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deadendjustice · 2 years ago

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This was a fantastic plot analysis!! I especially loved your interpretation of Bury Me in Black (also my fave) and Prison. they really support the overarching theme of Demolition Man's questioning his sexuality/gender and contemplating if accepting The Devil's deal was really worth it, both for moral reasons and suffering for the sake of seeing Demolition Woman again. This is just how i interpret it, but I think Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is a story about internalized homophobia and Demolition Man's own forced heterosexuality in being with Demolition Woman, especially with the allusion to A Rose for Emily in To the End. This doesn't mean that he never actually loved her, but the motivation for his agreement to murder a thousand evil men probably stemmed from some internalized need to prove his devotion to his partner. since that's what any man who loves a woman would do, right?

It's never explicitly stated whether Demolition Woman has moved on from the man completely since most of the story is told from his perspective. In The Ghost of You, the woman voices her supposed acceptance of her loss of Demolition Man (whether that means him never getting to heaven or dying, depending on if she's still alive or not). Her moving on from the loss of her lover doesn't mean that she never loved him, of course. If anything, it's a pretty normal response since neither of them knew if they'd see each other ever again. As far as I can tell, Demolition Man never considers simply moving on from Demolition Woman. This is probably because of some underlying motive to validate his devotion to her as a straight man. However, his attempt to do so only seems to prove otherwise. Ex: that one line in To the End, pretty much all of Prison. Not to mention some resentment for the woman later on in Hang Em' High. Despite his newfound animosity toward her, he continues to kill and work towards his goal of taking the lives of a thousand evil men. He does eventually accept that he may fail and die along the way, ("I've lost my fear of falling") but he never genuinely regards ending his killing spree and never being able to see Demolition Woman again as a real option. He knows that his actions are morally incorrect yet believes that seeing the woman again will "cleanse him of his sins" since he's doing it for the sake of maintaining the image of a faithful heterosexual relationship.

The motifs of The Devil and religion, sins, etc. also support the idea that Demolition Man is committing these acts of violence against other sinners to somehow cleanse himself. Since most of the album is based around his actions, it's never really explained what makes one of these "evil men" evil, but it can be assumed that they'd have some of the same qualities as the man since it turns out that he's the last evil soul he must kill. Seeing that the actions he takes are motivated by internalized homophobia, there's certainly an underlying theme of the antagonism of queer people. Perhaps he believes that if he kills enough people he deems as malicious, the sins of being homosexual and murder of another will cancel out. I can see this being a metaphor for real life, which would also make sense given My Chemical Romance's commonly expressed support for the LGBT community and breaking of heteronormative social standards.

Anyways, that's just my interpretation of the narrative of Three Cheers. Again, awesome lore explanation and breakdowns of each song. I think it's pretty sick that you managed to fit I'm Not Okay and the tracks from LOTMS into the story somehow as well. It's such a banger album ngl

In case anyone needs in-depth revenge lore here’s my masterpost:

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge by American rock band My Chemical Romance is a concept album, following the Demolition Man, the Demolition Woman, the Devil, and a thousand evil men. The story begins in the last song, Demolition Lovers, of the prior album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.

Context and Controversy: There is some explaining needed before we get into the plot of Revenge. Gerard Way says in an interview that “Revenge is the story of a man and a woman who are separated by death in a gunfight. And he goes to hell, only to realize by the devil telling him that she’s still alive (There is debate on this, it will be discussed). The devil says he can be with her again if he brings the devil the souls of a thousand evil men, and the man agrees to do it, and so the devil hands him a gun and says ‘go do it.’” (Gerard Way, AOL Sessions Interview, 2004) “So obviously he kills 999 evil men, and then he realizes that the last evil man he has to kill is himself.” (Gerard Way). There is some debate, however, on the actual whereabouts of the Demolition Woman. There are no completely clear answers, it really is all up to interpretation. One theory is that the Demolition Woman is in Heaven, another is that she has survived the shootout on the highway and is alive somewhere on earth, and another theory is that the Devil has lied to the Demolition man and told him that the woman has died and gone to heaven when really, she has survived the shootout or vice versa. There are lines to prove and disprove each theory, so it really is up to interpretation.

Gerard did a drawing of the Demolition Woman on what could either be an operating table or an autopsy table (see right). There is blood on the blanket or sheet that covers her below the shoulders, which could mean she’s dead or could mean she has survived, there’s really no way to tell. Either way, in any of the three theories, they are separated, and the man has agreed to kill a thousand evil men to get back to his lover. Another source of controversy or debate is track order. In My Chemical Romance’s third album, The Black Parade, which is also a concept album, the tracks are chronologically out of order. Lastly, it is also debated whether songs Helena and I’m Not Okay (I Promise) belong in the story canonically. These topics will all be discussed as I go through the story.

Act One

Demolition Lovers: This song serves as essentially a prologue to the story of Revenge. We are introduced to the Demolition Lovers (debatably, depending on your analysis of bullets. However, I’m choosing to ignore any events that happened in bullets aside from Demolition Lovers because that’s not what this master doc is about). All we know about them is that the Demolition Man is wearing a suit, the Demolition Woman’s outfit, though unclear, may be some sort of wedding dress (see right), and they have been shot to death on a highway.

“Hand in mine, into your icy blues / and then I’d say to you, ‘we could take to the highway’... / I’d end my days with you in a hail of bullets... / and we grow cold.” (Demolition Lovers). This sets up the beginning of the plot. We know the characters have died, and we know they died from bullets. Other lines throughout the song, however, introduce us to the relationship between our characters, which is obviously romantic. “...I’m trying / to let you know how much you mean ... / Know how much I want to show you [that] you’re the only one / and as we’re falling down, and in this pool of blood / and as we’re touching hands... / I'll see your eyes, and in this pool of blood, I’ll meet your eyes / I mean this forever.” (Demolition Lovers). This clarifies, even though it was obvious, that our characters are lovers and they obviously mean quite a lot to each other.

Importantly, the setup for the plot of Revenge is mentioned a lot in this song. “But this time, I mean it, I’ll let you know just how much you mean to me / but this time we’ll show them... all how much we mean / like a bed of roses, there’s a dozen reasons in this gun.” (Demolition Lovers). This really begins to bring up the idea of revenge and avenging their own deaths, which is exactly what the Demolition Man does in the album.

Give Em’ Hell Kid: This is the second track on the album. I believe that Helena, the first track, comes later in the story if it’s even canonically involved at all.

And so it begins. This song takes place right after the Demolition Man has agreed to this mission, this quest to kill a thousand evil men. He leaves from New Orleans, takes a dose of ephedrine (a stimulant used to increase alertness), and starts his life on the run. “Took a train outta New Orleans, and they shot me full of ephedrine / this is how we like to do it in the murder scene, can we settle up the score?” He has taken on this brand new role of mass murderer, taken stimulatory drugs to increase his efficiency, and declared that that is how it rolls for a life like this.

Despite this determination, he also talks about missing his lover. “If you were here, I’d never have a fear / so go on, live your life / but I miss you more than I did yesterday / you’re beautiful... / you’re so far away...” (Give Em’ Hell Kid). The second stanza is a line that contributes to the debate of whether the Demolition Woman is actually dead. If you choose to take it literally, he assumes she is alive. If you think she’s in heaven, or you think the devil lied about the man to her location, the line can be interpreted more among the lines of the Demolition Woman being happy in paradise (Heaven), which is mentioned a few more times throughout the album. It could go either way.

The Demolition Man, while steadfast, still doesn’t feel great about this deal. Who would? He experiences moral debates on it throughout the album, but very early on we can see him wondering if it’s worth it and if the Demolition Woman would do the same for him. “Well, I'm a total wreck and almost every day / like the firing squad or the mess you made... / We never wanted it to be this way / for all our lives / do you care at all?” (Give Em’ Hell Kid)

Lastly, there is the line: “Well, don’t I look pretty looking down the street in the best damn dress I own?” This could be taken metaphorically, the dress being some sort of determination-related confidence, but I see it more literally. I think he could have been in drag. There are a few things that lead me to believe this is true: both the fact that Gerard used to crossdress throughout college, and the line “What did you call me?” which leads me to believe the Demolition Man could have been called some sort of homophobic slur, which I can conclude from the next line, “Well, there’s no way I’m kissing that guy.” This take on it is interesting, because we see the Demolition Man struggle with a question of sexuality throughout the album as well, first explored in the next track on the album, To The End.

