#silly little analysis

[rronikaveterr]

just a vent art thing about art style uhmmm…… I wanna draw everything at once and idk how to deal with that. at least this thing is fun to look at

[pangrams-n-palindromes]

8x05 / 8x07

[namisweatheria]

I feel like we don't discuss Nami's relationship with gender enough. Her entire character is so deeply informed by being a girl in a male-dominated pirate world and it's so interesting and so worth talking about.

The background creepiness of Bad pirate crews, which are most of them, how they tend to not have any female crew members at all, how they beckon any pretty young woman around to come play with them and join them. It's real bad. It's also like, a totally 2 dimensional portrayal of evil that is reserved for the most background of background characters.

However I think their ubiquity says a lot about how piracy is meant to be perceived by the public in One Piece, and is one of the strongest indicators of how prevalent misogyny is in-world.

It's very normal in One Piece for regular island inhabitants to have never met a Different class of pirate in their life. There's no reason for them to withhold judgement that maybe these pirates won't be like every crew that attacked before, and to wait and judge them by their actions. I mean frankly that would be irrationally weak self-preservation.

There are people who live peacefully under the flags of Yonkos who protect them, and feel loyalty and gratitude to them for it, but that seems to only be thing with very big name pirates. The East Blue, being the weakest and least populated, has no such plethora of powerful people and resulting turf wars.

So. Nami. Is very clearly implied to have never met any Different pirates before. I'm thinking about what that means. About how every group of pirates she stole from were creepy, dangerous men. How she started going out stealing when she was still a young child. How she didn't have a mother anymore to guide her or comfort her. How Arlong would grab her chin inappropriately, talk about her as a "human female", as property, and god knows what else.

How all the men in Arlong's crew treated her patronizingly, pretending they're all friends, teasing her and playing at respect when really not a single one of them ever stuck up for her or hesitated to accuse her of betrayal. Who were always ready to kill her if she refused to cooperate. Who grabbed her and intimidated her when they felt like it.

That's what she had to come back to after a close call with stealing from other predatory men, instead of the relief of home there was a dark, cramped room filled with endless hours of misery and isolation and blood. Where any one of her captors could barge in and demand new maps, work faster, where did you go, you took too long again this time. Endless threats and incursions.

I'm thinking about that her fight scene in Alabasta, where she tumbles and rips off her cape and uses it to catch her enemy's spikes, before leaping to her feet and running out the back door, all in one moment. How it makes her enemy reconsider her and think, "so the girl's not a total novice at fighting after all." What that implies about her experiences as a young thief. The times she wasn't fast or clever enough and had to fight and claw her way out. Why she always carried a staff and a knife. Why she was the only one before Chopper who had any medical knowledge or experience.

You know she was stitching herself up. And the weapons, how do you think she learned to use those? If any of the Arlong Pirates helped her it wasn't out of kindness and it wasn't gentle.

Then I think about Nojiko, and Bellemere's memory, and the only softness in a hard life. How easily Nami connects to every young woman experiencing hardship that she meets. How completely she dismisses the struggles of men unless they mean something to her and are going through something terrible. The way that Nami only has sympathy for women and children is easily noticeable in-text, but it's also something confirmed in those words by the author. And it's clearly because of the life she lived, the men who had all the power and only abused it, who saw her as nothing but a girl to take advantage of, without anyone aside from her sister clearly knowing and caring about any of it.

Nami clearly isn't bitter, she doesn't think the world owes her recompense, on the contrary she knows she is far from the only person in the world to suffer the things she has suffered. She is endlessly reaching out and kind, but only to those that she isn't sure would get help without her. Certainly, before Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro, no man ever reached out a hand to her without an ulterior motive.

I think when she sees a girl in trouble, a girl biting her lip to hold in a scream of grief, a girl running in the woods away from a monster, a girl captured by pirates, she sees someone who no one is coming for. Who no one will stick up for. A person without allies in a world against her. Whether it's actually true in this case or not, she runs straight for that girl anyways every single time.

[pianokantzart]

One of my favorite things is little lines of dialogue like this that imply Luigi is perhaps the most underestimatable bastard in the entire Mario universe.

