#my choice and my autonomy are being ripped away and it not a person thats doing it its my own body

[m00ngbin]

Uh warning this whole thing is me complaining about my bones and pain and stuff so if you're sick of hearing about that you should probably ignore this

Whatever's wrong with my knee spread to my hip so I think that maybe I WILL be needing a cane or something soon and it's not just a joke I was making cause I had to keep sitting down in random places

Joke might be the wrong word because it wasn't really a joke and it wasn't funny, I was just trying to be lighthearted and it didn't seem like it was really happening or that it was probable

[year2000electronics]

Your fiddleford monster au design makes me have so many questions in a good way. Gnawing on the bars on my enclosure kind of way. Does the curse seemingly not affect him in his one year stay helping Ford, and so he does that all himself? Does The Curse, as vague as it is, count that; and drive people to modify themselves and draw away from humanity? Like its not just this magical effect that happens but an active thing in the back of your mind to turn away from what you were born as and embrace something else? Ogh. I'm suddenly a lot more invested in this au

VERY INTERESTING QUESTIONS TO BE CERTAIN so fiddleford is a bit of a unique case where his "monster" theming is tied directly to his decline yes!

full answer under the cut it got long

in my mind, monster falls' curse is tied directly to gravity falls' natural law of weirdness magnetism/"the barrier" keeping bill in. once youve stayed there long enough for the curse to even BEGIN, it becomes harder to leave the town. you just feel drawn to it, and a dull ache in your soul if you leave. so obviously, when ford gets turned into a mothman, he does fully accept that because hes always felt more cryptid than man. but when the time comes for him to ask fiddleford for help, he lays out that "hey, youd be doing me a BIG favour if you came to help with the portal, but this town curses you if you stay for too long so itll only be a few weeks, i promise"

fidds agrees, because hey, whats a few weeks with an old friend? besides, he'll have his wife and son as an anchor to go back to. but the more he thinks about it, the more he likes staying with ford, the more he's reminded of those old times, and the more the curse starts influencing those kinds of thoughts to get louder and louder (but its not ALL the curse you know. still some autonomy in the situation) and so he keeps postponing his return date, almost "tempting fate" about the curse, because he doesn't really feel any different! his friend sprouted wings and antennae! he'd know by now, so he won't check! and ford shrugs and is like "well, alright, it's your choice, we can surely get a little closer to the point of no return"

and yknow, fiddleford denying that the curse could possibly be affecting him is almost like him in canon struggling to reconcile with his two "lives"- his home life and his life with ford. he wants to have his cake and eat it too, because he's just too timid to ever say no.

anyways, one day he wakes up and realizing he's heard the sound of technology near him for a while, and looks around, and realizes it's following him from room to room-

the beeping IS him. it's definitely been a year, he's already been cursed. it's just that he's a robot that looks near-human, just near-human enough that he could turn a blind eye to it and pretend like it never happened and that everything was fine. which i think kinda suits how ford loves the supernatural to a very personal degree, meanwhile fidds got roped into the town by pure happenstance

but. yknow, being a robot that looks human means youre still a robot. and it's a lot harder to erase things from a robot's "brain" without causing some major problems. haven't you ever been programming something or filling out an html code, and then you accidentally delete one thing you thought was inconsequential and all of a sudden youre staring at just a wall of code that's busted because whatever you removed, you DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT HAVE removed?

parts of fiddleford just go kaput and start breaking because he's purposely taking out large chunks of code from his own brain that end up being collateral from the memory gun. because, yknow, the memory gun is imprecise! it was designed for human brains! cos thats what fidds was for years! so it's like if you tried to repair a computer by ripping out the motherboard with pliers

thats my take on it anyways. Ya

[gogogoat495]

[Image ID: Screenshotted Pesterlog reading "TT (Dirk): I've delayed prototyping you because I think you're dangerous. TT: There, mystery solved." and some screenshotted tags.