To The End: This song was originally based on William Faulkner’s short story A Rose for Emily. In this story, a woman, abandoned by her husband, lives a reclusive life in a house with her father. When her father dies, the coroners have to convince her to let them bury the body, which she has been keeping in the house for 3 days. After this, she rarely goes out, until years later when she meets Homer, a northerner, who is said to “like men” which could either be taken as homosexuality or that he likes to remain a bachelor. The story is from 1930, so it’s likely that it could have been phrased so vaguely on purpose, as Faulkner would have been arrested had it been a direct allusion to homosexuality. Rumors spread that Emily and Homer have married, and no one sees either of them for a long time, shut up inside the house together.

Until Emily goes out to buy poison, “for rats.”

When Emily dies, they break open a part of the house that has been shut off for years and find Homer’s long-decayed body in a bed. On the pillow next to him is a strand of Emily’s hair, implying that she was in the habit of sleeping next to the decomposed body.

The main takeaway of why this story is important, is Emily is upset that her husband did not love her, either due to the fact that he was gay or that he was simply not interested in marriage.

This same double meaning is exhibited in To The End, in which the Demolition Man murders an entire wedding reception.

It’s clear in this song that the Demolition Man is getting a little out of control with this killing spree, maybe even beginning to enjoy himself. He goes to this mansion where a wedding is taking place and kills every person inside. Certainly, not all of these people were “evil men,” which means that the Demolition Man is on some sort of power high. “He calls the mansion, not a house, but a tomb / He's always choking from the stench and the fumes / The wedding party all collapsed in the room / So send my resignation to the bride and the groom.” (To The End). We can see that it's still in the beginning of his quest, though, because he is still not used to the smell of corpses or blood. Even though he has killed probably hundreds by now, that’s still out of a thousand. He’s got a long way to go.

He thinks of the house as “not a house, but a tomb,” implying that he does in fact plan to kill every person inside. This also can refer to A Rose for Emily, in that multiple people have died and decomposed in that house. Everyone is “collapsed,” either in that they are dead or they are on the ground begging him not to shoot. He’s gotten snarky with it, too, “send my resignation to the bride and the groom,” proof of this confidence that he’s good at his job, and he’s getting it done.

Here’s where the first hint at the sexuality crisis the Demolition Man experiences comes into play, with that same vague, double meaning as the one in A Rose for Emily. “He's not around, he's always looking at men / Down by the pool, he doesn't have many friends, as they are

/ Face down and bloated, snap a shot with the lens.” (To The End). This line could either mean he’s not present in his life, because he’s so focused on finding and hunting down all these evil men that it’s all he can think about, or that he’s not around his lover and he’s now made a habit of checking out other dudes. I personally think it means both, that this double meaning exists for a reason. It’s the same as A Rose For Emily- either meaning that you choose to accept means that the man is not present with his lover because of something in the way.

The second part of the line refers to him having no friends- understandably because he kills most of the people he interacts with.

The pre-chorus is him wondering again if the Demolition Woman would do this for him as well.

“If you marry me / Would you bury me? / Would you carry me to the end?” (To The End)

The chorus really confuses me. “(Say goodbye) to the vows you take / (And say goodbye) to the life you make / (And say goodbye) to the heart you break / And all the cyanide you drank.” (To the End). I really have no idea what’s going on here. “Say goodbye to the vows you take” could either be about him defying his morals and ethical values because he’s murdering all these people, or it could have something to do with marriage vows, which could be in relation to the Demolition Lovers or the people who were getting married that he murdered. The cyanide bit also confuses me; in A Rose For Emily, Emily uses arsenic to poison her husband. I don’t know. The chorus is up to interpretation.

“She keeps a picture of the body she lends / Got nasty blisters from the money she spends / She's got a life of her own and it shows by the Benz / She drives at 90 by the Barbie's and Ken's.” (To The End). I think this line is what the Demolition Man thinks the Demolition Woman is up to in heaven. Heaven is supposed to be paradise, so he thinks she’s having the time of her life (no pun intended) up there while he’s doing all this work to get her back. He shows bitterness about this topic multiple times throughout the album.

“If you ever say never, too late / I'll forget all the diamonds you ate / Lost in coma and covered in cake / Increase the medication / Share the vows at the wake (kiss the bride).” (To the End). This continues the bitterness, the Demolition Man saying he’ll forgive her for having fun up in heaven while he’s suffering down here if she marries him. This whole song, I think, speaking of weddings, is about the Demolition Man wanting to marry the woman. The song starts by taking place during a wedding, so it’s not unusual that the Demolition Man would be thinking about it. “If you ever say [it’s] never too late” is probably about her commitment, and so is the chorus, along with “share the vows at the wake,” which I think means he wants to get married as soon as he dies again to go back to the afterlife to be with her. While we can’t see much of the demolition woman’s outfit on the album cover, (See paragraph on Demolition Lovers) I believe it could be a wedding dress. It has sort of a lacy neckline and appears to be white, so it’s possible. The man is also wearing a suit, and they look like they're about to kiss, so it's entirely plausible.

You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison: Featuring vocals of The Used’s Bert McCracken, is when the Demolition Man, with a hit to his belief that he is invincible, is caught by authorities and sent to prison.

“In the middle of a gunfight / In the center of a restaurant / They say, "Come with your arms raised high" / Well, they're never gonna get me / Like a bullet through a flock of doves.”

It’s a common pattern throughout the album; the Demolition Man starts to believe he is untouchable, godly almost, and then something sets him back and he completely breaks down. This is the first time his invincibility gets shattered, when he becomes incarcerated and it slows down his mission. “To wage this war against your faith in me.” (Prison). He’s had this huge halt in his progress, and he’s afraid Demolition Womanis losing hope that he’ll see her again (even though she doesn’t know he’s doing this in the first place), and that she’ll stay loyal to him. We see the first mentions of religious belief sprinkled throughout the song as well: “On your mother's eyes, say a prayer / Say a prayer / …as God had made us.” (Prison). This theme is explored more in coming tracks Interlude and Thank You For The Venom.

It is also the track that really begins to explore this sexuality crisis the Demolition Man is having. Let’s be real: Gay sex is not new for prisons. It’s really not. And we know he’s been questioning this identity for a while now (See Paragraph on To The End), so it was bound to happen sometime, especially when he’s trapped with only a bunch of other men in the same situation for an undetermined amount of time… “Now, but I can't, and I don't know / How we're just two men as God had made us / Well, I can't, well, I can, yeah.” (Prison). Forgive me but I cannot think of a heterosexual explanation for this. I really can’t. The last stanza is the Demolition Man having some sort of inner conflict with himself about morals, like, should I really be doing this? And while he feels guilty, he decides he clearly doesn't feel guilty enough because he keeps on doing it. “Too much, too late / Or just not enough of this pain in my heart for your dying wish / I'll kiss your lips again.” (Prison). In the last stanza, he could be talking either about the Demolition Woman or some guy that he’s formed some sort of sexual and/or romantic bond with inside the prison.

Unfortunately, while consensual sex is not new for prison, neither is non-consensual. It can be inferred that the Demolition Man experienced this during his incarceration with these lines: “My cellmate's a killer, they make me do push-ups in drag / …What they ask of you will make you want to say, "So long" / Well, I don't remember / Why remember you?” (Prison). Something else common in prison is trying to effeminate one partner- to pretend like what they’re doing isn’t gay (it’s gay), which could explain the drag bit. We also see him mention a little bit of memory repression from this trauma that has been induced upon him.

Prison is also where he starts having his first mental decline, understandably. He’s become a mass murderer, he’s struggling with his identity, he’s away from everything he knows and loves, and it’s taking a toll on him mentally; he’s even beginning to toy with the notion of his own death, whether sentenced by law or by suicide. “But nobody cares if you're losing yourself / Am I losing myself? / Well, I miss my mom / Will they give me the chair? / Or lethal injection, or swing from a rope, if you dare? / Nobody knows all the trouble I've seen / …Life is but a dream for the dead.” (Prison). The last stanza has a double meaning: It could continue the theme of wishing he were dead, or it could continue the theme of bitterness toward his lover, who to his knowledge, is having a great time in heaven.

At the end of the song, the Demolition Man and presumably some of his prison friends break out of the jail. “Do you have the keys to the hotel? 'Cause I'm gonna string this motherfucker on fire / …And well, I, I won't go down by myself / But I'll go down with my friends.” (Prison). “The hotel” could be referring to where he’ll stay when he gets out of the prison, referenced later in the album: “Check into the hotel Bella Muerte…” (The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You) (which may also be a metaphor, more on that when we get to Jetset Life.) So it can be assumed that there was a breakout, the fire being literal or metaphorical, either way meaning they’re leaving the place in shambles. The last stanza may also have a double meaning, potentially being a sexual innuendo as well as a declaration of camaraderie.