[gaslightgirlsummer]

since I have nothing better to do i wanna add my three cents on this

despite the fluctuations i’m gonna say they’re either same height or charles is just a teeny tiny bit taller (like 0.5 cm), bc one more factor — max’s cap is taller than charles’ cap, which adds a little bit of extra height for him. but I would lean towards same height

also on some level gonna a little bit partially disagree on max being Undisputedly broader. they do undeniably have a different body shape and build which influences it, charles is built with hard straight lines while max is way more curvy, and max mentioned his body naturally prefers to carry a bit more weight

but! a lot of max’s perceived broadness comes from the style of the red bull race suit, which is very baggy and has very broad shoulders and when you look at his pictures in team gear or everyday clothes he looks way slimmer

(gif from @lestappenfiles)

And while last year max’s broadness would probably be undoubted, charles has gained a LOT of muscle (over 3 kg according to the man himself) and when you look at him you can tell, especially with his back and arms

so after this scientific analysis and conclusion, i’m gonna say they’re both broad, just in different ways 👆👆

i want to discuss how charles is allegedly only 1.5cm shorter than max yet in the photos of them talking to that f4 driver (and on many other occasions), max looks so much taller and broader?? i know charles is a professional athlete and he’s not tiny at all but why does he make himself smaller like that all the time. like what is going on there. just a lot to unpack there psychologically.

i mean ... okay, with max leaning like he is, i guess an argument can be made for him looking taller. idk about much taller. i was actually just thinking about this recently when i saw something on twitter and now i'm going to go on a wild goose chase trying to remember which exact photo it was about, probably

but in the meantime! since we have so much content to study !!

charles has his chin tilted up a little bit here, but he actually looks marginally taller. i think, based on google's profiles at least, they're allegedly both 180. i do think max might actually be a wee bit taller, as suggested by evidence #2 (where max is, predictably, leaning again). onwards!

if you look at this other photo from the same moment as evidence #2...

max looks much taller again, but you can see that charles is learning / has his weight shifted.

a lot of messy angles here and charles is sitting down/leaning over for some of it, BUT, that lower left hand corner where they are both mostly standing straight and the ✨pretty handshake✨ are both suggesting much closer in height.

these two mess with me because they look fairly equal in height here... in both. despite max slouching impressively in the second. i can only conclude that charles is slouching more than it looks like he is, bc otherwise idk how to explain the science of that.

okay so max slouches and charles leans. and then max straightens and charles slouches. ????

mirroring each other's horrendous posture. okay. still looking roughly the same height. pls straighten up.

this seems better. max still has a knee bent a bit, so may be slouching a little. charles looks like he's standing straight, finally. max a smidge taller?

obligatory padel date, because they are conveniently next to each other. both leaning embarrassingly, charles actually looks a bit taller??? but also looks like he is leaning slightly less than max, which would explain it. additional hair floof may also contribute.

okay but charles is leaning significantly more than max, who looks like he is standing straight. and they appear to be the same height here. which... would mean charles is actually a smidge taller, minus the lean? math is not mathing.

conclusion: this information is simply information the world does not want us to have. charles isn't as short as people make it seem, i think, he just... slouches? or something??? like i swear sometimes it looks like he's standing straight but i'll see him next to someone i know he is as tall as / taller than (based on other photos) and be like wait. he must he slouching or something.

lbr there is one undisputed fact and it's that max is broader. like... charles isn't really the delicate slender that he gets characterized as, but he is leaner than max methinks. this is clearly important research.

[lilyclawthorne]

There’s TADC spoilers ahead so proceed with caution

I know we’re all sad about Gummigoo but honestly I feel like he kinda had to be removed because it wasn’t going to be what’s best for Pomni

This is only her second day and while her nightmare in the beginning makes it clear that kaufmo’s abstraction did a number on her mentally, it also tells us something else. That Pomni fears that she’s not going to make it and these people will not care or even remember her if she abstracts.

These people aren’t her friends. She barely knows them and she certainly isn’t trying to. The only attempts to get along with her directly are coming from Ragatha, and it’s very clear they’ve already started off with a strained relationship.

