#second version is there just because i like the negative effect

[problematic-aroace]

I think I figured out why I just don’t like StephCass that much(I don’t hate it I’m just not a big fan of it)

It’s because my first association with StephCass was in the Batgirls comic and I really dislike how Steph was characterised there, and it seems to be where most people started shipping it. So to me I’m just seeing a someone who’s Steph in name only X Cass. Which annoys me already. Which is made worse by when I see a mischaracterised version of Steph in fandom dating Cass. So that’s one thing that hinders me from considering the ship.

Second thing is- I’m tryna be real nice but… this ship doesn’t really have anything interesting to me. Like no angst, no stumbling blocks they have to get through together it’s just… boring. Like I don’t won’t them to have a toxic relationship at all, but their relationship just doesn’t have anything interesting(in the way the fandom portrays it at least.) I love myself a messy relationship(JayRoy is my prime example), so when it’s just… sunshine lollipops and rainbows it’s just way too boring. I definitely wouldn’t like it if it was like StephTim… god I’m gonna make a whole post on that… but I need both of them to have struggles to work though and not just be two characters kissing in the background(literally every AO3 ship in existence.) And it’s not that hard to find something for them to work through, like bring back Stephanie’s disdain for the no kill rule, make Cassandra struggle with her social life, make Stephanie struggle with accepting love(I can make a whole post about why that would be fitting to her character), make Cassandra struggle to show her love thus making it harder for Steph to receive it or even question her love

Actually another point, I fully believe StephCass should be a messy relationship that somehow works based on their character flaws and how they would clash. So most StephCass posts make it look like a shell of the two characters and makes it way too boring for my while there’s ships like StephKara(in the batgirl comic Steph is sorta a asshole to Kara at times and it looks like she’s sorta jealous of her while Kara still shows Steph the love she needs which makes it so much more interesting to me) and then StephRose(do I need to explain?). I guess I like those a lot more than StephCass because in fics I read of them, Steph tends to be characterised a lot better.

Last and final thing is well… I’m a pre52 Steph stan(specifically before war games) and well- I just never really saw the two as a couple there- they’ve always been best friends++ to me and later on in the comics: big sister, little brother. And I can’t really forget how Cass was like ‘well go home then’ to Steph when Steph told her she was fired, I know it was because Cass wanted to protect Steph, but so did Bruce so it wasn’t too much different in my eyes because they all told Steph to go home, they all discouraged her and it all had a very, very negative effect on Steph(however out of her 3 discouragers I only believe 2 should be forgiven but I know damn well Steph would still forgive 3.)

So yeah what are you guy’s ideal version of Stephanie & Cass?

[love-thefanwhocan-t]

chiitan would never hurt someone because chiitan only knows love but don't test it's patience

[tmbgareok]

My new band consists of two strange girls, and we are thinking of playing to a prerecorded tape machine rhythm track. Do you have any advice or thoughts about the format?

JF: well, it's your project so the general things I would say is do what is interesting to you, and is the boldest expression of your ideas. Pay more attention to what you do well and less to what is happening on the immediate scene. People might say they are into some trend or sound, but as a friend of mine once said "people don't know they want to be surprised." Take advantage of all the ways you can approach stuff (and as I will explain--don't fear getting really small)

___

Okay on to the specifics of working with a track or drum machine.

We had an advantage in that we both sang, and we both played instruments that could be rhythm or melody instruments, and contrasting the possibilities there really helped keep things dynamic.

Our evolution as a band working with tape was pretty simple. We started with pretty elaborate tracks with a lot of varied sounds thinking the sonic range would drive the audiences experience, but over time found it was more effective to just have bass and drums on tape--really pare things down as to not take away from the stuff we were doing live. (there were irresistible exceptions of course, but it did really get pretty spare.)

Although it never felt too too close, I think our approach even from the beginning was always kinda negatively informed by "track acts" (the promo shows in nightclubs and discos where singers would jump on stage or by the DJ and sing over--or in some cases along--with their record or some remixed version of their record) Although this was all before Milli Vanilli, there was a general notion that these performances were too canned, so we were informed by that, and tried to keep as much action going in our own playing as possible.

I would also say, make your track or computer set up small, simple and as completely bullet-proof as possible. Although home computing and MIDI were just emerging when we started, there were sequencing boxes in the world and other musicians did suggest we would benefit from diving into those formats for our live show, but sync issues and general instability just made the tape seems more reliable/durable.

You also should have a plan b and maybe even a plan c for when you have the inevitable technical issue. (like a shiny a cappella or other unaccompanied number you might be saving for a second encore but is available to pull out that really shines) When the Fates pulled the rug on your act, the audience will be forever grateful that you anticipated this and can keep your show moving forward. (In fact meeting this kind of challenge is inevitably the highlight of this kind of show--because ultimately folks are always rooting for YOU, not the track!)

Finally, while working with tape or MIDI is easy and reliable and wonderfully affordable, and certainly a charming kind of show in a small venue, it might not scale! So when your act blows up and you are playing theaters, don't let the format define you--get a great backing band!

[gay-dorito-dust]

The Lin Kuei trio + Raiden reacting to their usually nice, compassionate, and generally nurturing s/o suddenly looks at an enemy and goes "You have five f**king seconds before I rip open your stomach and turn your innards into a noose." And proceeds to do just that to frightening effect?

First time writing for Raiden, so hell probably be ooc and some shitty character writing to be made aware of 😂 🦦

Tomas Vrbada

Honestly didn’t see that coming.

He guessed that what he got for judging a book by it’s cover and Tomas learnt that rather fast upon seeing you destroy your opponent in frightening quick succession. So upon seeing your sweet tender smile afterwards whilst covered in blood was bone chilling to Tomas, knowing that someone so sweet, so kind, so caring and nurturing like you had the ability to switch up to a more vicious and violent version persona.

Tomas would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t find you covered in someone else’s blood extremely attractive. So you best mark him down as scared and horny because holy shit.

Like Raiden, he felt the need to protect you and keep you within range of him, but that’s mainly because he’s absolutely terrified of losing you like he lost his family. So he knew that he could come across as overbearing at time when it came to keeping you safe, but you knew that it all came from a good place, and that Tomas was trying so hard to avoid a repetition of in his past to happen to you; So upon learning that you didn’t in fact need his help in keeping you safe, he allows himself to relax a little and ease off of you in fear of being the next person you pummel.

To which he knew wouldn’t be the case but that pent up anger you displayed must’ve come from somewhere.

Tomas came to accept that the hands that he came to love and admire whilst melting within their warm, tender and nurturing hold as they cupped his face, also possessed the ability to mane and destroy just as easily as they could heal and mend his broken heart and patch up his open wounds from intensive missions.

Kuai Liang

Surprised but honestly wonders where it was that you had learnt to defend yourself and in that brutal fashion.

So while everyone else was taken aback when you inevitably unleash hellfire upon your opponents to frightening effect. Kuai Liang on the other hand was only feeling sorry for the poor bastard on the receiving end of your vicious blows, they looked like they fucking hurt that Kuai Liang was for certain on.

Upon first meeting you, Kuai Liang genuinely believed that you either had no prior experience in combat, or just held a distain towards all things violent and purposefully adhere it all together; Not that he was claiming that was a bad thing. It was just a rarity to come across someone like you. To the point where Kuai Liang would often worried that someday someone would sniff this out, before then proceeding to taking advantage and manipulate you into shady business under the pretences of doing good.

He didn’t want to tarnish your kind, caring and loving nature by bringing this up in fear that it would only make you think negatively, and or ashamed of yourself, which would never ever be his primary intention. Kuai Liang was too aware of the horrible people that blended within the shadows and lurked in dark alleyways, so therefore he didn’t want you getting involved in something that would alter you into a person that you would forever hate ever becoming.

Knowing now that you could fully protect yourself if the instance ever did arrive, Kuai Liang would only become more adamant in helping you incorporate moves of self defence into your arsenal, so you’ll always be ready for near enough anything if he wasn’t able to be with you.

Bi-Han

He is proud as all hell.

While your vulgar threat made his brows raise in slight surprise but mainly curiosity, having wondered where this side chaotic and violent of you had came from, but ultimately took a sickening form of satisfaction of seeing you back up your words by utterly decimating your enemy with doing what you forewarned was about to happen; He might as well looked like an utter mad man with how much attention he was giving, good lord.

He’s giving your fighting style an close and in-depth examination, taking notes on everything that you did good and everything that you could use some improvement upon with his help as though he was locked within a high intensity game of chess! Someone was getting brutally pulverised and yet Bi-Han could only watch on with genuine intrigue on articulating methods in to making you even more deadly in combat.

He’s seen a golden opportunity and he would be stupid to let it go now.

Raiden

Scared and horny 2.0

Poor baby is taken aback by your vicious side.

However he would still hold your hand as though they were made of porcelain as he takes a wet cloth and cleans away the blood and viscera from your knuckles to take care of your bruises that lied beneath from brutally beating down your enemy. You’re still the kind, caring and nurturing person he knows and loves, you just got some added qualities that’s all!

Even though your caring and nurturing nature often made you look weak and in constant need of defending in the eyes of others, Raiden didn’t see it the way that they did. While yes he felt this obligation to keep you out of harms way and keep you close, that’s just how Raiden is as a person to defend those who couldn’t defend themselves. And that was in no way shape or form meant to be taken as him disregarding your ability to protect yourself.

That wasn’t his intention and if you did believe that were the case. Then he would have no qualms in reminding you of how much he trusts you to protect yourself, even going so far as to sight this as a major example of that. Your fighting style may be consistent of the usage of deadly and lethal force but Raiden knew that you wouldn’t willingly use it against just anybody, only using it as a method of self defence first and foremost, unless further provoked into engaging in a full altercation.

Much like Tomas, Raiden probably also thought that you being covered in someone else’s blood was attractive in it’s own regard.

[bitethedevil]

Hiii!! Recently fell hard for Raphael and super appreciate your master list!! I've been feasting on it and feeling inspired by the lore and the headcanons.

Not sure if this has been asked before, I was wondering what's your take on the effects of the crown on Raphael's alignment/character/personality?

We see that the crown turns Gale into God of ambition and frankly for me all the human part I adore about him are gone. Or similarly Ascended Astarion behaves very differently from before he obtained such power. Power corrupts mortals seem to be a common theme in the game.

But what would it do to Raphael? How different would Archdevil Supreme Raphael be from the Raphael we see? Would he just simply be more powerful like the netherbrain? Or would he be somewhat impacted as well since he's half mortal?

By following the logic of the other people who have ascended in the game or grasped for power, it’s true that it corrupts, and I think that it to some extent magnifies their bad traits (like with Astarion) or twist their good traits into negative ones (like with God Gale’s ambition).

