#like dont get me wrong i had it Pretty Good in comparison to what could have been and im not bragging but i feel the stakes have been set

[electricpurrs]

i am actually so suspicious of this god damn moth post but i cant find any concrete evidence to prove theres something wrong with it other than my gut feeling and i feel insane

like of course first of all this post is from 2013 and im not really willing to believe any given post from 2013 is true specially when the post is this amazing coincidence of this person coincidentally finding those two coincidentally aesthetically pleasing moths and managing to get them coincidentally snuggling together for a picture. yknow. it does feel too weirdly good to be true

BUT SECONDLY im so weirded out by these two moths specifically.

ok bear with me. the little one is very obviously a rosy maple moth. (which is also coincidentally one of the most famous moths specifically for being pretty)

but im willing to believe any given english speaking tumblrgirl at the time could find one considering they live seemingly accross the united states and canada. fair enough

BUT my problem is the big one. of course everybody even in the notes seems to be classifying it as a luna moth (ALSO a famous moth species for being pretty) you can also feasibly find them in north america, ok.

theres also the point of their lifespans

luna moths as adults live only for about 7-10 days, and i had a harder time finding info for adult rosy maple moths but it seems its about the same

the source of this is an old article from someone actively breeding maple moths x but i believe its the same with moths in general, since they literally dont have mouths and cant eat so they just mate and die.

SO youre gonna have a small time span to find one. both moths are also mainly nocturnal, which makes even weirder that op found both of them during the day.

theres also the point of WHEN are they adults. aka maply moths seem to show from from may through the summer

luna moths though, seem to vary in when they show up depending on place. some do include late may or early june on northern regions, ans a generation in july in central states.

which means you could, feasibly, have a span of about a week or so in may, june or july where both maple moths and luna moths are adults and alive at the same time.

BUT THE POST IN QUESTION IS FROM APRIL 16

thats NOT when adult rosy maple moths show up, much less both of them.

though maybe im just being too pedandic with specific dates and theres margin for variation, but its, again, some real big coincidences

BUT FINALLY theres the fact im suspicious about this luna moth IN THE FIRST PLACE.

i might just be going actually crazy here, but for this we've been assuming the luna moth is the species that exists in north america (otherwise these two wouldnt be in the same place at all)

and like this is what the luna moth looks like

(pictures from wikipedia)

and you see how theyre kinda weird compared to the one in the pic.

the luna moths are mostly green, with much less of this pretty pastel pink of the one on the tumblr post. you could argue they have pink markings but in most pictures i see they seem more like a dark red/brown with a remarkable very thick marking on the wings

you see how the moth in the pic just looks kinda weird. but that can also be from filters or editing to make the photo prettier making the colors different.

(i also think the tail looks weirdly long, but there seems to be variation in the tail length in various luna moth pics ive seen, so i cant speak for sure about that)

(i also cant tell you whether the sizes in comparison to each other are right cause i suck at visualizing size comparisons and its not like theres any other pic on earth of the two together so.)

CONCLUSION: i dont fucking know. i spent an hour looking moths up online and didnt get any reasonable answer to my doubts. i guess in the end THERE is, even if small, a chance of you finding both these boths alive at the same time in the same place so i can fully discredit the op. i give up im going to have breakfast

[voidbeau]

I've been thinking about this a lot and have ranted to a friend to varying degrees about it every once in a while since early this year.

On one hand, I don't want to sound ungrateful when I talk about this, but...

I feel like being in a fandom has ruined me.

Or to put it better, I've let it ruin me.

And to clarify, I don't blame individuals of a fandom.

Nor do I really blame the idea of fandom itself the more I think about it.

It is most definitely a me thing, but being in a fandon has definitely helped to shed some light on some upsetting things about my brain.

Being in an environment where you get to share ideas and art about your favorite media- Something that's supposed to be for fun and to find community with others who share your interest!

For me, it's been a huge motivator for getting back into my art- which I believe I've mentioned before.

Up until the twomp Fandom, I've had lots of difficulties staying inspired and motivated to keep doing art regardless of how much I wanted to do it.

So finding a reason to do it again has been great!

I've been able to make pretty good improvements in my art abilities which is really nice!

But on the other end of things, I've lost the ability to just appreciate things the way I could if I was just an outsider looking in?

And I hate it because for whatever reason, my anxiety looks at fandom art as competition rather than something a fellow [insert interest] enjoyer put out for me to enjoy along with the rest of fandom.

I hate that mindset so much.

I don't want fandom to be a competition.

I don't think fandom should be a competition.

Inspiration to improve is one thing, but there's something very wrong if you're feeling a sense of threat in some way??? Like hello??? Are you okay???

It's ridiculous!

But anxiety likes to tell me I need to constantly be creating and making sure it's "original" or "unique" or else my value as a "creator" is worth nothing.

Which, again, is also ridiculous, because I'm not out here trying to "become something", I just want to have fun sharing my dumbass AUs and headcannons cause I want to have fun with the characters and the world I fell in love with!

But it doesn't stop the rancid pattern of thinking.

No matter how many breaks I take, I can come back feeling refreshed but the grasping hands of anxiety and shaky self worth tell me I need to constantly be working to maintain a semblance of value.

I need to work to "keep my place".

And that's dumb.

A fandom is a little neighborhood where everyone has their own little house and their own little garden tucked safely behind their own little white picket fence.

We're not being lined up and graded like slabs of beef.

I'm so tired man. I just want to have fun, but as time goes on I feel like the only solution to this issue is to leave the Fandom environment entirely.

Like No Face from Spirited Away.

But if I lose the "pressure" of needing to create art than I'm scared i'll fall back into not being able to create at all again.

I dont want to lose what I feel like I only just got back.

🫠

It feels super embarrassing to be struggling with these kinds of thoughts personally.

Cause it's like, "bro, who tf you think you are???"

There's so much of it that feels self centered, like it's all about me.

I need to be the best, I need to have coolest art and the best ideas!!!

I don't think that at all, granted. But it feels that way sometimes.

I don't like the idea of comparing myself to others. I don't think anyone should be doing that.

Comparison is the joy killer!!!

I much prefer the variety that a fandom brings to the table.

Each individual with an individual take on a world and its characters.

Everyone is so creative it's really Cool!!

I think it's fun to read and to see people bring that to life!

But I can't fully enjoy it like I want to cause the thoughts always be like,

"Why can't you be like that, huh?

You could be doing something with your time right now, you could be working in that idea you were thinking of.

You could be finishing that drawing you started.

What about that other thing you said you were going to do, huh?"

And if I get working on something, it's still not good enough,

"No! Not like that! Your art style is DISGUSTING. Throw that one away!

No No, any readers who stumble on this will never enjoy this. It's awkward and stilted.

Take it again or leave it!"

Like bro please, give a bug a break. I'm trying. 😰

[cheylouwho]

i’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and i want to hear someone from SPHS’s thoughts.

i know you’ve noticed the “tiktok” fan base- the ones that only watch clips of the show and then say they’re fans. i read one of your posts talking about these types of fans and making blatantly incorrect headcanons. that’s something that bugs me, but another thing that bugs me is the fact i do not believe south park is tiktokable. i���ll use family guy as a comparison for my points.

first of all, compared to family guy, the humor is different, pretty much everything they explained in the cartoon wars two parter explains what i mean, m&t are not fans of interchangeable jokes and are able to give characters emotional progression throughout the episode. that’s one huge factor, i hope you get what i’m trying to imply with that. m&t are passionate about their story telling and it pays off in their episodes. i know not EVERY SINGLE joke follows this, but there are jokes made better by understanding the characters and the circumstance of the episode. the episodes work best in their entirety. (that was difficult to explain so i fear it can be misinterpreted easily)

the characters are another thing i want to mention. i watched the episode TSST with two friends awhile ago, one of which who had never seen an episode and didn’t understand cartmans character. she kept asking questions about him, or said how weird his hitler obsession was. the other friend hadn’t finished south park and said he hated cartmans character and it’s hes one of the bad pieces of the show. i believe even if you don’t like cartman as a personal preference thing, you should at least appreciate him as a character and his placement, it’s hard to understand him (despite us watching an episode that really dives into him, they still didn’t know much about him before). with family guy, one episode is enough to grasp the character, hell, even a single scene is i’d say, while m&t are very good at developing and fleshing out character personalities over time. it’s why they can pull off making sad episodes (like kenny dies and assburgers), heartwarming episodes (like tweek x craig and even bits of episodes like in raisins) all while still being a comedy show. they understand how to make the characters react in a way that can make you feel something while maintaining a good amount of jokes in the episode.

i dont know, theres more i could add but i’m just writing whatever comes to mind first so it might make no sense or it might be wrong. also, i’m by no means an old fan. i’ve rewatched the series quite a few times, watched commentaries, researched through wiki pages and am constantly trying to better my knowledge of the show, but i know i’m not quite there yet and could just be making a mistake GAHAH

No anon, I actually totally get this and agree 100%. SP as a show is not something that works well with out of context clips (and even then, the ones that do work are usually from very early in an episode before the plot fully gets established and stakes as drawn). Until pre s18 when they started soft continuity (and then s19-21s full continuity, after that is a whole other discussion entirely), the shows syndicated nature did make it easier to hop into any episode and watch it in its entirety and enjoy it without much prior knowledge of the show or it's characters. However, even then, you really needed to watch the *whole* episode to get the big picture of it's message.

And I get it, SP full length episodes are not as accessible as they once were. People these days don't know how or aren't willing to pirate things if they don't have the streaming service SP is hosted on, and beyond that, south park used to be free to watch on their website. Like, that's how I ended up catching up on the show when I finally decided to take it all in other than a handful of episodes and scenes I'd seen during my childhood back in 2013. It was all entirely available (save for Super Best Friends, 200 and 201, which I had to go track down on other websites) for free, with ads unless you used an ad blocker, right at your fingertips. And that's how M+T wanted SP to be consumed, because they explicitly noted that they didn't care about making money on streamed episodes, they cared about getting their show out there. (I will have to go find that interview, I know it's somewhere).

But still, regardless of that, you're right. SP is not something that you can consume short form as a brief tiktok video, and that's why I think we have newer fans with such big gaps in knowledge that seem like they would be easy to fill in. It's not that they're being willfully ignorant, they're just being fed a very piecemeal version of the show through social media, which is how we get people thinking Pip is a he//llpa//rk OC (augh!!! dont get me started) instead of realizing this dude was actually in the fucking show, or headcanons that are very easy to contradict with canon itself by watching like 3 episodes. That's not me knocking HCs btw, go wild and do whatever you want, but these people don't even know it's ooc, and that's a little troublesome. I've made some outlandish character decisions in the past but I at least KNEW they were not evidence based.

What that means for the fandom down the road I don't know, and its made a lot of discussion and analysis more shallow-- it's so hard outside of my SPHS friend group to find good breakdowns these days. I'm hoping maybe something will change, but who knows.

