#the never changing ambiguous relationship between siblings

[aboutnavi]

Amy knows the places where she does not belong – rather, these little crevices built between herself and her home where, as much as she tried, it would not make her fit.

The mailbox stands its ground beautifully, the place where she was just a few days earlier, powerful in a way only a site marked by love can be.

Amy is waiting for him on the threshold by the door, arms crossed in front of her body, lips set on a smile that seems almost violent. She looks like a golden lantern burning a somber path but her eyes – a remarkable blue of expansion and, of course, against which everything else is measured – are open and deliberant. Nothing burns quite like it, Laurie has come to notice.

from lantern, burning, a three chapters fanfiction retelling amy & laurie's story.

[sharksfood]

An Aromantic Look at Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Spoilers Ahead

When I first watched Mad Max: Fury Road, I was 5 years past my last romantic relationship, but I still had the baggage of being a failure at love. I knew I was aromantic, but the weight on needed a relationship, a romantic connection with someone, still loomed over my life. Seeing that film, specifically seeing the character Furiosa, it changed me, and I knew I didn’t need romance. She was living without it, fighting not for it but not even addressing it. Sure, she had Max, but they were practically strangers, and in the end, more like siblings. They were willing to die for eachother, Max gave his life blood, and yet he left her, so she could heal and grow without his burden. They didn’t end up together, Furiosa didn’t magically have a man or woman to kiss in the end, she had the Mothers and the Citadel. She didn’t need romantic love, as family love and revenge was fulfilling enough.

I saw myself in Furiosa, I had my friends and family, and now revenge on the world for forcing love onto me this whole time. It wouldn’t be until 2020 that I’d find someone I could love and I didn’t feel burdened by it. Someone who was also demiromantic (as I’d come to understand I was too) and she became my precious flower amongst the Wasteland. But enough about me, why does George Miller want Furiosa and Praetorian Jack to fall in love?

‘Burke explains that he, Miller, and Taylor-Joy “wrestled the whole thing out,” talking through all the different possible permutations of the relationship. Miller was insistent that there was something of a romance between them. Taylor-Joy saw it as a kind of marriage, but in a “weird environment where one is having to be very careful.” Burke, meanwhile, fought for the notion that the two of them push romance to the side until they believe they are riding off to a safer place.’

Furiosa was burdened with everything, she didn’t need the additional burden of romance. She had enough on her mind, enough to fight through to become safe, she didn’t need someone to love in that way. She did bond with Praetorian Jack, whether that be through a similar struggle, their mutual desire to escape this harsh world, or their rawness in the moment they teamed up. I immediately saw them as a friendship, a kinship, a bond between two people who wanted a better life and had so much taken away from them. They were a found family, just like Max became swooped into Furiosa and the Wives’ found family. I never saw them as a couple, and I didn’t want them to be a couple. Mad Max as a franchise (at least the reboot spinoff franchise) was never involved with romance, so it seems ridiculous to me that Miller would want this pair to become romantic. Why? Why would he try to insist that? But thank God Burke talked him out of that path, as I think the ambiguity of their relationship is so much better. It’s better for the story, Furiosa’s character growth, and the movie as a whole.

‘Miller leaves it open as to whether the relationship between Furiosa and Jack blossoms into a full-fledged romance. [...] According to Burke, there was a lot of discussion over just how explicit their connection was going to be.’

In 2017 I was having one of the worst times of my life. It wasn’t anything to rival life in the Wasteland, but it was horrible, and romantic love was thrust onto me without my consent. It made everything worse. I couldn’t trust someone I had considered a friend anymore, they lied to me, they beat down my boundaries by force, and then I was scarred for what seemed to be forever. Furiosa was scarred. She was scared and full of rage, almost all her life she fought to survive and do what she promised her late mother she would do. If Furiosa had a romantic relationship, that could come crumbling down. She did insist that Jack come with her back to the Green Place when they escaped the Bullet Farm, but not because she loved him as a romantic partner. She knew he wanted a better life, too. She knew his life was scarred and he wanted to be somewhere that wasn’t covered in sand and rust. That’s not romantic, thats just kind. Furiosa trusted Jack, and if he had made any advancements for romance towards her then that trust could’ve been broken.

Its true that all of this is up to personal interpretation. I see Furiosa and the series as a whole as aromantic, or at least somewhere on the spectrum (coming from a demiromantic person). But you could also read it as asexual. Furiosa’s mother was sexually tortured in front of her. Furiosa escaped from sexual assault at the hands of Ricktus. Fursioa left a future of sexual slavery under Immortan Joe. She and the films could be asexual. But you could also see her bond with Praetorian Jack as any sort of relationship, which is totally valid. It’s just not what I consider to be correct, given all that the film and Furisoa as a character builds to. I disagree with George Miller’s earlier vision for Furiosa, and I’m forever thankful that she didn’t “fall in love” with anyone, at least not explicitly.

‘There is little actual dialogue between Furiosa and Jack [...] Furiosa and Jack’s relationship thrives in what isn’t said rather than what is.’

I am fully aware that fandoms crave relationships. They love to ship characters, draw ship art, and write ship fanfics. And yes, I did it too for Mad Max: Fury Road. The only bond I could see flourishing into romantic love was between Nux and Slit or Nux and Capable (the latter being the most obvious in the film). So of course the Mad Max fandom would grab at the closest relationship the film shows in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga as being romantic (or sexual), which would be between Furiosa and Jack. I completely understand and accept this, but I don’t have to enjoy it. Furiosa will always be aromantic to me, and she’s probably asexual too considering everything that’s happened to her. 

Finally, I wanted to touch on what is probably the most divisive aspect of Furiosa and Jack’s bond; their age. We don;t know how old either of them are when they first meet or when they become a team. My guess is that the film starts with Furiosa at age 8, and ends with her at age 22 (given that she tells Demetus he killed her mother 15 years ago). Jack is harder to guess, but the Wasteland is cruel, so he could be anywhere from 24 to 36 when we first meet him. That would make him 30 to 42 at his death, and approximately 26 to 38 when Furiosa’s Black Thumb training is complete and she officially joins him on the War Rig. Say what you will about the acceptability and morality about age gaps and “dating” someone you met in their teens, but in the Wasteland they don’t seem to care about that sort of thing. Immortan Joe and Ricktus definitely don’t considering they are keen on keeping a child as a bride (and plaything). Let’s just say Jack is definitely kinder than those two, so I’d assume he wouldn’t romantically pursue a teenager. But this is another reason I don’t read their bond as romantic; it just wouldn’t work for each of their ages.

All that said, Mad Max is very special to me, Furiosa especially. I have a long history of becoming attached to interesting and powerful women who are either queer or GNC in some aspect, and Furiosa is no exception. Whether she is aromantic, asexual, a lesbian, nonbinary, or her gender/sexuality isn't even important for the story, I love her. And the reboot franchise will always be aromatic to me in some aspect, even with its hints of romance. As I eventually discovered my ability to love in my own special way, growing from aromantic to demiromantic, so too can my reading of Mad Max: Fury Road and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Its Pride Month, and Furiosa killed another one of her abusers in righteous fury, breaking the way for us to celebrate with rage for the queer experience.

“You have to go for a real specificity yourself,” Burke says. “But the right kind of specificity has the right kind of ambiguity.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

All quotes taken from this article: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/furiosa-tom-burke-praetorian-jack

Image was edited by me and is free to use without credit. Original photo of Furiosa: https://nofilmschool.com/the-ending-of-furiosa-explained

Thank you for reading! I mean no ill will towards anyone who has a different interpretation than me in regards to Furiosa or the films. Every angle is valid!

[hchollym]

With the Percy "Third Parent" Weasley hc, I wonder how the relationships change after canon because now everyone's an adult so Percy doesn't have to be the parent anymore. I wonder if they ever get close to building a sibling bond or if its more like an adult-child and their parent adjustment. On a sadder note: how much worse Fred's death is for Percy? Because now its not just his brother, but his child that's dead. Everyone has the headcanon of Percy helping George after the books but I imagine it just wrecks Percy hard.

Anon is referring to this post.

That's a good question! I definitely think Fred's death broke Percy for several reasons, and that is one of them; even though he would never allow himself to verbalize it or think about it in such terms (i.e. that Fred was like his child), the emotions would still be there. 

I do think he helped George though (or tried to, anyway). He was 100% a wreck, but he still had other siblings (kids) that needed him, so he pulled himself together for them (particularly George), but it likely took the form of him neglecting his own wellbeing to care for George's instead.

I'm torn on how I think George reacted to this. On the one hand, I think he was happy to have Percy back and might have leaned on him for support; on the other hand, I always pictured Fred as being closer to Percy than George (and there is some minor evidence of that in canon, particularly how Fred calls him 'Perce' the most), so George could have also felt bitter and resentful. 

I like the idea of Percy being able to develop a sibling bond with everyone as an adult, but unfortunately, I don't think that happened. There's a lot of regret, guilt, and resentment on all sides, along with trauma and grief, and I've said before that I don't think everyone got therapy, so that's not going to end well.

