies she had to deal with and how she doesnât have any spare time. which is causing her to become forgetful and lose track of certain events (patrols with Chat, dates with Luka, etcetera), yet Marinette spends most of âGang of Secretsâ simply sulking on her bed. Itâs so jarring to go from âTruthâ where she was doing âtoo muchâ (which I called them out on for not describing what the âtoo muchâ she was doing was) and now âGang of Secretsâ where sheâs not doing anything.
Itâs almost like they invented that plot point to break Lukanette up and it served no purpose outside of it.
Furthermore, the scenes of her finally talking to Tikki and then deciding to live as Ladybug does nothing outside of making the plot more predictable, the latter because of the âAlya almost sees Ladybugâ moment (an obvious indicator that Marinette is losing control and is struggling to maintain her secret identity due to her emotionally breaking down) and the former because of Tikki herself and what she doesnât say.
Because, really, think about what actually goes on in the scene. Marinette (eyes rimmed red and filled with unshed tears, as she is for a good chunk of the episode) is venting to Tikki about - yes - her love life, but also that she has to lie to everyone in order to keep her identity a secret. The fact that Tikki focuses solely on the note of Marinetteâs love life and not say a word about the identity/lying issue or even consider telling Marinette, âhey, this is clearly too much for you, you should tell someone, I think the benefits outweigh the risks right now,â really proves that the episode tried to avoid the topic altogether to try and make the ending more shocking (which ironically made it more predictable).
So yeah, not only does Tikkiâs dialog with Marinette provide nothing except for a line about how she canât help Marinette with love issues due to kwami not falling in love (alright, I guess aros canât give good love advice then or have any input whatsoever), but Marinetteâs line about lying to everyone being why she canât pursue Adrien nor Luka is repeated in the very last scene of the episode. The only reason that scene and the scene after exist is because the writers needed Marinette to be emotionally devastated enough to leave for her balcony as Ladybug for the almost-reveal to Alya and so Rose would get close enough to the dollhouse to have an almost-reveal with the Miracle Box, making the scene feel further contrived because the emotional punch of Marinette wanting to live as Ladybug lasts for barely any time at all.
And it couldâve served a purpose, like if Ladybug had genuinely left and Alya finds her goggles and towel, recognizing them from a news story about how Ladybug had gone to the swimming pool after losing her temper at the cinema, which couldâve led to Shadow Moth making the girls believe that Ladybug was no longer heroic and had kidnapped Marinette, or... heck, Ladybug coming back inside wouldâve been so much less jarring if she came back because she heard the girlsâ voices talking about the dollhouse and had to hurry (but of course, then theyâd have to point out the ridiculousness of Ladybug not hearing Alya calling her and the girls not hearing Ladybug literally shouting for Shadow Moth to come fight her, even though the kwami heard the girls calling for Marinette from the balcony).
But instead, the entire scene feels off and unnatural, forcing every part of it in order to get to where Marinette has to snap at the girls to make them leave.
(Oh, by the way, just a little detail to add to the annoyance: they bothered putting Tom and Sabine in the episode when the girls are leaving, clearly saddened by something that happened, and neither parent even bothers to go and check on Marinette to see if sheâs upset or just to see what mightâve happened. Theyâre such a âblink-and-youâll-miss itâ moment in the episode and itâs not like Iâm surprised because theyâve done this multiple times by now but really?)
As for the girls themselves... oof, where do I even begin?
Alright, first off is the annoyance that they assume Marinetteâs problems relate only to lovesickness. Marinette has been an anxiety-prone mess throughout the entire series, and suddenly now the girls care about Marinetteâs love problems on an emotional level rather than âweâll meddle sometimes unless we donât feel like it and be wholly inconsistent on how much we push for it.â? Itâs not that I donât see how they came to the conclusion (hearing that Luka and Marinette broke up and now seeing Marinette is depressed, it checks out), but considering they bothered noting that Marinette hadnât told them anything, one would think theyâd come to the conclusion of, âokay, we havenât talked to her, we have no idea of whatâs going on, maybe we donât know her as well as we thought then and shouldnât make guesses.â
Secondly is the âeternal friendship bracelet,â which comes off as a copy of the âSecretsâ game from âSyrenâ extremely manipulative. Mylene goes on to explain that one is supposed to give a secret to the pearl âmentally,â yet when the girls actually show up to see Marinette, they expect to be told the secret directly. Iâve already talked at length about peer pressure and the mental stress Marinette goes through when they mock her and/or meddle for her, but this idea of, âwell we all used this friendship bracelet after we mutually agreed to it so now itâs your turn because we said so!â just comes off really bad. I know the episode is going for this idea that their hearts are in the right place, but theyâre really not. It feels like theyâre the ones in denial and are trying to compensate by forcing Marinette to prove that theyâre friends, unable to handle the idea that they might not be as close to her as they thought.
Thirdly, the show acts as if the girl squad are her only friends when we know thatâs not true because weâve seen episodes like âBefanaâ (the guys in the class), âReverserâ (Marc), âIkari Gozenâ (Kagami), and âSilencerâ (Ivan) that all established Marinette having more friends than just them, but for the sake of âdramaâ and the depressing line of, âat least I donât have any more friends to lie to,â the episode just pretends like Marinetteâs friends are limited to Luka (who she had to break up with) and the girl squad (who she forced to leave and refuse the friendship of).
Fourthly is the actual set-up and the sheer grossness of it all. The girls call Marinette and leave a message about how they much they love her and how she can talk to them âwhere and whenâ she wants, and then - immediately afterwards - decide that theyâre going to go straight to Marinetteâs house completely unannounced, go into her room completely unannounced (not even knocking, by the way), and when Marinette begs them to leave, Alya basically tells her that sheâs overreacting. When Marinette demands that they leave, Alya refuses and makes demands right back that they wonât leave until she tells them whatâs wrong.
So much for âwhere and whenâ she wanted, right? Itâs already one thing for the girls to invade Marinetteâs privacy and demand/guilt-trip answers out of her, but itâs another thing to give the illusion of respecting her feelings and personal space only to actively plan to go back on it. I canât tell if itâs a bad draft that they didnât catch in quality check (you know, the quality check that they definitely donât have) or just an intentional way to make them seem more sympathetic so Marinette looks worse for driving them out, but either way, itâs awful and I hate it. I wouldâve rather had them be all in on invading Marinetteâs privacy and learn a lesson in the end than outright contradict themselves.
There are also little nitpicks I could make (like Julekaâs constant mumbling despite Lukaâs crush on Marinette playing a role in the episode, Horrificator getting sidelined due to being mute, and the girlsâ akumatization ultimately being for spectacle and nothing else, serving no purpose to the plot and being furthered by the fact that Timebreaker goes after Marinette despite it being a bad idea and Reflektaâs power clearly not lining up with any sort of plan), but the real issue issue here comes down to the fact that these are Marinetteâs so-called âfriendsâ and the episode refuses to address their actual issues.
Alix, who is known for making rude comments at Marinette (âGigantitan,â âChat Blanc,â âMiraculous New Yorkâ) and then gives mixed messages by going along with meddling anyway.
Mylene, who is the closest thing to a background character in the girl squad but nevertheless finds her way into being definite voice against Marinette in âChameleon.â
Juleka, who blamed Marinette for things she didnât do in âReflekdollâ and got huffy with her until Marinette apologized for said things.
Rose, who outright screamed at Marinette in âChat Blancâ over a freaking stuffed animal, which pressured Marinette enough that she snuck into Adrienâs room to deliver her gift which nearly led to the end of the world.
And, of course, Alya; freaking Alya. I donât even have to go into every single thing sheâs ever done because I have a history of giving her absolutely no mercy.
...But letâs go through some anyway because I want to.
âCopycatâ - Alya gives Marinette a script and tells her to memorize it, then immediately pushes the âcallâ button when Marinette hesitates after Marinette had just told Alya that sheâs awful at improv.
âDarkbladeâ - Alya takes a jab at Marinette when Marinette says that sheâs too busy to be class representative, implying that Alya thinks that Marinette does absolutely nothing with her time.
âGamerâ - Alya is busy recording the gaming competition when she and Marinette were supposed to be researching for a term paper. Alya then scolds Marinette for wanting to use the competition to get close to Adrien only to do a 180 and put up a fight about it when Marinette decides to quit.
âAnimanâ and how âThe Puppeteer 2âł follows up on it - oh, Iâm not going to touch that particular point right now, but keep those in the back of your mind, because I am going to absolutely go off later
âSimon Saysâ - Similarly to Marinetteâs parents, Alya gives zero damns about whatever might be going on in Marinetteâs life that's causing her to miss classes.
"Despair Bearâ - Alya laughs at Marinette being forced to kiss Chloeâs cheek and then outright compares Marinette to Chloe after knocking Chloe multiple times during the episode (sure, just compare your âbest friendâ to her multi-year bully, how "hilariousâ of you).
âGigantitanâ - Alya has no qualms about mocking Marinetteâs over her failures, even if it embarrasses her and sheâs been through enough already.
âFrozerâ - Alya tries to find ways for Marinette to prevent herself from third-wheeling for Adrien, but when Marinette tries to show character growth by wanting to go, Alya gets into a shouting match with the other girls over how Marinette has âliked Adrien forever and isnât going to give up nowâ.
âCatalystâ - Alya claims that Marinette is only salty over Lila out of jealousy when âFrozerâ exists and literally is the prime evidence of Adrien liking another girl and Marinette telling Alya outright and very genuinely that sheâs not jealous.
âChameleonâ - Alya doesnât care about her best friend sitting in the back by herself while Alya herself get to sit next to her boyfriend and everyone else in general gets to sit where they want (Alya even acting confused at the mere suggestion that sheâd tried to engineer things to let Marinette sit next to Adrien), then not only believes Lila over Marinette but contradicts herself twice (asking Marinette for proof when she has none herself, then claiming that she wouldnât let her best friend sit by herself).
âChristmasterâ - Alya leaves Marinette to babysit so she and Nino can go out on a date.
âDesperadaâ - Alya suddenly is for Lukanette for literally one episode and doesnât know how/doesnât even try to cover for Marinetteâs Adrien blindness despite mocking her for multiple seasons over it.
âReflekdollâ - Alya invites Adrien to something thatâs crucial for Marinette to focus on after Marinette has already told her not to and continues meddling to the point where it gets Juleka akumatized (she also doesnât get punished for it and the blame gets thrown onto Marinette).
âThe Puppeteer 2âł - Alya pushes her luck with Nathalie to try and get Marinette to come with her, Nino, Adrien, and Manon to the museum, then traps Marinette in a room with Adrien to force her to spent alone time with him, even abandoning and forgetting about the child that she offered to watch for Marinette so she and her boyfriend can go off alone.
âMiraculous New Yorkâ - Alya is told directly by Marinette that she needs help seeing Adrien as a friend, which leads Alya to do the exact opposite throughout the entire special, at one point shouting at Marinette and pressuring her to chase after a car, in the rain, while thereâs a supervillain rampaging through Paris, and all of this right after the scheme that Alya had set up caused both Marinette and Adrien to go missing.
And just saying, as Marinetteâs supposed âbest friend,â Alya sure doesnât know how to handle her. It was acceptable back in âThe Bubblerâ when she asked Marinette about signing the gift too late and the same goes for âDark Cupid,â but by the time we get to late Season 2/3 and Alya refuses to learn Marinetteâs weak spots (unless itâs to mock her) and adjust accordingly (like if sheâd already made sure the gift was signed in âChat Blanc,â which wouldâve prevented Adrien seeing Ladybug at all due to the time difference), it starts getting infuriating.
A best friend is supposed to cover for their friendâs weaknesses. Alya doesnât do that; she meddles and often drives Marinetteâs anxiety even further up a wall with absolutely no consideration for Marinetteâs feelings (âDark Cupid,â âThe Puppeteer 2,â âReflekdoll,â âMiraculous New Yorkâ).
And here, she and the other girls are rewarded for it. Luka actively resisted his akumatization whereas the girls gave in immediately, yet Marinette still opens up to them in the end, likely because they had pressured her and made her feel bad for the secrets she was keeping while Luka was willing to actually wait for her to be ready to talk to him. I canât put into words how frustrating it is watching these girls trample all over Marinetteâs feelings, not have their worst actions called out, and then jump cut post-deakumatization to Marinette telling them exactly what they wanted to know about her love life.
You know what this entire episode is really missing, outside of a coherent plot, properly-paced development, and a basic understanding of rewarding a character for things theyâve held firmly to?
Itâs missing the apology. Chat Noir apologizes to a bunch of moviegoers and Rose apologizes for the broken dollhouse, but no one apologizes to Marinette for how they treated her, especially not the âfriendsâ who got rewarded in the end.