I think in the case of Raphael, it would be his self-centeredness that would get blown up to twice it’s size and I think that would ultimately be his downfall. Raphael is a devil, he’s Lawful Evil, he strives for order. We’ve heard it all before and I have talked a lot about it in my analyses posts.

I think that Raphael’s problem is that he has his own definition of order where the other devils of the Hells needs to have a sort of common idea of order for their society and hierarchy to work. The plaques around the HoH describe his order pretty well (though there is nothing orderly about the HoH besides the fact that Raphael makes all the rules). He will most likely attempt to apply that to the rest of the Hells and I’ll give it exactly five minutes before the other devils aren’t having it.

Raphael is good at ‘deviling’. He would not be alive for that long if he wasn’t playing the game well. Give him too much power though and I have a feeling that he would like to rewrite the rules in the name of bettering the Hells to stroke his own ego more.

He’s calculated, cunning, all of that, but I think it’s a bit like introducing a starving kid to a candy store. What he has always envisioned for himself will suddenly be in his hands, and that power-fantasy version of himself will be proven in his mind to be true. He will be insufferable.

“It's the fatal flaw of mortalkind. Take away their free will, and they call you a tyrant. Allow them to indulge it, and they become tyrants.”

I don’t think Raphael himself is the exception to that statement even though he is totally NOT a mortal!  I think him getting the Crown of Karsus will only prove just how mortal he is. A True Devil knows that even though there’s a lot of cruelty, backstabbing, and politics, the whole point is, and will always be, winning the Blood War. Raphael knows that too now, but I think that’s sort of out the window the second he gets any power in the Hells. Then it all becomes about him. It is ironically very human of him. He will feed the part of him that disgusts him the most and because of his self-centeredness, he probably won’t even notice it.

These are my thoughts about it anyway.

(Very interesting question. Thank you for the ask! <3)

[sugar-crash]

🪲👑CYBUG King Candy (Wreck-It Ralph) x (gn) Reader🍭🕷️

(Picture’s not mine!)

(Ask here! Had a ball writing this one, let me tell you, I LOVE MONSTROUS BUG PPL!! And this one in particular has a very special place in my heart lol, he’s so fucked up lookin’)

- Alright so, one thing we can agree on is that for both sides of this predicament here is that things escalate and escalate quickly, even before you see each other in person once more.

- I mean, imagine being roped into the nonsense that Ralph causes when he game jumps alongside Fix-It Felix and Calhoun… Essentially third wheeling them, their strange yet endearing dynamic blossoming right in front of you. Maybe a part of you is reminded of that long gone romance between you and Turbo.

- Every step, every word, everything feels as if it’s trying to make you remember him, down to the point when Felix tells Calhoun of Turbo in such a ‘in your face’ manner rather than beating around the bush or vaguely referring to him like people of the arcade usually do—

- The negative effects of that only making those supposedly long dead feelings come out of the woodwork, his influence seemingly all encompassing as haunts the narrative of the overall story.

- And the kicker? The cherry on this vile sundae?? That bastard is still ALIVE, HASN’T EVEN CHANGED, dramatically introducing himself to the little girl he’s trying to MURDER, to the guy he literally manipulated, and unknowingly to you, and he’s just as impulsive and selfish as you remembered him to be.

- To say there’s some negative consequences to this would be an understatement of the century… I can’t imagine a reader who would be ok with all of this crazy all at once. Especially if you were scorned by him in the past.

- Constantly having to walk on eggshells only for him to complain about the crunching sounds said eggshells are making… Yeah no it’s not fun and having to deal with weird bug monster things makes it even worse.

- Not to mention having to deal with him in a monster bug form that TOWERS over a 9ft Ralph and IS ABLE TO FUCKING PICK HIM OFF OF THE GROUND??? Terrifying. Terrible— Unfathomable.

- The wide variety of words I have in my arsenal would not be able to fully describe the absolute magnitude of it for anyone.

- I can’t imagine a final confrontation that doesn’t involve you guys duking it out in some way, I live for that type of angsty shit— Like trying to fight him as a means to stall for Ralph? Maybe.

- Having to handle your ex that’s a mutated, feral, and downright manic version of himself is something nightmares are made out of, having such a great disadvantage from not only his overpowered body, but with the emotional damage of all these sudden revelations this god forsaken night has caused?? Yeah it’s rougher than rough, which I believe Cybug King Candy would absolutely delight in.

- His sadistic tendencies being right out in the open now, now that he has the confidence and the form to back it up—

- Even if you two had something in the past, he still delights in misery, maybe has a twisted delight in seeing you in particular all bent out of shape about everything he’s doing not only to Sugar Rush but also to the main cast.

- If he’s given the chance I do see him trying to sweep you off of your feet, like, literally. Flaunting off his new form, relishing in your palpable fear among other things, it’s as if he strives to make you squirm.

- Keeps you on your toes with his unpredictable behavior, constantly switching from being overly joyful one second and frighteningly aggressive the next. He’s unstable both physically and mentally, face constantly glitching from the one you used to know all those years ago to this new more crazed one with a sharp toothed grin and a bloodthirsty glint in his eye.

- The audacity oozing from him is deadly when he’s the self-appointed ‘final boss’, throwing you around like a rag doll through the air and catching you by the leg just because.

- But in a way he’s always been like this, but now he has the power to be what he wants, and that’s something that craves power, thinks he’s owed it for everything he does.

- I believe he thinks he’s owed you in particular, all the worst of him out in the open, not afraid to reveal those ugly parts of himself anymore, too far down the rabbit hole to stop and think.

- Which, as we all know, is how he gets got, letting his gloating and sadistic side to have too much of the spotlight, being inevitably put down like the rabid dog he is.

- Much like how he is with so many other things, he simply couldn’t resist letting those metaphorical and literal wings of his melt like Icarus, no more redos, no more chances, no more him.

(.. ... / - .... .. ... / . -. -.. / --- ..-. / .. - --..-- / . -. -.. / --- ..-. / . ...- . .-. -.-- - .... .. -. --. ..--..)

[clownshifting]

"Exodus"

Now, you all know I'm not into drama anymore nor do I want to stir anything. I believe having a conversation rather than fighting genuinely helps the environment because too much smoke fogs our lungs. Let's be real, just for a second.

The alterhuman community as a whole needs to mind their own business.

When I say that, I mean, everyone. Even you. When I say that we need to mind our own business, I damn sure mean that every single alterhuman who has ever used the label, is using it, fits under it, or identifies complexly - needs to mind their own business.

It seems like everyone is speaking about and for everyone and the answers that are being popped up are from the "graymuzzles" and the popular blogs who just can't seem to stop not minding their own business, especially in conversations that has nothing to do with them or identities that aren't bothering anyone. This leads to a "monkey see, monkey do" effect where those followees then find time out of their day to go and single out the subject of their curiosity and further develop (negative or positive) feelings about their identity. They turn their real experiences into discourse topics.

This extends to any alterhuman, by the way. Let's make a scenerio. Subject B is factkin. R is the follower. G is the blog owner. G has a lot to say on subject B because subject B, in their eyes, can't fit into the otherkin label because of it not being "historically connected" to otherkinity. R sees this and agrees, but because of the message, R wants to share said message and have their own opinion.

Here's where that should end and where people should mind their own business. You see, R publicly posts this on their own blog and continues the cycle of posts seen by those who are of subject B's identity pool. Those who are "of B" are then left feeling hollow and out of touch, and then with how little (recent) the community "of B" is, their relavence is dwindled down into being a tie breaker for many in the community, where the utilization of DNIs and BYIs and BYFs listing subject B or those "of B" on it either negatively or positively.

While this is an oversimplified version of it, this has happened in the alterhuman community before by use of graymuzzles and dogpilling in public servers. I was hurt by the discourse around subject B back in 2020/2021. This has happened online for decades and will continue to happen in a cycle, as it always is, because those in the alterhuman community who wish to be the authority - understand not what it's like to be the minority. They already have the blog and the following to simply persuade others into that drama and agreement because they're seemingly wiser. And it's a shame that you'll see this mob mentality with no way to stop it all while they will be the ones calling your identity a cesspool of cults.

Let's step back for a moment and breathe... Ready? One, two, everyone in the alterhuman community should mind their own business. Better?

You may be asking, why did I put that screenshot up there? Don't worry about it, it'll come back lat -

So apparently someone in the alterhuman community decided to open their mouth again with an opinion about something that had nothing to do with them because it's not their identity, it's not their group, they didn't even know it was happening. And I'd have to ask ... how?

These are not all from 2025.

How did you not know?

It's because you don't hang around those groups of people enough to formulate an opinion. Which is when you should actually begin minding your own business. Actually, no, it's because you don't care about these groups until they're actually needed to be used as a way to belittle other groups OR prove you're right. You've classified all those who are exoduses as tokens of their group in which you use in a slot machine to win. That's all you've done and your discourse, your disdain for other groups, makes them absolutely disgusted being in the wider alterhuman community.

Now. What is the act of minding your own business? It's simple.. "If it ain't got anything to do with you, it ain't got anything to do with you."

No hate watching, not vagueposting, no reacting, no thinking about it or theories or trying to figure it out. If you truly wanted to know about it, you'd research outside of these spaces and find understanding there - you wouldn't see it happening and immediately ask another person who doesn't fit any of these groups their opinion - an opinion that can very well sway groups of people.

If you're already deep in the shit, step away like you're mature enough to be on the internet, and claim fault for engaging. Turning to another discourse is not disengaging.

Mastering the art of minding your business is important too, especially for those who are impulsive or can't seem to shake the need to talk about it. You may be knowledgeable about the situation, but if you are not mentioned and if there is ongoing discussion, you are not needed. In cases where your opinion does matter, especially if you are putting a label or flag or symbol in place, you very well can speak. Other cases like an essay, misinformation, corrections, and open discussions are alright too - the only places which don't need your help is "the stirring of the pot", aka, discourse and identity experiences.

Nobody needs an "uhm, actually" when they're talking about their frolicking in the fields of identity.

"If it ain't got anything to do with you, it ain't got anything to do with you," extends to if you don't know a subject either. If you don't know, refer to another, or post resources. You can't be the authority on every single topic, stop trying to and mind your own business. Stop contributing to ableism and gatekeepy practices that enable others to feel safe enough to share derogatory fables and terminology in your circles, because that also gives way for egregious amounts of backlash and discourse.

Why mind your own business? That's simple... it's not hard to find it in yourself to be kind. A lot of people think that helping is kind, and I agree. You should strive to help in the alterhuman community - in any community really - but help doesn't extend to knowing everything and formulating opinions where there needs none. I don't need to know why a homeless person is homeless in order to help them get a home. I don't need to know why you're physically nonhuman or factkin or fictionkin or a linker in order to help you feel welcomed in these spaces. Help doesn't mean knowledge, it means understanding and sympathy, even if you don't have any. It means being kind enough to share the message to those who can help.