TLDR fuck tiktok and its watering down of media

[santae-salt]

disclaimer that im not super well versed in santae so pls correct me if im wrong or out of the loop on things /genuine i would love to hear back on what im about to word salad about as it has been rattling in my brain for a minute.

idk how much of a fair comparison this is but i feel like pawborough is the antithesis or at least a sort of mirror to santae in the way both are projects spearheaded by a single person. i think a major source of santae's problems is the fact that it has been in development for over 10 years and is operating with some extremely outdated philosophies. i know they aren't in the same petsim niches (neoclone versus rpg), but things like the premium renaming on santae feel indicative of that. i cant think of any RECENT petsim that has taken that direction. it could be just that i'm not looking in the right places, (neoclones never interested me) but a lot of the examples of sites that have renaming cost premium i've seen mentioned even on this blog are also on the older side. the fact that artists are getting paid at such low rates also feels like a holdover from the early days of petsims when things were much cheaper to produce (though i've heard people say rates THAT low were always considered pretty bad even back then).

definitely correct me if im wrong here, but i feel like the only new thing santae has really done is present itself as vehemently anti-retirement and not have a lot of KS exclusives. i'm pretty sure all the KS campaigns of petsims post-FR that i've ever heard of used some kind of exclusivity model, including pawborough. how this will eventually play out for santae is something that intrigues me, and if it proves to be a boon and not a detriment, i'll likely be happy to see future projects do something similar. but outside of that, santae to me sounds like its trying to be a modernized version of older style petsims, but it hasn't fully let go of aspects that more recent games have let go of/improved upon for good reason.

meanwhile, and i fully admit im biased because this is the project i've been following more closely, pawborough has always felt like it's trying to be more fresh and innovative. it started as a "FRclone" so to speak (three poses per breed, three slots for colors, each slot having different patterning genes, a color wheel for breeding, and some early web layout mockups were very similar to FR). it had its own stuff going on yes but personally, that was a big part of the appeal in pawborough at the time of the KS. i liked FR and i liked cats, why not have both? but over the course of its development so much has changed. theres a new color system for breeding, the site layout doesnt scream FR anymore, there's a stronger focus on the rpg mechanics, and much more. plus, if staff is to be believed, they have always paid their artists significantly better, allegedly starting at $50 per asset. and that number has gone up recently with plans to pay them even more once the site launches with premium purchases. now i will say some changes on pawborough has led some to people say it went from copying FR to copying another cat based rpg, Pixel Cat's End, and ehhh while I can see it my main point is that pawborough has evolved significantly since it started development, and i think it has benefited from it. not to mention, MANY of these changes were results of user feedback. (which isnt to say i haven't heard of santae changing things in response to feedback either, but it sounds like theres usually some initial resistance while with pawborough feedback generally feels like its being taken in stride and is seriously being considered.)

again, people who have been following santae for longer i would love to hear about their development journey and what they're trying improve on in the petsim landscape. i would love to check out a fresher take on a neopets style game with allll the QOL 2020s web design can provide. i just dont want to get in the discord or trawl through old posts on socials which are mostly just promotional adverts from what i can tell. sorry if this all sounds stupid i should be sleeping but i needed to get this out of my head!!! thank you fellow saltheads 💜

☁️

[away-ward]

wow, your latest qna about DN made me think, who is the most and least aggressive person in ranking? What do you think KO? How would you rank them? I think my top three would be damon/ emory/ michael. Now that you've mentioned about damon and emory, it reminded me of your past posts about their personalities and collaboration, how well they could work together without having any problems because they probably are pretty much on the same level of aggression and level-headedness, and only until now, i never actually realised that emmy IS pretty aggressive and dominant?

I dont think PD executed em's character well, but because of that qna, it made me zoom out of my understanding of DN and compare and contrast these characters, and surely, emmy really was pretty aggressive. Like why am i even shock, lmfaooo. I think other than PD not executing it well, emmy was also dealing with a lot of doubts and fear when it comes the "thunder bay" part of her life. We dont see her hesitating afterwards right? But then we dont see much of her overall. This also made me think thats why the train exchange between emmy, michael and kai had to happen. Or she will just leave again lmao.

like In comparison to banks who is outwardly pretty aggressive, but in actuality, she is more of a good follower of damon, her mom, gabriel and even kai in that hideaway bonus than a good enforcer (like you mentioned) or a pioneer, i feel like emmy is more aggressive in spirit than banks, i guess? Naturally, not just because of survival. Which also made me find banks & emmy's dynamic to be so interesting because on one hand we have emmy who looks laidback (we're talking about after nightfall) and banks who has piercing eyes, but in reality if push comes to shove, emmy would lead banks, not the other way around? Oh, wow? Or am i wrong? Like, do you get my vision, KO? It made sense right? And i feel so much headcanon can be done with that where banks could possiblly and finally get a close friend who she can follow who would catch her and lead her well rather than try to cage her all the time like everyone who's dominant than her in her life rn? Damn! We could've had that!!!

like the cocky laidback dominant nerd and her very prickly piercing submissive rule-follower/enforecer best friend? Like this friendship will be the first time where the use of the word "submissive" and "dominant" dont sound condescending because both banks and emmy can feel safe in their dynamics because they saw nothing wrong being either role, because! Theyre! Besties! And! Would! Kill! For! Each! Other! And put! Others! To! Jail! For! Each! Other! Omg? Noooo, like can you see the vision, KO? AHHHH! I remember watching larryreads's reaction to reading nightfall and she mentioned something about emmy being a shy nerd and i was like what? Did we read the same book, because the word shy or blush didnt even exist in nightfall. I remember emmy being described as ready-to-fight, cocky and stubborn, and quite flirt/spicy when she let go too (hence why emmy overpowered alex in their friendship dynamic, or even between emmy and aydin/damon), as oppose to banks who's very beautiful, prickly, super great boxing fighter, outwardly aggressive, steady reliable great worker who can also work in the dark, very loyal and honest. Im not saying they both dont possess these traits, im just saying one is more dominant than the others when it comes to these traits, especially in decision making. Emmy dngaf much about being shrewd or use lies and manipulation in a bigger scale, but banks did grew up being forward, straightforward and honest. And omg, another contrast!!

OMGGGGG If DN is famous, AO3 writers wouldve written them as that powerful feme duo, frfr. Ngl, banks and emmy really reminds me of Tristan and Dante from the dark verse series by runyx, where tristan is banks, and dante is emmy. Tristan is that dark, broody, killer and dante is the mediator and decider. Remind me of lana myers and jake denver, jake is emmy and lana is banks in terms of the do-er and the mastermind. Submissive and dominant. Not in the temperament all the time, but in overall characteristics and actions? And i just noticed too that We just dont see because emmy as being aggressive or pioneering because of side characters overtaking her povs in nightfall + her being introverted. But even then, i feel like emmy's voice still surface above them when it comes to decision making whether anyone agrees or not, which is why emmy can also be very divisive in the fandom, Which omg!!!! This brings back to that MBTI test, emmy really does sound like an INTJ, haha! And banks, ESTJ? ISTJ? Anyway, didnt emmy took a lot of control in fire night? From her conversation with will, her going after the evil guys, and talking to the cops. Yeah.

Like tbh im just running off with these ideas, that qna opens up a whole new discussion for the emmy x banks best friends agenda that i never thought of before. It also made me consider different types of aggression, like physical, emotional and thinking. And i feel like inner aggression (in spirit) would still dominate others. No matter how i see, i cannot see anyone being ranked above emory, damon and michael in terms of aggression. i feel like even kai ranks below them, because he can be neutral and passive sometimes. But thats the thing, theres no right or wrong or whos better or worse like emmy was better because shes dominant and banks was worse because she was submissive; theres just only the ranking, and it actually does open up to a deep dive of these characters' traits, and how they shape each others' dynamics. And if they really are family who fight for each other and cross anybody who comes after them, they were bound to trust each other with their temperament, strengths and weakneses sooner or later right? Rather than everybody doing whatever they want, the task divided by the the keader would be more efficiently done.

so what do you think of these? I dont rank will, rika and winter because i feel like theyre more on the submissive side. And i believe they fully enjoy their roles and have no priblem doing whatever works for the sake of their family. Not every one can and HAVE to be dominant, what one cant do, the others can. Thats what found family does right?

This ask is so exciting! Let’s get right into it. I’m going to save my ranking for the end, but I did have to spend some time thinking about it.

i never actually realised that emmy IS pretty aggressive and dominant? I dont think PD executed em's character well, but because of that qna, it made me zoom out of my understanding of DN and compare and contrast these characters, and surely, emmy really was pretty aggressive.

I’m not really sure why people started thinking about Emory as a smol shy bean, because she’s not passive in the least. In the past scenes, we met her when she’s quitting the swim team, and she says this is because she can no long wear the swim suit but she knows this is going to piss Martin off.

The thing is, she pisses Martin off on purpose on the regular as a way to rebel. She’s quiet about her abuse because she wants to remain close to her grandmother, and I’m not implying that she enjoys it by any means. Still, she knows Martin expects perfection from her, so she purposefully doesn’t brush her hair or iron her uniform. She lets the buttons fall off her cuffs. You can’t tell me Emory couldn’t figure out how to sew a button. She quits band, too. She does these things to intentionally irritate him.

She goes to her first period class; a senior class because they moved her up from the junior level because she wouldn’t shut up and stop challenging the teacher. Of course, there she doesn’t speak up much, but considering the subject matter, can we blame her? She still walks out without the teacher’s approval.

Emory likes showing off. She likes feeling like the smartest or most skilled person in the room. She thinks of herself that way, for the most part. Even when she gets to Blackchurch, and she doesn’t know anything about anyone there, she still thinks of herself as better simply because she’s not a criminal (which is funny for someone who previously watched a murdered happen, and helped bury a body, and vandalized a grave, and nearly committed grand theft auto, and so on, but the self-awareness is difficult when you’re in an unhealthy mental state). And despite being in a room full of criminals, she shows no hesitation in trying to best them because it’s what comes naturally to her.

I don’t think that PD told Emory’s story in the best way possible. However, a lot of what makes Emory who she is, is subtle and takes some digging and examining to understand. This could be said for all the characters, it’s just that I don’t like most of the characters enough to try to examine them this deeply. There is one bonus with PD not giving Emory a lot of attention – there’s less time to make her contradict herself as we see with Damon and Rika. As their characters get more and more light, some things make less and less sense.

Regardless, I agree with her that Emory is one of the most aggressive characters in terms of personality within the main crew.

We dont see her hesitating afterwards right? But then we dont see much of her overall. This also made me think thats why the train exchange between emmy, michael and kai had to happen. Or she will just leave again

At this point, I don’t think Emory had any plans of leave which is why she agreed to stay so easily. But it’s interesting that Michael said she was going to stay at St. Killian’s where they could watch her and she immediately refused that in a way that made it clear she would still be doing what she wanted.