Interlude: This track on the album actually comes after The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You, but I think it makes more sense after Prison. A very climactic, high-intensity part of the story has just occurred, everything’s a mess, he’s just broken out of prison, what’s going on with the Demolition Woman… leaving us wondering what will happen next, which seems like the perfect time for an intermission. Yes, I agree that typically, the intermission is more toward the middle or ⅔ mark, but to me this is the best placement for it.

Interlude only has three lines: “Saints protect her now / Come angels of the Lord / Come angels of unknown.” (Interlude). This is the Demolition Man praying to any higher being that he can think of to protect his lover and keep her safe. Thus, the end of Act One.

Act Two

The Ghost of You: This song is sort of a duet between the Demolition Lovers, the lines changing perspective from the woman and from the man. Gerard has done this in other songs as well, such as Famous Last Words, where there is a conversation happening between two different people, but the switches between speakers are unmarked. I’ll mark who I think said what for each mentioned line.

DW: “I never said I'd lie and wait forever.”

DM: “If I died / We'd be together / I can't always just forget her / But she could try.”

DW “At the end of the world / Or the last thing I see / You are never coming home, never coming home / Could I? Should I?”

I think the last line from the Demolition Woman is her wondering if it’s okay for her to let the man go. To reach some sort of acceptance that she’s never going to see him again.

DM: “Ever get the feeling that you're never all alone? / And I remember now / At the top of my lungs in my arms, she dies.” This, to some, is confirmation that the Demolition Woman is in fact dead. It could also be argued, however, that the line “If I died, we’d be together” could have come from the woman and not the man, which contradicts itself with the “she dies” lyric. These contradicting lines can be placed into either the alive or heaven theory by rearranging who said what, or it can be placed in the category of “the devil lied to the demolition man” if you say the woman said “If I died we’d be together.” Any of them work for the story; the point is, she misses him and wonders if it's messed up of her to try and accept the loss of him.

Throughout the album, the Demolition Man has this constant fear of “falling,” which I think means dying or failing his mission. “If I fall…” It’s mentioned more later on in the album, but it brings up the point that he still could fail the mission. He could still die. This is not a guaranteed win for him, so maybe it’s not all that bad of an idea for the Demolition Woman to reach some type of acceptance…

The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You: Back to the story. The last song was more just about emotions and how everyone is feeling and how things are going up in Heaven but now we’re getting back into the plot, shortly after the Demolition Man has escaped prison and checked into a hotel somewhere, called the hotel Bella Muerte (Beautiful Death in original Spanish). This hotel could also be metaphorical… more when we get to that line. The song starts with him missing her and looking at how much longer he has to go before he’ll complete this mission. “Gaze into her killing jar I'd sometimes stare for hours… / And for the last night I lie / Could I lie with you?” (Jetset Life). While he’s missing her, though, he’s also starting to resent her just the tiniest bit for making him (even though she didn’t make him) do all of this miserable awful stuff to get back to her when he doesn’t even know if she still believes in him anymore. “When holding on / Oh, I hope you do the same / Aww, sugar / Slip into the tragedy / You've spun this chamber dry.”

This song is also when the Demolition Man starts turning to drugs to numb the pain of everything going on. “I'm lost in the prescription / …It gives the weak flight / It gives the blind sight / Until the cops come.” His drug use is making him sloppy with his work and it’s almost getting him caught. (Side note, these are probably expensive drugs he’s using. The word Jetset means basically “rich and fancy” and he says the jetset life will kill you, (as drugs can)). This is where the potential metaphor of “Hotel Bella Muerte” comes into play- it’s mentioned right after the “lost in the prescription” line, and “checking into the hotel Beautiful Death” could represent actually dying due to this drug use. It could get him caught, it could kill him through an overdose. This metaphor could be continued (well, started) in Prison too, when Bert yells the line “Do you have the keys to the hotel? 'Cause I'm gonna string this motherfucker on fire!” (Prison) it could have meant “are you ready to die?”

Cemetery Drive: So, the Demolition Man is taking a break and recovering from prison. He’s visiting presumably his hometown, feeling, not gonna lie, a little suicidal. “Back home, off the run / Singing songs that make you slit your wrists / It isn't that much fun / Staring down a loaded gun.” (Cemetery Drive).

He then makes the very bad decision to go find his lover’s grave. “This night, walk the dead in a solitary style / And crash the cemetery gates.” (Cemetery Drive). He starts getting really sad because of this and starts reminiscing and just talking about how much he misses the woman. “I miss you / I miss you, so far / And the collision of your kiss / That made it so hard.” (Cemetery Drive). He also has another one of those moments of “is it worth it?” when he says “So, I won't stop dying, won't stop lying / If you want, I'll keep on crying / Did you get what you deserve? / Is this what you always want me for?” (Cemetery Drive). The rest of the song is very repetitive, but the line “way down” is repeated many many times. It could be talking about hell, it could be talking about the woman under the ground, it could be talking about this “fall” he’s constantly afraid of, it could be anything, really. The main important part of this song is that it leads to another change in identity: in religion.

Thank You For The Venom: This is when things mentally really start to go downhill for the Demolition Lover. He has just visited his dead lover’s grave, he’s by himself, and this is when he decides, ultimately: Fuck God. He’s given up on religion. He knows it’s real, because he’s literally on a quest from Satan himself, but he has no faith in it anymore. “Sister, I'm not much a poet, but a criminal / And you never had a chance / Love it, or leave it, you can't understand / …Preach all you want but who's gonna save me? / I keep a gun on the book you gave me, hallelujah, lock and load” (Venom).

I think maybe a nun has tried to “save” him; he could also be talking about religious people in general, but for story’s sake we’ll say a nun tried to “save” him. We know he’s had religious beliefs in the past, like when he says he was how God made him, or when he prayed to the angels to protect his lover, but he’s done. He’s like, “fuck God, fuck religion, fuck this nun.” (He does end up killing the nun: “Love is the red of the rose on your coffin door / What's life like, bleeding on the floor?”) He really doesn't care at all if people know about this aversion to religion: “I wear this on my sleeve / Give me a reason to believe.” He even contradicts his line from earlier in the album: “We’re just two men as God had made us” (Prison), with “I'm just the way that the doctor made me.” (Venom).

His drug use has gotten worse since Jetset Life: “So give me all your poison / And give me all your pills / And give me all your hopeless hearts / And make me ill.” (Venom). And the man still thinks he’s untouchable too, whether that means they can't convert him or he can’t be stopped in his mission or both. “You're running after something / That you'll never kill / If this is what you want / Then fire at will.” (Venom) This is also where he really starts to not give a shit if he even finishes out the mission: he’s like, fine, kill me, I don’t even know if this is worth it anyway. This attitude only gets stronger in our next track: Hang Em’ High.

Hang Em’ High: The Demolition Lover, with this new “Fuck It” mindset, is now picking up speed on his killing spree, barely caring if he gets killed himself in the process. This entire song is basically about him hunting down the men on the list and killing like a machine, a ruthless rampage that takes on the sound of an old western. “Grab your six-gun from your back / Throttle the ignition / Would I die for you? / Well, here's your answer in spades / Shotgun sinners / Wild-eyed jokers / Got you in my sights / Gun it while I'm holding on.” (Hang Em’ High). You can note the tone of resentment toward the Demolition Woman as well. There’s sort of been this underlying question of “will she still love me after what I’ve done?” and this song really hits the point of “I don’t care what she thinks I’m doing it the fuck anyway.” He’s real sarcastic about it too, but that’s nothing new: “After all is said and done / Climb out from the pine box / Well, I'm asking you / 'Cause she's got nothing to say / …She won't stop me, put it down / So get your gun and meet me by the door.” (Hang em’ High.) This song is also where that theme of “falling” comes again. In this song, he sort of says “If I die, I die, and we’ll both move on.” “If I fall and don't look back / Oh, baby, don't stop / Bury me and fade to black.” (Hang em’ High). This is very different from The Ghost of You, where he’s a little more afraid of this “fall.” It’s really better explained in the tone of the song. In The Ghost of You, the line about falling is very isolated, warningly ominous, and is followed by a heavy chorus of basically just wailing, so it seems like a big fear of his. In Hang ‘Em High, the “fall” is much more casually mentioned and is followed by “don’t stop and bury me,” AKA, “get over it.”

