#just analysing the character I hyperfixate on

[sunnieschaos]

So you know how kdj has always been kind of... alone?

Like he's been ostracised by classmates, shunned by family members, treated badly by society in general. And this happened during what were some of his most formative years.

I believe that's a big reason for why he acts like he's such a bad person. He has kind of been treated like he was one for all those years. Being called a murderer's son and all that.

Idk it just reminded me of how willingly he accepted being called a villain at some points in the main story.

[embv]

anyway if anyone is curious about where i’m at with the dsmp lore, i’m at that awkward stage where my initial hyperfixation for a character has died down and i sit back and think about their actions and their behaviors and i look back at how i justified/rationalized those as being better (or done with good intentions) than they were, and at how i would have characterized this character in the height of my hyperfixation, and i realize: wow, this character is more of an asshole than i was willing to admit, and i think part of me even knew that but was just too protective of my idea of them to admit that, maybe, despite already knowing they were an asshole, they were a Lot meaner than i treated them as, and i’m going to have to adjust my characterization of them and their subsequent dynamics with other characters (while still remaining in line with canon content and canon themes) because of it.

[sunaluv]

Kinda random but what if Earth42! Miles had a s/o who was bitten by a spider as well (maybe just an AU where 1116 Miles didn’t get bitten by the spider or there was another one) and they are both rivals under the masks but literally love eachother without them bc they don’t know each other’s identity?? And some angsty if they were in battle and he was beating her tf up and literally about to kill her and removes the mask and MORE ANGST AHH. Thank You!!

omg i luvvv this idea!!!

"-coming up next, more sightings of the prowler around brooklyn. though his intentions unknown, it can be assumed that-"

both you and miles were sat in silence listening to the news report. his arm around your shoulders begun to bounce up and down as he watched the news lady talk about how he was an assumed criminal.

"out of everything, you choose to watch the news?" an unimpressed expression drew on his face, hoping you don't take note of the slight agitation in his tone.

"yeah." your gaze is stuck on the tv, eyes dancing around the screen trying to analyse as much as you can from the tv as you watched the masked figure evade the cameras lens.

the prowler was a... difficult subject for you. the you miles doesn't know about at least. the few interactions you've had with him as spider woman were very confusing. you obviously had a feud going on, the game of cat and mouse coming nowhere to an end. but for some reason, your spider senses seemed to be immune to him-- one of his abilities you assume. since that fact was revealed to you, you've been hyperfixated on the boy, using any public (sometimes private) resource out there to get a one up on him.

a deep groan came from your boyfriends throat. "you have a crush on him or somethin', ma?"

finally, your gaze is removed from the tv. "maybe i do," you teased, "he's an interesting character,"

nothing else was said that night and miles was forced to watch you stare this guy (which was him) down. it got to the point where he wasn't even sure you had blinked in the past 10 minutes.

once the headlines were no longer about the prowler, you had a change of heart and decided tv was no longer interesting and called it a night.

"sorry i was kinda absent tonight," you stood up with the intention of going to sleep. "you can sleep over if you want."

"all good. i don't think i can stay over though." miles rubbed his hands on his thighs, before standing up. "ill catch you later, mami."

he kissed your cheek gently, before leaving.

you walked him to the door, listening until his footsteps were out of view. once the hallway was quiet, you walked to your room with practiced, hushed footsteps before sliding your spider suit on with familiar fastness.

with a new objective in mind, you elegantly swung towards the main city whilst keeping an eye out for potential danger on the way. after making your daily night time rounds, you perched on top of a tall office building to rest a little.

"you're back."

the familiar voice spoke from behind you. the prowler had once again startled you with his masked prescence. thankfully, you were certain he had no way of telling how your heart rate slightly increased from the shock.

"saw you on the news today," you stood, making your way towards the man who had yet to move an inch. "you've officially been recognised as a criminal, congrats."

he watched, allowing you to get within meters of him. through your peripheral, you noted the subtle glow rasiating from his claws. you waited for him to make his move and it came.

finally, your spider sense reacted.

though the period between the instinct and the attack was much too short and before you knew it, he had dealt a heavy blow to your side but this attack was not like the others. whatever that was glowing in his hands had stored enough force to blast your body way leftwards, making you fall off the building.

the next series of attacks came quick. after using your webs to save yourself from falling, you quickly generated an electric current in your hands as you were now on the defense.

your spider sense was going crazy, as if making up for all those times it had failed you in the past.

left. right. from behind. a flurry of attacks were unleashed on you, filled with such hatred. you had managed to shock him a few times, but he had also snuck in a few of his own, never seen before attacks.

fifteen minutes have passed and the two of you were running on pure adrenaline at this point. all cards have been revealed and nobody had the juice to keep pulling out the flashy special attacks from before.

he had you pinned to the ground. "this ends right now araña," he held his claw to your throat, spikes digging into your skin hard enough to draw blood.

from behind the mask, miles watched as you choked and struggled, before going limp in his hold. he checked your pulse and confirmed you had just passed out. he had time to deal with you later, he needed some information before he discarded you after all.

releasing his hands from the claws, his fingers hooked under the mask to lift it and his blood ran cold seeing you, his lover, passed out on the dirty streets of new york with blood running down your face and bruises and cuts marked on cheeks which he had kissed an hour before.

he had done this to you. even worse, he had come at you with the intention to kill you.

"what have you done, mi amor," he whispered, eyes glossing over. "i'm so sorry," he had lifted you up and hugged you as tight as he could whilst trying not to apply more pressure to your cracked ribs which was again, his fault.

miles, the man who swore to kill anyone who harmed a hair on your pretty little head had now become the man he hated.