So Pomni is kinda just walked into this adventure, which she clearly isn’t interested in, and when things go haywire and she encounters someone having a similar existential crisis to the one she had only a day prior, she can relate to that. And she says it herself, she could really use a friend. She makes comparisons between Gummigoo and herself. She doesn’t have memories anymore outside of the game she’s been out in. She feels like nothing. I think she’s inadvertently telling him advice she needs to hear herself, if she wants to get through this, that this can be a home and she can be somebody real there.

But the thing here is that he’s not the same as her. He’s an NPC. An AI. A piece of the game. Pomni is missing memories. He never had any others. Pomni is trapped. He’s being offered even more of a life. Caine also let’s us know indirectly that it seems to not be good to get players and NPCs mixed up.

And once Gummigoo is gone, we move on to the final scene, Kaufmo’s funeral. Here we see that everyone aside from Jax’s absence) cared about Kaufmo. Zooble set up the service. Ragatha couldn’t keep from crying no matter how many times she’s been through this. Gangle and her drawing of the two of them. Kinger explaining how they like to do this to honor those they’ve lost. It’s made very clear that this group of people care deeply about those they’ve been forced to be stuck here with. That they’re not going to let someone who abstracts be forgotten, what Pomni feared would happen to her in her own abstraction nightmare. And while staring face to face with what could be a possible future for her, she has her own realization.

That these people she’s stuck here with are in her life now and they will care about her in some capacity. She needs a friend, and these people here are the only ones who are going to understand the unique situation she’s doing through, and as long as she lets them, they can be there for her when she starts to fall.

[bee-ina-boat]

pattern ive noticed <3

[chilfucked]

I'm thinkin abt when chilchuck does that cat thing where he looks up at you, like in your header, how he bares his neck by doin that, and how awesome it is that he feels safe enough with the touden party to do that so casually- rghhrgrhhr

dude i think about this all the fucking time. he’s such an expressive character it’s awesome. you can always tell what’s going on with him just by observing his body language

beginning of the series? before everything goes down? he’s open, relaxed. he’s really started to trust the people around again after years of not letting himself

you have him closing himself off after The Incident™️, his anger and frustration, and generally not feeling safe being on full display without needing to say anything

he closes off when he’s worried, scared, or being protective of the people around him

and he opens back up again once he starts getting comfortable with everyone again

i just. i love him so much, i love how no matter how hard he tries to keep people at bay. keep things to himself. he just. can’t. he’s an open book and boy howdy am i reading it

[bklily]

I fully agree, he belongs in the "oops, all trauma!" box. But who's gonna have the courage to put him there.

-

jokes aside like ok im about to go on a rant about Cat Walker

we joke about chat blanc being the scariest one and all but i actually think Cat Walker is easily the most disturbing persona of Adrien. To me personally

like sure Chat Blanc represents a lot of his anger and rage and abandonment. and Claw Noir does that too only in color and lipstick. but Cat Walker being the literal representation of Adriens ability to just, repress himself on command. to just shut off a huge part of his identity (Chat Noir) for what he fully believed to be forever. and easily start acting like a completely different person (Cat Walker) is so. incredibly disturbing to me.

like yeah the episode frames it lightheartedly but the IMPLICATIONS ARE THERE.

cat walker stares at the fact Adrien is so willing to abandon himself, to replace himself in people's lives, to stand by ladybug as a completely different person because thats what he believes she wants from him, to easily live behind layers and layers of masks, and he simply goes "i choose to not perceive that" and i think thats fucking wild man.

so yes, he does entirely belong in the box, but he sure as hell aint gonna admit it, because his whole thing is being the representation of Adrien's repression and covering up his problems. He's not gonna admit he has a problem. So if you try to stage a coup, YOU'RE going in the box, bucko.

[arkhamochi]

Batman & Robin (2009, vol. 2) #ochireads

BATMAN REBORN By Grant MORRISON & Frank QUITELY

"The new Dynamic Duo uncovers clues involving the mysterious death of Bruce Wayne before facing off against each other in a heated battle that both heroes will regret — if they live through it! Includes THE BLACKEST NIGHT, as well as stories that lead directly into BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE!" [x]

DISCLAIMER: This retrospective may assume that you have a baseline knowledge of some of these arcs. Remember, this is all in the spirit of friendly story analysis and healthy discussion! All opinions are my own.