I think that - realistically - Percy developed a better bond with Ginny, Charlie, and possibly George, but his relationship with Ron & Bill was always strained (I talked about Bill here and here, and I think Ron’s loyalty to Harry would always create a divide between him & Percy). 

In regards to Ginny, Percy still probably only spent time with her occasionally, because he was never going to fit in with the rest of that "group" (Harry, Ron, & Hermione). Even with Charlie, I don't think they had an amazing bond, but I do think they wrote each other more often and made a point to hang out when Charlie did visit (which wasn't often). 

Unfortunately, I think the Weasley family is always going to be fractured and unwilling to work too much on their relationships with each other, instead choosing to focus on their new, chosen families (spouses, kids, friends, etc.). They all get together occasionally, but it's more out of obligation than an actual desire to do so.

Obviously, some of them spend more time together than others (i.e. Harry/Ginny & Ron/Hermione), but it's not one big, happy family. It reminds of the saying, "Thanksgiving is a great time to get together with family so you can remember why you don't like to get together with family."

I know that seems cynical, but the epilogue really left a bad taste in mouth, because virtually nothing changed in the Wizarding World (and given Harry's thoughts about Percy, not much changed with the Weasley family dynamic either). It's disheartening, but I like to think that Percy found happiness in his new family (whoever you think that is) & his friends.

On a side note (since I mentioned Percy’s new family), I only consider things written in the actual books as canon (and obviously there's a lot of wiggle room there, because a lot was ambiguous). I don't consider anything after that as canon (including the Weasley Family Tree, Hogwarts Mystery, Cursed Child, etc.), but that's just a preference thing, because I hate all of them. 🤣

Thanks for the ask! 😊

[artlessavian]

OC-tober Day 5: Relationships

Context: My game Lizard State is a parody of the first two Pokemon Mystery Dungeons. It's not a mean parody. It's pretty much some subversions and their logical extension without the copyright infringement. The story is initially presented as an isekai, but sike, humans still exist and matter to the plot, and the (initial) main character isn't the only human turned reptilian nonhuman.

Max and Vi are two clones of aliens with human memories. Their human selves, under normal circumstances, would never have made a relationship work. However, the two as clones are inextricably linked. They were both created at the same time, for the same purpose, experiencing the same situation impossible to describe. Their relationship exists but is completely undefined. How each sees the other and shifts between a closeish coworker, a likeable jerk, a partner by convenience, an annoying sibling, an emotional pillar, etc. Sometimes their expectations and boundaries contradict as they change. It's up to them to figure out who they are to each other and who they are ok being.

Back for context, PMD is a very straightforward game. The blank slate player character meets their partner, they do stuff, they save the world. There's a lot of gaps to fill, since textually there's not much (iirc). Ofc, the PMD:EOS postgame having "two best friends adopt and raise a child together" makes you wonder if the writers are skirting around some internal rules to imply a more committed relationship, or if they intended it as the text says. It's up to the player (not the player character) to fill in the gaps, to headcanon.

In my story, I'd like to foreground that ambiguity, moving the choice from how the players read the relationship to in-universe between the two characters. And there's friction, when they disagree on their relationship, especially when it violates human norms. And (sorry for the setting jumpscare), this is just standard practice for the aliens, the fluidity of commitment and definition.

The game's story is still unwritten (and there's no branching paths). Maybe by the games conclusion it'll still be loosely defined. Something I'm wondering is if this will be frustrating or unsatisfying. Maybe leaving it unanswered is supposed to be unsatisfying. Again, that'd be throwing it back to the player to fill in the blanks to interpret.

Back to author context, I'm almost certain I'm aromantic, and this colors my reading of PMD and what I want to write myself. Also, I've never been in a strong relationship. I've read a bit about others', but without personal experience, I'm not sure if what I'm writing is valid. For getting personal experience, tbh I'm afraid to try. Maybe this whole game was secretly a vent piece all along.

[gabrioblu]

breaks through wall

Y'ALL ARE STILL ARGUING ABOUT KRIS BEING NON-BINARY???

Now, I know there's no point in doing this because:

A. It's already a big argument and this likely won't do anything, and

B. There's no convincing some of you people.

HOWEVER: I feel the need to weigh in on this because that's what my brain is telling me to do right now, at this ungodly hour.

SO: I am going to go through all reasonable arguments I can find, and debunk them.

Ambiguity vs. Characterization

"They/Them is used when you don't know someone's gender."

While this is true, it also... isn't the only use? And why would Kris' friends not know their gender? That's generally something you'd want people to know.

"Frisk's gender was ambiguous in Undertale to allow the player to put themselves in their shoes. It's the same in Deltarune."

This one is... complicated. Frisk (and Chara's) gender is an entirely different and much larger can of worms that I don't want to get into here. Technically, Chara is your reflection, but again, moving on. While that may be true in Undertale, Deltarune is a very different game, and it is EXPLICITLY STATED... A LOT OF TIMES that Kris is not a self-insert. They are their own person. There are many times the game throws you off to, in a way, prevent you from putting yourself in their shoes. That is one of the main concepts of Deltarune.

"It's like Link not having a voice, so you can imagine whatever voice you want."

Now, I don't play LOZ, but again, Kris' gender isn't meant to be ambiguous. Also, here's proof from @suzyundertale on the Link voice thing, showing that that's not even true, either. sucks to suck huh

"Kris has a neutral name and design."

Maybe that isn't to be ambiguous but actually because they ARE NEUTRAL??

Why the other characters would know their pronouns

Like I said above, it seems like something you'd want people to know. But apparently that's not true??

"Ralsei wouldn't know Kris' pronouns, because he didn't even know their NAME when they first met."

And yet he learned Kris' name. (🤯) Same goes for gender. You don't continue knowing nothing about someone forever. That's just dumb.

"Susie wouldn't know either because she's been bullying Kris and they wouldn't want to tell either of them their gender."

I... what?

Okay, there's a lot to go through here, and it's all faulty logic. By the same logic as the last point, relationships between characters change. Susie and Kris are pretty good friends at this point, and it's implied that Kris looks up to Susie due to her rebellious nature. yknow cause Kris wants to get rid of our control

And on that second idea, it makes no sense for Kris to simply "not want to tel them their gender." Why? It makes no sense.

And what about Toriel, or Noelle? Why would Kris' mother use gender-neutral pronouns if Kris wasn't non-binary?

Kris is NOT a self-insert character

"Kris has no independent dialogue and doesn't emote."

Yeah, because they're being CONTROLLED THE WHOLE TIME

The whole point of the intro sequence is to hammer in the idea that Kris is separate from you. If you still genuinely think that Kris is meant to be a blank slate, you have NOT played the game (just like the goof who thought suselle was one sided lmao)

It's not a headcanon

In addition, I see a lot of people calling it a headcanon. No. You really can't just headcanon someone's gender. It's like thinking Mario is actually female. The term would be 'crappy, unfaithful AU'.

Assorted weird stuff

"Siblings of opposite genders usually don't share rooms"

I mean... maybe. But... your point? That's also a really weird thing to say, because, again why would that be the case?

"But- but the shampoo! It says 'for the boys'!!"

No. That is simply not how it works.

holy jalapeno wait until these people find out that i (a guy) wear female slippers they'll lose their flippin minds

Why gender matters

"You never get to choose a gender for your vessel. Why? It doesn't matter."

But y'know what does matter? The fact that the vessel is discarded and replaced with AN EXISTING PERSON WITH THEIR OWN TRAITS.

"Alphys doesn't say 'I'm bisexual'. But, she has crushes on Undyne and Asgore, making her canonically bisexual."

"But that is explicit, unlike the humans' genders."

<rant>

IT IS CALLED "SHOW, DON'T TELL" AND IT IS AN IMPORTANT CONCEPT FOR CHARACTERIZATION IN WRITING. JESUS FRUITCAKE CHRIST. As stated, Toby is very good at this. Which is why, at the beginning of Undertale, we didn't need to have:

"Hi, my name is Toriel, and I'm female, and cisgender, and I like snails and snail pie, and I want to be a teacher, " ET CETERA ET CETERA ET CETERA. It's bulky, and boring, and unnecessary. Instead, sprinkle in characterization through inference and details. Not everything has to be stated. Far from it.

</rant>

Conclusion

Alright. This post has taken well over two hours, but I now have to summarize all of that.

To put it simply, it's asinine to assume that everybody is referring to Kris using gender-neutral pronouns because they don't know their real gender, especially Toriel. She would refer to Kris by their birth gender UNLESS EXPRESSLY ASKED TO BY KRIS THEMSELVES. She would have no other reason to do so.

Toby doesn't have to explicitly state that Kris is non-binary. Did he ever explicitly state that Papyrus is male? No, but he has Sans refer to him as his brother, and with male pronouns.

aw crap i need a good closing sentence uh uhhh

So why is Kris such a special case? Maybe take time to reflect on that.

[weiwithwords]

The weirdness of stories

An essential weirdness permeates all good stories: the weirdness of purpose. Things in stories happen for reasons; they must, for stories to make sense. Authorial intent and meaning require a basic assumption of cause and effect to be intelligible. Strong narrative structure entails strong beginnings and strong endings; good characters need good motivations; resonant themes shine brightly by definition. Even those stories whose point is ambiguity and dissatisfaction nonetheless have a point.

