#mostly analysis tho

[nat-a-nat]

People interpret Alastor as WAY more benevolent in the finale than I think he is so here it is

my ALSASTOR IS SHADY AS FUCK AND I LOVE THAT FOR HIM rant

In his scene with Nifty in the finale he does seem more genuine, they do seem to have a closer relationship than i previously thought. But he still describes watching the residents of the hotel finding connection with each other as a "surprising thrill". He calls them an "enjoyable collective one can grow accustomed to". It could be from a level of care, but that's not who Alastor is.

Alastor wants to be entertained. There are surely deeper motivations as to why he got involved with the hotel (likely related to his deal) but it's still true. He doesn't care for Charlie and the others as people, he values them for the entertainment their anticks bring him.

He calls them his friends in the finale, but that's not his truth, it's his narrative. The line: "Great Alastor, altruist, died for his friends" to me sounds like a news headline. It even has quotation marks both in the spotify version AND the closed captions on prime. (Weirdly on prime the sentence is written differently: "Great Alastor Altruist died for his friends" implying his last name is Altruist. The difference is odd, i genuinely cant decide which one i think is the true version)

I have also seen people saying that in Hell's Greatest Dad Alastor's part comes out of nowhere, or that he genuinely cares for Charlie, neither i think is true.

Lucifer is a threat to him. Alastor is less powerful than the king of hell, so if Charlie can get help from her dad instead of him she will no longer be dependent on him. Charlie has established daddy issues, so if he can fill that role while undermining Lucifer, or at least put himself in that paternal role, she is more likely to rely on him. That's why he insists on showing off the hotel with Charle, it's so she and her dad arent alone. The only moments Lucifer and Charle are alone (minus Vaggie) are when Husk stops Alastor to talk to him and when Alastor is killing the loansharks. And that's then when the progress happens.

Alastor was on Lucifer the moment he stepped through the door. He does not want him in the hotel, and i don't think he wants his help. 'Helping' is Alastor's job, and he can't let himself be replaced. Not from any care for the cause, but because the hotel him an excuse to stick around and win over Charlie.

She is "filled with potential that [he] could guide". She is nonviolent but powerful. And most importantly to Alastor, naive and trusting. He already convinced her to a deal, he can get basically anything from her as long as it isn't hurting others.

He wants her power. Not clear for what, but it's, again, probably deal-related.

Alastor is"hungry for freedom". And Charlie, with the right manipulation guidance could be the thing that sets him free.

Considering that there's a fair bit of evidence suggesting Lilith is the one holding his leash, that would be a nice conflict.

On the flip side, Lilith could be making him help the hotel. Just a fun thought.

tldr: i think Alastor is trying to get closer to Charlie so she can set him free of his deal

[dxxtruction]

The framed art on the wall in this scene is Louis Icart's Salome (1928).

Salome is known for her role in the death of John the Baptist, where she requested, upon being able to satisfy Herod with her dance, to be presented with his head. She was a popular depiction in the earlier half of the 20th century, and late 19th century, being seen as representation of the ultimate femme fatale - a character archetype of a woman out to achieve some aim and who, through her desirability, leads men to their doom.

There are arguably 3 femme fatales in this room.

(Larger image of artwork below)

[oraclefreak]

I think it's really interesting how Cater is portrayed in a very superficial way in canon, but the fandom made their own takes on his character and end up making content of him being a mentally ill teenager. I agree with it partially, but if I think about it for some while; I end up believing he is the person to be blank when no one is near. Like, when you see him with people he is trying very hard to fit in and to be liked. But it tires him very much. When he's alone, he doesn't show much emotion because there is no one to see him at that moment. In a way, it's a neverending circle of feeling like he's never going to be loved and then getting proof that he is well-loved. And I don't think he would post his struggles online, at least not on a main account (<- this is about his character in canon, not the funny way people portray him for fanon content... I like social media aus with a bit of struggler Cater).

I am not even sure he would be funny on social media, because yes, it would gain him a reputation but only as a funny guy. It is difficult for people to see funny influencers being serious, because there is an image built of them that sorta stays there for a long while. I don't think Cater would like to be seen as "just a funny guy" unless it was a guaranteed 100% success. He actually cares about Magicam pictures a lot, and he is interested in fashion (and has a crush on Vil Schoenheit in some way, canonically). One way or another, he wants to be respected but feels a lot of inferiority when it comes to comparing himself with other people.

