#never thought I’d say this but

[explodingzam]

Fellas, is it gay to fill the hole left by the sudden tragic loss of your beloved wife with the presence of your long-time business partner?

[fluent-in-lesbianism]

that uk milkshake lady wouldn’t’ve missed

[richardpapenvarient]

I made this and it isn’t getting the attention I want it to on TikTok and Reddit so this is a last ditch attempt. I present to you…

THE CANON SEASON 4

* Starts off with a flashback of Jennifer as a child, she’s very sick and then she starts glowing and gets rashy like we see in the show because of the Durango infecting her, her family is extremely superstitious and tell her that they’re going to sacrifice her to the ocean to cleanse her of the demons in her. The squid senses her magic and swallows her to keep her safe and swims her to a place where she’ll be rescued. Of course, Jennifer doesn’t know this. She’s extremely traumatized and when she’s asked why she was in the squid all she can say is “the cleanse” because that was the last thing she heard from her family. Jean and Gene see this.

* Changes to everyone’s lives: Five, Ben and Viktor are basically the same, Diego and Lila are happily married and have little issues except that Lila feels trapped and is going to the keeper meetings, Klaus has a lot of the same issues and is sober except for alcohol which he does drink from time to time and is living with Claire and Allison, Ray has not walked out on Allison and instead has mysteriously disappeared, Allison is trying to convince Five to use his CIA connections to look for Ray, and is doing her own digging, Luther found a passion for actual dance as a way to cope with missing Sloane and is working as a professional ballet dancer (which he is somewhat embarrassed about) and he does live in the old umbrella academy house but it is not condemned and he has spent a long time fixing it up in the hopes that he would find sloane and bring her back to live with him. He does go and pick Ben up and take him to the party.

* The whole scene with the Keepers and Five and Lila and Diego thinking Lila is cheating because he sees her and five but thinks five is someone else

* Lila and Diego’s Childs birthday

* Everyone shows up

* Sy shows up and Kidnaps Viktor, tells them to go to New Grumpson and find Jennifer, they refuse but he shows them that he has a weapon and has kidnapped Viktor and will hurt Lila and Diego’s children if they don’t so they all agree and find Viktor and they take the marigold from Sy which they entrust to Ben and they go to new grumpson.

* They find Jennifer, But Ben finds her first and they end up kissing, permanently implanting some Durango in Ben

* Gene and Jean are already there, and see Ben and Jennifer kiss, alerting the town to what’s happening and causing the outbreak, and they cause the car accident and take Jennifer

* Ben is able to see Jennifer and they go to where she is being held to try and save her but they get into a fight with Gene and Jean and Jennifer ends up being killed. Ben blames his family and runs away. They try to chase after him but Viktor stops them and tells them to let him go. They’re all so strung out they forget they gave Ben the Marigold

* Because he kissed Jennifer there is still Durango inside Ben that’s interacting with the Marigold inside him and slowly turning him into the creature and polluting his mind

* He decides that he’s going to get revenge on them by giving them their powers back because all of them have expressed to him at some point that they all are more or less content with the lives that they have now and are not interested in getting their powers back.

* He gets in contact with them all and asks them to have a meal with him at the restaurant, they all reluctantly agree. Ben gives them the shots with the Marigold.

* They all get their powers back, including Klaus. Luther does not get his ape body back.

* They all confront Ben at Luther’s house, Ben accidentally starts destroying Luther’s house like what happens in the show, causing Luther to get extremely mad because this is the house he had built for Sloane. Everyone gets into a huge fight which tiggers Ben, he runs away and Five tries to chase him but Lila puts her arm out to stop him and he ends up blipping both of them and finding the train station. They explore it. Five finds the Max caffe and tells Lila to wait for him. She does and we see some time pass, “Five” comes back out and they blip back.

* The family (including Klaus, he doesn’t get kidnapped that was such an icky plot line) go to search for Ben. Their first stop is Sir.Reginald Hargreeve’s where they find the blonde lady (forgot her name, I’ll just call her violin lady).