In these ways, stories are not like life. Life is filled with the random, the meaningless, the unintelligible. Life's complexity resists the sort of throughlines present in even the simplest narratives; life's level of detail eludes any attempt to capture it. In a fraction of a second, we can have a thought that would take us hundreds of pages to try to describe, and even after all those reams, we'd still feel like we didn't quite explain it right. And (in another way in which life and stories are different) even after all that, we would still have no idea what will happen next. So much of life is happenstance, and therefore naturally opposed to formulation. As my friend Kathleen told me, "You can't accidentally write anything. You can't accidentally create."

I often tell people I stopped being Christian because I went to a Chinese Christian camp with a charismatic pastor who delivered all these powerful sermons about life, but I got so much more value out of the non-theologic parts of his sermon that I stopped believing in God. I saw how all the important parts -- loving my family, listening to my parents, taking pride in my heritage, having meaningful conversations, resisting temptation, being still -- were attached to a totally vestigial, evidence-free religious dogma I could easily jettison, and jettison I did. Or so the story goes.

The problem with this story is that it doesn't make any sense. The pastor (whom everyone loved, and who was a truly gifted speaker) structured his entire message around God, the importance of God, and how wonderful God was. Indeed, his whole point was that all that other stuff about loving your family or whatever was totally vestigial, and could be easily jettisoned if love of God wasn't also present. Why didn't I feel the weight of the essential core of his message as much as I felt the other parts? I have no explanation.

Furthermore, I know plenty of people -- people in my age group, with similar backgrounds, whom I still know today -- who were heavily impacted by that core message of God, who cite that guy's sermons as a key inspiration for their personal devotion to Jesus and to church, and who will tell my same story with the opposite outcome. Why did our paths diverge so radically?

I want to ascribe the divergence to something intelligible, but I can't. The truth is, there are probably thousands of minute factors -- genetic, environmental, stupid -- I'm not aware of. Maybe my personality meant I never had a chance of committing my life to Christianity from birth, or maybe I'm still a mere breath away from becoming a pastor myself. Maybe the peculiarities of the connections between my neurons caused me to interpret the pastor's mannerisms in a totally different way, or maybe I was too busy chewing an especially tough piece of fingernail to hear a crucial sentence that would've changed everything. There are whole reams of reasons why this massively impactful moment in my life could have broken the other way, and I regularly choose to ignore them. I exclude those details in service of telling a more logical narrative.

The same is true for other stories I tell: how I started liking rap music after listening to it on full blast in my teammate's car (many people, including friends of mine, got turned off of rap music precisely because its listeners blasted it on the street), how I never built a great relationship with my siblings because my dad was yelling at us all the time (there are tons of siblings for whom that sort of abuse is galvanizing rather than isolating), how I love writing because I love reading (some of my best friends are avid readers and readily admit to hating their own writing and avoiding the practice at all costs).

It's a lot easier to explain why something happened if you already know it happened. The stories we tell ourselves about our lives are not our lives; they are carefully manicured things, curated for purpose and plot through the darkly tinted lens of hindsight.

Stories are weird. They reside just beyond the uncanny valley of un-reality, contain just enough truth to deceive us into thinking they are all truth, when even the very best stories are but shadows of our indescribably rich and complex lives. But at the same time, stories are an essential component of the human experience. They are the only tool we can use to extract meaning from a sea of chaos. They are our only chance to share all the roiling complexity bubbling up within us, and in so doing, lighten our individual burdens. And so, even though they churn with all this subtle strangeness and false promise, stories are all we really have.

As I reflect back on last year, I can’t help but conceive of the year as a collection of stories. And I already know I'm going to assign a lot of meaning and purpose to those stories, and there are going to be logical cause-and-effect relationships and character motivations and (hopefully) bright throughlines in my reflections. I want to frame all those things appropriately. I don’t want to lose sight of the frailty and myopia of my own constrained perspective. And I'm hoping that after reading this, you’ll be able to frame all the stories you tell yourself with all the subtlety and caution they deserve.

“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” -Ecclesiastes 9:11

[ao3feed-crimeboys]

you didn’t know that you fell.

by Wenst

There had always been conflicts between L’manburg and Las Nevadas; it never got too bad until recently. L’manburg decided that they needed to put an end to whatever Las Nevadas was trying to accomplish, but it had always felt like Las Nevadas was one step ahead.

  Who knew the newest member of the team assigned to help take down Las Nevadas Tommy, a blonde hot headed, eighteen year old with a voice too loud, would be a key part of the mission. Even if it was good or bad in their case. And who knew hitting rock bottom would hit them so hardly? And who knew getting out of rock bottom would hit them as hard before?

 And who knew your life could change so much it under ten minutes? Well Wilbur knew this now at least.

Words: 2487, Chapters: 1/3, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of deceive tragedies, Part 2 of My fics:)

Fandoms: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF, Dream SMP

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot, Toby Smith | Tubbo, Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Phil Watson | Philza, Alexis | Quackity, Grayson | Purpled (Video Blogging RPF)

Relationships: Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo

Additional Tags: TommyInnit-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot-centric, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Alternate Universe - Office, Spies & Secret Agents, Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Ambiguous/Open Ending, TommyInnit Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Sad Ending, kind of, Swearing, Mentioned Grayson | Purpled, Mentioned Alexis | Quackity, Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are Not Siblings, Bittersweet Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt, Reveal, Sad and Happy, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit-centric, Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are Like Siblings, Light Angst, cursing, No Beta, Other Additional Tags to Be Added

[al-hekima-madara-blog]

Mmh... I've just remembered today that Kishimoto have a twin brother.

Personal experience often influence your creation and I think it really does have a huge impact in his universe. The emphasis on brotherhood is so strong sometimes, I felt (based on my biased view) quite exaggerated. Maybe because I'm the firstborn and i have a big age gap with my siblings, i can't comprehend this need for fusional relationship. I grasp easily that feeling of caring, responsability towards younger sibling and being an example but the fusional side of it is so foreign to me. And most of us don't have twin. Most of us incarnate in this world alone, we don't know what it's like to be born with a companion, we sometimes need a life time just looking for one true love. But twins don't need to open up to people if they don't want to, they will always have themselves. Always someone who knows you deeper than anyone else, understand your joy and your pain without a word. That's kind of a privilege in a way, compared to us, lonely souls seeking for strangers' attention.

Then I look at Naruto in this lenses, and it all makes sense. It really does when it's about real brothers. Why Itachi can't kill Sasuke but did under pressure, kill his whole family. Why Madara never accept Izuna's death to the point of changing drastically his personality (but did accept with his previous brothers). Kishimoto applied the same logic as well on "spiritual" brothers who are reincarnate's vessels of ancient twins Indra and Ashura. In my opinion, it works less and seems surrealistic in real life to go that far for a...friend or far distant cousin. In the end, people automatically think it's either obsessive toxic friendship or coded gay romance, but I get the idea now and why he did it this way. Why Naruto/Sasuke and Madara/Hashirama have this love/hate relationship." I can't be with you but I can't stand being without you". And it's even sadder because Madara awakened his sharingans torn between two twins brothers. The blood (Izuna) and spirit (Hashirama) confronting each other.

Reflecting on it just appeases my mind. it seems so ambiguous to most people, me included. but actually it's just a mysterious bounding we will never experience. And it's still beautiful how it is.

[h6kkais]

taiju shiba: boyfriend headcanons.

🌱 . . . fluff , a little angst. reader should be perceived as male, but it's ambiguous enough for anyone to read comfortably.

#___! note 🌿 hello, this is the first request that i [h6kkais] am fulfilling. thank you for requesting.

+ it's safe to say that taiju's idea of love is rather warped. realistically, it would have to be after the confrontation with takemichi for him to be in a somewhat healthy relationship. he's on a slow but steady journey of self-improvement and you have to be an incredibly strong person to be with him.

+ taiju is emotionally stunted to say the least. so he's not the most romantic guy in the world and he doesn't pick up on certain romantic & emotional queues. at times, he's extremely blunt ─ sometimes embarrassingly so, and other times, he says things that only make sense to him. when you get confused, he never bothers explaining since he really can't. he says what he means and if it doesn't make sense, so be it.

+ acts of affection are few and far between with you two. taiju rarely ever says he loves you and it's not because he doesn't, but because he's uncertain if he's really worthy of being able to wholeheartedly express his love for you. physical affection is even harder for him. since his mother passed, his idea of physical affection became one of violence. due to that, physical affection is something that he tends to steer away from most of the time. deep down, he's seriously afraid of hurting you. he doesn't want to push away the person he's trying so desperately to improve for.

+ circling back to the eldest shiba's past, taiju faces a lot of self doubt due to it. there isn't a day that goes by where he feels unworthy of you despite the prideful front he puts on. during the times he opens up, you do your best to reassure him even if you know it's impossible to take away the doubt. you are sure to always tell him that his past actions are unforgivable and that they aren't something that you'll ever simply look past, but you also say that you'll always stay by his side and help him work to be a better man.

