#there’s lots of ways to be a sadist and they’re all valid

[hyperfocusedcloneshipper]

I’ve given it a lot of thought and Ty Betteridge isn’t a sadist in that he enjoys inflicting physical pain. He’s a sadist in that he enjoys inflicting emotional pain.

I know what you’re going to say, look at all the times that Ty has physically harmed Mikey. And sure, that’s true. But that’s just the stick he uses to produce the end result. He’s goal driven. It’s not *about* the physical pain. That can all be undone as far as he’s concerned. In fact it’s important to him that it *is* undone- most of the time anyway.

The emotional pain however. That’s our boy’s jam.

The example that most proves my point is the ever increasing ratio of Arctic monkeys song on Fe’s ipod. Mikey *does not know* he’s being punished. He’s annoyed at the high ratio of Arctic Monkeys song but he just assumes that’s to do with Fe’s taste in music. Mikes increasing frustration with each reset is something only Ty (and presumably Felix) are aware of. That ever increasing psychic damage which Mike endures with each reset is just a fun little treat for Ty to enjoy.

It doesn’t improve Mikey’s behavior. It doesn’t teach him a lesson. Ty makes it so that as far as Mikey knows, he’s always had a playlist of primarily Arctic Monkeys songs. To Mikey's mind it’s not retaliation, it’s just what Felix chose to put on the playlist.

But Ty knows. And you can hear exactly how pleased he is with himself when he orders Mikey’s playlist punishment.

[anzulvr]

Karma with a perfectionist mom-like reader (good grades, sweet, used to be class A yada yada) that pretends to be aloof and innocent but secretly has similar humour to Rio and Karma?

Like imagine reader saying "the things I'd let them do to me." With the most stoic, nonchalant face ever 💀 or them watching Karma beat a bully till they're back with God with a small supportive smile going, "You're doing great, darling! Take your time. 👍"

what’s up ty for request sorry this took forever😭!! This is my first time posting in a while and I still haven’t done all request :,).

— You’re the walking embodiment of the “I could accept him as he is- the atrocities are apart of him” tiktok audio.

— Before you joined E class, no one really knew you personally(except for Karma) so the first few days were pretty formal.

— That was until you got comfortable and your more outgoing side showed through.

— You went from sweet and quiet to making the most out of pocket jokes.

(does anyone say that anymore? idk!!)

— Even then, you’re still really kind and helpful, just not in the ways they’d really expect.

Someone needs tissues? You’ve got it.

Someone feels sleepy? They can rest on your shoulder!

Karma needs 12 ounces of Wasabi and Sriracha to torture a grown man with? You’ve got it.

…

Your classmates think you’re a bit too helpful.

— Yk how they call Karma a sadist all the time? They coin you with the masochist name to match.

(Couple goals???)

— E class can never guess what you’re next line is going to be.

“That should be me.” And it’s Karma dragging Nagisa in a fight.

— You praise Karma a lot. Like alottt.

(He needs to get the Validation somewhere)

It gets to his head too. (Korosensei needs to humble him again)

Karma will finish beating someone up and all you say is

“Karma you’re so talented!” Or “Karma you’re so strong!!”

(No ones even surprised anymore😭. They’re come to terms with it.)

Course there’s still lots of ways you and Karma differ.

Even if you’re able to be a more real version of yourself after leaving A class you’re still responsible!

So a lot of the times you keep Karma in check.

“Let’s skip.”

“No we can’t..! It’s against the rules and Korosensei would be-”

“Alright, alright I get it.”

— Karma beat money out from some delinquent? You hand out bandaids, unless they were really reallly shitty- in that case no bandaids.

— You get along with Rio so well, like cheese and toast, strawberry & vanilla, and whatever two other things go together!!

She’s so psyched when she finds out you and Karma are together because she can (lovingly?) embarrass the hell out of both of you.

— don’t worry though Karmas already got a great plan to get back at her, and you’ve probably got everything he needs in that bag of yours.

<3 again sorry this took like forever, and sorry to everyone who I haven’t replied to yet :(!! Ik it’s been super long.

[deaddovedecadence]

hello ! I hope you’re well I wanted to ask you if are planning to do something about the platonic batfamily ? Thank you for your work, you’re literally my favorite blog 🥰. (sorry if there are spelling mistakes)

Ah thank you for the question i love it so much! What we’re doing today is breaking down each yandere and how they treat you in order

Alfred: very gentle, very caring. He makes you think that he’s on your side only to betray you if you ever try to run away. His loyalty is to the health and well being of the family and if you left it would nasty for all parties involved. He isn’t overly possessive, and is the most likely to let you out and about (so long as you’re with him or another trusted member of the family)

Bruce: At least you were a tool for making up with his son, but he grew to see you as his own child. You’re younger then Dick so he treats you as such, and is very unlikely to let you out of his grip,/let you out of the house because he’s paranoid. He’s the ultimate possessive yandere, wanting to keep you safe in the house at all times. He’s like this with his children too but because they’re fighters/have proven themselves it’s a lot different

Dick: Good luck with this. Dick sees you as someone who deserves childhood, who deserves to be young, so he treats you younger then you actually are. He’s very possessive, and almost doesn’t realize that you’re capable of taking care of yourself and he’s ver y smothering because of that. He’s the type of yandere to be in his own world and not really see. things as they actually are..

Jason: Caretaker to the fucking MAX. He likes. taking care of people and things that he considers his and you are absolutely one of those things to him. He needs to tak3 of things because it makes him feel real, feel. focused again especially when he’s tired of angry. The least likely to ever hurt you but will break you mentally if he has to.

Cass: does not get it, at first. She doesn’t understand why her family wants something that she perceives as helpless as one of them. Cass is all about getting her shit done and you interfere with that. It isn’t until she sees Jason visibly relax around you and stay in the same room as bruce that she understands. You keep things stable which means that you need to stay. She‘ s obsessively, can be cruel and uses physical punishment like forced dancing or sparring to keep you in check if you leave or deny your place in the family.

Tim: Oh good fuck. Tim is pretty close to yandere in canon, he’s terrifying, possessive of what he thinks is his and cruel as hell. with you he’s cruel cold, only to turn gentle when he deems it the right moment. Tim wants to break you because that means that you won’t run away and try to go and be somewhere else (with someone else). Tim is sadiastic and if he and damian are working together it’s best to go and beg jason for sanctuary from them.

Duke: Honeslty you aren’t sure whether he’s like you or like them at first because Duke is so easy doing, listens to your problems so well and makes. you feel like you’r valid for being angry. It’s all true what he says, it’s just that he also is on his family’s side about you and is slowly working his way into your heart in a way that the others can’t because they’ve never been where you (and he) has. Duke is the gentle yandere unless you really manage to make him angry by getting hurt in any way.

Damian: I wish you the best of luck. Damian is the son of thalia and bruce. His ver y nature is to be possessive over anything that he considers his and you are his. You’re his older sibling in a way that Dick is, someone to be trusted, someone to ask questions too, but that does not mean he’ll let you escape. If anything the thought makes him infuriated and he’s likely to blow up. Damian is obsessive, and sadistic, willing to do anything if it means that you’re safe at home with him.

[wutheringmights]

Normal People by Sally Rooney is, blessedly, a very normal book. 