Canonically, Cater having a side account for consuming relatable content feels okayish. Yet a part of me believes he wouldn't. Like, it's nice he can relate to other people; but he'll never relate to those around them. He is superficial in the way he interacts with others, because - for example - he is constantly thinking they'll never reach out to him when they graduate. He feels alone in his own world, he feels accepted in social media. Would relatable content make him feel better about how he is feeling? I don't know. Maybe he tries to actively avoid it so he never feels bad, and is in a constant state of emotional numbness when alone. Maybe he consumes the content but never goes and post it. Maybe he posts it??? On a side account??? Cater isn't a character known for his predictable ways of acting...

[angelmachines]

teru & socialization

i've posted about this before but something ive been thinking about a LOT is mp100's themes of loneliness (and eventual connections). i think this is an aspect of teru's character (in particular) that gets left out because it's not as explicit but i've been wanting to do a deep dive on it for a while and i finally sat down to do it. just a warning, this post is gonna be LONG.

these two panels are from chapter 16 of the manga (which i'm using for my evidence because i. dont want to scrub through the anime LOL). initial sentiment: teru uses his powers to cheat having friends/a good social life and wouldn't have that if he tried earnestly. this is a fair interpretation of the scene. with what we know, at this point of time (as in within the teru-mob fight) teru would not be able to connect with other people earnestly, due to his mindset. which i think is a fair interpretation, HOWEVER:

(from chapter 17 ^^) the first panel shows teru's expression to be strained and the second is visibly unhappy. this puts the first set of panels into a different context, that maybe underneath all of this, teru doesn't WANT any of this life that he's built. keep in mind that i'm analyzing this with teru's possible autistic tendencies in mind & you dont have to believe he's autistic, im not your dad, but i do find this a pretty meaningful indication of masking if he were

(note: yes, the strain can definitely be read as comp-het, and i would agree but that's not relevant so go read this post on that instead)

even if the rest of these panels show teru content with his life, i think these expressions are pretty vital to how we read his life especially because we know so little of it. think about it, if you were a kid desperate for affection because you couldn't get it anywhere else, especially not in a way that would come off as "mature" or "unaffected", wouldn't you also look for validation in your popularity? even if it aligned you with people who you consider fundamentally different to you? my point here is that teru can't not stand out-- it's in his nature-- and we are shown how he tries to blend in & receive attention in the only way possible to him; which is to say that he molds himself into something that is palatable, likeable, and superior to other people. if he's nothing, like mob, he has spent his entire life covering up for it. if he fails socially, like mob, he has to be good at everything (even if he cheats to do so) so that everyone else can look past it.

(side note for my teru angst enjoyers: this is a panel of his mom. the mom who he hasn't seen in years. doesn't it make sense that, if he hasn't heard his mom say he's proud of him for literal years, that he would overachieve in response? not related to the autism thing i just have the teru bug. also don't be misogynistic in my notes both his parents suck we just get a singular mention of his mom)

so if teru couldn't meaningfully have friends before mob, that could very easily be because of his past mindset, right?

...except, we don't.. really... see him make other friends afterwards.

but, the awakening lab, right?

(ok i lied to you sorry there is one anime screenshot and thats because it stood out to me while i rewatched it earlier this month. sorry.) id like to bring attention to this screenshot during the cultural festival because the awakening lab can definitely be seen as a direct contradiction of this and i'd like to point out a couple things:

1) in this scene the shiratori brothers are in another room 2) them and the other three are friends with ritsu (or at least close enough acquaintances to want to see him).

considering this is one of the only times they appear together for Fun i am more inclined to believe this is an encounter where they went together because they all would've gone separately anyway. this isn't to discount the possible bond that these characters might have, but thats the thing. we... aren't really shown that they're friends and enjoy spending time together outside of this screenshot, where two out of six of the members are not even present. not to mention that teru is still placing himself in a role separate from his peers. despite stripping the superiority away, teru is still the awakening lab's mentor, not friend. teru still views himself as fundamentally different in a context where his psychic powers don't make him that way.

