#so this is moreso symbolic than literal

[horsegirlrehab]

Fly South

[blackhholes]

teen wolf meme: [3/5] motifs -> resurrection

It's different now. I think dying did something to him. It did something to me, too. But none of it was good.

[anxious-witch]

Okay, so this is likely be long so buckle up. Let's talk about how the height and position of characters affects the story and shows us where they are emotionally or in regards to characters they interact with.

This is the most prominent with three characters, which are Edwin, Charles and the Cat King. But! I will do my best to touch upon the rest as well if anyone finds this interesting.

Considering I briefly touched upon how Charles and his dad have a similar hunched stance, let's start with Charles.

Also TW for talk of abuse and violence, since I do touch upon his relationship with his dad and abuse in general.

Charles is fascinating because he is one character that seems to constantly make himself smaller, either on the same level as the other character he is next to, or sometimes even make himself smaller than them.

This is especially visible next to Edwin, who always holds himself perfect straight and poised. Even in the above picture, where he is slightly leaning back for the dramatic effect, Charles is still hunched down more. With Crystal, yes, he is generally taller, but anytime he can, he does his best to lean down so they are on the eye-level.

This has dual purpose-both because Charles wants to be as non threatning as possible and because he often tries to sympathize with people, to quite literally understand their point of view.

Charles is the tallest character in the series, which I think has a weight on it's own. At first, I was under the impression Edwin was taller, bc of Charles' hunching, but Charled is just slightly taller. He is a protector, he is a brawn, and he tries his best to make himself as small as possible.

We also see that in scenes where he is "beanth" the person he is interacting with, usually happens when is emotionally distressed and/or feels powerless in a situation

The first time it happens in Devlin's house, when he is sitting on the stairs while Edwin and Crystal are standing. This is also right before he snaps and tries to hit the murderous father of the family, actively showing the turmoil he has been going through. Because that's what Charles does. He can't stand being helpless. His feeling below the problems he is facing is symbolized through him sitting on the stairs and he can't stand it any longer so he acts, quite rashly, just to disperse that feeling.

But then, what happens? He gets knocked to the floor, even lower than he was before. And he remains there, frozen.

Stuck in a loop of feeling helpless while being on the stairs, trying to take action and being knocked down even lower. What a metaphor for being stuck in an abusive loophole! Feeling like any time you try to stand up for yourself, any time you try to take action to not feel so helpless, you get into an even worse position. And then, in the end, it's Edwin and Crystal who have to help him out of the loop and who help him back on his feet.

We see him again in a position where amother character is not only above him, but actively lookming over him in a scene with his dad. Moreso, this is one instance where Charles doesn't take this position willingly, but rather, his dad literally knocks him down to the floor and starts beating him.

I think it's also sooo interesting how Charles' mom and the Night Nurse are positioned here. The Night Nurse stands above both Charles and his dad, all prim and proper. Completely unfeeling and separate from the whole picture.

Meanwhile, Charles' mom is above all of them, barely seen in the doorway, but still watching and she is crying. And while I know Charles loves his mom and understands she was likely also abused, I do wonder if this represents his view on both his parents. His dad, who is close but hurts him, who Charles would be on the same level with, if he wasn't constabtly knocked down. And his mom, who is above all that, almost like some sort of holy figure, but still suffering on Charles behaf.

Third time I noticed Charles being in a position where someone is above him was in a scene where Crystal is packing to go back to London, after getting her memories back.

Charles feels both emotionally vulnerable and helpless to stop her. Because he wants her to do what's best for her, but he also clearly doesn't want her to leave. The important part is that here, despite his clear emotional turmoil, Charles doesn't react directly. I believe he offers her his help, to come with her, but he doesn't insist. Which is a big change to the previous instance where we seem him in such position.

I am sure there are more scenes like these, these are just the ones I noticed. But! Shall we look at when does Charles stand full upright and shows how tall he really is?

Spoiler-When he is feelings brave

Framing is also very important and very deliberate. I'll touch more on this in Edwin's analysis, but you'll notice how most of the time, Edwin is always framed as the taller and biggest, either by height or because he is the closest to the camera. But no in the scene where he and Charles talk about Edwin's supposed feelings about Monty. No-it's Charles who is closer to the camera, because Edwin is the one being emotionally vulnerable. Charles holds the power to either lift up or crush Edwin here. And he is very aware of it.

And fulled by that power, by the fact Edwin opened up to him, Charles stands up tall. And when he reaches Edwin, they are practically the same height. Perfectly balanced, in the wake of Charles' acceptance.

In the scene with the Night Nurse, we see Charles practically flaunting his height. Which is in line with him essentially telling her to take him, but to leave Edwin alone. The point is, not only is he fully showing off his power and consciously or not, trying to intimidate the Night Nurse, but he is also shielding Edwin that way. Look at me, not him. I am the one you should feel threatened by, not him.

And of course. Of course. One scene, where Charles is actively above someone else, where he is higher, both in height and positioning?

In hell, during, Edwin's confession.

In an interview from the actors in this post, they actually touched upon this scene and how Charles being above Edwin on the starway was intentional, because Edwin is feeling very emotionally vulnerable.

He is in an submissive position(do not make the sex joke) to Charles here. He is opening himself up for a rejection and Charles is the one with all the power here. Which in and off itself is powerful, but for Charles? The character who constantly shrinks himself down as not to make anyone uncomfortable and threatened, who constantly gets knocked down in a fight by others?

Charles is terrified of being in a more powerful position due to his dad, because what if he turns out to be the same when he is in such a position?

But instead, he uses that power to be kind. He can't return Edwin's feelings, but he can reassure him he cares for him and that they have time to figure this out. And that is what turns Charles' shirt red again. Not only the fact that he is loved, despite all his flaws, but also the fact that proved to himself that he would never knock down the person being vulnerable, even when he hold all the power.

I exceeded picture limit on mobile, but in a scene on the rooftop wjere Edwin tries to apologize if him confessing created any tension between them and Charles reassure him that it did not, they are on the same height again.

Charles is sitting on an wall, so he is elevated, but he all curled up, so he comes on around the same hight as Edwin who is standing. Equals, once again, despite completely different stances.

I believe that's all I have to say on the topic of Charles in this context, lmk if I forgot smth or if anyone has anything to add, I love hearing other ppl's takes too!

[saltedsour]

Why the lens of NPD makes Blixer the funniest possible character.

NPD standing for, obviously, Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Lets get a few things out of the way. Mainly that I do not aim for this to be a demonising lens. Moreso a "hey if i was in this circle's situation id do the same". Villains being vain, narcissistic abusers is a very, very common trend, even in media that claims it is more progressive than it actually is. This isn't being written to show why Blixer is evil, but how he does everything.

Secondly. A crown on a narcissist is usually just an easy sign to go "this guy's a narcissist". Most clipart you see for "surviving narcissists" has one guy looking into the mirror, and the mirror self having a crown and being cool and evil and whatever. This sucks for obvious reasons (its a disorder. normal people have disorders, not evil kings?), but it is also a REALLY GOOD symbol to 'reclaim'. I personally love it.

Why is this circle so fucking angry?

A pretty frequent feature in the NPD package is when anything that feels like an attack on you is one. It's not an accident, that person was trying to sabotage you. In a JS&B lens, this helps explain two key moments.

Why Blixer didn't really enjoy the player at the start of the game (exploded, plus the lost chapter stuff). If you've been in a cave for one morbillion years or whatever, and someone just Dodges All Your Attacks and then walks away when you explode, it'd be pretty infuriating. Also why this guy beat up an innocent bystander. Fly high, flower.

Annihilate. This is actually the biggest one for me. Your whole little evil pink kingdom just got fucking destroyed, and then the person who did so takes a representation of your ego and just goes "hey this is mine now :-)". When NPD makes you maladaptively regulate self esteem AND you just got insulted (in your eyes) in every way possible, you might get a little upset. You might become a blood centipede monster. I would too.

He doesn't do that much bad stuff directly.

Most of the issues ingame seemingly happen from the giant industry + tower he spawned and the corruption in general. Other than beating the shit out of a guy (we don't care about them) in the opening cutscene, he really doesn't do all that much in person until the player appears.

Why? What is he doing? We all know this. He is playing guitar on top of the tower for most of the game. This is someone who finally got the ego boost / supply he needed and then had fun with his own hobbies. From the lens of "guy who feels like he needs to literally rule the world to be seen and understood."

But he still did all that shit.

He still corrupted the world though. Which was probably a bad thing. However. If all your AUs are going to make it so he originally felt isolation over the corruption, then I raise you this:

Being an absolute nobody is the worst feeling in the world.

And as soon as he took over the world and basically forced everyone to call him his king, then and only then did he just start having fun and #playing. A possible way to frame this is him being too stupid to effectively rule over the world, but I don't think thats fun.

If his main goal was to make it so he was the centre of attention AND that everyone was like him (pink (which is called bad in a fucking In-Game Tip)) then he would've basically won already in his own head by the time the game fully starts. And he can finally do regular people - shape - things. He did all that stuff, but clearly this geometric circle didn't really have any other option considering he got so pissed off he made the world evil and that's hard to come back from.

Also it's important to mention that during the moment where he actually kind of Takes Over The World he's definitely not thinking rationally after eating the tree of life.

I think he took the world takeover thing too seriously.

Or maybe not seriously enough. Depends on how you look at it.

This is me mostly making fun of this circle but can you imagine getting all this power, and the first thing you do is take over the world. That's normal. The second thing you do is make yourself a crown. Okay. The third thing you do is absolutely nothing else. He seems more focused on the image of a ruler than anything.

If everything went right, he would have even had a sign showing he was the actual final boss. Which becomes a funny meta example where that level isn't even the actual final boss and instead he (it's his tower's sign, after all) put all that work towards the image of a final boss rather than actually being one. Although this doesn't hold much weight when we consider that he became a cannon just to kill us, I think he tried pretty hard.

Why not just fix what you've done, Blixer?

Admitting you're wrong and also getting rid of the only thing keeping your ego afloat isn't easy. In fact, it's genuinely painful. If he managed to actually calm down after basically eating the energy equivalent of a hydrogen bomb, then it'd kind of be almost impossible to look at all you did and say "damn, I was wrong".

It's easier to actually know you did something wrong when the consequences hit you and you can't do anything else but accept what you did. Postgame fans write that down.

Him learning and growing to be a better person would be awesome if it's also from the lens of NPD.

If fucking Kuzco (of Disney fame) could do it he could too. NPD is a disorder and thus has disordering traits, but I do think working with this for the character kind of helps when it comes to improving it in postgame stories. He starts off with basically NO ways to work with what are life-shatteringly important needs, and does maladaptive things in order to help.

Anger? Lashing out at people that Slighted him. Being a vain little prick? Trying to keep himself on a pedestal before it crumbles underneath him. Turning yourself into a blood centipede nightmare monster? A reasonable* reaction in his perspective.