It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A Fucking Deathwish: This song is very important to the story because it exhibits a large change in character. This song is about the Demolition Man hunting down one or more of the people who murdered him. “For what you did to me / And what I'll do to you / You get, what everyone else gets / You get a lifetime / …I'm coming back from the dead / And I'll take you home with me / I'm taking back the life you stole / …I will avenge my ghost with every breath I take / …This hole that you put me in / Wasn't deep enough / And I'm climbing out right now / You’re running out of places to hide from me.” (Fashion Statement).

This song contains a very crucial part in the album. This is the song where he fully accepts that he may fail his mission by dying. In Ghost of You it was his greatest fear, in Hang Em’ High it was maybe-a-thing-that-could-happen-but-I’m-not-going-to-think-about-it-right-now-just-gonna -kill-a-bunch-of-people. In this song, he knows it’s possible. He’s reached full acceptance that he may never see his lover again. This, right here, is one of the most important lines in the album: “I lost my fear of falling.” (Fashion Statement)

Obviously, he’s going to keep trying, though. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still very determined to be with the woman again, but he’s setting his bar realistically in that he may not make it. “If living was the hardest part / We'll then one day be together / …When you go / Just know that I will remember you / I lost my fear of falling / I will be with you, I will be with you.”

And thus, with his determination and preparation in his mind, we arrive at the finale.

I Never Told You What I Do For A Living:

This is the last song in the story of the Demolition Lovers. The Demolition has almost made it to the end of the mission, and he is absolutely ready to kill the last person and see his lover again. “Another night and I'll see you / Another night and I'll be you.” (Never Told You). He is going down the list, going on this rampant spree trying to hunt down the last men on the list. “Another knife in my hands /…I keep a book of the names and those / Only go so far 'til you bury them / So deep and down we go.” (Never Told You).

The only thing he’s worried about is if, one: the woman will still love him after what he’s done, and two: how he’ll deal with the guilt. He’s hoping getting into heaven and seeing the woman will cleanse him of his sins: “Another knife in my hands / A stain that never comes off the sheets / Clean me off / I'm so dirty babe / The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes

/…Touched by angels, though I fall out of grace / I did it all so maybe I'd live this every day.” (Never Told You). The first five stanzas are about the “seeing the woman will cleanse him” thing. The rest is about his guilt. If he’ll think about it day after day once he’s in heaven, and if he’s ruined his chance at religion because he’s fallen “out of grace.” The part about the woman not loving him anymore is a valid concern, really. I mean, think about it. He’s not the same guy anymore. He has killed one thousand people. That’s too large of a number for us to even comprehend in this context, but try. That shit would change you, for sure.

We have another chorus, after which he simply says the word “down,” which I have to assume means he has just killed the 999th person.

And here’s where everything falls apart.

The devil has just told the Demolition Man that the last evil man he must kill is himself.

He’s been hunting down man after man making kill after kill for at least a year in completely dismal conditions, dirtying his conscience and completely uprooting his life and mind as he knows it. He’s suffered through this all just to get back to the Demolition Woman… and now he can’t. It was all for nothing.

“And we all fall down / I tried /I tried.”

I strongly suggest you actually listen to this part, because just the quote definitely does not get the tone across. It’s at about 1:40 in the song. Gerard is screaming and wailing, really capturing the anguish that his character is feeling, knowing his work was for nothing and knowing that he’ll never see the Demolition Woman again.

However, he does accept this fate.

“And we'll all dance alone to the tune of your death / We'll love again, we'll laugh again / and it's better off this way.” (Never Told You)

Those worries of guilt, the worries that he’s changed too much as a person, the worries that the woman won’t love him anymore, are released. The fact that he says “we’ll all” instead of just “I’ll” is really interesting. He does it in other places throughout the song as well. I have to assume he’s referring to the other 999 people he’s killed, which is a very cool image, all of these people that have died because the Demolition Woman has died, the man soon to join them. It’s an image Gerard creates in the third album as well, an army of ghosts rallying for a final hurrah: “We're damned after all / Through fortune and flame we fall.” (Mama).

He says it’s “better off this way” which is an interesting choice in wording because it’s the same phrase he uses in I’m Not Okay (I Promise), which is not a song I’ve talked about yet. “I never want to let you down / Or have you go, it's better off this way.” (I’m Not Okay).

The second stanza I suppose means that they’ll move on. They’ll learn to “live” without each other in the afterlife.

However, this acceptance comes very quickly after the breakdown, which implies that it was sort of that “quick fix reasoning” we tend to do- something bad happens and we instantly try to reassure ourselves that it’s going to be okay by conjuring up the first solution or remedy we can think of.

I can infer this because the Demolition Man starts reminiscing about the day they were shot, repeating these lines: “And never again, and never again / They gave us two shots to the back of the head / And we're all dead now,” twice, increasing in desperation and emotion the second time around, and then he starts wailing again. “Well I tried / One more night / One more night / Well I'm laughin' out, cryin' out, laughin' out loud / I tried, well I tried, well I tried / 'Cause I tried, but I lied.” (Never Told You)

He’s losing his mind. He’s freaking the fuck out, the whole impact of what has happened is hitting him, and he’s no longer trying to quickly reassure himself, but just insisting that he “tried” over and over again, even to the point of laughing, he’s so far out of it. He just keeps saying “One more night,” knowing he was that close to seeing the woman again.

He repeats “I tried” a few more times, and then he tries to assure himself again with the lines about it being “better off.” He’s jumping back and forth, his touch on what he knows loosening. He does understand one thing, though. This guilt will haunt him, Demolition Woman or not. “And it's better off this way / So much better off this way / I can't clean the blood off the sheets in my bed!” (Never Told You.) I feel like it’s important to note that during these shifts in thoughts, Gerard switches between more calmly singing and completely screaming which probably accurately represents this complete breakdown the Demolition Man is having.

The song ends with a final reminiscence of the night of the Demolition Lovers’ death, as the Demolition Man does what the devil has asked of him and joins his list of the dead.

“And never again, and never again / They gave us two shots to the back of the head / And we're all… dead… now.”

***

The End? Not quite. You may have noticed that I’ve neglected I’m Not Okay (I Promise), Helena, and the bonus tracks from the live recording collection: Life on the Murder Scene.

Helena: Helena was written following the death of the Grandmother of Gerard and Mikey Way (Bassist). Gerard has described this song as “an angry, open letter to himself.” The lyrics are more than anything about the Ways’ Grandmother, Elena, than the story, but if we must find a way to connect it, I believe it would be from the Demolition Woman’s perspective (It could also be about what the Demolition Man thinks the woman is thinking). “What's the worst that I can say? / Things are better if I stay / So long and goodnight / …Well, if you carry on this way / Things are better if I stay / So long and goodnight/” (Helena). This can be the Demolition Woman saying she’s better off in heaven after she’s seen what the Demolition Man has done and who he’s become.

The whole song is about grief, which means it could take place pretty much anywhere in the timeline, that is, if the song fits with the story at all.

I’m Not Okay (I Promise): I’m pretty sure this song takes place before they die. I think it’s about both of them having some mental health issues and problems with each other, which means their relationship was a little rocky. Don’t get me wrong, they were still totally in love with each other, I mean, obviously, he killed 1000 men for her, but they had some issues. This can also be concluded from some lines in Demolition Lovers: “And after all the things we put each other through…” (Demolition Lovers). It’s largely unimportant, I think. The lyrics are not really of substance, except that neither of them are okay and they kind of fought sometimes, but they won’t break up because being a little bit unhappy with each other is better than not being with each other at all: ““I never want to let you down / Or have you go, it's better off this way.” (I’m Not Okay). That’s about all I could take away from this track.

Desert Song: One of the two bonus tracks from this album, found on the live recording collection Life on the Murder Scene. I’m not gonna lie, the analysis of this song is very simple: We died, that’s sad, I miss you.

It’s pretty much the entire story’s plot (feelings-wise) in one song. There’s an allusion to I Never Told You What I Do For a Living: “And did you come to stare or wash away the blood?” (Like the line “Clean me off / I'm so dirty babe / The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes” (Never Told You)). It details the journey of their bodies: “From the earth to the morgue /

Morgue, morgue, morgue!” (Desert Song) and talks about the woman living in heaven or mourning him or both: “Spend the rest of your days rockin' out / Just for the dead.” It’s not a very eventful song, and I have to assume that much of it is written about Gerard Way’s real life more than the Demolition Lovers.

Bury Me in Black: My personal favorite. Also found on Life on the Murder Scene, this song has got to be the angriest on the album.