...except with mob. i bring this placement of power up because where he is the awakening lab's mentor, teru declares mob to be his rival, or, in other words, teru is just like him. he is accepting that mob and him are the same. (and if we view mob from an autistic lens... so on and so forth)

as if to hammer in that point even further-- in the summer vacation omake, teru explicitly states that "summer break is just a super long, super boring stretch of alone time." i'm not sure of the timeline here, but guessing from the hair, we're at least post season 1. which gives us explicit confirmation here that teru is spending the break alone despite his relationship to the awakening lab. his connection to mob is a lifeline here because mob is one of the only people who can intuitively understand teru's isolation without judgment

(also, on that point of teru's autistic tendencies: teru does and says a LOT of things that would raise other peoples eyebrows and doesn't seem to notice.

here we get teru actively admitting to his home life, right in front of reigen, WHO COULD CALL CHILD SERVICES ON HIM? this genuinely made me rethink this character entirely. teru's filter is... minimal. he isn't constantly volunteering information and generally minds his own business, but if you ask? Well.

teru is a social person, but to say he is proficient in understanding social situations seems... wrong. teru views his loneliness as boring because, despite being fairly open, does not actually allow himself to think about his own feelings and how they affect him. this loneliness is boring because he doesn't have enough of a reference to realize its not

if we are taking pre-mob teru to be a version of himself who is masking, or at the very least someone who is faking a lot of stuff in a less autistic sense, the fight with mob changes teru to the point where he no longer hides himself. in the same way that mob was able to shake teru's fragile superiority complex i think the change in appearance marks the end of the self teru had built up. from this point on we see him become a lot more... Him. his appearance and his fashion choices are, presumably, completely normal to him and we get no indication that he believes otherwise despite the reactions it gets-- which is... well, i wouldn't be writing this post if i thought it was one of his most neurotypical traits.

in fact, he seems... pretty oblivious to what other people think of him. which is an interesting distinction to make considering the intelligence we Know he possesses (which is not to say that you are unintelligent if you don't pick up on social cues, just that its common for media to depict it that way.) these traits are made pointedly, even if unintentionally, separate, ESPECIALLY when you note the amount of characters who Do ruminate on or stare at teru's appearance.

some examples. i don't even think this is all of it-- case in point.)

[mcytegg]

you can love a character and still admit when they're wrong. i love roshambogames but can acknowledge his flaws (he has none) & can hold him accountable for his wrongdoings (he’s never done anything wrong in his life) & call him out for his actions (which are always correct)

[getvalentined]

I understand people giving Lucrecia the benefit of the doubt with regard to what she did to Vincent, just like I understand people not realizing how undeniably fucked up Gast was, but the important thing to keep in mind about these characters is that the majority of them are written as being in the throes of some pretty extreme cognitive dissonance.

It's not bad writing, it's that they're hypocrites. They reached a moral event horizon at some point, and they did what they felt they had to do when crossing it.

Gast abandoned a child because he wasn't what he wanted—even having raised Sephiroth up until that point and knowing that he was a pretty normal kid overall, as we can see from his behavior as a young teen in Ever Crisis, Gast still couldn't bear to continue to be responsible for a monster. He knew what Hojo was capable of, because he knew about what happened to Vincent, because it happened in his lab, and he left a literal child in his care anyway. Sephiroth's only crime was not being what Gast thought he was, and Gast damned him to a lifetime of torture under a "father" whose only goal was to use him to prove his own genius. Why? Because Gast had a goal, and the goal was what mattered, the ends justified any means he could devise. He was a man obsessed, driven to the verge of madness in his lust for the Promised Land. A religious zealot with the most powerful scientific team in the world at his disposal, ready to prove him right—and then he wasn't right, and the whole world fell apart underneath him. Ifalna gave him back that stability, because she was a real Ancient, and she gave him a new, better child to care for. A child that wasn't a monster, a child that was his, a child that might one day lead him to the Promised Land, if her mother didn't do so first. When Aerith was born, Gast got to be right again, and therefore all was right with the world. Sephiroth (like Genesis before him) may as well have never existed at all.

Lucrecia openly experimented on a man who loved her enough to die for her, going so far as to apparently use data from those experiments to improve her own academic standing, because she couldn't bear the guilt of being responsible for his death. It wasn't about whether it was the right thing to do, it wasn't about whether she loved him back, it wasn't even about her thesis at that point—she just couldn't continue to live having lost everything as a result of her own impatience, her own lack of regard for everyone around her. She killed her mentor through her own impatience, she gave up her son for experimentation, she didn't stop her husband from experimenting on her ex-lover, and she had nothing to show for it but crippling Jenova toxicosis and an equally crippling cowl of regret.