âSorry, we shouldnât have told you that weâd respect your feelings and then showed up unannounced to make you talk about them.â
âWeâre sorry we came into your room and invaded your privacy. You were right to be mad at us.â
âOh my gosh, Marinette, we got akumatized and weâre so sorry for literally all five of us going after you and probably scaring the living daylights out of you.â
And as if that wasnât enough, guess what else this is missing? Itâs kind of important and brought up directly in the episode, yet the episode simultaneously goes out of its way not to bring it up again.
Itâs the reason why Marinette didnât tell the girls about her relationship with Luka. Itâs not there - itâs missing - and the girls never try to pursue the subject. They talk about how Marinette didnât tell them but donât think for a second that maybe itâs them who have failed as friends. Instead, they donât guess anything about why Marinette wouldnât tell them (which is already strange considering how much they already assume about her) and jump straight to, âwell clearly we just need to push for her to talk to us.â
Gonna just go out on a limb here and say that maybe - just maybe - Marinette didnât tell them because they are habitually pushy in everything they do.
Because they wouldâve teased her relentlessly about, âohhhh youâve got eyes for Luka? what about Aaaaaadrien~? arenât you sooo tooorn between both of these cute guys?â
Because they wouldâve meddled to force her and Luka together and gotten on her case when/if she ever had to bail on him.
Because their intrusion on her feelings for Adrien had caused her nothing but problems and she just wanted to be with Luka in peace without them forcing their way into things.
Because--hey, wild thought--maybe theyâre not really friends???
But the episode completely avoids it, because that wouldâve meant addressing it; it wouldâve meant acknowledging that they messed up, which - fun fact - they actually donât do in the episode.
They invaded Marinetteâs privacy, insisted that she tell them how she feels (not about them of course because that would imply that they felt like they screwed up), and in the end itâs Marinette who gives them exactly what they asked of her, and the closest thing we get to acknowledging anything is Alix telling her/joking with her that theyâll help her confess to whoever she likes as soon as she tells them sheâs ready.
Thatâs not an apology. Thatâs not an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. Even when the five of them are about to get akumatized, itâs not a circle of them saying, âhereâs how I screwed up, I couldâve done better but I didnât and I lost Marinette because of it.â
No. Itâs just them talking about how sad the situation is. Mylene has the closest thing to remorse in saying, âI hoped it would work,â but where does it go? A grand total of nowhere, especially because Marinette still takes the bracelet in the end instead of the girls mutually deciding, âokay, maybe the bracelet was a bad idea; how about we all agree on making something together instead, no requirements attached?â
And then the episode has the gall to act as if Alya has gone through character growth when all they did was put Alya through the same thing that Chloe did. Iâll explain that last bit momentarily, but first letâs talk about the whole âgrowthâ thing.
Because thereâs no apology or acknowledgement of wrongdoing, all Alya does when sheâs finally alone with Marinette is do a 180 from where she was at the start of the episode, going from, âfriends have to tell each other everything,â to, âhey, if you donât want to tell me, then thatâs your right.â
The crucial part thatâs supposed to go in the middle is missing. Instead of acknowledging her failures, Alya just cuts straight to âââbeing a better friend,âââ but storytelling doesnât work that way.
It literally would have taken zero effort to fit an acknowledgement into that scene. âYou donât have to tell me everything, I get that now. All my meddlingâs done is hurt you and Iâm so sorry. I wouldnât blame you if you didnât trust me.â
In a world where Marinette has to apologize for everything, has to learn lessons and suffer because the narrative says so, I will not accept anything less from other characters who are trying to develop and improve. Thatâs not fair to Marinette, nor has it ever been.
Instead of properly developing Alya, the show does whatever it can to get its audience to root for her as Marinetteâs âbest friendâ (ugh) without having to put in the effort of admitting that Alya hasnât been Marinetteâs âbestâ friend.
Remember when I brought up Chloe? Yeah, âMalediktatorâ did a similar thing, showing Chloe doing something awful, then being sad (while not actually acknowledging the thing she did wrong), and in the end she was rewarded with a miraculous prematurely.
One show of character from Chloe and Marinette gave her a miraculous. One show of character from Alya and Marinette told her that she was Ladybug.
(Also, for the record, I think Chloe is far worse than Alya character-wise and Iâm not comparing their characters; this is just the simplest comparison I can draw here from a narrative standpoint.)
âMiraculerâ is another apt comparison, perhaps even more so. Chloe got Hawk Moth in her head after an akuma landed in her photo of her and Ladybug, but Chloe resisted and fought back, ultimately forcing the akuma out of her and freeing herself from Hawk Mothâs control.
But it wasnât to develop her character; no, it was to convince the audience of Chloe and Sabrinaâs friendship so theyâd feel something during Sabrinaâs happy flashbacks, then lay the foundation of tricking viewers into believing that Chloe might not go to Hawk Mothâs side.
At the end of the day, it was doing something thatâs ânever been done beforeâ in order for the character to earn brownie points for something that the writers can just have them do because willpower is an easy thing to just write in. âGang of Secretsâ does the exact same thing when Lady Wifi breaks free from Shadow Moth, with Ladybug even hammering it home by talking about how no oneâs ever done it before.
And the pacing is - again - awful. Not only is Ladybug banking on this working when she herself says that itâs never been done, but the conversation between her and Lady Wifi where Ladybug tries to convince her doesnât even take a minute.
It also has nothing to do with Marinette herself; Ladybug relies on Alyaâs adoration/friendship with her as Ladybug (you know, after Alya took a photo of LadyNoir kissing and posted it online without Ladybugâs consent, betrayed her by putting information on the LadyBlog that Hawk Moth was able to take advantage of, and is the only hero outside of Chloe to resist returning a miraculous) in order to break from Hawk Mothâs control, because talking about Marinette with Lady Wifi didnât even work.
(Ladybug also uses her yoyo as a portal to the Miracle Box when this has never been pre-established to be a thing despite Ladybug acting as if she knew it was; further proof that this episode was rushed.)
And of course talking about Marinette didnât work, because that wouldâve meant convincing Alya that her reason for getting akumatized was âwrongâ and the episode didnât want to do that. It didnât want someone else actually learning something and feeling bad; surely, this is just Alya being manipulated by Shadow Moth and having the power to break free because Ladybug âneeds Rena Rougeâ and not because Lady Wifi and her friends are chasing after their supposed best friend and thatâs--you know--wrong???
Rena Rougeâs reappearance is also yet another thing the episode refuses to address because it avoids the topic of âbut my identity--â. At least âHeart Hunterâ had the tact to have Kagami question why Ladybug was giving her the dragon again, but âGang of Secretsâ treads as lightly as possible on any discussion of identities outside of Marinette saying that she canât, as if it were Marinette who made the choice of concealing her identity and not the basic idea of heroing that has been stressed over and over for the whole show.
Even Plagg of all kwami stated back in âOriginsâ that no one is supposed to know about secret identities, a rule that continues becoming flaky and muddled with each passing season, almost like they kept attempting to retcon and make the audience dulled to the idea so that the reveal in âGang of Secretsâ would be more acceptable.
But now, with the way they did it and how they donât even have Tikki comment on the matter, it once again has it look like theyâre making it - say it with me, everyone - Marinetteâs fault.
Alya says that Marinette has a choice in telling her secret, Marinette insists that she doesnât and goes on and on about how itâll change everything, and then just... tells Alya her secret in the end.
And remember all the way back in Season 2? âSapotisâ?
Alya: What were you saying about her secret identity?
Marinette: Ladybug needs it to protect her family and friends. Otherwise the villains could use them to get to her.
Alya: Well, if I knew who Ladybug really was, I'd keep it a secret. I would even help her! Like say, if you were Ladybug, I'd cover for you â when you needed to transform in school, go fight the "baddies", you know?
Marinette: Oh yeah? Well, if I was Ladybug I wouldn't even tell you, to protect you from the "baddies", you know?
Alya: You serious? If I was Ladybug, I'd totally tell you! Because I tell my best friend everything.
And now here we are in âGang of Secrets,â as if the narrative is saying, âSee, Marinette? Alya was right all along, you were just being ridiculous and making yourself suffer for no reason!â
Yet Marinette had a right to keep her secrets. When Alya and Nino learned each otherâs identities, Alya took a hit for Nino in âCatalystâ and both of them fell to Scarlet Mothâs akumas. Chloe was a mess and a half because of Hawk Moth knowing her identity. Fu had told Marinette that her miraculous would get taken if she and Chat Noir learned each otherâs identities.
The only ones who received no consequences due to someone knowing their identity were Pegase (who Chat Noir and Markov knew), Ryuko (who Chat Noir, Ikari Gozen, and Hawk Moth knew), and Viperion (who Adrien knew). âChat Blancâ also exists where Marinette got the impression that people discovering her identity would be a disaster, and even all the way back in âLady Wifiâ insisted that not telling anyone her identity was âlistening to her head and not her heart,â and the narrative has relentlessly humiliated her for going with her heart, so yeah, probably for the best.
I hate that the episode avoids talking about anything identity-related outside of what comes out of Marinetteâs mouth to make it appear like it was her choice all along. I hate that they had Tikki fixate on Marinetteâs love problems instead of having her actually support Marinette and admit that Marinette should tell someone before she has a mental breakdown. I hate that the episode inserts Rena Rouge into the plot as if to brush all identity issues away so as to make Marinetteâs identity reveal seem less jarring.
Now, of course Iâm glad Marinette told someone. Of course I want her to get love and support from someone. Of course I think the benefits outweigh the risks, or I wouldnât have written multiple fix-its where her identity gets revealed in some way or someone already knows.
But I didnât want it to be Alya, because I knew how theyâd do it. I knew theyâd do it wrong and I knew that they wouldnât have the courage to address Alyaâs issues properly.
Those familiar with my blog will know that Iâd been taking negative predictions for future seasons for a while and adding them to cards whenever they were proven right. Does anyone remember the Season 4 predictions that were proven correct for âGang of Secrets,â specifically these ones?
- âAlya will suddenly be portrayed as a good/worthy friend to Marinette in/if there's an episode where Marinette tells her that she's Ladybugâ
- âAlya resisting Shadow Moth/fighting back against him will be used to excuse telling Alya Marinette's secret identityâ
- âAlya will know that Marinette is Ladybug first because "BFFs" despite being one of the worst candidates for itâ
- âThe secret that broke Lukanette up will be resolved in episode 3 when Marinette tells Alyaâ
Each and every one of those were mine, because I knew that whether Season 4 had a proper chronological order or not, the writers would not have the guts to develop Alya first and then have Marinette tell her in a future episode after Alya has properly earned it.
I knew that they wouldnât take time to develop Alya. I knew that they would have Alya resist Shadow Moth to make Alya look âworthyâ of the secret. I knew that Alya would swoop in during the last minute and a half of an episode, insisting that Marinette âdidnât have to tell her anythingâ when Alya had been pushy and insistent for the entire rest of the episode and the whole series in general, and would ultimately be rewarded with the big secret simply because sheâs âthe best friendâ and thatâs it.
The Alya at the end of the episode isnât the Alya Iâve known for the entire rest of the series before this, or at the very least they turned her into an Alya I donât recognize.
Alya claims during the ending scene that she knows that Marinette is hiding something beyond her love problems because she - as a reporter and âher best friendâ - can sense such things, and all Iâm left wondering is
w h e r e ?
Where and when has Alya been suspicious or worried about Marinette keeping a secret from her? What, back in âThe Pharoahâ where she didnât immediately disregard Marinette for the role of Ladybug, or âSimon Saysâ where she vaguely teased Marinette about having a double life, both Season 1 episodes?
Where was Alya in âTruthâ saying that she didnât know Marinetteâs secret but knew that she was keeping one? Where was Alya anywhere in Season 3 being concerned that Marinette hasnât told her something? Where was this âsupposedly very observantâ Alya when Marinette needed her to out Lila because Lila got her expelled--oh wait, Alya âobservedâ that Lila did nothing and Marinette was just jealous.
What, is it only now that Alya suddenly âknowsâ that Marinette is hiding something else? Now, after Alya has already not known that Marinette was literally dating someone, even when Alya had multiples pictures of Marinette and said someone giving each other heart eyes and saw Marinette leaving school with said someone riding on the same bike together, you know, like normal, typical, average friends would?
Whereâs the line where Alya acknowledges the problem? Whereâs Alya sitting down with Marinette and admitting, âhey, Iâm sorry I havenât noticed this stuff, but I promise Iâll do better starting right now, and thatâs how I know now that youâre hiding something else, and Iâm sorry it took me so long to realize that itâs been hurting youâ?
I canât tell you where it is, but I can say that itâs certainly not in this episode. 60% of the episode features the Alya we knew from the rest of the series and then switches her out the second sheâs de-akumatized for another Alya who hasnât done anything that the old one has because she pretends like it didnât happen.