+ taiju takes a high amount of pride in having you as his boyfriend. the people around him never saw him as the type to go for a man ─ it was an extra big shock to his siblings for numerous reasons . . . he doesn't care if people judge him much, he'll just beat them to a pulp if they try to say anything about it even if you try to protest.

+ he's very protective of you even if he acts like he could care less. if someone even looks at you weirdly, he's ready to send whoever did it to the next life. a lot of the time, you have to play the mediator and calm him down. it usually works, but sometimes he gets too pissed for even you to get through to him. especially if someone touches you. he absolutely despises it.

+ as we all know, taiju is a devout christian. whenever he goes to pray during christmas, he brings you with him. it doesn't matter if you are a christian or not. he just wants you to be there with him and to watch. you don't really know why, but it doesn't matter. if it makes him happy then you don't mind at all. it's nice seeing him look so peaceful anyway.

+ even if he doesn't look it, taiju is incredibly perceptive when it comes to the things you do and say. he'll pick up on the way you word things when you're lying or trying to hide the fact that you're upset. he'll pick up on the way your body language changes when you are nervous or excited. whatever it is, he'll notice it and he'll keep it in his mind at all times.

+ he loves your smile. i mean, he really loves it. he'd do anything if it meant getting to see your smile every day for the rest of his life. taiju wouldn't be caught dead ever admitting it to you, but internally he can't help but swoon over it.

[feralphoenix]

a thing that i really love about hollow knight is that part of its incredibly strict Show Don’t Tell policy means it works a lot in juxtapositions. comparisons and parallels.

like, rather than Telling us what makes for a good and responsible ruler, we get to know about various different heads of state in the various nations of the crater, and we can observe how they handled international relations, public policy, etc and the consequences/effects of their choices, and draw conclusions by ourselves.

there are lots of different parent-child relationships, and sibling relationships, so that we have many examples to compare ghost and their family to.

there are also a number of higher beings around and you can compare them to each other to understand their different approaches to godhood, how they handled being the center of a culture & the responsibilities that entails (radi, unn, tpk) or the ways they sidestepped those roles (white lady, grimm). in addition to forming our opinions of these characters this also contextualizes what ghost does when they attain godhood in the godseeker endings & after the delicate flower variant, in godseeker mode.

like you can use these points of reference for a lot of different analysis topics!!! but one of the things that always Gets Me In My Emotions is the direct juxtaposition between herrah, radiance, and tpk and how differently these three characters handle the cost of fighting Existential Crisis.

the pale king’s policy is officially No Cost Too Great, but just like the hunter says in hollow’s bestiary entry, for tpk “cost” was a thing for other people to pay, and he was not willing to risk any sort of harm to his own person. his plan to deal with the infection involved sacrificing the dreamers & the hollow knight, and his plan to create a hollow knight involved birthing hundreds of thousands of children who were designed to be expendable - they were there so he could experiment on them, select a candidate, cull the failures, and then sacrifice said candidate.

the worst tpk might have experienced through all this is emotional turmoil, and it’s left ambiguous in-game whether he was actually conflicted about the child sacrifice/felt attachment to hollow or whether his personal low point throughout all this was being butthurt about his wife walking out rather than birth a second batch of vessels for the slaughter. (he must’ve been pretty darn butthurt to have lied to the kingdom that the white lady was dead.)

as soon as his plan failed and he had no other recourse, tpk fled rather than expose himself to any potential harm. he was willing to - perhaps desperate enough to - expend any number of chess pieces if it would save hallownest, but his own life and safety was NEVER on the table.

just like tpk, radiance is trying to protect herself and her people. just like tpk and herrah, she too is willing to go to any lengths necessary to get the settlers to fucking step off, give her children back, and leave her alone.

for her this entails being willing to bend her own principles - i’ve talked about this in depth before so you can find all that in my essay tag if you’re interested, but in-game evidence points to radiance having been a pacifist like the rest of her tribe pre-hallownest. and the infection is a curse that’s only sometimes fatal, but it causes extreme amounts of harm and fear and chaos to inflicted parties. and this level of harm is something she’s willing to do just to threaten/pressure tpk into backing down.

her method also causes a large amount of collateral damage (including lateral harm to other indigenous bugs!), suggesting that she either doesn’t have the emotional wherewithal to worry about who might get hurt, or just plain doesn’t care. if you squint, it’s possible to make the argument that radiance might have warned unn before her counterattack against hallownest, but even then forewarning was the only mitigation she was able and willing to provide. if this is what it takes to protect herself and her tribe, then so be it.

so, compared to tpk, who chose to actively sacrifice the lives of individuals to protect the institution of hallownest, and radiance, who doesn’t care about splash damage to bystanders as long as she can save her tribe... what i find extraordinary about herrah is that when she determined that sacrifice was necessary to protect deepnest, she took all that sacrifice upon herself.

most obviously herrah accepts the role of dreamer in hopes of ending the plague, sacrificing her life. in order to keep tpk from taking advantage of that to conquer deepnest, she also negotiates that he has to provide her with an heir, thus ensuring deepnest’s sovereignty... but this means she has to have sex with the very creature who has been trying to commit genocide against the spiders for generations. she has to let her lifelong worst enemy who she’s been fighting alone since the death of her husband impregnate her. this decision had to have come with some form of emotional distress for her, and yet herrah shoulders it and soldiers through it.

and then even through this, it’s implied in the white lady and midwife’s dialogue (+ posed in the dev notes/style guide) that tpk snatched up hornet when she was a child to raise her in the white palace. it’s unclear whether he did this to keep hornet as a hostage to make sure herrah couldn’t renege on their treaty now she’d got what she wanted out of the bargain, to ensure his offspring would be raised in the culture he created rather than in deepnest, which he clearly believed to be barbaric and uncivilized, or both.

yet instead of calling bullshit and flouncing on the deal or trying to steal hornet back, thereby exposing deepnest to the threat of both the infection And aggression from hallownest once more, herrah stuck with it. midwife says that herrah paid dearly for her involvement with this plan, but herrah valued deepnest’s survival over her own individual life, and saw it through to the end no matter how tpk’s plan caused her to suffer or hurt her dignity.

there’s an incredible amount of nobility and integrity herrah shows here. she refuses to let any harm come to her country, and insists that any and all sacrifice required of her as a leader be her sole responsibility. her courage, her political intelligence, and her strength of character as a leader are all nothing short of awe-inspiring.

at the same time, there is still a downside to herrah’s spirit of self-sacrifice. as anyone who’s ever watched steven universe can tell you, self-sacrifice is actually kind of a shitty solution to one’s problems because self-destruction hurts the people who love you.

we get glimpses of hornet’s intense emotional torment over her mother’s fate and her understanding that it’s necessary to let ghost murder herrah to change the status quo; similarly we can understand the crushing amount of personal responsibility hornet feels towards the whole crater comes from knowing the cost of her own birth, and having front row seats to her parents’ political power struggle.

we hear from herrah herself that everything she does is done for hornet, so hornet’s pain is probably the last thing herrah would have wanted, but ironically what hornet goes through in hollow knight is a direct consequence of herrah choosing to martyr herself.

anyway all of this speaks SO much for herrah and radi and tpk’s individual priorities and problem-solving strategies and also their blind spots... plus, there’s a lot about herrah’s character that goes underappreciated and this is one of those unsung aspects. fandom... fandom blease be SAD about SPIDER MAMA with me

[reginarubie]

Hi, do you think jonsa is cannon or are they just something you ship. Would you change your mind if they aren't cannon?

Ciao anon!,

Do I think Jonsa is canon or are they just something I ship?

Joking aside, I think it would depend on what you consider canon. Is it canon them feeling and the books affording us the gift of introspection and inner dialogue to see that feeling evolve even if it is never actually told externally or acted upon but proven into actions considered canon? I believe Jon and Sansa might be canon though that is not the reason why I ship them.

Let me digress a bit on this point.

I think Jon and Sansa as a couple might be canon, and while I am totally down for Martin to give us the courteous love they wish for and deserve to read and gush about, I fear that, that is not the road Martin might be taking with this at all.

I believe that Martin will give us an open ending (much like the show did) meaning that AsoIaF might recount just a part of the story (the story of how they got where they are and what they will remembered as — as suggested by the crypt teaser of s8) leaving the dream of spring (the rest of their lives a mystery for us), and I believe that Martin will re-create the perfect courteous love of the knight and his lady love.

It wouldn't surprise me if Jon and Sansa never actually acknowledge openly the romantic hue of their relationship, save for some very ambiguous phrasing (maybe them using ‘my lord’ and ‘my lady’ in a similar way as to what Ned and Cat did; or acts of service and words of support similar to ‘do you have any faith in me at all?’ and ‘you know I do’), I believe Martin will leave most of it subtle and entrusted to the inner dialogue most of the time.