[sepublic]

People -and this did include myself at one point- really don't want to engage with the fact that Belos is modeled after white supremacy by trying to bury this under the lens of "Oh he's actually a lonely weirdo like Luz!!!" when Belos' superiority complex is the most important part of him and it's where all analyses inevitably must stem from. I think the problem is that people are too attached to their speculative fanon version of Belos and instead of letting go of that to rebuild their understanding of him from the ground up (since he's a mysterious character who is only gradually revealed bit by bit), they keep clinging to this sympathetic tragic villain as the core behind their interpretation of him. 

Everything about Belos makes so much more sense when you explore him as someone akin to a lot of right-wing 4channers; A lonely young boy who was radicalized because white supremacy promised to rescue him from his isolation, and after buying into it wholesale, he very much chose to cling onto the need to be superior to the "NPCs" even when someone close to him actually unlearns and deconstructs for him why this is harmful. He sees firsthand how someone just like him is happier for leaving this mindset, and then kills them to eliminate that contradiction threatening his world belief; At which point it’s inaccurate to infantilize him as just a lonely and misguided kid, because he’s no longer a kid and he made a very cognizant and informed choice to double down and commit actual violence.

And everyone knows that by this point, such people are not actually being sincere; They’re not secretly misguided, you can’t simply attribute their harm to not knowing better because this is what their religion says or whatever. These people know they’re committing harm, but rather than help on “lesser” people’s terms, they ‘help’ the way THEY see fit, in the way that strokes their ego. That’s what separates Philip from someone like Gwen, who humbled herself to focus on what Eda was saying she really needed. So the Titan’s summarization of Belos as someone who only cares about being the hero in his own delusion, and fears what he can’t control is… hardly an oversimplification, it really gets to the core of Belos as a character, and the narrative he embodies. It captures the difference between wanting to help and having a savior complex, and is what ends up delineating the two at the crucial crossroads. 

And I find it a little concerning to joke about how this type of character is “just a silly guy” when people exactly like him are on the rise and committing very real violence right now. It’s also why I don’t buy the justification behind a lot of salt about how villains need to be humanized in order to show kids how THEY can become villains, because the show is fairly outright about how Belos rationalizes atrocities under the guise of the ‘greater good’ and refuses to self-reflect, and it’s not as if we don’t have Luz learning to understand characters like Amity or Lilith, the Collector and even Kikimora (whom she DID relate to personally, yet Kiki still doubled down with or without Belos), while still having the show emphasize that they need to get their act together and can’t just depend on people to save them. 

There’s also the very obvious theme of Luz realizing she doesn’t owe her oppressor anything, especially not when he won’t ever meet her or anyone else on their terms, but idk some people just seem to hate Luz for having boundaries I guess, even though she already put in the effort to be kind and understanding to Belos and she got hurt for it. Hell the Collector made that effort after being inspired by Luz, and Luz was murdered protecting them from that mistake!!! There are some very obvious stories and lessons being told here with the actual protagonists being the heart of those narratives, but the problem I’ve noticed is that a lot of the people complaining on Belos’ behalf are those who hyperfixated almost exclusively on the Wittebane aspect of the lore, going over it with a fine tooth comb and microscope to extrapolate an entire fanon from the littlest of details… only to just ignore the actual show and narrative and themes happening on-screen. 

And that leads to many not understanding various narrative decisions because they weren’t really paying attention to the actual point they’re in service to, and then they blame the writers for their own chosen ignorance, and how the story wasn’t about their part specifically so everything else doesn’t count and the whole show is wasted potential, really. The way so many of said fans immediately turned on Luz after the finale and tried to drag her down to Belos’ level by acting like she wasn’t any better for also wanting things and 'demonizing enemies', claiming Luz had unaddressed ‘flaws’ while Belos deserved more sympathy, and framing Belos as a ‘better’ character who ‘worked harder’ while claiming Luz was retconned into an arrogant chosen one who never grew, is actually baffling.

A lot of them are just upset that Belos didn’t play the role in Luz’s arc that they wanted him to play, so they’ve opted to dismiss Luz’s overall storyline as badly written and even a reflection of Dana's 'Catholic complex' (which is a tasteless jab to make) because they neglected the nuance behind every other aspect of Luz that wasn’t directly tied to Belos, that didn’t set her up as the one person who understands him or whatever because that’s more important to them than addressing the sheer trauma and pain that Belos willingly inflicted upon Luz. Because god forbid this brown girl be angry against her white abuser, huh? God forbid the white guy be used to set up the brown main character, rather than the other way around right????? It’s really just a jealous complaint about the show’s choice of priorities and celebration, hidden under the false guise of ever caring about Luz’s arc for Luz’s sake.

And that’s how you get insincere arguments about how Belos should’ve been able to survive, that’s how you get AUs that undermine the lessons of canon to egregiously relegate Luz to being Belos’ sidekick, or even present her as an obstacle to him getting his much-needed redemption, as if that last part hinges on all of Belos’ victims getting over their pain to help him, because obviously he needs it more than they do! Because we gotta spare Belos’ feelings by giving him friends instead of consequences!!! Unbelievable. He is not Amity, not Lilith, and definitely not Hunter, and the people who forgave them had actual reason to do so. And even Lilith had to move in with her mother so she could be given reparations by someone who actually owed it to her, rather than her younger sister and two kids.

And there’s definitely a major difference between Lilith and Gwen’s dynamic and Philip and Caleb’s, especially since Caleb was also a child when he moved into Gravesfield. Even if you think Belos' bigotry was radicalized due to 'grief' over losing his brother to witches, that's just entitlement and control because it's not as if Caleb can't have more than one positive relationship in his life; Philip is no better than people who blame minorities for some incident in their life and use that as justification to become white supremacists, and there's nothing sympathetic or 'tragic' about that.