There’s proof that it could be directed toward the Demolition Woman, and theories that it could be directed toward the devil, but I think it’s both. It takes place sometime during his mission, I assume around the 400 mark where he’s probably extremely fed up with this mission and just angry as hell. “I wanna see what your insides look like (I wanna see what your insides look like)/ I bet you're not fucking pretty on the inside (not so pretty) / I wanna see what your insides look like (not so pretty, baby)” (Bury Me in Black). Yeah, he’s mad. He’s extremely violent, either toward his lover or toward the devil, we don’t know. But he’s been killing for so long now that violence is all he knows…

There’s some maybe-proof that it’s toward the woman: “I said, ‘We'll drown ourselves in misery tonight’ / White lies, you've worn out all your dancing shoes this time,” which I think is bitterness that the woman is in heaven. He’s completely miserable, and he wants her to be miserable too, not having fun in paradise.

The part that makes me think it’s the devil is here: “I've been calling you all week for my

Shotgun / Pick up the phone / Pick up the phone, fucker.” He has to be in some sort of communication with the devil to let him know what’s going on, which makes me think he doesn’t have the materials or information he needs, which is halting his mission, AKA frustrating him enough that he wants to literally gut Satan.

This is also another look at just how miserable he is. He’s drinking to numb the pain: “These eyes have had too much to drink again tonight,” He’s feeling suicidal: ‘Black skies, we'll douse ourselves in high explosive light,” He’s physically injured from fights: “And well, I can't explain / What happened to my face / Late last night,” He’s homeless: “I sleep in empty pools, and vacant alleyways,” and he’s having a sexuality crisis: “And what I'm going through / Shot lip gloss through my veins.” (Bury Me in Black). It is another song that fits pretty much anywhere in the timeline.

The End: Thank you for reading this stupid bullshit if you made it this far. Yes, I wrote all of this and if you are for some reason crazy enough to use it for anything please credit me; I spent far too long working on this to get robbed. It is December 25, 2022, 12:52 am, thus concluding my first completed masterdoc: The Story Behind My Chemical Romance’s: Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. Thanks for reading.

#by the way sorry if this is formatted or posted weird #i don't post much especially when it comes to reblogged text posts #three cheers for sweet revenge

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igarbagecannoteven · 2 years ago

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okay i’ve listened to 5sos5 a handful of times now so i think i have a general vibe check in my head so! i thought i’d do a track-by-track bc that’s what the Cool Kids™ are doing and i am but another lemming rushing towards the cliff that is the trends of the 5sos side of tumblr. also this got so fucking long so if you read the whole thing you get as many gold stars as you want lol

Easy For You To Say: this is the song that stayed stuck in my head after I listened to the whole album. It’s incredibly catchy and has heaps of good lyrics! Admittedly I don’t really follow the entire narrative but I think that’s more of a me thing than a reflection of the lyrical content. (and i do get most of it! there’s just a few threads i have yet to tie together.) i love the play on words that is “a piece of peace of mind”. sonically it has me bopping my head to the beat basically the whole way through! I think it’s in a good location in terms of the album as a whole

COMPLETE MESS: definitely a single for a reason! it’s one you can shout-sing along to which is always a plus i like the rushing sound leading into the chorus/other different moments, and lyrics-wise i love that it can be read as platonic or romantic love :)) that’s how you know they’re catering to me. also! michael’s part! the way it changes the tonality/meaning and the way you can hear him smiling as he’s singing!! and of course the fact that all of them sing on it!!! we love to see it! my main con is that it’s pretty repetitive lyrically but still i won’t hold it against them. this song makes me want to write a fic that would fit the title “you make me (a) complete (mess)” so badly but alas i have yet to come up with a plot to match its energy

Bad Omens: i LOVE the way this song plays with leaving the “else” off the phrase “you love somebody else” it’s soooo narratively interesting and i would love to see an angsty unhappy ending songfic that utilizes this concept (if anyone wants to write it *eyes emoji*) i like the way it loops very nicely (it fades in and out in the same way which is satisfying) (and possibly a metaphor for the futility of the relationship? but maybe i’m reading into things too much lol) the line “I should have known right there and then you were a runaway” feels like a very 80s lyric (and not just bc it reminds me of runaway by bon jovi lol) i will say i am not as in love with it as everyone else seems to be (idk why it’s the big hit out of the non-singles?) but it’s not bc it’s bad, it’s just probably not going to have me obsess over it

Take My Hand (Joshua Tree Version): if any song deserves to be called vibey it’s this one. i think the musicality and the lyrics really work well together in this song, especially for the verses. there’s an almost melancholy feeling to it and now that i’ve listened to it several times it’s started to resonate with me more and more. like a lot of the songs on the album i’m not sure how often i’ll go out of my way to listen to it, but that’s more bc this album isn’t necessarily in my go-to genre than a measure of the song's individual worth. i feel conflicted about the extension to the song, bc on the one hand behind the scenes-type stuff! the voice note vibes make me soft! But idk if it actually adds anything to the song on its own,, like if i didn’t love the band i don’t think it’d really do too much for me. also what is he saying the background! it doesn’t sound like all the same lyrics! let me hear it!!! omg i forgot to mention the “few more souls on the bus now” line it’s just *chef’s kiss* no notes nearly made me cry when i heard that bit live ngl

Me Myself & I: another banger of a single (that is a bit too repetitive for its own good) it’s catchy it’s fun to sing along to and i honestly don’t have much else to say about it lol

CAROUSEL: the first time i listened to this all I could hear for the first,, minute? at least? was a taylor swift 1989 lost track and i have yet to totally shake that off lol. (see what i did there?) driving metaphors!!!! there is a tiny part of me that’s reminded of u2’s city of blinding lights during the chorus (which is a compliment btw) but that’s just bc i’ve listened to that song way to many times lol. it’s a good song, but i honestly have very few opinions about it other than why is it capitalized?? is it tied to the other capitalized songs somehow??? 5sos tell me what your thought process is!!!

Older: skip! sorry y’all it’s just not my vibe i rarely like piano ballads as it is and i just think that it has several places where they *could* have done something cool and then didn’t. i will say seeing the performance of it in the tofu live show did melt my frosty heart but not enough for me to add this one to my liked songs.

HAZE: idk why it’s titled what it is but it’s a bop! I love the way the vocals swap off; it’s done quite cleverly imo and i think it shows the different strengths of each of their lyrical styles well (if i’m right that the vocals match some of the writing credits) it’s vibey it makes me want to stick my arms and pretend i’m cruising :)) also thematically it’s a little like a dog waiting impatiently by the door bc their person is out and about which i love

You Don’t Go To Parties: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the cashton vocals!!!! the bass!!!! the car metaphor!!!! also the repetition of the number five anyone?? clearly they’re 555sos fans /j also they’re totally referencing the maine in the second verse right guys? guys? but in all seriousness i love how visual the storytelling is! the lyric “racehorse trippin' on the dirt that you got on me” is very !!! especially bc the beat for the verses almost “trips” over itself (although maybe that’s just me reading into things lol) also i am very happy that my opposite vibe-check wish/comment that i made way back when they first dropped the titled kinda came true bc it’s def more of a banger than people were predicting :)) we love to see it. i am ignoring the fact that the title is capitalized incorrectly but telepathically i’m telling them to put their song titles through that capitalization checker next album

BLENDER: !!!!!!!! banger of my heart!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is def my favorite of the singles it’s just *such* a bop i will never listen to this song without remembering bouncing around in the very tiny cabin i was quarantined in at the time this song dropped and honestly i don’t hate it! this song makes me smile every time i hear it i love the line “ricocheting off the bed” even though i’m honestly not sure i’m interpreting it right i love the bassline i love how danceable it is!! i don’t have anything coherent to say lol it’s a bop idk what more you could ask for

Caramel: i don’t have the vocabulary to talk about the instrumentals in this song but it’s a vibe! it’s a song that demands you move your shoulders and i’m lowkey here for it. the harmonies are tasty the chorus is catchy the bridge is mmmmmmmmmmmmmm i’m fascinated by the choices made in the outro but in a positive way? altho i could take or leave the acoustic bit tbh. in a less positive note, we all agree that the only reason it’s named caramel is bc there aren’t a lot of songs named that and they wanted a certain number of one word titles, right? bc unless there’s some deep meaning i’m missing there’s no reason for that to be the title (that being said i’d love to for there to be a secret meaning please tell me 5sos i want the secret caramel knowledge) the other negative of this song is that it’s inevitably going to start a debate over the right way to say caramel (which isn’t the way they say it in the song fyi)

Best Friends: when i first started listening to the album i took a moment to accept the fact that this song could be a love song and that i’d be okay with it and then it was a friendship song and i got to breath a sigh of relief lol. the chorus is wonderful to shout with your bff (this has been tested 😊) it captures this younger feeling compared to the other songs on the album and i vibe with it! the line “life is like a poem written on a bathroom wall” is *such* a good lyric and conjures up such specific images! it’s a banger it’s a song to bounce along to i could see it in a jukebox musical as like the happy triumphant near-the-end song

Bleach: talk about a mood shift! (i think this is the song that reminded me of maisie peters? i’m pretty sure) i love the swapping of the vocals, it does something different in this song than in the previous songs which is fascinating to me! i love the line “everything i was spinning down the drain” it’s just. yeah. it’s a good quiet song for the album; it fits in well and is a good breath in if that makes sense

Red Line: a train song!!! i can’t wait to listen to this on my next train ride y’all don’t even know. it’s got vibes and a cool concept. that being said it’s not a huge standout song on the album, but not through any particular fault of its own; i don’t think it’s going to be one i listen to a ton (other than on public transport lol) i do like how the standard version closes out with the train door sound, it’s fun!