We will most probably get the intention of defending each other specifically from anyone, the feeling of strong belonging they will have to each other which will be different than with their other siblings (albeit not less strong), we'll probably see how they are each-other support system and dream come-alive and maybe we'll even get the very clear admittance, albeit innerly, that they are ready to do whatever it takes to defend the other (Jon killing Dany when Tyrion brings up Arya and especially put emphasis on Sansa; Sansa organising a whole army after a terrible war — pardon three terrible wars — to defend her brother), we'll see how they develop romantic-like feelings and mayhap even jealousy (as the show teased), but just as with the trope of the courteous knight and his lady love it's possible such a dream and love will never be acted upon.

Though in asoiaf also enters in play Jon's parentage which could change the cards on the table between them, and not because of what he represents, but simply because politically it could make sense and thus add to the trope of the knight and his lady love the trope of the hidden prince and the princess he didn't dare to think he could ever have.

So I hold onto hope we'll get this latter development, even if I am completely prepared to get only the inner- acknowledged version Martin will probably feed us. Both possibilities are very plausible and have a chance of being canon.

So yes, on these premises I wholly believe they are canon.

Point is, do I ship 'em because I think they are canon, and so, would I change my mind if they weren't canon? No.

While I could accept both the possibility of Sansa with someone else and Jon with someone else as a possible canon (I don't know, Sansa with Willas for example, and Jon with Val) it would be because I like the very idea of seeing both Jon and Sansa with someone who can fulfil the fantasy and wish for love they hold dear to their heart and which is such an important part of their identities.

I have analysed more than once that both Jon and Sansa are highly romantic — courteous romance style — and on how they seek refuge from trauma into romance, and how their so called romantic interests until now (Ygritte and the Hound/LF) are just foil of each other in the other's arc. But proved that Sansa might be happy and find the love she wished for with whatever possible suitor Martin decides to give her and the same for Jon I would be down with it, though I would keep shipping Jonsa as well.

Why?, because I ship Jonsa besides believing them canon. Because Sansa is the answer to Jon's all dreams and prayers, the same way as Jon is the answer to all Sansa's dreams and songs and prayers. As I will analyse in another ask I am working on (and that I will link it here once I have finished it) Jon's romantic ways are made fun of, the same way as Sansa's are being tramped on by others around her, yet they fulfil the role each see for their potential partner and it works nicely with the tropes they are inserted in: knight and his lady love, hidden prince and princess he didn't dare think he could have, having had everything you dreamed of near you all your life but realising it only after you've undertaken a voyage away from it, thus fighting to return to it.

I ship them because they are the kind of love story that would be plausible in that kind of environment and time in real life, because I am a sucker for courteous love and because the foreshadowing about them (some of which I have analysed myself and you can find here) is poetry and so, no, I would not change my mind if they are not canon. I will accept canon whatever is its end, I will even be down with it if they both get what they want, but a small (big) part of me will always ship them because I truly feel they belong together!

I hope you enjoyed the read and thank you for your ask!, as always I wish you a very nice day!

[ravenkinnie]

There is a lot of talk about characters forgiving Jinx or still loving Jinx but what I am wondering is how Jinx feels about vi. It’s so ambiguous. Vi „abandoning“ her was what set of lot of her jinx persona in the first place but she obviously wanted her back. Yet she feels like she has been replaced by Caitlyn and that Vi in the end still didn’t pick her. I don’t have a sister so it’s difficult for me to imagine how Jinx must feel but you said you relate to her a lot (do you have siblings?) so I thought you’d have some thoughts

I have a younger brother but me and my brother are nothing like vi and jinx hdhdbsbsj frankly, if I was in prison for seven years and then came back and someone went yoooo your brother got himself adopted by a drug kingpin and is creating explosives for him and he's also wanted for multiple murders and arson I would be like. honestly that does sound like my brother, nothing to question here

I mean, I think it's clear that jinx feels like vi is lost to her in some way and that's why she panics, she splits, she does insane shit like kidnapping caitlyn hdbdbsnj I do think it's worth emphasizing that jinxs anger is motivated by grief as much as guilt, both her and vi carry guilt and grief that comes from the same trauma but is not exactly the same. jinx is never concerned with forgiveness as much as whether vi will still love her because vi is like, HER person, she is the person jinx centered herself around from her most formative years.

jinx seems to always seek out this omnipresent caregiver, someone who will be there unconditionally - that's why her main relationships are familial and parental (though I've seen this desire manifested with romantic relationships too, jinx is just not like that dhhsjsj). and that need to be loved is obv linked to how she feels about herself, how she perceives her own value and that's always connected to how jinx seems to also seek out acceptance. more so than forgiveness even, when silco says his last words to her he iffers her acceptance, something she just can't get from vi anymore (I never blame vi for their relationship btw I've seen insane takes about this but like. jinx is a mass murderer I think most people would struggle with accepting that djshhdjsk)

I'll always say, people undermine how aware jinx appears to be of who she is and her mental state, she tells vi herself that she changed and the worry about how vi will perceive that is clear. she knows how the things she does are perceived and she's probably aware of their (lack of) morality but jinxs internal world is self-centered and she simply doesn't care hdhdbdj she only cares when it comes between her and vi. and just to say, SEVIKA is the one who even put the idea that vi is replacing jinx with caitlyn in jinx's mind and then jinx took everything and twisted it in her perception until it fit that fear. sevika played her like a fucking fiddle purely out of spite hdjdnsjsk

[michaels-reality]

jsaghka whats wrong with ok ko?

Okay so I will spoil the whole main plot of the series with it but there are 3 main problems I’m gonna get into with this series and it’s problems with character design, jokes on child neglect, and ableism with system caricatures. And this is coming from someone who enjoys the show before anyone thinks I’m just hating to hate on it. But again, these issues are so big for me that I would not recommend this show to anyone skjhskjf.

1. Issues with character design

Alright, so first off, please look at this picture of the majority of the women of the show and tell me what’s wrong with it?

Yeah! Almost all of them have the exact same body type! I’ve seen people praise ok ko with its diverse character design but if you boil it down, almost all the women have the same cinched waist and big hips. And for the characters the characters that do have different body types, it's almost unfair to compare them to the rest of the characters, like you can’t compare Carol to Rippy Roo because Rippy Roo is an actual animal. And you can’t compare Dendy to Enid, because Dendy is a child and Enid is a teenager. And for the Ladies that have an actual difference in body type, that’s like 6 characters out of how many? And to those characters that have different body types, the Hue Troops only show up for 2 episodes and even then the main focus isn’t on them so they barely get any screen time, Punching Trudy shows up for one episode to fight Punching Judy, Pheobe shows up for 7 episodes but she’s a background character and I don’t ever remember her speaking, and then there’s Foxtail. Foxtail is probably the only female character that has a different body type that has an important role in the story and shows up for more than just background appearances.

Compared to the men in the show, there is way more diversity but even then, there is a lot of making the upper half of them bigger and giving them tiny hips and legs. 

There is also the issue that kinda pisses me off is the racial ambiguity of everyone. Like most of the characters aren’t even human so whatever, but there are characters like enid that have darker skin but she has straight purple hair so what are we supposed to get from that? I mean, I guess there is some wiggle room for anyone that isn’t white to claim her but then you start to see that all these darker skinned characters seem to always have straight hair and that’s also a problem. The only character I can confidently say is black is foxtail and she has straight hair. And the only character that is said to have curls and an afro is RADICLES who is BLUE and an ALIEN! Like it makes me mad that our curly haired and black coded character is designed like this. Like, I get it, he’s an alien, he’s blue, he’s not human, BUT WHY DID HE HAVE TO BE THE ONLY ONE? WHY CAN’T THERE BE ANOTHER CHARACTER WHO IS DARKER SKINNED AND CURLY HAIRED? 

It’s so ironic given that ok ko has one of the BEST racism metaphors I’ve ever seen in episode 28. Dendy says kappas don’t need pow cards to be heros but it feels nice to be appreciated but this show is not making me feel very appreciated right now sjglksjgds.

2. Jokes about child neglect/abuse

OKAY! BOXMAN! I LOVE BOXMAN BUT WHAT THE FUCK?

Okay, so in the show, Lord Boxman has robot minions that he is constantly annoyed with the performance of and punishes them and yells at them. AND I WOULDN’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS IF BOXMAN DIDN’T REFER TO THEM AS HIS CHILDREN! It’s shown in the show that Boxman raised them as baby robots and they call him daddy and they have a very familial relationship. But it’s constantly joked about with Boxman saying how they never make him proud not taken seriously in the show. Like, in the second episode, one of the first things we see Boxman do is put Darrel in the furnace and Darrel says “I deserve this” BUT DON’T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY CUS DARREL IS A ROBOT AND HE’S BACK 2 SECONDS LATER! The robots get emotional over any sense of approval, like at the end of “Villains Night In” Darrel and Shannon literally fall apart after Boxman gives them shirts and says to “keep up the good work”, and the end of Plazalypmics, Darrel, Shannon, and Raymond get participation trophies and are really happy with that. Like, this isn’t normal.