But the point is that Caleb ultimately wasn’t THAT important to Belos because he’d always be secondary to witch-hunting, Belos clearly chose his white supremacy over his brother, and any ‘takebacks’ that come in the form of the Grimwalkers are insincere given Belos does nothing to actually repent or regret his violence committed on the people of the isles; It’d have been one thing if he DID try to undo his mistake by choosing differently, by cloning Caleb and giving up witch hunting, but he still doesn’t (Note that Belos does not hallucinate the ghosts of the witches he killed; He still feels no remorse over them, because his fear of being wrong comes from a selfish place). And unlike Luz, Belos can’t have it both ways because one option explicitly calls for the extermination of the other; It’s the Paradox of Tolerance that Luz struggled with, except contrary to what Belos claims, humanity’s existence does not require the eradication of others.

Because yes there IS a meaningful moral distinction between Luz and Belos -don’t forget they’re not just parallels but explicit opposites- that occurs even before you get into the genocide, not that you should neglect that other part either because it’s incredibly important, being the starting point for this entire rant. Society already has a bias towards devil’s advocating bigotry as some big misunderstanding, and prioritizing the angst of white dudes who commit it over the victims of color; Can we avoid applying that to fiction?!??!? I literally saw someone complain that the show didn’t portray Belos’ grief from murdering Luz, and that Luz’s “glory moment” took away from a Wittebane backstory!!! At this point, people are just being racist.

[tubbypeddle]

Hi again!! I loved the matchup thank youu!! Now I'm wondering though if you maybe have any headcanons for what the part 5 characters (Bucci Gang and/or La Squadra 🤭) would be like with an autistic s/o 👀?

Hi again!! and how cutteeeeee <33 I'm autistic myself, so honestly i'm just projecting here how i want them to treat me teehee

(author's notes: credits to gif owners, of course <3

Without further ado, hhehehehe

Bruno Bucciarati

He doesn't always understand why you do the things you do, but he always always makes an effort to be patient.

He'll eat the food you can't, he'll listen to you ramble and ramble and show genuine interest. He's basically the perfect partner.

Sometimes, when he's out running errands and finds something related to what you're hyperfixated on, he'll get it for you if he has the cash.

When he's making food for you, he's careful to make only food that you'll enjoy eating. Many chicken nugget and mac and cheese dinners.

He's a little firmer with you than he is with the rest of the team, when it comes to you getting hurt. It's because he worries more for you than he does about everyone else. Not only are you his partner, but he feels responsible for your safety. If something happens to you, it's because of him.

Leone Abbacchio

Honestly, he might make you feel a bit bad at first, but it's not on purpose. He doesn't know what autism is, or how to handle people who have it.

But he learns to. Because he feels bad when Bucciarati tells him that he made you feel awful.

So he goes out of his way to research how autistic people feel, why they act the way they do.

Because of his (kinda outdated) research, interactions with him might feel so so scripted. He means well, though.

When you're feeling overstimulated and like every little touch could set your bones on fire, he's happy to just sit in silence with you. As a silent reassurance that he's still here for you. Or even if you want space alone, he'll let you know that his door is unlocked for you, if you want to come to him later.

You're his favorite person, he wants you to know that he's here for you.

Giorno Giovanna

He's autistic himself, even if he doesn't know it.

So he understands you a lot better than everyone else will.

He lets you talk whenever he's available for you, and he often makes time for you in his schedule too. He does a great job making you feel special to him.

Often times, the two of you will sit in relative silence, just existing in each other's presence. But sometimes, when he feels especially jittery, the two of you will infodump on each other about your special interests. He just rambles on and on about the Mafia and what he plans to do with it, and then he'll listen to you ramble about whatever it is you're interested in.

He has a bad habit of eating foods that he doesn't like the texture of, leading to him shutting down or feeling gross afterwards. Mostly because in his childhood, it's either he ate what his house had or he starved, autism be fucked.

It's something you slowly nudge him out of, with much stubbornness on his end. Internalized ableism is so fun, huh. /s

Pannacotta Fugo

He definitely already knows he's autistic himself, so he often does things for you that he himself would enjoy happening to him.

He gets you gifts for your special interests, or he'll research your special interest so he can talk about them with you.

He's very anxious all the time, scared he might hurt you or do something to hurt your feelings. You might have to reassure him very often that you're not scared of him.

His favorite thing to do with you is read together. Like a little book club with just the two of you. Or even writing little essays about things you like so you can read his thoughts and analyses on them. Or drawing with you, even if he's really bad at it. Art composition was his worst subject when he was in school, after all.

He didn't have any hyperfixations before he met you. Which was a little boring for him, even if he spent most of his time trying to survive the mafia anyway. But after meeting you, you became his favorite person. And then you become his new hyperfixation, and you're all he can think about ever.

It's very infuriating for him sometimes. (in the good way)

Narancia Ghirga

Another case of "doesn't know he's autistic".

He's the loud kind of autistic. Socially unaware, but emotionally available to everyone. It's no surprise that he feels himself drawn to you.

He'll talk if you don't want to, he'll eat everything you don't want to (even if he doesn't like it). He just really wants you to like him.

He absolutely lets you indoctrinate him into your special interests. He likes whatever you like, and more! He might accidentally talk over you, just because he's so excited to finally have someone to talk about his interests with.

He means well, though.

Absolute cuddler, all the time. So if you're not that big on physical touch, he'll find another way to cuddle you. He'll put a big body pillow between the two of you and hug that instead, just so he can still be next to you and still hold onto something like that.