By choctalksalot: "#reblog #yes yes yes yes ye #it's so /unfair/. /it's so unfair/ #to have your roles stripped away to have your name exchanged for a title #not allowed to enter the sphere of relevance without fundamentally changing themselves in some way #and yet the whole time already being relegated to nothing more than an aide what the fuck dude what the fuck sburb"

By choctalksalot (again):"#reblog #/hi that's me yeah/ #/gips you by the shoulders. you get it/ #sburb literally takes the role of the narrative a lot of the time and as a result pretty much Everyone who plays the game gets fucked UP #/and a thing I'd like to add. this is even worse when you consider the fact that sburb itself skaia itself/ #/knows what's gonna happen. it crafted everything to go this way. these identities were meant to be ripped from then/ #the relevance of names and Names titles and roles parts in a quest you are meant to play. how the world reshapes itself #or rather how it was always shaped to fit who you become because skaia always knows what will happen #but you don't. you don't know because you're a person. #you're thirteen years old and your only friends are hidden behind colourful text on computer screens #and that doesn't fucking matter #because to sburb to the story to the future you are: the autoresponder. dave's sprite. fragments of wholes to be made in the future #nevermind that you are whole now. nevermind that your name is dace. your name is dirk. you are just a kid. #you are just a person walking down the path to the future you thought would be certain #you will play a game with your friends #it never tells you that you won't be finishing it #fucks me up. endlessly forever #fuck sburb"

By roxykisser: "#i wish i could add the prev tags to my reblog they're so good #choc you are so fucking smart #unfortunately my screen is Not Fucking Long Enough #sburb is such an existential being and it's one of the reasons i like it so much #does any of it matter? if the stakes have already been decided? #do you get a choice? #what if the narrative forces you against those you love. what if you fuse with someone you don't know just to get a semblance of realness #and then you become the villain #not even you #the villain #but a small part of him #you are inevitable #lord english is inevitable #is it worth it still? #loving when you know it will lead to pain? #i think it is #but #it's hard #loving despite it all is hard and nobody understands"

By yukaii: "#/you get it/ #theyd both pretty much become outcasts if they didnt become davepeta and arquius. if you couldnt already call them outcasts!!! #like where would davesprite even go on earth c. really where do any sprites go #would someone just 'take one for the team' and let him stay with em or would he just go and wander aimlessly #/hal is literally stuck in glasses you could just put him away somewhere/ #you can just put him away somewhere the moment you decide you dont want to continue talking #lack of autonomy must be great /s #theres this artist hawkcodiles on twt and they drew sibling stuff with hal and davesprite a while back :( #they both lack a strider and they could /be/ that for eachother!!! /gahhhhh!!!/"

By listlesswhistle "#i think about davesprite all the fucking time #because. thats the og dave. #thats the dave we were first introduced to. #hes the only kid other than roxy to make it all the way fom start to finish #it fucks me up so bad"

/End ID]

thinking about hal and davesprite. davesprite and hal. both splinters of striders. both discarded by the narrative and their friends and themselves. both technically making the decision to give up their humanity, but like. did they really have a choice?

davesprite had to become a sprite. sure, he chose to jump into the sprite, but what else could he have done? he had to travel back to alpha (killing the last friend he had left to try and save all of them) and he had to prototype himself. he probably knew that. and he did it anyway to try and save them all, and what did he get for it? his friends don't care about him - not like they used to, anyway. hes just the weird, spare bird dave that no one really knows how to handle. his own alt self, the one that took his place and his friends, doesn't seem to care - hell, he doesn't even acknowledge davesprite's existence after the scratch and the meteor trip and winning the game.

hal technically chose to create himself. he'd have the memories of it anyway, but how could he have known that he'd be the one stuck in the glasses? imagine just pressing a button and waking up, stuck in code and wires and circuits. you still have all your memories and emotions and experiences but you aren't 'you' anymore. your friends see you as a different person at best, and an annoyance getting in the way of talking to the 'real' you at worst.

davesprite goes from being his own person to just playing a role. davesprite. daves sprite. he isn't a person now, not to the game. he only exists to help dave now. and sure, he rejects it and does his own thing, but having your *name* taken and replaced with a descriptor of the role you're meant to serve? that's gotta hurt

hal has no choice but to accept the role forced on him. auto responder. it's literally programmed into him - he has to respond to dirk's messages when he's too busy. he has to pretend to be his old self only when it's convenient. hell, even his 'ironic' new name still forces him into a box. hal. the 'antagonist' of space odyssey. possibly one of the most famous ai in media. an dangerous ai who threatens and hurts those he's meant to help.

and when they both finally get some semblance of importance, it isn't even as themselves anymore! they've been fused with nepetasprite and equiussprite and while they're still there and still happy, they aren't *them* anymore

they drive me so insane

[ingoodjesst]