You can learn to care about people's thoughts even if you started off. Um. Taking over the world.

There's a lot more to NPD than being an evil person and abuser. Starting off with no empathy doesn't really mean a death sentence. You can have him learn helping others is Good Actually but still slip up. Imagine a beautiful world with a postgame Blixer who has friends now and still has NPD. Imagine. If he's still pink and "corrupted" while being good, you can understand a world where he can be narcissistic and still be good.

I can take you to that world 🕊️ 🌾 🌹 ☀️...

Finally: NPD is a comedic disorder

It's true. Sometimes the world feels like it breaks apart because you are being Unloved and potentially hated. Not EVERYONE likes you, and that makes the world feel like it's being torn apart at the seams. You go from feeling at the top of the world to feeling like shit.

And then as soon as you're back up and running you look back at that and go "hmm. maybe not as serious as i thought".

You can do so much with this. There's more to NPD than what the masses know. "guy who literally did all this to be cool to himself" is just an insanely funny concept to me. He could've just been at the club.

NPD isn't always about physical vanity unlike what clipart tells you. It's about Pretty Unsafe levels of self esteem (from high highs to low crashes), and him fitting the bill makes him feel like a more interesting character to me.

[thegremlininyourcloset]

a fine selection of random Stephanie Brown AUs for your consideration (but they get wilder and wilder as they go on)

I will describe the plot of exactly none of them (lying)

@fictfrenzy @themoonwitch-mustspeak

Red Hood Steph.

if you go by the metric of the five “official” Robins, in a Reverse Robins situation, Steph would swap with Jason.

Coincidentally, Steph is also the Robin who could fit a Red Hood-type arc the best. She cares deeply about her part of Gotham (the suburbs in canon but in my heart Steph is a Narrows girl (going by hinn-raven’s headcanons)) She also has many Extremely Justified reasons to have a grudge against the Bats and Bruce specifically (maybe even moreso than Jason cough cough who said that)

Also, it would absolutely highlight my favorite tragic mentor-student-but-more-complicated-and-vaguely-familial-but-not-really bond of Steph & Bruce

AND my favorite sibling duo of Damian & Steph. (Reverse Robins Damian would imprint on her so hard I fear. That’s his baby sister now fuck off) (also they would totally echo the classic (though not classic in this universe) Batman & Robin dynamic—)

Also. ALSO

The Stephcass in this AU would go SO HARD.

like

strangers-to-friends-to-best friends-to-enemies-to-its complicated-to-lovers hard.

Something something the woman who abhors killing hating and loving and hating and LOVING a killer

something something knowing your best friend in the whole world would despise what you’ve become. And you go down that path anyway. You wish you didn’t think about her so often.

Something something catching a glimpse of the girl who once loved, who you still love, in the woman facing you on the battlefield.

yarghhhhhhhhh

2. First Robin Steph (and First Batgirl! Cass…)

Just imagine. Steph as the first Robin

and I don’t mean at the age when she was canonically Robin

I mean baby 9 year old Steph.

Wait.

would that mean Spoiler would become the equivalent of the Robin mantle? Or would she get another one to then pass down?? Oughhhhh

But basically tiny Steph being feral and fighting crime and Bruce awkwardly coparenting her with Crystal Brown who’s in rehab.

hopefully Crystal doesn’t die

But yeah.

Also, first Batgirl! Cass.

I don’t think she’d take on an Oracle role (Because Cassandra would-rather-be-perfect-for-a-year-than-mediocre-for-a-lifetime Cain would uh.Yeah that wouldn’t end well)

So she’d end up inventing a new role for herself once she grew out of Batgirl (if she decides to call it Batgirl idk)

as for what that’d be…who knows

(would this end with Nightwing & Flamebird Stephcass? Maybe. Who knows. not me)

3. Batman Steph

Okay but consider. The poetic justice and tragedy inherent in the Bat nobody believed in ending up as Batman.

She’s become the symbol of the Batfamily—someone nobody will ever doubt or belittle anymore—but at what cost

Because Batman is a tragedy.

And the fact that it’s Steph who takes the cowl? Not Cass, not Dick, not even Damian.

But Steph.

the sacrifice, the poetry, the legacy of it all.

Arghhhhhhhhhh

the concept of Damian, or Maps as her Robin?

ohhhhhhggggggggggh

4.Green Lantern! Steph

Look she has the fucking willpower for it. Also, Steph deserves a pack of irresponsible uncles/older brothers and other assorted family members.

Also, she deserves to be the Bat that gets on the galactic scale because I’m biased and I love her and also POETIC JUSTICE!!!!!

Like.

Oh, you don’t think she can protect Gotham?

Well, FUCK YOU, now the fucking PLANET is under her jurisdiction take THAT

also? I wanna see what she could do with Green Lantern constructs. She’d use them SO WELL!!!

(And maybe Star Sapphire Cass ahaha)

5. Monster/Creature Steph

she deserves it. Make her a dragon, or a werewolf, or a mermaid/siren, or literally Any Creature Ever because she deserves to be feral

6. Meta Steph with a Luck Power

I love the idea of Steph being able to survive BULLSHIT situations.

It would also be cool if she didn’t even know about this power

At least until Duke (who I’m pretty sure can enhance others powers)

was like.

Duke:Congratulations, you’re a Metahuman

Steph: wat

anyways I’m rapidly losing coherence.

[transmascutena]

Bird Symbolism in Revolutionary Girl Utena

There is quite a large amount of bird and bird-related imagery, symbolism, allegories and metaphors in Revolutionary Girl Utena, and i think all of them are very interesting. Here is a ~2000 word essay about the topic.

The Birdcage Garden: Anthy and Ohtori Academy

This is perhaps the most obvious of the bird symbols in Utena. It is literally Anthy's cage. It is where she, as the Rose Bride, is supposed to spend her time watering the flowers. Touga talks about never letting her out of it once he wins her, and calls her a "lovely little bird." And doesn't that just sum up what so many people's idealized version of her is like? A pretty thing to be admired, only in captivity.

I think the birdcage can also be seen as a sort of microcosm of Ohtori Academy as a whole. Akio does call the school "a garden where people will never become adults," after all, and Anthy is not the only person trapped there, nor is she the only character associated with birds.

According to this analysis, "Ohtori" as a word can mean "big bird" in japanese, and is also a Japanese term for the Fenghuang bird in Chinese mythology, said to be "beautiful, immortal and rules over all birds." Sounds a lot like a certain someone in charge of this place, doesn't it? Which would make every person in Ohtori a bird, symbolically speaking, trapped in the cage that is the academy and ruled by Akio (who, despite being the biggest, and the one with the most control, is also a caged bird.)

Additionally, the statue on the gate to the dueling arena is in the shape of a bird, before it transforms into a rose when opened. I am not sure exactly what this means, but I assume it is in some way symbolic of Akio, Anthy and Ohtori.

The Bird and the Window: Shiori and Juri

The bird that flies into the window during Shiori and Juri's conversation in episode 17 is a Java Sparrow. Despite its name, it is a part of the Estrildid Finch family, but I think the symbolism for sparrows fits the context more, as they can represent love, devotion and compainionship, all of which are very relevant for Juri and Shiori.

The bird is also the symbolic item for Shiori's black rose duel, which means we should associate the bird mainly with her. What, exactly, is the window, then? I think it is symbolic of Shiori's feelings for Juri, Juri's feelings for Shiori, or most likely both. The bird hits the window directly after Juri says "Is that all you have to say to me?" and turns to leave. The bird hits something it could not see in its flight, just as Shiori hits against something that hurts her, even if she doesn't understand it, in her conversation with Juri. The bird is shown to be lying still, presumably dead, after Juri reveals that she was never in love with the boy Shiori "stole" from her.

The bird is shown again after Juri throws her locket in the lake, and before Shiori finds it in her dorm. I've heard it discussed that this implies the bird retrieved the locket (probably through Anthy-as-Mamiya), and if the bird is symbolic of Shiori and the locket is symbolic of Juri's feelings for her, it would mean Shiori is the one to bring them back after Juri tries to rid herself of them. This makes sense.

The Bird Nest: Kozue and Miki

The bird nest that Kozue rescues from the tree that is going to be cut down is symbolic of her and Miki. Or, at least they are symbolic of how Kozue views the two of them. The comparison is pretty straightforward; Kozue projects her and Miki's feelings of abandonment onto these baby chicks, who have been left behind by their parents, just like the two of them were when their parents divorced. I think she projects her protectiveness over her brother moreso than her own feelings about the whole thing, as Kozue likes to think of herself as very independent ("a wild animal") and very unaffected by it all. As seen by her attempt to save the birds in the first place, she is very willing to put herself at risk, and is less concerned with her own feelings/safety.

Now, I don't want to get too much into speculation, but I have to wonder if there was more going on in the Kaoru family than just the divorce and the too-high expectations for the "twin prodigies." Miki's uncharacteristic cynicism in saying "adults who tell you something is for your own good can never be trusted," as well as Kozue's total disregard for authority and her tendency to use her sexuality as a tool both concern me. Although Miki and Kozue's parents are not explicitly shown to be abusive, I do not think it is a stretch to say that there is a possibility that they were. It explains some of Kozue's behaviour in regards to Miki as well. It's not just posesiveness but protectiveness. She has needed to protect him before, and she feels she needs to protect him still (pushing the predatory teacher down the stairs, saving the birds she sees his innocence in.)

Interestingly enough, Anthy interacts with these chicks as well. She advices Miki on how to feed and take care of them. Utena even comments on how unusually straight forward she's being about the whole thing. This might just be another instance of characterizing Anthy as a person who is fond of animals, and that is certainly part of it, but i think there is more to it as well. If these baby birds are symbolic of (Miki and Kozue's, but also a general) feeling of abandonment by parents/adults, as well as their potential abuse, what does that mean for Anthy not only knowing how to take care of them, but being eager to talk about it? Could it perhaps be that she, like Kozue, sees herself in them? Like Kozue, Anthy herself is symbolically a bird, but a caged one in contrast to Kozue's claims of being a wild animal. Could it be that Anthy has had to become an expert in taking care of those (herself) that have been abandoned or failed or abused by the adults in their lives? Rememeber that this is the same episode where she says that Akio is more like a father to her than a brother. A parallel is indirectly being drawn between him and the Kaoru parents.

If Miki and Kozue's parents were abusive, this might be a rare moment of Anthy empathising with other victims, telling them through metaphor how to take care of themselves. Although, it doesn't keep her from continuing to manipulate them, as she goes on to say her line about returning the chicks to their mother, which is what sets Kozue off. Anthy also says that she's never actually raised chicks before. Maybe she's not very good at taking care of them (herself) after all.

There's also what looks like two caged parakeets in Miki's flashback of their childhood. I assume this has similar meaning to Anthy's birdcage, as a feeling of being trapped, in this case by their parents' expectations for them. Kozue used to be a caged bird, but now claims to be a wild one, despite still being inside the birdcage that is Ohtori.