You know how I know? Because of this absolute gut punch of a line that showed that the series wanted to handwave everything away.
âI know how to keep a secret.â
...Really? Does she now? Well, I hope everyone remembered my point about âAnimanâ and âThe Puppeteer 2,â because Iâm bringing it right back.
Considering that âTruthâ has been burned into all of our memories, we all definitely remember when Truth shoots Alya and questions her on Marinetteâs secret, to which Alya states that Marinetteâs secret is, âSheâs in love with Adrien Agreste.â Now, at the time of Season 4âČs airing, this is very much not a secret, as most characters already knew about Marinetteâs crush, to the point where itâd been broadcast on television during Season 2.
But do you know when it was actually a secret? Back in Season 1, specifically in the episode âAnimanâ where Alya told Nino.
And not only did she tell Nino, but she lied to Marinette by claiming that she didnât, acting as if Nino knew that Marinette had a crush but didnât know who she was crushing on, which is then directly proven false as Nino accidentally implies that he does know who it is. This is also after Alya had gotten on Marinetteâs case for trying to set her up with Nino, and then she had the gall to say that she wouldnât spill Marinetteâs secret because she, and I quote, âdoesn't go around making decisions for other people,â a statement that is directly contradicted by this little thing known as everything Alya has ever said and done in the entire series.
And while Marinette meddling in Alyaâs love life actually ended up working out for Alya, Alya meddling in Marinetteâs by telling Nino who Marinette is crushing on comes back to bite Marinette - not Alya (because of course) - in the infamous episode of âThe Puppeteer 2,â where Marinette realizes that Alya really did tell Nino that she was crushing on Adrien.
Marinette: You told me you wouldn't tell Nino!
Alya: I haven't told him. Right, Nino? I didn't tell you anything. (elbows him)
Nino: She didn't tell me. And besides, I told her I wouldn't tell.
Then, when sheâs called out on it, Alya lies again, and shamelessly so.
Marinette: Why did you tell Nino everything? You promised you wouldn't!
Alya: I didn't, I swear! Besides, even if I had told him everything, he would still be clueless. Ugh, who cares anyway? I've set everything up with Nino, who doesn't know a thing, so you can finally pour your heart out to Adrien, girl!
And now, here we are one season later - and not even half of a season if you go by production code order - and Alya claims that she knows how to keep a secret.
No. No, she does not. In fact, she does even worse because she wonât even admit when sheâs spilled said secret. I absolutely refuse to accept that Alya is âworthyâ or âdeservingâ of learning that Marinette is Ladybug when she couldnât even keep a basic secret like who her friend was crushing on.
And no, it didnât matter that Nino was her boyfriend, or that maybe she thought it would work out because Nino was friends with Adrien. By that logic, Alya would tell Adrien that Marinette is Ladybug if she heard that Ladybug is who Adrien was crushing on and we all know how that wouldâve gone.
Marinette has a right to tell her secret to whoever she wants and Iâm glad that a burden has been lifted from her, but that doesnât mean I have to be happy that itâs Alya. That doesnât mean I have to be happy that, after so many moments of Alya disrespecting Marinetteâs feelings, she is the one who gets to hear the big secret that the fandom has been waiting for someone to find out about since the very start of the series.
Luka said it best in âTruthâ that the truth is meant to be shared, not taken by force, but Marinette was forced to tell Alya by the narrative because Alya is her supposed âbest friend.â It pushed Marinette to her breaking point, forced her to break up with the guy who has respected her agency and feelings since the day they met, and gave her a version of her âbest friendâ with the same name and face but with none of the responsibility from previous events so that said version was there at the right time and the right place to hear what had to be heard.
And in the end, I end up feeling nothing. Marinette doesnât even have a âMarinetteâ reaction to saying it as one would expect; for her to blurt it out and then immediately start panicking until Alya hugs her to calm her down. Instead, Marinette just says it and stares silently at Alya - after blabbing this huge, very big deal of a secret - until Alya goes in for a hug (the âhappy/hopefulâ ending of which is why I feel like this episode also gets less flak, as the previous two ended off rather depressing/upsetting).
Itâs off. Everything is off. The pacing, the delivery, and the logic that the episode uses. The emotion in Marinetteâs voice when sheâs rambling about how hard it is to keep her secret is so powerful, but then the ending hits and she just says it, breaking the momentum they had going. They pulled the card of Alya walking away too soon when they couldâve saved it, having Marinette go quiet and letting Alya take a few steps away in order to let the moment build before Marinette finally blurts out the secret sheâs been painfully holding in.
But they didnât, and Iâm so many levels of dissatisfied. I wasnât against the idea of Alya learning Marinetteâs secret at some point (though honestly, Alix wouldâve been a better pick considering that Bunnyx will know eventually anyway, and I say that not even liking Alix!), but not now; not when Alya had so much to work towards.
And now what? What happens now? Now Alya will turn against Lila, not because she learned to have faith and believe in Marinette, but because Marinette is Ladybug, which disproves Lilaâs ultimate lie that got Alyaâs attention in the first place? Now Alya will be supportive and less teasing/mocking whenever Marinette will be late, not because she understands that Marinette isnât perfect and has so many other things on her mind, but because sheâs Ladybug and has âhero stuffâ to take care of? Now Alya will be careful about what she puts on the LadyBlog, not because she respected Ladybug and what Ladybug would want, but because Ladybug is now her best friend and that changes everything?
Because now, Alya has a free pass to all of that, the show making her spontaneously âdevelopedâ now so they wonât have to develop her later, and disappointing doesnât even begin to describe it.
#category: salt#episode: Gang of Secrets#other: ml spoilers#category: long post#word count: over 7000#other: ask and answer#((I know this is long so I did what I did in ''The Puppeteer 2'' where I had pictures to break it up.))
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Yoongi birthday reading/energy check!!
It's sweet sweet tangerine bois birthday!!
I wanted to do a cute little energy check up to see what's up and ask some fun little questions!!
I'm excited so let's just do this shit!!
Disclaimer: this is for entertainment purposes and not to be taken as fact!!
---
I want to apologize for the absolute shit pictures but what's new lol
So, let's start with the platform. First thing I noticed was the blue was brighter but the platform was darker? It was like someone cranked up the contrast to 100. Ngl it looked pretty cool. Yoongis platform doesn't typically have a barrier like some of the others do so I just kinda walked in and did the whole, "happy birthday, I have questions" His energy seemed a lot more... vibrant? And playful I guess? It was really nice. Now. The actual connection was intresting because the cord was blue again and like, real thick. (I don't think my perceived thickness of the cord has and real correlation with how strong the connection is. It was just thicc) this time though, the cord was connected at the chest instead of the third eye. So i was like, ??? But my guide didn't give my any sort of helpful input (my guide likes to watch me suffer in my confusion. I'm sure of it)
Anyway, cord like that and then yoobi gave me a headbutt to connect at the third eye. Idk why he gotta be like that :( istg next time he's gonna flick my forehead or something.
I was like "cool cool cool. I want to do the reading now pls" and idk how to explain the energy other than sassy. You know? Blah blah blah I'm thinking, "I don't remember him being so cheeky but maybe I've been gone long enough for him to level up into his final sass monster form"
Anywho, this was intresting because after the little strings were connected and stuff, we plopped down on the floor. And it was like everything I was doing irl was being mimicked infront of yoons energy? So we were sitting facing eachother and I was putting the cards down between us?? Usually that doesn't happen but it was kinda fun!!
Moving right along. I first asked if there was anything he wanted to say or needed to get across and it was 11. Now, 11 has come up before and I'm still not to sure what it's in reference to? My best guess is possibly he's been seeing 11:11 or that it's 2? Idk let me know if you have any clues lol. Other stuff was just kinda banter and stuff.
So so so.
The reading. First thing I asked was how he was doing. And I shuffled his preticular way (when I ask a question I always ask for the energy to tell me how much to shuffle or when to stop. For yoongi it's always 2-2-2. So 2 bridge shuffles, 2 hand shuffles and then split the pile in 2. That's why I think 11 might be 2 to him?)
The cards we got are ace of swords rev, justice,the heirophant rev, the empress.
So based off this I was like okay. I want to pull clarity cards for the two rev cards to get a better picture so I pulled the emperor rev for ace or swords rev and strength rev and wheel of fortune rev for the heirophant rev.
Starting with the ace of swords rev, and the emperor reverse. It seems like yoongi has been re thinking his relationship to control in his life. That's he's possibly noticing any unhealthy needs to control his life and the situation around him. It could also refer to his judgment being clouded by a rigid approach.
With the justice card it makes me think that he's possibly considering a big choice in his life or that he's really doing some deconstructing of his own views. This second idea fits in well with him getting clarity on some possibly unhealthy control issues in his life.
Now. The heirophant rev, strength rev and wheel of fortune reverse. This was intresting to me bc they are all major arcana. The heirophant rev can really talk about no longer needing outside approval and making your own way in your own time bc you are your own teacher. Strength in rev I kinda read as self doubt and feeling down in this case. Like a lack of confidence in himself and his abilities. And the wheel of fortune in reverse I took to mean as his breaking cycles. All together these cards kinda paint a picture about wanting and trying to break a cycle of self doubt and self limiting beliefs and learning more about himself and why he think what he does about himself and searching through everything for truth. It's really good!! In short he's doing some nice soul searching and trusting himself to guide his own way through this self discovery!
The empress! This card seems to pop up for yoobi a lot and I think it really speaks to the abundance that surrounds him! Not just money but the abundance of creativity, love, friends ect.
Now now now. I asked him if there was anything that he wanted to tell us about himself or bts or what's happening in the near future. For that I got 2 of cups, king of wands and 3 of coins.
So the 2 of cups is partnership. Usually romantic. Could be pertaining to the may 13th thing that is ever present lol but I'll get to that later. With the 3 of coins talking about teamwork, this could definitely hint at collaborations coming up!! That's the vibe I get. No one crush my dreams. And for the king of wands it could be talking about taking the reigns on a new project and starting to get it done. Like a new opportunity. This could be a new bts project like starting a new campaign or new venture or maybe personal like the a mixtape or doing more songs for other groups ect.
I had to ask him how he was feeling about the grammys. I had to. Had to. The cards were ace of wands, 2 of wands and death reverse. When these came flying out I could help but smile. Yoongis energy was almost giddy too!
Witht he ace of wands
It's that spark of creativity and inspiration. It's that feeling when you get super excited over some new thing. I think this is the perfect example for feeling reinvigorated. The 2 of wands takes that spark from the ace and tries to funnel that excitement and newness into something directional. Using that burst of creativity to start planning for future progress!! Its so nice to see that! If they don't win (IF) you bet we're gonna get some bangers about a corrupt system. If (WHEN) they do win we'll get bangers about how thankful they are to have gotten where they are in spite of a corrupt system. I just want to hear an uncensored version of yoongi being like, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WE DID IT BITCHES. FUCK ALL YOU BASTARDS THAT SAID WE COULDN'T."
I can dream....
What a nice dream.
Now I asked if there was anything yoobi wanted to say to us as in advice or comfort or anything like that and I got, Clearing negativity, make time for self care, when I'm tuned into the energy of abundance I become abundant. when I'm in a state of appreciation im in vibrational alignment with my true love nature. The world rev, 2 of swords rev and that project, that person, that idea is waiting.
Awe. Take care of yourselves!! Make sure to take time to enjoy what you like and try not to let any negativity get in the way of you enjoying your days. The world rev to me seems to be talking about seeking closure on the things in your life that have been impacting you. Tie up those loose ends so you can move foward without triping over yourself and 2 of swords rev I think talks about information overload and being kinda indecisive bc of that. Take a sep back to evaluate the situation at hand because sometimes it's so close you can't see what you're looking for. Those of you who are studying and getting frustrated because you just can't seem to get it, try taking a step back and doing something to take care of yourself and come back to it so you can approach with a clearer mind. Try not to get stuck or paralyzed by choice but if you do get stuck, take some time to detach yourself from the situation and come back later!
A fair few people wanted an update on yoobis soulmate as well. If you need a refresher here's the run down. Yoongis soulmate is impossible for me to read, yoongi is a smug ass and I'm nosy and probably a little dumb.
Now that that's cleared up
I asked, "am I missing something?" (As to why I can't connect and why yoongi won't give me answers.)
I got queen of cups, magician and the high priestess. I read this as him being like, "yeah dude, you aren't woke enough"
YOONGI just give me answers pls. The high priestess is intuition and sacred knowledge, the magician is manifestation and the queen of cups is also intuition.
At this point I was like, okay you little shit, can you at least tell me how your soulmate is doing? Can you do that for me?