Michael has to decide if it’ll be worth the effort it’ll take to exert his dominance over her, knowing she won’t go down easily. He backs off because it’s enough that she’s playing along.

I think he knows that he could overpower her if he wanted to. It’s just not worth the effort when she’s cooperating, which means he knows how much it would take to get her to do what he wanted. It’s an interesting dynamic.

In comparison to banks who is outwardly pretty aggressive, but in actuality, she is more of a good follower of damon, her mom, gabriel and even kai in that hideaway bonus than a good enforcer (like you mentioned) or a pioneer, i feel like emmy is more aggressive in spirit than banks, i guess? Naturally, not just because of survival

This is an excellent contrast.

Banks, in my opinion, is great at getting things done. She’s capable of calling the shots and making decisions. However, she’s also interested in maintaining the established order of things.

Maybe that’s why she wanted to be Senator, or was at least willing to go along with it. Coming into the group, there was already a dynamic at play. Michael was the leader, Kai his second, Rika his girl. She’s coming in under Kai and Damon. There’s a structure to the way the group works.

She isn’t afraid to call it how she sees it, which makes her useful to Michael. Kai is much to interested in keeping things agreeable. For instance, in the Hideaway deleted scene when he almost doesn’t tell Will why they’re meeting without him. He doesn’t want to alienate Will or make him feel bad for his behavior, even though his behavior has been pretty undesirable from a business standpoint. Banks doesn’t have that issue.

Still, she doesn’t want to disrupt the order, so she sticks to her role and doesn’t challenge it. Being a Senator gives her a space where she’s the one in control. It’s a different structure than what she’s walked into with the Horsemen.

In terms of how aggressive they are in getting their opinions across or getting their way, I do agree that Emory is more aggressive than Banks.

if push comes to shove, emmy would lead banks, not the other way around? Oh, wow? Or am i wrong? Like, do you get my vision, KO? It made sense right?

I think what we’re talking about is a battle of wills. Banks is straightforward, while Emory is more reserved, but both are loyal and value their relationships, so it could be that with each other they’d bend a little.

What you’re saying does make sense, but I think the way I’m interpreting it is that Emory, insisting on her idea and visions, gets her way if only because Banks doesn’t want to fight it. It’s not something she’s motivated to do, and she’s fine giving Emory the room to be the lead in their relationship.

because both banks and emmy can feel safe in their dynamics because they saw nothing wrong being either role, because! Theyre! Besties! And! Would! Kill! For! Each! Other! And put! Others! To! Jail! For! Each! Other! Omg? Noooo, like can you see the vision, KO?

I agree that there’s nothing insulting about they’re dynamics. I really do thing that they work because there’s nothing negative about the way they approach each other. They’d support each other undoubtingly, but give each other room to be themselves.

When they’re at they’re best, I think Banks is more subdued and accepting than Emory is. Like I said above, Banks is more outgoing and straightforward, but Emory’s opinions on things are stronger, so I think Banks would let her have her way.

However, if it did come to a point where they were on opposite sides of an issue, Emory would probably hold out longer than Banks. Unlike Michael, I don't think Banks would be able to subdue Emory if she wanted to. I also just don't think Banks would ever want to.

Additionally, regarding what you said at the start about my analysis of Damon and Emory’s relationship – I think if a difficult situation arose, Banks would seek out the others before acting, whereas Emory and Damon would know what needs to get done and silently do it without involving the others. They’re not going to wait for confirmation, or for the crew to debate, or wrestle with their conscience. They know what the hard decision is and they’ll make it without needing to discuss it. Banks could make the difficult choice too and be confident in it, she would just talk to the others first. That's the difference.

If DN is famous, AO3 writers enver written them as that powerful feme duo, frfr. Ngl, banks and emmy really reminds me of Tristan and Dante from the dark verse series by runyx, where enver is banks, and dante is emmy. Tristan is that dark, broody, killer and dante is the mediator and decider. Remind me of lana myers and jake enver, jake is emmy and lana is banks in terms of the do-er and the mastermind

Unfortunately, I don’t know any of these references. I mean, I know where they come from, but I haven’t read any of those so I can’t confirm. However, if someone else has thoughts you’re willing to share, please jump in.

This brings back to that MBTI test, emmy really does sound like an INTJ, haha! And banks, ESTJ? ISTJ?

Ah, yes the MBTI. I never heard back from the person who asked me to clarify, but I guess I’ll take the chance now.

When I started looking at my original answers, I was overcome with this feeling that Banks was an Extrovert. But that didn’t make any sense; Banks as an extrovert? So I started reading scenes with her exclusively, and I realized that… yeah, there’s a good chance for it.

What I did from there was go to MBTI-Notes, which is a blog here on tumblr, and instead of going directly to the types to see which one “fit”, I went through the functions and through process of elimination, narrowed down which function seemed to be expressed through the character’s POV chapters. From there, I built a stack that formed a type. I then went to the type to see if it worked.

Understandably, most worked… if you take into account the types when they’re in “grips” or “loops” (are we really surprised that all of the characters fall in the unhealthy range for their type). Anyway, being stuck in a grip or loop can change the way you’re personality presents outwardly.

Through this method, I determined Banks was an ESTJ, and here is the page for that. With Emory, I came to the conclusion she was INFJ.

But I encourage you to go through the functions and see what you come up with. There were definitely times I was on the fence for all the characters, so it’s up for interpretation.

Like tbh im just running off with these ideas, that qna opens up a whole new discussion for the emmy x banks best friends agenda that i never thought of before.

That’s really the reason why I continue to post these asks. It opens up the conversation, allows people to see a different interpretation and think about it. Maybe you agree, maybe you don’t. But it gets the conversation started.

No matter how i see, i cannot see anyone being ranked above emory, damon and michael in terms of aggression. i feel like even kai ranks below them, because he can be neutral and passive sometimes. - theres no right or wrong or whos better or worse like emmy was better because shes dominant and banks was worse because she was submissive; theres just only the ranking, and it actually does open up to a deep dive of these characters' traits, and how they shape each others' dynamics

Exactly! It’s only natural that people have different strengths and weaknesses. I love when it’s clear that a group works because they rely on each other and make up for each other’s lack, and no one is made to feel ashamed for it.

Anyway, my ranking of characters in terms of how aggressive their personality it:

These three take the top, as you said. The way that I see it, them wanting things they're way is a driving force in all they're stories. They’re competitive, and hate losing. In fact, I think they feel the pain of losing more than they feel the satisfaction of winning, and that's what drives them.

Damon

Michael

Emory

Damon comes first for obvious reasons, Michael comes second because he keeps Damon in line, and then Emory because while I don’t think she can control Damon, she won’t be steamrolled by him either. And that says something. And since these three can handle each other, we know anyone else is a breeze.

Banks because she’s upfront about it. Then comes Will because he can be aggressive when he’s pushed to it. But also the whole Blackchurch, faking being subdued while he was actually waiting for the moment to take control, which he was planning and preparing for… he’s not as submissive as he wants people to believe he is.

Banks

Will

Kai

Also, the moment in Emory’s house when he tells her that Martin needs to know about him, that he’s her man now? All Will wanted was to get Martin in the same room so he could stack his claim on Emory. There's something about that assertiveness that gives Will and duality the other's don't have. His in the middle of assertive and passive, but he knows what he's doing and he isn't ashamed of it.

Kai is sixth in line because he can be aggressive, but he likes to do it in secret. It's not something he utilizes, and I think in a situation where the others above him might become aggressive, he might still choose to take a passive approach for reasons only he knows (or perhaps doesn't).

Rika has more aggression than Winter, but she’ll bow to any one of the others if they were to go head-to-head. I think it’s probably clear that any battle she wins, is because the other person decided it wasn’t worth the fight.

Rika

Winter

Same for Winter but I think she knows that, where as Rika honestly believes she’s dominating at times.

This was an interesting topic and I hope there's more to come! Thank you!!

-ko

[autizta]

So theres this thread on twitter

And while I fully agree with it, and it's bringing a good conversation for not only the warriors fandom I think but also many artistic communities, some people are worried many people are just upset they aren't getting on popular projects and are jealous of popular artists and that's the end of the story.

In particular I saw an artist I love but won't name say there's nothing wrong with crunching for MAProjects, as its just like being in a game jam. So as someone who's done both I thought I'd share a comparison I made with some friends privately, as to make a point in favor of the thread.

TLDR; short deadline maprojects the way they are right now are bound to the capitalist system that encourages artists to crunch while jams are healthy creative challenges, i dont want to accept this system or treat it as normal even if it is because its very unhealhy.

First, here are some Animation Jams! Which are the actual equivalent of Game Jams for animators, just 3 is enough:

WARNING: THE 5TH SHORT IN THE SALA 408 STUDIO JAM HAS A VERY EXPLICIT BUT MILDLY CENSORED SEX SCENE

Here are some facts about these animation jams and jams in general:

the animations are all short

the animations are mostly pretty simple

the animations are made by groups of 2 to idk 10 people some of those i had a hard time counting

the animations made by 1 person are rare and the simplest of all

some animations are seemingly unfinished and that is not a problem, whatever they have by 72 hours is what they have to deliver

sometimes they're given themes

the artists had a day to a weekend to work on their animations, which were moments that were timed specifically so they could focus fully on this as a fun event/game/challenge whatever you want to call it

even if artists have to work alone they don't have to work physically alone, most jams provide space or encourage people to get together in a space dedicated for them to work

Okay now, let us make a similar list but for short deadline MAProjects! I won't be showing any here because I don't want to expose anyone or to be hunted down by The Untouchable Big Animators of the fandom, just look up warriors weekend MAP on youtube, read the thread and the experiences people are sharing of working on these projects and come back here if you need a reference.

the animations are all short ✔️

the animations have to be professional level

the animations are rarely a collaboration of more than one person, usually someone steps in to collab when the original artist isn't managing anymore

the animation needs to be fully shaded colored and smoothly animated, if you can't deliver that its your fault and you shouldn't have signed up for the project

usually there's themes ✔️, designs and even storyboards set up to make things easier on the artists

the artists had a day to a weekend to work on their animations, which were moments that were timed specifically so they could focus fully on this as a fun event/game/challenge whatever you want to call it. ✔️the short deadline is a surprise sometimes though

if the animation is not perfectly finished by the deadline the artist will receive shorter and shorter extensions, and sometimes collaborators, until its done, this is called crunching

the artists all work from home, alone, with their own materials and space and lives

Now, I've added a checkmark to the things Jams and Short Deadline MAProjects have in common, do notice that saying they are similar is a bit of a stretch! Now, I suppose you could say its because MAProjects choose to be more professional for portfolios and stuff and there's nothing wrong with it as long as everyone has fun, and that is exactly what I profoundly disagree with and what motivated me to make this post, what desperately needs to be said again and again and again as many times as needed.