This.. exodus is not new. CLCZs have been feeling disconnected from the wider community since they were a topic of discussion (as late as 2019) as a whole and opinions about their actions when you're unaware of it is unhelpful and nosey. It's a way to steep yourself back into be reliable and all knowing. It is a way to see yourself as able enough to be authority. Let go of that, find what you're good at, and find joy in the art of minding your own business and sharing resources instead.

You should be your own authority, for only you can have control over your palace of the mind.

[erbiumspectrum]

The atomic radius, shielding, and the lanthanide contraction

As you hopefully already know, there are several trends of the elements' properties that you can squeeze out of the periodic table. The one I want to focus on in this post is the atomic radius.

The shorter and simpler explanation is as follows: if you move from the top to the bottom, the radius increases, which is simply the result of more electron shells (“layers”) being added to the atom. Moving left to right, the radius decreases and that is caused by the growing positive charge of the nucleus attracting the valence electrons more strongly like the swole doge and therefore shrinking the atom.

But chemistry is a science, and the sciences are beautifully complex, so let me tell you about this one intricacy affecting the radius. We’re going to need some knowledge of the electronic structure of an atom, but I'll try to fit all that you really need to know inside a single paragraph.

The compact version is this: inside the atom, there are little pockets of space where electrons can be, so to say. Those pockets are called orbitals and they have all sorts of funky shapes. The s orbitals, for example, are ball-shaped, while the p orbitals look roughly like balloons attached to the nucleus. (They're sometimes described as dumbbell-shaped. What sort of dumbbell looks like that. They're balloons.)

[source]

Back to the radii! I'm going to use the second period as an example here, but there's nothing special about it. It just happens to be quite a simple case. Lithium and beryllium only have s orbitals, so that's not very interesting, but the rest of the period has both s and p orbitals.

As we move from lithium, across the whole period, and to fluorine (there's no need to engage the noble freaks), three important things happen: the radius decreases, each next element has one more proton in the nucleus than the previous one, and also each next element has one extra valence electron. Duh. The number of electrons "inside" doesn't change, it's only the outermost shell that gains electrons.

But remember, an electron is not a marble sitting in one point at all times. When it comes to electrons in atoms, it's better to imagine them as lil clouds of negative charge in the shape of their respective orbitals. As a result, the core electrons obscure the nucleus from the valence electrons. Not entirely! But the attractive force felt by the valence electrons isn't just equal to whatever Coulomb's law would give us - it's a bit smaller. This is called the shielding effect and the charge that valence electrons actually "feel" from the protons in the nucleus is called effective nuclear charge. The atomic radius is therefore a tad bigger than we could assume without acknowledging shielding (but the trend of a decreasing atomic radius across the periodic table still stands, of course).

So, what about the lanthanides, those poor, misunderstood outcasts thrown under the periodic table?

God I love pubchem's periodic table it's so pretty!

There's no plot twist here, they don't break the trend. Cerium is the biggest one, lutetium the smallest. So what gives? See, lanthanides begin filling up their f orbitals, whose shapes are so absurd even I am afraid of them.

[source]

Because they're so ridiculous, they are supremely bad at shielding the positive charge of the nucleus, which in turn makes the lanthanides significantly smaller than they would be if this effect didn't take place - so much so that we call this phenomenon the lanthanide contraction. Actually, the f orbitals suck at shielding so bad that the radii of the (d-block) metals of the sixth period are very similar to the radii of the elements in the period above them - even though they should be much larger!

[source]

Really. Chemistry is like psychology for electrons. Everything that happens here is caused by these guys' weird behavior.

[not-too-many-eyes]

Unexplainable Tragedies

(Also Known as: Reverse is a story about the apocalypse)

I always found the concept of The Storm fascinating. When I started playing Reverse I messaged a friend saying that I was really upset that I didn't think of it first since the concept of it is so interesting. A storm of time that (usually) brings the world back in time. It's such a compelling concept for a time travel story.

As a result, I've done a lot of thinking about it and it's place in the game's narrative. So, I have now decided to write this post so that I may articulate my opinions and feelings when it comes to it.

So, with that out of the way:

The Foundational Blocks of Society

Reverse depicts a world in which society is never safe. It's a world where at a single drop of rain the entire world as we know it can be destroyed and reverted back to a "backwards" version of it. Nothing is sacred because nothing ever stays minus a few pockets of the world that were lucky enough to be safe from it.

The Headquarters of St. Pavlov Foundation exists in of those pockets and it has existed even before The Storm. As a result it's a bastion of Pre-Storm Society. They are Worldwide and seek unite humans and arcanists so that they may return the world to it's "normal state" the one they used to exist in before. The one before all this tragedy occurred.

This, on it's surface, is an altruistic venture. But, considering the name of this place comes from Ivan Pavlov. The one who discovered Classical Conditioning. I think the intentions of these people should be questioned, just a tad.

The Foundation have consistently shown themselves as comprised of bad actors and feuding parties. Bigotry runs deeply in the Foundation's...foundations. Their modus operandi for "recruiting" Arcanists is to find the youngest ones who are disenfranchised and "teach" them what is proper in SPDM. Where they are taught the Foundation's ideology. That:

(Chapter 4 Part 2: Frog and Toffee)

Sonetto: We are born to die Martyrs

Later on, Matilda remarks that she was almost refused from the school because she's too old.

(Chapter 4 Part 10: O' Captain)

Matilda: My name is Matilda Bouanich! I am the most senior transfer student in the school- in fact, I was too senior to be taken in, if nor for that special approval. That is to say. I remember the outside world a lot more than you do...

She remembers things that she shouldn't.

Outside of this. Arcanists from the outside world who know the Foundation are critical of them. A lot of the ones we've seen like Regulus and Kakania don't want anything to do with them, and the ones inside have...mixed feelings on them as a whole.

Ms. Mossian: Although the Foundation is well-known for their effective ways of teaching, they always overlooked each student's character and personality. Hmm… I find their teaching philosophy difficult to comment on.

Even Sonetto and Mesmer Jr, some of the most ardent members of the Foundation have Undoubtedly been negatively affected by them. With Sonetto always wanting for freedom, and Mesmer Jr having and being on the verge of a mental breakdown every second of the day.

The world The Foundation creates isn't a just one. But this was Always part of it's institution. It's premise of wanting to unite humans and arcanists has Always had the asterisk that says "as long as we humans rule"

(Revival! The Uluru Games, Part 10: Let's Play House)

Spathodea: Make life better? Get out! You think I never saw the ad of Laplace? Spathodea: "Guide arcanum with science, tame the orderless power with sense." That's what you tell the people!

This isn't a new change. It wants to return the world to how it was before, and the world of 1999 doesn't seem to have been in the hands of arcanists.

They justify themselves, say that arcanists are inherently more emotional and that's why they Must exist. Without them the world would be out of control.

But, frankly, this is a bold fucking thing to say from a Institution who's vice president has beef with a teenager.

Humans cannot claim to be reasonable compared to the "irrational" arcanists when so much of this game showcases human irrationality. Even before the Storm people were competing to make it big in the stock market. Even before the Storm people burned witches and panicked in the streets over Y2K.

As much as arcanists perceive and understand the world differently, any existing evidence in perception or emotion sensitivity is greatly exaggerated to fit the narrative that The Foundation (that Humans) Must Exist to control them.

Greta Hofmann says it best in this chapter.

(Chapter 6 Part 15: With Hope Rekindled)

Hofmann: We have all heard it, humans are more rational and arcanists are more emotional. Hofmann: Their sensitive to the darkness of the world, so they can easily become absorbed in their own emotions and ignore reality Hofmann: But, if we put a human child in the position of an arcanist, who always takes on the world because of his uniqueness, who is never understood for his talents... Hoffmann: Maybe he too will become impulsive, sensitive immature and unstable Hoffmann: And that's why it sometimes dwans on me that if we put an arcanist child in the position of a human being who receives enough love, education, and positive feedback... Hoffmann: These 'instabilities' might be controllable. At least enough to keep them from hurting themselves or others.

This the world the Foundation wants to return to,the one unaffected by the changes that The Storm brought. The one where humans and arcanists were together but we all knew who was Really in charge.

"This the true path to the future!" They say. "We just need to return to the past. The beautiful past that was taken away from us!"

However, The Foundation isn't the only organization in this game.

The Rapture.

The Manus Vindictae are the arcanist parallel to The Foundation. A group of arcanists dedicated to arcanist supremacy in the same way The Foundation is dedicated to human supremacy. They believe that the Storm is actually a cleansing of impurity. Eliminating the bad habits of that era.

The also believe in The Guiding One/Arcana, and that arcanists are the ones Chosen to lead the world into a brighter era and leave this world of humans behind. The chosen ones of the new civilization that will bring everything to a new era of peace, they just need to go far back enough in time until:

(Chapter 1, Part 14: The Eye of The Storm)

Vertin: Which past do you want to return to? Fifty years ago? A century ago? Or... Forget Me Not: The past with the right order, of course

Of course this is rather...unethical, to say the least. However, this is not unique to the Manus in the slightest.

Again, The Foundation wants to return to the past before the Storm, and Matilda was almost refused from the school for the crime of being older than they would have liked her to be.

As the arks of the Foundation become more filled, less people are allowed to enter, and a lot are refused entry due to similar unethical reasoning,

(Chapter 4, Part 18: Road of a Puppy)

Sonetto: Schneider...a friend we met in Chicago Sonetto: She once chose to join The Foundation under the pressure of both the "Storm" and Manus Vindictae. Sonetto: But instead of offering any solution or help, you just gave her a rejection letter. Sonetto: I found this letter in her suit pocket. Sonetto: It had a small line written on it, "Paupers fuck off" (...) Sonetto: I do not understand...why there was such wording on it. Sonetto: Was it because she did not pay enough "shelter fee" to qualify for sheltering? Sonetto: Or was it because the wand she used was transformed by arcanum, which made you think she was an arcanist?

Really, the Manus are just more "honest" about their intentions. There's not much to discuss when there so open about it.

Still, there's a sort of, religious leaning to the way the Manus and it's affiliates talk. The idea that it's a trial, the idea that this is salvation, the idea that they are the ones chosen.

When the Y2K bug was something people were panicking about there was an expectation for it to be an Apocalyptic Event. Religious groups and similar organizations were all about being the ones chosen.

What the Manus exhbits here is it's own form of rationalization, which is funny considering how much they insistent that rational is a human thing.

If a tragedy occurs, then it's a tragedy in the favor of your organization. You will be rid of a world where cruel things happen and be brought up to one where your holiness will be confirmed and you will be happy forever as everyone who has ever committed evil rots below you.