2 of cups, 2 of pentacles, 9 of wands and knight of wands. 2 of cups is partnership usually romantic, 2 of pentacles is priorities and managing them, 9 of wands persistence, knight of wands motivation for a new thing. His soulmate last time was in the process of going through some shit and figuring it out and it seems like now they've got a better clue of how to move foward and are currently heading towards good things/ important things in their life (possibly like working towards dream career or had an idea for a business the want to start or field they want to go in.)
I was thinking about the next question when this popped into my head, "if you know about your akashic book, do you know about your soulmates? Have you read it?" I used my pendulum. No movement at all. What so ever. "Are you listening to me?" Yes. "So answer my question please" No. "Do you like to watch me suffer?" Maybe. "Do you know the answer to the question" yes.
YOONGI WHY
This cheeky son of a bitch.
Now I was like, fuck it. Imma ask him the big boi question.
"Is your soulmate present when I do these readings?" Yes.
WHY THE FUCK CAN I NIT PICK UP ON IT???
I had to take a deep breath dude. Yoobi is testing my nerves.
"Are they hiding their energy?" No.
I was actually gonna combust. This makes no sense.
I asked yoongi if he would tell me what I'm not getting. Silence. So i ask my guide.
"lol ur dumb"
Watch me Google "how to fire your spirit guide"
Istg this feels like some dumb prank. Maybe I'm just genuinely oblivious to his soulmates energy or maybe I'm just doing something.
What do you want to bet that his soulmate is just hiding under the platform and I'm too stupid to notice or some dumb thing like that.
yoobi, sir, why must you do this?
I decided to continue.
"What message or thing have you learned from your soulmate recently that could be valuable to us?" I got healthy communication in relationships and deep replenishment.
Good to know you can have a nice communicative relationship with your soulmate bc I CAN'T.
I'm petty about it, sue me.
The message does stand though. Good communication and taking proper rest to replenish yourself.
Now I had to ask yoongi directly what he thought of may 13th.
I got the lovers, 7 of swords, the magician and judgement. The seven of swords was intresting and it makes me think there's some extra stuff at play here too. 7 of swords is about getting away with something and deceit. The clarifier was the magician.... this could mean a lot honestly. It could be that maybe yoongi will have his relationship exposed or possibly that maybe him and his soulmate meet but yoongi is disguised? Idk how that would work at all but I'm stumped. There's a lot of variations that this could be. The magician is about manifesting and having everything you need to create what you want. This could possibly mean that maybe he gets a sudden idea that's like, "oh I have to go here right now. Its super important" eventhough he has practice scheduled. So that would let down his team but he would be following his path and it might lead to him meeting his soulmate? Maybe vice versa? Idk let me know what you think??
With the judgement its about inner calling and kinda like the peak. Like shit has been leading up to this moment. With the lovers too it does seem like a union?
I asked him, "but like what's gonna happen on the 13th thought and I got the 10 of cups. Divine love, bliss, alignment, happy mushy gushy shit. This is why I'm so inclined to think that they'll meet on the 13th or things will get serious or their paths finally cross. The cards seem to heavily suggest that.
My dude. Yoongi is really sappy, pass it on.
For the last question I asked yoomgi if there was messages/ advice he had given to his soulmate that we might benefit from.
First step, open your third eye, open your heart, sign from heaven, open your arms to receiving.
A lot of opening lol.
It's good advice though learning to be open and receptive and taking that first step in tackling life or any situation.
Oki. Now for the disconnecting. It was not nearly as strange as it has been in the past. I was just like thanks dude. Again, happy birthday blah blah and I got up to leave. I noticed it looked like we were in sitting in one of those old plastic hoola hoops? Like the pink and yellow ones lol. As I was looking at and and like??? Off to the side the numbers 13, 28, 54. Obvi 54 isn't a date and then I the last yoongi check up there was book pages and I feel like 54 and 28 were the pages?? I'm not actually sure as I'm writing this so I'm gonna check.
Yep I checked. They are the page #s.
So that's intresting.
Other than that though I just kinda left and he was like, "bye" and that's all.
Not as cool as other yoongi adventures but equally as frustrating.
TLDR
Yoongis doing pretty okay and he's a cheeky little shit. My guide like to watch me suffer and yoobi is mushy gushy squishy.
Happy day of birth Syub!!
#bts#bts tarot#yoongi#bts reactions#bts imagines#yoongi imagine#bts rm#seokjin#bts suga#min suga#park jimin#hoseok#taehyung#jungkook
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Ok but I need to talk about JN108 a bit more, under the cut!
I am not gonna lie, I had quite a laughing episode after the episode because I just fricking knew that they wouldn't show Satoshi Gekkouga or even hint at the form, they even made sure that a flashback that included ALAN and his MEGA CHARIZARD-X didn't have Satoshi Gekkouga like, wtf sjhfgsfhsgfsf.
Say what you will, that IS a retcon. Indirect one at least. Because the flashback to specific event involving Satoshi Gekkouga doesn't involve it. They specifically avoided even mentioning it. They even had Satoshi do Satoshi-Gekkouga like bond movements WITHOUT the form! THAT NEVER HAPPENED! It always needed the form. Semi-perfect or perfect. A normal Gekkouga was never enough lol. It probably can be explained as their bond being stronger than ever but ajfsljfssfklsf. Nah.
I'm glad that it ended up that way thou, because now Lucario won't have anime-only form to follow up on Gekkouga. Like, phew. It did seem like Satoshi did indeed compare the bond he has with Gekkouga feeling like the bond he currently has with Lucario, so the similarity to aura is somewhat confirmed? Not directly, but strongly suggested. Makes me happy!
But like.... hm. I liked everything that involved Gekkouga. He felt like who he was, and his bond with Satoshi was super nostalgic. But Lucario indeed felt like a jealous puppy who was annoyed at Satoshi having someone who's bond is stronger than his lol. Or that he was weaker than Gekkouga. Really thou, I just kinda flashbacked to Pikachu and Wanpachi asfkjshfsjklsf. JN, stop doing jealousy plots. Please.
Luckily it didn't last long and there was a... weird scene between the two were they just, practiced moving water by an inch. I have no fricking idea what that was. Focusing practice? But like, even if Satoshi's Lucario is my least fav atm (and I hate that y'know), Gekkouga's mentoring with him was kinda nice.
But.... where's Puni-chan. No fricking mention of Puni-chan đ Gekkouga is just cutting weeds and never free from that job like, c'mooooooon. My dream episode plot was for Puni-chan and Gekkouga to return together and for this negative weed plot to end but nooo. Not allowed it seems. Fricking hell lol.
But cough. I may sound like I'm critisizing the ep a lot, but I actually enjoyed it still. It was VERY fanservice-y with the flashbacks and Gekkouga moments (except for Satoshi-Gekkouga semi-retcon cough) and I had fun time. I liked how Satoshi chose to go see Gekkouga at the sight of seeing Gou's Keromatsu evolve, like he got nostalgic at seeing Gekkouga again.
Koharu also had the best face, like:
*stare*
How can you not like Koharu when she has the best faces in the whole show ajhsgfhfgsfhgsf.
(Also that's a perfect meme format-)
Anyway. Those are my longer thoughts before subs. Thou I checked with others on stuff like if Satoshi Gekkouga was mentioned at all. And it wasn't. :--D Gosh do I hate being right on that. Even my twitter poll that I did before ending up becoming less active feels sad now:
Oh you sweet dear buffoons~
So yeh.
I don't care about next ep one bit, I don't like how Kibana is depicted to be so serious when he's, really not. Then again, this series did a bad job at showcasing Galar to its full potential so I don't care lol.
PS: even if Gekkouga somehow had another ep later on his Satoshi-Gekkouga form is STILL, as of now, semi-retconned out of existance. Just like JN103-JN104 pretended that Serena didn't exist. That's just bad build-up writing. For real.
Anyway. That's all I gotta say on this ep. Toodles!
Edit: Oh yeh, the ep had tons of callbacks to flare arc somehow, so that was fun!
#aleira watches jn#post commentary more like from afternoon live watching#pokemon#pokeani#anipoke#pokemon jn#jn108#discussions
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The Crown, The Sword, and The Gay
Meant To Be Good News
A/N: ... heyyyyy- its been a bit. I got rapped up in exams and i felt like being productive today so u get a chapterrrr and i wrote another one so u have about two chapters guaranteed ill try to be more consistent lol (also long chapter as compensation)
(also let me know if you wanna be added to the taglist!)
First | Previous| Next
words: 2286
summary: Virgil doesn't want to deal with this mess but he was sent to deliver a message so, theres not much he can do
pairings: eventual prinxiety, eventual intrulogical, eventual moceit, Remile
warnings: some potty language (not much), stress, anxiety, negative self talk, food mention, worried for a characters safety
(let me know if there's any other)
They went up the steps in silence.
As they entered through the door, Roman grabbed the basket that was abandoned during the argument. He left it on a table near the entrance, he headed towards the corner with shelves, grabbed a brown book, nothing interesting in the cover, just a plain brown book and headed towards the window seat to read.
Virgil was struggling to decide if he should try to speak or not, he absolutely despised small talk but if he didn't talk he didn't want it to get awkward. He looked over to Roman because if he did decide to talk to the prince, what in the hell would he even talk about?! Virgil saw the royal glance up from his book to look at the small table near all the shelves that had a single red book, it was simple like the one he was holding, it just had a title, yet it caused more intrigue than the other.
When Virgil took a good look at Roman he looked somehow defeated, like he had lost- no, given up on a 100 year long fight. The monarch glanced once more at the table with the red book, this time however, he caught a glimpse of the stormy knight, â You should sit down, the trip back alone takes a few hours, it's gonna be some time before you get to go back.â Virgil looked up at the prince who had resumed his reading, âUh⊠yeahâ he took a seat near the desk Roman kept glancing at.
Virgil decided to take a glance at the book. It seemed to be a fictional adventure book...seems interesting. Roman looked at the table again and spotted the tall knight carefully opening the book. âItâs an adventure book. Just a fairytale.â Romanâs voice seemed to startle Virgil as he immediately slammed the book shut.
âY-yeah sorry, I didn't mean to open it without permission, that was so rude of me and-â Roman stopped him mid rant âIt's alright, you can read it. One of my personal favorite books.â The prince smiled at him to show he didn't mind âIâm not much of a reader. I just uh⊠got curious, I guess?â Virgil didn't seem sure of his answer. âWell, I can give you a small summary! If youâd like me to, of course.â Roman backtracked pretty quickly, snide comments about how excited he got over meaningless things forcing themselves into his head. But Virgilâs âSure, Why not?â Made him a little less apprehensive.
âOk! So, the story is focused on this boy named Aaron. He is a poor farm boy living with his family in a village that was overthrown by the guards, they became corrupted and betrayed the royal family and took control for themselves.â Virgil just nodded along.
âThey treated the least wealthy of the kingdom the worst, they didn't have money to bribe them with so to them they were useless, it got to the point where they were becoming the robbers, they would never steal from people with money because they were cruel people. Aaron and his father wanted to make a change but his mother didn't want them to, she wanted to play it safe and just gather enough money to leave for a better place.â
Roman rambling about the story not realizing how little of a summary it actually was since he definitely wasn't being concise, âI agree with the mom. Her plan sounds safe and effective.â Virgil didn't really mind, at least he wasn't going to be bored while he waited, âMaybe so! But where's the fun in that, dear knight?â Roman didn't really get the knights perspective âMay not be fun but at least they'll get outta there without a problemâ Virgil thought he was in the right and that the main character would make stupid reckless decisions for the drama and suspense.
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âAha! They went back to the momâs plan anyway! There was literally no need to try and do all that heroic shit.â Virgil was now fully invested in the story, he probably wouldn't have been if Roman wasnât such a good storyteller.
âWell yeah... But it was worth it! If they didn't try they would have never known the outcome of that situation.â Roman was happy the knight seemed invested, he was mostly happy because he finally got to discuss the book with someone, and that someone had very different opinions than himself.
There was a knock on the door.
They both looked at each other, It didn't feel like they had been talking for that long. So, who in the hell was at the door?
Virgil stood up, hand fidgeting with the hilt of his sword. Roman stood as well, they both walked towards the door. Virgil opened the door, only to find Ruth on the other end of the door. âOh, it's the lady from earlier.â Virgil turned to Roman as he let her in.
âNurse, how did you get back so quickly?â Roman spoke up. âI wouldn't say it was that quick, it's been a few hours. But we found someone along the way so that did speed up the process.â Ruth talked as she noticed the untouched basket and started nearing it.
Roman and Virgil on the other hand looked at each other with confusion. It didn't feel like they had been talking for more than half an hour. âI'm sorry, I must have been talking your ear off.â The royal felt a need to apologize, âHey, at least you made the wait entertaining.â the knight did not deem it necessary.