It’s been a bad year of reading for me. Nearly half of all the books I read were on a spectrum of just disappointing to appallingly bad. A good portion of them I read on purpose, but it’s the ones I wanted to be good that stung. I don’t mind reading bad books, but they can’t be all that I read. With my standards on the ground, I just needed Rooney’s novel to be good.

Good news-- Normal People is pretty good. It’s not great, but it’s good. I like it enough that my Rooney-loving sister has elected not to murder me. I’m very grateful for that. But even then, I did not love it. There’s a certain je ne sais quo that I just do not get.

Je ne sais quo is not the way to put it. That suggests that there’s a secret little spice that you can’t put your finger on that makes the spaghetti good (dear god-- what is that metaphor? Remind me to delete that later). With Normal People-- and perhaps, all of Rooney’s works-- I can tell you exactly what is in it and why it doesn’t necessarily work for me. 

Normal People is a book seated deep, deep within the brains of the two main characters. It’s not stream of consciousness, but you can tell Rooney is a fan of the form. The entire novel comprised of chapters where we learn that important events had happened in some nebulous time off-page, and now our characters are musing about the significance of them. It’s an oblique perspective. What happens matters less than what conclusions a character draws from them.

Is it effective? Sure. Rooney’s greatest skill is putting into words the uncomfortable, self-absorbed emotions and realizations we have about ourselves and the world we live in, especially in the rocky transition from childhood to adulthood. But when the entire novel is nothing but philosophy about the nature of interpersonal relationships or the struggles to fit in, it loses its magic. 

I don’t mind sinking into a character’s mind and soaking in what they think. That can be enjoyable. But it needs to be accompanied by actual action. I would rather see the moment a character realizes she’s a sadist in bed than read only about the conclusions she draws about the world from it. Both are important. To lob off the moment of realization, where she would be interacting with another person, makes for a passive book. 

It would be one thing if Marianne and Connell had more interesting perspectives about the world. But they’re, well, normal people. They don’t have a lot to say, and it can feel like you’re reading the same scene and paragraph over and over again. 

Despite its reputation as a character-driven book, I actually did not find either Marianne or Connell to be fully fleshed-out characters. At times, they felt more like mouthpieces for specific experiences than real people. Their musings about politics in particular felt so clunky: just shoved in there less because these people seriously believe in leftist policies and more because the audience does. 

I don’t actually think Rooney wants to write about fully-fleshed out characters, ironic as it is. Her goal is to convey some idea of what it felt like to be in college and struggling to find your place in the world. The characters, their details, their beliefs: it’s all just window dressing. I can’t fault her for that. In fact, I appreciate it. More specific characters are less familiar, and I like the familiarity of my confusion being reflected back to me. It’s validating to think that there are people who had the same pains as you, the kind that is insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe but nonetheless sting. Not all books need to be about the particularly tragic.

That begs the question: is Normal People literary fiction?

Nope.

It’s certainly written with a literary aesthetic, mainly the lack of quotation marks and the blending of the dialogue into the narration. This serves to further push the reader deeper into the characters’ head, really forcing you to view the world through their inner musings. Discarding classic grammar and more fluid scene structures is also a hallmark of modern and postmodern literature, which we can assume Rooney has studied. 

I think the unconventional style leads some readers into thinking the novel does more than it actually does. If you remove Rooney’s style from the equation, the novel is pretty simple. You don’t have to think too hard about it. You can turn your brain off when reading it. Genuinely, the only time I thought deeper about it was when I was trying to figure out if it earned the right to be called literary fiction. 

So, I wouldn’t call Normal People literary fiction. It’s a good novel, but it’s not really literary. It does capture the cultural zeitgeist in a way that a lot of books don’t, and for that reason it deserves to be praised. 

It’s good, and I was satisfied. And right now, that is enough. It’s a normal book.

--

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Rating: 4/5 ⭐

[bbc2pastmidnight]

So obsessed with the variability of valid readings of Edgeworth’s relationship with sex / sexuality. This is slightly long so I’ll put it under the cut.

He’s a virgin; he’s a whore. He’s trans (both ways, depending who you ask or what mood they’re in); he’s the most unbearable rich cis gay man to ever walk the earth (you know the type). He’s aromantic; he falls in love with anyone who’s nice to him, even if he knows that outward “niceness” is just their personality. He can’t love anyone whom he can’t respect, so he likes to be put in his place (roughly); he finds comfort in his own projection of superiority, and feels his best standing and gloating over someone he’s defeated (in any sense). He revels in the simplicity of taking a physical beating; he just wants to be held. He can’t stand to give up control, and will do anything to anyone to maintain it; having control entirely seized from him is the best thing he can imagine. He’s a sadist, he’s a masochist, or he’s too tired, so tired of perfectly fulfilling every role in his life already. He just wants a hand to squeeze quietly under the table, to have a reason to learn how to cook; domesticity repels and terrifies him, who grew up in a cold house and expects to die in the familiar comfort of a frigid one (where the spotless kitchen is never used and the cushions are always arranged just-so, where he can let his guard down, focus on work till the wee hours of the morning and shuffle to a cool, silent bedroom: numb, but not painful).

He’s a top; he’s a bottom. He typically finds sex repulsive and awkward and alarming; or he doesn’t view it as anything personal at all, the same as going out for a drink after work to try and unwind. He’s dying to submit to something; he’ll fight tooth and claw before someone sees him so vulnerable. He knows he’s handsome and how to use this to get what he wants (and has done since an alarmingly young age); he’s so buttoned-up and stiff that the impropriety of attempting such a thing is unthinkable.

I honestly feel that there’s text to support one, both, or a mixture of any of these readings, and seeing other peoples’ interpretations rarely feels entirely wrong because he’s such a self-contradictory character. He often seems to know what he wants, and he sometimes seems to know what’s good for him, yet he rarely seems to desire what would be good for him at all. Even as his character develops and grows older and seems to accept himself more and grow back into the person he always seems to have been at his core, there’s still this stubborn sense of self-loathing that’s been hammered into him for so long. It’s nowhere near as bad as when he was young, like in the first game or in flashback cases, and he’s clearly doing better and is a lot more comfortable, but even if he’s attained some level of not-hurting, it doesn’t mean that he’s good, you know ? And this seems to hold him back from…something. I think from what depends on your reading of him, ultimately. But some young, vindictive part of him still doesn’t want to lose, somehow, I think. And this presents as very contradictory actions and reactions over time. This can be said of his whole character, not just his sexuality, obviously, but I think that since there is so much writing and speculation about his (and other characters’s) sexual preferences among fans etc, it is a useful vessel for communicating this important aspect of his character, this push and pull of his own psyche.

I’ll definitely cringe to look back on this someday and I haven’t even proofread it now, but I do have brain worms that I wanted to release into the ether. Now that they have seen the open air (the worms, I mean) I will retreat back into the hole from whence i came.