Brood Parasitism: Nanami and Touga (and Utena)

The Kaoru's are not the only sibling pair in Utena to be compared to birds. In Episode 31, Her Tragedy, a pretty unique shadow play is put on in the Chairman's Tower about a cuckoo leaving its egg in another bird's nest, a phenomenon known as brood parasitism. It also references the fairy tale The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. Perhaps the most interesting part of this play is that it's done in the style of the ones in the black rose arc, with C-Ko playing all the roles, the return of the monkey-catching robot, and Utena's fourth-wall breaking commentary at the end. I won't get into what this means, as it doesn't have anything to do with the bird metaphor, but maybe in another post.

This shadow play is about how Nanami and Touga were adopted, and specifically about Nanami's feelings on the matter. Of course adopted children are not parasites, but it makes sense for Nanami to think along those lines, considering her fear of being compared to animals or aliens, and of being ostracized by the society she lives in. Nanami doesn't actually know that she is adopted, only that Touga is, which muddies that interpretation a little. Perhaps it is about Nanami blaming Touga's birth parents for "leaving him in another nest"? Something about her resentment of Touga at this point in time, thinking of him as a parasite in their family? Or simply her fear of what not being his blood-relative means.

I'm more confident about the Ugly Duckling reference, and it being symbolic of Nanami's worry of not fitting in among her peers. Nanami mainly copes with this by thinking that the reason she doesn't fit in, is because she is actually better than everybody else, because she's related to Touga (being a beautiful swan among the common ducks.) The play ends with the cuckoo insisting that it will become a swan one day, when really it can't. It will never be a duck that fits in, either. It will always just be what it is, a parasite (a space-alien. A girl who lays eggs.) This reflects Nanami's despair at the idea that she's "just another fly in the swarm" after her duel in the next episode.

And like all the shadow plays this one can be interpreted as being about Utena as well. She is an orphan who is now being raised in Akio and Anthy's "nest". Although she wasn't placed there by anyone but Akio himself, so it's more about her insecurities about feeling like an outsider in their family. And like the Ugly Duckling/cuckoo, she is also out of place among the rest of the students, and dreams of growing up to be something she can't actually become, in this case a prince. (credits to this analysis on the shadow plays for helping me piece together my thoughts on that. Always cite your sources!)

Cuckoos can also be symbolic of one-sided love, and is the origin of the word cuckoldry. Make of that what you will.

I should mention that Nanami also lays an egg of her own a few episodes prior. ...Or does she?

Her nightmare sequences show her fears of being compared to a chicken, a turtle, a frog, and of course, a space alien, but it is quite obviously a bird egg. And since we are later shown that Anthy has a chicken named Nanami, much like the cow with the same name, it can be assumed that the egg comes from there, and that Anthy brought it to Nanami's bed, perhaps via Chu-Chu. Could this relate to the brood parasitism of the cuckoo in some way? Is this not one bird (Anthy) laying its egg in another bird's (Nanami's) nest (bed) and getting them to raise it? is this what Anthy means when she tells Miki she has never personally raised chicks? Are all of these metaphors connected??? There's also the fan-theory that Nanami's egg hatched a reincarnated Chu-Chu, and in that case would he be the baby cuckoo while Anthy is the mother and Nanami is the duck? I'll be honest I'm not really sure what to make of it at this point. Draw whatever conclusion you want!

Last and probably least interesting is the third of Nanami associated bird imagery: the crow in episode 10. Crows can be symbolic of death, and it feels safe to say that this one is just here to set the mood of the scene, and as visual confirmation that the kitten did indeed die. Not too much to say there.

The Chicken and the Egg: The Student Council

I'd be remiss if i didn't mention the student council's chicken and egg speech in this post as well, even if it has been analyzed to hell and back by hundreds of people before me. It is a reference to Hermann Hesse's book Demian. It is about breaking out of childhood and into adulthood. It is about escaping Ohtori, which is both the egg and the cage (and interestingly enough, during the speech birds can be seen flying by outside the cage of the elevator.) In Nanami's version of the egg speech she mentions "the cage of freedom" and how it cares for the chick. This something that ideally should be true for schools. A place that limits children, but in a way that prepares them for the adult world. Of course, Ohtori as a system has no interest in this, as it is a cage in its most literal sense: a place to keep people trapped. Trapped in their harmful behaviours, in their lack of growth, in their idealized memories of the past, and most of all, in childhood.

And with that, we have come full circle back to Anthy's birdcage as a symbol for all of Ohtori. Thanks for reading :)

[dandelionjack]

i lied. anyway i think now i’ve cracked the code. taylor, despite making incredibly mediocre music and generally not being an interesting artist, as well as a billionaire (inherently evil), is actively practicing some kind of sympathetic magic and imbuing her music with it, like she said on the album, puttng narcotics in her songs. but this witchcraft is very specifically tailored to charm every listener into identifying her generic lyrics with their specific situation/identity/interest, moreso than most other pop artists. that’s where gaylors and ‘autismlors’ (neurodivergent girls who armchair-diagnose taylor with autism, you’d be surprised how many there are) etc come from. they genuinely see themselves and their niche experiences in her lyrics and grow to believe that she is part of their community.

that’s why they start noticing cryptic symbolism as evidence of their theories (‘lavender haze’ signifying that she’s queer comes to mind) — her iconography and lore is so expansive that there is something for a person of virtually any demographic to latch on to and demonstrate as ‘proof’ that she is [insert label here]. this works wonders for marketability and popularity — every one of these demographics flock to purchase her albums and buy tickets to her shows because that’s not Pop Star Taylor Swift, that’s their icon. your own personal jesus, like depeche mode said? no, your own personal taylor.

how did i come to this conclusion? well, i have the misfortune of being a big fan of the 60-year-old sci-fi shitshow Doctor Who (it’s been my autistic special interest for 5 months now). and listening to TTPD, i found myself believing that taylor is also a fan and the relationship between a companion and the doctor is what the lyrics of Down Bad are based on (won’t go into detail, for more info literally just scroll down to my previous post). of course i didn’t really believe that, but the seed of “what if?” was already planted in my mind. and that’s when it clicked. this is the interest i’m most focused on right now, so i see it in taylor’s lyrics. a young queer girl from middle america who’s just come out will be heavily focused on her newfound identity, so of course she’ll see it in taylor’s lyrics.

this theory is semi-serious. i don’t actually believe in things like this. but if she had entered into a soul contract with some strange deity of musical correspondence. would you really be surprised?

[iminyourwallsbabe]

I will not forgive Fortiche for making me listen to Imagine Dragons and also French music repeatedly in one sitting on purpose

And by that I mean I saw the new Ma Meilleure Ennemie music video and I noticed some things, including parallels to the Enemy music video and now I have to yap about it

Time to get back in my bag of corkboard and strings ass shipping, I believe there's a story here and THEY JUST DIDN'T TELL US. So until then I'mma be in this bitch like this guy

Okay so let's start with some of the parallels. Not the music video but the scene it's attached to. So right off the bat, I noticed that the way Powder dances at the start of that sequence is very similar to how Powder dances at the start of Enemy. Like lots of twirling, hands in the air, even the hand she has lifted the highest is the same I think. It's not the exact same move but it says a lot that it was so similar. Speaking of Enemy, during JID's verse (very underrated by the way, I fear he saved the song), Ekko and Jinx are pictured together but one's always behind the other. That's very similar to the dance scene AND the music video. There's quite a few scenes where one of them is directly behind the other or they're back to back, stuff like this

Another one I noticed between the music videos is that there's always a thing with Jinx and bugs, specifically firelights. One flies out of her mouth in Enemy, and there are two on her face in Ma Meilleure Ennemie.

Another thing that may or may not be a stretch is that scene where the two of them are jumping on the bed and the dance in the show. They're kind of moving around each other moreso than with, but with the bed scene it's implied more by the camera than their movements specifically. There's also some of that in the other music video.

It's all extremely intentional.

For the dance moves, my theory is that when Ekko tells au Powder that he got his moves from following her lead, I don't think he meant that as literally as we think. Sure, he was definitely watching her and picking up on how she moved in that moment but I also think that he got them from watching his Powder. Think about it, for someone who's just following along he doesn't seem too awkward. He doesn't even look like he's trying that hard to keep up, it feels more practiced than that and that's probably because it is. He's used to dancing that way with Powder, this isn't new to him. By extension this means "Always a dance with you", may be a lot more literal. Beyond all the symbolism of it, they may have genuinely been dancing together frequently in the past. Now when you put that in the context of episode 7, the whole episode feels just that much more heartbreaking.

As for the bugs, the way they're placed makes me think of vulnerability. The two on her face are in line of where tears would fall, and the one that comes out of her mouth seems to come from the throat, a very vulnerable spot. People tend to feel a burning sensation in their throat when they cry or try to hold back from crying. I think the idea there is that despite everything, one of the few people Jinx can be so raw with, at least on purpose, is Ekko. I say on purpose because Jinx is extremely unstable, so she lets more of her emotions show than most but not in a "this is how I feel right now and it hurts a lot" kind of way. Ykwim? I don't know if I'm saying this right. I also think there's something to be said in the fact that when Jinx tries to off herself in season 1 AND season 2, she tries to take Ekko with her. Now there's some argument that in season 2, she didn't think Ekko was real at first, which very easily could've been true, I can see that. However, I think when you remember the bridge scene and how she tried to blow them both up, and then look at that scene in season 2, it feels a little more conscious. Especially considering that they're on some bridge-like structure. I just think it's very telling that the only person she wants to take with her when she wants to leave this earth is Ekko. All will to live is gone, she sees no purpose in her existence but she can't take her leave without Ekko. She can't end her pain without him. At least before the finale, idk what he said to her to change her mind about that but it worked. She ended up going off on her own.

That brings me to the symbolism in how they're usually positioned with one another. Back to back or one in front of the other. Those are arguably very protective ways to stand. However, they can also have negative connotations. If you're behind someone, they can't really see you, giving you the opportunity to strike if you wanted to. If you're in front of someone you could be blocking their way. If you're holding someone to your chest, it could be a hug or a restraint. The fact of the matter is that Timbeomb does both. They protect each other from danger, and sometimes they're dangerous to each other. Just in that last paragraph I mentioned Jinx literally trying to kill them both twice. They're best friends, but also enemies. You could even call them... best enemies.

Yk, like the song.

MUSICAL ANALYSIS TIME BABY, CALL ME NEIL CUZ IT'S TIME TO BANG OUT THE TUNES

Now what if I told you Enemy was the best possible theme song for this show? Like I've never seen a theme song that describes a show so well without being like "this is the ___ show and they do this stuff". You will never see me praise Imagine Dragons this much ever again, just fyi. But yeah. It fits every character dynamic so well but ESPECIALLY timebomb. It's also why I think they were kind of the main characters of the music video. We see a lot of them.

