#reread it and yaknow what it reads good enough

[hunter-sylvester]

Skullflower is Autistic: A Breakdown.

Buckle the fuck up.

Disclaimer: Don't take any of this too seriously.

Also all of this was written over a year ago with only minor edits. I'm just posting it now cause it's been rotting in my drafts and, like, fuck it.

I've wanted to try and make a comprehensive breakdown like this for a while just because I love these characters and very heavily interpret them all as autistic (with ADHD as well.) But this is just the perspective of one guy. And I probably overstate it but the fact that we can all have our own very personal interpretations about media is what's great about analysis & fandom.

Hunter Sylvester.

Yes I'm doing Hunter first, what do you think I am? Unbiased? Please.

Autistic Perfectionism. Hunter's autistic perfectionism is something I've mentioned before and somewhat struggle to describe satisfactorily. But to me the most obvious example is his inability to deal with the idea of Emily joining Skullfucker as a cellist. Obviously, there's the queer angle to this but I think two reasons can play a role at once. He's in love with Kevin so he doesn't want a girl that Kevin picked to be a part of their band. Additionally, I'd argue that he can't deal with the idea of having a girl cellist as their bass player because it in NO WAY fits the mental image that Hunter has in his mind of what he wanted Skullfucker to be. It doesn't match the perfect idea that he's dreamed of, that he holds onto for dear life, so he can't deal with it.

Hyperfixations. "Hunter's been into a lot of things since I've known him but he's stuck with metal longer than any of them." - Kevin. Need I say more? Well, I will anyway. The guy hyperfixates. I think the closest thing we have to a canon confirmed hyperfixation is Dungeons & Dragons. Because of what in my mind is a combination of Autism and ADHD in Hunter, they don't fully leave him. He still likes and plays D&D, but he's not as obsessed with it as he used to be when he made his dad buy him the most ridiculous game terrain that fucking lights up.

Special Interests. I think one of the easiest claims to make is that metal is a special interest for Hunter. He entrenches his entire life in it and reaches for it when a stressful situation happens to try and make himself feel more okay. (getting his hair cut off by Skip and relating his new look to Jason Newsted) It's clearly something that comforts him, having been obsessed with it ever since his mom left. Which, regardless of the specific circumstances, is a horridly stressful situation for any 12-13 year old.

Struggles with social interaction. He doesn't seem to have a lot of friends. He gets along with Robbie, Kevin (obviously) and the people he plays D&D with but that seems to be it. Especially whenever the situation gets very stressful, Hunter's mind immediately reaches for his comfort interest to try and make it through (or to lash out). He can't easily just be comfortable in a strange social situation. Or a strange situation in general.

Stims. Hunter stims by playing guitar. That's it, that's the whole point. And there's this little move:

Kevin Schlieb.

Neutrality. The way Kevin just takes Hunter and Emily as they are feels autistic to me.

Struggles with social interaction. And he clearly wants it to be easier for him. He wants to connect to people but he doesn't know how. It's not like he doesn't understand people. He does. He understands Hunter better than Hunter understands himself. "sometimes he's not so nice to people when he's uncomfortable" "You are afraid of everybody" "you treat everybody like shit and you make them hate you" But that understanding of how people think and work doesn't translate to his direct interactions with most of his peers. Maybe because he understands other neurodivergent people but not neurotypicals. The fact he does have a decent read on, at the very least, his best friend could also be indicative of the extra work Kevin has had to put in over the course of his life to try and understand people to begin with.

Directness. A lot of Kevin does feel direct to me. I suppose in a 'what you see is what you get' sort of way. He obviously has the whole protagonist thing going on which tends to end you up with pretty neutral, earnest and open characters.

Stims:

Emily Spector.

Gets overstimulated. Emily's outbursts could be attributed more to a struggle regulating her emotions. It's not a huge stretch to assume her mystery medication is a mood stabilizer. However, the idea of it being a combination of being overstimulated and then no longer being able to deal with her anger on top of the distress she's already feeling feels apt to me. This is a stretch, but, we only ever see her have outbursts at school. A nightmare environment for the stimuli sensitive. Emily is by far the character out of the main three we spend the least time with, which could easily explain my previous point away. We hardly see her out of school to begin with. But I think there can be merit in taking it as a part of the story, rather than an incidental effect of her being left by the wayside.