I could even go into Hojo here, how what he did to Sephiroth was a result of struggling to escape Gast's shadow, how what he did to Vincent was a result of him struggling to prove that he deserved his wife, how everything he did was born from the all-consuming need to do just one thing for which no one else could take credit. Hojo got the director position not because he earned it, but because Gast ran away. Hojo got Lucrecia not because he wooed her, but because he didn't have eyes like the unrequited first love that she killed. Hell, Project S only happened because Project G failed! Nothing Hojo has ever had that was worth anything was because of his work, only because the work of others failed. Why do you think he talks about "failures" the way he does? The failure of others is the only reason he's gotten so far, and he knows that any failure of his own will knock him right off that pedestal—and he's terrified.

None of these people are good people. I don't know that any of them ever were. But in their eyes, everything they did was justified, they took the right course of action, because they took the only course of action that their personal understanding of reality would allow them to take.

Were any of them actually right? Probably not. Certainly not, in some cases. But there's no going back on it now. The arrow has left the bow of the goddess, and there's no calling it back.

[bayetea]

(tw: mentions of sexual harassment, dnr if that's a bad topic for you)

ok let's all hold hands in a circle and think about piper mclean angst and complexities for a second. the sheer disgust (if not disgust then at least uncomfortability) that she has irt others expressing attraction to her is such a troubling part of her character. she goes out of her way to downplay her attractiveness and rick describes it as her "not liking the attention" and that makes sense but let's dig deeper here. if you're a woman then it is surely not just about "not liking the attention", there's a pervasive undercurrent of fear that a man's attraction to you will result in something very dangerous happening

especially for a demigod! how many times have the gods terrorized a woman because she's "just so beautiful" and they "can't resist". jason's father is an obvious example but leo's father has done it too. (not just pulling an old myth out of nowhere and asserting it as pjo canon here, hephaestus sexually harasses athena in the "percy jackson's greek gods" book. it's in the athena chapter and it's pretty much written for laughs to downplay the darkness of daedalus' birth origins.) I'm definitely not implying anything about jason or leo here but I just think it has to be unsettling to be someone like piper and exist with all of that history so closely around her

and like yes piper was written by a man in 2010 and has some "not like other girls" disdain for conventional femininity and makeup and whatever (I prefer to think of it as slightly misguided anti-materialist sentiments) but I think that if you dig deeper, in piper's mind there's likely a sincere lack of understanding as to why a woman would go out of her way to be more attractive. she's probably exhausted of people making their attraction to her her problem, to the extent that wearing makeup and cute clothes ever just sounds like an extreme exacerbation of the problems that she already faces for being the prettiest woman since helen of troy (she's never described that way but I mean the paris/helen parallels between jason and piper are all over the books)

like growing up in the mortal world she probably gets catcalled all the damn time. and we see potentially dangerous non-mortal beings express attraction to her regularly throughout the books, and unfortunately for her she has to make use out of that attraction in order to save herself and her friends regularly. the efficacy of her charmspeak is explicitly linked to whether or not her target is/could be attracted to her

so she has to weaponize her appearance (arguably her sexuality) to bring down her foes. she's 16 years old and the foes are so often male gods/monsters who are hundreds and thousands of years older than her. it's horrifying actually. obviously the idea that physical attractiveness = more sexual harassment is a complete fallacy (because harassment can happen to absolutely anyone) but like. in the context of greek mythology? yeah no wonder piper wanted to completely remove herself from the greek world in toa. take all of this in stock with the historical+ongoing oversexualization of indigenous women and we've got something really fucked here!

[spaciebabie]

see i absolutely despise jimmy (and curly) as a character(s) but as a literary freak i can appreciate the way hes used as a story device with his relationship to curly. i could type this more eloquently but currently ive had a glass of champagne and i havent drank in like 6 months so my tolerance is low so forgive my writing but. jimmy cannibalizing curly. yeah.

theres multiple messages here, theres the message that jimmy is doing what curly (assumedly) did to get into his position and, employing another metaphor, taking the "dog eat dog world" saying to heart. and literally. devouring his competition. or maybe curly didnt do that. and thats what jimmy thinks curly did and so he aims to do the same. choose whichever one you like more they're both interesting storywise.