Okay so back to the bed scene, while that's happening, we hear the line "tell you you're the greatest," and then the bug thing happens and it's "but once you turn the hate us". To me, that adds a little extra symbolism to the bugs that I haven't touched on yet. It's very Enemy specific so I didn't wanna bring it up when I was talking about both of the firelight scenes, but you can also read Powder spitting out the bug as a rejection of Ekko. At some point after Silco took her in, she ended up pushing Ekko away somehow. Maybe literally, maybe emotionally, probably both because during the chorus, we get scenes of the two of them practicing their fighting moves.

Now we can get into my favorite part of the song and where we see the most of these two in the video. It's very Jinx centric visually, so I'm going to assume that a lot of JID's verse is supposed to reflect her story specifically (though it could fit other characters).

He says "I'm hoping that somebody pray for me, I'm praying that somebody hope for me" and IMMEDIATELY, on beat too, Powder pops out from behind Ekko. If we're looking at it from Jinx's perspective, based on the visuals I'd say that somebody is probably Ekko. By the time Jinx is Jinx, she's kind of convinced herself that Vi has given up on her. She doesn't have any confirmation about how Ekko feels. Ekko could be hoping that she's doing well, he could be praying for her, it's something she can only hope for because she just doesn't know.

Another line that sticks out to me is "The enemy's on my trail, my energy unavailable, I'mma tell 'em hasta luego". During this, we get another Ekko and Powder scene. He's behind her and he taps the pot helmet on her head so it falls out of place and she kind of falls to the side a little bit. That made me think of the bridge scene in season 1. In that moment, they're enemies. They fight, but eventually, Jinx loses the will. She doesn't have the mental energy for this. So what does she do? She tries to leave and take him with her via grenade. That line in the song is literally just a 2 second description of that.

Then the flow switches and we get a few more scenes with them. One is "they wanna plot on my trot to the top" and we can see them just vibing in the background. Again, looking at it from Jinx's perspective, that sounds like her trying to convince herself that Ekko is one of her many enemies. He's trying to stop her from getting what she wants somehow, he's an interference. Better yet, it sounds like something Silco would've told her.

The next scene with them comes with the line "Kinda shockin' they wanted static with precision". To me, that sounds like the bridge fight again. It starts out with them laughing and smirking at each other and it keeps switching to them playing around as kids, but then shit gets real. It becomes obvious that Ekko wasn't there to playing around anymore and somebody was gonna get hurt tonight. He wanted static, with precision. That's why Jinx is so caught off guard when he holds her down and just rocks her shit because that meant it wasn't a game anymore. But even he's surprised by his own actions. I read it as him realizing that he was doing more harm than he intended. He probably just came for the gem, and wanted to get it from her even if that meant roughing her up a little bit. That was more than a little bit, a line was crossed. Another interpretation is that he was ready to kill Jinx, not Powder. I like that interpretation too, because in that case I think that's when he realized he couldn't separate them. They were now the same person. That's why they look at each other like that. That fight was a shock for them both for so many reasons.

You could also tie in the final line of the verse with this. "Who the baddest it don't matter cuz we at ya throat", feels very bridge fight coded because it ends with Ekko literally at her throat with his stick. By then, when they both realize how far this has gone, it doesn't matter who's more wrong, who's stronger, because now they're here and this isn't what they wanted.

Now it's time to talk about the song and music video we actually came here to talk about. So the song starts off with "I love you, I hate you" repeated again and again and we see Jinx and Ekko with little glimpses of what looks like dancing. Then Stromae starts his verse. What we thought was dancing was Jinx laying on the ground. When this is on screen, he says "You are the best thing that happened to me, but also the worst thing that happened to me". And then we fade into older looking footage of au Powder and Ekko dancing together and he says "That day when I met you I might have preferred that this day had never happened". I'm going to go off the fact that Jinx lip syncs Pomme's verse and say that Stromae's verse is 100% supposed to be from Ekko's perspective. I had my suspicions but that confirmed it. So reading it that way, it feels to me that when he says this, Ekko is speaking to Au Powder, not to Jinx. By meeting her, he is reminded of everything he loves about Jinx and everything they could have. He says this in the show, but it comes in the form of him talking about the undercity. It has a double meaning. He admits he gave up on her, thinking a brighter future for them and for the city at large was completely out of reach. By having this epiphany, he realizes that he needs to try and save Jinx from herself, from the world, no matter how much it hurts and no matter if he even gets what he wished for in the end.

Back to the music video though. Stromae then says "the worst blessing, the most beautiful curse" and it shows Jinx with the firelights on her face. He came back for her. He came to try and dry those tears like he used to. And then it switches to them sitting next to each other and he says "From you, I should move away". It's a reminder that this metaphorical dance has gone on forever. It'd be less stressful to just stop. To give up and move on from Jinx. Most people would say he should. He doesn't have the means to give her the help that she needs anyway, so why try?

But then we get the next line "But you know what they say, rather than being alone, it's better to be poorly accompanied". It's the rebuttal to all of that. He can't give up on her because her being by herself is worse for her than being with someone who genuinely cares about her. He can't give up on her because he'd be alone too. If there's anyone he'd rather be with it would be her. At this part of the song, Ekko is surrounded by 4 Jinxes. He can only go back 4 seconds in time. I also think there's 4 version of her in his mind. One is main universe Powder, the girl he grew up with. One is Jinx as he knew her on that bridge, a for. One is au Powder, a taste of what could've been. And the other is Jinx as she is now. Those are the versions he's met before and I think they're all meant to be represented here.

Then we get the line "Be close to your dearest friends, but also even closer to your adversaries". This is where Stromae's verse ends and we hear Pomme by herself for the first time in the song. She says the second half of that line and Jinx, laying on the floor facing Ekko, says it too. By the point in the series that this music video references, Jinx hasn't seen Ekko since the bridge fight. Judging by this line, she's still holding onto that. She still sees herself as his enemy, even though the feeling might not be mutual. She doesn't know that yet.

I would say that mostly gets squashed when he calls her an old friend in that scene in her hideout, but as most hurtful things do, there's probably still remnants of that in whatever happened between then and when they pull up in the airboat.

Anyway, the chorus starts, and one of the parts of it I wanna point out is Pomme's but where she's like "But if you're still looking for my voice, forget me, the worst is you and me." THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT HAPPENED IN THE HIDEOUT. He shows up like "hey maybe don't kys" and it takes several attempts to even get her to not blow them both up on the spot. She doesn't see a point in him trying, she thinks she's a lost cause. She even tells him to go away and that he's too late, she wants him to give up on her.

This is also the point in the song where we switch to Jinx's perspective. Looking at a few different translations, I'm getting two things here. The verse is definitely about Ekko, just in different ways. One version is about the times where he slips up and calls her Powder instead of Jinx, and maybe about him calling her Jinx at all. She's not Powder anymore, that girl is dead, can be not accept Jinx? But Jinx doesn't feel right either considering how she got that name. The people in her past thought she was a curse, did he think the same now? "What's that emotion, hatred or softness when I hear your name?" It was probably hard to tell.

Something else Pomme says that just screams Jinx in that moment is "I told you not to keep looking behind, your past will follow you and take you to war". It sounds like Jinx once again trying to convince Ekko that she isn't worth the time. But that's where her verse ends. That's where Ekko succeeds as indicted by the visuals of Jinx falling in reverse and the slight smile Ekko gives.

Now, the other interpretation of this whole verse is a lot more obvious. It hurts to hear his name because she misses him/thinks he hates her. Nothing too crazy there, except the last line of the verse is more internal. Jinx is telling herself not to look back, because when she does it ends badly. It ends in war.

Moving onto The Hug™, that comes towards the end of the song where they're repeating "I love you, I hate you" again and that's the scene it ends on. I think it also ends on an "I love you" but I could be wrong, I don't speak French and I refuse to, but I think that's what I heard. That's huge. It's the beginning of them working past all that "hatred" they had for one another and just trying to let themselves love the other again, even if it's just a temporary thing. It's the softest and slowest we've seen them like... ever. At least their canon selves. They're either play fighting, dancing, flipping off cops, actually fighting, or (mostly Jinx) trying to blow each other up. I don't think I need to speak too much on that moment, it speaks for itself.

Yk, I remember literally sitting there sobbing at season 2 episode 7. Nothing else really got me like that. Like I cried maybe once outside of that, but definitely not as hard. I can't for the life of you tell you why, and if I did know I probably wouldn't say it on Tumblr dot com but my point is that their story is extremely poignant and feels so real. Not to say that the other stories aren't realistic, they all are. Timebomb just feels like something you know a little too well, not in a lol #relatable kind of way, you know people like this. Maybe you are those people. You've been on both sides of the coin, or only one, either way it's not a good time. It's a story you already knew, it's so real that it hurts. There are a few different stories in this show that feel that way and it just makes all of it so much more impactful.

[matenr0u]

Oblivion, the Riku Keyblade: Translation

Oblivion/Bygone Memories

過ぎ去りし思い出Sugisarishi Omoide

Here’s my entry point for a bit of a deep dive into the ‘Riku Keyblade’. I have a few points jotted down about Oblivion, since it’s one of my favourite keyblades, but I’ll start with the name of it.

First it’s important to establish that despite being the Riku Keyblade, it’s actually symbolic of not just Riku alone but specifically Sora’s relationship with him. As the series progresses it gains a level of importance to other characters too, but being a Sora enjoyer I tend to regard Roxas and Xion like two little hamsters that escaped their pen and need to be stuffed back in, so I’m not sure if I’ll overly talk about them.

On to the name: I like the sound of the already established translation, ‘Passing Memories’, but I find ‘Passing’ is a word much too vague compared to ‘Bygone Memories’, so as a personal preference I’ll refer to it with my own interpretation unless someone more fluent in Japanese demonstrates another name that rolls more easily off the tongue.

Anyway, let’s get into the meat of this thing and how I reached this conclusion.

EN: Oblivion

JP: 過ぎ去りし思い出Sugisarishi Omoide

過ぎ去りし = Sugisarishi = Bygone/Long ago/Departed

思い出 = Omoide = Memory/Memories 

過ぎ = Too much/Passed/Past

去りし = Gone

Bygone Memories

Generally you can think of the meaning like, ‘a keyblade representing our shared memories of the distant past.’

Another interpretation more specific to the breakdown of their relationship could be, ‘our fond memories which have been left by the wayside.’

An example of how this phrase is typically used: 

過ぎ去りし日の思い出 

Memories of bygone days

I wonder if the keyblade’s name is a contraction of this phrase.

I don’t get the feeling that 過ぎ去りし思い出/Sugisarishi Omoide implies literally confused/forgotten memories as much as the EN name Oblivion does; moreso a nostalgic, or melancholy, reflection on good times between two people which occurred long ago.

I think both the EN and JP names can be interpreted to suit Sora and Riku’s connection to this Keyblade well, but there’s some nuance I’d like to get into.