Black and white thinking. "So first you tell me that I should hate him, and now you want me to help him?" - Emily. No, he didn't say you should hate him, Emily. "You have every right to be mad- especially at Hunter!" - Kevin.

Directness. I mean she literally calls up Kevin to ask him if he wants to go fuck in a parking lot and more power to her. But it is very direct.

Struggles with social interaction. And apart from Skip & Co. having a particular hate-boner for Hunter, Emily might actually be the most widely ostracized for her lack of social finesse. Which would check out because society is brutally cruel to girls. Kevin is shown to have some positive interaction outside of the other two main characters, so is Hunter. And, yes, so is Emily. But it's only with the janitor of the school, who she is implied to have had previous interactions with. Having your only friend at school be the fucking janitor is not a neurotypical experience. I know I certainly got along easier with a handful of teachers than I did with my peers back when I was at school.

Whatever this is. Fam, I've BEEN there...but it's not neurotypical:

A 'little' note to end on: I want to state that I love all three of these character very dearly. I don't pretend that I don't have a favorite, but they are all amazing. There's various reasons why Metal Lords is such a comforting movie, but a big one, is that the characters act in a way that feels incredibly familiar. They act like me. They act like my autistic friends. We make weird facial expressions, we understand the world and each other through our interests. The way all of them talk feels so close to home. (The swearing is actually part of that. A lot of real people swear and over-censoring of that tends to bug me but that's kinda beside the point lmao)

[solarmorrigan]

I’m so glad Robin got to rip Eddie a new one in Hands Where I Can See Them!! And ohhhh since Wayne was home when Robin was chewing him out, maybe Wayne will come in with some good advice or just parental disappointment in how Eddie handled everything. Especially if Eddie has to explain exactly how Steve discovered that Eddie thought they weren’t dating.

I love it when Wayne is a mediator in fics, but I also understand if you don’t want to add him into the fic, I just think Eddie needs a calm third party who knows he didn’t mean to hurt Steve, but will be disappointed in how he handled everything. Like what if Wayne had woken up and heard Robin’s parting shot and wants to know what she meant by that. How did Eddie dismiss Steve last night?

I’ve reread each part like five times now, thank you so much for sharing your fics 💖💖

Robin deserved to yell a bit! Not only did Eddie hurt her best friend (criminal offense), he also ruined her night, because Steve was upset, which means Robin is upset, yaknow? Like, of course she's going to do whatever she needs to help Steve out and make sure he's taken care of, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't rather nothing had happened to make that necessary in the first place

I actually did consider adding Wayne in at the end of the most recent part (did the man really sleep through that whole argument? we may never know), but I figured Eddie had probably been through enough for the moment without having to also immediately explain to his uncle what had happened. It bothers me when characters get dog-piled in fics for making a mistake - as in, person after person shuts them out or tells them how badly they've screwed up. It feels a little like saying that they really need to suffer before they can be forgiven, which doesn't sit right. Forgiveness should come from understanding how your behavior hurt someone and working to change that behavior; suffering doesn't teach you jack shit. But that's a different conversation! The point is, I'm at least trying to give Eddie breaks between people going "What were you thinking??" at him

I think Wayne will have to at least make an appearance, though. Steve's practically been living with them, and suddenly he's gone; Wayne could hardly fail to notice the change, even if Eddie wasn't suddenly moping around. And I do love mediator Wayne! The thing I want to avoid is using him as a kind of deus ex machina; I feel like sometimes we bring Wayne in to explain to Eddie how he's feeling, so Eddie doesn't have to work to reach those conclusions on his own (this happens with Robin for Steve, too, I think). It's helpful to have a third party as a sounding board, or to help break up self-destructive patterns, but I like it when characters have to do their own emotional heavy lifting

...anyway, that was probably a lot more rambling than you expected when you sent this ask, which was very kind of you to do and made me smile to read, so hopefully my answer didn't put you off??

[icharchivist]

Ok I have finished autumn troupe and can I just say every single member drinks the dumb bitch juice and the respect juza hyodo juice (minus juza himself).

I LOVED autumn troupe those dummies. Every single autumn member just. respects juza for his passion of acting so much. you love to see it.

Also that scene where reni confronts taichi had HUGE man wielding sword protecting cat energy.

Also yuki pointing out the similarities between juza and muku was so funny yet also made me want to cry.