The whole relationship between the robots and Boxman is actually pretty toxic and kind of bothers me sometimes. The robots seem to have a very intense sibling rivalry but it’s over the affection of Boxman, which is unhealthy but most of the time it’s just played off as funny joke for the tv. And it becomes even more apparent because episodes without Boxman, like Rad likes robots, it shows them getting along fine and even worrying about each other. And in season 2, Boxman comes back from the sun and Darrel stands up to him and says he doesn’t need him anymore, but one “I’m proud of you” from Boxman and Darrel is back to wanting his approval. LIKE ITS ALMOST NEVER FRAMED AS A BAD THING OR TAKEN SERIOUSLY! I AM NOT A FAN OF HOW THEY TREAT THIS! Like, I can admit it gets better after Venomous comes into the picture and Boxman has that realization of “oh I should be proud of my kids achievements” but to me it looks like this whole forgiving your abuser plot line and I fucking hate it! And Boxman still admits to incinerating his robots after the company switches over to his and Venomous’ ownership when discussing what to do to punish them and he says “I usually see improvement in my robots after I incinerate them.” 

And even if it got better, it’s still played off as a joke in all of season one and normalizes terrible behavior. Child neglect in tv shows, especially in children’s media, played off jokes and funny are never good and can be insensitive to children who are in these situations seeing it played up for laughs. You can argue that being on the villain’s side frames it as a bad thing but that kinda loses meaning in a show like ok ko where you start to see the villains as regular people and not necessarily bad, just “evil”. I just feel like this could have been treated so much better and not trivialized like this.

3. System Caricatures and ableism

Let me start off by saying, I am a singlet and I don’t have as much authority on this type of thing so feel free to correct me on anything I get wrong or add on in anyway. 

With that said, KO and TKO along with Shadowy Figure and Professor Venomous are terrible system caricatures. KO is 6-11 years old is prime age to develop a system, so when shadowy figure comes into KO’s life and traumatizes him, he splits. And so we begin our little “evil alter ego”(quoting the show! using this phrasing is terrible and should never describe a system like that) stereotype.

I’ve talked about OK KO with my friends who are systems and it makes them mad that this show had so many moments to be good system rep and then it turns around and fucks everything up! Like TKO could have been written well. TKO is very clear on stating he isn’t KO and is his own person but everyone still refers to him KO and treats him like a bad thing because he isn’t KO. And when TKO acts out due to being referred to as KO and rightfully being upset, they act like it is some evil act against them and they need KO back! Like, the show misses its own point so much!!! If they treated TKO like a person (which he is!!!!!) then half the problems they have wouldn’t be a problem in the first place. And TKO has done nothing wrong other than wanting to front! KO even talks about TKO as another person but they address him as such! 

The way people talk about TKO in this show makes me so mad, like when Dendy does tests on KO in “Mystery Science Fair 201X” to bring out TKO, TKO finally comes out to deal with the feelings KO can’t deal with and then they almost do it right when Dendy realizes she was the one that fucked up and then SHE APOLOGIZES TO KO INSTEAD OF TKO FSDGHSDFJ!!! And they always treat TKO as a threat as if he’s a danger! Like TKO’s a kid just like KO and acted out when the people around him upset him! Like a kid! And the last time TKO shows up in season one in the finale, TKO actually SAVES everyone in the plaza and leads the battle away from the plaza but because “oh but TKO is the evil” they go and try to stop him from saving them? Like yeah he got a little reckless but he only ended up hurting people in the plaza when Rad and Enid interfered. They treat him like a problem because they MAKE him a problem! 

Also, the moments where everyone tries to bring KO back by saying “you are loved” and all that, that’s actually really manipulative! Like, they’re using positive triggers to kick TKO out of front and that’s actually a really rude thing to do. They’re trying to bring to front who THEY want to see and it’s not fair to TKO who is fronting. It also goes the other way around when Dendy is experimenting on TKO to try and get him to front.

And then even KO treats him terribly, locking him in a cage, then keeping him in his head all the time, and then when he finally lets TKO out and TKO acts out from being locked in his own head for so long, KO then traps TKO in his subconscious. Which is terrible! TKO should be allowed to front and should be treated like his own person! It’s so weird how the show almost gets it right but then does shit like this that makes it terrible again. Like KO has a headspace and he creates things in his headspace and he talks to TKO like another person and they communicate their feelings but then the show turns this all on their head when KO locks TKO away and blames him for destroying everything when he’s the one trapping him in his brain. 

There is also the problem with TKO being the one with all the power and changing his appearance cus that all contributes to the system caricature. Also, TKO and KO integrating at the end of the series? ALSO VERY BAD AND HARMFUL CARICATURE! Alters are different people and they should be treated as different people and KO is not TKO all along THEY ARE DIFFERENT PEOPLE! And integration is possible but it’s usually not by choice. And even then, integration being the end goal of a story is a very ableist narrative and shouldn’t be written.

And it confuses me, why does shadowy figure have his own pow card but TKO doesn’t. Like, KO and TKO are established more as being different people than Shadowy Figure and Venomous so why doesn’t he get his own pow card? Like the end of season one, TKO fought the fight at the plaza and used his power to defeat Boxman jr but at the end KO ends up leveling up instead. And on the topic of TKO’s power, again, that shouldn’t be a thing. TKO and KO should both have access to the same power because they use the same body because that's how systems work! They use the same body!

And I know what the show was trying to do like “oh TKO is a manifestation of all the bad feelings that KO has!” but there are so many ways to do that without making a caricature of systems. Like if you didn’t make TKO a person then this would have been fine. Like if other people didn’t see TKO this could have been fine. There are ways to make a manifestation of your negative emotions without doing it like this. And the way this show did it is such bad writing, because you are meant to think TKO is this terrible manifestation of emotions but all you see is this scared kid who doesn’t know where he is and lashes out when he gets rightfully upset. BECAUSE LET ME REMIND YOU! TKO AND KO ARE BOTH 6-11 YEARS OLD! THEY ARE KIDS! THEY’RE SITUATION SHOULDN’T BE TREATED THIS WAY

And my guy shadowy figure...... bad. Shadowy Figure and Venomous’ is not only a terrible caricature but also very inaccurate. With KO and TKO, their system developed at the correct time as a child, but with Shadowy Figure and Venomous, they developed after Venomous got his snake disease. And, Venomous doesn’t even know about Shadowy Figure and that can be a result of dissociative amnesia but it’s really unfortunate. And again! the end of the series! Shadowy Figure and Venomous integrate into one entity and it’s terrible! Because they aren’t the same person and shouldn’t be treated as the same person! And again with the whole “evil alter ego”. Like Shadowy figure only exists to traumatize KO and make him split and create TKO. And the fact that they turn out to be KO’s dad??? Yikes??? Like again, these are terrible caricatures and are harmful to systems and should’ve been treated better in the show.

---

Like, I love OK KO, I used to hold this show very close to my heart and made me very happy to see this show with the amount of LGBT rep but looking back it was very bad in many ways. Like that racism episode I mentioned, that shit resonates with me! And I appreciate characters like Dendy and KO and I still love the boxbots and venomous, I just wished this show lived up to the potential that it had.

TL;DR: OK KO has a problem with misogynistic character design and colorism, normalizes child neglect, and has put out an ableist narrative with system caricatures.

[number5theboy]

Please elaborate on how Five could've turned into the most insufferable character to watch

Thanks for asking me to elaborate on this text post:

@tessapercygranger​, @waywardd1​ and @margarita-umbrella​ also wanted to see a more detailed version of it, and I ended up writing an essay that’s longer than some of my actual academic essays. So buckle up.

WHY NUMBER FIVE SHOULD BE THE MOST OBNOXIOUS CHARACTER IN TV HISTORY, AND HOW HE MANAGES NOT TO BE

Number Five: The Concept That Could Go Horribly Wrong

Alright, let’s first look at Five in theory in an overarching way, without taking into account the execution of the show. The basic set-up of the character, of course, is being a 58-year-old consciousness in a teenager’s body, due to a miscalculation in time travel. Right off the bat, Five is bar none the most overpowered of the siblings; by the end of Season 2, no one has yet been able to defeat him in a fight. He is a master assassin – and not just any master assassin, but the best one there is – and a survival expert, able to do complex maths and physics without the aid of a calculator, shown to have knowledge of half a dozen languages, has very developed observational skills and, to top that all off, he can manipulate time and space to the point where he can literally erase events that happened and change the course of history. And Five knows how skilled he is; he is arrogant, self-assured and sarcastic, and his streak of goodness is buried deep inside. David Castañeda once described Five in an interview as 90% chocolate with a cherry in the middle, meaning that you have to get through a lot of darkness and bitterness before knowing there is a good core, and I think it’s an excellent metaphor. However, Five is also incredibly, fundamentally terrible at communicating with anyone, and, because he is the only one with time travel abilities, the character a lot of the actual plot - and the moving forward of it - centres around. Also he’s earnestly in love with a mannequin, who is pretty much a projection of his own consciousness that functions as a coping mechanism for all the trauma he has endured. All in all, this gives you a character who looks like a teenager, but with the smug superiority of a fifty-something, who a) is extremely skilled in many different things, b) has a superiority complex, is arrogant and vocal about it, and most of the superiority is expressed through cutting sarcasm, c) has one very hidden ounce of goodness that he is literally the worst at communicating to other human beings, d) is what moves the plot along but is also bad at talking to anyone else, meaning that the plot largely remains with him, and e) his love interest is essentially a projection of himself. Tell me that’s not a character who is destined to be just…obnoxious, annoying, egocentric, a necessary evil that one has to put up with to get through this show. There are so many elements of this characterisation that can and should easily make Five beyond insufferable, but the show manages to avoid it, and I’m putting this down to three aspects.