PS. I can’t believe this is the pink guy from gay lawyer game

[killian-whump]

Edit: I’m leaving this original post as-is, because to change it now would be disingenuous and unfair to the people who voiced (honestly, very valid) outrage at what this post seemed to be saying. This was not meant to be a post about racism or about POC whumpers’ struggles to feel comfortable in the Whump Community. The post about racism that I mention in the first paragraph was merely the starting point for a thought process that got me thinking about the niche quality of the fandom side of the Whump Community. Much like in a fetish community, many whumpers are here for their one specific Whumpee or to scratch their one very specific trope itch. It was that phenomenon that my post was meant to be addressing - and the best way, in that sense, to get your own itch scratched is by starting a blog about it and hoping others with the same Whumpee/interest come out to join you. I made a grave error by referring to the post about racism in the beginning, and using POC Whumpees as an example of a “specific itch” that someone might want to scratch. By doing so, I gave the wrong impression that this was a post (1) about the other post and (2) about racism. It wasn’t meant to be either, and I should have been much more careful in making this post to make sure I did not give the wrong impression. Racism in fandom is a very serious issue; the tendency for niche communities to create insular mini-communities (tables, if you will) based on highly specific individual needs is not. And it’s the latter that this post was meant to be about! Hope that clears it up and keeps further feathers from being ruffled. Love to you all!

I’ve been thinking more about that post about racism in the Whump Community. Despite how big the Whump Community’s gotten and how quickly it’s exploded and evolved into a big, bustling community... It is still what would be considered a niche community.

As such, it is built entirely by the individuals in the community, to cater specifically to their own needs and in the hopes that others might share their specific interests. You can’t expect a table to already be laid out for you in a niche dining hall. You have to grab a table yourself, put your own favorite dishes on it... and hope others come and join you for dinner. Because niche communities are what they are because they’re not for everybody. They’re only for the individuals who are part of them - and they exist to cater to the needs and wants of those people.

But that doesn’t mean groups/interests who aren’t “part” of the community yet are being excluded. It just means no one’s grabbed a table and slapped some of those dishes on it yet. And why haven’t you? Haven’t you ever seen Field of Dreams? “If you build it, they will come.” Get building! Communities don’t build themselves, and life’s too short to wait for others to build your happy space for you.

That’s what I did. I saw some Hook content in the whump blogs, but I knew there could be a lot more. I saw some whumpy writings in the OUAT community, but I knew there could be a lot more. I wanted more. So I made a blog to curate and celebrate what was already out there, and to connect with others who (like me) enjoyed that kind of content. The hope was (and forever is) that other creators would join in and make more content. And they did! They SO did!

And it’s not like the community as a whole decided one day to start putting white boys in boxes. One individual somewhere just thought it would be a good idea, threw a dude in a box and shipped him off to a sadist... and a new section of the community was born. And apparently so many other people crammed chairs around that table that it’s become an entire universe now, through some magic of fandom space evolution or something. And it does seem like they’re still mostly white boys, but I’m sure if you order a POC boy, they’ll happily ship you one. Or hell, order twenty! You’ll probably get a bulk purchase discount, and everyone likes a good bargain.

The point is... The Whump Community is what WE make it - and that includes YOU, whoever you are. If you want more of something - make it. Or at least provide a place for other people seeking such content to congregate so you can use the powerful force of collective puppy dog eyes to get others to make/share content with you. Hey, it works!

And if anyone out there makes/has a POC whump blog (that focuses on fictional whump scenarios other than non-fictional slavery/racism scenarios), lemme know. I’m definitely down for that!

[jacquelinemerritt]

Dragon Ball Z: Abridged Episode 38 Review

Originally posted February 19th, 2016

Sometimes character driven storytelling can be pretty messy.

“Dr. Gero, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Androids” is, in my opinion, a great example of character-driven storytelling at its finest, as well as at its messiest. The episode begins with Dr. Gero having successfully escaped by attacking Bulma, Baby Trunks, and Yajirobe, and this escape fractures our protagonists.

Vegeta is pissed at Trunks after his revelation last episode that Android 19 and Gero were not the droids they were looking for, Bulma and Yajirobe want to leave the battle, and Gohan wants to check up on his father, leaving only Piccolo, Krillin, and Tenshinhan to chase after Gero. Trunks and Vegeta do eventually rejoin the Bald Trio at the lab, but it’s at the last moment, and only after we’ve seen Trunks plead desperately for his father to stop trying to fight and be berated in turn.

It’s a mess of an episode, if you’re looking purely at how difficult it is to progress from plot point to plot point, but it works because each character’s actions are based on motivations that have already been established. Vegeta is egotistical, sadistic, and unforgiving of failure, so as much as we might want for Trunks to convince him with reason that he should hold off on trying to fight the androids, it’s much more satisfying to see Trunks try and fail miserably (this in turn makes clear Trunks’ love for his father, as he’s doing everything in his power to save his life).

Gohan’s love for his father is similarly a valid reason for him to temporarily check out of the story with Bulma and Yajirobe, even though fighting the androids would most likely be easier with him present. Finally, Piccolo, Krillin, and Tien have all been established as fairly heroic, and so, with Krillin in particular, it makes sense that they would all chase after Gero: regardless of the danger, it’s the right thing to do.

This may not be the most efficient method of storytelling, but ultimately, even when it’s a tad slow, it’s all the more satisfying, as we get to see the relationships between these characters pay off in very big ways (and in this episode, Trunks and Vegeta’s relationship is the one with the best payoff).

Now, once our heroes find Gero’s lab, the episode shifts its focus completely to establishing our new antagonists, Android 17 and Android 18. This scene allows the episode to lessen its scope, and its storytelling becomes all the more effective for it, establishing Android 17 as a sly manipulator who can outmaneuver even the “genius” Dr. Gero.

This also provides an incredibly effective payoff to how underpowered Gero and Android 19 were, as these new androids, which Trunks confirms are the real threat, are able to take out Dr. Gero with three quick hits, where it took Vegeta ten to take out Android 19. They may look like the Grand Central Station of disappointment, but they’re clearly more powerful than anything our heroes have had to take on yet.

Rating: 4/5

If you enjoyed this review, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Stray Observations

Vegeta: “Love each other? Making a lot of assumptions here.”

Vegeta to Trunks: “I’m sorry, but I don’t listen to bastards.”

Bulma: “Oh my god, I solicited my son for sex.”

Trunks: “We both know I’m your son.” Vegeta: “Are you as disappointed as I am?”

Krillin Owned: We’re at thirty, thanks to Krillin having a one in 540,000 chance of running into Dr. Gero, and then running into Dr. Gero.

Android 17: “It’s just, every time you talked, all I heard was ‘Kill me, kill me, kill me.’ Think it’s gone now though.” Later: “Sorry Doc, just following orders.”

[gloamses]

Finally someone who analyzes and actually thinks about "bad media". Most people just either take it for face value, or they see just a little information about it and assume it's bad.

The main reason I am saying this is because I too read Killing Stalking and honestly? I thought it was a good read. Definitely interesting, it had me wanting to know what happened next. Of course it's not okay to torture someone and force them to do the things they did in the story. But it is just a story after all, it's not real. And I personally think it's an interesting depiction of such a specific situation. It's something nobody would really think about, and that's part of what makes it good.

Also a good time to bring up that a fanbase can definitely make media seem worse than it is, especially when it's about something sensitive like that.

Sorry about the rant. I just think it's fun to think about things in an analytical way.