OVERVIEW:

Hooooo boy, okay, this one is kinda WEIRD. This volume is mostly filler for "The Return of Bruce Wayne", the greater DC event at the time. Damian is out of commission for the first half (due to the events of the previous volume), but whatever Damian moments are in here are more foundational than at first glance, even if it is at the expense of other characters.

REACTION COMMENTARY: (5 minute read)

Talia: "Isn't he magnificent?" Damian: *looking like a soggy piece of naan bread*

Co-parenting moment with your adult ward's ex girlfriend. Alfred's affection/care for Damian is a lot more unambiguous here, and now I really wish we could've seen their relationship grow in the comics (instead of it being implied "off-page")🥺!!!

To be honest, Morrison's narrative justification for introducing Damian still isn't satisfying to me. It's implied that Talia has promised Damian to inherit the Batman/Wayne empire. Now that he's super involved with the Batman gig, Talia is acting all confused and incensed about it. Am I thinking too hard about this?

SO CUTE!!! A little sweater vest moment as a treat 🥺! Another subtle nod to their genuine relationship, where Damian feels close enough to gossip with Alfred (albeit right in front of the poor subject).

I'm not sure if this is purposeful, but Damian's conversation also seems more relaxed and free flowing (compared to the previous arc). Outside of Robin activity, I don't imagine Damian going outside much, and he definitely doesn't have any friends, so he'd naturally spend a lot of time with Alfred.

Context: it really is a zombie clone!

What a smart cookie! It's a brief but interesting insight into Damian using his own unique knowledge of the Lazarus Pit to quickly deduce that this Batman is a fake, compared to Dick. I wonder if this is supposed to be a direct implication that Dick wouldn't have resurrected the wrong Batman if Damian was with him to challenge the idea?

Also, once again showing Damian has immediate and genuine concern for Alfred's wellbeing.

I have to share this whole sequence of teamwork! Could it be, Alfred and Damian are the secret Dynamic Duo!?

That spit is so iconic, so petty, disrespectful even to a zombie... Even when falling to his death, Damian doesn't scream. There's an initial shock, then reservation. Maybe he's even a little embarrassed? Disappointed in himself? Even the -tt- hints at some annoyance.

Damian has lived his life, not for the sake of living, but to achieve great things. It must be a little humiliating for someone like him to seemingly die in such a vulnerable and "pathetic" way. Does this imply that he doesn't fear death, or that he doesn't give himself permission to feel fear at all?

Fear not! Dick arrives just in time to save him! And Damian is immediately back to his quippy self, making sure that Dick knows exactly what he thinks instead of a "thank you".

Of course, Batman and Batwoman defeat Zombie Batman and save the day :)

Who let this 10 year old into the boardroom???

This whole segment is so appropriately silly. It's interesting how this might be the only time (in canon) Damian has been involved with W.E. affairs, and then he's kinda never put in a scenario like this again. Maybe Morrison was getting a feeler for where Damian's strengths outside of vigilante work might fit? Or maybe it's for a one-off gag.

Either way, I can believe that Damian would enjoy scrutinising data like a challenge to be won, but truthfully would have no interest in running W.E. But clearly it's a concept that didn't take off anywhere, so it doesn't really matter THAT much 😛

A/N: Ok so this post has been in my draft for over half a year up to this point, and I'm only picking it back up now. Apologies for the rustiness in my analysis.

Completely unrelated, have I mentioned how funny this batmobile looks to me? It reminds me of the biddybuggy from Mario Kart...

Anyway, uh...

Really beautiful panel here (even though the context behind it is super silly, so we'll just ignore all that).

Damian was raised on the legacy of Al Ghul, but technically that one only goes back 2 generations. Being promised (by Talia) to inherit the Wayne fortune, I wonder how much he knows about the history of his Father's side at this point? With Bruce (assumed to be genuinely dead at this point) out of the picture, is there an added pressure? An added loss? One day, will Damian's portrait be on this wall?

Just imagine if Bruce's portrait was already up, and then just a single beat of Damian looking at the blank space next to it... But once again, the writing kinda glosses over this character opportunity to forward the plot instead (not a bad thing, but just a shame that the potential is now lost).

GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, good food, good food...

They've obviously built up a healthy rapport at this point, so it especially hurts when Dick doesn't realise the depth of his insecurities (he even brushes it off twice, omg!!!).

For all the surface-level boasting Damian peacocks about his superior skills, (arguably) having already proved himself being worthy of the mantle of Robin, Damian knows, consciously or subconsciously, that it isn't enough. Despite how well he's settled into the role, true approval must come from his father in an emotional bid, and Damian is anxiously aware of exactly how Bruce feels about him.

I've always heard about how Morrison "character assassinated" Talia, and to be honest, my uneducated ass always thought "surely it can't be that bad". My god, it really is that bad.

It's unfortunately difficult to separate this characterisation from "canon" since it seems to be the main catalyst for why Damian chooses to stay in Gotham. Damian's motivations in his introductory comics were pretty vague and poorly written imo, so I am assuming this is Morrison's way of establishing something more definitive-- it's just a shame that Talia's writing has seemingly taken the fall for it.

#1 DICK GRAYSON STAN, DAMIAN WAYNE, RAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is...... silly.... this is so silly... And yet, I must admit, this twist had me gagged.

Context: During Damian's spinal surgery, Talia inserted a device that let's her control his body. Slade then takes over (trying to get revenge on Dick as well).

Jesus, this is grim 😻! Slade kinda catching some shade for being an old man tho hahaha. Really emotional panels from the Quitely; the desperation, struggle, and absolute trust between Batman and Robin is so raw and uncomfortable (positive!).

In an era where Damian was still universally hated, it's nice to see in-context moments of Damian's selflessness and maturity, despite the fandom rhetoric of him being a selfish brat.

DAMIAN CONVINCING HIMSELF THAT (he thinks) BRUCE WILL TAKE THE MANTLE OF ROBIN AWAY WHEN HE RETURNS AAUUUGGHHHOOUUUGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something else that I love about Damian's character that I don't see get brought up often is the theme of unconditional love (for family). Even after what seems like an ultimate betrayal in love and trust, Damian still respects his mother, calls her as such, and still holds on to the expectations that, in a roundabout way, he could still make her proud.

This is similarly the case with Bruce, where Damian believes that Bruce has no affection or trust towards him, but he still respects him (and their relationship) as his father.

To cap this off, I also wanted to include this "writer's commentary" by Morrison lol.

Overall, this arc had a little more bite than the last! Everything is obviously overshadowed by the "Bruce Returns" event, but we got some really definitive Damian moments... even if it was at the expense of Talia's character...

Anyone else have favourite moments to share? Personal analysis and thoughts? Let's talk about it 🥰!

[iguessitsjustme]

Qian: I give so much. I love my family. I will give my life to them. I will protect them and feed them and provide them with shelter. My life belongs to them.

Yuan: I will give my life to Qian. I love him. I will make sure he eats and rests and takes time for himself. I will make sure he stays healthy and well. My life belongs to Qian.

Qian: Wait hold on now wait a minute that doesn’t seem right

Yuan: Get loved…idiot.

[ghost-106]

the thought that matt and beth look at dndads tumblr haunts me

[starlight-wannabe]

gonna cry- the new episode is making me feel so many thingssss

SXF MANGA CHAPTER 107 SPOILERS AHEAD

loid and anya yet again

oh gosh

anya's trying her best to do everything for her papa, and he doesn't even know to what extent

and yet

and yet he still knows he's using her. he still knows he's using her.

and he can't let himself feel bad about it. but he does because he knows he knows he knows it's wrong.

and the way anya's looking at all this just breaks my heart even more

she's afraid. she's so afraid and it's played off for laughs but you can tell she worries about this!!!

I WILL NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT THE FACT THAT WE KNOW THE LEAST ABOUT ANYA AND HOW SHE'S REALLY THE MOST TRAGIC CHARACTER

she's too young to process all the trauma she's going through!!!!