First off, jams can be used for portfolios too! It's why these schools and institutes and studios post their jams on Youtube! But no one getting into it should be expects to create something professional EVER, that defeats the purpose of jams completely! Jams are exercises on creativity, where worrying about perfeccionism should be thrown out the window so you can give way for brainstorming and fun because that's what creates good art! Thats what makes a good artist!

I've seen this happen with my colleagues and their colleagues in all corners of the art industry. When you say you'd rather do only "professional level" animation for your portfolio, and by that you mean fully rendered animations made crunching, you're saying you want to tell any future contractors that they can abuse you to hell and back in the industry.

You guys think there's no issue treating these projects as normal as long as everyone is having fun? Wait until you are burnt out from art or get some serious injuries/conditions that just make it impossible for you to create like you used to. If we don't limit ourselves, or bodies do, and by then you'll have thousands of medical bills you can't pay for because you can't work like you used to and of course you weren't being paid for the extra hours you did of work, after all you were just having fun right?

I agree its not easy to just, shift to having all projects be relaxed and fun again, remove the pressure the fandom puts on the artists, get rid of all the people that are making it worse. That's because this is a systemic issue caused by late stage capitalism that affects ALL kinds of artists!!

If you guys wanna sit down and accept the propaganda that will kill us all in the end, say "its just the way it is!" or "Join better MAProjects" like that solves it all! Alright! There's nothing I can do but I won't join you, I won't be quiet about this or dismiss it. Don't worry I'm not gonna """cancel""" anyone or whatever, this isn't an attack at specific animators, the artists are victims here remember? I'm not gonna be not even a little bit nice to the system they and many others they're a part of though.

Here's to more jams, post over bye bye

[stayatsam]

saw someone confused saying that elden ring (and soulsborne in general) has no lore behind it because they couldn't find a concrete story on the wiki in comparison to how comprehensive DA's is, made me grit my teeth lol

i love dragon age dont get me wrong i had a lot of fun playing it but souls games, and im using elden ring specifically bc its what i know best, are filled to the brim with lore. GRRM wrote 1000 years of lore for elden ring.

the game encourages you to explore to put together the story and actually use and read item descriptions. every bit of dialogue is important to the characters and stories. even the location of a body and item is important. if you were listening real closely, following along with quests and taking good looks at the environment, the revelation that Radagon is Marika isn't a huge surprise, but it suddenly makes everything else click.

im rambling but as much as i enjoy dragon age and other story games i really really like how i'm encouraged to explore the open world in elden ring. in dragon age inquisition there's a very pretty open world to explore but i lose motivation to because i don't get anything out of it other than waiting 15 min for a party banter to trigger. i spent hours exploring the eternal cities in elden ring to get every bit i could out of it but i did one quest in the hissing wastes in dragon age and wished i was doing something else.

EDIT: sorry, he wrote 5,000 YEARS

"So, I went back and wrote a history of what happened 5,000 years before the current game, and who all the characters were, and who was killing each other, and what powers they had,”

[idealspawn]

throughout my journey on growing as a person somehow the only thing i still havent managed to resolve or find the deepest true cause for is my insecurity regarding my intelligence. every single evidence from outside authorities is screaming in praise and approval of my level of knowledge yet i am filled with such anxiety. i dont know how to not let my high standards lower my self-confidence. i think its good that i do have high standards too in a way but not the anxious perfectionism that comes with it. ive thought maybe im unsure about my competence because i feel like i dont belong. in university since ive had an unconventional route, i sort of lack like a group of coursemates (ive changed universities and now im in like an exchange programme so i havent had and dont have the same curriculum as anyone). so i dont know what i should know and what i shouldnt. like what prior knowledge others have. i dont know where i place in the context. i dont know what is stupid to bring up and what isnt. google also told me that maybe its like the dunning-kruger effect where the more you know the more you become painfully aware of how little you know. i guess thats true. i also in general am like programmed to seek for irregularities (i study philosophy and have a background of doing a lot of things requiring close analysis and pattern recognition) so maybe thats why i only see whats wrong in my work or opinions even if that actually forms a small portion regarding the whole. usually my professors dont even pick up on those things i think are massive logical fallacies and am afraid will fail. i literally only get praise and they are so so so credible too, its not that i get approval from people who dont know any better. i dont know. i have all these explanations in my head but not one of those hits the nail on the head. ive gathered that what relieves my anxiety regarding.. well anything.. is just acknowledgeing it. like cracking the code as to whats the underlying deeper cause that projects itself in this belief, insecurity. but i cant seem to ever get it. i wonder is this too small of a problem to go to a psychologist. right now its not too bad but i actually get like weird intense uncontrollable nervous anxiety twitches and breakdowns from the pure thought of how little i know and what others think of me. im most afraid that they think that i think im smart when in reality im so painfully aware that im speaking on matters i feel i dont have proper knowledge of (yet i must because its an assignment). though i think its pretty apparent that im insecure, at least during presentations or speaking in seminars because of the way i speak (hesitantly). i know that to wait until i truly know sth before i speak is a lost cause. you cant ever fully know anything. and its like. so what if im wrong. nothing happens if im wrong but im so terrified of it. i guess ive tied my intelligence to my identity quite a bit but i dont know if that is it either. i guess you could say i should care less abt what other ppl think but in other areas im so confident and sure of myself i dont know why this is manifest only here. i know im actually quite capable at least compared to some people and there are periods where i do get my feedback on an essay or task and i feel really sure of myself but its a very very small slice of the time. i know comparison isnt proper but its also so necessary and inevitable in my field of study, i cant seem to avoid it. ive genuinely resorted to paying a lot of attention to my looks and makeup that makes me look cute and kind in order to hopefully cause the halo effect that when im silent or say something stupid i get the benefit of the doubt.......... its stupid. but im that afraid :/ of coming across narrow-minded.

[excaliburofficial]

Thoughts on the anime being better than the manga?

maybe this is a hot take but I dont really think one is better than the other tbh.

The anime overall has less character development (we get like none of Soul's backstory, Black*Star's arc feels really short in comparison to me, and Kid gets literally none of his arc at all) and the whole thing ending with Maka punching Asura in the face is a major L. The anime also doesn't resolve anything with the witches and it ends with the witches still just being like... evil. the status quo is still being completely upheld by the end of it. Like yeah they defeat the Kishin, but other than that everything in the world remains unchanged with no major impact other than everyone was just a little more crazy for a little bit.

I have a lot of things to say also about a couple of specific things that happen in the Soul Eater anime that don't in the manga beyond just that, but I think all of that is for a separate time because it's... a lot and ties more in with the kind of story I wish Soul Eater- anime and manga both- could have been instead of actually like comparing the anime and the manga and I'll get way out of hand if I go on about it lol

But there's things that I like in the anime better than the manga. Tbh I think the anime handled Crona way better and I actually really like what they had for them in the anime! I also really like Stein's whole thing in the anime (I don't know if I like it better than the manga though because it's been a while since I've read the manga and I don't remember Stein's arc in it that well). I also think overall, with all things considered, the anime does a pretty good job of working with what it had to wrap things up neatly even if I have issues with it, and if it didn't end with Maka just punching Asura in the face I think it would be more satisfying overall even if I think it could be better.

The manga has some really cool stuff in it, and I like the developments that we get. I really like Black*Star's arc in the manga, we get to see more things with Kim and Ox and Kilik and that whole gang which I really enjoy, and Kid's arc is like my favorite thing in the manga. I also like that we get to see that Asura is also Lord Death's son, I think it adds a lot of stakes. and I especially also like the treaty with the witches, and also Lord Death's uh... death. it really changes the story from being about upholding the status quo to being one where the world changes because of this conflict in major ways and leaves the world open ended to a lot of change and progression instead of just going back to a normal where an entire group of people (witches) are being hunted.

But with that being said, the more I think about it the more the manga leaves me just... wanting. Like I want it to be better. Liz, Patty, and Tsubaki don't get half the development I think they should have, and I think Crona's arc in the manga is garbage. I really would have preferred a more empowering arc of Crona doing the hard work of overcoming their trauma with Medusa and righting all of the wrongs of not just themself but their own mom in a way more similar to the anime and I think the story would have been stronger for it.

I also hate that the manga ends with a boob joke and it irritates me the more I think about it. Like, yeah, Soul Eater was always a shounen with fan service, but for that to be the note that it decides to end on just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like, Hey! We know we dialed down the horniness a lot in this story, so here's a really stupid bit about boobs to make up for it! Ugh it's exhausting

Very minor note also but the progression of the art style in Soul Eater like... idk if it disappoints me necessarily but I feel like it lost a lot of its edge. I still enjoy a lot of the art in the later chapters (its nothing like the art on the perfect editions don't even get me started on that) but in general it feels to me like Ohkubo's art went in a much more marketable direction and took a lot less risks in terms of style. But that's really here nor there and I'm not sure why I brought it up because it's not really a point of comparison for the anime because obviously any anime is going to have more consistent art direction than a manga but I brought it up so here's a whole paragraph about it i guess

TLDR: I think both have their merits and there's things that I like better in both that I wish the other did also Ohkubo should give me the rights to Soul Eater so I can remake it

[lightningandfireinmybones]

Merry Christmas even if they were a few days back!!!! I hope you had a good time! (Dont remember if i already wished you well) Currently rereading the latest chapter because i *WILL* send my thoughts on it because both the chapter and you deserve it.

But in the meantime i had some Alicent thoughts that i needed to share with someone else apart from my bestie. So i come here and scream at your inbox with another discount analysis.

Here goes, in my mind Alicent's first time giving birth would have been really traumatizing. As easy as it might have been (in comparison to Aemma's) she was still 15?16? when she gave birth. That combined with the fact that at that time her friendly neighborhood marital rape (for the life of me i am unable to call it anything else) would have hit worse since she was still a child and it was the beginning of her miserable marriage and would have made things much more stressful and hurtful for this child's first time giving birth.

Also also in my headcanon everyone was worried about the baby and whether or not it'd be a boy. And therefore they only spared a look or a word her way when it had to do with the birth and not herself. No worries about her comfort or pain or whatnot. No encouraging words apart from the things you'd expect a farmer to whisper to his birthing cow. Just.. people treated her like a mare to be bred and like the bringer of the much awaited son [and heir (?)]. And oh boi was that a source of stress and terror for her. It must have been!

Not only did she know that the maesters wouldnt hesitate to butcher her trying to get to the Son but also if Viserys could approve of the murder of his dear and beloved wife....what would he approve of regarding her?

What would her father do? Would he even do anything? Isolated and treated as an object. And all that while she is a literal CHILD.

(I dont think my headcanon is that much far from show!reality btw and i must say once more, fuck Alicent haters. She's MY Queen treason and usurping aside. Ilhsm)

Also please let's not forget the actual physical pain and stress the labour would have put on her (underage) body. I cant stress this enough.. she was a C h i l d.