Never say that Narancia doesn't have his moments.

Guido Mista

He's very open-minded most of the time, so he handles you being autistic very well.

He handles all of you little "quirks", as he calls it, very well, too. His mentality is "if you don't like it, you don't like, and if you like it, great."

So if you don't want to eat something because of texture issues, that's fine, he'll take it. You don't want to hear something because it feels like glass on your skin, he'll turn on something else.

It really is that simple to him.

He just wants for you to be happy, and if anyone gives you trouble for something that you can't help, he'll shoot them. Easy as that.

[miwiheroes]

Hi welcome to miwiheroes <3

*australian accent* 'Ello this is Eli, president of miwiheroes club and I realised I never made an intro post, also this is a little masterpost where you can find all the analysis/ byler rambling posts without having to scrolls through my account :D

I'm 18 years old (just about to start university im terrified)

he/him

I may look like an aggressively straight man but no one knows i'm actually hyperfixated on shipping two queer guys from a sci-fi netflix show

I'm a capricorn, infp, bisexual and trans ftm

i'm in quite a few fandoms but rn im hyperfixated on byler so... i'm also into the grishaverse fandom, good omens, dan and phil, + marauders

i'm from england

my spotify is 'figflower' and: Here are my byler playlists!!

i have an ao3 and i am releasing a fic rn called "vibrant days (caution to the breeze)"

i never used to write analysis on film but thx byler tumblr because i've been missing out

if you were wondering, my favourite characters from stranger things are (in this order): will, mike, hopper and el <3 okay see ya

MY ANALYSES:

(i will update these as i make them. my more massive analyses are highlighted in blue)

Confirmation that Mike jumping into the quarry was about Will

Milkvan's conflict, Byler, and the concept of understanding

Byler and the insane amount of Closet Imagery

Season 1 Mike is extremely queer-coded

The most important 'Will Voice' scene

Mike's bedroom is insane

FULL airport scene analysis Season 4

What if Mike's gay from the beginning of S5 like Will in S4?

You're not delusional: What I noticed when I wasn't a byler

Thinking about the monologue…

Mike is clearly thinking about Will in the Snow Ball scene

Light is symbolic for truth = byler endgame

Have fun! And if you don't ship byler ur allowed to interact but if you want to hate on it, please don't interact! I'll just delete any hate because I personally think there is no space for homophobia or negativity on my page.

You'll also find 0 byler doubt here. I don't want to worry people. So ily <3

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi! I’ve been reading your stuff for a while and finally worked up the courage to ask: Are you,,, are you secretly Yana or something? Everything you write but specifically the analyses make so much sense and show such a good understanding of the characters that it’s starting to feel like the realization of those “how I would interact with my fan base if I ever became a famous writer” posts.

Jokes aside (unless?) I honestly don’t think I would still be playing Twisted Wonderland if it wasn’t for your blog. Level locked story is my biggest pet peeve for any video game and I nearly ditched midway through book 2 because of it. Your posts have kept me excited about the characters and the story and now I’m nearly done book 5 (stuck again by the level thing but oh well)

Really I just wanted to thank you for all the amazing writing you do

Heya, hello, hi ^^ Thank you for gathering the courage to share your thought! I know that can feel awkward or overwhelming for some people, so I'm grateful to receive asks like this.

zvsksbjwgehCSfX I’m definitely not Yana, I’m just a casual fan 😂 unless…?/j I tend to hyperfixate and see creative writing and analysis as an outlet to think deeper about what we have + tide me over during the early stretches of TWST when new content and banners were not as consistent as they are now. If other people (like you!) enjoy that, then I’m glad!!

Gacha games like Twisted Wonderland take a lot of time and investment (with fairly repetitive gameplay), so it's normal and totally okay for people to feel bored or burnt out by it. I'm definitely also someone that wouldn't have been as involved as I am now if I hadn't found a community to get excited about TWST with me. It's nice to have people to bounce off of! I'm happy that I was able to be part of your own TWST journey. Again, thank you for your appreciation!! Wishing you good luck with book 5 and beyond~ 🍀

[hbpseverus]

What the internet did to James Potters character is actually so incredibly fascinating... in canon, this man was a background character who served not much of a purpose other than being used as a tool to develop other characters. We see him in like two scenes in the entire franchise: a throwback to Hogwarts where he acts so horribly that his own son, who previously *admired* him more than anything, is in total shock and disgust when he sees it. Not only does James commit an act of SA out of literal boredom, he is also seen treating his own 'friends' - Remus, Peter and Lily - as if they are worthless or beneath him, all within a few pages. I could probably write a whole essay about the dynamics between all of the characters present in Snape's worst memory, they way this supposed friend group was already falling apart, the way James and Sirius treated Remus and Peter with utter disrespect. Anyway, the other scene he appears in is when he dies. And that's it. That's all we have. On top of that he was, in canon, pictured to be average looking at most, a pasty kid with nerdy glasses and an even more nerdy hairdo that would most likely make him the victim of bullying, rather than the bully, at a real school. And the only people who talk of any sort of character development are his old friends and teachers, the same ones who either stood by or actively participated while he harrassed *several* other students for fun and casually commited acts that could probably land an adult man in prison for a few years. Plus they were trying to restore some of the glorious image of his father that Harry had in mind. So, not the most reliable source.