* “Five” and Lila show up and the whole thing with them not knowing how Ben died happens and then getting their memories back. Right before he goes under Diego tells Lila he knows she’s cheating on him and that he wants a break from their relationship which confuses and upsets Lila.

* Meanwhile Ben is on a rampage, still slowly turning into the monster. They follow his trail, and end up at Gene and Jean’s where Ben had gone to try and kill them for what they did to Jennifer but Gene and Jean but they had escaped so Ben ended up killing all their followers that were there and then running away.

* Lila, still really confused and upset, convinces “five” to go explore the train station with her and “five” agrees. He enlists the CIA guy to take care of Luther and Diego. All that CIA stuff happens. Ben tries to hideout at the hotel but ends up losing control of his powers and sending out the shockwave from the show and runs away.

* Lila and “Five” end up trapped in the train station for seven years. “Five”convinces Lila to stop wandering and live in the place with the greenhouse with him. He makes her the bracelet and tries to kiss her but she pushes him away and yells at him. She’s still in love with Diego after all. “Five” leaves and goes down to the train station, furious.

* “Five” ends up tripping over the side of the platform and finding the note book. Lila chases after him just in time to see him climb up back onto the platform.

* Lila asks “five” what he has and he’s about to say it’s nothing but then the real five blips in and kills “five”

* Lila is shocked, especially considering that Five has also appeared with Ray, Hazel, Cha-Cha, Agnes, Sloane, the handler, and Pogo

* He grabs the notebook from the dead five and says “let’s go home”

* Meanwhile, Viktor and Reg are still looking for Ben. Ben is trying to run away but is too far into the transformation and hides in the department store. One of the keepers sees and alerts Jean and Gene who’ve been preparing for this. They alert the rest of the keepers who form the mob from the show. Violin lady disguised as Sy kills Gene and takes his skin.

* Five, Lila, and the rest of the group that showed up with the real five show up to Diego and Lila’s house where everyone is. They explain everything that happened to Lila and Lila and Diego make up and are happy again.

* It turns out that when five went to the Max caffe they explain to him what they thought he would have to do in order to save the world and obviously he refused because when has five been one to give up so the rest of the fives tied him up and threw him in the closet. They sent “five” out to hopefully carry out what the real five refused but “five” ended up getting stuck with Lila and falling in love with her. Lila obviously didn’t reciprocate.

* When they threw five in the closet, he found Ray there. It turned out that one day Ray accidentally took a wrong turn while trying to take the subway to work and found the max caffe. They explained to Ray what was going to happen and Ray tried to leave to warn Allison but they tied him up and threw him in the closet.

* So, Five blips him and Ray out to the building where the commission was and they spend seven years rebuilding the commission and gathering their team from different timelines (a none-evil handler, Sloane, Agnes, Hazel and Cha-Cha, Pogo)

* They all spend that time working on an element called Daisy (it’s called that because marigold is the birth flower for October and Daisy is the birth flower for April which is about as opposite of October as you can get

* The reason Sloane didn’t end up with the rest of the group is because she was completely made up of Daisy which didn’t exist yet in that timeline but when they created it she appeared

* Daisy can completely reverse the effects of Marigold and Durango, but there is no telling what the side effects will be

* Ray, Claire and Allison reunite

* Sloane and Luther reunite

* They all race to get it to Ben

* Viktor has gotten inside and is reasoning with Ben, violin lady disguised as Gene explains to reg why she did what she did and that she must die for creating marigold and Durango blah blah blah

* The gang gets to Ben and Viktor and explain everything that’s happened. Ben agrees to take the Daisy. He drinks it. There’s a huge shockwave. The screen goes black.