[How can some people be so hateful towards her while simultaneously crying feminist tears over Rhaenyra and her rights and hardships? Hating one of them on the grounds of this flimsy morality means not understanding or respecting either of them.]

Anyways sorry for the spam I just... I was thinking a lot about it while babysitting and having a horrible time trying to get my niece to sleep. I hope my interpretation of what we've seen on the show wasn't completely wrong and horrible.

MERRY CHRISTMAS (respectfully late I’m sorry i have no concept of time being real) TO YOU TOO BESTIE, I’m so excited to hear your thoughts on the latest chapter lmfaoooo

BUT LETS TALK ABOUT YOUR ALICENT THOUGHTS BECAUSE YOURE SO RIGHT AND I LIVE FOR THESE

Calling it martial rape is so right, viserys was really in his “gonna fuck the pain away in a hot teenager the same age as my daughter” era, and somehow managed to isolate Alicent into the role of queen that she had never anticipated before

And the birth of aegon is so loaded with aemma’s ghost and the expectations for an heir but it’s also so scary and has so much implicated for her best friend’s birthright and she really is alone for it and she’s just a baby giving birth to a baby who is in incredible pain and is so isolated b my this role that was thrust upon her

Like you said, her birthing bed was never about her, but about the consequences and implications of her rape bearing fruit, and all anyone cares about is the baby, because as she herself demonstrates, any young pretty thing can be knocked up and called queen when the prior one’s usage expiresm

And then aegon is born and she thinks that maybe, just this once, something and someone is just for her, that her child will love her unconditionally and expect nothing from her and that maybe, despite the horrific origins, being a mother can bring some direction and purpose to her life. The baby will be hers, he will love his mother and give her something to live for and just maybe it’ll be a girl who she can raise up as she would’ve wanted to be raised

EXCEPT it’s a boy

The long awaited ‘heir’

and not even aegon is really hers, because the second he’s born Otto is scheming around him and viserys is haunted even further by the fact that he killed aemma for the chance at this thing that he now has and he realizes it’s meaningless and all of alicent’s suffering for this child was for nothing

I think this plays into the way she is so hard on aegon too, she loves him of course she does, but there is that lingering resentment that aegon was the first to tear her apart and he is a physical manifestation of what viserys and Otto did to her, and he’s such a mess on top of it, it must feel like she did all this for crumbs

And she really should’ve known it would be like this, not even the perils of the birthing bed were about her, why did she expect anything different when the child was actually here, it just drives her deeper into this cold isolated place where her religion and her sacrifice are the only meanings she really has

AND YOURE RIGHT Alicent has a lot of flaws, don’t get me wrong, but so does rhaenyra! And they’re both exposed to this ruthless world where their only bargaining chips and currency are their bodies, wher e power is inherently hinged upon the men in their lives granting them a crumb of respect or autonomy, i think they parallel each other beautifully in that they made the best they could of their circumstances in the only way they could, and that different approach in a system set against them is what inevitably brings them as such interesting counters to each other

(And that’s not even touching on the homoerotic way Milly/Emma and Emily/Olivia played them!!!!)

Anyway never apologize i love hearing your analysis pls send more

[strange-creachure]

so..

didnt want to make a huge deal of it at the time bc anxiety and what have you, buuut since yesterday marked 2 full months from this thingy (perhaps most impactful in my life so far lol), figured i'd do a little post anyway?? felt appropiate what with it being pride month and ya know :zoomies:

(tldr, have two rad little lines going across on my body and feeling more light and normal (in the best kind of way) than i have for years :catlove:)  i'm in an incredibly lucky place living situation wise (s/o being in a position where he could take a loan for us, and finland being a country that doesnt generally indiscriminate these kind of things as much) where i could get a good ol operation that single-handedly yoinked off my serious dysphoria and -related anxiety and its been (and still is) so incredibly freeing and pleasant and carefree vibe when ur body feels and looks the way you felt it should have always been. especially when, (tw: dysphoria) increasingly for the past couple years its felt just so incredibly.. wrong? to an extent you felt constantly sick?, for reasons you cant even quite explain?, for features your biology imposed on you without any word on your part, and the societal norms or whatever that came with it??? and just.. the entire lack of choice or being unable to do anything about it?? absolutely worst. do not recommend. unfortunately a fairly common experience in the lgbt circles (that i keep hearing) and something a lot of people have to deal with, unfortunately. so in a very stark comparison, post-op and recovering and just /living/ without those restrictions or weights on ya, it's pretty freakin rad. having authority on the silly little meat vehicle again haha. (recovery wise feel entirely normal and well by now, just the whole 'having a both physical and very taxing mental weight off of the shoulders that i'd not realised how long its been there' has had me feeling very childlike joy and the like, yknow. maybe some of u could tell from the text brrrr nyoomies for a while now huhu :zoomies:) dunno if this is "too personal" or unnecessary or kinda silly to share, but kind of jus wanna put it out there in case there's the odd person in there who feels the same way, incredibly awful for reasons you cant quite explain or even grasp - i promise you're not inherently broken or "wrong", there is a reason for it, gender or neurodivergency wise or otherwise. it sure took me a while, and while it's an unique road for everyone, u can get there, one way or other. for example im more comfy with my brain funnies than i've been in years just from reading more and getting to know likeminded people and overall understanding things better, and that alone has helped me a lot. dont necessarily feel the need to transition anything further body wise either; dont consider myself a trans person, and dunno what kind of label or tag would even fit my gender other than just?? kind of vaguely nonbinary i guess?? since im just.. omee? default person shaped? and for the longest time, it feels good and normal and /right/. dunno. wanted to share the excellent good vibes despite this whole mess of a world situation lol. #textwall #manywords  happy pride y'all! every single one of you friendshapes is very important and appreciated ❤️

for context! i'm huge fan of people who are happy with their bodies; its the best possible place to be! and such, want to confirm I dont have and never had anything against female chest in general, im genuinely glad some people can carry themselves with pride and joy, it simply wasnt a concept my brain could accept for me; personally they looked and felt really wrong on me, despite being physically healthy and "normal"; nothing were wrong with my pre- chest shapes except them residing on my body.

[cherry-casino]

1! quite a few, actually. therian, copinglink, fictionkin, fictionhearted, fictionheir (do those count?), and a possible kin (not sure if its kin or therian yet)

2! (in no specific order)

brown tabby american shorthair cat (therian)

orange tabby norwegian forest cat (therian)

white lily cookie (fictionkin)

angel (copinglink)

the list of fictionheirs is far too long, but the main ones are tails and affogato cookie (weird combo, ik)

possible snow leopard kin/therian

3! i get shifts quite often! not like, lots, but a decent amount. my main shifts are sensory shifts and phantom shifts, but mental shifts arent that uncommon for me either :)

an i think the weirdest cameo shift ive ever had was this one weird (and rare for me) dream shift. which is already weird considering i hardly dream, much less dream shift, but i was a lizard. just some. random garden lizard. like the ones you see outside on the playground. idk what i was doing

4! the wording of this is. kinda hard for me to wrap my head around. but uh. i guess one of the things ive done is ive decorated bits of my room to correspond with my alterhumanity! ive got a little feather on a string i hung near my bed, and i have this vase of fake lilies :) stuff like that to remind me of who i am! i also tend to go and interact with the other cats we have quite often. just uh. the little things.

5! my outlook on the community changes depending on what PART of the community we're talking about.

like i think the tumblr therian community is pretty good. probably one of the best ive seen so far.

tiktok is horrid. but not everyone there sucks. ive noticed that a lot of the therians/other alterhumans there just find themselves misinformed, or led down the wrong paths. with a bit of enlightenment i think it could be fixed.

youtube is decent imo. theres a lot of misinformation there as well, but if you can find the right creators with the right mindsets, you can find a safe place. also a lot of the quadrobists and mask makers on there are super sweet!!!

twitter. i have no comment. i dont fw twitter i dont touch twitter everrrrrr nuhuh.

discord is pretty good as well tho!!!! ive found lots of therian friends through discord and they r all AMAZING shoutout 2 them <3

6! oh. ohhhhhhhhh listen. this might some weird but one of the things that makes me just. soooo euphoric. ohh. when i meow at another cat and it meows back. like yes!!!!!! you understand me!!!!!!!!!!!!! also for some reason chewing on wood is a close second. my other cats like to do it and its actually like. super fun i love it. the only bad thing is ive gotten so many splinters from like chewing on popsicle sticks and stuff :(

7! yeah. far too often. and the body dysphoria stacked on top of it doesnt help :( where are my pawsssssssss :((((

8! take it slow. and dont push yourself to do anything. please. ive been a therian for about a year now (not very long, i know, but this is just for comparison) and i still dont know everything about my theriotypes and my kintypes. im still working really hard to try and learn quads, and itll take me a very long time to master even the basics. dont be afraid to take your time. alterhumanity isn't something that comes quickly to all, or any, for that matter. dont be ashamed to take it slow.

9! i would LOVE to get my paws on a few masks or tails but due to my parents i don't think thatll be happening anytime soon :( i do have a cardboard mask i started tho! it should be done in a few days, and as long as they dont find it i think we'll be okay

10! a lot of mine stemmed from trauma i think. it seems like the most legitimate answer for me as of now, but im still looking into it :)

11! uhhhh uhm m not quite sure who id tag for this so uh... anyone and everyone is welcome t answer this!!! :D

If you are a alterhuman, reblog and answer these questions!

(don't be afraid to write a lot, do what you want ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

1/ Which category of alterhumanity do you belong to?

2/ What/who is/are your type(s)? (if you have any)

3/ Do you experience shifts? If so, can you tell us your most common shifts and your strangest cameo shift (if you've ever had a cameo shift)?

4/ How do you experience your alterhumanity in everyday life?

5/ What do you think of the community?

6/ What are the things that make you most comfortable and euphoric in your alterhumanity?

7/ Are you experiencing species dysphoria?

8/ What advice would you like to say to a young alterhuman who has just awakened?

9/ Do you have/want to have gears?