I devote some of my time to controversial media on purpose, and I encourage people to do the same if they’re able. I will read something if there’s Buzz, good or bad, because I like to be an informed citizen. that’s also why I read captive prince (which I disliked and found way more offensive than killing stalking LMAO). I also agree that the thriller elements were p successful. there was some really well-executed suspense it freaked me out

the thing is (and idk if I’m reading you right here) I don’t even think it’s “something nobody would really think about”. like I said in my tags, torture porn is already an entire horror subgenre. the trope of a sadist holding people captive in his home to torment them is very much a done thing. the trope of perpetrators developing fucked up relationships with their victims is also a done thing. I don’t really respond well to it but not much of it is new

which is why I’m still kind of interested in the reasons why a lot of people latched onto killing stalking in particular as Devil Media in such a way that they needed to signal their opposition to it. this one piece of media. it’s pretty voyeuristic about pain and suffering, yeah, a lot of it is clearly for shock value, but that’s kind of part and parcel to the subgenre - really I’d argue a lot of mainstream horror has historically depicted & sexualized suffering in far more mean-spirited ways. this one just got singled out and scapegoated. ks is like the “blurred lines” of horror comics, there’s another one of my hot takes

& nobody needs to be ok with it, ofc. I think it’s totally fair and valid to think it’s gratuitous, tacky, insensitive, cheap in its usage of child abuse as backstory, leering in its depiction of sexual assault, etc. there were plenty of things I didn’t like about it. but if nothing else, I didn’t think it was romanticizing abuse. if readers sincerely thought that the superficially-romantic moments were sweet, or intended to be sweet, frankly imo that’s just bad reading comprehension, and there are other aspects worth criticizing. but nothing will stop a cringe fanbase from misrepresenting the content, which exacerbates the situation. idk! the hate train is an interesting phenomenon to me.

[sparklee-gem]

I hope you don’t mind my thoughts cuz it is a really interesting thing I’ve seen!

I do 100% agree that Yami and Atem are the same, and it’s a matter of growth and regaining more and more of himself that connects the two identities of the same person. I’ve really only seen people seperate them in ways like fanart, for example things like monarch or mobiumshipping, or to have comics or drawings of Atem and Yami meeting at the different stages in their life and how that goes (like meeting a past version of yourself)

I think in these cases the separation is interesting because to Atem his “completed self” is his main goal of the entire series. He questions who he was. He questions his roles in the story. He wonders if he was the same or if his personality was entirely different. And like.

There’s times Yugi is called a vessel, but funny enough Atem is a vessel for everyone else’s images of him, and he just has to carry those throughout the story.

To Yugi he’s the version of Yugi that’s able to be everything he wants to be. To Anzu he’s the handsome reliable hero who will always come in to save the day. To Kaiba he’s the ideal rival, one who he assigns all his goals and frustrations onto. To the Ishtars he’s this personification of the prophecies and fate they have endured, both good and bad, despite him not even being alive for that they endured. To Yami Bakura he’s the personification of the royal court, and thus has all their sins assigned to him. Everyone has an idea of what he should be, despite the fact Atem doesn’t even know who he’s supposed to be, so he just has to shoulder all these roles he’s assigned by other people.

All this to say, the “yami” imagery is fitting because he really is like the shadow cast from Atem: Atem is the original source, the original body, while Yami is the shadow cast from the image of that… doesn’t become a different person or anything, but doesn’t reveal the whole picture, doesn’t reveal all that’s there, we only have the silhouette. So I think people separate them more to contrast the stages in their identity that they’re at, rather than really believing they’re two different people. It’s more to reflect on how he’s changed and how he had the images of other people (hell he was borrowing an appearance wasn’t his for a lot of it) and how it compares to the one that is completely his own. I’ve seen some great character analysis fics through this sort of lens, that focus on the point they are the same person, despite being so different.

(Tho I like to joke that season 0/ early manga yami Yugi *is* completely different because he actually was written to be just an alter ego of Yugi, but dark and powerful, and he truly did believe himself to be Yugi before Takahashi changed the plot while writing it, so it’s funny to contrast this sadistic twisted version of his identity to him at the end and them both being like “who the heck is this guy”)

I think it’s a cool way to explore his character, so like you said, everyone’s interpretations and opinions are valid, but obviously to recognize the canon that this is the same guy who is just going through his own growth and transformation as a person.

I will explain the merch thing tho. The complaints I always see from other people who get upset over “all this Yami but no Atem!” are upset that Atem’s real physical form, the one the whole story goes to the length to discover and find and establish as his own identity, is not being sold nearly as often, and we have to wonder why the character with brown skin is not allowed to have the same attention the one with pale skin is. These are complains **I** also have because I’m one of those people who gets upset at the lack of “Atem” merch, its not because I think they’re different characters and I prefer one more, but because it’s a simple fact that brown characters tend to get ignored or whitewashed in merch. It’s a known thing that there are issues of colorism and whitewashing within merchandise of black and brown characters. Which when we see yet another figure of Yami in a similar pose in the same outfit in a similar style, yeah we wonder where the variety is.

You’re right, they are the same character! So why does his version where he is in his past life so omitted from everything. Going off of figures alone (so not even character goods) Atem has about 5 figures while Yami has about 40 (going off of figure databases) you have to admit, it feels a bit unfair haha. Why does he *have* to mainly be shown in an appearance that isn’t even his, it’s Yugi’s. Obviously it’s what we see for most of the series, but we would just like to see more of his real appearance is all. We know he’s Egyptian, so why don’t we get to see it.

I feel the same about Dark Magician girl and Mana. Plenty of figures and merch for DMG, but nothing for Mana at all other than one time she got some pins.

Priest Set only just recently getting one figure and his skin was pale for it, I don’t need to mention how much Kaiba gets, etc etc etc.

So any frustration is more at that than any actual annoyance or dislike of the actual character of Yami. (tho if anyone does hate Yami Yugi and loves Atem I would be confused because. They’re the same guy lol) I also get mad at the lack of Yugi Mutou merch rather than Yami Yugi, so Yami is just the unfortunate target of my annoyance lol

I hope that clears up why some people might feel the way they do or portray the characters a certain way. Atem’s identity is such a major part of the story that it would make sense why so many different ways of exploring or interpreting it come out.

Sorry for the rambling, but thank you for sharing your thoughts on it! I always love seeing different perspectives and opinions on the characters and series as a whole, so I wanted to give my thoughts as well. ✨

When I see people talking about Yami Yugi and Atem like they're not the same person I imagine in my head the 'if you didn't like me at my worst, then you don't deserve me at my best' type of meme, or the 'I can be your angle... or yuor devil' too.

Has anyone made those memes yet?

[autisticlancemcclain]

part one

part two

———

Lance has never had someone be so… protective of him.

His older sisters were protective, of course. But they were all protecting the same secret. And Lance and his sisters are all pretty close in age, so youngest or no, he wasn’t really the baby of the family unless he was being teased. They mostly spent their time showing how much they loved each other by seeing just how far they could push until they went insane. And as much as Lance doesn’t miss Maria taunting him about every crush he’s ever had, or Lucía cutting off the power while he’s in the washroom, or Aleja stealing all his lotions, or even Ines’ regular tackles down the hallway, he does miss them, and the way they never hesitated to cover for each other.

Keith, though, is different.

Keith has no stake in Lance’s secret. If anything, it only makes life harder for him. But he’s determined to do whatever he can to make sure Lance feels safe, and it’s… different. A new feeling.