The fascinating part is how a corner of the internet managed to hyperfixate on this background character who was pictured as nothing but an awful person in the books, erased *all* of his canon character and turned him into the exact opposite. Suddenly he looks about ×1000 times more attractive in fanart, and all bad things he did are conveniently forgotten. Same goes for Sirius, especially in relation to the Wolfstar ship. James and Sirius were clearly close friends, but Remus? He was just strung along, not given the same respect. Sirius carelessly yaps about his being a werewolf in the middle of the schoolyard where anyone could hear and talks about how he wishes it was a full moon so they could have 'fun' - a sentiment I'm not so sure Remus shared. It's a very unhealthy and dysfunctional friendship that would be even worse if it was a romantic relationship. That being said, they are all very complex, very flawed characters who are extremely interesting to analyse. Fanon often strips away any complexity that these characters had in canon in order to make them more appealing. It's just... a shame almost, at least in my opinion. These fanon characters are entirely unappealing to me. I respect them as a sort of seperate fandom with their own original characters, but it's gotten so mixed up with canon that people no longer remember who these characters truly are, and if you bring up and dare to criticize their ugly sides in any way, then good luck soldier.

[saschuv]

Some of my thoughts on Naruto as a (kinda) intro post!

Hyperfixating on Naruto rn and wanted to try write some thoughts down. It’ll become obvious very fast that I love sasuke and believe he deserves that absolute world and will defend him until my last breath thank you 🫶

I hate the narrative of Naruto for how it treated sasuke and the Naruto ending being literllay pro-konoha and sasuke is convinced he has to “repent”?? Like what’s he repenting for? Being a victim?

Imagine growing up having witnessed the genocide of your family by the one you love the most, tortured having to watch it over 500,000 times and being told to hate and kill that person that you once loved…

I don’t understand Itachi fans who will say they don’t like sasuke for what he does and his mindset when its Itachi who manipulated and moulded him into what he is… like you don’t like his actions and that he’s the ‘villain’ (in the eyes of many fans) when itachi told him to pretty much do all this. E.g kill his closest friends (Naruto) and only focus on becoming stronger to kill him.

Sasuke had every right to attack Konoha, the overall shinobi system and those that tried to uphold it.

Disclaimer: Naruto is a show that I love and means a lot to me. I enjoy analysing characters and themes within shows so that’s what you’ll probably be seeing me do on here. I just have a problem with some of the things within the story such as certain characters and especially how the narrative portrays things. Just remember this is all fictional and it’s never that deep I just want to express my opinions if you disagree then just don’t interact with me.

[chiprewington]

hello again!!!!! sorry to appear in your askbox once more but. have you ever considered doing an overall lore analysis of ttcc? i found your chip character analysis very helpful when it came to understanding him and how he behaved as someone who is incredibly new to the fandom and its lore as a whole with a short attention span. of course, it always up to you if you ever do decide to explain the rest outside of chip!!!! i dont mean this to pressure at all, just genuine curiosity!!!!!

Hi, I really do appreciate that you found my Chip Analysis super helpful!!! Unfortunately I, don't think I'd be able to do, say, other character analyses or an analysis of TTCC's lore as a whole...

The struggle is that my hyperfixation is. Chip Specific. I'm like that post about how it feels like you're someone really enthusiastic about Mustard and need to pitch in whenever someone talks about Condiments

Ultimately, my specialty lies with one specific character and I don't know if I'd ever really have a drive to dive deep with the same amount of intricacy and analysis unless something crazy happens where I'm struck with a similar amount of hyperfixation!

[marshvlovestv]

No game has ever made me sit down and start writing academic-level essays like Scarlet Hollow does. There are just... so many angles it could be analyzed from, and so many fascinating themes running through it. The personhood of children, the personhood of animals, things that are passed down through the generations, from the negative (generational trauma) to the positive (local traditions and folklore).

I'm not that knowledgeable on horror as a whole, but I know there's a notion that supernatural horror is often representative of more realistic fears, and from what I've noticed, the theme running through all the horror concepts in this game is a lack of autonomy, be it economic autonomy from living under capitalistic oppression, social autonomy from an overbearing parent, or bodily autonomy, with everything from the Ditchlings taking over animals' bodies to be hosts for their young to Charles Shaw Jr. hijacking the characters' bodies and using them as puppets.

As the most alive and reactive choice-based game I've ever encountered, I obviously see a lot of space to talk about choice and free will and morality (does it blow anyone else’s mind that so much of what happens in this town, right down to who lives or dies, is entirely dependent on the decisions of this one single person? How much power the player and by extension the cousin really has? It’s what makes it fun to play but it must also be so terrifying from the cousin’s perspective). And the comparative analyses that could be made with other games based on this too… My dream comparative analysis would be between Scarlet Hollow and, um, the Quantic Dream library? I’m sorry devs, I promise I don’t mean that as an insult - David Cage is a bad person who makes bad games but there’s also always been this boldness to the choices those games allow you to make and the ways they can branch that I kind of respect? I’m very glad I now have Black Tabby to look up to in that regard instead.

All of that, plus the game is a real masterclass in worldbuilding and characterization and pacing and humor… I would use it as a teaching aid in a creative writing class, for sure.

I’m sorry for the long post, it’s just that this game makes every neuron in my brain fire rapidly. I’m the kind of person who always tries to elevate my hyperfixations to the level of high art, because I like having this kind of stuff to analyze. Scarlet Hollow is the first fixation in a while that’s made it so easy. It really deserves to be elevated in such a way. Video game good. Make me think. The end.

[transbutchblues]

my hyperfixation on the locked tomb will be the death of me. i am now making a document with all relevant informations on tlt (according to me) for when i try to make theories. for now i’ve written down informations about the Houses, the Lyctors, and some characters (main information + name meanings. i love name meanings). now i need to compile information about the River and the Lyctoral Process. and to analyse some Edgar Allan Poe poems for Alecto, of course. then i think i might just make a chapter-by-chapter commentary of the series, with a color code to note which informations can be noticed on the first read, which ones can be noticed on the second read, which ones can be noticed once you’ve finished HtN, and which ones can only be noticed once you’ve finished NtN. and i’ll also probably write down all my unanswered questions. and some of my theories. i’m so fucking obsessed with tlt. (and none of my friends have read it yet. i’ve convinced one to start soon but even if they read gtn i won’t be able to infodump to them without spoilers until they’ve read everything. i can’t wait.)