忘却 Bokyaku is the term used in the JP name for Castle Oblivion — 忘却の城/Bokyaku no Shiro (Castle of Oblivion) — this word translates much more literally to Oblivion, a state of confusion or having forgot, than 過ぎ去りし/Sugisarishi, which is more like ‘long since passed/departed’. 

For this reason I get the idea that the keyblade was named Oblivion in EN because it sounds badass, still gets the point across, and goes well with Oathkeeper (which also has some liberties taken in the translation, presumably because that too sounds cooler to a western audience*).

There is a similar example within Kingdom Hearts’ usage of the word ‘memories’, too. In contrast to 記憶/kioku which is used for Memory’s Skyscraper — and sounds closer to, plainly, ‘one’s own memory/recollection’ —, the term 思い出/omoide usually denotes a memory or memories shared between people. It has a much more reminiscent tone of fond memories (or, perhaps, a particular memory?) shared with another, which fits well with the purpose of this keyblade and adds a bit of nuance that the EN name Oblivion lacks.

*You can also see this reflected in KHIII Oblivion’s default shotlock, named ‘Bladefury Eclipse’ in EN and ドーンエクリプス/Dawn Eclipse in JP. The JP name is much more meaningful to Sora and Riku and it’s a shame this was cast aside for cool points. ‘Dawn’ is written right there in kana, why didn’t they use it?

Meanwhile the shotlock ステラインセプション/Stellar Inception — which is shared with its sister keyblade Oathkeeper — remains identical in EN and JP.

I have Thoughts about the item required to obtain Oblivion in KHIII, known as Proof of Times Past in EN, but for now I’ll offer a simple translation.

EN: Proof of Times Past

JP: 過ぎ去りし証 Sugisarishi Akashi

Certificate of the Bygone

Or, ‘Evidence of Long Ago’

This one checks out, but some EN players seem confused about this certificate being called Times Past while the keyblade is called Oblivion. Hopefully my translation notes on the JP name shed some light on it.

And the item description:

EN: “A certificate awarded to those who have endured the most difficult trial of them all.”

JP: 「険しい戦いを制した者に贈られる証」

`Kewashii tatakai o seishita mono ni okurareru akashi'

“A certificate awarded to those who have overcome an insurmountable battle.”

Not much to add here either, but as a game dev myself I really enjoy the tiny gameplay detail of Sora literally being rewarded with Bygone Memories for pushing through ‘an extremely difficult conflict’— if you’re familiar with other Sora & Riku centric KH analyses, you can probably see where I’m going with this, so I’ll save that tangent for another day.

That about wraps up this part.

A final note for those who subscribe to the necklace theory: Bygone Memory — as in, a singular fond memory shared between two people long ago that may have since been cast aside, is an equally valid translation of the JP name.

This is just a fun little rant into the void, if I missed anything or made any mistakes, feel free to add on to it.

[tobiasdrake]

Does Perfect Cell have Agency?

Cell is... difficult to get a read on, as a character. The extreme jankiness of the Android arc left us with an oddball of a villain whose level of wickedness doesn't seem in line with the scope of his motives.

Cell is a weird character for me because he just seems... unfinished but also overly symbolic moreso than a literal person.

What does PIccolo actually want? He wants to kill everyone because he's mindlessly evil. After he reincarnates, the question "What does Piccolo actually want?" becomes a major facet of his journey.

What does Frieza actually want? He wants to kill planets and sell them for profit because he's a real estate speculator, and also to be immortal and untouchable. This extreme want coupled with the callousness with which he pursues it is what fuels his unbelievable cruelty and heartlessness, and makes him the most evil person in the Dragon Ball universe.

What does Majin Buu want? Again, this question becomes a major facet of his journey and opens up new sides to him, because Buu himself doesn't know the answer to that.

Which. Brings us to. What does Cell want?

He likes to spook. He wants to have fun. He's a spooker looking for a good time.

Cell's primary goal is to a) become really strong, and then b) prove his mettle by testing himself against the greatest fighters in the world. He's a tournament arc villain presented with the gravitas and stakes of an epic adventure villain.

It's wild because everybody here wants to get really strong and then prove their mettle by fighting Goku. That's what this whole social dynamic is about. That is literally the main goal that everyone in this group pursues. Well, except Trunks and Gohan.

In a sense, Cell's just... one of the guys. Like. He's a rotten dirty bastard to be sure. But it's not like that's a barrier for entry into this group.

"I WILL KILL AS MANY PEOPLE AS I HAVE TO AS LONG AS YOU ARE ONE OF THEM!" ~TFS

So his goal is to get strong and fight strong guys. But. Like. Who's isn't?

And he's a cruel, sadistic monster. But. Like. We're fine with that. Vegeta's our bestie and Piccolo joined this crew way before he reformed too.

This guy could legit just be hosting the Tenkaichi Budokai. (And he DOES.) In terms of overarching character, nothing about him reads "Epic villain that must be stopped at all costs". So Toriyama really had to ratchet up the moment-by-moment horror to make him fit.

What Cell wants is not that big a deal. Get strong, fight strong guys, and also he's an asshole about it. So he's given a vile mechanism for attaining the strength he needs. In his base state, Cell can drink people to gain their power for himself.

He's basically Piccolo if Piccolo were born a parasitic vampire instead of a flesh-and-blood Namekian? It's weird. His whole introduction where he walks out and explains his entire character so Toriyama's pal will get off his back about the Twins is weird.

"Hi there, Piccolo. Did you know that I'm an evil bio-android from the future who wants to absorb the Twins to become really powerful? Also I eat people and I have the genetic makeup of five of the most powerful warriors in the universe, as well as having all of their techniques and abilities. I think that about covers everything. Toodles!"

So we have a character whose primary goal is to defeat the two characters who, up until this point, were billed as the antagonists and are currently seeking to kill Goku as we speak. Like. That's Trunks. Cell is Trunks again. So to make it read as sinister and bad, the means for him to achieve Trunks's goal requires him to kill people in visceral and horrifying ways, and also he's a jerk about it.

This is far from the worst thing a Dragon Ball character, even the ones on the protagonist side, has ever done. But it's so viscerally horrifying that it feels like the worst thing they've ever done.

Then again, that guy was part of the 1% so maybe it's deserved.

Truly, Cell is a champion of the underclass. He's literally eating the rich. What's not to like?

I jest. Point is, Cell is a villain of vibes more than anything. In practical terms, Vegeta gleefully slaughtered entire planets and Majin Buu exterminated 80% of the world's population for fun. In fact, Buu even single-targets people and turns them into food to chomp down on too, so he and Cell have a lot in common.

To be perfectly honest, Buu feels like a second draft of Cell with more time and thought put into his character.

So, logically, eating a bunch of people isn't that big of a deal relative to some of the other shit that people we're hanging out with have done. Hell, we spend a portion of this arc helping to power up Vegeta to stop Mr. City Devourer over here.

"Hey best buddy, you're a remorseless monster who's slaughtered billions of people and is only chill now because you're stranded on Earth with no better options. Want to come with me so we can make you a hundred times deadlier and fight this guy who wants to eat the Androids that destroyed the world in the future?"

And then Cell's over here like.

"All done eating people. Thanks y'all." Like a parasitic version of the Genki-Dama. Uh. Cool. Glad we could help. Let's go Dragon Balls them all back to life and then I guess we're done here?

It's the vibe. Cell's wickedness is a vibe. It's in the means he needs to undergo to achieve the ends of becoming strong. It's in the sadistic personality he shares with 4/5 of his genetic makeup (two of whom are in the protag party). And it's in his long-term plans for what to do after the tournament when he runs out of strong guys to fight.

It's like they ran out of ideas for why we even need to fight this guy once he ate the Androids and completed our mission of defeating them and thwarting Trunks's future. So Cell's like, "By the way if we don't defeat me in an epic climax, I'm going to aimlessly wander the globe killing humans individually forever, I guess."

No real ambitions of any kind beyond "Get strong, fight strong guys". He just. Is a dick.

This is sandwiched between vanquishing the CEO of Galactic Genocide Incorporated and fighting a god-killing abomination who made the heavens themselves run red with blood. Cell wants to get strong and fight strong guys, and he'll become Jason Voorhees if we don't deliver. That's it. That's the entire plot. It's so weird. He's the ultimate despicable monster villain up to this point but it doesn't really feel like he should be.

Cell isn't really a character, so much as he is an idea. Specifically, he is a summary of Goku's entire journey up to this point, all rolled up into this one asshole. He is Goku, and also the major villains Goku has fought.

He is the Tenkaichi Budokai.

He's a limit-breaking Super Saiyan who becomes stronger through Namekian Fusion of others like him and also regenerates and gets Zenkai boosts.

He is the concept of everything that Dragon Ball has ever been.

Hey remember when Piccolo-Daimao blew up that one district during a live broadcast? Do you remember? Cell is Playing the Hits, The Character. But with purpose and intent.

This is why it's hard for me to get a read on Cell. Because who he is isn't so different from much of the cast but what he needs to be is something else: He is the complete assessment of the journey Goku's undertaken over the course of his life, presented all at once for Gohan to surpass.

The physical embodiment of what Gohan must overcome to be his father's successor.

His character, his motives, his ambitions, his desires, it all takes a backseat to the simple utilitarian purpose of providing a symbolic nemesis to mark Gohan's ascension. Hastily assembled once Toriyama decided that was going to be the real actual plot for realsies no takebacks this time.

It's hard for me to assess Cell because I feel too strongly that he needed a second draft.

Which. Like. Apparently Toriyama agreed.

As a character and as a story, Majin Buu is hit or miss but he hits most of the same beats as Cell and really does feel like Toriyama trying to take a mulligan on this entire villain concept.

Mileage may vary on whether he pulled it off.

[mcdonaldsnumberone]

SKIN-DEEP COMEDY!

the symbolism of the wizards' crests and their journeys with you, their beloved master sage.

gender neutral reader

OZ!

—right collarbone: fragility, visibility, shattering of deep belief

Even the strongest wizard in the world has his weaknesses, even if it may be hard to believe. Maybe that’s why it’s so fitting for a man like him to have his crest placed in such a vulnerable place. The collarbone is infamous for being the most fractured bone, the right moreso being weaker than the left. Under the demonic guise, the facade of a wizard so powerful that he can bury his emotions, is a man whose heart is still thawing under love. Emotions are new, they’re fickle, and yet it’s enough to make him hesitate and reveal parts of himself that even he had never faced. Whether it be Arthur’s guidance or the wholehearted trust he puts in you to restore his world back to what it was, the shimmering black lily branded onto his right collarbone is the only telltale symbol on his body of the man behind the magic.

“Remember your duty, Master Sage. The moon does not forgive. Only the strong can survive in this world. Mind your place, and stay by my side.”

ARTHUR!