It's a joke to think The Storm cares though.

The Pre/Post-Apocalypse

Something I've been leaving out about The Storm until now is that we do know Why it starts.

It starts due to:

Vertin: Community conflicts, turbulent history, new technology...all of these may lead to the "Storm."

Y2K, The Great Depression, World War 1. All important moments where time reversed, and all events that caused fear, panic and instability in the world.

Y2K isn't even disastrous, nothing actually apocalyptic Happened at the turn of the millennium. But it was such a terrifying concept it made the world go backwards before it could continue. We never see the after of these events, only the start. The panic is enough for a Storm to be caused.

It's a joke to think the Storm cares because the Storm isn't a person. It's an event, a tragedy, a change in the world. A moment in time that consumes anything that's within it's radius. Trying to explain it through something inherent is silly. Arcanists may be able to see through it but they still get consumed by it all the same.

You can formulate theories, maybe even pin down exactly what caused it, but that doesn't change what it did. The characters have been living in the moments before an apocalypse and the moments after one for ages now. You can't bring the world back to how it was before because that world simply doesn't exist anymore.

The Manus may accelerate it but really if it wasn't them it was going to be someone else. You can't keep everything in static normalcy forever. Especially a normal that's so cruel to people. Eventually someone is going to say that this sucks and try to change it, for good or for ill.

But, the beautiful past where nothing was wrong also Doesn't Exist. It's a fiction. But it's one that's easier to believe in than the future full of tragedy and suffering.

(Chapter 6, Part 20: War and Peace)

Isolde: Heads full of holes! Heads covered in shrapnel! Empty Stomachs! Even the ghosts of little children...I can see them all! Cities bombed to the ground, and trains full of people headed straight to death! Isolde: It is coming! IT IS COMING! By then, the guts hanging from the trees will be more vibrant than spring flowers. There will be bullets, helmets, gauze! Hahaha! Isolde: We have no future, doctor!

Everyone in Reverse is marked by that existential terror in a way. That the world is ending, that the world is going to end, that the world has already ended and they just have to pick up the pieces. That nothing really matters because nothing is permanent and nothing can be truly understood.

The Foundation and The Manus believe that:

Sonetto: As the instructors have told us, to live is to lose things around us until the day we lose life itself to death. That's why we should only focus on the supreme missions.

And, if they are right, if to live is to lose things around us. What Should we do? Do we do as they say and focus only on things larger than us? Survive the Storm by detaching ourselves from the world around us?

...

I'll let the end of Chapter 2 present my counter-argument for me.

[owl-bites]

I think it’s a good idea to make a distinction between Amanda, the entity, Wooly and the sheep entity so we don’t conflate them with each other. These are all separate characters.

The entities are very much a pretty typical depiction of demonic entities. Association with the number 3, attaching itself to a particular individual, feeding off of the person’s negative emotions (anger, fear etc), leading to demonic possession and causing pain/suffering which is what we see Amanda go through in the first game and play my way. She loses control of her negative emotions and becomes possessed or vulnerable to possession.

This is also shown in play my way with the subtitles even questioning if this is even Amanda.

These things act of their own accord which becomes apparent in the “when you’re feeling bad” tape. Amanda is in control of herself here but when the entity makes the decision to try and kill Riley, she looks shocked and intervenes. Twice.

Amanda was able to do this because she was a little more emotionally stable at the time and could see what was about to happen, having at least a little control over it to stop it from killing Riley but the entity clearly made the choice in the first place despite the fact that Amanda didn't want that. It doesn’t want Amanda feeling better and it thrives off of the fear and misery it puts Wooly through.

They’re all different characters but they still affect each other. Amanda and Wooly’s negative emotions feed into these demons, making them grow stronger especially in Wooly’s case. Losing control of their emotions, lashing out in anger like Amanda does makes them vulnerable to becoming possessed. In both cases, Amanda’s anger and lashing out, Wooly burying his emotions and silencing himself are trauma responses to the ongoing abuse of these two children by the entities and Hameln.

We’ve yet to see how Wooly and the sheep entity will interact with each other considering both times this thing makes it’s presence known Wooly isn’t there. The tape has stopped and is no longer playing in ending the sheep entity appears and in the “let’s hunt for treasure!” tape Wooly is far off-screen still in the hole he dug himself into. The sheep entity only making itself heard when the other entity very specifically tears up the Wooly doll. The sheep entity acting of it’s own accord on each occasion.

However, the entity attached to Amanda has a big impact not just on Amanda but Wooly too. He is terrified of this thing, he’s aware that the entity is what takes control of Amanda when she gets too angry/upset which is why he tries to avoid this and tries to warn Riley on multiple occasions. Wooly’s warnings in both versions of “oh no! Accidents!” are met with increasing violence from the entity.

We’ve seen how the entity abuses Wooly and how anxious this thing makes him when it’s possessing Amanda that it’s one of the reasons why the sheep entity has grown more vicious and powerful.

The entity also seems to have an effect on him outside of the tapes too. In “when you’re feeling bad” Wooly is in close proximity to it both times it tries to kill Riley. The first instance, Wooly’s eyes become black.

The second time the entity is close to Wooly and about to kill Riley we can hear the thud in game of Wooly fainting, forcing him out of view of the entity in the actual clip of it. 

Amanda’s emotions and actions shouldn’t be conflated with the entity’s actions either, she might be a little morbid and gets frustrated with Wooly sometimes when he gets on her nerves but she does show she cares enough to want to help him and genuine shock/concern when he’s physically hurt by someone else, like having his eye ripped out.

She even sounds delighted in the first game when she realises it’s Wooly’s birthday.

With the entity taking advantage of the fear and confusion that Amanda feels as she’s losing control and again, thriving off of the fear and misery it puts Wooly through. Both Amanda and Wooly are abused and traumatised children reaching out for help and these entities don’t want them to get that help.

[clonerightsagenda]

Kat's "I could fix her" Arcane season 2 post Part 1:

Yeah we're skipping straight past the recap/reflections on what this show actually was into my 'just let me into the writers room' post because I'm currently tormented by, ironically, what could have been

What's funny is the characters didn't even end up doomed by the narrative because of their League of Legends fates!! They killed a whole bunch of champions! They just Did All That anyway.

As I was saying in previous posts, the season was overstuffed. I genuinely liked some of the music video portions lol, but there was just so much going on.

I still would put Mel in a Magic Coma for the entire season and spin out her Black Rose plot for a third season or new spinoff (it seems like there will be one anyway). Her storyline as is felt like an afterthought and wasn't fully explained. Am I supposed to know the Black Rose lady? I don't. Being crammed in does her a disservice; I'd rather give her room to breathe. This would create a stronger absent mother/absent daughter bond between Ambessa and Caitlyn, and Caitlyn could see Ambessa claiming to do things for her daughter's sake even though it's obviously stuff Mel would never approve of, and that could force Caitlyn to reflect on how her mother wouldn't approve of the actions she's taking allegedly for her sake. That could sell Caitlyn's immediately re-siding with Vi better.

This may be a very hot take, but I didn't really like the werewolf Vander plotline. My understanding is he's a LoL champion, but he felt particularly cartoonish even in an increasingly cartoonish season, and just kept retreading the same ground. Vander's dead. :( He's alive! :) He's dead again. :( Obviously the cycles are part of the point, and he represents how Vander's death is this monstrous always dying never at rest force between the sisters tying them together and strangling them at the same time, but I'd cut it. Have Vi seek Jinx out after the prison break because she can't believe her sister did that, have Jinx admit she only did it to save one girl, and they reflect on how Vander also did stuff just for kids versus ideals. Make Vi reflect on how her little jaunt with Jayce killed a kid, and here Jinx is saving one, and people are complicated. Still not clear on how Jinx has no negative effects from Shimmer, so give her a few and that can be their new reason for going to Viktor's commune. Ambessa can hear about his new weird magitech without needing a werewolf to pique her interest.

Obviously this raises of the question of what Vi and Jinx are doing in the finale, and while I don't think every character needs a big damn fight scene, they can back up Caitlyn versus Ambessa since Mel won't be there, which also forces them to deal with the Vi-Caitlyn-Jinx tension. IDK if there's a way to have Jinx ambiguously blow herself up in that scenario but here's a thought, maybe the most prominently disabled characters don't all need to die and/or commit suicide? More on that later. Ambessa is subdued, not dead, though, so she and Mel can talk later.

Finally (for this post) I already expressed my frustration that the key class conflict so present in the first season and first half of the second gets mostly shoved under the rug because there's a new enemy to fight. Yes, that's often used as a distraction irl, but that's not a *good* thing. Sevika's sitting at the councilor's table at the end of the show. Who negotiated that? Caitlyn? If we absolutely must go the direction of a big damn final battle, I want to see that conversation and all of the pain and distrust that must've come up during it.

That's the kid gloves version. If I was being aggressive - and I would be - I'd have the fighting totally destroy Piltover with arcane corruption, and now everyone from Piltover has to live in the Undercity/Zaun as refugees. Forget Sevika sitting down at the Piltover table as the new councilors glare at her. Now the Piltover councilors are having to sit awkwardly down at a table with Sevika and Ekko's number 2. (Or Ekko. What is he doing besides sitting sadly on that roof. Is he involved in governance. Is his tree ok.) Piltover suffocated Zaun for years with their industrial runoff. Now they're choking to death on their own magical industrial waste, and they're going to have to learn to live like everybody else.

I am still parsing the whole Viktor, Jayce, and disability thing since as you know that's one of the elements that fascinates me most about this show (the new improved crunchy ableism even as they genuinely try to explore something interesting) so I will be typing a separate post about that, probably thinking through it as I write. Stay tuned.

[ingravinoveritas]

UMMMM DOCTOR AGREEING WITH DONNA SAYING ISSAC NEWTON WAS HOT?!!!!!!! AND THEN WHEN HE ASKS IF HE DOES THINGS LIKE THAT DONNA WAS SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT HIS SEXUALITY ALWAYS BEING ON THE SURFACE?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hoo, boy. Well, I just watched the second of the DW 60th anniversary specials ("Wild Blue Yonder"), and let me say...that was fucking awesome. As I've mentioned previously, I am a very casual Doctor Who viewer, but this felt so much tighter and stronger than "Star Beast" by several orders of measure. I know everyone talks about DW being owned by Disney now and how that has affected the budget, but this episode more than proved that you do not need fancy special effects or over-the-top action sequences when you have two actors who can just do what David and Catherine did.

I've only seen a few other DW eps, but I was amazed at how creepy this was, and having it be so intensely character-driven--that is, having the antagonists be copies of the Doctor and Donna and allowing David and Catherine to create two completely different other characters so that it felt like there actually were four different people on screen--was sheer genius. Absolutely brilliant and hilarious but also wildly unnerving at the same time.