Ruth turned and glared at Roman. âSo, you haven't eaten?â Roman glanced at the untouched basket and cursed under his breath, he completely forgot. â WellâŠâ Ruth was not having it âYou brat.â She walked behind him and started pushing him towards the table.
âI had an excuse!â Ruth stopped pushing him âAnd what is it?â Roman turned to meet her eye and said, âI get nauseous when I eat too early.â Ruth looked unimpressed âI'm fully aware Roman. But it's almost noon.â Romanâs brain scrambled for another excuse âI was reading and I lost track of time.â She was still very much unimpressed. âAs long as it wasn't the book you always read, fine by meâ
As Romanâs nurse made sure Roman ate she noticed Virgil standing a few feet behind them. âI wasn't able to introduce myself earlier. I am Ruth, the bratâs nurse.â She extended her hand with a smile. Virgil shook her hand while he chuckled, which was interrupted by Romanâs overdramatic offended noises. âNurse! Youâre making him think I'll be a nightmare to care for!â
Ruth turned to him âWas I supposed to lie to him and tell him youâre a delight? My apologies, sireâ Roman put a hand on his chest and gasped. âNow I understand why Trent called you a witch!â Ruth laughed, âYouâre just basically proving my point.â Roman could only grumble and go back to eating.
Ruth took a look around the tower and spotted the red book on a table. âI see you've decided to become a liar huh?â Roman turned to her âWhatever do you mean?â She walked towards the table and picked up the book âSeems like someone was reading the same book they always read, I don't understand why they read it if they've memorized the whole book!â Roman knew Ruth was only joking but he didn't appreciate being called a liar âI wasn't reading it this time it was just out in the open! You can ask him!â
Roman pointed at Virgil, Ruth just looked at Virgil expecting an answer, âHe wasn't reading that book, he was reading the one by the windowâ it wasn't a lie. âYou better not be covering for that devil.â Virgil noticed there wasn't any malice behind her voice, her words portrayed something different. âAre you accusing me of being a liar? I thought that was reserved for the prince.â Ruth started laughing âHey! Youâre supposed to be on my side!â Virgil just chuckled.
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Romanâs nurse sat next to the window, looking out worriedly. Roman knew his nurse fairly well, âHas Remy not gotten back yet?â Ruth sighed and turned âMy son and his tardiness againâ.
Roman went over to his nurse, giving her a hug âIâm sure heâs just a little late..â Ruth tried to smile at Roman âI know Roman. I'm just a worried old hag.â Roman rolled his eyes and sat by the window
Ruth looked out the window one last time and took a deep breath. âWell I have to get going so we get there some time before sunriseâ Roman stood up to say a proper goodbye to his nurse. âSee you in a few daysâŠâ Roman really didnât want to let go but he didn't have much of a choice.
Ruth started packing what she had brought in silence, once she neared the door she spoke âRoman, his and her majesty will have to be informed about this incident..â Roman was obviously not content because this would surely somehow be put partially on him. âYes, I understand.â Ruth smiled sympathetically and turned to the storm eyed knight only a few feet away.
âVirgil, youâll have to stay with Roman for a while longer. Commander Arlott sure didn't expect the need to find a replacement for Trent and truly not a day after being stationed here.â Virgil just nodded, he understood the circumstances and was glad to be able to witness such a sight. âThe Commander insisted it would take quite some time to take someone off their post, he insisted he wasn't worried.â Ruth opened the door ready to leave, while Virgil was just trying for the pressure to not get to him.
Ruth said her final goodbyes and exited the tower.
Virgil then turned to the Royal, who went back to the same spot he had been before Ruth arrived, and just stared out the window as his nurse left.
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As Roman sat near the big window just looking out he started wondering why Virgil had even come here in the first place. He vaguely remembered Trent mentioning him being a messenger but that could just be some Knightly insult he was unaware of. So⊠he asked âVirgil, if you don't mind me asking...why exactly did you come here?â Virgil looked alarmed for a second as he had just zoned out for about 20 minutes âCommander Arlott, wanted me to deliver a message to Trentâ Roman just responded with a simple âOhâ and resumed his staring out the window.
âSo⊠how did the book end?â Virgil felt a little embarrassed to interrupt the silence to ask but he got extremely invested, to the point that if the Prince refused to share the information he might just read it himself. Roman just laughed, he knew how intriguing the book was âWell⊠In the middle of the motherâs plan being in motion they actually got word of a rebel group that had been inspired by their attempts to take the crown back.â Virgil sat down right across from the Royal nodding for him to go on.
Roman continued speaking but he kept getting distracted by a tapping sound. At first it was nothing, but then it got so prominent he couldn't ignore it anymore. Mid-rant he stopped himself and started looking around to see where the sound could possibly be coming from.
Virgil was confused as to why the heir had stopped speaking but then he started to hear taps. They didnât sound like just a regular forest sound and they would surely not hear minuscule noises from such a height.
âDear knight, are you hearing that?â Virgil nodded and stood up to see what could possibly be causing the ticks, Roman stood right along with him and then suddenly pointed towards the balcony doors. âVirgil, it's coming from the balcony.â
Virgil stopped to listen carefully âYeah, but what's causing it?â They then saw a little pebble hit the glass doors of the balcony and make the tapping they had been hearing.
Roman went to the balcony with no hesitation and opened the doors.
Virgil started having his thoughts race a mile a minute, what if this was to lure the prince out to assassinate him? If the prince died on his watch he would be hung no doubt.
As these thoughts crossed his mind, he moved forward to follow the prince. He then quickly realized the prince was leaning over the balcony having a casual conversation with his possible murderer.
âRemy, what are you doing here? Ruth is going to kill you if you don't get there by sunrise!â Roman screamed down to the man in a black cape with dark tinted glasses covering his eyes. âWell yeah! But I had to make a stop here! I have something for you!â That made Roman start jumping with anticipation as to what Remy could have brought him from his trip
âWhat is it Rem? Is it something fancy? Is it food? Is it a book?â Though his eyes couldn't be spotted, not only because of his glasses but due to the height, it was very apparent he rolled his eyes. âNo! It's a letter.â That got Roman even more excited. Could it actually be him? Roman haven't received anything but it could actually be! Finally some good news!
âWhoâs it from?!â Remy looked down at the letter as if inspecting it âI don't know.â That caused Romanâs excitement to dull immensely. He would have surely marked it. Thereâs still a chance it could be him, right? Romanâs anticipation quickly turned into more of an anxious feeling.
taglist:
@meowthefluffy
@shade-romeo
@pattonsmile
@sevencreepycatsinacoat
@mychemically-imbalanced-romance
@innerpostturtle
@queenof-hell
@joyrose-fandomer
@vpow
#prinxiety#remile#ts roman#roman sanders#ts virgil#virgil sanders#roman angst#prinxiety fic#platonic remy n roman
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EREN JAEGER AND THE ENNEAGRAM TYPE 6
First of all, to my followers, please excuse me. This account isnât for SNK but itâs the one I have and I wanted to write this.Â
Secondly, I hope this post finds the fandom lol. But if youâre expecting this to be another meta to judge Erenâs actions, donât waste your time. The enneagram is a tool of understanding, not judgement, and I just wanted to share one thing I appreciate immensely about Erenâs characterization.
Well, why donât we start with chapter 137? There, Zeke states that lifeâs purpose is to propagate and itâs core fear is to be extinguished. In other words, from the moment we are born, our organisms need to survive. As humans, we are on our own: suddenly, you gotta breathe on your own; the food is no longer provided. Everything is scary. A baby cries because everything is hard and far away and something in their biology tells them to keep fighting to survive.Â
Now, onto a more spiritual approach. In El Eneagrama de la Sociedad, Claudio Naranjo says that several cultures have their own ideas and tales regarding a disconnection from a primordial state of wholeness. Once born, we become individuals and are separated from the Universe, as if weâre no longer in sync, and something is lost in the process. How can we survive? Our defense mechanisms start with that question. We need love, we need resources and we need to stand our ground in this cruel, but beautiful world. This, on the enneagram, is called âchildhood traumaâ.Â
What I want to do in this post is to break down Erenâs character development through the lens of the enneagram, but for that, I need to give you an overview of the system. It is cruel and beautiful, just like the SNK world. It sees us with care and understanding but it also exposes the harsh truths we donât want to see.Â
The enneagram, first and foremost, is an ancient symbol, a figure of nine points connected within a circle. Thereâs a lot of fascinating history to it, but Iâm gonna focus on what matters to this post. The enneagram is a personality system that encompasses nine essences of the Universe, and once our childhood trauma sinks in, we attach to one type which defines our worldview. Hereâs how each enneatype manifests itself:
Type 1, the reformer: this person seeks to not make mistakes. They are principled and meticulous in everything they do but highly critical of themselves and others.Â
Type 2, the helper: this person seeks to be needed. They are proud of their independence and helpfulness but believe they can only receive love if they give first.Â
Type 3, the achiever: this person seeks to be worthy. They are motivated and ambitious but shape themselves around what is expected of them.Â
Type 4, the individualist: this person seeks to build their identity. They are sensitive and creative but reject the ordinary and focus on what is harder to reach.Â
Type 5, the investigator: this person seeks to be a specialist. They are perceptive and curious but withhold themselves and their resources and worry theyâre never prepared.Â
Type 6, the loyalist: weâll talk about it in a moment. Â
Type 7, the enthusiast: this person seeks to avoid pain. They are joyful and spontaneous but afraid of facing hardships and being swallowed by negativity and sadness.Â
Type 8, the leader: this person seeks to be strong. They are fierce and protective but donât allow themselves any vulnerability and need to be on top.Â
Type 9, the peacemaker: this person seeks to be in peace. Theyâre kind and their inner stability is unshakable, but have a hard time asserting themselves.
So what does it mean to be a type 6?
Some of you might not believe if I told you that Eren is moved by fear. But thatâs what it is. The type 6 represents fear itself. Itâs our search for safety and support. The person who is a type 6 has disconnected from their inner guide and they donât believe they have the same capability to make decisions as everyone else. That is more of an unconscious state, which manifests through an overly alert stance. Sixes are always on the lookout for threats and danger, their minds work predicting things that can go wrong, so they can be prepared. In other words, the type 6 fears how imprevisible life is, because they truly donât find in themselves the compass to the answers they need âin this very momentâ. They have to be one step ahead and they have to find outside structures for support, people in whom to trust and whoâll give them the guidelines and sense of balance. Fellowship and loyalty are essential to the type 6 as they look for reassurance in their concerns.Â
In Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery (1996), Don Richard Riso has described nine levels of development for the enneatypes. They are the path from our healthy, healed state where weâre closer to wholeness again (Level 1) down to our most broken state where weâve abandoned ourselves (Level 9).Â
When we start Attack on Titan, Eren is on Level 6. Hereâs what Riso says:
âIn its innocent forms, counterphobia is well employed by people to master their fears â for example, children who are afraid of the dark might purposefully go to a dark room to overcome their fear.â
Eren, too, wanted to overcome his fear since he was a kid. He wanted to go outside and face those faceless titans. He wanted people around him to be prepared, but since the Garrison was incompetent and lazy, he needed to be prepared. Grisha seems to be Erenâs first authority figure. From what we know, Grisha allowed Eren to have his own thoughts and didnât impose anything on him, which is a kind of reassurance. Thus, with his father, Eren felt more understood.Â
Carla, on the other hand, wished for Erenâs immediate safety and cared about him living a quiet life. But that also means she couldnât understand his concerns, and the type 6 interprets that demeanor as vulnerability â his mother is more exposed to the threat. If the type 6 is a room where nobody is vigilant, the only option they see is to step up and become hypervigilant.
This relation to an authority is very specific for the type 6 as they search for people and systems in whom to rely on. Since the Garrison arenât the most reliable soldiers around, Eren turns to the Survey Corps. That section of the military consists of the rebels, those who want to explore the unknown, understand the titans and figure out the best way to fight the enemy. The SC wants to be free, so they become Erenâs next âauthority figureâ.Â
Riso also says that the type 6 in Level 6 has a more aggressive stance and wants to prove to others that he isnât indecisive and canât be pushed around.Â
âThey blame and berate whatever threatens them. They become rebellious⊠and are desperate to latch onto a position or stance that will make them feel stronger and dispel their feelings of inferiority.â
The type 6 feels inferior because they feel lost inside. Eren, too, knows that the threat lurking behind those walls is much bigger than him and a single human doesnât stand a chance. And he berates people around him for not seeing what he sees, or for disrespecting his âheroesâ.