That Trick of Age and Appearance

Bluntly put, Five as a character would not work if he was anything else than an old man in a 13-year-old body. Imagine this character and all his skills and knowledge, but actually just…a teenager. Immediately insufferable. Same goes for him being around 30, like his siblings, all of which are stunted and traumatised by their father’s abuse. If Five, being comparatively unscathed by Reginald to the point where he explicitly does not want to be defined by his association with his father, were 30 like his siblings, it would just take the bite out of that plot point and also give him a lot less time in the apocalypse, reducing the impact it had on him as a person. And making Five his actual 58-year-old self would make him very similar to Reginald, at least on surface level, with the appearance and attitude. Five and Reginald are two fundamentally different people, but having one of the siblings being a senior citizen that’s dressed to the nines and bosses his siblings around in a relatively self-centred way does open up that parallel, and would take away from Five’s charm as a character. Because pairing the life experience of a 58-year-old with the appearance of a teenager gives you the best of both worlds. You get the other siblings (and a lot of the audience, from a glance in the tags of my gifsets) feeling protective and paternal about Five, but his age and experience also give the justifications for his many skills, his arrogance, in a way, and his ability to decimate a room full of people. It’s the very interesting and not new concept of someone dangerous with the appearance of something harmless, a child. This is also where Five’s singular outfit comes in. I know we like to clown on Five to get a new outfit, but I think what gets forgotten often is how effective this outfit is at making the viewer take him seriously. The preppy school uniform is the perfect encapsulation of the tension between old man in spirit and young teenager in appearance. The blazer, vest and especially the shirt and tie are quite formal, relatively grown up. They’re not something we, the audience, usually associate with a teenage boy wearing; it makes Five just a little bit more grown up. But there is also a reason characters in this show keep bringing up Five’s shorts and his socks, because those are not things that we associate with grown men wearing; they’re the unmistakably childish part of his school uniform. Take a moment and imagine Five wearing a hoodie or a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers; would that outfit work for him as well as the uniform does? Would he be able to command the same kind of respect or seriousness as a character? I don’t think so; the outfit is a lot more pivotal in making Five believable than a lot of people give it credit for.

Writing Nuance

The other big building block in not making Five incredibly insufferable is the writing. Objectively speaking, I think Five is the most well-written, and, more importantly, most coherently written character on the show (which does have to do with the fact that the show’s events are all sequential for him), and his arc and personality remain relatively intact over the course of the two seasons. More to the point, a giant part of what makes Five bearable as a character is that he is allowed to fail. He is written to have high highs and low lows, big victories through his skills and his intelligence, but also catastrophic failures and the freedom to be wrong. His superior intellect and skillset are not the be-all end-all of the plot or his character, just something that influences both. His inability for communication has not (yet) been used to fabricate a contrived misunderstanding that derails the plot and left all of us seething; instead, it’s a characteristic that makes him fail to reconnect with the people he loves. This is a bit simplified, as he does find common ground with Luther, for example, but in general, a lot of the rift between Five and his siblings is that they can’t relate to his traumas and he does not understand the depth of Reginald’s abuse, which is an interesting conflict worth exploring. Another thing that really works in Five’s favour is that he is definitely written to be mean and sarcastic, but it is never driven to the point of complete unlikability, and a lot of the time, the context makes it understandable why he reacts the way he does. Most of the sarcastic lines he gets are actually funny, that certainly helps, but in general, Five is a good example of a bearable character whose default personality is sharp and relatively cold, because it is balanced out with many moments of vulnerability. Delores is incredibly important for this in the first season, she is the main focus of Five’s humanising moments, and well-written as she totes the line between clearly being a coping mechanism for an extremely traumatised man and still coming across to the viewer as the human contact Five needs her to be. In the second season, the vulnerability is about his guilt for his siblings, it’s about Five connecting a little bit better to them. There’s also his relationship with the Commission and the Handler specifically – which honestly could be an essay on its own – that deserves a mention, because the Handler is why Five became the man he is, and this dynamic between creator and creation is explored in a very interesting way – their scenes are some of the most well-written in the entire show. And TUA never falls into the trap of making Five a hero, he is always morally ambiguous at best, and it just makes for an interesting, multi-faceted character, well-written character, and none of the characteristics that should make him unlikeable are allowed to take centre-stage for long enough to be defining on their own. I know a lot of people especially champion the scenes where Five goes apeshit, but without his more nuanced characterisation, if he was like that all the time, those scenes would not hit as hard.

Aidan Gallagher’s Performance is Underrated

But honestly, none of the above would matter that much if the Umbrella Academy didn’t luck out hard with the casting of Aidan Gallagher. I think what he achieves as an actor in this show is genuinely underappreciated. Like, the first season set out to cast six adults having to deal with various ramifications of childhood trauma, and a literal child that had to be able to act smart and wise beyond his years, seamlessly integrate into a family of adults while seeming like an adult, traumatised by the literal end of the world, AND had to be able to create the romantic chemistry of a thirty-year-long marriage with a lifeless department store doll. The only role I could think of to compare is Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire, where she plays a vampire child who, because she is undead, doesn’t age physically, but does mentally, so she’s 400 in a child’s body. And Kirsten Dunst had to do that for a two-hour movie. Five is a main character in a show that spans 20 episodes now. That’s insane, and it’s a risk. Five is a character that can’t be allowed to go wrong; if you don’t buy Five as a character, the entire first season loses believability. And they found someone who could do that not only convincingly, but also likeably. As I said, he is incredibly helped by the costuming department and the script, but Aidan Gallager’s Five has so much personality, he’s threatening and funny and charming and arrogant and heartbreaking. He has the range to be convincing in the quiet moments where Five’s humanity comes to show and in the moments where Five goes completely off the rails. Most child actors act with other children, but he is the only child in the main cast, and holds his own in scenes with adults not as a child, but as an adult on equal footing with the other adult characters. That’s not something to be taken for granted. But even apart from the fact that it’s a child actor who carries a lot of the plot and the drama of a series for adults, Aidan Gallagher’s portrayal of Five is also just so much fun. The comedic timing is on point, he has the dramatic chops for the serious scenes, the mannerisms and visual ticks add to the character rather than distract from him, and his line deliveries, paired with his physical acting, make Five arrogant and smug but never outright malicious and unlikeable. It’s just some terrific acting that really does justice to the character as he is written, but the writing would not be as strong if it wasn’t delivered and acted out the way Aidan Gallagher does. He is an incredible asset for this show.

Alright, onto concluding this rambling. If you made it this far, I commend you, and thank you for it. The point of all of this is that Five, as a character, could have been an unmitigated disaster of a TV character. He is overpowered, arrogant, uncommunicative and could so easily have been either unconvincing or completely unlikeable, but he turned out to be neither. It’s a combination of choices in the costume department, decisions in the writing room, and Aidan Gallagher’s acting skills that make the things that should make him obnoxious and annoying incredibly entertaining, and I hope you liked my long-winded exploration of these. Some nuance was lost along the way, but if I had not stopped myself, this would’ve become a full-blown thesis.

[synnthamonsugar]

Savathun's Trip to the Last City

Now that we have a clearer picture of what’s going on with Savathun I decided to compile the last year’s worth of her POV lore pieces together.

This is super long, and has spoilers for Path of the Splicer VI / Beneath the Endless Night VII, so I’m putting it under a cut.

Credit to @xivuuarath for reading through this and adding some of their ideas! We talked about more beyond what’s posted here, but this is getting long, so maybe that would be better saved for a part two.

1. Traveler's Chosen (Season of Arrivals)

This piece is told from the POV of a narrator viewing the events through an "ossific den". Based on later lore pieces, I'm certain the narrator is Savathun. Given that ahamkara bones have been compromised by her, and that Shaxx has an ahamkara skull slung up in his station, it’s safe to assume this is Sav’s vantage point.

That said, I don't believe Savathun is observing Shaxx, but rather Zavala, struggling in the wake of the Darkness' encroachment on the system and his colleagues' refusals to evacuate to safety. She seems pleased to find Zavala in a desperate state, and watches as he has a silent conversation with the Traveler. Of note is that she's waiting for it to respond.

He waits for a response and I do as well, tense, curious. [ . . . ] It is no time at all for me, but for him, the hours creep by in silence.

I am ready to choke the voice of his Traveler if it answers him, but there is nothing.

2. Harbinger Mission (Season of the Hunt)

Thank you to @xivuuarath​ for pointing this out since I didn’t include it the first time around. During the Harbinger mission Savathun’s forces are attempting to secure a Shard of the Traveler in the EDZ. Of note is that they aren’t trying to destroy it, but rather siphon the Light from it.