Which then brings me to the moment you mentioned, which is thoroughly delicious on its own:

Right off the bat, what surprised me is how very not surprising this is, at least to anyone paying attention. We know the Doctor is an alien who transcends time and space, so there is no reason to think that he/she/they wouldn't also transcend sexuality. And again, not having seen as many episodes of other incarnations (Nine, Eleven, etc.), I have always seen Ten as being bi or pan, without any question. There was something about Fourteen saying this, however, that felt very akin to 57 academics punching the air, and I am just beyond thrilled that this made it into the show.

What's also been interesting to me is seeing the negative response to this development on Twitter, and the subsequent pushback to said response. I've seen a lot of folks saying the Doctor can't possibly be gay (nevermind that being into men doesn't necessarily make the Doctor gay, since bi/pansexuality is A Thing That Exists) because of Rose, and then other folks responding with examples from Ten's era showing all the ways in which Ten is not/has never been 100% straight. But as easy it is for these pushback people to see this as a possibility for fictional characters, they seem to have a very difficult time seeing that same possibility in real people.

To wit: I saw a tweet yesterday from someone who thought that Russell T. Davies was straight--much to my disbelief--and a subsequent reply on that tweet from another person who thought he was married to Julie Gardner. And sure, I'll grant you that not everyone is interested in the personal life of a DW showrunner/writer...but we are talking about the man who wrote the UK version of Queer As Folk, and gave the world Captain Jack Harkness, for crying out loud. The same man who made David/Ten look and act like the biggest bottom ever to bottom and earned the moniker "Russell T. Daddy" for a reason. Yet the grip of compulsory heterosexuality is so strong that all of these things (as well as the fact that he had an actual husband, who sadly passed away a few years ago) ceased to matter.

But...it also suddenly makes sense why so many people are oblivious to the fact that David (and Michael) are most likely not 100% straight.

If we are going to say that the Doctor is not necessarily automatically straight because of having previously dalliances with women, then it makes sense to say that David is not necessarily automatically straight for the same reason. I've talked previously on my blog about how assuming straightness when someone hasn't come out as straight or because someone is in a straight-passing relationship is a problem, and that people don't need to label themselves specifically to be who they are. Yet as willing as so many fans are to let fictional characters step outside of that confining box, those fans are equally willing to push the actors right back into it.

I still see people calling David a "straight man" when that very well might not be the case. When this year in particular, David has been more vocal than ever before about numerous facets of queerness in a multitude of forms (wearing badges, gay pride boots, t-shirts, etc). I've talked about how the clothes David wears seem to be reflecting who he really is more and more, and thinking about the roles he's played this year--Crowley, Fourteen--I see a similar pattern. And I keep thinking about that little boy in Paisley who was afraid to ask for a DW Leelah doll because he didn't want to be a "sissy." I keep thinking of David likely being told that his career would be destroyed if he was anything other than publicly straight, and especially while playing a beloved character like the Doctor.

For him to come back as the Doctor now--in the midst of a deeply charged period in history, with homophobia and transphobia spiking dramatically in the UK--and to mention finding another man hot in the most completely casual way is nothing short of astounding. And what better vehicle to potentially guide David toward opening up about himself than something he has loved for so long? What better show to serve as a lighted pathway, of sorts? Nothing Russell writes is not deliberate. Nothing being done in these specials is not deliberate. And if 900 years isn't too old to discover or become more open about a part of yourself, then why should 52 be?

So yes, those are my thoughts on this new DW 60th anniversary special, and this particular moment with Fourteen (Ten-Four) and Donna. It really does feel as though this is all leading toward something, and I am definitely looking forward to seeing the third and final special next weekend...

[starlitskyaboveme]

OK, this will be kinda hard for me... But I'd really like to talk about Hal. Some time ago I found myself realising that there are a lot of similar things in me and that character.

It was terrible thought. I was scared because I don't really like this guy's personality (duh). Ironically I found out then that my mbti IS ALSO SIMILAR to his (ESFP) 🤡

On this basis I had struggled a lot with the body dysphoria because my inner voice told me every time I was looking at the mirror, that I do look like Hal.

You see, I have some extra weight, living the most time of my life with fatphobic parents. And moreover, some time ago I dyed my hair in ginger color.

And it is some kind of evil miracle that we have so many similarities in the appearance.

And, apparently, all this turned over time into such a huge lump of complexes and pain that my psyche simply could not stand it anymore.

I'm afraid to imagine what would have happened to me now, if not for the help of my psychologist, with whom I was finally able to talk honestly, without fear of being perceived as a strange overgrown child in an adult's body (actually, that's how I perceived Hal). And after some time of these sessions, I suddenly found out that... Yes, it's true. I really am like Hal, who became Titan in "Megamind". And I hated this character primarily because he reminded me of myself. He reflects all my negative traits: impudent, lazy, sometimes slow-witted, who can't see beyond his own nose. And also someone who believes that in life you will always be guided, and that there is a certain scheme according to which it can only be this way, and no other. We also went through the same thing at one time.

By the way, it was this realization that helped me look at the world from a different perspective, without the idea of ​​purpose and some kind of fate. And basically without meaning. This is, in essence, the beauty of the world: there is no meaning in anything, so a person himself gives meaning to what he loves or hates. All cultures, plots, gods, languages, cities and countries, architecture, painting, writing - all this, in essence, is absolutely random bullshit that was invented by people, the same as us, who are here now. We are all, like every creation, one big accident with consequences in the form of a butterfly effect. Beautiful or terrible - everyone decides for themselves.

But I got distracted.

Actually, yes. I really do look partly like Hal... Or, at least, I feel myself to be somewhat alike him. But I realized that this doesn't mean that I am bad. Or wrong. Or not worthy of basic respect and love from myself.

The fact that I am like someone does not mean that I am obliged to repeat their mistakes or fate (the second, as I have already mentioned, I have a hard time believing). It only means that through the prism of this or that person I give myself the opportunity to get to know myself a little better. To become a little closer to myself. To take another step towards accepting myself as I am. Not perfect. But nothing in the world is perfect. Otherwise, it would simply freeze in place, like life itself.

No one is perfect. None of us. But that's what makes us beautiful. Our flaws are what make us us. They are as beautiful as our virtues. It's just that many of us find it very difficult to accept them in ourselves.

Now I understand that Hal is not such a "bad guy" at all. He is just led and doesn't value or love himself at all. And it's... Really sad, to be honest.

In fact, he even reminds me of Soos from Gravity Falls. Another thing is that Soos is much more responsible and compassionate, that's how his personality has developed (by the way, he is one of my favorite characters. I even once took part in the creation of a fan novel, where I got to draw his model 💘).

In another version of the turn of events, Hal could have remained the same cozy and funny geek. Maybe at one point he would have decided to find his place. Or move somewhere. In any case, each option is good in its own way. Perhaps, again, under different circumstances, he could even have become a more or less good hero, but these are just guesses. Or desires. In general, it doesn't really matter.

Now I understand that it is quite possible that I could have become friends with him and spent hours discussing various computer games, cartoons and all sorts of events like festivals and starcons.

We are, first of all, not those whose stereotype we fall under. We are those who we ourselves choose to be. And there is always a choice.

This text is very personal and important to me. And I am posting it here to tell myself: here is the group. Here is my audience. Those who do not like this and my content can safely leave. I will continue to post what I like, what is comfortable for me. What makes me happy. Be it comics about me and Megamind, which help to process certain internal traumas, or something else.

Thank everyone of you for reading this to the end. Those who didn't read to the end - thank you too, you just probably will not see this x)

[hephaestuscrew]

"Minkowski's been talking about Sondheim again…": Minkowski's love of musical theatre and what it reveals about her characterisation and her relationships

TL;DR: Renée Minkowski's love of musicals, while it might seem just like a mundane character detail, is used to give depth to her character because it contrasts with expectations of her from both the listening audience and the other characters. Her willingness or unwillingness to share this interest in different circumstances reveals her relationships with other characters at various points. Since this is a long one, if you'd rather read it as a document, you can view it here: Google Doc version.

"She actually really cares about these talent shows": Episode 8 (Box 953)

In the early episodes of Season 1, Minkowski is presented (largely through Eiffel's unreliable perspective) purely as a strict no-nonsense authority figure without much emotional depth, the kind of person who only likes things that are useful, purposeful, or mandated by Command. In contrast, musical theatre is a creative pursuit that has nothing to do with the mission of the Hephaestus and is viewed by many people as fairly frivolous or silly. The gradual exploration of Minkowski's passion for musicals is one of the many ways that the show expands and challenges our understanding of her as a character. 

The first indication that we get of her interest in musicals is through her entry into the infamous talent show, something that is required as part of the mission. Minkowski really cares about 'crew morale' activities in general, even when they actually have a negative effect on morale and even before she's friends with any of her crew (for example, the Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners in the earlier stage of the mission), perhaps partly because doing things in the "right way" is important to her. 

But Eiffel senses that the talent shows aren't just about rules for her: "it’s bad enough when she makes us do something just because it’s military protocol, but I think that she actually really cares about these talent shows". This might be the first indication that we get of Minkowski caring deeply about anything that isn't inherently part of her role as a Commander. Moments like this are part of the gradual process of giving us insight into her character beyond the Commander archetype that she tries to embody. And yet, she only indulges her theatrical passion because something mandatory gives her permission, or an excuse, to let another part of herself out.

Of course, to satisfy the needs of a talent show, she'd only need to provide a performance of a few minutes. But Eiffel mentions "the second act of the play" - which along with Hera's comment that "Isabel isn't the biggest role in the play" - implies that Minkowski was intending to put on the whole of Pirates of Penzance as her talent show act, rather than a few of the songs or some kind of medley. (I suppose that Eiffel could be exaggerating or Minkowski might have been planning to do extracts from different parts of the play, but I prefer the interpretation in which Minkowski gets to be more ridiculous.) 

Even though no one else would be willing to be in her production of Pirates of Penzance, Minkowski casts Hera as Isabel, a role with two lines and no solo singing. I found some audition notes for this play which said "The traditional staging gives [Isabel] more prominence than the solo opportunities of the part suggest, so she must be a good actress" which does make me sad in relation to Hera's inability to have a more significant role by being physically present on stage. 

It’s sweet that Hera still wants to take part though. She tells Eiffel "Pirates of Penzance is a classic of 19th century comic opera", so either she’s absorbed what Minkowski has told her about the show, or she’s done her own research and formed her own opinions. I enjoy the fact that Hera is the one Hephaestus crew member who shows potential to share Minkowski's musical theatre appreciation; I like to think that this is something they could explore together post-canon.