* Texts appears on the screen. “2030. Original timeline”

* Allison and Ray run a youth theater program, Sloane and Luther have 3 kids and are professional ballet dancers (they’re currently working on a production of the nutcracker with Sloane and Clara and Luther as the nutcracker), Lila and Diego are happily married and have started a youth warrior gym, Klaus has started his own rehab facility and spends his days helping people get clean, Five is running the commission smoothly with the help of The handler, Pogo, Hazel, Cha Cha, and Agnes, it’s now a wonderful place to work. Viktor opened up an orphanage in what used to be the umbrella academy. There’s a statue of Ben in the courtyard and every year on Christmas the siblings meet up around it to honor his memory.

The End

[dirtgrubber]

intrusive thoughts….

so uhhh the latest chapter of “Of Saints And Sinners” was great. thanks again @morningstarwrites for being perfect

[tomatoart]

Bleegeghh teh 11th💉🥫 ft. recent outfitz

[scentofhydrangea]

snow days with fiancé!luigi would be slow and very domestic :(( when you wake up, he’s already awake and reading a bit in his book-of-the-month. you reach over to the bedside table to grab your phone to lay on his chest and scroll a bit, and he puts his book down to look at your feed with you. your friends are posting pictures of themselves in the snow from the night before, and shortly thereafter the two of you decide to suit up and go get in the thick snow for a bit!

you make a little snowman in the front yard of your small cottage-like house and take the most precious pictures of lulu with a pink nose and the biggest smile :’) snow is still steady falling and your dog nearly knocks luigi over a few times in the slick snow LOLLL

then after your makeshift photoshoot you’ll go back inside where it feels like a furnace compared to the chilly wind outside. you get back in bed for a while and lay there, just talking with your leg slung over his and arms intertwined around each others bodies hehehe

the rest of the day is slow; no household chores or work to be done on your computer!! the fireplace crackles as each piece of wood is thrown in to keep the fire alive and you just think about how lucky you are to have such a man to take care of you all the time :) he even cooks for you and brings you lunch in bed

night falls, and the intimacy begins. in front of the fireplace, lu has you sat on top of him in your pajamas and making out with you in the warmth of your quiet home. “just love you so much, cara mio,” he whispers, admiring you just as you are.

lulu feels so lucky that you’ll officially be his forever :( he knows he made a good choice!

[padmestrilogy]

the acolyte shares plenty of weaknesses with the rest of star wars (broad dialogue, some odd pacing, and as of late: that disney sheen) but it also has some of star wars’ best fights in ages, a fresh roster of characters, and plenty of good choices + ideas, which makes it disheartening to see it so violently rejected by the same people who hooted and hollered for any kenobi flashback

[watchfuldeer]

last night i went to a really fun and informal fundraiser evening with jesse and lucy at westminster school, where they were interviewing each other. i got to ask a question which i’ve mused upon for some time about tom, shiv and greg. enjoy! full transcript under cut

Transcript

me: so i’m gonna have to look at what i wrote down.

jesse: that’s alright, you’re highly in credit since you know more about the show than us. more about john berryman.

(laughter)

lucy: tell us what we’ve done wrong so far!

me: god, no. i wouldn’t! so my question, this is a character based question, and one thing that probably got a bit subsumed in the fourth season just because everything was happening. but i’d like to know more about tom and shiv, and also greg. because my read on the situation between the three of them is that greg is a source of marital strife (laughter) that shiv never noticed, and what would it have taken for shiv to notice the depth of greg’s presence in their marriage.

jesse: uh huh.

me: and tom’s attachment to him.

jesse: uh huh. sometimes you get little bits in life or you see something and you’re like, i wish we were making the show, because i suddenly do want to hear shiv say ‘greg you’re a source of marital strife’.

(laughter)

jesse: that’s like, when you’re like, that’s gonna be in, we’re not gonna cut that.

lucy: absolutely.

jesse: (doing greg voice) wh-wh-what?!