10/ Do you know/have any theories about the origin of your alterhumanity? If so, tell us! (all beliefs are legitimate)

11/ Tag someone/a creature to answer these questions!ㅤᵕ̈

[away-ward]

hey 👋

Sliding in our conversation for ask and answered 288, because i'll diverge from kai's mbti and your response to it in another ask, to compare and contrast some other things. (And im sorry about that but of you also being infp haha! Dont worry, i like INFPs! 😂🫶)

"Also please put the reference where Kai when behind Michael’s back with his gf because I have blanked on this!! This little petty jerk." it's in chapter two hideaway. I think that chapter alone in general sums up kai's earliest personality, and his opinion/dynamic of people, including damon and michael's pretty spot on with his type. Like he view people a certain way, and that opinion is harder to change. BUT it doesnt come out of nowhere, damon did his part, and kai was onky reacting to what he see. But then it made a great contrast with emory who i feel like is more perceptive and observant of how dmaon move, because i swear idk it's just me but by the end of nightfall, when damon gave back her tin box, his personality seems a bit muted? So i can see why when damon was beside emory, he seems less aggressive. No because he wasnt aggressive anymore, it's just that his sparring match might be an equal or more. i feel like thats why characters like rika and banks pop off in damons pov, because he gets to be he one shining and in control. Heh, interesting! Just wanna add that that chapter also kinda makes me think that prison didnt change kai mori drastically, his mischief had already existed since he was young. Rules rules rules. Breaking rules. Being dirty. We dont see this from emory's pov. Emory didnt react much when it comes to "dirty" or "taboo" things. We only see self interest, duties, care, pride, arrogance, indulgence and class consciousness in her pov, or at least, mostly. People around her was the one who assumed that she was embarrassed. Like alex in the train and thats a good comparison because alex's ex roommate was embarrassed of their FF hookup and alex was ashamed because of it, but at the bridal meeting with the girl gang, the thought of shame didnt even exist in emmy's pov. So was the shame that aydin tried to make her feel. Then Like will in the rain thinking she was embarrassed of him, like damon telling will how emmy thought of them when he thought she looked down on him for the wrong reasons, she looked down on him because he was hurting people, not because he was embarrassing.

Funny because i feel like damon carried some shame there too because if he didnt care that she thought he wasnt good and wanting to be good, then his characterisation 1. wouldnt involve him being obssessed with befriending kai, loving winter, and doing good. Because he wanted to be like them too, doing good WITH them, 2. being obsessed of being around will because he was pure, and was tiny bit jealous with how he interacts with women, dreaming about the kind of man he could be if he grew up like will. And we saw him intiating his interaction with women he cared about as the story goes on and 3. Getting out-of-his-way pissed off at emory because he thought she viewed will (and by extension, him) as nothing. Like a deadweight, shallow and no hope. For a character as selfish as damon, it's impossible to say that he was only angry at the girls because they made his guys unhappy, because damon thrive around people he loves and want to care for. Have you thought of this possibilty? Even damon's closing arc was about doing good with winter and building the world with rika and banks. Damon needs and actually wanted to be around people like kai, will and emory in his life too whether he wanted to admit it out loud. Beause they also resemble a part of his life that's good and impressive that he wish for himself and the people around him. anyway, back to the point of that shame thing, emmy didnt agree with aydin when aydin slut shamed alex in BC, like how emmy didnt understand why alex was mad in the train because slut shaming a friend, a woman and a sex worker is just not her reality (her pov is very different than rika, banks and winter. There's a lot of sex related shame in their povs, and it's not always because they wanted to be malicious towards other women, but it's a part of their growth because they're prone to be impacted by their surroundings than emmy) and i guess thats why when we see her interact with martin at the police station, we dont see him slut shame her or shame her for things like these anymore because as an abuser, he knew it didnt work or never worked on her before, as the only things that hurt her was the life of innocents, her beliefs and her authenticity for her dreams, her responsibility towards her people and goals, and this includes will and evento a certain the horsemen too. She wanst only sorry for will, she was sorry to kai, damon and michael too.

another thing that i feel like it's true after KAI's mbti discussion, i dont think prison changed kai to the extreme. I think it just escalated him to the person who he was always meant to be and who he wanted to be outside of what he thought he should be. Like it just highlighted his path, not change him from good kai to bad kai. It just heightened his mischief, he can hide behind prison tonexcuse his misdeeds now. Hiding again, again again. A bit different than emmy, where we dont see much of struggle of her admitting what she likes or hiding her likes in private, like shaving herself to wait for will in that shower stall before damon came to scare her, confessing her feelings to that godzilla toy when no one was around, admitting to herself in the train that she finally is ready to share that oart of her with a family who accepts her now, not feeling ashamed with any kind of weird sex in nightfall where even the readers dont agree about. Because she owns herself, it's harder for external reasons or characters to hit where it hurts, but when it hits, like martin with will and her works, damon with her self esteem, and kai in the train about deseving will, she got hurt, and as a reader, some of us feel angry for her too. emmy didnt have any problems admitting herself in the nightfall, but to share it with people in the light, to want to love and be loved the same way with the same intensity, i think thats where her character very much differ from kai. She's not religious, but kai kinda is, so maybe that impacts their story in some ways too. it's harder for her to share it with people about her likes because of her introverted intuition Ni, hence her problem with trust. Ni really likes to be secretive to others, but not to themselves. Usually be seen as a private, nit so much a mystery like Ne. Because Ni is convergent, and Ne is diveegent. Divergent leads to possibilities and mysteries. Emmy tried to uncover will's grandpa, and will avoiding the topic because he likes it that way. But one thing i found interesting about kai now is kai THOUGHT he was being truthful, but when we look at his character again, he did exist behind a lot of lies and mysteries that he cooked up, even from himself, sometimes just for he fun of it, just because he thought they justify his likings, very similar to will, but will was more self-aware than kai. Even though on the outside, will looks like he is less likely to admit it out loud than kai about their wrongdoings. Interesting! I guess thats where their Ne Fi stack interchange, will is more private with his feelings even though he looks like he's open, and kai looks more open but actually his diverging intuition Ne decides it in private.

however, out of everyone, inckuding side chars, the only char that i still dont know to type is Rika. Like wtf is she? I feel like PD is making her to be everything and now her char seems confusing.

never thought i'd like to see more char analysis of kai but here i am! But i think it's also because i probably didnt understand his char as much 🧐

what do you think about this part, ko?

Heyy!! thank you for waiting!

And im sorry about that but of you also being infp haha! Dont worry, i like INFPs!

Oh no, it wasn’t a problem. I just hadn’t even had my morning coffee when I read it the first time. Somehow being sent a list of your personality flaws before you’re even fully awake is not a peak experience. Who knew?

“Also please put the reference where Kai when behind Michael’s back with his gf because I have blanked on this!! This little petty jerk." it's in chapter two hideaway.

Okay, that’s what I was thinking, but I didn’t thinking that the girl was Michael’s gf, so I wanted to check.

But then it made a great contrast with emory who i feel like is more perceptive and observant

I agree that Emory is more perceptive and observant than Kai. I made a post about it before, but in chapter two, Kai talks about how Damon has no secrets and everyone knows Will’s business. Yet even Kai, as one of their closest friends, didn’t know what was really going on with either of them on that day. Emory on the other hand picks up on things pretty quickly for the most part, though she does have her moments.

when damon gave back her tin box, his personality seems a bit muted? So i can see why when damon was beside emory, he seems less aggressive. No because he wasnt aggressive anymore, it's just that his sparring match might be an equal or more.

I have a love/hate relationship with that scene. Obviously, I love the interaction. It really helped form the idea that these two have a unique understanding of each other, because they were both abused by someone who was supposed to take care of them. Banks and Rika didn’t have the greatest parents, but even as things got bad, they mostly experienced neglect. And while the relationship between Banks and Damon was toxic to a degree, Damon was not ever supposed to be Banks’ caretaker. He assumed that role because he was toxic.

Damon and Emory’s abuse was overall more severe and from a source that constantly framed their abuse as love, so they understand that about each other. They both have an intense love for Will is another area where they share an understanding. I’m not the first to say this, but I remember Damon telling Banks that he thought Will was the only one who would walk through fire for him, and of course he wanted to kill someone to force a bond with the horsemen that would tie them to him forever. In the end, it was Emory who helped him bury a body, for no reason other than she understood why he needed to, and she validated his mixed emotions. They have a bond that he doesn’t share with the others.

And I’ve mentioned other places, but I don’t think Damon building Emory’s gazebo was entirely about Will, but also a thank you to Emory for what she’s done for him, and an apology for letting Will burn it. Not that he would have changed anything, but that he knew it was wrong and let Will do it anyway (as he said, he tried to stop Will). Building the gazebo might have been a form of therapy, since he built it while Will was away, but who knows.

At the same time… what was Damon doing out taking care of the lights? The night after his wedding, he would rather be doing chores that be with Winter? Did he wear Winter out and while she was asleep, he thought might as well get something checked off my to do list? He has such control issues that he can’t let someone else touch the gazebo? Damon doing such a menial task when they probably had a cleaning crew (I mean, who set up the lights and the rows of chairs for the guests?) seems like such a random thing, and totally done so that Emory and Damon could talk.

Anyway, I’m off topic. By this point in the series, it feels that Damon’s lost his bite, which is annoying because PD is still trying to sell us on that he’s the most terrifying. I’d much rather we go with the idea that Damon is healing and he doesn’t need the bite he had before protect himself. That happiness is something he can actually feel now, and it’s okay that he’s changing.

Or alternatively, if Damon were still mean, that would be fine too. If that’s just what his personality is and it never mattered what level his happiness was at, he was always going to be mean and scary and crazy, I could live with that. But this mix of he’s the hardest of them all but also the gentlest, best dad, and also the funniest and also the most mostest character ever is hard to swallow sometimes. Pick one.

People around her was the one who assumed that she was embarrassed.

I might be forgetting a few instances, but I think in the past, Emory got embarrassed when she was caught doing something. Example, the times she was caught watching people – ex: kids in the hallway, Will in the wrestling room. In these examples, though, she was caught by people she thought were better than her. When she was caught by Trevor, who wasn’t well liked by other, similar to her, she didn’t have the same reaction.

By the train scene, she’s already come to the conclusion that none of these people are better than her. They all suck in one way or another. She has nothing to be ashamed of.

(I think a hard part on reasoning this way is that they act like they’re “owning” that they’re horrible people, while they’re actively denying it. Or is that just me?)

Funny because i feel like damon carried some shame there too

I don’t know if I would say he carried any shame for trying to keep Will and Emory apart. He was trying to keep Will under his control, and Emory had the ability to take Will away. Damon wasn’t ready for that. I don’t think he even cared whether Emory had good intentions for Will or not – in fact, her having good intentions was worse for him. If she could make Will happy, what use would Will have for him anymore? It would ruin their bond.

I also don’t think he cared how she viewed him. He didn’t need her in his group, so her opinion meant nothing.

But I think Emory impressed him. She was unwilling to submit to him in the shower. I’m sure there were plenty of girls who set their eyes on one horseman, but settled for another as if they were interchangeable. But Emory wasn’t even responding to Will and yet she wouldn’t settle for anyone else. And then the murder thing.

For a character as selfish as damon, it's impossible to say that he was only angry at the girls because they made his guys unhappy, because damon thrive around people he loves and want to care for. Have you thought of this possibilty?

I actually think he was angry at the girls because they had the possibility of making them happy, and the idea that that happiness could take them away.