[yumeka-sxf]

A chronological analysis on Twilight and Yor - Season 1 Wrap-Up

*This is a wrap-up post for my Twiyor analysis series. If you missed the Introduction/Part 1, click here*

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As some of you may know, I'm fairly new to the SxF fandom, having only started watching the anime in October of last year. But it didn't take long for me to become hyperfixated enough to binge the manga, start my own blog, and develop ideas for analysis posts.

I've always enjoyed meta writing for my favorite fandoms, and SxF is definitely one of those! While I like many things about the story and characters, the Forgers overall, especially Twiyor, are my favorite thing about it, so I wanted to focus my first analysis posts on them. During my early months in the fandom, I found lots of good analyses and was impressed by the amount of talented fan writers out there. But rather than write random stand-alone posts, I wanted to express all my thoughts in chronological order. I eventually came up with the idea for this post series in December of last year, and after spending a solid month of writing during most of my free time, I finally felt I had enough to begin posting on a weekly basis.

Now that I've come to the end of the season 1 posts, I want to express my sincerest thanks to everyone who read them, especially those who left nice comments and reblogs. Even for those of you who only left likes, I appreciate it! I pay attention to the notes on my blog and it always makes my day to see the same people interacting with each new post every week. It's especially gratifying when I see a new person come along and leave a like on each post in order, one after another! In the many fandoms I've been in over the years, I always write for myself and my own enjoyment first, regardless of whether other people will enjoy my writing too. But it's nice to know that other people can also appreciate how I interpret things.

So here's what's going to happen with the post series going forward…

Since I want to continue keeping the posts as manga spoiler-free as possible, I won't start releasing the next batch of posts until season 2 airs (it's scheduled to air in October). I'll most likely release part 19 and onward towards the middle or end of season 2's run. I already have a good idea of what manga chapters will be adapted and will get them queued up beforehand.

On that note, I did end up having to tag a few of the season 1 posts for manga spoilers. I tried to avoid it as much as possible; I only discussed manga spoilers if I felt not doing so would be a disservice to my analysis. However, once season 2 airs, all but part 18 should be safe for anime-only fans! (I'll go back to those posts and remove the spoiler tags)

At some point during or slightly before season 2's airing, I plan to reblog all of my Twiyor analysis posts in order. If I can get the timing right, I hope to reblog part 18 (the last season 1 post) right before my start date for the first season 2 post. I'll probably do the reblogs just a few days apart before doing weekly releases again when I get to the new posts (for the reblogs, I'll be using the hashtag "#reblog for season 2 hype")

I don't have any other big analysis posts planned until then, with one exception…I do plan to write a post about Anya. I originally wanted to include her in the chronological series, but since her character arc is simpler and more straight-forward compared to Twilight's and Yor's, I didn't have nearly as much to say about her and figured it'd be best to talk about her in a separate post. Not sure when I'll release that post but should be sometime before season 2 as well.

Guess that's all for now! Thank you again to everyone who read this post series and I look forward to more compelling discussions in season 2!

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

Get to Know the Writer Questionnaire

Taking the open tags from @the-golden-comet here and @illarian-rambling here!

Rules: answer the questions!

Basics

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine!

I think it was November of 2022.

What led you to create it?

Twitter was going down so I moved elsewhere.

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

The engagement and overall positivity! I was surprised how welcoming everyone was, and how touched I was when people gave compliments and how excited I was when people expressed interest!

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

Well I'm always open to chat about whatever though I do have mild social anxiety. I'm always hyper analyzing whether I did something wrong or whatever. So if I come across as awkward I'm trying my best but I am always being genuine!

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

Hm. This is a hard one. I guess I just wish I saw more interaction and engagement in people's work? Idk, it's always there, and I love seeing it, but having full conversations about each other's OCs and WIPs aren't as common. So idk more of that!

WIPs

Which WIPs or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

Mainly I'm working on TSP but occasionally I'll dip my toes into SOTL again. Whenever I get an idea for a side project I barely have anything for, I'll write it down and get obsessed with it for a while.

And I also have a side project where I write reviews and analyses of TV shows or movies but I haven't gone back to it in a while despite having live notes of several movies and TV episodes in drafts.

How long have you been working on them?

TSP - spring of 2013, technically

SOTL - first came into my brain I think 2014-2015 but the first draft was 2015-2016

The first media analyses I wrote were in 2019 I think.

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

TSP - I liked fairies as a kid due to the Rainbow Magic series, but thought I was too old for fairies so when I was assigned to write a fictional story I wrote about kids with powers

SOTL - I loved different takes on fairy tales due to The Land of Stories and wanted to write my own

Analyses - getting Disney+ because I unironically had always wanted to review every single Disney movie so I did. It extended after I watched two seasons of DC's Titans (the live action one) and I hated it so much I shat out 10k+ words in a single fever driven day

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

Pretty often, I'd think, unless I'm deep in a hyperfixation stage of an existing show.

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

"Fantasy mostly."

Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

For TSP the characters I've put any effort into characterizing include: Lexi Morgan, Maddie Morgan, Ash Hathaway, Gwen Amante, Noelle Bishop, Rose Hernandez, Kelsey Newman, Robbie Stafford, Akash Singh, Jedi Moon, Carmen Asghar, Carla Baxter, George Baxter, Liam Beaumont, Ewan Traeger, Jazlyn Nyambura, Wade Attwood, Parker Cassidy, Tyler Nakashima, Gabriel Medina, Niri Shyaka, Sam Stafford, Hye-Jin Song, Alex Vaughn, Issa Johansen, CJ Reynolds, Wendy Amante, Anathi Makeba, Teo Nguyen, Xitlali Zepahua, Atsila McLain, and Raissa Kamanzi. Everyone else is insignificant.

For SOTL, I have so many OCs I have no idea who the relevant ones will be. So far, the most are Jack McDonald, Tierney Wayne, Úrsula Lobo, Beau Bellerose, and Bai Xue. Again, so far. I have so many characters for this it's not even funny.

And then there's the others from my other works but I'll stop there.

Who’s the most unhinged?

I'm not entirely sure who's the most. Parker is the most chaotic but Carmen is just the character, y'know? Jack I give whoever I want and Zainab of SOTL is pretty insane.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Probably Robbie, honestly. The way his brain works and goes on random tangents is very similar to me. He's like if I was extraverted sometimes.

Do you ever cringe at them?

All the time.

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others?

I only have minimum control. I decide what to do with them but then they say "how about this instead?" And I listen to them all the time. Ash is the most uncooperative one, though. But Noelle has been given me trouble recently. She's told me I need to change her role in Part One. It's frustrating. But awesome.

Interaction

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES I love questions about my characters!! And no I don't have a preference, although AO3 would be hard because I don't have an account. Any way of interacting with me that you can, I love to hear the comments!

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes? What makes you decide against following?

I do check the bio and scroll through their blog to see if there's anything I don't like or stands out as stuff. Sometimes it's a writeblr in the bio but I don't see any WIP posting so I don't follow.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

Yep! Constantly. Sometimes I forget people aren't mutuals.

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

Honestly @illarian-rambling's characters are amazing and I finished her manuscript of Mortal God for beta reading and it was awesome.

Tagging @elsie-writes @mk-writes-stuff @leahnardo-da-veggie @mysticstarlightduck @drchenquill

+ ANYONE ELSE

Blanks under cut

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine! What led you to create it? What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community? What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you? Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash? Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately? How long have you been working on them? Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started? How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them? When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say? Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like! Who’s the most unhinged? Who comes the most naturally for you to write? Do you ever cringe at them? How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others? Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc. What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes? What makes you decide against following? Do you interact with non-mutuals often? Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

[fizzyfishepicgaymer]

Sethno (Sethos & Cyno) relationship analysis pt. 1!

I've been contemplating if I should post it here but it's my job to spread the sethno agenda everywhere so HERE WE GO!!!! I am here to present to u (whoever is reading this) this fairly long in-detail analysis of the relationship between the General Mahamatra, the current vessel of Hermanubis, Cyno and the current leader of the Temple of Silence, the former vessel of Hermanubis, Sethos to explain why their relationship is so interesting and hopefully to get more ppl to understand them better! (and also, bc… well… someone had to do this and since no one else was willing to I decided to take my chance and have a go at analysing their relationship and compiling everything we know about them so far *thumbs up emoji*)

NOTE - Will update this as more content gets released/more parallels are revealed!

Contents:

Comparing their visual designs

Who is Hermanubis and how did he shape the course of their lives?

Oathkeeper (Cyno's 2nd story quest) - Sethos's introduction as a playable character (NPC at the time of release) and his interactions with Cyno

Mirrors/parallels with each other

Sethos’s story and voicelines – finalising their relationship: who are Sethos and Cyno to each other and why are their lives so intertwined/their stories so inevitably interconnected?

Conclusion! (or more like a few last words from me)

Now, to clear one thing up before we get on with this – I AM IN NO WAY OR FORM forcing anyone to ship them or see their relationship in a romantic light, despite the fact that I do ship them myself. U are free to think about them as u wish, I’m just here to give my opinion and vision of them because I feel like many ppl are misinterpreting their relationship or even throwing it out of the window completely bc they just don’t get it (and that rlly hurts to see so I had to do something about it). ALSO btw just so u are aware, English is not my first language and I’m not great at analysing things and so if I word something in a slightly strange or unusual way or if I repeat myself too many times then I apologise, I genuinely tried my best to make this the best that I possibly could make it to be because these 2 and their relationship means a lot to me, and I’ve been having a crazy hyperfixation on them since the day when I finished Oathkeeper and went insane over their dynamic and potential. AAAAAAAND that’s all I have to say for now, so let’s get onto the essay! :3

!!! SPOILER ALERT FOR CYNO’S 2ND STORY QUEST “OATHKEEPER” AND SETHOS’S VOICELINES AND STORY! I recommend u to finish the quest and take a look through Sethos’s character profile before u read this! 

PART 1 - Comparing their visual designs!

As we likely already know (or might have guessed), Cyno and Sethos were designed to be visual counterparts of each other, and their designs use the same/similar colours to different extents! Cyno has medium length white hair while Sethos has long dark brown hair with some white/grey highlights. Their eye colours – Sethos’s bright green eyes and Cyno’s red eyes – are opposite each other on the colour wheel. Sethos’s primary outfit colour is white with dark brown as the secondary colour, while for Cyno it’s the opposite – his primary outfit colour is dark brown with white as the secondary colour. The colour that stands out the most in Sethos’s outfit is orange on his scarf, complimented by dark purple, while in Cyno’s outfit it’s the dark purple that stands out the most, complimented by orange, though of a different shade to the orange in Sethos’s outfit. Both of their designs also include golden accessories or ornaments (and in Sethos’s case, many of them are shaped like an hourglass, the symbol representing his Ba fragment), and another detail I’ve noticed is Sethos’s golden armband on his left arm kind of “matches” the mark on Cyno’s left arm (not sure on what it is called though). So, I guess u can say that their designs complement each other well, as well as “mirror” each other! (Note – THEY LOOK INSANELY GOOD TOGETHER I’M OBSESSED WITH THEIR DESIGNS sorry I just had to add this)

(also - this part was inspired by @ cynoimpact ‘s mini comparison thread on twitter that was made after the 4.6 Special Program where Sethos was first shown!)