(laughter)

lucy: yeah. well we enjoyed that, didn’t we. we had a scene in america decides, which was the only scene between shiv and greg.

jesse: oh yeah.

lucy: the election episode in the final season where she takes him into a little room and threatens him.

me: ah, but it’s jealousy over lukas, over the greg and lukas thing, and it’s like, have you forgotten your husband, who is also very attached to this limpet?

lucy: yeah. i would also say that there are marriages in which a third party is not an unuseful thing, as well. not in a forgiving way about infidelity, but i would say that there are things that tom can express with and at and on greg (laughter) as it were, to greg, that are useful because he’s both a - you know the great, the interesting thing about tom is that he’s both a courtier and a bully. he’s that rare combination of someone who you totally believe as being almost like (mimes bowing and doffing cap) ‘oh yes sorry thank you yes ma’am’ and also like, ‘i’m gonna kill you’ and that juxtaposition is what makes him so interesting.

but in his marriage to shiv he has no real way, until quite late i guess in the final season, where we explore it, to hold power over her and to use that part of himself. so he’s accepted the acquiescing, he’s accepted the role of courtier in that marriage, and greg is quite a useful place where he gets to express all of that, the bully in him so that maybe it doesn’t have to come out in the marriage. which might be bad, because perhaps it should do and then the marriage would’ve ended much earlier, yknow, when shiv would just be like ‘i’m not dealing with you challenging me in any way’. so it’s not until that balcony scene i think where he really challengers her much at all. possibly the beach scene, where he sort of says that he’s considered leaving her, and how that would feel. but with aggressive challenge? it’s all directed at greg, and greg is allowed to be the place where all those feelings go.

me: but the affection - there’s also affection between them.

jesse: YEAH. and i think that’s the other thing maybe you’re alluding to is like, she… i think, some things you know you’re putting in the show because you talk about them and other things just naturally occur, and audiences and people tell you what the show is and what you put in there and you didn’t even realise, but i think we were aware of this - she’s oblivious. her obliviousness is a big part of her wealth and her upbringing and… so there’s something homoerotic going on between greg and tom.

me: i mean it’s not for me to say.

(laughter)

jesse: and does she… i think there’s two ways of reading that, either she’s oblivious, and that’s intriguing and possible. the other is that she sort of - there’s a scene in, you know that one, in the sun valley media conference in argestes, where we wrote a bit where shiv shows up unexpected and tom’s sort of flirting with someone, and it never really landed that much. i think we were like, oh this really gonna, shiv’s gonna spark up when she sees him flirting with someone. and it’s one of those things where you were like, you know what? i don’t think she gives a hoot, really, does she.

(laughter)

jesse: it’s like, she hasn’t got that, that’s not in her belly, that fear of loss.

lucy: no.

jesse: so i think that goes, that probably goes for a same-sex relationship or flirtation as much as it does for with a woman.

lucy: i think that’s true.

jesse: like she really… even if he was like - and this is not the way that tom would be like - ‘i think i’d like to sleep with greg’, i think she’d be like (mimes looking at watch) ‘when?’.

(laughter)

jesse: (as shiv) ‘not when i’m in the city, that’s weird, tom’.

(laughter)

jesse: i don’t think she’d have any fundamental objection to that.

lucy: that’s true. i think jealousy is quite a low status emotion.

jesse: yes.

lucy: and i think that she would struggle to feel it.

(jesse laughs)

lucy: even if it was present in some way, she would never be able to access it because it would put her too much at a disadvantage. so i think yeah exactly that, it would be like, ‘oh i guess you’re going to fuck that boring woman now are you, tom’ or do that, like… she has to be here (mimes one hand above another hand) so jealousy can’t really be accessed by her. so she might be irritated by greg, but in the way you would be by a mosquito.

me: to her detriment.

lucy: to her detriment, sure, ultimately yeah.

[usedtobethelegendcreator]

I found it on the Wiki in the gallery! It’s a playmat!

Alastor’s big dick confirmed. Like. Holy fuck dude what is this man PACKING?