But, on the opposite side of that and more to your point, the conversation between Will and Damon on the cliffs comes to mind. Damon was upset that Will was despondent and distracted. The fact that Emory had the power to do this to Will irritated him. I think he thought only he should be able to make Will feel this way, but maybe it was just that Emory made Will unhappy and he was mad about it. He goes on to talk about his future wife and children, making clear he already had plans for Winter, but that he wasn’t going to let that distract him from the now.

It seemed to say to me that Damon didn’t care who Will ended up with, as long as they submitted to Will and served their greater agenda. Emory was never going to submit and Will would spend the rest of his life being chasing after the loss, and that pissed Damon off.

And then, like you said, it is when Damon starts seeing the women as having their own power instead of tools, and how their power actually elevates his friends instead of weakens them, that he can start admitting that what he wanted all along was to be wanted, and all of this was just to stay close to the people he cared about.

But maybe I’m wrong.

I think it just escalated him to the person who he was always meant to be and who he wanted to be outside of what he thought he should be.

Same. I think prison probably brought out the worst in Kai, but it was something that was already there. Kai’s the type of character that spent his whole life keeping the two versions of himself separate, but he would switch between the two frequently and that brought a sense of balance. But when he went into prison, he couldn’t find that balance. He had to be all of one version of himself, and that version became more twisted the longer he was in.

He has the potential to be just as terrifying as Damon if he would find harmony between the two sides. If a little bit of the version that was in prison still existed, and instead of hating himself for it, kept it just under the surface, right there behind the mask of friendliness. It would be a nice counter balance to Damon, who keeps his crazy on the surface and how devoted he is underneath.

(and ohhhh this is an interesting thought, because it’s obvious that Damon and Kai were always supposed to be two sides of the same coin, but this means that Michael and Will could serve the same purpose. And that thought brings to mind the conversation they had about devil’s night in Will’s truck. Will suggested the Cove and Michael rejected it. One is out of control, one is always in control. One has drive and ambition, one just floats through life. But both find something in the other that they need. And the following it up with Michael naming his son after Will. Might be something there… as Will said, the four of them create a perfect storm.)

A bit different than emmy, where we dont see much of struggle of her admitting what she likes or hiding her likes in private,

I do like this comparison, because while I think that Kai always did struggle a bit. He fully acknowledged that side of himself but he didn’t like sharing it with a lot of people, and he struggled a bit with not being the “good son”. Whereas Emory didn’t always accept that side of herself, but once she did, there wasn’t a thought of hiding it away. She just doesn’t open up to a lot of people in general, but she also doesn’t pretend to be anything but what she is.

he did exist behind a lot of lies and mysteries that he cooked up, even from himself, sometimes just for he fun of it, just because he thought they justify his likings, very similar to will, but will was more self-aware than kai.

I do agree. I think Will was aware that he was hiding his most authentic version behind lies, while Kai was desperately trying to believe the self that he presented was his true self, or at least a part of it.

however, out of everyone, inckuding side chars, the only char that i still dont know to type is Rika. Like wtf is she? I feel like PD is making her to be everything and now her char seems confusing.

 Rika is bit all over the place and suffers from being PD’s perfect princess.

Likewise, I still don’t know Kai well enough to fully analyze his character to that degree. It’s funny, because he likes being a mystery to people and he’s certainly succeeded with me!

I’m happy we’re discussing it though. He was my favorite in Corrupt and I was so sad to lose interest in him during Hideaway. I think the potential he has is huge, and if PD were more balanced with the characters, his character could have had just as big an impact as Damon’s.

[sailorhyunjinz]

Pls ur reactions r so good ??? I’m in love :(

Skz reaction to you having an oral fixation / always wanting to have a mouth full of cock ?

AH thank u!! its really gratifying to hear <33

also when i write these i get like a ~ feeling ~ for each member IDK i feel like a psychic AND I WRITE DOWN EVERY THOUGH HAHSAHAS so if it seems kinda... unorganized thats why lmao

OH BRAH QUICK REACTION LEGO

Warnings; skz x gn!reader; SMUT!! oral fixation, male genitailia, blowjobs, explicit sexual content, strong language, cum, orgasm (m),,, uhm.. yeah? about that

Bangchan

now look,,, its not that he doesnt like blowjobs

its just that he doesnt see the point of you sucking him off all the time when he could be hitting it yk?

SURE foreplay go ahead suck his dick 

but like... always?? hmm... dont think so

he never says no to it if you offer to do it lmao

because WHY WOULD HE

BUT and now this is a big but(t)

i’ve had this thought for forever but hear me out...

he loves to 69

HASHAHS I DONT KNOW WHY I CAN IMAGINE THIS SO WELL LIKE...

because he both gives and recieves and that makes his heart go BOOMBOOM

more for your pleasure and doesnt mind going without it for a while, more enjoying to give you pleasure

ah pretty boy channie :((

Minho

YALL ALREADY KNOW WHATS GOING DOWN 

it gets violent 

no joke

hearing and feeling you choke on his dick is the ego boost of his life

“hmm? having a hard time baby? how about i help you?”

and then he shoves it further down, making you tear up

drool all over your chin and chest

his hand tightly gripping your hair

almost facefucking you

violent 

degradation x1000

every degrading word you could ever imagine comes out between his pretty lips 

“slut, whore, cumslave” 

YOU NAME IT

but always mixes it with praise to let you know that you’re doing great and that he’s enjoying it (a lot) :(((

Changbin

he’s definitely a blowjob type of guy

just taps the head of his dick against your flat wet tongue LORD SAVE ME

eye contact or no dick

in his opinion you’re the prettiest when you look up at him with sparkly doe eyes, your mouth stuffed with his girthy dick

he likes being teased?!?!?

kitten lick his tip and bruh he gone in a matter of minutes 

probably a bit embarrassed but DEEP DOWN he enjoys it 

even though you like sucking his dick A LOT

he is usually the one that suggests it just because he knows that you’re gonna say yes no matter what

BRUH PRAISE???

praise him, he needs it

“you’re so big binnie, f-fuck...” 

size kink hello? how small your mouth his in comparison to his dick 

nah he gets off by just that lmao

Hyunjin

i strongly believe in that the fastest way to get him off is oral

NO JOKE

he’s not too sensitive most of the time

but oral 

PHEW boy be cumming faster than changbin grew (ITS A JOKE DONT ATTACk ME)

he cums a lot 

white ribbons just ooze out from the tip

the moans THE MOOOOANS

tiny sweat drops bead on his forehead as his long hair falls in his face, the rest being tied up in a haphazardly ponytail

he slowly guides your head down his length

gently grabbing the back of your neck

flattening your tongue and licking fat stripes up against his painful erection (im going feral)

loves cumming in your mouth 

“open up sweetheart” he’d squeeze your cheeks, forcing you to open your mouth and groaning at the sight of your wet tongue covered in his release 

my god

Jisung

loves it

why? 

because it’s convenient

if he feels horny its easy for him to just nudge you and say

“c-could you,, uhm,, suck me off?”

and if you enjoy it just makes it better??!?

jisungs dream; a s/o that actually enjoys sucking him off rather than just doing it bc of foreplay 

loverboy probably whips his dick out whenever he can 

in hopes that you notice and suck him off (which,,, works)

EVEN IN THE MOST UNFITTING SITUATIONS THIS BOY WOULDNT GIVE TWO FUCKS

yall had just had an argument and his way of making it up to you was to let you suck his dick ASHAHSHAS

did you take it? 110% yes

Felix

tell me why i thought of felix’s australian accent getting more apparent as you suck him off??!?” ASHSH DONT ASK

overstimulation

suck until your jaw hurts

cause its fun to see lixie all squirmy with small whimpers and breathy shaky moans just pouring out like water. 

im gonna say this in every damn reaction but baby is sensitive

S E N S I T I V E

your mouth wrapped around his dick is heaveeeeeen

it’s just perfect?? it’s warm and wet and soft :((

not too rough with it either

would never ask for it explicitly 

and so you just,,, wanting to do it is ~ lovely ~

would probably get annoyed if you did it too often

reason being that he’d get overwhelmed lol

you just wanting to continue and him trying to yell at you but being to weak from the pleasure that washes over him

Seungmin

a lil bit like chan 

SO HE LIKES IT BUT WOULD RATHER POUND YOU IS WHAT IM TRYING TO SAY

now... believe it or not,,, he’s more gentle with you when you’re sucking him off than he is when he’s actually inside of you?

it’s like... all cute, he’s stroking your cheek, running his hands through your hair and smiling down at you

YALL WERENT EXPECTING THAT (or maybe you were idk)

when you pull off his dick with a loud pop

weak i tell you, absolutely weak because of your beauty

spitters are quitters (ASHSAHHS I CANT)

he grabs your throath gently, watching how your adams apple bobs down as you swallow his sweet cum

then he smiles, his eyes all halfmoon shaped as if he didnt just bust his load in your throat

this duality is killing me ffs

Jeongin

“r-really? you’d do that for me?” 

is what he would say when you suggest sucking him off randomly, seeing him getting hard for no apparent reason

nah bro he’s in love when you randomly suggest it

one thing i really want to emphazise is the hidden duality of babybread

i know everyone is going to think; CHERRY HE’S A BABY HE COULD NEVER BE ROUGH

and thats where you’re wrong

have you seen him on stage??? 

not so bready anymore ohohooho noo...

when shit gets hot and heavy so does he SO THERE IS NO HESITATION IN SHOVING YOUR HEAD DOWN HIS DICK

none

you just have to get to that point where they horniness is too much to bear yk??

imagine you two cuddling and you start tugging on his pants 

he already knows, no words needed 

baby bread senses lmao

[thekingofwinterblog]

It’s all for his sake - Endeavor and the Sunk Cost Fallacy

My hero academia 301 is a pretty interesting chapter, but for me, the most notable piece of it was how Endeavour reacted to the realization that Touya couldnt surpass All Might.

upon realizing that his son might not be able to do it because of inborn physical limitations, he immediatly stopped his training, which frankly was the responsible and adult thing to do. 

This stint of real parenthood did not last long however.

After taking the matter to a doctor, he is flat out told that not only cant Touya achive what endeavor wants, but it is a direct result of his incredibly selfish and irresponsible attempt to play god, by trying to breed the “perfect” hero into being.

It is how you react when you lose however, that shows who you really are, and endeavor illustrates that very, very well.

Upon being told in no uncertain terms that his attempts at Breeding an heir failed magnificently, producing a child that was not capable of resisting his own immense power, but also admonished by his doctor for even attempting it, and adviced not to try again, Endeavor instead doubled down, while focusing on the child he screwed over from the start with his attempt at genetic manipulation.

It was all for him you see. Endeavor doesnt use those words, but that is how he spins it here. it was all for Touya, all for his sake. if i stop now, then Touya was all for nothing, a mistake, im doing this for my son.

if im doing this for my son, then im not responsible for any of this.

his wife however, calls him out on it, as she understands Touya much, much more than endeavor does. or rather, she sees him fully as a human being, instead of as a thing, a weapon, a failed attempt at an heir.