Eren will be back to Level 6 later, embodying other aspects of it, but letâs talk about the moment he joins the army.Â
At this point, Eren reaches the stable position he has been eager for. He is part of a group and working towards his goals, he feels more confident because heâs preparing for the next attack. He has climbed to Level 4:
âThe security which groups and institutions provide far exceeds the strength of any individual members...â
As we know, Eren sees his mission to eradicate all titans also as a social responsibility. The type 6 can easily fall into âus versus themâ mentality where they are putting effort into something and will trust only the people who understand the importance of it. Erenâs bickering with Jean, as well as his admiration for Reiner starts from there.Â
âAnd even within their own group, average Sixes make it their business to find out who is pulling the weight and who is not... If others are not loyal or committed, it not only makes them angry, it threatens them.â
Eren talks over and over about how heâs going to join the suicide squad, to the point people start making fun of him. But he is testing everyoneâs commitment to the cause of âfighting titansâ and he finds people like Jean, who only really want their safe life, as well as Reiner, who is dedicated and understands him immediately. Reiner becomes his new âauthority figureâ: whenever Erenâs failing, Reiner is there to understand him, to offer help and to remind him of why heâs there.
âThe loyalty of average Sixes for the people with whom they have identified is almost without bounds. They find it extremely difficult to break their emotional bonds, even should they desire to do so⊠Their love may, in time, turn to hatred but never to indifference.â
That one speaks for itself. Itâs exactly how Eren felt upon RBAâs betrayal. Heâs in total denial about Annie, while for Reiner/Berthold all he has left is rage.Â
Choosing who to trust is part of the type 6 identity. All of their beliefs, all their inner world is shaken if they are betrayed, because the network they build is how they find a safe space for themselves in the world and how they orient themselves. Annie was Erenâs parameter of fighter, Reiner was Erenâs parameter of leadership. The first backstab is too hard for him to process, we see it all unfold. He canât admit sheâs a traitor, and he doesnât even have the will to transform and fight her.Â
The second one, however, is embraced somewhat faster and heâs even able to contain himself and play along. But it doesnât change how deeply it affected him and how vengeful he gets. Years later, that hatred would dissipate, but never to indifference â Eren still feels a need for some closure between them.Â
I got ahead of myself on the timeline, so Iâm going to rewind to the moment Eren joins the Survey Corps, which is his childhood dream. Erwin is his main authority figure now and you see that, even though Erwin locked him up, he trusts the guy. As Don Riso explains, the type 6 on Level 4 plays by the rules of his group because he strongly believes in those rules and they bring comfort to their minds. In reality, the SC doesnât really know what theyâre doing. Erwin himself doesnât know how heâs gonna cross the walls and find out the truth. But Eren is devoted to them. Their cause is his cause and he knows how hard it is but what matters is theyâre trying. Besides, they embrace him. They want to reach the basement and want to defend him on the court and want to investigate/use his titan power. Thus, for Eren, the SC is the most solid and welcoming place to be. Heâll do whatever they want from him.Â
However, Eren was about to find out that things were far from glorious out there. Although the Survey Corps work under strict âplansâ that soldiers are supposed to follow blindly, Eren canât just watch people being sacrificed to protect him. Especially when he has enough power to act in a more significant way than those individual humans. But how much control does he have over his own power? Eren canât answer that, and he feels immensely conflicted as soldiers continue to drop dead.Â
In that moment, Levi couldâve forced him to follow his orders, and perhaps that wouldâve eased his mind when he chose not to transform. But the captain is a different kind of leader than Erwin, and he challenges Eren instead:
And I really appreciate how fitting that is to the type 6 conflit. Itâs very difficult for them to accept it, sometimes there simply isnât a clear path, sometimes it is okay to trust yourself and act on your own. But this is what Erenâs thinking:
That didnât turn out very well, did it? At the end of the expedition, Eren is forced to admit that the SC donât have all the answers and that all his power and training canât always keep everyone safe. Heâs once again reminded of that after activating the Coordinate â not even the power to control titans can avoid sacrifices.
Ideally, the type 6 can only reach the safety they seek once they allow themselves to move in the chaos with the courage to face it step by step, instead of predicting it. This may sound easy for others but not for them, especially if they are inserted in a reality where the cost of a mistake is lives. Â
So we get to the Uprising arc. It starts with the Survey Corps planning the retake of Wall Maria while they put Eren through hardening experiments. Time is not on their side and Erenâs determined to go beyond his limits during the tests.Â
âThey consequently try to further strengthen their âsocial securityâ systems by working harder to be accepted and approved by their allies and authorities⊠Others wonder if they resent the workloads and pressures they seem to be under, yet Sixes seem eager to fulfill their obligations and duties...â
Erenâs entire world would fall apart again once heâs kidnapped by Rod Reiss and discovers the truth of his fatherâs sin. Like I said earlier, Grisha was one of Erenâs authority figures, and even though he was absent, the basement key and the promised truth kept son and father connected. Wherever Grisha was, Eren could still count on the answers heâd left behind.Â
That is, until he is hit by a trainwreck of a revelation that his father killed an entire family and sacrificed himself to pass on the titans to him. Erenâs left completely lost, he no longer knows what to think of himself, of the world, of his father.
He falls from Level 4 to Level 7:
âSixes become trapped in an unhealthy pattern of self-disparagement and massive insecurity which reinforces feelings of inferiority and worthlessness, a marked deterioration from the indecision and evasiveness we saw [before].â
This shift to a much more confused and self-loathing state doesnât last long because Eren has his friendâs support for now. Historia chooses to see his worth and let him live. Levi once again challenges him to make his own decision, and Eren manages to save the day.
As Eren becomes aware of those destructive feelings, he tries to get rid of them by âfightingâ himself, in an attempt to put himself back up.
He realizes he isnât alone and he doesnât have to do everything on his own, people around him are also strong enough to stand up for themselves. That helps him return to a more average stage and it could have been the beginning of his growth...Â
Well, if only life wouldnât have a surprise waiting for him at every corner.Â
I hope youâre being able to follow and understand that we all have ups and downs in life. The levels of development represent exactly that, so it is common to find yourself in the same stage in different periods of your life. Nevertheless, after Eren learns the truth about the world and sees his future memories, it all goes downhill for him, no turning back anymore. Â
Here is what Riso comments on the ambivalence of the type 6 on Level 5:
âSixes begin to follow the narrow path between the expectations of their allies and authorities and their need to resist having any further demands placed on them.â
Eren is overwhelmed by the view of the outside world. He has experienced his fatherâs memories first hand and itâs nothing like what he expected. No one around him has the same perspective. A lot of self-awareness and self-doubt emerge from the future memories he saw through Historia. Riso explains that on Level 5 the person starts to become more worried about how their allies feel about them.Â
âThey become skeptical of new views and ideas, feeling that they have already put a lot of effort into understanding the perspectives and approaches they already know.â
Eren went from âI HATE TITANS ALL TITANS ARE MY ENEMIES DESTROY âEM ALLâ to âtitans are my people and they havenât chosen this horrible outcomeâ. And thatâs A LOT to process when you wrapped your life around that initial idea. But things are changing even faster, and his friends are talking about how the enemy could be reached out too. This thought needs to coexist in Eren with the clear image he has of the enemy, one that only he has accessed. Add to that how Eren was kept away from the Marleyan prisoners as Paradis also feared some kind of betrayal. As long as thereâs people out there against them, he canât so easily rest.Â
Who knows at what point Eren returns to Level 6. The time skip is covered very loosely. But probably when he is feeling so lost that he actually comes to Historia to vent.Â
âAs in other types, to be functioning in this Level or lower usually indicates that there were extremely dysfunctional elements in the childâs environment.â
Self-explanatory. Itâs even hard to talk about Level 6 because it is a point where Sixes start to overthink threats that arenât that big, but in Erenâs case, the threat is 100% REAL and thereâs a world isolating them and wishing for his people to die and throwing gigantic creatures at them. No big deal at all.
Eren turns to the people who actually understand the urgency he feels. Floch is eager to follow him, while Zeke and Yelena have an actual plan. Eren says heâs acting out of his own decisions, and he sure is, but he has also left it in Zekeâs hands to set the course. At this point, it no longer is a positive thing for the type 6 to have reassurance instead of a grounding support, itâll only leave them trapped in the current mentality.Â
What would be more appropriate would be a balance between rejectionâŠ
âŠand full acceptance. Â
(By the way, I canât even know where Historia stands, since she let him do his thing, but Iâm still using her here because of how immediate her reaction was, which could lead Eren to think he canât risk telling anyone else. Unhealthy Sixes are just that paranoid.)
Zeke could have been Erenâs new âauthority figureâ if their goals were the same. But more and more the only thing Eren is starting to rely on are the future memories.
Riso talks about how a violent environment would lead to violent actions and âthey end up using the same aggressive tactics on othersâ. And I can draw a parallel with how Eren has been facing titans for so long and watched them take people from him, that he just feels aggression arise whenever he thinks of all the injustice he has witnessed. Same would happen later on, when he sees Ymirâs memories and finally decides to unleash this pain on the world.
âItâs hard for Sixes to work for something. Instead, their energies are galvanized by being against people and things.â
Despite being highly conflicted and problematic, Eren so far has waited. Itâs too hard at this point to fully engage with those dreams, but he has watched things unfold and allowed the Survey Corps to do their stuff and try to contact the outside world. On Level 7, the type 6 is just going through the day with little hope. When the SC reaches Marley and Eren meets the boy of his memories, he can no longer escape from facing himself.
âTearful and obsequious, they are disgusted with themselves for not having been tough enough to stand on their own two feet, to defend themselves, to be independent.â
Not only Eren, but Paradis as a whole, have been unable to be independent in a much bigger world, or this is how he sees it after Kyiomi monopolizes the resources and the pro-Eldians group rejects the island. Finally, Eren recognizes in himself the person who would be capable of trampling the kid he currently wants to save, and that leaves him disgusted.  Â
âThey do not necessarily deceive others maliciously, but to escape punishment or abandonment. They believe they may be able to repair the damage they have caused...â
What Riso is saying here is that the type 6 feel the need to hide (themselves) so their loved ones wonât abandon them. And again, in Erenâs case, he has a damn good reason to think his loved ones might not be super happy if he said he was going to destroy the whole world. Letâs not forget they are the people who counted on him to save the world this whole time, and he is the person several people have been sacrificed for.Â
All this pressure has brought him this low, but Eren reaches rock bottom when he allows himself to admit he wished for it all to be destroyed. Now, he can no longer face his family (as he would tell Falco) and he has little faith in himself.Â
Again, Erenâs paranoias arenât so far from reality because there is, indeed, a world against them, and that keeps feeding into his anxiety. Paradisâs progress is little and the future is uncertain. When the type 6 reaches Level 9, they can no longer get out of this spiral. They know itâs only a matter of time until the threat comes to them. So they call the threat upon themselves.
Eren allowed himself to go as far as understanding his enemies and accepting that theyâre the same, but with the declaration of war, he canât wait anymore.
I already told you the reason: the type 6 needs to be able to predict. Thatâs the very core of their beings, their minds seek to control events. Striking first is their final attempt to make sure they wonât be taken by surprise. Ultimately, they are lost and desperate to find support again. Hereâs what Riso says about the type 6 on Level 9:
âThey may drop out, abasing themselves as vagrants and living in skid row conditions, thus allowing their health and minds to deteriorate to the point of no return.â
It almost feels like Isayama has read this book, I swear to God. Yeah, thatâs word by word what Eren does. He goes to enemy territory, injures himself and throws himself in war. Despite resisting for so long to a new perspective of his enemies, Eren allows himself to see them with his own eyes. All because heâs desperate to understand his enemy, desperate to understand himself (and what would lead to his decision) and desperate to run away from his friends. He is ashamed of choosing those future memories as his new authority figure, get it? They are the most certain thing in his life now. As much as he waited and as much as the SC tried, they donât have any guaranteed future and itâs just too hard for the type 6, especially unhealthy Sixes, to wait. Itâs impossible.Â
Remember I said that Sixes want to feel understood? Well, I think Eren feels understood, to some degree, when heâs among those broken soldiers. They are relatable, more than anyone else.Â
âNeurotic Sixes bring disaster of some sort upon themselves not to end their relationship with authority figures, but to reestablish a protective one. [...] It is also important to notice that neurotic Sixes are masochist not because they take pleasure in suffering as such, but because they hope their suffering will bring someone to their side whoâll save them⊠as if to say, âPunish me, because Iâve been bad. Then you can love me again.ââ
In the mind of the unhealthy type 6, if he canât find the answers, he canât be there for his allies. If he fails his allies, he doesnât deserve their support. But even when he feels he doesnât deserve it and feels they wonât forgive him, he desperately needs it â the type 6 doesnât know how to live without support. He is completely aware of his cowardice, he may unleash his despair in innocent people, he seeks punishment for his behavior and hopes for someone to end his pain.