Moodswings: i love how the song makes me sway in play (you could say that i’m almost swinging) (get it? it’s a play on-[gunshot]) i would love to see an apocalyptic take on this song tbh (“through bloodshot eyes the sky is fallin’” anyone?) i think it’d make a deliciously angsty songfic! also love the self-destructive and codependent nature of the lyrics i just think that they portray it well!

Flatline: a bop! it’s a great “first love” love song it’s catchy it’s got some slightly strange lyrical undertones in the pre-chorus that i would love for someone smarter than me to analyze bc otherwise i’m going to coming up with a truly unhinged explanation (and that is a threat) i can def see why it’s a bonus song but still good!

Emotions: i want a proper rock cover of this song so fucking bad please i would pay real people money for it i think i deserve it!! michael’s voice is, of course, *chef’s kiss* i do wish the lyrics weren’t so,, broad? if that makes sense? i think the bridge threw me off lyrically the first time i listened to it bc i was like ‘yeah i get this feeling’ and then the bridge was just. not relatable lol but that’s a me thing (and now part of me’s like ‘are there some sarcastic undertones?’ bc i’m here for it if they are) but yeah i don’t really know how i feel about this song yet i think if i get my hard rock cover then it could be my next favorite song but until then it’s just a sort of vibe ig

Bloodhound: swapping vocals to change the narrative!!!! we love to see it!!!! very tasty bassline the beginning of the chorus makes me giggle a little it’s a funky beat i’d love for it to get a cheesy halloween themed music video the bridge makes me wish i could step dance (is that the right phrasing?) everyone who’s said michael singing “he took an L” is perfect is so correct i am mind melding with you

TEARS!: this songggggggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you may call me predictable for saying this is one of my favorites but come on. how i could not love this song??? once again the cashton vocals coming in clutch i mean this really is a song for the rhythm section in all the ways! the line “i’ll feel better if i let myself sink deeper” is really going straight for my jugular and i am 100% here for it. it’s such a good exploration of these kinds of depressive states and i just!! hrghhhhhhh also their voices on the last “alive” in each chorus????? SO fuckin tasty i want to eat that one note. the bridge reminds me strongly of something but i can’t think of what it is :(( also ashton’s voice on “fifty rounds of uppercuts i’m bleeding”???? i am going to throw myself into a pit. i understand why they made it a bonus song from a stylistic standpoint but also why. it deserves to be on the main tracklist. it’s got a great mixture of the style of superbloom but make it 5sos and i love that for it! my only complaint is the title like. wtf guys. like yes that is what it sounds like when it’s said in the song but that doesn’t make it title material! but that’s okay i forgive them since it’s such a banger <3

#i wish i'm joking when i say this is longer than the majority of my fics on ao3 lol #sheesh i really to ramble lol #5sos5 #track by track #the trash talks #this might be incomprehensible who knows

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gracefulweather · 3 years ago

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YESS I DID PULL SUNWOO IT WAS THE BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE :")

omg ur pulls !!! we love to see it 😍😍😍

i pulled sunwoo for the id card and the qr code so i'm thriving :D and i also pulled chanhee (i have pulled him for every single tbz album i've bought asjklfjsdjk i love him) and a changmin poster ! but wait i pulled jumil for the unit pc :O

YEAH BAYBEE 🤩 i live for fake dating ! but it's also surprisingly the first time i've ever written the trope

tbh i don't have the ending figured out yet 😅 but i also don't know what the endgame should b ajfkldjsalfk but yes ! i cannot write things without pulling huge plot twists, like i love scheming and making everyone's jaws drop it's great

alfjsdljf kyu is a whole mood tbh :") the way i sleep until 1 or 2 pm when i don't have anything to do

yes ! i thought it could be v interesting !

omg would love 2 know ur other thoughts 👀

seriously i can't believe what kq is doing but...yeah ! omg i hope you can go to the concert if you want to !! turbulence was so pretty and i love the song, i am patiently waiting for it to b released on spotify, i'm also curious to hear the rest of the album ! i also saw something on twt that said this is the first mv where none of them have scenes together and that kinda broke me ngl :") wbu?? what do you think of the song? and about their new concept photos

ohhh wait hellbound does sound kinda interesting ! maybe i will give it a try sometime ! there's a new kdrama coming to netflix that looks v interesting too !

yess omg translator admins are everything ! i really have to catch up on their shows. i loved the maverick series it was so cute n funny (also eric saying twat like three times literally sent me 😭😭😭)

hahahah i agree ! oohhh do you normally come up with plots based on things you watch/read or things your mind comes up with or what do you usually draw inspo from? ooohh golca or skz would b fun ! BUT FELT OMG i really thought my intense tbz obsession would die down a bit BUT IT HASN'T

THE FANCON 😭 I AM GONNA CRY ! hyunjae and hoon's hair colors look SO GOOD I CANNOT GET OVER IT ! they all looked so happy to see deobis again and i'm so happy for them :') no drink it, when will the pain end :( but kingdom come is such a banger i would love to see them do it for award shows too ! AND DID U SEE THE HYPNOTIZED CHOREO BC I CAN'T GET OVER IT

yeah i've started to notice how short promos run too, but they also seem to be doing way more other things too

HYUNJAE SUPREMACY 😍 i literally always think abt that one time he was on vlive and "read a comment" but then immediately confessed to making it up like afdkljalk he is so funny

i hope ur doing well too !! i'm gonna find some time to read ur sunwoo fic and hopefully over winter break i can read more of your works too !! exam season will b over for me in about a week or so ! thank u, stay healthy too, ly !! ❤️❤️

UR SO LUCKY HOWWW omg are u just missing eric and then you'd have all ur favs :OO jumil though.... all this hy*nj*e in ur life, is this a sign HAHA

if u like fake dating maybe you'll like my sunwoo fic 👀 jk it's not exactly fake dating alskdj but yeah excited to see where ur smau is going!!! like will it be with cute barista boy or the sweet classmate!! WAIT YOU ALSO DON'T KNOW WHO'S ENDGAME???? omg ok.... i will be analyzing every line to catch this plot twist 👁👄👁

oooh yeah i saw some posts comparing scenes where the members are all separate vs other mvs when they're together :')) but yeah i liked the song and their concept photos alkdjfj THE ALBUM IS OUT NOW THO!!!! i love them for releasing all the kingdom stuff bc that version of wonderland is my LIFE 😍😍😍 unlike.... tbz..... who will never release stealer rock version from 201231 mbc gayo daejejeon 😔 gonna have to make my own instrumental cover at this point 🙄

ohh what kdrama? deobis are still waiting for hak in goedam s2 but WHEN is that coming out omg. also poor hyunjae with his cancelled mbti webdrama :'))

eric saying twat omg HAHAH i forgot about that but he ain't wrong... the letters really did look like twat LMAO. the fight between him and hyunjae tho 🤡

hmm normally i'd say inspired by real life things but these days it's more like letting my mind wander and thinking of headcanons, but i feel like i haven't been motivated to write in a rlly long time except for this hj e2l 😭 wbu!!!

is it too much to hope for drink it at the end of year performances :')) oooh did u see hoon's original blueish hair tho!! ok but. the 120843978 pics of hyunjae with his bare arms and ab flash and perfect face 😠 hypnotized omggg that one definitely came as a surprise but WOW that choreo......... they totally prepared for it with deobis' reactions in mind 👀 also world tour???!??!??!??

do u mean hyunjae enemy agenda HAHA he seems to do that comment thing a lot 😶 he's.... funny sometimes......

ahHHH are ur exams over yet!!! omg i hope u like the sunwoo fic :') pls do get some rest during winter break tho <33 but omg can't believe we're like halfway thru dec?? it doesn't feel like holiday season tbh LOL

#em <3 #..........the way every line seems to have a mention of hj #alskdjfk DON'T @ ME #ask

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greed-the-dorkalicious · 7 years ago

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A diehard Mangahood fan’s opinion on why YOU- YES, YOU- should watch FMA 2003

(Yes, those are his actual lines in this scene. These are the Netflix captions.)