Everyone in autumn troupe sees juza and goes, is anyone going to project on this guy? And not wait for an answer. Sakyo sees his younger self, banri sees a rival, Omi sees his dead friend, and taichi sees someone more deserving to be on stage then him. And juza still has no self respect ahhhhhhhhh. They're killing me.

Anyway I just finished autumn troupe and really like their story. It was good. Glad I didn't watch the anime lmao.

HELLOOO WELCOME POST-AUTUMN NEW FAN!!

i am so glad you liked this ride omg!! yes!!  they’re dumb but i love them!!! so much!! and they all respect Juza so much!! well, yeah, except Juza himself like you said. 

but they’re SO GOOD and i really love their dynamic and i’m really glad you liked it too!! 

and omg right, at first you can worry like “wow Taichi is the only puppy in the Autumn troupe will he be okay” and then it’s just “yeah everyone is protecting him now he’s fine” djhfdlkfjfd

and Yuki is right and he should say it!! yes we cry over the Sakisaka&Hyodo family somewhat hating themselves so much!! what about it! 

(though i was crying during my reread realizing Yuki could TALK considering he originally kept Muku at a distance because he was worried about Muku being associated with him and people eventually attacking Muku because they were friends - the exact same reason Juza keeps Muku away as well. I was just wtf. you guys wtf. Especially since Muku, in both situation, is more than able to take care of himself. His only enemy is himself, the guy can and will square up for you!!) 

“ is anyone going to project on this guy? And not wait for an answer. “ dFKLDJFMLDJFMLFDKFDMLDFLMDFKFD BEAUTIFUL AND YES? AUTUMN IN A NUTSHELL! the description is spot on for the rest yeah!! really all of Autumn gets unified around Juza!! and Juza still hates himself... poor baby. He makes me want to cry.

Really glad you enjoyed Autumn and were glad to have read it all! i’m so happy!

the anime did so many.. weird thing with Autumn? First, i mentioned it vaguely before, but they cut the fact Izumi had to run after Sakyo and CONVINCE HIM to take the audition (in the anime she just, gives him the flyer, and he smiles, and then he comes and it’s like. Kinda missing how much he’s genuinely convinced he doesn’t belong on stage here). 

There was a lot of rushing around and i was personally peeved with like, the removals of the streetacts all together. So no scene where they have to face how scary the troupe is, or the first thing that showed Omi’s past by having people recognizing him before he talked about his past. And so the whole scene where Banri fights for Juza and are saved by that mysterious long hair guy is completely cut as well. I’m just. *waves fist to the sky*.

But the one thing i’m really peeved about (with that last one i just mentioned but dljfhdlkf i’m biased on this one) is that they removed the whole show where Taichi stole the gun props*?? In the anime we see Taichi hesitate to take them, but not taking them in the end, and Sakyo is watching, hinting that therefore he knew Taichi was the one screwing them up. i think it’s possible he did know, but my problem is that it misses out on the fact Taichi was really going strong in his attempt to sabotage the show, which is even more reasons why he didn’t know how to safely backdown, while also robbing Juza of that one scene where he still goes on stage and plays without the guns in his hands, and the intensity of his performance is such that everyone let it slide for the time for Sakoda to get spares. 

(*if memory serves me right, it’s the same show where Sakyo fumbles his line and gets depressed over it: the Sakyo fumbling is kept in the anime! so this whole dilemma is discussed. But the rest of the show is cut which is. god i get they had time restrictions but that’s such a waste)

this removal really bugs me!! idk maybe i’m really nippicky but that feels huge on Juza’s character, especially considering how much he had to struggle to get good at acting, and it showed also his resolve and how this specific resolve is what keeps everyone in awe and in the same vibe as him kinda?? and for Taichi too bc it shows how ruthless he was trying to be and how much that adds to his guilt! Man that bugged me SO MUCH when i watched the anime.

edit: and i forgot but they also had it as in, Omi and Sakyo’s portrait were told at the exact same time, so you’d cut from one to the other, and personally i thought it kinda ruined the emotional flow of both dfhd like both concludes on how much they don’t want to fail Juza so i get why, but the tone of their portrait is different enough for it to bug me

It’s not as bad as Winter got in term of removed stuff (but we’ll get there when we’ll get there) but it still peeved me and idk it would be a shame to not see those scenes in their full glory on a first read yaknow?

Anyway i’m SO GLAD you enjoyed the ride!! i’m so happy to read this ask ahhh

Hope you’ll keep having fun and thank you SO MUCH for sharing!!

Take care :3c