Unlike Endeavor, Rei is able to see the way this all is affecting her son. She is able to see, and understand that Touya has fully accepted what Endeavor wanted him to be. a stronger, and better version of himself. however, unlike Endeavor, she only cares about him as a person.

Endeavour by comparison isnt completely uncaring about Touya. like most abusive parents, he does possess love for his offspring, but it is forever tainted by the fact that however much he might care, or not care about Touya, any familial love he has for his son is tainted by the fact that to Endeavor, he is a failed experiment, a failed heir, not his child. 

He is the golden child that Endeavor was building up as his true and only heir, who he breed, trained, and molded to for that single purpose, and now that he’s reached a point where he cant continue that legacy.

so, its time to abandon him, and start over new, despite literarily having just learned how stupid this plan was, and that it can, in fact, go completely wrong, with a quirk that will fuck over the person he brings into the world.

Of course, Endeavor doesnt use those words to frame it. there is no way to pretend to be a hero, if you phrase it like that after all. Intead, this is the words he uses.

this is a very important series of panels for a great number of reasons, some that can be debated, argued, and we will probably never know the full truth to the questions because this is a series published in 2020′s shonen jump, and there are things that probably wasnt gonna fly with Hori’s editors, if it was the case.

but lets start with what can not be debated. Endeavor’s words here.

“If we want him to give it up, then we have no choice... Touya... Cant surpass him.”

These are very telling words, and however you believe The third and fourth children of the Todoroki family was concieved, there is not denying the meaning of what he’s saying here.

The only way that my son will stop being an idiot and fall into line, is if we have another baby. that is the only Right way to move forward. it is morally right, because if we dont do this, then he’s going to destroy himself.

there are two ways to interpret this scene.

The charitable way is to read it as the fact that he used Rei’s oldest son’s mental state as a justification of guilting his wife to have a third child, to give this attempt at a superpowered breeding project another shot, despite the fact that they now know that this can lead to a child who is essentially born crippled from his own powers, and despite the fact that Rei obviously understands the effect of them continuing this insanity will have on their oldest son.

the uncharitable way to look at it, is that he used this as justification for flat out raping her, and forcing a third, and then later a fourth child on her.

I personally believe the last one, given a number of factors shown in this chapter(the way this page is framed, the fact Rei obviously didnt want a third child, given she predicted exactly how touya would react, the way her eyes would latet turn when she looks at who is presumably touya which really brings to mind how she would later react to her youngest son’s face after her mental breakdown, etc.), but i’ll frankly admitt that withouth a direct quote from Hori, its impossible to know for sure one way or another. 

either way however, this is a very good example of Endeavor both being influenced by, and using Sunk Cost Fallacy to justify bringing another potentially crippled child into the world for his own, selfish goals.

sunk cost Fallacy, is a mental reaction to when you invest more time and resources into a project, that you becomes so emotionally invested into said project that you will continue to invest into it, even if it reaches a point that it becomes clear that the resources you put into it, far, far outweighs the potential gains you can achieve.

because if you give up after having invested years, and years of effort to breed, raise, and train a kid, and then all that effort was absolutely wasted. hence he choose to keep going, despite having learned what a terrible idea this is.

He doesnt care about the fact that his next child might be even more crippled than his firstborn, he doesnt care about his son’s actual wellbeing. he cares about the fact that if he doesnt continue this insanity, then not only will he not achieve his dreams, but everything he did to get to this point was for absolutely nothing.

and endeavor cannot accept that. and so long as he can justify breeding more children into the world, and there being any chance they might inherit both quirks perfectly, he doesnt care about anything else.

and the moment he realised that this kid wasnt gonna cut it either, he did it again. it is not a coincidence, that the age gap between Endeavor’s second, third, and fourth children were all 3-4 years apart. because thats the age where you can usually tell when a quirk will manifest or not, as established earlier in the series.

While she isnt brought up directly by Endeavor as a justification, it is very telling that Endeavor decided on having a third child, only after his second child was old enough that he could tell that that there was no chance she could take the place as his heir instead.

So, he had his third child, and as time passed and it became obvious that he wasn’t gonna be able to fulfill Endeavor’s goals either, he dumped him, and instead breed a fourth child into existence.

and finally, he struck gold. he did it. he produced Shoto.

everything was finally worth it, and now, everything would be absolutely fine. the cost fallacy had reached its end, and it was now all full sails ahead.

except of course it wasnt.

His oldest son, now in middle school, had been raised from birth to believe he would surpass his father, only to be thrown away, and getting to see his father try to replace him, not once, but twice.

frankly, this scene is probably my favorite in the chapter, because it goes to show Endeavor’s mindset. Natsuo made a point that their father completely ignored his older children. and he did... from Natsuo’s perspective. however, having a more thourough picture of things, we can clearly see that this wasnt the case with Touya.

Endeavor genuinly cared for Touya, enough that once he got that child he tried to breed into existence 4 times, he genuinly wanted him to just abandon trying to be a hero. he genuinly thinks of himself as a good dad here, wanting his son to abandon the mission he set out for him before he was born. of course, with context, this heartwarming scene is incredibly sad and insidious, because we understand why Endeavor got so attached to his oldest child. because he WAS the golden child. he was the child Endeavor genuinly cared about, and invested in, and trained personally with great warmth and enthusiasm.

And not only did he abandon him as a failed project the moment he realized he wasnt gonna live up to his ridiculous standards, but he literarily created 2 more kids to try and replace him, just as his oldest son was old enough to understand what exactly his dad was doing. over the course of this chapter, we get to see Touya’s start as a 5-8 year old, his deteriorating mental state over the years, until he finally seemed to reach the breaking point with Shoto’s birth sometime in his middle school years 12-15. 

Endeavor is in this scene, just not capable of understanding why Touya so desperately wants to become a hero, when obviously he isnt physically able to do so. he isnt able to understand that he is 100% to blame for the fact that his son is having a full emotional breakdown after literaly being replaced by his siblings. 

In other words, Endeavor genuinly think’s he’s a good person. a person who has made a few mistakes along the way sure, but a person who was always justified in the end, and now that he’s having to face the fact that as dabi would later say “The past never dies” and has to face the aftermath of his inane attempt to play god for the pettiest of reasons, things simply arent going to work out.

He isnt going to have a happy family, who can now put the awful early years behind them, he put way too much effort, caused too much suffering and sacrificed too many years of his life for this not to work out as he wants.

after all, if he walks away from this project now, and lets Shoto have a normal childhood, and decide for himself, with no pressure from him, wheter or not to become a hero, then the sunk cost fallacy will have reached a negative end. it will all have been for nothing.

and we know he did eventually double down on this mentality, literarily beating into Shoto that he WAS going to become a hero, and there was not but’s or no’s about it.

there was no way that Endeavor was EVER going to let things be for nothing. His treatment of his older children could not be for nothing. His treatment of his wife could not be for nothing. His treatment of Shoto, and the way he beat him black and blue to train him, could not be for nothing.

Because if it all was for nothing, if everything he feels guilty about was for absolutely nothing, then he was in fact, a bad, bad person, who had no justification for anything he ever did.

[pastorfutureletthembe]

For a moment, I thought this was about the actual Photo Studio's work. Which we need to talk about more.

It's been obvious to me that Lu Guang is literally the face of their business and that's why Cheng Xiaoshi is so adamant to promote him as such. Although he is not clumsy, he has no skill and seemingly no interest in much. Granted, they don't have many clients coming there for photos, but he has never been seen in the dark room for instance. Twelve hours of diving, you would think he would make some work done but he mostly sits on the couch of the sunroom haha.

Lu Guang spends his days sleeping, eating, and cleaning the shop.

He could be a housewife if it wasn't so clear that Cheng Xiaoshi bears most of the mental load in this house (only regarding their daily life, because we all know time travel stuff takes a toll on Lu Guang). For all his wisdom, he never gave advice on how to handle the shop and I'm pretty sure he doesn't do their taxes. It doesn't seem like he often goes grocery shopping since they eat noodles and take outs almost everyday. In fact, Lu Guang is barely seen outside alone. It is canon that Cheng Xiaoshi knows how to cook but he's either too lazy or broke to do it. Lu Guang just doesn't do much to be fair.

Color me surprised regarding all almighty LCLA!Lu Guang, waking up early to run the Photo Studio, greeting customers, looking for customers, paying for food and customs fees at the airport, cooking actual tasty meat, painting, putting together an actual city guide, and being good with kids.

Cheng Xiaoshi: you have no idea how to run a house.

Well, he isn't wrong. But also, LCLA!Lu Guang doesn't have to try since he apparently has money, beauty and natural talent. It makes me so mad for no reasons lmao.

Cheng Xiaoshi's parents are a topic which got dropped very early on and I don't remember the shop being stated as the only remaining bond he has with them in the live action. Cheng Xiaoshi has no purpose in this shop. Sadly, it shows. He doesn't open at business hours, he is bored with identity pictures, he has no customer service skills. His general laziness and lack of discipline in this department is the only thing I won't forgive to be honest.

In comparison, Donghua!Cheng Xiaoshi is a hardworking guy who seems to have a genuine interest in photography since he supposedly had a project around photos in high school with Lu Guang and Qiao Ling and spent energy and money on restoring the shop before Lu Guang even came into the picture.

He made a website for their shop and is constantly looking for new content to attract customers. The livestream was obviously his idea even though he is awkward in front of the camera. However, the fact he bows three times for the viewers at the end of it is proof that he takes this business very seriously and is grateful for what he gets. He has this tendency in all aspects of his life though: always 300% in. I think that's what Lu Guang loves about him.

Lu Guang: he's genuine/naive.

The dedication with which he does everything is so attractive to be honest. More than that, his survival actually depends on it. He owes loads of money to his landlady, he has to pay supplies and bills, he needs to eat.

People see his obsession with food in dives as a funny joke but did you see how they live? He won't normally get this homemade food because it's pricey. When Qiao Ling steals a bowl of noodles, they could have just made a new one but they probably didn't. And that was the most cooking we ever saw them do on screen.

(And this episode was all about food being a love language too, dont touch me-)

Plus, Cheng Xiaoshi wants his parents to come back to a lovely house with a good business. He works his ass off for this reason. All the money he gets goes into this place. It is his life-work and without it, he probably has nothing left.

So yeah.

Lu Guang does nothing to deserve his bed and food in this house lmao. He's actually a pet. 😂👌💸

I always thought Qiao Ling was so harsh on Cheng Xiaoshi whenever she claimed that Lu Guang does most of the work. I now realise that she just made this assumption because all this time she never knew how the boys conducted their work. Also wonders why Cheng Xiaoshi never stood up for himself and realise that he can’t explain his contributions to the business without revealing the methods he and Lu use to gain the information they need.