Anyway, I'm obsessed with the idea that Minkowski was planning to play every character except one in Pirates of Penzance, a show which is designed to have 10 principal characters and a chorus of 14 men. It seems that her contribution to the talent show was supposed to be an entire two-hour two-act musical, with costumes and props, in which she would play almost all of the parts. This is very funny to me as the perhaps predictable consequence of giving an ambitious and frustrated grown-up theatre kid a position of authority and asking them to arrange a talent show. Minkowski knows that the audience will be made up of her subordinates who are theoretically obliged by the chain of command to watch and listen, so she absolutely tries to make the most of that opportunity. There's probably also a degree to which she limits other people's involvement in her musical because - as with her other endeavors - she wants the outcome to be almost entirely within her control (something that is usually pretty much impossible in as collaborative a medium as musical theatre).

Of course, Minkowski's behaviour in most of the talent show episode is affected by her being drugged by Hilbert. This creates an exaggerated situation which is the first real opportunity for Minkowski to be something other than the strict sensible authoritarian Commander and the foil to Eiffel's jokey laid-back attitude. I don't agree with ideas that being intoxicated brings out anyone's true self (especially in the absence of consent for the intoxication), but it seems pretty clear that being under the influence of whatever was in Hilbert's concoction caused Minkowski to fully commit to a level of manic enthusiasm for her musical production that might have otherwise been obscured by her professionalism. It's a particular kind of person who belts showtunes when drunk, and Minkowski is that kind of person, even if that's not how she wants to present herself. (As a sidenote, I seem to remember that they took Emma Sherr-Ziarko's script off her to help her sound more drunk. It's an excellent performance.)

Minkowski wants interval ice cream. She wants "pirate costumes" (and she'll threaten to shoot a man to get them). She wants "swashes and buckles". She wants whatever props she can get her hands on (including a real cannon). This show is important to her, even though only three other people will witness it and two of them actively don't want to be there. It’s important to her for its own sake.

Eiffel says Minkowski wants "a second pair of eyes to tell her if the prop sabre for her Major-General costume was a bit much…"  While I certainly wouldn't put it past Goddard Futuristics to have a prop sabre on the station for no apparent reason, it feels more likely that she might have made it or adapted some existing item. Which suggests that maybe she was that passionate about the props even before Hilbert drugged her. 

Even so, it does feel significant that Minkowski's love of musicals is only revealed in the episode in which she is drugged, exhibiting lowered inhibitions, exaggerated behaviour, and an "impaired euphoric effect". Her love of musical theatre is initially revealed through a professional structure that provides permission, and then further emphasised by a forced intoxication that exaggerates some impulses that perhaps she already had.

"Some hobbies other than making trains run on time": Episode 17 (Bach to the Future)

After Eiffel tells to find Minkowski to find something else to do while her work duties have quietened down, they have the following exchange:

EIFFEL: You must have some hobbies other than making trains run on time. Something to do with friends? Boyfriends? MINKOWSKI: Of course I do, but, well, there aren't really a lot of opportunities for rock climbing or trail hiking in the immediate vicinity. 

Even though this quote doesn't mention musicals, I've included it here for two reasons. Firstly, it's very funny to me that, even after the talent show debacle, Eiffel acts like he's never had any evidence of Minkowski's hobbies. She tried to perform a whole play almost single-handedly and it didn't occur to him that this might indicate an interest of hers outside of work. I think this reflects the fairly two-dimensional view that Eiffel has previously had of Minkowski, which her interest in musical theatre didn't fit into. 

Secondly, it feels notable that Minkowski doesn't mention musical theatre here. She wants to show that she has non-work interests, but without undermining her own authoritative image. Her interest in rock climbing and trail hiking - while it may be genuine - fits with how she wants to be seen as a Commander. These are hobbies which portray her as physically capable, with a high degree of stamina and a willingness to adapt to perhaps less hospitable surroundings. Of course, Minkowski does have these traits and they serve her well on the Hephaestus. But there's not really anything particularly surprising about her expressing these interests. The surprise in this scene comes from the reveal that she has a husband, a character detail which - like her love of musicals - isn't something we'd necessarily expect from the archetype-based view of her we are initially presented with. 

Her interest in rock climbing and trail hiking never come up again, because these details don't really deepen her characterisation (or at least, they aren't really used to deepen her characterisation beyond proving that she isn't entirely all-work-and-no-play). In contrast, Minkowski's love of musicals is brought up over and over because it shows another side of her that she struggles to reveal on the Hephaestus, and that allows more interesting things to be done with her characterisation.

"You wanted to write showtunes": Episode 35 (Need to Know)

Alongside the more high stakes discoveries prompted by the leak from Kepler's files, we also learn that Minkowski applied to - and was rejected from - the Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program.

Up until this point, we've only had evidence that Minkowski enjoys performing in musicals. But here we learn that Minkowski doesn't just love watching or performing in musicals - she wanted to write them too. This suggests a creative side to her that we never see her fully express.

The course

The Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program claims to be the only course of its kind in the world and it accepts just 30 students each year. The current application process requires applicants to: upload play scripts or recordings of songs they've written; answer a large number of extended response questions about their creative process and views on musical theatre; write a 'statement of purpose' which has to talk about why they are applying and include 3 original ideas for musicals; provide a professional resume and a digital portfolio; complete an exercise of writing in response to a prompt; and undergo an interview. The process might have changed somewhat since Minkowski would have been applying (which, if it was soon after she finished college, might have been around the early 2000s) or it might be different in Wolf 359's alternate universe, but I think we can safely assume that applying to this course was a serious undertaking that required an intense amount of commitment and work. 

Applying to a course like that isn't something you do half-heartedly or on a whim. You couldn't apply to this course if you hadn't done a fair amount of musical theatre writing already. (The course requires applicants to choose to apply as bookwriters, lyricists, or composers, but I'm not going to make a guess here as to which of these Minkowski went for.) The fact that Minkowski wanted to study this course suggests that she was seriously considering trying to make a career out of musical theatre writing. In Once In A Lifetime, she tells Cutter that commanding a space station has always been her dream job, but we've got evidence here that it wasn't her only dream job. There's something kind of funny and kind of sad about the idea that writing musicals was her back-up / fall-back career path. She does not like to make life easy for herself.

The revelation 

This information is revealed against Minkowski's will. It's not something she wanted people to find out, and she isn't happy about them knowing:

JACOBI: "Dear Renée, thank you for your interest in the Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program..." MINKOWSKI: Oh, come on!  JACOBI: (pressing on) "We are sorry to say, we will not be able to offer you a spot in this year's blah blah blah." Oh this is too good. You wanted to write showtunes?  MINKOWSKI: Number one? Shut up. Number two, why are my personal records on there?! [...] How is it in any way relevant?! JACOBI: Oh, I think it's very relevant. I mean, if you're sending someone to pilot ships in deep space, you want to make sure that they can, you know... paint with all the colors of the wind.  Jacobi CRACKS UP - and, although to a lesser degree, so does Lovelace. Minkowski looks at her: really?  LOVELACE: Sorry, Minkowski. It's... it's a little funny.  MINKOWKSI: No, it isn't!

Minkowski seems defensive and embarrassed here. She obviously doesn't trust everyone there with this revelation (Jacobi, Maxwell, Lovelace, and Hera are all present). She considers this information to be "personal" and irrelevant and not even "a little funny". She's used to reactions like Jacobi's (and to a lesser extent Lovelace's); in Ep41 Memoria, she says "most people think it's hilarious that I like musicals" (see below for more thoughts about this quote). But the fact that these mocking reactions are expected doesn't mean that they don't bother her. She wants so badly to be taken seriously and, in this scene, her interest in musical theatre seems to be incompatible with that. Jacobi reacts the way that he does because of the idea that I've already expressed, that a passion for musical theatre does not fit with the serious authoritative image that Minkowski has often presented. It's not the typical hobby of a soldier, especially not a Commander.

To me, the way Lovelace laughs suggests that she might not have previously known about Minkowski's love of musicals, or at least perhaps not the full extent of it. At any rate, it's definitely news to Jacobi. And Minkowski clearly hasn't talked about it enough for it not to feel like a big reveal for her.

The rejection 

It's notable that this reveal is not just that she wanted to write for the stage, but also that she failed to get into a course that might have helped her work towards that goal. This of course compounds Minkowski's discomfort at having this information revealed. Not only did she want to write showtunes, but she encountered rejection in her attempts to do so. This detail implies that perhaps it wasn't just the appeal of her spacefaring dream that stopped her going down a theatrical career path. 

I'm about to move more into headcanon territory rather than just straightforward analysis, but I personally believe that, while Minkowski auditioned for a lot of musicals (particularly as a child / young person), she was never cast as the main role. She seems embarrassed about her interest in musical theatre in a way that (at least judging by people I've encountered) people who were always the lead in their school / college productions don't tend to be. 

We don't have much evidence about her actual level of singing/acting ability, given that she is inebriated during the only time we hear her sing in the podcast. However, it resonates with other aspects of her characterisation to imagine that Minkowski was generally good enough to get an ensemble part but never quite good enough to be cast as a main part. I think she might see only ever being cast as part of the ensemble, and failing to get into the Tisch Musical Theatre Writing programme, as slightly more down-to-earth examples of the same pattern as her repeated rejections from NASA. She is desperate to prove herself. She is "someone who very much wants to matter. To do something important." When she casts herself as almost every part in Pirates of Penzance, she is finally taking the opportunity to be a main character, an opportunity which I imagine had been denied to her over and over in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

"It's just from a play I saw once": Episode 41 (Memoria)

The next scene I want to talk about is from a memory of Hera's, which took place on Day 57 of the Hephaestus mission and in which Minkowski appears to be talking about the Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George:

MINKOWSKI: Oh, it's just from a play I saw once. It doesn't matter. (BEAT) The guy who sings it is this famous French painter. And his entire life is kinda falling apart. But he can always turn what's happening around him into these beautiful paintings.  HERA: And? MINKOWSKI: And... That's, I don't know. Reassuring, maybe? (BEAT) I don't know why I'm going on about this. You don't care.  HERA: I think it's interesting.  MINKOWSKI: Yeah? Most people think it's hilarious that I like musicals.  HERA: I don't see what's funny about it.  MINKOWSKI: Well, thank you Hera, but you're not exactly... you know.  HERA: I'm not... what? 

There's a couple of different things I want to pick out from this exchange. Firstly, the line "Most people think it's hilarious that I like musicals" makes me sad. I don't think she's talking about people on the Hephaestus there. Judging by the quote I talked about from Bach to the Future, Eiffel definitely wouldn't have registered Minkowski's love of musicals at this stage, and I doubt Hilbert cares at all about the hobbies of his fellow crew members. So Minkowski is talking about experiences that she's had on Earth, of people mocking her interest in musicals and thinking it doesn't fit with who she is. You can hear the impact of those experiences in Minkowski's reluctance to elaborate, in the way she says that something she obviously cares about doesn't matter, in her assumption that Hera doesn't care.