One small gripe I have with some radioapple/radiostatic shippers who like bottom Alastor, which I don't see very often, is that they deliberately give him a really small dick while giving Vox or whoever else a MASSIVE one like they're using the logic that bottoms always have to be below average tiny just cause they don't use their dick for topping. (it's probably more of a problem for bottom Lucifer fans though)

It's why I appreciate it when people still give bottom Alastor the same size dick as his partner or a "bigger/slightly smaller than his partner" sized dick because he's NOT small by any means (that one official neon Alastor art is proof that he isn't)

Oh, I completely agree. I've always found that a little weird. Especially when its, like, comically small. I haven't seen it a lot of it in radioapple (probs cuz I've gotten most top!al and botton!luci out of my feed) but I have seen it in radiostatic. Not a lot, like you said, but it pops up from time to time.

Small dicks are fine, we don't shame small dicks here, but when its given to only bottoms (一_一) suspicious.

It makes me smile when bottoms have bigger dicks then their top. Just cuz they're hung like a horse doesn't mean they want to use it, and I respect that.

ALSO where is this neon Alastor art you speak of? Have I missed an official art drop? Send a link! Send a link!

[cicadaart]

I had a thought of about Angel and Harley Quinn and this was the result

Also because I love drawing the Vees:

Val with hair scares me

[royaltea000]

I like the human actors a lot too! (I say as if the actors weren’t initially human)

[sandeewithtwoe]

They didn’t go to the strip club

Ink belongs to comyet/ myebi

Dream belongs to Jokublog

In case you can’t read my handwriting:

Ink: (whining) But Dream! I never ask you for anything! When have I ever asked you for anything?

Dream: Yesterday. You said: “Dream! Let’s go to a strip club! I heard there’s a lot of positive feelings over there!”

[sandontshengshou]

listen. listen ik chengxian had a whole thing about being sect leader and right hand man but in reality it’s wei wuxian who holds the leash to jiang cheng’s collar

[littlespoonevan]

now that s7 is over can we talk about how the firefighters on the firefighter show spent approximately 9 minutes in work all season agshakdjd

[fumifooms]

Makima, devils and self-fulfillment

Dumping some Makima and CSM thoughts after a part 1 binge bc I think about her forever and ever. I’m sure I’m forgetting some devil lore, feel free to correct what i get wrong/what’s been confirmed. On the table of contents there’s why & how Makima got fixated on Chainsaw, her revealing liking for the country mouse and discussion of her nature & emotions & desires. Was the scorpion doomed to be a scorpion?

The most of this post was thought of during a conversation with @saccharineomens and I don’t think it makes sense to jump into the spiral it sent me on without first laying down the interesting groundwork theorizing she did:

"Thinking about how makima herself wants to be deified. I wonder whether she recognizes the difference between Love As Worship and the love that Aki, Power, and Denji had. She says she wants to help humanity by having Chainsawman eat the “bad” devils, but why does she want to help humans? Because she was ordered to by the Prime Minister? No, her drive seems much more personal than that, it seems like she teamed up with the PM for contractual reasons. (In the most recent chapters we see governmental members wanting certain devils to be eaten, too. What was Makima’s relationship with them? She’s too independent to just follow THEIR orders, she’s Control.)

So is she wanting to better humanity for the accolades, or out of the goodness of her heart? She sees the big picture. She sees any small sacrifice as worth it for the end result, and she’s ruthless. Perhaps she thinks that a more sedate human race would be easier to control? But Makima doesn’t loathe humanity. She never acts like she sees all humans as lesser. She loves humanity’s creations, like good food and movies. She just wants Good Things all the time

She says she prefers the country mouse BUT adds a story where she helps exterminate country mice like vermin. She likes the simplicity yet rejects the idea of being simple. Makima the complex individual you are"

~

The story itself seems to prefr the country mouse. Well- it strikes a balance, shows that a risk to live good & fully can be very worth it, but still that stability over ambition is preferable, proning having a simple happy life over fame, a simple job instead of a dangerous one, etc etc. And I do find Makima’s answer on this so so interesting, she prefers the country mouse, but this preference isn’t out of affection or sympathy but because of how relaxing it feels to exterminate them when they cause problems.