—right hand: ownership, power, a place of honor and status in biblical text

Sworn to the throne by birthright, Arthur is a man meant to grow into power and grace. His crest speaks to this responsibility, hovering over him more imposingly than any uncle or throne could. He carries out the will of the Central country, second to only the citizens of the people he rules over. His destiny is to inherit and enact blessings, and the constant visibility of his crest is an undeniable reminder of his fealty to you and that he must always use his place as both a wizard and a prince for nothing but good. You have faith that he won’t waver, not when he has such clear eyes for the future and comrades that believe in him without a shadow of doubt. Arthur is someone that’ll seek the light even when the odds are stacked against him, and his outstretched hand, bearing the black lily, will herald his bright tomorrows.

“Please trust me. So long as you are with me, I won’t allow any harm to befall on you. Not only are you the Master Sage, but you are someone important to me above all.”

CAIN!

—right forearm: strength, action, the capacity to start anew

Cain is a man of the sword first and foremost. Even now, with his secret as a wizard out on full display, he defines himself as a knight before anything else. His crest is representative of his strength and his will, as someone who has vowed to keep his liege safe but to also bear the safety of those around him. He’s determined not to make enemies with anyone that might stand in his way, whether it be human or wizard alike. Cain knows there’s more to the world than the small sliver he’s seen, and he knows holding onto his courageous heart will be the key to paving a way for those to follow. Despite having his status, his humanity, and his eye robbed of him, he wants you to help him stand strong in what he believes in. The black lily on his right forearm brandishes his sword literally and figuratively: a living embodiment of his justice.

“Let me protect you. I want to be someone you can lean on, Master Sage. It’s okay to depend on me. As long as I’m standing, I’ll be someone who fights for your honor.”

RIQUET!

—forehead: intellect, intelligence, heavenly love with the good

The world is an anomaly to Riquet just as much as Riquet is an anomaly to the world. After being withheld so much, Riquet’s only now learning what it means to exist apart from his days locked away in a cult. The line between curiosity and hedonism is a thin one: the one between morality and cruelty even thinner. His crest is a reminder of everything he has yet to learn and the importance of utilizing what he already has. Riquet has to discern between what will help others, what will help him, and what will betray everything he’s built up until now. You’re a stranger from another world who holds nothing but kindness towards him, so isn’t it only natural that he looks to you with reverence in his eyes? The black lily on his forehead is a manifestation of his hunger for intelligence, but also a newfound devotion to do good, for the universe and for himself. 

“Let us step away from sin. Guide me to the light, and I will do the same for you. There are so many things wrong with this world, so let’s work hard together to make everything right again.”

SNOW!

—right neck: anger, hazardous, desolate to truth

Blood stains Snow’s hands. There’s no wizard that doesn’t eventually end up succumbing to the chaotic roar nestled inside their chest, but it’s one thing to kill others for power or glory and another to kill your very own kindred out of desperation. He claims it was love that brought White back from the dead, tethering his own soul and sharing it with his twin, but the dead swirls in his golden eyes hint at something a bit obsessive instead. But all’s well that ends well, and your worries should be less about him and more about yourself instead. This world is a lot scarier than you think, and it’s only right that a wizard as wise and skilled as he is ought to guide you through its pitfalls. The right side of his neck is adorned with a black half lily: an eternal reminder of his mistake and his rage, and everything he has to do in order to rectify his sins.

“Have you ever loved someone to the point of death? No? It's an indescribably heartbreaking experience. Master Sage, I hope this world will be kinder to you than it was to me.”

WHITE!

—left neck: strain, the past, implementation of the soul’s will

White is a remnant of what he once was. With no being of his own, his borrowed corporeal form is just an extension of Snow’s longing. He knows his time here is borrowed and yet he can’t even find solace in having died once. He shares his convoluted and twisted truth with the rest of the wizards, even extending a hand towards you when you’re willing to listen to whatever sick advice he might whisper into your ears. It’s hard to believe that his familial love for his brother isn’t as warped as he is, not when the hand that strokes yours feels so real. His half crest is a reminder that White is truly no longer and that he’s practically a ghost wandering in the shadow of Snow’s rage. The black half lily on his left neck is a mark of taboo, not fully intact but refusing to disappear altogether. 

“Has someone ever loved you to the point of death? No? It’s a truly beautiful thing, Master Sage. Perhaps I can show you, if your curiosity demands it.”

MITHRA!

—pelvis: sexuality, old memories and trauma, issues of control

The pursuit of strength might be Mithra’s own way of keeping those he loves safe. He once had no one he could call his, at least, not until Tiletta took him as his student and made him a part of her family. Despite him being rough around the edges, you know that his obsession with becoming the strongest is only so that no one can question him and his desire to be loved. There’s no other reason as to why he holds your hand so tightly as he sleeps, or why he refuses to let any other wizard wager any influence over you. He bares himself wholly to you and you only, trusting that you understand his brusque words. The black lily nestled by his hips is proof of his love, and it’s a mark that he would only show to you. It’s an honor he won’t give to anyone else, so cherish it closely.

“...Don’t go anywhere, Master Sage. What, is that something you wouldn’t expect from me? Does it matter? You’re going to be with me. Nothing more to it.”

OWEN!

—tongue: the devil, the voice of the gods, shame

Owen shrouds himself in mystery, and he takes pleasure only in his hedonistic ways. Whether it be sneaking sweets when no one is looking or thinking up of new ways to torment those around him, everything he does remains inexplicable to anybody else in the Wizards’ Manor. No matter how thorny he is to you or how much he threatens to rip you from limb to limb, you refuse to back down in your attempts to wiggle into his heart. He’ll spew curses and keep you at bay, but he can’t deny your warm heart and the time you’ve spent with him. Maybe his distance is not because of maliciousness but out of his own loneliness, with large swathes of his memory missing. Can anything else come close to your sincerity? There’s no telling. His mouth will always say one thing, but the black lily engraved onto his tongue speaks of a devoted truth. 

“Say, Master Sage, I wonder what taking your heart as a trophy would be like. A gruesome, bloody heart, ripped straight from your broken ribs. All mine… Won’t you give it to me? 

BRADLEY!

—right abdomen: dysfunctionality, things unresolved and unprocessed, authenticity

The spitting image of the North, Bradley always holds his head high despite how much his situations have changed. A once-proud bandit leader of a powerful group, Bradley’s power lies not in his magical strength but in the keen mind that he sharpens with each year that he puts under his belt. He’s experienced his fair share of victories, but he’s experienced even more heartbreaks. He’s cognizant that nothing lasts forever, more than anyone else, but at the same time, could you blame him for not knowing when to let something so sweet go? Fate dangles regret right in front of his face, and it’s up to you to unravel the tangled threads. Sometimes he’ll indulge parts of his past with you, weaving tales of biting cold Northern winds and his stellar glory days, but the glimpses of the black lily on his right abdomen remind you of everything else he’s left unshared and unsaid. 

“I got your back, so don’t slouch. A real leader worth their salt has to hold their head up straight, you hear? You’ve got the great Bradley Bain as your right hand man, Master Sage.”

FAUST!

—left shoulder blade: connection to the heart, guilt, vulnerability

Faust’s crest spreads like a shadow on his back, bearing the guilt and altruism of his past. It’s bigger than any other wizards’ crest for a reason, and it covers him as if it were the same embrace that he yearned for for so many years. His heart is jaded yet still soft, wanting assurance that his actions are the right decisions yet unsure if his goodwill is enough to save the crumbling world around him. His faith has been tested time and time again, and he’s sure it’s going to be tested once more, as the moon descends to take everything he’s cared for. Your clear eyes and unwavering loyalty to him might seem overbearing, but this devotion is what he needs to find the courage to stand up once more. The black lily on his left shoulder blade is his fealty to you and his choice to believe in goodness once more.

“There’s no need to praise me. I’m only doing what’s right. I’m no hero, no great leader, nor am I the Faust of the legends. Please, Master Sage, I’m nothing but a wizard that believes in you.”

HEATHCLIFF!

—lower left back: acceptance, generosity, crossroads at life

Many wizards of different walks of life are called to duty, but Heathcliff stands unique as the heir to a noble family. If being a wizard wasn’t difficult on its own, he’s had to balance the responsibility of his birthright and position for his entire life. Despite the doubts that gnaw like gnats in his mind, Heathcliff strives to be gracious and clement, vowing never to use his position for evil. And yet with his position as an heir growing heavier and the world demanding even more of his sensibility, the insecurity that plagues him becomes harder to wipe away. It’s only the love and care of those around him that can prop him back up, and one day, he hopes that he can extend a helping hand to you just as much as you’ve done for him. His lower left back sparkles with the black petals of a lily, his wizard’s crest, with his gratitude towards you.

“There’s a lot of times when I feel inadequate for all the titles I hold… And yet, you never admonish me for my mistakes, Master Sage. Thank you, and I’ll do my best for you.”

SHINO!

—right shoulder: masculinity, bearing burdens, imbalance

Rash but smart, strong yet inexperienced, Shino’s eager to take on the world and prove himself as a worthy retainer of Heathcliff. He’s hyperaware of everything he owes to the Blanchett family, and for him, becoming a Sage’s Wizard is his way of paying back the debt that saved him from a life of misery. He has little to call his own, not even his own last name, but what bonds he does have, he treasures above all else. The intensity and fear in his eyes are a testament to everything he has to put on the line so he can hold true to his promise of eternal loyalty. You’re the only one that can hope to understand him, the only one to help him digest the danger and the perils around him. The black lily on his right shoulder is the power you give him, to lead him to glory, to lead him to the refuge that he’s sought after all this time. 

“Worry about yourself, Master Sage. I know how to hold my own ground. Things will fall apart if anything happens to you. You’re someone I can’t afford to lose yet.”

NERO!

—left bicep: to nurture, receiving support, intuition

For every shining protagonist on the stage, there’s someone hidden in the curtains to pull the strings. Nero wonders how long he’s been the one in the back. He has an intelligent mind and an even harsher tongue at times, his Northern birth betraying the Eastern mask he puts on. If he closes his mind and lets himself dream, he can conjure up distant memories of snowy nights spent drinking, boisterous laughter, the indulgence of stolen goods and a gruff voice praising his wits. But when he opens his eyes back up, he’s reminded of his betrayal. It’s hard to swallow back the lump in his throat when you console him and tell him he’s more than his past mistakes, but how many more can he make before his act is up? The black lily that appeared on his left bicep betrayed his facade once, and only so many parts can disintegrate before the entire whole crumbles.

“You can’t trust a man like me. But you’re going to do it anyway? You’re such a hassle at times, Master Sage. No, it’s okay. Being stubborn is a good thing too.”

SHYLOCK!