theres the message where jimmy "consumes" curly in some twisted expression of love. devouring curly so that he remains a part of him, an expression that he is the gold star captain and something to aspire to. admiration for something he'll never be and so he chooses to consume him in order to potentially absorb some of his skill or become more like him.

and then there is curly sitting there helplessly being devoured. its something he has no say in, not something that he chose to happen to him, its something hes become swept up in. he becomes devoured by jimmy in the literal sense of cannibalism, but also in the sense that he became so absorbed in his friendship w/jimmy he ignored his wrongdoings and ultimately led to anya's assault as well as the death of the whole crew.

curly and jimmy intertwined so that one is always consumed by the other. curly in a literal sense, jimmy in a more psychological one. i mean like its really quite crazy they did the "im consumed with thoughts about this guy and want to be him so i must literally consume him" thing quite well. when examining mouthwashing's narrative you find new things to admire every time. each little story element has a place in creating a wonderfully complex and heartbreaking story. its very well done and honestly something to aspire to from the perspective of someone who enjoys studying/writing literature.

all of this is to say i think that there should be more art of jimmy covered in blood and engaging in this cannibalism like the stupid little leech he is

[treviso-nights]

not to Be Like That on tumblr dot com but it was so insane to play as a dalish elf in inquisition and have solas belitte your inquisitor's heritage (whether they were proud of that heritage or not). like. absolutely not every clan is going to be mostly comprised of white folks and i'm just imagining a bipoc/biracial/racially marginalized lavellan be repeatedly told that her culture is contained and 'preserved' by misinformed non-people (to him, and only at first, i know)

i don't personally care about the optics of that right now. like i don't care how it visually appears for a white man to be telling his marginalized girlfriend her culture and legacy suck but that they did get 'her' right. i'm just saying in a non-comprehensive or well thought out way that it was INSANE bro. and honestly good for him on being candid, lol. can you imagine if they got together after the fact and he convinces her to remove her vallaslin and then goes, ":) :) :) ur better now! also, farewell. gonna go blow up the sky you fixed <3"

[sorrinslays]

Gepard's role in the story

(crack theory territory)

So, I'm sure I'm not the only one that noticed, but Gepard is extremely underused in the story, which is such a shame?

Like, I counted the times we see him in the main story and it's disappointing. We (Astrall Express Crew) see him at the start after Sampo ditches us, where he takes us to Cocolia and all, then we see him again at the end of the story when he's trying to stop us because he believes we are trying to harm the Supreme guardian and he fights us and his Sister and that's it. We don't see him again.

Then, when Topaz comes to Jarillo VI he is there for two scenes again. One where he tries to stop Topaz and gets ambushed and one at the end where he stops a woman from getting crushed to death.

Even in 'his' (Serval's) companion quest, he takes the backseat. Sure, the story was about Serval and her getting over Cocolia and Gepard's role was him just trying to show Serval that she is still needed in Belobog, but honestly they could've done more with him.

I think people forget that he doesn't know the truth of what really happened to Cocolia? (as far as I'm aware at least). Can you imagine if he learned the truth? The mental breakdown that he'll experience?

This man has been serving her for the better part of a decade. He was spoon-fed propaganda like that Underworlders are 'wild' (an item description mentions that he had to fight 'wild Underworlders' I'm pretty sure) and blindly following the Supreme Guardian's orders for years. How is he supposed to react when he learns that those 'necessary sacrifices' of his fellow guards was just an excuse to get rid of more Belobogians for the 'dream' the Stellaron promised Cocolia.

Don't forget, he knew those people. They were friends, comrades, people he saw everyday. And all of them were dying on the daily and he was powerless to do anything.

And when he learns the truth, how is he gonna react to Bronya's decision to cover it up? Were the deaths of his friends in vain? Do their families not deserve to know the truth as to why their loved ones died? How much blood does the late Supreme Guardian have on her hands? How much of it has transferred to Bronya? How much blood does Gepard have on his hands because he never questioned his orders?

Point is, he is so important to Belobog, he's the Goddamn Captain of the only military service they have there, obviously he is needed! So why underuse him so much?

Well, this is where we move more into theory territory. I think it ties in with a future Belobog quest that Black Swan's companion quest hinted at (at the end during Sampo's and Sparkle's conversation).

Since Gepard has been on the backburner, we have yet to see Sampo and Gepard interacting and the fact Sampo still doesn't have a companion quest even though he is an important lore character I think all of that will happen in the future.