Order satisfies her. Her order satisfies her. She likes the action of rooting out disorder. Maybe this is the devil part, like how Power especially wants blood and drinking it, I feel there’s an itch to every devil, and for Makima it’s a very rigid world view/morality/standards & making things follow her rules and submit to her order.

And maybe this is why she’s attached to humans too, why she felt it was worth it to stick with the government- because devils are chaotic by nature (it’s a whole plot point that hell is essentially a free-for-all battleground for example), meanwhile humans are the species that universally rule Earth with systems they invented and instilled. They made then enforced rules, complex and intricate webs of them. She feels alienated amongst devils but she understands the humans’ need for an orderly organised society, and now she wants to be part of it. Control and conquest require social dynamics after all, requires civilizations or groups. War is chaotic while peace is, well, peaceful— Makima resents her sisters for being death, famine and war, things that throw the world in such chaos. She wants a world of perfect order, no matter how much collateral damage there will be if the end result is control.

This is even more interesting if you consider that yes, Makima is untouchable of her own design, she deifies herself with her omnipresent amount of control and the sway over others that she seeks and encourages— There is this urge to dehumanize her for it, that yes, she is the devil of control and that means she was never going to be any different, have any more feeling be any less uncanny. And I love part 2 so much for this, because it shows us the war devil and the famine devil and we see how frankly uncharismatic with poor self-discipline they are, Nayuta too, and it helps us realize just how much Makima’s success was self-made.

She admires Chainsaw Devil, the Hero of Hell, because he had his own code and his own rules and he made Hell, the chaos pit, submit to them unfailingly. Wherever he goes he decides what he does and what happens to the people he encounters but does so consistently, he has his mechanism and his rules that he always obeys, and he fulfills them every time. It’s still a mystery the why of Chainsaw Devil’s behavior back then and how it works exactly, maybe Pochita left hell because he was tired of these rules he lived by like chains, but still, he was a servant to his code. Makima would have been glad being killed and eaten by Chainsaw Devil because it’d have been becoming part of his design, his conquest, his domination, she’d have been part of that —his— order. Through her death she would be shaping his world and be part of a conqueror’s making history. Like how she appreciates the country mice that die for the sake of order. Like how sacrifices must be made to herself, like listing the name of every person whose life was lost to the Gun Devil— All for the ~greater good~, for her vision for the world. Conquest always thinks its reasons are justified.

And she does mention with the country mice thing that she goes out to a friend’s farm every year! She has a human friend?? That she visits yearly and she genuinely likes it?? Ultimately she lives a busy city life because of her goal and drive and her urge & satisfaction with overseeing shaping the world herself, but part of her, like so many characters including Angel and Aki and Reze, wishes she could live a slow peaceful country life. Moviegoing and dogs and mice in a farm- Wouldn’t it be so much simpler if Makima could find fulfillment and happiness in being a farmer, in keeping control of her own farm, getting satisfaction from exterminating vermin and expertly getting everything right, the right crops grown at the right time on the right soil? Here, too, in a way it’s trying to have full control of an ecosystem, but her goals would be easier to achieve and better, without ceaseless sacrifice or much pressure. But Makima wants grandiosity and her goal does matter to her on a fundamental and moral level, she does think she knows what’s best for the world, and with the power to change it why wouldn’t she strive to? Visiting the farm is just a break, just something she does in fall to help out and just in time to see the vermin extermination. It calms her, then it’s back to actual work.