2018 is off to a great start, with both FMA anime being back on Netflix! But ever since Brotherhood overtook 03 in popularity years ago, the FMA fandom has been so deeply divided on the subject of the two anime that even today, a lot of FMA fans who have never seen 03 vehemently refuse to watch it, simply because they heard from someone else that it’s bad.

As someone who’s been in the FMA fandom for about 9 years, could easily go on for hours about the endless problems with 03, and firmly believes the manga is better than both anime anyway, I think that this attitude is bullshit. While I understand that 03 is not everyone’s cup of tea for sure, I think refusing to even try it is a very narrow-minded approach that will only make you miss out. So, from one Mangahood fan to another, here’s my take on why YOU should give 03 a try now that it’s back on Netflix!

A whole 51 episodes + 1 movie worth of FMA content you haven’t seen yet! Come on, what better reason do you need? For those of you who are always craving more of those good good Elric boys and their merry band of friends, here’s a perfect opportunity to see them in all sorts of new situations, in all their fully animated and voiced glory! More fight scenes! More banter! More brotherly love! More Riza Hawkeye shooting things! More alchemy! It’s a deal you can’t miss.

Learn about the FMA fandom’s history! Ever wonder why Hohenheim seems to get so much more hate than he deserves, or why that one Ishvalan kid who got like 3 lines is sometimes called Rick? Have you ever found yourself in the deep reaches of DeviantArt or Google Images and found strange images of armor Al with tattoos, Rose with dark skin and pink bangs, an edgy-looking kid with similar clothes to Envy, or a low quality gif of Havoc crying and aggressively writing in a journal captioned with “I have all these feels”? Confused about the phrase “In those days, we believed that to be the world’s one, and only, truth”? Do you occasionally see content of the “Tringham brothers” or “Alfons Heiderich” and not understand who they are? Have you seen the “tiny miniskirts” clip on YouTube, but never been able to find it in context? Just where did the titular tumbleweed of International FMA Tumbleweed Appreciation Day come from, anyway?! All these questions and more can be answered by watching 03!

Beautiful music! A lot of great music came out of the 03 era, such as silly OST pieces like Pint-Size Alchemist or Favorite Daughter; Beautiful pieces like Equivalent Exchange or Memories; Haunting choruses like Ishbal or Dante; Fun and memorable theme songs FMA’s oldest banger, Melissa, or the Resembool Trio anthem, Hagane no Kokoro; And of course, the unforgettable masterpiece of a duet that spawned a legacy transcending years and languages, Bratja aka Brothers.

Talented voice actors! 03 had a slightly different voice cast from Brotherhood. For the dub, we’ve got the loveable and unforgettable Aaron Dismuke as Al- You might know him for his triumphant return in Brotherhood as young Hohenheim, but he was the original Alphonse Elric, when he was just 12 years old! Aside from that, we’ve got Chris Patton as Greed, Dameon Clarke as Scar, Monica Rial as Dante, and “sexy Greed” Troy Baker as Robocop himself, Frank Archer! And for the original Japanese version, there’s Nana Mizuki (Lan Fan in Brotherhood) as Wrath, Tooru Okawa as Roy, Megumi Toyoguchi as Winry, and Junichi Suwabe (perhaps best known as Victor Nikiforov and Aizawa Shouta) as Greed. And more!

Bonus content from the manga that wasn’t in Brotherhood! While Brotherhood initially rushed through the beginning of the plot under the assumption that we’ve all seen it 500 times already so let’s get to the new stuff, 03 actually took its time and included episodes based off the early stories, such as Youswell or the battle on the train. Not only that, but 03 also includes episodes based off some of the bonus chapters (Dog of the Military, the military festival, the one where Havoc went on a date with Catherine) and even some content from the light novels (The Tringham brothers, the haunted warehouse).

An interesting reimagining of FMA, with new perspectives explored, and new characters! It’s true that 03 has a very different plot and overall tone from Mangahood, and maybe it’s not for everyone, but why is the mere concept of being different seen as a bad thing? Think of it like a fanfiction, an interesting AU with its own distinct flavor. Who knows, maybe you’ll enjoy 03′s style! It features interesting (not always good, not always bad, but certainly interesting) new characters, such as Dante, the Tringham brothers, Wrath, Sloth, Frank Archer, Lujon and Lydia, and Rick and Leo. It also explores new possibilities and new directions that the manga didn’t. Ever wish Nina, Sheska, Lust, Rose, Martel, or Mason got more character development? Do you wonder what the state alchemist exam might be like? Do you think the homunculi simply being created by Father is too boring an origin story? Are your favorite superhero comic storylines the ones that involve alternate universes crossing over with each other? Ever wanted to see a cyborg shoot bullets out of his mouth? Are AMVs featuring Scar set to early 2000s emo music your niche but passionate hobby? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, 03 is the anime for you!

Also ngl, some of the fight scenes are really cool. Ed vs. Greed in particular... now THAT was some animation, woah. I love it.

In conclusion, if you’re a FMA fan and you haven’t seen 03 before, I highly recommend you check it out! After all, it can’t hurt- Either you’ll enjoy it and have a fun time with more FMA content, or you’ll learn for yourself that you don’t like it, and can simply stop watching. But you’ll never know until you try! Please, don’t listen to bitter, negative fans who only want to drive you away from something you might enjoy. (Ngl, most of them probably weren’t even around before Brotherhood came out anyway; I can tell you from experience that before Brotherhood got really popular, 03 was actually considered to be a really good anime, and had it not been so successful Brotherhood would never have even been created.) Open up to new possibilities, and give 03 a try!

#FMA #Fullmetal Alchemist #I'm just really excited 03 is back on Netflix because every time a big FMA fan tells me they've never seen 03 I get so sad #They're missing out on so much! And all because some people are nasty enough to tell others not to watch something they might like #The FMA fandom as a whole owes a lot to 03. It was what really drove the fandom back in the days before Brotherhood #And whether newer fans are aware of it or not it still does influence the fandom to some extent #The FMA fandom is over 15 years old and is a product of osmosis between both anime and the manga #I truly deeply believe that it's not possible to get the full FMA (fandom) experience without all 3 or at least both the anime #Sometimes I forget that not everyone's seen both #I got into it at a time when everyone had already seen 03 and now everyone was starting to watch Brotherhood as well #So pretty much nobody in the fandom hadn't seen 03 unless they were REALLY new #And had only seen the like... 15 or so episodes of Brotherhood that existed at the time #So sometimes big FMA fans will say they've never seen 03 and I'm just. ??? ??????? but... but how can you... what #But hasn't everyone seen 03??????? Don't you know the memes. THE MEMES. HOW CAN YOU LIKE... BE HERE AND NOT HAVE SEEN 03 #Idk it just completely blindsides me sometimes #I want people to have the chance to Understand #And they can't do that if some fuckos who haven't even read the manga tell everyone not to watch 03 bc it's terrible #I mean yeah it kind of is terrible but also it is good #Because it's FMA #Anyway in conclusion the Mustang squad comedy filler eps shaped who I am as a person and also you can pry Aaron Dismuke from my dead hands

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goldenlie · 2 years ago

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Andy I had presentation today and I guess it went fine, tbh it's more of type of class you present and every student will receive same easy great grade and that's nice, still stressful af giving oral presentation with a friend in front of people... I pulled all-nighter and I'm sleepy too ;-; And I got dragged into korean dramas recently, watched Beyond Evil (highly recommend) and I'm halfway through The Devil Judge (also recommend so far), well at least I can't say my procrastination sources are monotone, always something new. I feel like my recs jump all over the place and I send a lot, so don't feel pressured to keep on top of them! I hope you'll just end up with a list of things you'll get around to when you want and hopefully enjoy them! Hope you had nice weekend sunshine ^_^ Remember to drink water and eat well! and sorry if this is all over the place I'm pretty sleepy ;-;

AGNES POP OFF!!! Ate the presentation up fr as usual. Presenting to the class is absolutely terrifying, I don't know if I find it worse presenting to people you know or those you don't 😵 It's been a while since I've had a group presentation to do but I hope considering it was with your friend it took some of the stress off your shoulders! Not sleepy 😭 I hope you got hours on hours to relax after to make up for it!!