God, Lance is so glad they’re finally friends. Even, of course, if being friends means he has to answer all of Keith’s dumbass, cryptid-obsessed questions.

“Do you ever want to eat people?”

Exhibit A.

Lance glares at the dumbass in question, flicking his tail so he gets pelted with a high-pressured splash of pool water.

“Only annoying boys with mullets who ask a lot of stupid questions,” he snarks, once Keith has stopped sputtering long enough to hear him.

“You got water up my nose,” Keith complains, voice nasally because of all the water that was presumably shoved through his nostrils, and Lance smiles smugly.

“Serves you right.”

“I was just asking a question!”

“Yeah, a stupid question. Ask me intelligent questions, or sit in ignorance. God, it’s so tiring being the smartest person in the room all the time.”

“…Right,” Keith says drily. “I bow to you, Mr. Ten Thousand Is A Thousand Plus Ten.”

“Fuck off! That was a translation issue!”

“It was not. You had a brain fart. Admit it.”

“Absolutely not. Only one of us has a skull that’s full of hot air, and it’s certainly not me.”

“Is so.”

“Is not.”

“Is so.”

“Is not.”

“Is s —”

Lance tenses his tail again, narrowing his eyes. “Keith, I swear to God, if you don’t cut that shit out I am going to drown you for real.”

“See! Look at that! Murderous tendencies! My eating people question was totally valid!”

Lance rolls his eyes, and then opens his mouth as wide as it will go so Keith can see his teeth.

“See?” he asks, voice muffled over the stretch of his mouth. “No fangs. I told you, my upper body pretty much stays the same. I mean, I get a pretty intense craving for sushi every once in a while, but I don’t want to eat people. I couldn’t if I tried, I don’t have the teeth for it.”

Keith shrugs, stubborn as a goddamn ox. “I mean, just ‘cause you don’t have fangs doesn’t mean you don’t eat people. Cannibals eat people with regular teeth.”

“Yeah, regular teeth and knives, dumbass.”

“…Alright. Touché. So you don’t eat people.”

Lance flicks his tail to splash Keith again, but it’s much gentler.

Because he is a mature adult, and Keith is a dorky loser.

“Yeah, yeah. Now ask me a smart question or quit asking questions and let me try and catapult you across the pool. I had the angle wrong last time, I think if I sit with my back to the wall I can —”

“I have another question,” Keith says loudly, likely thinking of the last time they attempted a human catapult, which makes Lance smirk.

Pussy. Just ‘cause he went flying and nearly hit the ceiling last time doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try again.

For science, obviously. Not because Lance thinks Keith screaming is hilarious or anything.

(God, maybe he did turn into a siren. Was he always this sadistic? What’s with him obsessing over pressing Keith’s buttons all the time? It’s like he wants Keith to make that stupid face he gets when he’s all concentrated and cocky, with his narrowed eyes and haughty smirk and big attitude. That face used to piss him the hell off, he wonders why he’s so dead set on seeing it, now. Weird.)

“Does it hurt, when you transform? ‘Cause you always look a little pinched when you finally dry out.”

Lance blinks.

He got what he fuckin’ asked for, he supposes, ‘cause that’s a complicated question if he’s ever heard one. And it’s not like Keith is asking maliciously, of course. They don’t really do malicious, anymore, and besides, Keith has that soft and concerned look on his face that always makes Lance’s chest feel constricted.

(He’s felt so strange around Keith, lately. It must be because there’s that strange level of trust between them, now, because of how much Lance is relying on Keith to protect him and how seriously Keith takes that role.)

“The short answer is not technically,” Lance says after a moment.

“And the long answer?”

“You sure you want to hear me rambling about it?”

Keith shrugs, face still all soft and gooey or whatever. “Wouldn’t’ve asked if I didn’t.”

“Didn’t Pidge ban you from using triple contractions, you country fucking bumpkin?”

“First of all, Pidge ain’t here, and second of all, you’re deflecting.”

Lance holds his hands up in surrender, because unfortunately Keith is correct (which is Lance’s least favourite sentence).

“Alright, alright.”

He takes a moment to gather his thoughts, the air between them growing tense and serious as Lance’s expression clouds. Keith waits patiently, letting Lance think of what he needs to say without interruptions.

(Yet another thing they’ve started to do a lot, lately. Lance has found that Keith is a great listener, and even more shockingly, Lance is also kind of a good listener. He didn’t think he would be, but he’s found himself working hard to become one. He likes it when Keith opens up to him.)

“We got transformed when I was eight. I’ve been a mermaid longer than I’ve been a real human. Or, well, a full human, I guess? Whatever. Anyways. I’ve been like this longer than I haven’t.

“Before that, though, I can remember a sort of… obsession, with the ocean. Beyond what I think was normal. And not just, like, a lot of geeky feelings about marine biology. I definitely have those —”

Keith grins teasingly. “Believe me, I know.”

“— but even as a kid, I can remember thinking that the ocean felt like home. I specifically remember this one time when I got the flu and was stuck in bed for a week, and I sobbed relentlessly after the first few days because it was the first time I was really away from the ocean for more than a day or two and I felt homesick. I remember crying to my mother that I just wanted to go home, even though I was sitting in the room I’d lived in my whole life.

“After the transformation, that — loneliness, I guess, that longing got stronger. It’s not something I obsessed over twenty four seven, or anything, but on the rare days I went too long without going to the beach I felt restless. Antsy.”

“How come you went to the Garrison, then? Not that I don’t get it — you’re a great pilot — but, I don’t know. Why’d you go so far away from home if you knew it would hurt so bad?”

Ignoring the ridiculous and stupid flush to his cheeks that came immediately upon hearing Keith of all people — Keith, the greatest pilot of their generation — say he’s a great pilot, Lance shrugs.

“I didn’t know, I guess. I mean, I knew I’d get homesick, but I’d always felt a pull to the stars just as much as I felt a pull to the sea. I figured it would kind of even out, or something. But it didn’t. And I didn’t have anywhere to safely transform, either, which made it a million times worse.”

“Does it hurt? If you go too long without transforming?”

“It’s not like, a physical pain, or anything, but you know that feeling you get when you’re trapped in a car or a classroom or something for too long and you feel like you’re going to explode if you don’t jump out the window immediately?”

“Yikes, yeah. How long did you feel so stuck?”

“I made it a month before I couldn’t take it anymore. I picked a random weekend and took a ten-hour bus to this water-filled sinkhole a few cities away. It was not technically accessible to the public, but I was so desperate that I just climbed my way down the rocky walls and prayed I wouldn’t fall and die.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Yeah. But the relief I felt when I finally got in… holy shit. A truly religious experience.”

“I can imagine,” Keith says quietly. “Is that why you look so sad, when you dry off? Wistful?”

“Partially. It’s not that I would rather be permanently a mermaid or anything — I really wouldn’t, it’s honestly kind of a pain in the ass — there’s a kind of raw freedom, to swimming through the open ocean. I always miss it when I’m dry. It makes me miss my family, too.”

That last sentence hangs between them, heavy. Lance keeps his gaze trained on his pruning fingers, swallowing back the lump in his throat. Being able to share his secret with someone, swim around the pool, play in the water — it’s all great, sure, but it’s not the same. He misses being able to let loose, swim as far and fast as he can, staying underwater until his lungs burn and he absolutely has to surface. He can’t do that, anymore, not even in summers, and it sucks.