Given that the Shard of the Traveler is what allowed our Guardian to jumpstart their Light when they lost it during the Red War, and is what allowed Uldren Sov to break into the Dreaming City during the events of Forsaken, we can assume it’s useful to lightbearers and mortals alike. Make note of this, because it becomes potentially relevant later on.

2.5. Hawkmoon (Season of the Hunt)

From an unknown vantage point, Savathun watches The Guardian and Crow celebrate their defeat of her Taken at the Shard of the Traveler. Unlike Zavala, she can find no weak points in Crow or the Guardian, only happiness. This awakens something in her.

What is this feeling? I did not ask for it. I do not understand it. I do not want it.

Which gets repeated throughout the lore piece. This is our first glimpse of Savathun having feelings that don't fall into the range of "malevolence" or "plotting". She yearns for her youth with her siblings and the warmth of her old life, and feels burgeoning regret for the people she betrayed.

There is a growing kinship here. Against better judgment.

This is ambiguous enough to be a comment on Crow’s and The Guardian’s relationship, or herself and The Guardian and/or Crow. She's called us her friend before but this might be the first time she's actually had friendly feelings for us.

3. Books of Sorrow: New Verse (Season of the Hunt)

This hasn't actually been posted on Ishtar Collective and I'm too lazy to track down a transcript online, so pardon the source. There's a lot to unpack here.

I walk in a city made of delicate hopes.

Savathun has moved beyond occupying ahamkara bones and is actually physically present.

I hear my name everywhere. [. . .] The sound is nourishment.

Imbaru machine on-line?

I am more than I ever was, and less than I will ever be.

Make note of this line.

I am many and none. I'm a man who sits alone in a cavernous office counting my failures. I'm a woman looking at a silent god. I'm a lost soul on a cold moon. I'm a broken mirror of a man who tries to steer the ship.

Comparing (?) herself to Zavala, Ikora, Eris, and back to Zavala again?

I'm a familiar stranger, flitting between them all, hiding my face.

Again, I think she's speaking literally here.

The people here are small krill dwarfed by the enormity of oblivion.

A neat little comparison of humanity with the krill, who we established in her last appearance she's beginning to feel regret for.

4. Retrofuturist (Season of the Chosen)

Savathun watches a Crucible match, and judges Guardians for being reckless with the gift of immortality. The tone of this piece reinforces the idea she is actually out and about in a corporeal form.

I'm mostly interested in her perspective on Ghosts here. She calls them "A perfect being", and describes their ability to revive the dead as miraculous. She isn't happy that the spectators don't appreciate the gravity of this. Weird sentiment for a hive but ok.

I look up into the blank white face. I feel its Light on my cheeks. It no longer burns me.

The Hive are repelled by the Light. Savathun has grown to tolerate it. Something has changed in her metaphysical composition.

@xivuuarath​ made the excellent observation that she might have been at least partially successful in the Harbinger mission - that she may have secured enough Light to build up an immunity, allowing her to be physically present in the City without being hurt by the Traveler.

Each revival is a choice. I know what to do.

Tuck this away for a moment.

5. Beneath the Endless Night: VII - Ripe (Season of the Splicer)

Okay this whole page is insane so excuse the massive infodump here.

I walk through the City on broken legs. I am conspicuous, but the people here grant me many affordances. I chose this form well.

Confirmation that our girl is actually bumping about in a human-form.

I open my eyes and search the faces of the people around me for familiarity. I did not mean to. I twist inwardly with disgust.

She's sympathizing with the humans of the City. She does not like this, but she is!

When they first reached for me, I reached back in acid mockery, and they opened themselves to me in stupid, naked innocence. I was giddy. My fingers raked their minds. I forced my will through them using only words and met no resistance.

Now I reach as often as they do, and when they reach back, I am thankful. I speak with them. I seek their company. Their companionship.

In case it wasn’t obvious already, Savathun has been running a psy-op on the residents of the Last City, which may explain some of the particularly erratic and troubling behavior from individuals / groups this season.

However the interesting thing is, while Sav used her powers of suggestion to manipulate, the humans unknowingly manipulated her in return. Not through any magic - simply through their kindness.

Savathun is doing more than observing the people of the Last City, she is living with them, getting to know them. Savathun is making friends and it’s literally changing her.

This is not pity, for I know pity. What is this—

A call back to the Hawkmoon lore with her trying to make sense of budding positive feelings.

I clench the gangling black mass that threatens to unspool recklessly from within this shell of flesh. My new arms are too thin, too weak. My new shell still bound with thick mucus. Not yet, I say.

I suspect that the “new shell” she talks about here is not her human-form, but rather something else growing inside it.

A man places his hands on me, on my shoulders, on my back. He asks if I am ill, and he sees my flat eyes, my teeth black with ripeness, and he prepares to scream. I let him keep his mind. I push breath up and through my ruined mouth and speak a simple lie. He stops, smiles, laughs. Shakes his head. He points a finger at me in mocking admonishment before walking away.

A few things to unpack here.

Savathun is physically deteriorating... badly. @xivuuarath pointed out that the body horror of this particular scene mirrors the Emissary’s description of a world with no darkness and creatures that are incapable of death even as they physically fall apart, and if you follow that line of thinking you may infer that she’s forcing herself to live through light alone.

She's approachable enough that some rando would see her in trouble and want to help her, reinforcing the point that she's been wandering about the City and vibing with its residents.

She could have done worse to the good samaritan but chooses not to. She does her mind trick and lets him go about his business. She’s showing mercy... which is something we know the hive absolutely must not do at the risk of being consumed by their worm.

Even here, basted in deception both ample and rich, the Worm cries ravenously. It has grown grotesque, skin taut, overfed, and still it howls for more. It commands me to keep it alive.

I look up, beyond the flickering net of darkness, and see what rests just beyond. Waiting for me. The Worm roars.

NOT DISCONCERTINGLY AMBIGUOUS AT ALL that we don't know if the worm is roaring in terror, pleading or triumph.

TL;DR of what I think is going on.

Savathun came to the City to destabilize it through manipulation, but could not be physically present until she hardened herself to the Light. Camouflaging herself in a human form, she spent time with the residents of the City, and found herself manipulated in return by their kindness. She's resisting the positive emotions, but they're there, which is something we've never seen between hive and humans before. You can't have a crisis of conscience if you don't have a conscience, and Savathun does.

I think Savathun is trying to shed her current form and be reborn in some capacity. I think she's going to try to use the Light to rid herself of the Worm and bootstrap herself into something new. If you'd asked me before reading this lore, I would have insisted that she wanted to become a thought-entity, but the cocoon-like imagery makes me second-guess this assumption.

There are outstanding questions at this point.

Why did she want to prevent Eris and/or The Guardian from communicating with the Darkness in Season of Arrivals? Is there a purpose to the Endless Night beyond eroding willpower and sowing division? Is she trying to save only herself, or attempt to undo the millennia-old injustice she inflicted on her people?

[floorune]

Your art of Bradley and his wife is sooo cute and made me love the couple even more💕💕💕

Also it makes me want to write fics, where the Bradley family are simply a normal family (with Pride being their actuall child and the humongulus are Bradley's weird but cooler than him siblings. (Envy and Greed wore t-shirts that said "Girl, you can do better." to their wedding. You can't change my mind.)

Also do you think that Bradley truly loved his wife? I have read some saying, that he did but never really realised that, because Bradley didn't understand his true feelings.

Anyway, Mrs Bradley deserves love after the shit she went through.

UUAA thank you you're a sweetie, i'm so glad you like them!!! 💞💞💞

i love reading fics about them so if you ever do please let me know!! i think i've only read one human AU of them and it was really fun. I WISH ENVY AND GREED WEARING THOSE SHIRTS COULD BE CANON, THEY'RE SO RIGHT AND THEY SHOULD SAY IT. the homunculi bantering and bullying each other is one of my favourite things in the world 😂

"he did but never really realised that, because Bradley didn't understand his true feelings" <- HOOOLYY COW THAT'S SO DELICIOUS I LOVE ITTT. the more that a character struggles with Feelings the more i eat that up mmm the internal conflict.

hmm for me personally, I think my portrayal of them probably falls somewhere between 'not completely understanding' and having?? some kind of affection? for her??? (I like the ambiguity of it ^^) but I also don't mind people going to the far side of 'he did genuinely love her 100%' because I think that's SO CUTE and, more importantly, I will always be endlessly amazed by real people hoping and choosing to believe in love, weow.... 🥺💖

overall their relationship is kind of enigmatic and unclear, so anyone's allowed to interpret it however they want. it doesn't bother me that some people think he didn't love her at all, it's more like.. i just find that really boring lol! like damn where's the struggle? it also takes away a pretty interesting part of Wrath’s character, and imo negates what Arakawa was trying to imply with those scenes *nods*

but yeah, Mrs Bradley deserves the world. her strength! her perseverance!! her impact!! nobody’s doin’ it like she does

this ask made me really happy, thank you! 💕 I love talking about them and rotating these blorbos in my head :]