As for their drip marketing arts u can also notice some interesting parallels in them – the poses are somewhat similar but Cyno holds his polearm in his right hand behind him while Sethos holds his bow in his left hand in front of him, and their free hands are lifted to be at the same level as their faces or slightly higher.

Cyno’s default signature outfit is called the “Heart of the Scales” (and according to the wiki, the Chinese name for it is 衡断之心 (Héngduàn zhī Xīn) meaning “Heart of Judgement”) – does that ring a bell? If not then I will tell u that in Ancient Egypt there was a strong belief that after a person dies, they will be judged in the Hall of Maat by placing their heart (conscience) on the scales representing balance and justice and weighing it against an ostrich feather (known as the feather of Maat) representing purity, truth and balance. If the heart balanced with the feather of Maat, then the person would pass the test and gain eternal life. Now, back to the Heart of the Scales, its description reads:

“Cyno's outfit. This garb displays the General Mahamatra's dignity and the just principles he sticks by. It was a rather complicated piece to commission due to Cyno's request for the custom-made head ornaments and requires regular maintenance.”

Meanwhile, Sethos’s default signature outfit is called the “Golden Sandstrider” (again according to the wiki, the Chinese name for it is 金沙行者 (Jīnshāxíng-zhě) meaning “Golden Sandwalker”) and its description reads:

“Sethos's outfit. The lapel is the shade of golden sand, embodying the vast desert that raised him, as well as his faith.”

Not much to say about this but it does go back to the point that Sethos’s design links in very closely to the ToS, SPECIFICALLY his Ba fragment as there is A LOT of hourglass-related ornaments/elements in it.

There’s also imagery related to their Ba Fragments in their designs! Cyno’s helmet has the eye motif at the back, and Sethos’s scarf has the hourglass motif, and I will come back to expand on this when discussing their lore!

And of course, we can’t forget that during their fight in the Rite of Duels in their Hermanubis enhanced states, Cyno’s claws are black/dark purple while Sethos’s claws are white – once again, clearly meant to contrast with each other and compliment their designs! In terms of visions, they are both Electro vision wielders which means that they have certain ideals/traits in common (yep, despite being almost polar opposites in many ways) – I will come back to this at the part discussing their lore!

[tangledbea]

You've been running this blog for eight years, and that's a long time. Long enough for the series to come and go, and have been gone for years. Long enough for me to grow from a tween to a technical adult (who can drink almost anywhere that's not the states. I don't know why I'm so hung up on this fact since I'm not american and don't drink.) Anyways that's a long time. Even though I've been lurking in this fandom and by extension your blog since Dec 2017, I never saw the very beginning of your blog. What was that time like? Did you always intend to answer people's seemingly random questions about Tangled? If not, how did we get to this point?

Hey! If it makes you feel any better, I recognize your URL from my likes! So thanks for talking to me!

The beginning was interesting. I expected this was going to be primarily an archival blog. As in I'd post (or reblog) facts about the (then) upcoming series as they were dropped by entertainment news outlets, and then screencaps, analyses, gifs, fanart, concept art, etc about the show, and people would look things up on my blog using my detailed tagging system. I learned how to make gifs so that I could gif the show. Honestly, for years I'd been following @artoftangled (not to be confused with @theartoftangled though they're doing stellar work), and I saw that they got asks about the movie a lot, and I was hoping this would be that kind of blog, too. That people would come to me for my years of experience and hyperfixation so that I could answer questions for them. I didn't expect it, but I hoped.

No, the most surprising turn of events for me was when crew members were popping up on Tumblr, posting info and sometimes art, answering the questions they were allowed to answer during pre-production, including the executive producer (who, at the time, we didn't know what he was like). So, on a day when I was actually a little depressed and knew I had literally nothing to lose, I started reaching out to people. I reached out to CS, Stephen Sadoval, and Kay Ritter (now Hayes) at first, and started talking to them here on Tumblr. Much to my surprise, they talked back, started answering my questions, etc in private chats. And the next thing I knew, they knew who I was at the studio. I was genuinely friends with people who worked on the show.

And honestly, I think they found me so trustworthy not just because of my enthusiasm and long-standing presence in the fandom, but because of my age. I'm a grown-ass adult, and was when the movie came out. There are a lot of people who worked on the show who are younger than me, and of course several who are my age or older, so I was the crews' peer. And my excitement for the show was honestly free publicity, and the kind that shows need these days: buzz on social media.

I'd say that with as hard as I worked, I deserved to be paid, but I kind of was. I got a tour of the studio, various crew members gifted me with crew-exclusive gifts (I wish the art book was among them, but alas), I was introduced to Roy Conli, I had crew who were excited to meet me, like I was some kind of celebrity, and had their respect and praise.

I also got thousands of followers who not only ask me for facts about the show like I hoped, but my opinions and interpretations of characters and events. I think the opinions and interpretations was far less expected by me, because that implies a level of popularity that I wasn't anticipating achieving. So, go me, I guess? lol

Anyway, yeah! That's how it all began! I knew I wanted to create a blog for the show, but I held off until we had a title. The day that the name Tangled Before Ever After dropped was the day I snagged this URL.