“Hey.”

Lance startles at Keith’s voice. When he looks up to face him, he almost does a double take — Keith’s got his game face on, indigo eyes narrowed and determined, 100% focused on Lance.

It’s — overwhelming, is what it is. The intensity of the stare, and the fact that Keith’s attention — which he’s always wanted, always craved, even if he had to invent a rivalry to get it — makes something squirm in Lance’s stomach, makes his palms sweat and face flush.

Like a prey animal, or something.

“You’re gonna swim in the ocean again,” Keith promises. “I can’t — I can’t get you your family back, not yet, but I can — I’ll take you out to an ocean, okay? I’ll find a way. Soon.”

Keith holds his gaze, eyes steady and increasingly intense, so sincere Lance can feel a shiver run up his spine.

“Okay,” he says, and his voice cracks so many times that it makes them both laugh immediately, and the tension breaks.

“…If I let you try the catapult again, do you promise to keep my immediate safety in mind?”

“Nope!”

[aceofwhump]

I’m just curious, why are you so interested in whumping? I stumbled upon this blog by chance and i don’t get it, but I’d like to understand why people are interested in it

Hi there! Welcome! It's okay if you don't get it. Whump isn't for everyone but I applaud you for asking kindly and being willing to learn. And that's a very good question. One we as a community often ask ourselves and we honestly have yet to find a solid answer.

There are a lot of different reasons why we are interested in whump and they vary from person to person. Some of the reasons we've discuss as a community are:

We enjoy seeing people go through difficult times, either physically or emotionally, and recover from it, receive love and comfort from friends and family. Maybe we don't always get that in our own lives so we love seeing our favorite fictional characters get it. Live through them. It's why comfort is such a big part of whump as well. We love the comfort part of whump.

Maybe the characters we love seeing whumped are similar to ourselves and we enjoy seeing their pain validated and seeing them recover from it. It gives us hope that we can recover and our pain will be validated. That someone will see our pain and help us.

It gives a lot of us an outlet to work through our own traumas. Maybe we had a terrible childhood or have gone through something traumatic and whump is a way for us to work through it.

It's a safe place to explore painful, traumatic, taboo things. Whump and dark things have been a subject for fiction for centuries. People have always been interested in these kinds of subjects and we are no different. They're interesting subjects and we like to explore them.

I've seen a theory that we like whump because we're empathetic people and pain gives you endorphins so we get an endorphin rush from seeing fictional characters in pain because we're empathetic.

We like seeing characters be vulnerable and overcome adversity. To go through something difficult and come out the other side. It makes for good storytelling and brings depth to characters.

For some people, it's a sexual thing. That's perfectly fine and a completely valid reason to like whump.

A lot of us are asexual too and I think whump gives us similar feelings to arousal without it being sexual. (at least for me it does)

Heck, some of us are sadists. That's fine too.

Personally, I think some actors just look good like aesthetically when they're bleeding or bruises. 🤷‍♀️

This is one of my personal reason that I haven't really seen discussed but it's definitely a reason I like whump. Essentially, I struggle with recognizing emotions both in myself and within other people. Always have. Whump allows me to explore and learn about different emotional reactions which helps me recognize those emotions in my loved ones and in myself.

We enjoy the character dynamics that come from whump. The whumpee and the caretaker for instance. Or the whumper and the whumpee.

But honestly none of us really know? These are all just theories we've discussed amongst the community. All we know for sure is that we get good feelings when our favorite fictional characters are in pain. There's just something about whump that makes us feel good. What it is exactly is hard to pin down and changes from person to person (some enjoy emotional over physical. some like hard torture and others don't. we're all different) but we all get what we call "whumperflies" when we see/read good whump. It's a physical sensation that manifests itself in different ways. For most of us it feels like butterflies in the stomach (hence the name) and it feels good. We like that feeling. And we get that feeling from whump. So we like whump.

You'd think this community, being full of people who like seeing fictional characters in pain, would be cruel or terrible people but this community is full of the nicest people you will ever interact with. I think it correlates with our love of whump. I think we're all so nice because we understand pain and suffering and don't want anyone to feel hurt in real life.

I hope this answers your question nonny!! If you want to learn anything else, have any other questions, or wanna explore it some more you are more than welcome! We're a super nice community and all are welcome here :D

[sidsinning]

Bless you for making good posts so I can get the gist of bad takes without having to read them myself…

Anyway yeah I missed Kuro Neko but it’s cool they’re getting a chance to develop. I assume there’s still gonna be more Ladynoir drama for the finale but HURRAH! Talking!

I don't blame people for thinking it since the show has an overall strict episodic nature to it, but the Ladynoir conflict is not just one and done here. There are still a lot more things to settle and resolve imo.

And yeah I am so exhausted of this sadistic tone people have taken in terms of Ladynoir's relationship where she needs to be the one who's ungrateful and unworthy of CN. Like she should be in tears and begging for forgiveness while he's untouchable and valid in the way he behaves towards her, and his expectations for their relationship which simply cannot be lived up to.

LB sees being a hero as a JOB which she wants to do the best way she can, while her partner expects an exclusive reliance on him at all times, which isn't fair and as seen from the episode, is just impossible to accomplish at this point.

Like, do you guys expect her to tell him how much he means to her everyday to keep him happy?? That's pretty weird lol. He's a real person to her not your favorite character on screen lol.

It's not like she never tells him or doesn't do it enough, it's bc her feelings for him are that of a best friend and not the love of her life like he wants, so her attention is not exclusive to him nor should it be forced to be. And he gets it, bravo to him!

[bestworstcase]

Hi, im a bit lost in fandom in general and just found your blog, i hope you dont mind my asking this. You mention every now and then there being some hatedom-y niches, is it related to any political or significative offline division? Not trying to make you single out anyone, just curious whether this was a bigotry problem as in star wars, hp or other bigger sagas or just people being rude (not that its very good either). Thanx

kind…of

ok

so

the hatedom-y side of the tts fandom largely exists in this weird intersection between 1. people who are outraged that the nerdy teen boy wasn’t the protagonist of the disney princess cartoon, 2. people who wanted tts to be the sweet slice of life adventures of eugene and his girlfriend, and 3. people with a bone to pick with the sexism and (more rarely) racism inherent in the narrative itself; which creates this…odd dynamic where like, you get people furiously and correctly condemning tts for, say, sidelining the only living mom in the whole series or treating the only character of color in the main cast like an idiot manbaby who needs to be babysat by a child half his age—but then those exact same people will turn around and seethe because cassandra had the audacity to be the deuteragonist instead of their male character of choice gmfjdkdh