In capitalism, even the one at the very top of the ladder is ultimately alienated from others and often unsatisfied by their lifestyle, always wanting more and more power because surely that’s the extra edge they must be missing to be content— like how Makima thinks she wants to dominate Chainsaw Devil instead of being his equal. And she says it herself too, she likes humans the way humans like dogs…….. And she keeps so many dogs :( Makima prefers the country mice because they’re calming to root out, maybe because she usually mainly deals with city mice. It’s very easy to equate humans to the mice in this allegory because it’s pretty direct and she’s already likened humans to lesser animals compared to her. She’s self-isolating by design for her design but she still craves relationships and contentment, and the dogs are the embodiment or her want for bonds and occasional simplicity because there is no possible ulterior motive, no way they tie back into her wider plan. They’re her personal life— something that feels so alien when speaking about Makima. Personality and individuality and likes and preferences and friends they visit every year. She likes how easily she can train a dog and how they become putty in her hands, at her beck and call, how much they love her and how much she enjoys their love. How simple and straightforward and easy it is. She keeps them because she likes being loved by them and loving them, and she’s gotten and raised so many. A conqueror always wants more and more and more, is never satisfied.

Devils and agency

Like Power the blood devil wanting blood and having a fixation on drinking it like with Denji’s, or how it was shocking that the violence devil was pretty tame and nice and how he himself theorized it was because he was a fiend and possessing a human body… There’s something to be said about nature vs nurture with the devils. The way they reincarnate and always embody their fear makes it seem categorically like nature, that they always always end up fulfilling the role they were named after and born to fill… Outside influence they’re helpless but to conform with. Like the humans accepting their spot in the social ladder and the shittiness of their living conditions and job under capitalism. Makima craved being equals with someone despite being the control/conquest devil, Angel Devil despite claiming to be a devil who likes to see humans dying was haunted by their deaths and wanted to avoid ones like Aki’s. The Ghost Devil being ironically haunted by Himeno, seemingly helping Aki in her memory out of… Lasting affection? Or maybe it was less about being haunted itself and more about it recognizing how Himeno haunted Aki, and acknowledging that, with the memento, paying her respect to the ghost of her. It’s Angel Devil’s devil nature that makes him like human suffering, so then is it his angel nature too to still care about their deaths? Is there truth to this or is that just personality, just our confirmation bias haunting every part of their identity like it might in their own view of themselves too? We do know different reincarnations of devils do have different personalities after all.

Yoru, war devil, is the most interesting one when talking about the nature vs nurture debate with devils. There is how through her we see the perhaps the most the consequences of a devil stopping being feared— we see a horseman for a concept as universal and horrifying as war be reduced to some bird who needs a contract with a human to have any power even just on the situation when meeting Asa. And through the story we get to know her better, and it becomes clear that her goal is fueled in good part by simply wanting to be remembered and respected through fear. Liked, validated, seen a powerful. But what is more isolating than war? Or control? We also see Nayuta accepting others’ house rules. If part 1 shows perhaps the futility of running away from the truth, with Denji’s memory, with escapist coping mechanisms, with passivity and denial under a corrupt system and with abusive relationships- running away from your own feelings and from the reality of things and from all that you are, more complex than simply human or devil or both or neither— part 2 builds upon the theme of cult of personalities, the chainsaw church, etc. The apocalypse is coming, but this celebrity superhero might save us all, or doom us all uh, dunno. The hero of hell reliving the cycle of pressure from responsibilities and expectations, maybe the part will end with Denji running away like Pochita did~

But yes, on the reverse, I think Famine is a very interesting example of how a devil’s namesake may be more innate than coerced by circumstances. One would think that a famine devil would only like inflicting famine upon others, not being famished itself, but Famine has a bottomless stomach that can never, ever be satisfied, sated. I struggle to find a psychological explanation for this, except that maybe instead of her being hungry it’s her feeling empty when she’s not eating, tasting and having that high sensory experience that releases serotonin in humans, sort of like drugs? But I do take this as a step towards the compulsion theory overall, feels like a reach in the consistency otherwise. And compulsion does not mean it’s something that they like nor that it’s something that they fight against, pretty neutral, just a nature that nudges you towards one path. Maybe it’s even just their go-to for entertainment. Maybe it’s the only thing that makes them feel right and whole. But still the debate remains, what is it, a compulsion or an urge or an itch or an active desire or a conscious chosen want? Does it change anything in practice?