I think it would work best as a quest without the Astral Express Crew, like the new POV mechanic or the cut aways used in the Loufu for Dan Heng. We could play as Gepard or Sampo as they are forced to work together for whatever reason.

We could play as Gepard as something big happens in the restricted zone (AKA the catastrophe Sparkle teased Sampo about). Maybe he gets informed about it (maybe we get a new 4* character that's a guard that informs Gepard) and when he makes it there, Sampo is already here, as if expecting it.

Maybe Bronya calls Gepard to her office after an anonymous tip was sent to her warning the Silvermane Guards of a catastrophe coming to Belobog. Maybe he is tasked with finding who sent the note as well as prepering for said catastrophe, which is how he runs into Sampo, having the two working together.

Maybe we play as Sampo, leaving clues for the Silvermane guards until we reveal ourselves, getting that 5* version. Maybe we are the one pushing the puzzle pieces so they fit on their own or maybe all through the quest we keep cutting back to a game of chess between Aha and Sampo, showing the unpredictable nature of the catastrophe as it was orchestrated by Aha just for shits and giggles.

Either way, this works great as a pathway to seeing:

a) the dynamic between Sampo (arguably the most mysterious character to come from Belobog) and Gepard (resident bbg)

b) 5* Sampo

c) (and this is mostly me playing around with concepts) Gepard becoming an emanator, becoming the first on screen character to be turned into an emanator

d) a great end to Sampo's character arc by becoming a part of Belobog (maybe he even becomes part of the Silvermanes as a detective)

e) more Geppie screen time and exploration of his character

(a few extra ramblings from my demented as a treat)

I think it's criminal that Gepard doesn't have his own companion quest and he's practically shoved in his sister's, and considering that Sampo doesn't have his own......................

I think it would be fair to have these two in a companion quest of their own.

I'm thinking of a quest where Sampo becomes a Silvermane guard (a detective to be more precise) and Gepard learns the truth about Cocolia.

I can imagine that during some investigation that Gepard is having a hard time with due to the Underworlders not trusting the Silvermane guards, he is forced to seek Sampo's help. So through Natasha, he gets ahold of Sampo and the two work together where Gepard, through investing a shady group learns what actually happened to Cocolia as well as all the lies he's been getting spooned-fed for years.

One mental breakdown and emotional conversation between the two later, they catch the criminals and Gepard takes it upon himself to make Sampo part of the Silvermane guards because of how helpful he's actually been recently (main story + new quest with the catastrophe + the companion quest + helping the Underworld in general).

The companion quest ends with Sampo becoming a detective (Heizou from Genshin Impact style) where he wants to prevent crimes from happening before they even committed. His reason being 'criminal to detective is pretty stereotypical and Aha might blow up the planet' so he challenges himself to stop crime before it's committed to keep Aha entertained enough that they don't blow up the planet but uninterested enough that they don't actively observe.

I think it would be a great end to both character arcs.

Gepard gets more screentime and learns to question orders (it'd be nice to see his friendship with Bronya damaged, cause technically he is her uncle (Cocolia adopted Bronya while she was still in a relationship with Serval, making him an uncle)). Maybe he also reaches the conclusion of still being a Silvermane Guard for the sake of protecting the people but not actively following the Supreme Guardian because he lost faith in her.

Sampo gains a home and (gasp) love (platonic, romantic, doesn't matter). He'll feel like he belongs somewhere, a permanent home. Not matter if he leaves the planet for a day or a year, he'll still be welcome. His reputation improves and his skill is used for the betterment of Belobog. His mask is allowed to slip, even just a little.

[izfaish]

so i was rereading kn8 ch. 6 kikoru's flashbacks for fic research and realized that isao,,, had her apply to a neutralization middle school.

like ok. it makes sense for his character and all that but the thing i'm wondering about is just,,, what? makes a neutralization middle school different from a normal one? there's a pipeline from middle school to the jakdf?? it's,,, probably not all combat-focused, but the implications that kaiju are so integrated into everyday life and across industries that there is a dedicated middle school for kaiju neutralization is,, a wild concept.