( which imo is one of the reasons why a lot of moonvarian / moongene content isn’t… especially good; the au concepts in and of themselves have lots of potential! but more often than not they end up kind of awkwardly railroading varian/eugene into cassandra’s narrative role bc they’re coming from a place of thinking she “stole” that from one of them gkfhdks. see also, the “chris changed the story to spite varian fans” flavor of moonvarian conspiracy, in defiance of all evidence that moon!cass was the plan from the very beginning. )

and then sort of parallel to that there is a lot. A LOT. of fandom racism vis-a-vis how the separatists of saporia are handled in fanworks, particularly in varian-centric circles where they get twisted into cackling sadistic monsters in order to facilitate varian angst. but that’s not exclusive to the hatedom-y side, the whole fandom does it /:

to an extent i think the tts hatedom is kinda… like there’s always this underlying misogyny in the way hatedomy folks interpret and talk about cassandra (and often, rapunzel) but it’s also largely comprised of people who are at least nominally socially progressive and have seized on the, very real, issues tts has with its portrayals of women and people of color as a way of legitimizing their hatred of the show (and of chris sonnenburg, who of course gets blamed 100% for everything bad and given zero credit for anything good, because god forbid we acknowledge that anyone else involved in the creation of this show might have a smidgen of agency or responsibility for how it turned out! lmao surely tts would have been perfect if only the crusty cishet white man who is sort of abrasive on twitter weren’t the one in charge 🙄)—so delving into the hatedom often ends up feeling like “lol okay, nice views you have in this glass house of yours”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

worth noting here is that 9 times out of 10 when hatedom-y fans start talking about sexism or racism in tts itself it’s for the sake of shitting on sonnenburg vs like, trying to have meaningful or constructive critical discussions of the text or of trends in fanwork—as with any hatedom, when the focus is on proving the validity of one’s hatred for a piece of media, eventually the cynical hatemongering subsumes everything else and it all starts to feel more than a little unhinged. the most egregious example of this is of course the tangled salt marathon

[nekropsii]

hey wait a second thomas hewitt is a valid troll name

Yup!! He’s also literally the most Vriska-type Slasher to ever exist. It’s actually pretty interesting. I’m going to infodump about Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies largely unprompted, now. Should this be put on my literal dedicated Horror blog instead? Yes. But for now, it’s a relevant topic to this blog, so who cares.

Content Warning: References to/Conversation About Violence, Gore, Self Harm, and Cannibalism.

Ok. Nerd rant time.

His life sucks so fucking bad that you can really see how and why he got to where he is now, and you really want to root for him, but… He descends into doing some things that are so sadistic that you really get emotionally torn between whether or not you should like him, lol. Personally, I love him to pieces. He’s prime Leatherface. They really nailed down the core of what makes Leatherface such an interesting character, while also getting super dark, violent, and serious with it. I recommend his Timeline if you can stomach some pretty gnarly gore. And when I say pretty gnarly, I mean it’s really fucking gnarly. They went a lot farther with it than the Original Timeline, and the name Texas Chainsaw Massacre fits here more than ever.

I think the really heavy gore and violence suits it, though. The change from the Sawyers to the Hewitts definitely did the story well- the Sawyers are kind of hard to take seriously, they’re really goofy, and the bulk of their strengths as individual characters and as a family lie in comedy. This is why Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is the best movie in the fucking world.

The Hewitts, though…? Jesus fucking Christ. Not only is taking them seriously not a challenge, they’re downright terrifying. Their shared overt sadism goes above and beyond whatever was going on with the Sawyers, and that sadism takes itself much more seriously. This shift in tone is best shown by comparing both of these Timelines’s versions of Leatherface.

Fun fact, for the uninitiated. Leatherface is often touted as the “Big Bad” of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He is the iconic Slasher to come out of the franchise.

Now, what if I told you Leatherface isn’t who you should really be afraid of? Because Leatherface isn’t a “Big Bad” or anything. Yes, he’s definitely large- consistently clocking at over 6 feet tall, and built like a literal god damn fridge- and he’s definitely… Well, trying to kill and eat people, but he’s not at all the scariest person in the franchise by any means. Leatherface is designed to be kind of a sympathetic character, actually. He’s consistently a troubled disabled man who gets pushed around and bullied/abused by his family members constantly. He usually kills because he’s either scared, or ordered to do it.

You can see this the most in the first iteration of Leatherface, named Bubba Sawyer. Bubba is genuinely… Really fun to watch. I say this in the least infantilizing way possible, but he’s kind of adorable. He’s the softest one in the family, and acts as a “Mother Hen” type character. Despite his staunch loyalty to the family, they still really treat him like shit. He’s afraid of the outside world, because he’s been locked away from it his entire life. Threats to the family drive him into a panic, and if he fails to protect them, he spirals into a breakdown. He’s a sweetheart, if you ignore the whole “Murder and Cannibalism” thing!! I couldn’t fix him and I don’t want to, but god knows he’s a neat little dude.

Thomas Hewitt, on the other hand? He’s a different case entirely.

His backstory is fucked up, but very sympathetic. Mother died in childbirth, and he was thrown in a dumpster and left to die. He was then found by the Hewitts, who adopted him and raised him as their own. He has a pretty severe skin condition that led to him getting bullied really, really badly growing up, and now he has such a high level of self hatred that he’s noted to have a “penchant for self mutilation.” You can see his self harm scars in TCM: The Beginning, if you look. Him getting treated so horribly by everyone around him, as well as his family being… Well, the Hewitts, led him to develop a rather interesting trait for a Leatherface- actual real Sadism. He is so, so interesting to watch.

Sympathy is at the heart of Leatherface as a character. He’s never the worst person in the family by a long shot, and oftentimes is intentionally written in a way where if you take a moment to try to view the movie from his own perspective, he’s just terrified and trying to protect himself and his family. He’s desperately, horribly afraid of losing everything he’s ever known. He’s the only Slasher I’m aware of that acts not out of Malice, but out of Fear.

Tommy really likes to test that notion of Sympathy, and that’s why he’s so god damn fun to think about for me. Every element for a perfect Leatherface portrayal is there, they just took the aspect of Sadism in the entire family and cranked it up to fucking 100. I love this bitch so much. He does some severely fucked up things, but you almost want to root for him? They level the playing field really well by making the Victim Cast consist of genuinely pretty mean and intolerable people.

You want to root for the Final Girl, because the situation she’s in is genuinely fucked up to hell and back, but you also want to root for Tommy, because he’s been through the god damn meat grinder and you can tell he’s got no other choice… You don’t want to root for the Final Girl, because the Victim Cast consists of insufferable people, but you don’t want to root for Tommy, because holy shit some of the stuff he does is unnecessary. But also you do, because his design is so kickass it makes up for everything, but also you don’t, because his family sucks and doesn’t deserve to win, but also you do, because you want him and him alone to win. It’s complicated!! I’m absolutely obsessed with it.

Another Slasher with a valid Troll name is Leslie Vernon. I fucking love Leslie Vernon. Do not ask me about Leslie Vernon. Do not ask me about Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon in general. We will be here for several hours, and I’ve already reached my maximum amount of Horror Movie Autism for the day on this blog.

[ddarker-dreams]

Yandere “MBTI”

Disclaimer: The yandere trope is not a portrayal of healthy or ideal relationships, but instead a horror-based genre meant to stick strictly to fiction. 

I was inspired by the MBTI type indicator to make something similar but for yandere characters! I am by no means an expert and it’s mostly just a fun little assessment on the yandere trope because I love personality test stuff. Feel free to send asks giving your own input and ideas!! 

Another preface, I think that yandere as a whole is complex and can’t be simply boiled down to a few terminologies and concepts. In doing so it loses a lot of nuance that’s unique to the trope/genre whatever you’d want to call it. So that being said I view this system to be more of a of how I generally think most yanderes operate, rather than a set of rules that must be followed. I say this because I’d hate to stifle any creativity that doesn’t strictly fall into it! A lot of these mix and match with one another as well, so it isn’t always 100% either-or. 