âUnhealthy Sixes are self-defeating persons who are their worst enemies. If they persist in their masochist behavior, neurotic Sixes will drive away everyone on whom they depend. They will be abandoned and alone, the very things they most fear.â
Eren pushed everyone away, but deep down he waited for them to come to his rescue. He knew he was a lost cause, but still couldnât let go of what he saw as a compromise, a duty to them. His completely cruel and extreme actions are, in enneagram terms, his way to not leave his allies adrift. But arenât all his actions for his own freedom? I donât think so, not entirely. Thereâs a reason the type 6 has been named âthe loyalistâ â they always, always see themselves as part of a group. And in the end, he saw himself in Ymir, someone who was trapped and waiting to be rescued, understood. Don Riso says the worst part of coming this low is how much Sixes hurt others while they hurt themselves, both because they want to harm everyone who doesnât understand and to show people the worst in themselves; they want to punish and be punished at same the time.
That is what I wanted to break down â Erenâs inner process. Yes, the type 6 is an ambivalent, contradicting personality type, precisely because thatâs how they feel inside. Other enneagram types donât escape from their own personal conflicts, thatâs also important to point out. The enneagram does not define integrity, people capable of causing great harm exist in all types and no one from type 6 is fated to destroying the world â just in case that isnât obvious.Â
This post is heavy, I know. One of the things I love about SNK are the emotions it evokes and how human characters are. Iâm so thankful to have followed Erenâs fascinating journey. He has never hit me as a one-dimensional character as some people claim. To me, Eren is not a chad, heâs not a monster, either. Heâs just human.Â
Iâm thankful for this fandom as well. Weâre a total mess but the monthly wait wouldâve killed me without the crazy theories and the heated discussions. Â
#snk 137#snk 138#snk 139#Eren Jaeger analysis#attack on titan manga and anime#enneagram#LONG post#eren jaeger#snk analysis
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You seem to be really amazing at executing planned changes with food and exercise (and also generally better psychological habits) - can i ask for advice on this? Iâve finished up studying for now and realise my body has turned into a twisted up, pudgy, weakened wreck! Exercise hurts and sugar/processed food feels so cosy and I canât seem to get through this part where i have to feel discomfort for a while before i feel better!
What works for you? Should i read that atomic habits book you mention? I saw another one recommended - the Kindness Habit - do you know anything about it?
(I tried journaling btw - but it didnât get me anywhere)
hello!! i can share some things that have worked for me when it comes to implementing longer-term changes in diet and exercise. these seem really simple but i think that actually making big lifestyle changes is much less about summoning up colossal amounts of willpower and much more about making small but important tweaks to the way you think about/approach diet and exercise. here are five things that have been helpful to me.
(1) donât think of diet changes in terms of restrictions (i.e., âwhat delicious cozy sugary things do i have to deprive myself of today to be Goodâ). instead, approach diet changes as a fun little game of adding in as many good things as possible (fruits, veggies, leafy green things, nuts of all kinds, whole grains, beans, etc.). every single time you are preparing a meal or looking for a snack, describe it to yourself as a chance to be creative and resourceful, as you think about fun ways to add in small good things every time you eat. especially in the early weeks, donât restrict foods from your diet at all. focus solely on finding a creative way to add in something healthy and delicious every time you eat. (i really liked using the daily dozen checklist when i was starting outâthey have an app and itâs very satisfying and fun to see how many things you can check off the list each day.)
(2) narrate this âadding-inâ game aloud to yourself. for example: âohâwhat if i eat a big handful of berries on top of that ice cream?â, or âiâm hungryâooh, there are carrots in the fridge, arenât there? iâll eat three carrots with hummus before i switch over to pita chipsâ). and every time you figure out a creative way to add in a good food, stop and observe yourself doing it, and let yourself feel a little spark of delight at how clever and creative youâre being. this sounds silly, but i swear it works! part of changing your habits is changing self-talk & especially changing the kind of running narrative you have in your head about who you are and what you do. you can change that narrative in part by repeatedly reframing the way you tell it to yourself, ideally aloud (or aloud in your head) to help you can better âhearâ and internalize the new story. instead of âugh... i ate ice cream again. why donât i have any self-control? why am i someone who just eats like crap?â, youâre offering your brain an alternate story, one that focuses less on things you perceive yourself as lacking, or on things you âfailedâ to do, and more on the creative, positive things you did do (âi wasnât going to eat any fruit today, but wasnât it great that i remembered we had those frozen berries in the fridge? thatâs pretty creative and resourceful of me, and plus itâs a good way to use up something iâd forgotten i even hadâ).
the ânoticing and feeling delightedâ part is just as important. to successfully change a habit, you need to find creative ways to make the new habit pleasurable in and of itself. the more pleasure you feel when you do it, the more self-reinforcing the habit itself becomes. you might not experience eating healthy foods as intensely pleasurable (at least at first, especially if you are comparing them with the intense brain-hacking pleasure that super sugary foods give us). so donât try! instead, focus on making the choice a source of pleasure and delight. "look at how clever i was! look at how creative i can be! look at what a good choice i made! look at how good i am at this game of adding in!â that act of stopping, narrating, and letting yourself feel genuinely pleased with what youâve just done makes the choice to add something in pleasurable, which in turn can help fuel your sense that this isnât about having iron willpower or about cruelly depriving yourself of delicious things, but is about playing a fun little game with yourself, creating little challenges or puzzles for yourself throughout the day and then giving yourself positive reinforcement when you figure them out.
(3) manage your environment to set yourself up for success. to paraphrase the atomic habits book: the people who seem to have the best willpower are the people who have to exercise it the least. and they have to exercise it the least because theyâve very effectively managed their environment, arranging things so that the desired choices are easy and âfrictionless,â while the undesired choices or habits are more inconvenient or introduce more friction (itâs harder to get to them).
the easy starter version of this (from atomic habits): put the things you want to eat in highly visible places and/or in appealing arrangements, and put the things you don't want to eat in places that aren't visible or that are inconvenient to access. ice cream goes in the very back of the fridge, buried behind all the other stuff. nuts go in a bowl on your desk so that you can idly snack on them while you work. apples and bananas go in a big brightly colored bowl right on the counter, so that every time you pass through the kitchen your eyes are drawn to them. chips go in the bottom cupboard, the one below eye level that you don't use very often, and when you get them out you pour some into a bowl and put them right back in there (instead of leaving the bag out on the counter). make the choice you want to make easy, and make the choice you don't want to make harder to get to.
eventually, the most effective way of managing your environment is just to exercise total control over what comes into your own living space. for me, if i donât want to eat it, i donât have it in the house. i typically also place a curbside delivery grocery order so that i donât have to go into the storeâanything that comes into my house is something i made a deliberate choice about ordering, not something i wandered by a shelf and added to my cart because i wanted a treat. something iâve learned about myself over the years that moderation is just not in my vocabularyâiâm an all-or-nothing person, and itâs SO much easier for me to just not have stuff i donât want to eat in the house. no ice cream in the house. no alcohol in the house. no fried things, no chips, no candy, etc etc. if someone kindly brings me baked goods that i did not ask for, i genuinely appreciate the gesture, but as soon as they leave i give them to my next door neighbor or dump them in the trash. (SORRY TO PEOPLE WHO BAKE FOR ME!) if it's in the house i'll eat it. if it's not, i won't, and i also won't miss it.
i did do this pretty gradually at first, though! when i switched to a primarily whole food plant-based diet, i focused on playing the adding-in game for a couple weeks, and then when i started getting competitive about it i decided to use my grocery order as a way of creatively boosting my fruit/veggie/etc consumption even more, and in the process i started winnowing out things that took away chances to add in a good thing. i would say it took about three or four weeks to get to my personal ideal state of Nope I Don't Have It In The House.
it takes time, but iâd say that within a month of having only things you want to eat in the house, your cravings will be gone, at least within your own managed environment (going to restaurants or traveling DOES require you to exercise willpower, but there are ways to prepare for this in advance). the good news, though, is that 6-8 months or so of eating like this usually brings with it such improved sleep, mood, energy levels, skin, hair, GI function, etc etc that you start to be like oh my GOD why would i want to eat that horrifying thing?? I KNOW HOW BAD IT MAKES ME FEEL!! I WANT TO POWER MY BODY WITH PLANTS!!!!! in other words, the pleasurable side effects of eating well becomes positively reinforcing in its own right, while the negative effects you experience when you reintroduce sugar or fried things tends to reinforce the idea that those foods Feel Bad.
(4) it's not exercise, it's movement. i too used to hate exercise and found it extremely painful and tedious and horrible. so instead of exercising i just started moving. i canceled my membership at the local dog bar, where i had been taking my dog almost every day to let him run off excess energy, and started talking short walks with him twice a day instead. if you donât have a dog, offer to walk your friendsâ dogsâtrust me they will lose their MINDS with joy lol. i think that starting to build in regular walks is the best way to get active again, because walking is typically quite pleasant and it becomes positively reinforcing to like, wave at the same neighbors every day, and see the cute kids next door running around, and notice all the ways that the trees and flowers are changing, and so on.
if you do not find being outside inherently pleasurable (sometimes i do not lol esp if iâm grumpy about having to walk the dog), tie another pleasurable activity to your daily walk. i listen to about six hoursâ worth of hockey podcasts a week and i am only allowed to listen to them on my walks, so i end up looking forward to the walk because iâm desperate to hear people talk about My Guys. you can also walk with friends, or call a friend while youâre walking, which is even better than podcasts!! social walks are so much fun and go by so much more quickly. i started out just doing daily 15 min walks, and over the past couple years have built up to walking between 60-90 min a day when iâm at home. sometimes i hate/dread my walk; sometimes i love it and look forward to it. but regardless of how iâm feeling, i do it every day and if i miss it once, i donât miss it a second time.Â
as far as activity goes, i think itâs totally ok to just be a person who walks a lot! but iâve found that becoming someone who walked a lot helped change my own narrative of myselfâI started to think of myself as a walker, an active person who moved a lot every day. and that made it easier to pick up other forms of activity too, or at least to adopt a curious, exploratory attitude towards other forms of movement. also once you start tracking your active minutes you tend to get quite competitive about it! or at least i do, lol. i keep a note on my phone where i write down the date + type of activity + total number of minutes I did after every burst of activity, then at the end of the week i add it all up and compare it to the previous weeks. it makes me want to do more, to beat my own numbersâor it makes me want to keep up a streak (like, if i have a five-week period where iâve consistently hit a certain level of active minutes every week, i donât want to break it!!).
my biggest suggestion for exercise, though, is to figure out what kinds of things you enjoy and what kinds of things you donât, and then to spend all your time doing things you like. i HATE structured fitness classes and workout videos. i hate them so much!!!!!!!! but i love being outside, i love doing solo activities (as opposed to group workouts), and i love doing any form of movement that doesnât feel like a Planned Workout, capital w. also becoming a hockey fan got me really interested in skating, so i picked up rollerblades and found that to be amazingly fun too (something i can do outside AND something that feels like gliding around effortlessly AND something that makes me feel closer to My Favorite Guys!!!!). you may not have passionate feelings about hockey fandom as i do, but i think itâs really just about being creativeâfinding a creative way to link something you donât love to something you do love, or find pleasurable, so that you can start forging those positive associations.Â
i spent my first couple years of being more active just walking walking walking, and then this past year during the pandemic when i really ramped up my movement i added in longer walks, hikes, and rollerblading, and i also looked for ways to âhabit-stack,â ie attaching an activity i donât much care for (running; exercise biking indoors; doing squats and lunges) to one i do enjoy (i take my tennis shoes when i go skating and then go for a run immediately afterwards, before i have time to talk myself out of it). there are still all kinds of things i donât doâi really donât love strength training + bodyweight exercises yet, and i hate stretching even though I Know I Should, and i know that if i want to get stronger and faster, or build up my endurance, i will eventually need to introduce some element of structured training into my daily movement.
BUT the idea of making those changes seems kind of cool to me now, instead of Horrifying and Dread-Inducing! i feel like all the positive associations iâve forged have made me more curious and open to ideas i wouldâve resisted with my whole being not all that long ago. i found a way to make movement pleasurable, and then (thanks to sports fandom + my tendency to go down research rabbitholes) i found a way to get myself intellectually and emotionally engaged in the general concept of being a highly active person. for me, that combination of real pleasure + intellectual/emotional stimulation is what i personally need to build & maintain good habits.
(also, just shoehorning this in at the end because i like it: the âitâs movement, not exerciseâ mindset shift was also really helpful to me because it stopped me from thinking of exercise as like, this highly structured, regimented, torturous thing you forced yourself through for a set period of time each day, and helped me instead think of movement as something that humans are designed to do & to naturally enjoy. instead of Forcing Myself to Exercise, i looked for more natural-feeling forms of movement that didnât feel so artificially divided from my âreal life.â i think that helped with reframing my self-narrative, too! it made being active feel more integrated into my daily life, which in turn made it easier to think of myself as an active person, someone for whom movement was just a normal part of daily life and not a thing i had to psych myself up to do every day.)