Secondly, this scene is a complicated one for Minkowski and Hera's relationship. On the one hand, Minkowski freely talks to Hera about something she's passionate about, and Hera listens and expresses interest. Hera validates Minkowski's interest in musical theatre without making a thing of it being weird and Minkowski thanks her. Again, it’s shown as an interest they could could potentially share.

But on the other hand, it seems like part of the reason Minkowski feels able to open up to Hera is because at this point Minkowski doesn't see opening up to Hera as fully equivalent to opening up to a fellow human. She doesn't just accept Hera not making fun of her interest; instead it seems Minkowski is about to imply that this lack of judgment indicates Hera's difference from humans (although she does have the decency not to say it outright). Minkowski's expectation of judgment from others contributes to her saying something very hurtful to Hera here. (This kind of potential consequence of negative self-attitude is explored a lot with Eiffel, so it's interesting that Minkowski can sometimes have a similar issue.)

Minkowski and Hera's conversation is interrupted when:

The DOOR OPENS.  EIFFEL: Hey, Minkowski, we've - What are you guys talking about?  MINKOWSKI: We were just discussing how I'm going to take away your hot water privileges if you don't reset the long-range scan.

Eiffel can obviously tell that he's walked in on a conversation that is about something other than work, or he wouldn't have asked. But Minkowski actively chooses not to tell him that she was talking to Hera about musicals. Perhaps she doesn't know how to open up to a human subordinate about it. Perhaps she doesn't trust him not to make fun of her. Perhaps she just doesn't have any impulse to talk about her interests with him. Either way, if Minkowski's love of musicals is something which reflects a side of her personality outside of her Commander role, this is a moment where she chooses not to take an opportunity to share that side of herself with Eiffel. This reflects the emotional distance between them three months into the mission, which forms a nice contrast with the next couple of quotes I'm going to talk about.

"Composition. Balance. Harmony.": Episode 54 (The Watchtower)

When Eiffel comes directly face to face with alien life, he discovers that music is the human invention that fascinates the Dear Listeners:

EIFFEL: You haven't figured out music?  BOB: ORDER. DESIGN. TENSION. COMPOSITION. BALANCE. HARMONY.  EIFFEL: (low, to himself) Minkowski's been talking about Sondheim again…

I only learned in the course of writing this post that in this moment the Dear Listeners are almost exactly quoting a repeated phrase used throughout Sunday in the Park with George. The titular protagonist lists various combinations of these qualities in multiple songs in reference to his art. In the closing song, the lyrics are "Order. Design. Tension. Composition. Balance. Light. [...] Harmony." It's not only Eiffel's references that the Dear Listeners are incorporating into their speech - they've picked this one up from Minkowski. This also suggests that some element of her appreciation for musicals and the way she talks about them has fed into the Dear Listeners' understanding of the human phenomenon of music. The Dear Listeners aren't just parroting - they understood the quote enough that they left out the word "light", arguably the only quality in that phrase which isn't a big part of music as well as visual art. Eiffel likes music too, but I don't think that this is how he'd talk about his favourite songs.

This is a refrain about finding order and beauty out of the chaos and uncertainty of life, which was also the aspect of Sunday in the Park with George that Minkowski focused on when talking about it in Memoria. It suggests that art/music could be something governed by rules and principles, which is potentially something that appeals both to Minkowski and to the Dear Listeners.

Eiffel's response to this reference is one of those little hints that reminds us that Eiffel and Minkowski have spent a lot of time together and that not all of that time has involved them being at each others' throats or actively in a life-or-death situation. Some of it has just been Minkowski going on about a musical she loves and Eiffel (willingly or not) paying enough attention that he recognises this phrase as a Sondheim quote that Minkowski has talked about. I suppose that this quote might have been in Eiffel's pop-culture-brain anyway, but judging from Eiffel's general tastes and the fact that I don't think Sunday in the Park with George is one of the more commonly known Sondheim musicals among non-musical fans, it seems more likely that this quote is something he only knows because Minkowski has talked about it. 

Eiffel sounds exasperated at the mention, like he's heard Minkowski talk about Sondheim far too much. But I'd argue that this still says something positive about their relationship, when we contrast it with a couple of other moments I've already mentioned. Firstly, when her previous musical theatre ambitions are revealed to Jacobi, Maxwell, and Lovelace in Need to Know, Minkowski seems embarrassed and defensive. Secondly, in the memory from Memoria, she avoids telling Eiffel that she was talking about this same musical. Yet, by the time The Watchtower takes place, Eiffel is sick of hearing Minkowski talk about Sondheim. She doesn't have the same barriers up in sharing her interests with him, even though he doesn't have the same interests. I think this is a demonstration of how comfortable she feels with him. It's a hint at the kind of easy downtime that they've sometimes shared.

"One day more": Episode 61 (Brave New World)

Eiffel recognises another musical reference of Minkowski’s in the finale. As the crew are preparing for their final confrontation with Cutter and co., Minkowski quotes Les Misérables, mostly to herself - but Eiffel recognises the lyrics and joins in:

EIFFEL: Hey - chin up, soldier. We're almost through. Just one more day, and then we're done.  MINKOWSKI: Yeah, one more day. (more to herself) The time is now, the place is here - one day more.  EIFFEL: - one day more.  They both stop, dead in their tracks. MINKOWSKI: Did you just - ?  EIFFEL: Was that what I - ?  They look at each other: No way. And BURST INTO LAUGHTER.  EIFFEL: Man... this is really it, huh? The end of everything. 

It feels really important that Minkowski and Eiffel share this moment of togetherness before she tries to send him back to Earth and before the rest of the action goes down. I think there’s some nice symbolism about them finding a way to communicate that they both understand. Making references is Eiffel's thing, and musicals are Minkowski's thing, so this is a synthesis of their two approaches. Again, there's a contrast with Minkowski's previous unwillingness to share her musical theatre passions with Eiffel (at least without the mitigating circumstances of a mandatory talent show and some kind of intoxicating substance).

I talked about the significance of the fact that they reference this particular musical in this post from ages ago. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler for Les Misérables to say that the revolution that the song One Day More is building up to does not end well for the revolutionaries. When Eiffel says "Just one more day, and then we're done", it encompasses both the possibility that the crew will escape to travel back to Earth and the possibility that they will all die. Minkowski's reference to a famously tragic musical suggests that it's the latter possibility that's at the forefront of her mind (right before she tries to send Eiffel away from the danger). But Les Misérables is also a story about people standing together in solidarity against powerful oppressive forces, which gives particular resonance to the way that this reference brings Eiffel and Minkowski together in a moment of being completely on the same wavelength as they prepare to fight Cutter and Pryce's plan.

When they laugh here, it's not about the 'hilariousness' of Minkowski's interest in musicals, it's about their unexpected unison - Eiffel's recognition of Minkowski's reference and Minkowski's surprise at the fact he joined in. It's a laugh of togetherness, of shared understanding, of friendship. It's a moment of lightness in dark times. And that moment is provided by Minkowski's pop culture interests, not Eiffel's. In spite of all they've been through, she's not lost that part of herself, and in fact, she's more open about it, at least to Eiffel.

I'll finish by highlighting what Eiffel says when he's trying to get into character to impersonate Minkowski so he can turn the Sol around:

EIFFEL: Umm... yes, this is Lieutenant Commander Renée Minkowski. I'm... uh... well I sure love schedules, and, uh, musicals. And that man, who I married…

I just think this is a nice example of Eiffel not defining Minkowski solely by her professional Commander role. Sure, she likes schedules (probably in a personal as well a professional capacity to be fair), but she also loves musicals, and her husband. It is a fairly reductive overview of her as a person, but it feels reductive in a fond way, like these things are part of Minkowski's brand to Eiffel in a way that he might affectionately tease her about. (Credit to @commsroom for this thought.) His view of Minkowski has come a long way from "our resident Statsi agent" or even just "you must have some hobbies other than making trains run on time." He doesn't see any contradiction or inherent humour in Lieutenant Commander Renée Minkowski's appreciation of musicals.

Conclusion

Minkowski's love of musical theatre is used to deepen her characterisation and is one of the ways in which we gradually begin to see her complexity beyond the strict Commander archetype. The degree to which she is prepared to share this interest at various points is used to illustrate the nature of her relationships with other characters: a general unwillingness to show a less serious side of herself; a complicated potential shared interest with Hera; and the growing understanding between her and Eiffel.

If you read this whole thing, well done / thank you 😄 It wasn't meant to be this long - it just happened… Feel free to share your thoughts!

[saccharinemeat]

I'm sorry but HOW do you find sodapack to be worse than lairy??

Oh anon, you've opened a Pandora's box.

Let's go through it in parts,shall we?

First, Why people consider lairy to be 'bad'?

From what I've seen, it's often mostly based around the fact that Airy himself had Liam trapped on the Plane, and it can be considered that Airy has an inherent abusive dynamic with Liam because of this. This is the major one,since Airy doesn't show any animosity, negative or positive towards Liam immediately. He didn't pick Liam out of malice,or abuse,or anything. It just was coincidence,and he wanted them to play the game,but didn't punish him for not playing. Even stuff like the drowning is shown to be unintentional or at least, Airy himself doesn't seem to consider it a punishment. When it was time for Liam to be returned home after the 5 month period, Airy did so without major hesitation, it's not like he wanted to keep Liam more than wny of the other contestants.

Second, why is sodapack seen as wholesome?

No, seriously. Liam and Bryce are mostly friendly and amicable within the game, especially while Amelia was still involved,and after they are placed on the same team along with Texty and Stone but without Amelia, Bryce becomes quite less responsive and sort of gives up on trying to communicate with Liam, he is mentally checked out. At this point, it's more of a traumatic bond than it is a deeper friendship. The later development,which i will comment on, is mostly driven through Liam pushing Bryce,and Bryce only ever says hes glad they went through it way past the point of no return. There's implications that this is how Bryce just deals with things,he tries to see them as 'for the best' to compartmentalize them. Same as never mentioning Stella, same as deciding that his life post-plane was better. Bryce is not particularly attached to Liam on his own volition.

Third, fandom blindness

Okay,this part is where I criticize the fandom. So here it goes: At this point, the fanon versions of Liam and Bryce are forcefully fit into what you (general you) want them to be,rather than actually acknowledging them as they are. ONE's characters are all morally grey,however the interactions within themselves are more or less harmful depending on intention or disregard of care at an interpersonal level.