ALSO RANDOM FUN FACT - koiwai osamu easter egg as one of the names on the list! (at the very bottom left). i wonder if osamu threw that in for fun while (presumably) doing the background art for this chapter.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

like the fact people don’t realise c!Tubbo was a victim of c!Dream's abuse too is fucking depressing bc like. what else do you call deliberately isolating a teenager, repeatedly threatening them, building their trust to manipulate and control them, deliberately causing them emotional pain and belittling them, and then Literally Psychologically Torturing Them. like c!dream didn’t hit c!tubbo (until after exile arc, at least) but he still emotionally abused him! that’s emotional abuse! c!tommy was not c!dreams only victim. he has a consistent pattern of abusive tendencies. c!tommy was his main and favourite target, but he was abusive towards many others- he simply saw them as disposable tools, instead of prized possessions.

[thegodcomplcx]

Matt smith seems to be the only one who understands the 11amy relationship even when most fans don’t. he was playing the doctor in love with amy idc idc

karen gillan too tbh. i think there was an interview where she said she was disappointed w the way amy's storyline ended like......shes one of us

[demonsfate]

Pretty much this. In the end, all the condemnation for Jin's actions, the pointing fingers and accusing him of "being bad," is just general hatred for Jin. Even if TK6 never happened, I'm sure people would have other reasons to hate him. (Other common hate not including TK6 actions is that he's boring, a homophobic slur, whiny, or a Kazuya clone).

I think the reason for this really boils down to Jin being a hard character to like. I don't think he's unlikeable at all, the dude's my favorite character... but I think it's hard for the general audience to really get into him. Lee & Kazuya are easier to like due to their "charming" personalities. Lee is oftentimes funny and very flamboyant. Kazuya is may be an awful awful person, but he's confident, expressive, and badass. Meanwhile Jin doesn't have any of those traits. Jin is much more reserved, and he limited in his expressions. Jin is also a much more "negative" man - which ppl usually dislike. Jin hates himself, Jin hates his powers, his family, his life, Jin is suicidal even. Even though all of Jin's reasons are justified, people view this as "whiny", that's why they gravitate to Kazuya - as Kazuya may have had a bad life, but he accepts himself & his devil powers rather than rejecting them as Jin does.

Most people prefer exaggerate characters - characters that are zany or "fun." Jin's stoicism tends to bore many people. Not only bore people, but confuse them, too. Although I do blame TK6 for being the primary reason why "Jin doesn't care about anyone!!" or "Jin doesn't like people!!" is such a popular take, but another reason is simply because it's hard to see Jin care about people. Jin absolutely does, he's just not... as expressive with his feelings, therefore this isn't a fact he's shouting from the rooftops. To understand Jin's character, you really have to watch him, rather than be spoonfed the information. You can see that Jin cares a lot, but through his actions - not his expressions or sometimes, even statements. You have to watch certain character endings to get the full gist of Jin. It's a lot harder than watching Lee throw a rose in the air whilst laughing and shouting "EXCELLENT!" Which is more entertaining and quicker to consume.

Like another example is how when Bloodline dropped, there were actually quite a few people saying that the anime finally gave Jin "personality", and others saying the anime was what made them like Jin. The funny thing is, the things they listed about how the anime made them like Jin (beyond being more emotional) was list of things they didn't know about it that the anime showed. Which uhhh... they would've known had they tried to get into Jin's character by either watching all his scenes throughout the games, or researching his character. But again, Jin is a harder character to get into - therefore, people are less likely to be interested in trying to.

Because Jin is difficult to appeal to people, people are likely to be more biased toward the ones they DO like. Lee is entertaining to them, so they're "shocked" that he was a villain despite all the signs being literally there. Or how SO MANY people were saying that Kazuya was more deserving of a redemption arc, that Kazuya should be the main character & Jin be the villain, even though Kazuya is literally doing the same shit Jin was except for even worse reasons. But people are willing to excuse these actions from these characters because they like them so much. Just how they're willing to condemn Jin for the same flaws just because they don't like him, and it gives them more reason to hate the character.

Anyways, I personally think Jin is a very amazing character when written correctly. I think if people were to look at him closer & learn about him, as well as not just disregarding everything due to TK6 and the stupid inconsistencies, then maybe people would enjoy him more. Hell, I've had people here tell me that they started liking Jin more because of my blog. I just get tired of all the double standards, too.

[orcelito]

I do find it so funny that I will graduate college days away from my birthday. Like my birthday is literally in between the end of the semester ("graduation") and commencement

It really will be like a joint graduation & birthday party for me lmao