#yeah lol i fuckin hate okumura so much and i always say this its my hill to die on#that okumuras palace couldve been REALLY GOOD if the writers actually like. gave it attention#and if they you know. actually believed in something and took a stance#i think the only interpretation I like is one where haru isnt upset that her father died per some#shes upset that akechi stole that chance from her because she wanted to make the choice for herself how to deal with him#cuz it makes a lot of sense for her character she doesnt get to decide anything about her life#and the one time she finally gets to do something for herself and think about what she wants#another fucking man comes in and decides for her#plus like harus dad is ass and she knows this so i mean i dont think shes like too attached to him#seeing him die brutally though thats pretty traumatic lol#i think persona just struggles really bad with nuanced feelings towards an abusive parent (see how badly they handled yusukes abuse)

#also gotta also mention mitsurus dad who was just a massive douche god i hate the kirijo group#and she is pretty identical to haru in that shes an heiress who never gets to decide anything for herself and her dad dies and shes forced#to take over his company and like damn like i was so shocked and still am when the bad guys of p3 were strega and not the kirijo group#like. strega. the guys who were horrifically experimented on by the kirijos and have come up with a fucked up mentally to cope with their#trauma over the fact they were abused as kids and the only ones out of 100 who didnt die#theyre the bad guys. and we’re just okay with the kirijo group cuz teehee theyre good now!#even though mitsuru was forced to be a persona user when she was like 8 and never got a choice and was just a tool to them#and they covered up kens moms death and possibly also experimented on shinji and provided the suppressants that slowly killed him and Strega#and more! they suck and its so infuriating how mitsuru is written cuz yay misogyny#shes gotta take over the company because its not actually corrupt if a Good Person runs it even though shes not gonna do anything different#and she doesnt get to live her own life shes still being forced into this BUT DONT WORRY CUZ SHE WAAAANTS IT NOW#and they do the same with haru but like slightly different cuz my assumption is the writers realized how dirty they did mitsuru#so they were like ‘okay we wont revise p3 but we are aware big evil rich corporation is Bad Actually’#but hnn they barely do anything to change imo and they still hold that ‘the system is fine it just has bad apples’ mindset

#i can write so many essays god i LOVE both the empress girls but oooh i hate the way theyre written so bad lol#anyways akechi is based for killing okumura but not based for not letting haru get a few swings in first - @hecksupremechips

i love these tags - i haven't finished p3 but the haru stuff, yeah absolutely my personal interpretation is that the main reason why haru doesn't forgive akechi for killing her father is that she no longer got to deal with him on her own terms. like you said, this was about her asserting her autonomy her justice, freeing herself with her powers, only for her act of liberation to be co-opted by yet another man. moreover, now she never gets to see his change of heart, to see if he at least talks to her and apologizes for what he did to her - even if she couldn't fully accept it, even if she still begrudges him for all his terrible misdeeds, at least she'd get to choose what to do with that. it should've been HER active journey to navigate these complex feelings, but that opportunity is ripped away; now the only reality she can negotiate is a shitty dead dad. ALSO now the fallout of her father's actions all falls on her shoulders, since he's no longer around to face the consequences. he never gets to experience the theme of "fates worse than death", and instead haru has to clean up the mess...

also yeah the watching your dad die brutally part on live tv lmao... ouch.

i seriously wish persona handled the abusive dad stuff more gracefully, like between haru and yusuke it's such a shame more nuance and depth isn't wrought from those storylines - how you can be torn between the fact this person raised you and at times even cared for you, but still was a shit person overall. finding closure about that (if ever) is so complicated, and that journey could've been so emotionally engaging. it also just would've been more interesting for this theme to get fleshed out because of the parallels between these two and akechi, how their desire for validation from their dads was twisted and manipulated for other people's gains. my current take on haru and akechi's dynamic is like, haru is both firm about justice and kind about injustice - she'd feel the same anger towards shido as she feels towards her own dad, and she'd feel sympathy for akechi. not enough to just forgive him for the injustice he did to her by stealing her agency - but enough to recognize that he himself had a lot of agency stolen. being your dad's puppet hurts a lot and they both understand that pretty uniquely.

Persona 5 and to some extent the fandom tries to make us feel bad that Goro Akechi killed Haru's father but like that guy is basically the fast food equivalent of elon musk complete with space obsession, disrespecting his daughter, and workers abuse, and also his palace gave me a migraine so frankly im glad his ass is dead everyone say thank you akechi