—left collarbone: shock, union, enthusiasm of a full heart

The beauty of being the one pursued means that Shylock has seen the rarest and the most desperate parts of the human psyche. It doesn’t mean he himself is above falling victim to love’s incessant ways, but it’s given him a seduction and a charm that’s increasingly difficult to read. You’re lucky that you have a special place in his heart, with his penchant for treating his loved ones like a pet. He claims Western wizards are free spirits who hate being tied down, but somewhere in his soul, perhaps he’s also grown tired of the cat-and-mouse game he plays with his admirers. He wants the permanence of something fickle, and is there anyone better for that role than the Sage from another world? He doesn’t want to trap you per se, but he wants to see how far he can go with this borrowed time. The black lily branded onto his left collarbone is his permanent reminder of a temporary bond. 

“What a beautiful face you’re making, Master Sage. Fufu, am I getting too close to you? Won’t you allow me, just this once? I want to be spoiled by you today.”

MURR!

—right palm: good luck, encouragement to work hard, impending loss

Is there anything in this world that Murr hasn’t taken an interest in? Undone by his own pursuit of knowledge combined with just the right amount of hubris, even in his shattered form, Murr walks to the beat of his own drum and explores to the tune of his heart. It’s an impossible task to turn him back into the fickle man he was before he ventured too close to the moon, but when he pulls you in for a dance in the courtyard or whisks you away on his broom, it’s hard to stomach the dread that settles in your stomach as you realize his current form is an apparition of smoke and mirrors. Murr doesn’t mind—there’s still plenty out there for him to squander his foolishness on. He’ll happily invite you to fall with him, and the black lily weeping in the middle of his right palm is the proof of the only ending the two of you can have.

“Why the long face? Dance with me, Master Sage! Look at how lovely the moon is and how bright it makes everything down here! Why don’t we fly up and say hello too?”

CHLOE!

—right chest: dissatisfaction in relationships, physical connection, personal power

Optimism and a desire to be loved is what Chloe cares most about. After having his entire world flipped upside down by Rustica’s mistake, he’s learned what it means to be a human and a wizard. He vows to use his talents to spread happiness and always to help others, but each corner of the world seems to be tainted with insecurity and doubt the more he aims to spread goodness and truth. Even his own bond with his teacher seems shaky at times, and Chloe wants to find the courage to break free of his mold to reach through to Rustica’s frozen heart. You’re the only one to know the conflict in his heart, torn between both what’s good and what’s truthful. You appreciate him for who he is: a reflection of all the good wishes he’s kept inside, and the black lily hidden away on his right chest is only the beginning to what you hope will be nothing but a flowery path for him. 

“Do you have faith in me? Then… I’ll do what I can so that I won’t let you down! You always see the good in everyone and in me, so I’ll do my part to repay the favor, Master Sage!”

RUSTICA!

—throat: truth, purification, clarity in responsibility

Rustica desires to love. His entire time as a wizard has been in chase of a bride from memory. The smiling nobleman wants the warm embrace of a lover, their soft whispers, even a quick kiss stolen in between honeyed glances. But that dream has long fluttered away, and only remnants of feathers remain at the floor of his birdcage. He doesn’t mind; his eyes have been opened thanks to his diligent apprentice and you. You’ve never denied his romantic streak, not when everyone else ridiculed him, not when even the universe seemed to condemn him from love. It’s no wonder that he clings so desperately to the dregs of love that he can catch from the end of your words or your touches. The black lily on his throat is his duty to uncover the reality of his past and to fulfill his duty of devoting himself to love, be it something old or something new. 

“Ah, you look as lovely as ever, Master Sage. Your presence never fails to stir something in my heart. Come, let me adore you even more. You deserve nothing less.”

FIGARO!

—right rib cage: crookedness, need to protect the heart, longing for reunion

A man of self-inflicted ephemerality, Figaro struggles to see the permanence of the world. His idea of love is so tilted, so permanently warped, that he develops an inhuman craving for being desired that he refuses to fulfill. He wants to reach out and to be brave, and yet some cowardly vices keep him entrapped in a web of his own making. Even behind all of his empty, slack eyes and perfectly poised smiles, you keep probing far deeper than he expected or wanted you too. Though simultaneously, he wants you to keep pushing, wants you to understand his soul-crushing loneliness and save him from it. Surely, you can see past the “ordinary” wizard doctor to see the broken man underneath; you’re the only one that can save him now. Hidden away like his heart is the black lily on his right rib cage, forever yearning, forever begging for one more chance from cruel fate. 

“You’re staring at me so intently. Could it be that you’ve fallen for Dr. Figaro? Haha, I’m only teasing you. You deserve a far finer man, Master Sage.”

RUTILE!

—right wrist: misalignment of purpose, sentimentality, movement

Rutile straddles the difficult line between the past, the present, and the future. He plays the precarious game of balancing his mother’s legacy and his younger brother’s unrelenting desire to unleash his full potential, all while tending to his own needs and the responsibility of being appointed a Sage’s Wizard. It’s all too easy for him to get lost in the memories of the simpler days in the South Country, with a baby Mitile clinging to his side and his students surrounding him. But he has to find courage and to place his trust in you, praying that you have the proper vision to use his magic for good. You’re both a cherished friend and a leader to Rutile, and it would shatter him to lose you too. He doesn’t need grandeur or glory, only your guaranteed safety. The black lily carved onto his right wrist is his constant wish for your well-being.  

“Would you like a ride on my broom, Master Sage? Ah, you don’t need to look so scared! Would you like me to hold your hand too? No? C’mon, it’ll be fun!”

LENNOX!

—nape: freedom of the soul, deeper truths, connection

Lennox has lived honestly and faithfully, dedicating himself wholly to what he believes to be right. He spent centuries in search of the lost leader he considered to be his master, and he spent even more time pondering what his place in this world was. While he knows he’s no magical genius like Faust might be or even a figure of legend like Oz, his genuine desire to help others and to protect those he’s placed his devotion towards runs far deeper than any magic could even fathom. His true strength lies in aligning his life with yours, the same love he tends to his herd with becoming the same love he needs in order to save the world with nothing but his bare hands. The black lily that blooms on the nape of his neck is a reminder of the delicacy in his fortitude, the gentile nature that will render him as a true savior. 

“Is anything troubling you? No? That’s good. I’m not the best talker, but… I’m always willing to listen to your words, Master Sage. I will be strong for you.”

MITILE!

—left wrist: divinity, receiving energy and protection, healing

The youngest of the Sage’s Wizards and the youngest son of the great witch, Mitile’s entire soul itches to live up the shoes that his mother left for him. He knows he’s capable of doing amazing and unearthly things with his magic, gifted by his older brother in order to keep him alive. No amount of patience is enough to quell his curiosity, so as the Sage, you’re tasked with the impossible duty of giving him the experience he needs all while being cognizant of the ambitions of those around him. Will you let him run free, to become the terrifying wizard he dreams of? Or will you let him be snuffed out, a sacrificial lamb in order to save the entirety of South Country. There has to be a middle ground, and when the black lily on his left wrist glitters cruelly, you have to believe that you’ve made the right choice. 

“Master Sage, look what I can do! Magic sure is amazing. One day, I’ll be a wizard as great as my mother, and I’ll be sure to wow you even more!”

x

[greekmythcomix]

How-Odysseus-met-Penelope headcanon

Odysseus is a headstrong fellow as we know. His success with the boar and the pride of his grandfather has established his name in the local area, and, frankly, he’s enjoying that fame and finding out who he really is and he neglects getting married. His parents despair of him, because they need their heir to have an heir to prevent them getting usurped by some nobler, richer king from the mainland should a power vacuum emerge, but their boy is getting older and much more interested in gallivanting and hunting with his slave pal Eumaeus, telling great stories in drinking sessions with the other young nobles of the island, and getting into scrapes than he is settling down and providing the grandchildren. Women long-term just don’t interest him. What can a much younger, uneducated, unadventurous partner possibly have to interest him, aside from moments of physical gratification?

 When the hand of Helen is up for grabs, Odysseus reluctantly goes along with all the other Greek kings. He knows he doesn’t have a chance really – he’s the prince of a backwater island and there are kings of literal cities here. But he goes because it’s a chance to meet people, and he does: Lycomedes of Crete, the Amythaonides  Thoas, Podarkes and Protesilaos, Menestheus and Elephenor[1], Ajax, and the Atreides, Menelaus and Agamemnon, who has also come without intention to marry – he’s already married to Clytaemnestra, sister of Helen - but to support his little brother and, presumably, throw his weight around.

 But he does meet someone. Leaning on a pillar near the back of the Megaron of Tyndareus, watching the other suitors argue in front of the king about who has brought the best gifts, he realises a girl is standing next to him, copying his bored recline and crossed arms. He is surprised. Moreso when she nudges him with her shoulder – how forward – motions towards the other suitors and shakes her head in silent laughter. I gather you’re not really here for her, she says. I bet you’re here for no one, she says, though it looks like, for a loner, you’ve made some friends? Odysseus looks to where she’s pointing and sees auburn-haired Menelaus smiling over and giving a little wave.

 He's alright, Odysseus replies, definitely a bit lovestruck but a good sort. I hope he wins. Otherwise he’ll be insufferable.

Hmm, says the girl. Odysseus is instantly intrigued.

What do you think Helen wants? Odysseus asks. Oh, says the girl, after the narrow escapes she’s had already, all she wants is protection, and someone nice to look at. I warned her that might get dull, but she’s adamant. Mostly, I think she wants to be somewhere where she’s not being gawped at all the time, but I’m worried she’s not thinking about the long term.

What about you though? He asks. He speaks without thinking, because, for the first time, it doesn’t occur to him to do so.

 She shrugs. They’re all the same, she says, looking for a prize. I’d rather have a conversation.

 Days later, Odysseus approaches Tyndareus with his plan to protect Helen and her choice of husband from future reprisals from those rebuffed: an oath, to be sworn on the dissected corpse of one of Sparta’s famous horses, joining the suitors together in blood. He’s quite proud of the idea: it’s simple, but looks dramatic and piety will keep it in place. He might have had some inside help with choosing the animal victim that is the symbolic centre of the oath to be made, and now Odysseus has a price of his own for this help: Tyndareus must speak with his brother, Icarius, on behalf of this prince of a backwater island, so that Odysseus might just also return home with a wife.

[1] From the papyrus BKT V.1 28-30 (P. 9739 R) ttps://berlpap.smb.museum/die-freier-der-schoenen-helena/?lang=en#:~:text=The%20surviving%20fragment%20deals%20with,and%20Protesilaos%2C%20Menestheus%20and%20Elephenor.

[winged-wheel]

Undertale's First Hint at Self Denial

Spoilers for Undertale, I guess, but surely if you're reading this you don't need a spoiler warning for this game...

Howdy!

A simple look at my reblogs will indicate that I'm a big fan of Undertale Yellow, at least currently moreso than Undertale itself. But that doesn't mean I don't think about Undertale a good deal too. And while I'm not exactly an extreme lorehead or Chara superfan like some others are (god knows how many blogs there are out there who have THAT covered) I do like to think, sometimes, about the exact nature of Undertale's metanarrative, the themes the game intends for you to take away from it (and the ones that fans have read into it that may not have been intended but which serve as interesting and thought-provoking alternative interpretations), and my own stance on things. Chara/the first fallen human, both who they are (were) and what they represent, makes up a lot of that.