And because of all of this earlier, devils being self-fulfilling prophecies with their role is not in unsignificant part nurture, because doing their atrocities is how they stay remembered— feared, powerful, known— hell and devils are a very isolating place and breed after all, and we do see devils can want companionship. Existentially, it’s their purpose and how they justify their place in the world, in the terrifyingly vast and unknowable cosmos.

We still know so little of what makes Chainsaw Devil so special, why his carnage is so self-controlled. Despite a chainsaw maybe being possibly one of the most "nature" thing you can be— a tool to cut things, a human tool that can be helpful for many things, something to be wielding by another at their judgement on what they decide, but mainly something to cut, a tool suited for carnage, to hurt and to destroy. A blade with a toothed chain, spinning around and around and around endlessly on the same road at the same pace. Such a…. Innately circular concept. And yet the Chainsaw Devil is his own, not driven by an urge or by chaos but his very own brand of order, his own unique assigned purpose, a "if you call i’ll come running to help" policy equalizing everyone. He chooses to withhold his destruction and interference otherwise, and then he chooses to be used. If it’s a choice, of course.

Maybe this is what inspired Makima so much, that Chainsaw Devil could decide what to make of himself despite expectations or innate role. Because even Hell he decided & managed to subjugate under his will and whim, with a precise vision and process. When Chainsaw Devil acts like Denji or is defeated, Makima clicks her tongue and loses her admiration and respect. Makima admired and liked Chainsaw Devil, but only as long as he matched her great image of him in her mind, as long as he followed he rules for what she thinks he should be like. She admired him for his unrivaled self-made success, but once he stepped out of that to truly embody self-fulfillment and agency, disappearing from hell to live on his own road at the beat of his own drum… Well. Surely that was a mistake she has to correct. However their second battle ends, the better conqueror will have prevailed and she’s happy about that, all in the spirit of domination and subjugation.

Imo Makima’s biggest tool, similarly capitalism’s most helpful effect for its own purposes, is complacency. Resignation and passivity helps uphold the system and go along the flow of the will of the people in power. Aki and Reze go along with orders even when knowing their job is trash, etc. In Angel Devil especially we see him go along with the flow uncaring about anyhing, and we discover it was in part due to Makima taking away memories that motivated him. If every devil decides this is just how things are and how things should be that’s what they’ll continue to be and do mindlessly, not pursuing a better life like Chainsaw Devil and Denj and not seeking to change the world like Makima. I think even Makima veils herself to a lot of things, she doesn’t like to think deeply about some things, like her desire for connection, or how making bad movies disappear is strenuous and unsustainable and requiring sacrifices at best— how her judgement is as subjective as anyone else. How liking the country mouse and her friend back at the farm and her dogs could be not devoid of sentimality. Wanting bad movies erased is her one biggest show of selfishness, of pettiness and individuality, it’s about her tastes, simple as. About how she can have tastes, and cry seeing a scene of people hug, and want things that aren’t logical, her ideology and mind twisted into a pretzel to avoid acknowledging that she doesn’t live and breathe purely for the mission she’s made a single-minded robot out of herself to accomplish. Nayuta is assertive and selfish and loud, Makima is manipulative and strategically both for her goals and for coping hollow.

Everything in her plans and goals she says is for the greater good, necessary evil, manufactured happiness the way she’ll have decided for people— and that’s the thing isn’t it, like with War, it’s the crack that shows it was all truly about herself after all. Her self-made deification still had the flaw that a self made it. Makima is not omniscient, and it’s not Chainsaw Devil the not-so-fellow-kindred-soul conqueror who gets the best of her, but a city mouse, a dog, someone she would have never thought to respect, Denji.

[ironunderstands]

As someone who’s mom has OCD I really appreciate how well they portrayed Sunday’s OCD, it feels really accurate, at least to my own experience.

They could never make me hate you