#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

[its-your-mind]

*deep breath in*

the fears 👏 have always 👏 been (in one way or another) 👏 parallel 👏 to 👏 desire 👏

let me explain.

so many of the statements given by actual avatars center around some sort of need that was met by their entity. Lots of them even had a positive relationship with the fear that drove them.

Jane Prentiss is an excellent example - the Corruption has always been about a form of toxic and possessive love, but she personally has a deep desire to be “fully consumed by what loves her,” and finds a perverse joy and relief at allowing herself to be a home

Jude Perry is another - she fucking loved watching people’s lives be utterly destroyed. The Desolation only offered her a power of destruction on a grander scale, and then gave her a more intense rush of joy as she did its work. When she tells Jon that he needs to feed the Eye before it feeds on him, it’s almost as an afterthought; she was happily feeding the Desolation long before it burned her into a new existence.

Simon Fairchild. Every time that old loose bag of bones wanders into the picture, he is having a fucking EXCELLENT time playing with the Vast. He loves showing people their own insignificance, and he loves luring them into situations where he can throw them into the void as he smiles and waves.

Peter Lukas (hell, the whole Lukas family (except Evan. RIP Evan.)) hated. people. all he wanted was for them all to go away, to leave him alone. The Lonely only fulfilled that desire.

Daisy, Trevor, and Julia, all devoted to hunting those things they deemed monstrous.

Melanie, holding tight to that bullet in her leg because on some level, she wanted it. It felt good, it felt right, it felt like it fit right alongside the anger and spite that drove her to success.

Annabelle Cane first encountered the Web when she was a child, running away from home in order to tug on her parents’ heartstrings in just the right way to have them wrapped around her little finger. Later on she volunteered to be the subject of an ESP study. Hell, she’s the one who dangled the “Is it really You that wants this?” question over Jon’s head in S4.

And that brings us to Jon, beloved Jarchivist, the Voice that Opened the Door. Ever since he was a child targeted by the Web, he was looking for answers. He joined the Magnus Institute’s Research Department looking for them, he stalked his coworkers in search for them, he broke into Gertrude’s flat and laptop out of desperation for them. And when he realized that all he had to do was Ask to get truthful answers to his questions? It was only natural for him to jump at that opportunity.

Elias told S3 Jon that he did want this, that he chose it, that at every crossroads he kept pushing onwards, and the inner turmoil that caused was one of the focal points for Jon’s character through the rest of the podcast.

There’s a certain line of thinking in many circles about the power of the Devil: he’s not able to create anything new. All he’s able to do is twist and warp that which was already present, making it something ugly and profane while still maintaining the facade of something desirable.

Jon didn’t choose the Eye. But he did wander into its realm of power, exhibiting exactly the qualities it was most capable of hijacking and warping to its own ends. Jon didn’t choose the Apocalypse. But Jonah picked at him little by little, pointing him towards each Fear individually. Jon didn’t want to release the Fears. But the Web tugged on his strings just so and laid a pretty trail for him to follow until he reached its desired conclusion.

Jon didn’t choose ultimate power, or omniscience, or even his own role as Head Archivist. But he said “yes” to the right (wrong?) orders and kept on pushing for the right (wrong?) answers. He wanted to succeed at the work he had been assigned. He wanted to protect his friends. He wanted to rescue them when they were lost. He wanted to prevent the apocalypse, to save the world. He wanted to know why he was still alive, when so many had died right in front of him.

The Great Wheel of Evil Color that is the Entities might not fit as neatly into categories in this universe - maybe there was no Robert Smirke trying to impose strict categories on emotional experiences, or maybe the ways they manifest in the world has turned on its head (goodness knows many of them have been showcased and blended in some very fun and new and horrifying ways so far) - but their fundamental foundations seem to be the same. Hell, in episode one we learned that there had been enough individual incidents to create a distinction between “dolls, watching” and “dolls, human skin.”

Smirke’s Fourteen isn’t going to be relevant as common parlance, RQ said that already, but I don’t think that means the Fears themselves (and their Dream Logic-based rules) are different - I think it means that the levels of understanding, language used, and personal connections among people “in the know” are going to be entirely unfamiliar

[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)

[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.)

[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.