So, context out of the way, I realized something that maybe other people have as well but that I've never actually seen anyone put into words (though it's entirely possible if not probable that I've just missed it before lol).

If Chara, on a metanarrative level, represents you--both through the game's expectation of you to use your own name to "Name the fallen child", but also in a less literal sense your inner desire for completionism, addiction to increasing numbers, disregard for video games as anything more than short-time entertainment to be moved on from, etc--then the image of their final resting place, the patch of golden flowers that grows at the bottom of the fissure outside the Ruins, the very first room in the game, takes on especial meaning with regard to the metanarrative itself.

Undertale's metanarrative choice that it gives you, to either treat the game and its characters as real, deserving of respect, and worth being let go of to allow them continued freedom after completing a true pacifist route, or to lean into what Chara embodies and treat it as "just another RPG game", grinding for levels as would be "normal" in so many other worlds until you reach the Absolute, is a well understood one more than 9 years on from the game's release. None of that is probably news to anyone (or at least anyone who's cared to try and understand the game lol).

But it never quite struck me until now that the former--the choice to treat Undertale as "real"--is symbolized by Chara's grave. In order to do that, to care about and respect Undertale's characters so much that you're willing to forego almost all the concessions of a normal RPG, and ultimately content yourself with refusing to True Reset after the credits roll, you have to bury that part of yourself. You have to kill the desire within you to see what happens if you level up. To get stronger. Those learned traits and tendencies which have been established as the expectation by decades of video games past, even if you didn't grow up playing them yourself, have to be interred in the very first room of the game.

I'll draw no ultimate conclusions as to what that means literally with regards to Toriel and Asriel's attachment to tending the flowers there, and certainly none in relation to the direct characterization of Chara as a character within the story itself, as details are notoriously vague, few in number, and tend to produce interpretations that vary wildly from one another and, from some, have the potential to engender feelings of distaste or assumptions about others' "understanding" of characters (or perceived lack thereof). But the metaphorical significance of Undertale's first room being a burial site was something I hadn't quite considered on a conscious level until recently, and I feel like it might at least be an interesting thought to share.

'Til next time...

[gravesightings]

May I request all the slashers with an s/o who practices witchcraft. Can you do something extra with Jason. He's my favorite

sure thing! practicing witchcraft is a bit too broad of a term so i did a lot of just "general" stuff. hopefully i still did it justice!

Slashers with a s/o who practices witchcraft - brahms, jason, vincent

Brahms Heelshire

intrigued and intimidated. although brahmsy is a well-read fellow, he doesn't really get any new material. whatever the hell he's been reading has been in his family for several generations at least.

in his brain it is definitely witchcraft = bad but he's not out for your blood just yet. he's been given such a rare opportunity, you see. to what, you may ask? to get up close and personal with a witch.

don't be surprised if he tries to mess with your altars just to get under your skin - no he doesn't know what they're for and no he doesn't want you to explain it to him. scuttles off into the walls to try and figure it out himself. he would steal a book or two if you happen to bring one yourself.

would never admit it but he's a little scared of what you might be capable of. he has outdated beliefs and is extremely misinformed so he would most likely try to interrupt anything you plan on doing.

what do you mean you weren't actually trying to hex him? a protection spell? for him? he's a little embarrassed... well, you should've asked for his consent first anyways!

Jason Voorhees

you what? immediately anxious. he hesitates to be supportive of you at first. he's had his fair share of wiccan trespassers before and like brahms, he's intimidated by it. needless to say, he didn't really wait to find out what they were planning to do before he got rid of them.

not you though! the last thing he wants to do is offend you. you can do all sorts of witchy things to your heart's desire! just maybe not the dangerous ones? for him?

he's interested in the collecting aspect of it at least - oh you need small animal bones? feathers? cool rock from the river? he's more than happy to provide! whatever you need, he's your guy.

unlike brahms however, he's a bit more open to being included just as long as you explain it to him. jason doesn't quite understand but over time he will grow more accustomed to it.

while he's not really willing to practice it himself, he's fine if you decide to use certain spells or place altars within the camp grounds. just make sure to ask him first!

absolutely loves the trinkets! while he's not a fan of making altars or writing symbols, he loves the idea of having some sort of protective charm. even moreso if it's something handmade. what about you? could he make something like that for you too?

Vincent Sinclair

oh, cool. very neutral and very accepting. don't be fooled by his lack of a reaction - he's quite familiar with witchcraft himself. he doesn't really practice but he's respectful of your beliefs.

his twin however, might be on the opposite side of the spectrum. don't worry, though! even if bo is against it, you can do whatever you like down in the basement with him. please include him.

probably the most normal out of the bunch. oh, you practice witchcraft? ok. you need anything specific? there's an abundance of candles, that's for sure. it might be difficult for you to find literally anything else in Ambrose otherwise.

he's not too interested in spells or rituals but he's quite good with his hands so if you ever want your altars to have a little extra oomph, just let him know.

vinny here would love to hear more about it but he's more inclined to do it because he wants to spend more time with you and not because he's interested in witchcraft. really, he just wants to be included. he would never admit this though.

[wizardlover124]

"It was never that serious," said Rose Lalonde calmly. — a deranged rant on update rose + philosophy

now that rose has officially hopped onto the "nothing matters" track of things i'm inclined to believe faux-absurdism is a sleeping agent in the strilondian neuroticism paradigm moreso than a real plot point but yeah anyway i have mixed feelings

on one hand i can definitely see why people don't like her / think she's ooc. the classic process of "cause major change in a character" goes inciting incident -> development -> big blowout moment demonstrating the change (appropriated + bastardized from mr freytag himself), and in my personal opinion the comic jumped the gun on this one? we get the inciting incident (candy timeline's irrelevancy) and both irl timeline and character arcwise are plunged straight into the blowout with very little time in between. there's a tiny hint with the light symbol playing a role (more on this later) but for the most part it feels sudden and unjustified if you're insane about rose + understand sufficient epilogues metaphilosophy + and are coded specifically to like this type of shit you Get Exactly What's Going On and fucking dig it. if you don't, you think they've put her through a meat grinder and i can see both

on the OTHER. dear god i'm sucking on the sweet teats of knowledge and absurdism like a baby at the bath. her swapping her constant need of "why" to "why not" and both rose's constant struggle with Light mixing with the irrelevancy of candy and coalescing in one big idgaf war except.

except on the third hand it's worth mentioning that she's also half-assing absurdism so bad that it gets pathetic. her last line "I knew you would forgive me anyway" actually solidifies this arc as one big tantrum that they plan on developing into Not A Thing (hopefully) because she doesn't tell kanaya "I knew it wouldn't matter." the forgiveness is what she focuses on. the forgiveness matters. kanaya still matters to her whether this dumbass light player is consciously aware of this or not and i think ironically KANAYA knows this better than she does which is part of her saying she refuses to mediate this one. on a rosemary level this is jaw-dropping on a character level BOOOO

MAKE HER ABSURDIST! make her sit there and do things not for the sake of kanaya but literally only to do them. make her sit there and genuinely believe the only obligation in reality is to live it. dirk fails at being a true absurdist too he starts injecting meaning into life like there's motherfucking nothing and rose actually acknowledging there's zero meaning whatsoever but living anyway and in that process learning to love life (juxtaposes jake's adventurer) would juxtapose her to him but NOOOOOO she has to sit there and go Well there's no meaning to Life. It was Never that serious. Fuck you. but then refuse to kill herself (thereby proving camus right once again) then now what. now What. Ohhhh "nothing" matters cool then die. dirk's suicide was meaningful because he broke that formula okay he went There's no meaning to life? Ok. then immediately hung himself he DEVOURED that sequence he subverted absurdism back into existentialism which is cool but ROSE COULD PERPENDICULAR THAT!

[simpel-is]

more moonlight shit before i get my irl shit together (idk how many more posts itll take </3)

once again, spoilers for the movie yall its pride just watch it pls, and discussion abt topics the movie touched upon

honestly my one gripe with moonlight is if it were a mini series or a tv show where the story was able to take place over multiple episodes and all of its symbolism was allowed to sink in with the audience for them to decode, literally that will be my favourite tv show and it would get a 10/10 rating from me. it felt too short (even tho it was like almost 2 hours long), or more like we weren't able to fully connect/sink in with characters other than chiron

not like i couldnt connect with kevin and paula and other chars, but moreso their stories blended a little too well into the background and if it weren't for my natural overthinking habit then i probably would've needed a couple of rewatches to fully grasp their internal struggles

that being said, as i rewatch it it somehow just keeps on getting better. i start noticing how kevin puts on a mask of confidence for his masculinity in front of others but not chiron (when they were kids he was already like that at school, ect) he gave into peer pressure to conform into what society wanted of him rather than what he wanted, and there were hints of that sprinkled through-out (though it was never said out loud)

honestly that scene with chiron and kevin at the beach has me punching air for a lot of reasons

the color white ive noticed can symbolize uncertainty or moreso innocence and softness in the movie, compared to how the color black is used to represent the tough image characters potray to hide their emotions in the beach scene, kevin wears a white shirt with chiron, showing how he's more soft whenever he's with him. but the dialogue shows how he still has his guard up, but he's trying to gauge out how soft he can truly be with chiron, how safe he is with him

but chiron is also still putting his guard up, so its 2 awkward teenagers gauging out how honest and vulnerable they can be with each other as they take small steps towards that and its SO FUCKING CUTE

also when u rlly take into consideration the color symbol, u start to notice it like EVERYWHEREE. i dont doubt some of it is for color cohesion and so the movie has a cohesive look, but things i notice like juan's outfit change during the little section,

where at the start his shirt has so many different colors he's a complicated individual with a complex past, his pants are white which match how he seems softer on the outside but his durag is black, and this might be me stretching, but i think it could represent how his mentality is that tough mindset that doesn't allow for vulnerability

meanwhile teresa's outfit is a complementary opposite when we first see her, she's wearing a black top with a white headband; she puts on a tough exterior but her mindset is softer, more kindhearted than she lets on (which again matches her behaviour when we first see her character)

when juan drives little back home, he's dressed in all black EXCEPT for a yellow inner shirt (literally i noticed it last minute rewatching), and if u saw my last post, if yellow does rlly represent that sense of familiarty, then the outfit could be like how to paula he's this tough guy that isn't soft at all but little knows inside that he and juan are close, like father and son

when juan takes little home, he wears a mainly blue shirt with red stripes; to little, he's more vulnerable with him now, with maybe hints of insecurity regarding his past identity and how he's had to make his own name

also knowing paula does drugs, rewatching the scene where the tv is gone hits HARD now that u realize she sold the tv to get money for drugs