(5) it takes time to build good habits, but not nearly as much time as you might think, and eventually you stop thinking about how long youâve been doing something and you just start enjoying it (ie it becomes a genuine change in your lifestyle/thinking, not an artificial thing you have to work hard every day to maintain).
i am not yet AN ATHLETE and may never be, but i often remind myself that it took me a little under 30 years to build up a PROFOUND aversion to exercise, so itâs actually kind of miraculous that in just two years iâve become someone who genuinely, earnestly, enthusiastically enjoys being active and feels antsy/weird/restless when i canât get out of the house and move. every small stride iâve made has strengthened my trust in myself and helped me reframe the narrative i tell myself about what kind of person i am and what i do/donât do. every time i do the thing (whether itâs exercising or making a delicious healthy dinner) & happily notice myself doing it, i reaffirm to myself that iâm the kind of person who takes care of my body and mind by eating well and spending lots of time moving outside. (as a side benefit, when i spend a lot of time happily noticing things and speaking encouragingly to myself, i also reaffirm to myself that i am a happy person who treats myself kindly and who is always eagerly seeking out experiences that feel joyful and life-affirming.)
plus, the more often you do something, the more opportunities you have to have positive experiences while doing it! not every walk is AMAZING, LIFE-CHANGING, DEEPLY FULFILLING, but like, if i am walking seven days a week, thatâs seven opportunities for something cool or fun to happen on a walk (not to mention seven opportunities to reap all the physiological & emotional well-being benefits of exercise!!). and if i am really conscious and intentional about noticing and actively delighting in those positive experiences, i help wire in those positive associations more deeply, and my brain/body increasingly comes to associate movement with happiness, joy, and fulfillment. as the habit of being more active becomes fulfilling in and of itself, i donât have to expend as much energy tricking or cajoling or bribing myself into doing it.
*
i hope this helps!! i am literally always happy to write extremely long essays in respond to simple anon questions, lol, so if you want to talk more about your own ideas for building better habits please do share!! i can also rec you specific books that iâve found really usefulâboth for just like, helping me figure out how to make big changes, and also for providing that intellectual stimulation that gets me more engaged in wanting to eat well & be more active.
(also, on the extremely slim chance that you are also a hockey fan: over in my fandom sphere, we are organizing a fun summer thing inspired by one of our fave hockey players, where weâll be planning lots of fun fannish community things to get ourselves moving this summer. itâs going to be a good time!!)
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Okey so Hi, me again! :)
I am actually wondering if the main characters are humans or/and other creatures?
Also, if you want to share it of course, I am wondering what relation are between them? Like how did they met and why? Maybe there's bigger purpose behind it?
*all their names have meanings and direct connects to who they are i just forget some of themÂ
here are their character sheets and a little worldbuilding mixed in
Name: Uriel
Gender: Male (he/him)
Race/Ethnicity: Angel, Caucasian
Age: Unknown (roughly 20 in human years if I had to give a number)
Family/Ancestry: An angel created by God, hierarchy system of angels (Archangels -> angels -> humans, this hierarchy system is only specific to their Realm), no "blood relatives", angels intended purpose is to protect and serve humans while providing knowledge, wisdom, and guidance
Realm: Realm of Angels (this name is a wip)
Appearance: light skin, blue eyes, silky long white hair, 6â 1â, slender body, wears a pure cotton full body robe
Personality: quiet, observant, reserved, has a fascination with knowledge and learning about other cultures, is learning to have empathy for the other races however itâs not tolerated towards the Fallen
Hobbies: playing his harp, reading history books, (with his exploration in the book he develops the hobbies of talking walks in the woods/enjoying nature, collects plants and herbs for fun)Â
Abilities: has the ability to heal, though healing only goes so far, wings can help him fly, trained at a young age to use a sword in combat if necessaryÂ
Sexuality: AsexualÂ
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Name: Azazel (Nickname: Zaz)
Gender: Male (He/Him)
Race/Ethnicity: Angel (Fallen), Mixed (Caucasian/African)
Age: Unknown (roughly 21 or so in human years if i had to give a number)
Family/Ancestry: was created by God, no longer associated with the Angels, no âblood relativesâ, considered to be a Fallen due to past transgressions, has a younger sister (not by blood) that he has protected ever since he lost his right to be an Angel
Realm: Realm of Obscurum (obscurum means darkness in latin)
Appearance: Brown skin, red (maroon) eyes , medium length dark hair with streaks of white, 5â 10â, slightly muscular build, wears a thin black turtleneck sweater, black cargo pants, combat boots, and a hooded cape
Personality: withdrawn due to his outcasting, empathetic but doesnât express emotions well, aggressive, doesnât trust people well, protector
Hobbies: hunting, collecting herbs (natural healing remedies), sharpening knives, playing with his sisterÂ
Abilities: was trained in sword wielding, but he prefers smaller dual wielding knives like daggers, hand-to-hand combat, used to have the ability to heal, knows a lot about the body
Sexuality: Gay (no this is not the reason he got cast out of the Realm of Angels)
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Name: Mitis (Nickname: Tess) (mitis means gentle in latin)
Gender: Non-binary (she/they), they use their pronouns interchangeably, however in her human form she prefers (she/her) and in their fae form they prefer (they/them)
Race/Ethnicity: Faerie, Scottish or Irish i can't decide lol
Age: 300 (roughly 19 years human age)
Family/Ancestry: Faeries have been around longer than the comprehension of the human mind. Mitis comes from a large family, filled with more brothers and sisters than she can count. Fae culture is deep rooted in survival, family, and trust. In their nature states, the fae are easily controlled due to their small size, so over the years with their magic, they can now present as human if they so choose
Realm: Realm of Faes
Appearance: in her âhuman formâ sheâs 5â 1â, red curly hair (wears a crown made of twigs, leaves, and flowers), freckles across their cheeks, green eyes, wears a short dress made of lilies, in her fae form, they look exactly the same but sheâs an inch tallÂ
Personality: peacekeeper, kind and loyal, headstrong, pacifist, wants to be a hero, wants to be considered an individual, but since she has so many siblings, she gets referred to as âtheyâ and the pronoun stuck but it's comforting for them, extrovert
Hobbies: reading, drawing maps, playing and talking with her siblings
Abilities: human form: bow and arrow (since being human is new and recent ability for the fae, she taught herself how to use a bow and arrow to defend herself), fae form: plant type magic (since they have developed their powers from birth, it's the strongest magic they possess)
Sexuality: Pansexual
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Name: Sibyl (nickname: Sib) (another word for seer)
Gender: Female (She/Her)
Race/Ethnicity: Human, Mixed (Filipino/Caucasian)
Age: 19
Family/Ancestry: Humans have been kept in check by the other Realms, but with that being said, they are the lowest Realm in terms of wealth and power. The Archangels in the Realm of Angels are in charge of looking after and governing the Realm of Humans as it is their duty to. She grew up without knowing her father, living with a single mother. She was blind at birth, but was also given the ability to see into the future. Maybe her father had magical abilities? But as far as anyone is concerned he was human too.
Realm: Realm of Humans (might change this name later)
Appearance: tan skin, short wavy black hair (neck length), grey eyes, 5â, wears a dark blue dress with see through sleeves (a slit down the middle of the sleeve), with a dark blue hooded cape, wears a belt with her essentials (weapons, food, water, etc)
Personality: Due to being exploited at a young age for her Seer Powers (as a way for her and her mother to make money), she has grown a distaste for people and beings in general, stubborn, manipulative, cold
Hobbies: Unknown
Abilities: can see into the future, can use her ability willingly when physically connected to the person in question, has some fighting abilities due to other heightened senses,, overexertion causes headaches and nosebleeds
Sexuality: Unknown (questioning)Â
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Name: Indra (means warrior god of sky and rain in indian)
Gender: Female (She/Her)
Race/Ethnicity: Water Nymph, Indian
Age: 18 (water nymph years)
Family/Ancestry: Water Nymphs come from the ancestry of all women. Water nymphs are âbornâ during heavy rainstorms or thunderstorms. Heavy rainstorms/thunderstorms only happen roughly every few centuries due to water nymphs having a shorter lifespan (mother nature type of situation, in order to not flood the world). Water Nymphs tend to stay in one area, but the ocean is expanding drastically. Indra was born during one of the most destructive rainstorms of the century, she was the only one born that century and thatâs how she received her name. She was raised by a community of Water Nymphs, she considers them all her sisters.
Realm: Realm of Nexus (Realm of Nexus is the largest of the physical present Realms on the planet)
Appearance: blue skin, plump cheeks, dark long wavy hair, purple/violet eyes, 5â 3â, wears a tube top and high/low flared shirt, wear a bracelet made of grass and it has a little water lily attached to itÂ
Personality: positive, free-spirited, emotionally oriented, headstrong, mischievous
Hobbies: swimming, taking care of animals, sunbathing, having conversations with people close to her, training
Abilities: emotional based powers, powers are heightened when her emotions are heightened (both positive and negative emotions), negative emotions are more destructive while positive emotions are more creative, uses water around her as a weapon
Sexuality: Straight
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Name: Lunar
Gender: Male (He/Him)
Race/Ethnicity: idk he's from the moon :), African
Age: 19
Family/Ancestry: Not much is known about space and anything beyond Earth (aside from the Realm of Angels), but what is being recently discovered is that there is a civilization on the Moon, a new peace treaty was introduced and now they are considered a Realm. No one really knows how they got there, but they are similar to humans except they use telepathic communication to reach each other. Talking vocally is not uncommon, Lunar has selective mutism which means at a younger something traumatic happened and he chooses not to speak. Lunar was picked to explore Earth and everything it has to offer. Lunar comes from a family of four; a mother, father, and a younger sister. Lunar uses telepathic communication, written communication, and USL (universal sign language) to communicate with others.
Realm: currently travelling between realms *an excuse to not call it Realm of the Moon đ€Ą
Appearance: long braided white hair, blue-grey skin tone, dark blue eyes, 5â 5â, lanky build (but also stronger than he looks), wears white dress shirt with a dark blue vest, belt, and black pants, wears dress shoes, wears a satchel that holds his notebook and pen (his communication devices)
Personality: calm, quiet, reasonable, strategic, sweet, great listener
Hobbies: charting stars, playing with his younger sister, traveling
Abilities: telepathic, can communicate with others through his mind (with their permission), if there is a full moon, he can manipulate peopleâs thoughts though he's never done so, when communicating out-of-mind; he signs or writes it in his notebook
Sexuality: Straight
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As for the next part of your ask, im completely fine talking about their relationships with each other and how they met (though as of rn, some stuff is set in stone and other aren't)
let's start with ships! so there are 2 ships out of the six and only one of them is romantic. lunar and indra will eventually be in a romantic relationship, they were the easiest to pair together. I first created what kind of being they were going to be. indra and lunar are inspired by the fact that the moon pulls the tides on the earth, so you could say its fate :') the second relationship is uriel and azazel, they are platonic soulmates. i had to give a lot of thought about uriel and azazel's relationship and what I wanted it to be or mean. all I can say is, is that uriel is asexual and comes to that revelation through self growth with zaz! I also thought about having mitis and sibyl have some kind of romantic relationship, but I didn't feel right so they are simply friends and who will eventually trust each other a great deal.
i like to think of them as a family: uriel and zaz are like the parents of the group (zaz will never admit it though), mitis and indra and the mischievous kids, they mess around and do dumb stuff because it looks fun, sibyl is like the brooding teenager (if this world had headphones, she'd never listen to anybody), and lunar is just the good kid parents always want lol
next is how they all met! this is actually what I'm trying to figure out in my writing right now, so its great that you asked this because I can think on it and solidify it more. the rough idea i have, is that uriel finds an old book hidden behind a wall or a bookshelf in one of the historical archives that tells a story of the future (Uriel's present) of the event of a catastrophe that hasn't happened yet, but six individuals from all 6 Relams needing to save the world. uriel is essentially the catalyst that gets the group together because curiosity got the best of him. in terms of the order they met: Uriel meets Sibyl because he was assigned to monitor her and guided her cause she was causing ruckus in the Realm of Human. Sibyl gets a glimpse of the future and decides to trust him enough to see this through, they then meet Azazel, Mitis, and Indra (though I don't know what specific order yet) and Lunar is last, and they literally just run into him as their traveling in the woods like "who are you đł"Â
also yes, them coming together definitely has more than its letting on, but I'll keep it to myself for now ;)
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im still working out the kinks of the whole "saving the world" bit and whether or not I should introduce a villain to the story! but each of the main six do have problems of their own they have to solve and most importantly they have to learn to coexist because the fate of the world depends on it
im sorry this post was so long, it was probably a lot of reading, but I meant it when I said I'd talk your ear off lol feel free to ask more questions:)Â
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