SO SHE'S NOT PROCESSING IT

WE THINK OF HER AS STRONG BECAUSE SHE THINKS OF HERSELF AS STRONG BUT SHE'S SIX AT THE MOST. and most people think of her as 4/5!!! WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THIS BABY GIRL Y'ALL PLEASE LISTEN TO ME

SHE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO HATE TWILIGHT AND YET SHE DOESN'T BECAUSE SHE IDOLIZES HIM

these tiny moments where she gets to be a kid are everythingggggggg aughhhhhhhhhhh

[florart98]

Catherine is actually very good at lying, she completely fools Flyte, she even seems to have fun with it

look at her proud smile

She just can't lie to Jackson. She can't even look at him because she can't hide anything from him.

Except when they look at each other, then she blurts everything out and she tells him the truth.

[kodakreations]

—- and he wasn’t exactly sure, really, why he felt the tar stain his cheeks, why he seemed to be crying — his DOOMs, his allergies, certainly, would not act up on a place at the beach. with a slight sniffle he conceded, previously upturned lips faltering, trying to stay composed, trying, needing to stick to the plan — yet, oddly, he wanted to weep over his soon dead body, that he may never see the sun rise once more, the little things, that the porter may suffocate him into nothing, not even into ashes — yet, it felt so comfortable and so safe to cry in his presence.

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

i keep thinking about bad's vacation outfit. mostly, i keep thinking about him not wearing armour.

bad is, fundamentally, not okay rn. his son got kidnapped. the code attacks are starting again. people keep going missing left and right and skeppy isn't here but he's been missing him from the start. he lost the election by a single islander vote. there's been a lot of pressure on him for a long time, and he's finally starting to crack.

the thing about bad is that he does NOTT talk about his emotions. he's silly about it. he plays games about it. he will never answer a straightforward question with a yes or a no, not unless he's lying. when forever asked him he was okay, he said yes.

i think... there's really something about him, repeatedly, saying he's on vacation. sure, yeah, take a break, but he keeps throwing himself into danger anyway, he's still taking care of the eggs. he's silly with it, but i don't think his "vacation" explicitly means "i'm taking a break." I think it means "i'm not someone you can rely on right now." what? not being at the top of the island/egg defence squad because he's falling apart at the seams? :D nahhh he's just on that vacation grind! look at him! he's so silly! he's building skeppies and he's being so silly !

and. god. the way he's absolutely clinging to skeppy right now. i get the sense that he takes a lot of comfort from skeppy, just from the existence of him. can you imagine being alive has long as bad has? losing and losing and losing and losing, and then you finally find someone you can't lose? skeppy is bad's emotional support diamond and he is Not There to emotionally support him. bad keeps throwing tantrums when people ignore him, and he keeps building skeppies.

he's never going to say he needs help. he's never going to say he's not okay. he's going to say "i'm not crazy" and "i don't have an obsession" and "yes i'm fine" and "i'm on vacation" and not wear his most protective armour. the ARMOUR. bad boy halo the most paranoid parent on the island keeps running around with several eggs at his heels when he's wearing only enchanted sunglasses and boots. WHEN THERE ARE ACTUAL CODE ATTACKS. WHEN THE CODE HAS THE ! SWORD. if "i'm on vacation" means "i can't help" then the lack of armour is a physical, visible reminder. it's the closest he can get to saying "no, i'm not okay."

and man.manm an man. the whole thing with dapper right now. dapper is the only one who really knows the extent of bad Being Weird right now. pomme has a good idea of it, but when she asked about bad "is he going insane again?" dapper's response was "he never stopped." i've seen lots of talk about bad needing dapper more than dapper needs him (and its TRUE. god. it's so true.) but dapper is also! not doing okay! kiddo was very recently kidnapped! he takes after his dad and doesn't overtly express his distress, but the way he was scared of getting too close to elquackity at the talent show... the way he and pomme huddled together when bad left them alone for an hour... he's watching his dad fall apart in front of him, and there's nothing he can do about it.

from a roleplaying perspective too i LOVEE how bad is slowly, slowly ramping up the skeppy obsession. he's clinging to sanity so he can be a good dad to his kids, but his kids are so mortal. so fragile. bad isn't; bad isn't wearing all of his armour. and skeppy isn't; bad is placing more skeppies around the island. i adore this man's roleplay i hope he gets WORSE