[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

[hatterladz]

Fuck it deranged "I just woke up" character analysis

I think it's interesting that in the movie it feels like Leo is more determined to NOT be serious whereas in the series, despite being lazy, he was also (mostly) the most reasonable

A lot of ppl believe Leo was doing this to shirk responsibilities of being a leader (which while I do think is VERY possible, don't think was what was happening)

Considering how much at the beginning Leo pushes "we defeated the Shredder" I believe it was moreso "We just underwent a very traumatic event the last thing I wanna do is start training and getting strict with things"

Rise Leo shirking responsibility? Possibly, but with how much he prevents his brothers from biting off more then they can chew and how integral "why does nobody trust me?" is apart of his character? Harder for me to believe

Him avoiding serious "hero" work bc he went through a traumatic event and as he does so it's repeated "its not about you" when he decides to be selfish and tries to just have fun instead? Far more likely, it's also interesting that Raph never tells Leo "when are you going to be a leader" leadership isn't really ever mentioned in the movie

Just Raph saying "when are you going to take things seriously", I also think Mikey and Donnie aren't really on anyone's side, afterall they're participating in Leo's shenanigans at the beginning, they're the ones participating in the "you said heroes" game, breaking the pizza record

But at the same time now Donnie has Donnie Pods, which is assumably after Shredder's attack (unfortunately we don't have a clue what Mikey might've been doing before the Kraang, but I'm assuming since Leo is the one getting bitched at the most, Mikey was doing some training as well), they have taken some things seriously, more then Leo, but not to the degree Raph is

Anyway but imagine trying to avoid thinking about how everyone you love nearly died and trying to just enjoy time with them while you can and prove that things are going to be okay, there won't be another Shredder only to fuck up so badly that there's something worse then Shredder, and so you go "I can fix it look this future guy says I can fix it he's supporting me" *falls in a hole* *gets told he sucks* "Nvm I guess I don't got this!"

I think this also supported by how Raph mentions trying to prevent your team from getting hurt and the change of Leo's face only to IMMEDIATELY goad Raph into a fight

[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

[stainedglassthreads]

A lot of people have been talking about that new Undertale book that is available for pre-order. Obviously I don’t have it, so I can’t confirm or deny anything said within it. But I heard, in a section talking about how important the number three is to Undertale, it mentioned there only being three Dreemurrs. 

@/under-lore has dissected this, as well as there apparently being ‘three entities controlling the vessel’, and it does seem like something that can be called accurate. But it also just. Makes me incredibly sad? Just like how fanfics and AUs deciding the only way for a happy ending is to kill Flowey, it makes me sad when Chara, who was loved by the Dreemurrs so deeply, who monsterkind seemed to consider one of them, is considered ‘not a part of the happy family’. I obviously can’t tell why every single fanartist chooses not to include Chara, and I didn’t pay for any of that art so it’s not like I can complain about or dictate their artistic choices. But just... it’s sad. 

They fell into the Dreemurrs’ lives, they brought hope, they ruined everything, and now nobody even says their name aside from Asriel. They are the reason things are the way they are in the Underground now, but they’re also gone, but they may not have considered themselves the Dreemurrs’ kid, but they also made a sweater that says ‘Mr Dad Guy’ so maybe they did, or just wanted to make Asgore happy by pretending they did, or did it as a favor to Asriel? 

I dunno. Maybe the book was wrong, or meant ‘three boss monsters’ instead of ‘three Dreemurrs’. Maybe Chara felt they didn’t deserve to be a part of the family being human, or had bad hangups about people who are their ‘family’, as many headcanons of their backstory involve them either losing family members or coming from a highly abusive home. 

It’s also kinda interesting in a way, though? Kris experiences a lot of dysphoria about being human, but they DO seem to be considered by everyone, the town, Toriel, and Asgore, as being ‘Asriel’s sibling’. Everyone doesn’t refer to them and Asriel as being ‘like siblings’, Asriel is repeatedly referred to as Kris’ brother. Kris is viewed by many as being ‘Deltarune Chara’, and while I strongly believe Toby WANTS you to compare Kris to both Frisk and Chara, this could be a deliberate difference to further establish Kris as their own person. While both Kris and Chara have a deep discomfort with humanity, Kris considers themself a Dreemurr, while Chara considers themself ‘disposable’ or just ‘a soul’.  

Frisk, meanwhile, has the choice at the end of the game of deciding to stay with Toriel or go other places. If they do stay with Toriel, nothing ever says that they consider Asgore their father, or Asriel and Chara their siblings. Certain AUs, such as Inverted Fate, have Frisk choose to stay with someone who isn’t Toriel as their ‘family’. Perhaps they consider themself an honorary Dreemurr(it certainly is a popular headcanon), but there’s no confirmation that they do or don’t. 

At any rate. The book is interesting, but whether it’s ‘canon’ or not depends on your definition of canon. It grants a new way of looking at and contextualizing the game, but people are entirely free to just play the game and never even touch bonus materials such as the Winter Alarm Clock Dialogue and the book, there is a valid point of view that a story should be self-contained and not require materials published after the fact to be understood properly. 

[sixaustralia]

Just looked through my drafts & saw my rant about aywd… I’m so smart and correct like MAN maybe those years of drama & music theory paid off

[wibble-wobbegong]

i love starting big projects and finishing absolutely none of them. this blog js literally nothing its so funnt