Let's look at 'fanon' liam,for example

fanon!Liam is:

kind

awkward

romantically interested in Bryce

trying to save the others

traumatized

non violent

caring for the fellow objects still in the Plane

Canon!Liam however is...

Obsessive

Manipulative

Doesn't care about Bryce's trauma

Selfish, wants to solve this mystery because he feels his life got ruined

Uses Bryce's guilt to make him go along with things

Traumatized

He's considerably violent

My point here is that the fandom has a particularly skewed vision of both Liam and Bryce and their friendship

Fourth, Intentional Harm

In the case of sodapack, let's see how these awful behaviors are spread or balanced within canon. Liam's bad or harmful actions toward the other in green, Bryce's are in red

Liam seeks the unknown address,and hitchhikes his way over there, fully on impulse.

↓

Once he sees Bryce's terrified reaction, he insists on having him open the door. He starts by explaining why hes here but starts getting mad, accusing Bryce of ignoring or not caring for the other contestants

↓

Liam yells about how bad things were for him in the 7 month period,drawing a comparison of how 'easy' it must have been for Bryce to forget it,guilting him.

↓

Liam walks away....and comes right back,instead deciding to sleep against Bryce's door,effectively trapping Bryce and making it so he can't leave his apartment or home at all.

↓

Bryce lets him in and states his boundaries about listening Liam out and giving him Bradley's address.

↓

Liam IMMEDIATELY manipulates him into driving them to Bradley's house. Bryce pays for the laptop,too.

↓

Bryce states his boundaries AGAIN and Liam insists until Bryce breaks and agrees to seek Oscar. At no point Liam has even TRIED to learn Bryce's name,he gets told his name on the drive there, Bryce is clearly uncomfortable with his game name.

↓

Bryce helps get some information out of Oscar and PAYS HIM for his time,which Liam didn't even consider. Also he does this without reviving Oscar's possibly traumatic memories,which Liam was willing to do and hadn't been considerate of the other's mental health

↓

Bryce,AGAIN states his boundaries,and tells Liam that he is NOT driving him to the smokestack. Liam says he understands.

↓

And immediately steals AND CRASHES the car. has a fight with Bryce,holds the car keys hostage,and calls Bryce 'soda bottle' during the fight. Bryce calls Liam out on doing this out of selfishness,and hits him.

And as an extra:

Liam couldn't have not noticed that Bryce said the waiting room looked like his childhood neighborhood/Bryce trying to reach Stella. He just didn't care enough.

Liam got himself and Bryce killed several times during this ordeal.

Bryce let Liam stay in his home out of guilt,not kindness.

Through all of these interactions, there's not an ounce of balance, it's mostly Liam doing shit to fuck up Bryce's attempt to return to normalcy,and Bryce doing mostly emotiona self-harming

Now, let's look at Lairy,and how Liam and Airy interact in terms of intentional harm

Liam in green, Airy in blue

Airy picks Liam as a contestant for ONE,at random

↓

Liam freaks out and breaks a leg during the challenge

↓

Airy forgets about Liam's cast and accidentally drowns him during another challenge

↓

Airy disappears for the 7 month period,then sends Liam back to san Francisco

So far,none of this is intentional harm. Let's jump forward to their out-of-game interactions

Liam pushes Airy out his chair and yells at him,trying to hit him, upset.

↓

Airy remains polite and a little confused and explains why he can't do that yet

↓

Liam talks to texty,and refuses to consider killing Airy

↓

Liam Negotiates with Airy

↓

Liam falls and loses his belongings, Airy attempted to hold him from falling

↓

After Liam does attempt to kill Airy,a tree breaks his leg, and Airy makes him a wooden cast,and a bed of reeds.

As it's visible, there's almost no intentional harm from Airy to Liam,and even the murder attempts from Liam to Airy are mild at best.

Fifth, Intentional Kindness

I'll keep this shorter,but, Bryce,once he meets Liam again back on Earth, doesn't show kindness to him unprompted at all. It's always guided through Liam's manipulation and behavior. He let's Liam in because Liam had him physically trapped. He goes along because Liam insists and guilts him. He helps get information out of Oscar and keeps it vague for OSCAR'S SAKE NOT LIAM'S,because he doesn't want to do to others what liam is currently doing to him.

He gets on the smokestack to ask for his keys back. Not a single act of kindness is unprompted. Bryce is a better person than Liam,and he falls for Liam's controlling behavior and struggles to say no.

Now, Airy is... tough,just as morally grey, Airy truly believes he's doing his best,and he has no animosity for actually hurting others,not even Liam. Not even when Liam is trying to Kill him. Airy, unprompted, makes Liam a reed bed,attempts to save liam from the fall, makes Liam a cast after his accident,and is generally open about his backstory to Liam. Airy has been alone 10 years,only with the plane and it's contestants for fun,trying to do something relatively harmless,and he is willing to send everyone home in exchange for the cassete player and because Liam asked and negotiated. He's happy to have Liam around. And Liam mourns Airy's death,too. He looks horrified when Airy speaks of how he was trying his best,and how his life was beforehand. There's even a hint of Liam basically becoming the next one to fill Airy's role at the end. He seems to understand this deep loneliness,and hears Airy out. Liam can resonate with someone he called a monster especially when in retrospective, Liam himself is more of a bad person than Airy is. Airy just,lost part of his mind in the process,but he stays kind. He could've killed Liam. with the computer,leave HIM in the waiting room,forever.

So... yeah

in the big picture, Airy is just a guy whos trying his best after then years of loneliness,and tried to do something that's morally abhorrent but without intention of harming anyone as long as it could be undone. He's not harmful or a threat to Liam,or at least,not more than Liam is a threat to him. It's sad,and doomed,and balanced

And Bryce is a poor traumatized man who got forced into doing stuff he never wanted to do,ans to relieve trauma he never wanted to relieve,just to be thrown back into the plane,for no reason,just to be trapped in a looping hell. He fears or at least really dislikes the way Liam manipulates him,and stays in denial about it. And Bryce is not a threat to Liam,in any way, other than Liam making Bryce responsible for his life as long as this own.

I think that's all i got in me,at least right now

[chuckeroo777]

Dungeon Meshi Volume 6 Part 2

Continuing chapter 38! As always, spoilers ahoy!

I like how he compliments the picture of Falin. He hasn't even seen the Cerberus yet.

So, before I read Dungeon Meshi, I remember seeing lots of stuff on twitter and tumblr about it, but none of it really stuck in my memory. One thing did. The Chimera. This was the one big thing I was spoiled on. A cool-ass chimera that the elf was gay for. It may have been what finally got me to check it out. Good food? Cool monsters? Lesbians? Sounds good to me. And it was good!

But it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize who the chimera was. I didn't remember the chimera's name, so Falin didn't ring any bells. I should have caught on when Falin was resurrected with dragon flesh, but no. It literally took Thistle saying "Hey Dragon" for me to realize what the chimera was.

The only other spoiler of note was Izutsumi, who, as I mentioned, appeared in chapter 0. She totally blindsided me. I didn't suspect Asebi for a second. Kabru I am not.

Such a good group shot with lots of little characterization. Chilchuck and Mickbell arguing, Kuro fixing his armor, Holm mourning his Undine, Marcille isolated from the rest, Tade taking a nap. Good stuff.

Ah, trauma. Wait a sec. There. In the lower right corner. Did Kabru glimpse the demon itself?

Eh, close enough.

Honestly, I think this might be the one big plothole I've noticed. When Falin teleported them to the surface, they only had what they were holding. Like, they kept the essentials like Marcille's staff and book, and Chilchuck's picking tools, but their backpacks were left behind, right? Yet, once they are in front of the dungeon again, they have packs? Where did they get those? Weren't they broke?

This bit of foreshadowing was a lot more effective in the anime. How am I supposed to remember what everyone's gloves looked like?

Also, I just noticed that Marcille's hood goes on before we see her face in this chapter. So if you're just going off this chapter, you can't get a good read on her current hairstyle. Clever.

Let's go over the fakes character by character. The Laios fakes are kinda obvious, because even though Laios is good friends with all three of his companions, they have trouble understanding him. Thankfully, Laios has the thickest skin, so it doesn't really bother him too much. I also find it funny that Marcille's turns him into a lumbering hulk who epitomizes the differences from Falin, yet Senshi's is just butch Falin. Pretty sure I remember Senshi mentioning in his journal that Falin and Laios are basically the same person.

The Marcilles are a bit better. Senshi's is obviously a elven stereotype, but the other three are all quite close. Curiously, unlike most of the clones, Laio's Marcille emphasizes her good traits, her determination and loyalty to Falin, while most of the other clones emphasize negative or false traits.

Honestly, if not for the scarf, it probably would have been difficult to tell Laio's version from the real one. He's the only one who has a proper grasp on his maturity.

Senshi is easily the hardest to pick out. Senshi has yet to share his deeper secrets, and he is a pretty straightforward guy.

I like how the Chilchuck Marcille is the one to propose the method that outs herself.

An important image.

What the heck guys? My entire job is getting things open.

Hmm... looking it over, it doesn't look to be consistent, but I almost thought for a sec that the fake Marcille has pointier ears. I dunno. Maybe it's just the calmer demeanor, but Marcille A does seem more elf-like than Marcille B. Then again, I'm not sure if Laios ever met an elf before Marcille, so he wouldn't have a baseline.

It's actually soba, if anyone cares.

See, what you want to do here is have all the Senshis take their helmets off. Laio's would be the only one with eyebrows.

And hey! When he later runs into a monster disguised as Marcille, he sees through it almost immediately!

Chilchuck is correct.

Marcille has one line she won't cross. With a long list of stipulations that will make her cross. Like starvation. Or ignorance. Or eating her girlfriend.

The proper term is Black Mage, and that just means I'm good at fireball.

The heck were the gnomes using this for?

The real moral of the story. Marcille is infallible, so you should listen to her.

I think the funniest (and saddest) part of Izutsumi's story is that she has it all wrong. She isn't a person possessed by a cat, she's a cat possessed by a person. She's been conditioned all her life to think the cat part of her is unnatural, when in reality it's her true self. Try to separate the halves, and you'd end up with a braindead tall-man and a very disappointed kitty.

It took two read-throughs, the anime, and two more read-throughs, but I finally can remember how to pronounce/spell your name.

It's kinda sad that as far as I can remember, this one line is the only bit of characterization we get for the Touden mom.

I remember finding this panel odd on my second read. The chimera didn't look right. Turns out this nerd continuously updated it throughout the adventure. Anyway, want to see another of my creatures?

All the best monsters have grenade launchers on their tail.

Oh my god. Even as a child she's still wearing that dang choker 24/7. Her mother also has one. I wonder if it has any significance?

And no lesson was learned by anyone ever.

We'll finish up chapter 42 and the misc monster tales next post!