I have yet to watch those kdramas so I'll add them to the list of recs let's gooo! I just googled them and they both look real good, it's very much the genre that I enjoy watching from kdramas. I think I'll end up choosing The Devil Judge first because I love the sound of it ngl, I hope the endings of both are satisfactory. I find the most in kdramas that the plot is literally god sent but the ending is so rushed or unfitting? At least in a lot of my experiences anyway. I admire the fact you can watch two at once that's beyond my level yet I'm afraid. The most I can do is watch two anime at the same time but like even that's pushing things gn. I think my favorite kdrama I've seen so far would have to be Vincenzo but that is quite the popular opinion. Another few that got me for a while were Extracurricular and Sky Castle, I don't remember the details much but I feel like Sky Caste did lose me somewhere along the line so maybe not the best rec. I've not seen too many other bangers recently but on my list is Crash landing on you. I'm not crazy for the romance genre more into the action / mystery (Alice in borderland actually is a popular Jdrama that's decent enough but nothing too special, still decent watch if you haven't seen!) but something about this one is pulling me in 😭 I'll update you on it but let me know if you've seen/watched it! I also watched Hotel del Luna not too long ago and I enjoyed it a fair bit although it did get heavy on the flashbacks (of scenes we had seen not like new info) in the latter half of the show which got sickening. Although kdramas and kmedia alike do love a good replay. I sometimes watch random singing shows, weekly idol, and I used to watch that one advice show that had like 400 eps?? But with them you get everyone and their distant relatives reaction to literally anything it's so annoying 😭 A staffs water bottle could fall over and the cameraman will pan to row 237 to get their expressions.

I started Hannibal 😳 I was notttt expecting this from it, I knew very little apart from a man ate people's organs but holy fuck. When we first meet Mr Hannibal himself, it's a very brief look at his face but his expression very much looked like a threat, it was not something I've seen done so well in a show for a while and I don't even know if it was the sunlight on the train shading his face or what but it hooked me 😭 Ok I have my raw thoughts wrote out after every ep (mostly) and the main points I've got so far I'll summarize them. Edit: I started writing this before finishing s1 which I now have, but I'll update my points with my current thoughts! Also this is my apology in advance for inevitably misinterpreting the scenes bye. Ok firstly, fucking a big one for me was Abigail's friend whose name escapes me being murdered and left in the hunting house- where he knew they were going to holy shitttt my jaw dropped. But very important it seems that truly there's only a handful of potential killers, those that were witness to her coming over and visiting Abigail the day prior. Obviously it's easier to say this when we know who did it but truly in my opinion it could've only been between the brother of the initial copycats victim, Abigail, Will, or Hannibal. (Edit: Fast forward to the end of season 1, yeah I think this point was realized 😭😭 and captilized on. I believed it could be wrote off as the brother of the victim killing these people however, once Will started piecing together the copycat killer to the other victims it was very fucking clear it was either him or Hannibal to the entirity of the staff. The one fatal flaw or perhaps intentional moment was Hannibal placing the blame of those initial murders on Will. Although I believe it to potentially be intentional as he seems to want Will to know what he did. I initially believed the end of s1 with Will being accused as the backup plan or a Get out of jail free card for Hannibal to utilise if necessary. However, the breadcrumb trail in the direction of Will inevitably being arrested and his house being searched was too prominent, the hiding of the true MRI results, the keys and gun left on the table after planting the worry of the female FBI staff psychiatrist (Anabelle? Begins with A?) being murdered. The fact we saw Hannibal alter the lures oh so early in the season showcases just how long he has this plan in motion, the extent of his thought process, and the fact it was in fact the original plan, this was how he wanted it to go).

I'm almost done with s1 (so true) and I'm at the part where Hannibal says he's considering a friendship with Will and later that episode is like hey, you should really go to that music shop. My (initial) interpretation was this man wasn't liking the idea of someone (Will) becoming close to him and allowing him to peer through his many many walls as his psychiatrist said. Yet, his expression when he heard Dominic(?) Say he killed 2 people and then the either surprise of Will surpassing expectations or the relief of seeing Will alive (mix of both?) flashed on his face when Will walked through the door hello. (Edit: Literally wrong as hell ok my new interpretation was he was establishing a reliable source in his psychiatrist by furthering her belief that he wants to help Will, so when questioned by authority she would only sing the song he wants, that's why he said he was "considering a friendship". Although maybe that is true it had a much bigger underlying reason for being said that went over my head initially 😭 Also I definitely think he was relieved to see him alive although now it seems that it was for a continuation of the plan he had in motion). Also not to mention the hints Hannibals low-key dropping?? The stag statue, was that always there?? The they're harvesting the organs comment which steered Will more into focusing on that aspect. He has Will tethering on the edge of discovering the truth. Perhaps the adrenaline of having someone with the potential to uncover the depth of your actions is an addictive one. (Edit: I could be wrong as hell with literally everything I've just said gn but this is what I'm thinking at least in conclusion to s1. I will hold off updating you any further until I complete s2 and then again big finale S3, I could be missing absolute key info tbh that would further explain pieces here but I'm really enjoying it so far! I thought I'd give you the little update while everything's more or less fresh in my head ^^).

Sasaki and Miyano, I know you said you didn't finish it all those weeks ago (although you easily could've now) and honestly I'm only going on to EP 5 but it is simply very sweet 😭 I don't think I can choose my favorite character although as of rn is between the two of them, its interchangeable between eps. My one critique has nothing to do with the plot but the shapes that we see on screen every minute bye it was kind of sickening at first but now I've got used to it. I haven't actually gone back to it in about a week but I must make time for it again it was just a heartwarming show. I love how fast the progression of time is in it, like we're not stuck in a year at school we are speedrunning the experience and honing in on important / telling moments of their interactions and feelings. Very cool, thank you for the rec because honestly I would've never found this! I was initially going to watch uhh is it Hanado-kun? but the anime it's the prequel of! I read the synopsis last weekend and it sounded like a lovely watch however, I did feel like my vibe was too stressed out to enjoy it. It was like settling down to watch a Ghibli movie I need my mindset to match. I say this, watch me go in to watch it and it'll somehow be a murder mystery. Besides the point, I am looking forward to seeing it! I enjoy a good 12 ep anime tbh especially after not committing to one for a while. I remember the last 12 ep one I watched must've been Sk8 the infinity? I enjoyed it a lot (very casual watch although it got me binge watching it over like two days), it actually persuaded me to buy a skateboard 😭 I did the same thing with Haikyuu and bought a volleyball, God I'm easily influenced. Actually on the topic (kind of) I bought a bike recently! I hadn't ridden a bike since I was like 11 and decided to take my bike down a massive field (top 10 best decisions) however comma my tire did pop on a rock in the ground (no one saw this fate coming) and I hadn't been able to get it fixed since 😵

As well on the side I saw George went live on his alt there for like 4 hours amen good food George I haven't seen it yet but I probably will have it on at some point. Let me know if you've seen or if it's good! I also saw Karl, Foolish, Quackity, Punz, and Sapnap meet up but like in passing photos and screenshots I didn't actually watch anything. I did a screenshot of mid stream Karl and Foolish risking it all live for one another, good for them good for them. Also the MCC team reveals, I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this team. I can't even guess how the dynamic will play out but I will witness it all the same. On the side, sorry there's like a George update section of my mind lighting up rn, but Wilbur and George seem to be in an upcoming MrBeast vid? Me when more content 😍 yet, the content of them will probably span 3 minutes out of 10 but I don't think I can be picky. I'm actually excited for Techno and George on the same team too, I remember last year they were seen playing bedwars together for a little while but I don't think anything content related came out of it. I think they'd work well on screen tbh although I don't know if this is a genuine assessment of their dynamic or just me wanting it to be true. Yet, as you said before George just has a tendency to get on well with people.

I am absolutely loaded with recs which I'm very thankful for as everything I have seen so far has been so fucking good amen. My week was quite busy surprisingly at work so I'm very relieved to see the weekend again, I hope your week wasn't too stressful! I know your exam season is looming over right now but you've got it in the bag, easy peasy, literally no bother for you. I hope you still get the time each day to relax and unwind for a while! Sorry it took so long to get back to you, I have a lot I must reply to you with bye I have little pieces wrote for each so I will get there albeit slowly. Thank you for the well wishes, enjoy your kdramas or anything else you might start or return to legend!!

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