I’ve seen some of these concepts floating around before and I’m not claiming to be the creator of any of them!! I’m just giving my two cents on stuff I’ve seen before. 

That being said, let’s get started !! Underneath the cut for length.

Cruel vs. Reverent

This preference is how a yandere outwardly and inwardly acts towards their darling. 

Cruel yanderes often belittle their darling. These are the types of yanderes that see their darling as more of a playing than their equal lover, a way to pass the time or enjoy themselves. They test the limits of what their darling can handle, most often than not for their own entertainment and no practical usage. They’re capable of being degrading and sadistic, taking pleasure in whittling down their darling or molding them into something new entirely. How they do so can vary, but most commonly involves inflicting physical or heavy emotional strain. These yanderes are capable of feeling some twisted version of “love”, or feel nothing at all. 

Examples of cruel yanderes include Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter, Izaya Orihara from Durarara, and Rohan Kishibe from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures. 

Reverent yanderes look at their darling as if they’re the entire universe. Even if they do things that make their darling unhappy, they don’t do it just for the sake of making them upset. There’s often a purpose within their own mind that justifies their actions, normally believing that it’s for their darling’s own good. They hold their darling in high regard and do what they can to give their darling the best life possible (within reason). These yanderes are more common. They might even feel a sense of “guilt” for how they’ve negatively impacted their darling psyche, and try to make it up to them in their own way. 

Examples of reverent yanderes include Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia, Narancia Ghirga from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, and Todoroki Shouto from My Hero Academia. 

Questions to ask when characterizing a yandere into either category: 

How do they generally act towards others? Is it different with their darling? 

Is it possible their behavior would change over time? 

What would they be willing to do for their darling?

Aware vs. Delusional

Kinda self explanatory. This is more of a scale of a yandere’s perception of reality. 

Aware yanderes will know that their darling doesn’t love them, and most likely despises them. Or if their darling does love them, that they’re probably not deserving of it due to their immoral actions. It mixes in with a lot of guilt over what they’ve done to their darling, even if they think it’s for the best in the long term. These yanderes don’t fool themselves into believing that they deserve their darling’s love, though they wish they had it. As much as it hurts, they have come to accept it, almost as a self-inflicted punishment for their actions. 

On the other hand, aware yanderes can simply not care that their darling doesn’t love them. This often intermingles with cruel yanderes. What matters most to them is monopolizing their darling’s feelings/time, reveling in the power they hold. It’s not that they feel bad about what they’re doing, or that they intend on changing their ways due to how much darling despises them. They can even view it as a challenge to see what darling will handle before crumbling. 

Examples of aware yanderes include Giorno Giovanna from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, Chrollo Lucilfer from Hunter x Hunter, and Leone Abbacchio from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures. 

Delusional yanderes are unreasonable and stubborn to a fault. They believe from the bottom of their heart that their darling does love them, twisting everything to serve as evidence for this. Whether it’s a small sign of kindness that they interpret as requited love, or even a passing glance on the street, anything and everything is used to validate their delusions. These yanderes twist their darling’s hatred in their own favor, to protect themselves; as the reality of their darling hating them would be too much to bear. That there’s no possible way darling hates them, there must be another explanation for it that isn’t related to their behavior. This is how a delusional might think. While not all delusional yanderes share this extreme way of thinking, they believe some level of it, depending on how far gone they are.

Examples of delusional yanderes are Shigaraki Tomura from My Hero Academia, Illumi Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter, and Josuke Higishikata from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures.

Questions to ask when characterizing a yandere into either category:

What is this character’s mental state?

How do they view their darling? 

What does this character consider their relationship to be with their darling?

Manipulative vs. Honest

This is how yanderes interact with their darling/darling’s surroundings. 

Manipulative yanderes are more of a classic. They set a goal and are ruthless at pursuing it, twisting every variable in their favor, regardless of how immoral it may be. Nothing is sacred to them, they’ll pull all the stops necessary of keeping their darling in check. When it comes to obtaining their darling, they’ll decide what’s necessary to get their darling in a position they like. They can be more subtle about their influence, or painfully obvious. They’ll make darling question themselves, having set up plans behind the scenes to twist everything into their favor. This can extend to those that darling knows. Forms of manipulation can include making darling question themselves, threatening their darling somehow, or threatening those around their darling to isolate them. 

Outside of interacting with darling, they might mess around with darling’s surroundings. From getting them to lose their job somehow, kicked out of their residence, or getting darling’s friends to abandon them without any explanation. Anything to make darling fully reliant on them is the true goal of manipulative yanderes. Whether they’re doing it for a “self-righteous” reason such as keeping darling safe, or solely because of their selfish desire to keep darling all to themselves, depends on the individual yandere.

Examples of manipulative yanderes include Izaya Orihara from Durarara (very much so), Bruno Bucciarati from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, and Kai Chisaki from My Hero Academia. 

Honest yanderes don’t see the point in beating around the bush and are a bit of a rarer type. They love (or want to being in possession) of their darling, and they want to be important to darling as well. Simple enough. They don’t like wasting their time with little games of cat and mouse, and would rather they get what they want as soon as possible. The type to say, “I like you, you like me, let’s go out.”, or if they’re aware, “I like you, you want something from me, let’s both get something out of this.” They may not be capable of being manipulative, or simply see it as a waste of valuable effort. A lot of times these yanderes aren’t transparent for the sake of being transparent, and it’s simply a different form of controlling their darling on a lazier level. 

It’s also possible that honest yanderes feel too guilty to be manipulative of their darling. Why this is depends on the yandere, but possible reasons include not feeling deserving of darling in the first place, or that it’d hurt them if they falsely led darling on. These yanderes would feel more content knowing darling is safe and happy more than anything, if their goal isn’t to obtain darling’s love. This leads to a lot of self-destructive behavior at times, for the sake of keeping darling content. 

Examples of honest yanderes include Jonathan Joestar from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, Leone Abbacchio from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, and (to a lesser extent), Todoroki Shoto from My Hero Academia.

Questions to ask when characterizing a yandere into either category:

How do they go about getting into a relationship with darling? 

What do they hide from their darling? 

Is this character one that would feel guilty for their actions?

Strict vs. Lenient

This will decide how a yandere wants their darling to act/their expectations. 

Strict yanderes have an internal rule set that they want their darling to follow, whether they vocalize it or not. This can be anything from not wanting their darling to do certain things, to expecting certain behaviors from them. This yandere is most likely going to kidnap their darling, or if they don’t, it’s suffocating enough to the point it feels like their darling is trapped. They micromanage every aspect of their darling’s life. How they deal with a darling’s “betrayal” of not acting how they’re supposed to depends on if they lean towards cruel or reverent. The reason strict yanderes act the way they do can range from wanting to protect their darling, to wanting to keep darling all to themselves.

Examples of strict yanderes include Giorno Giovanna from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, Kai Chisaki from My Hero Academia, and Illumi Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter. 

Lenient yanderes are more of a rare, chill kind. This can stem from confidence that their darling really can’t do much about them, even if they’re allowed to live their life as they please. They don’t really feel an urge to kidnap their darling or to lock them away and throw the key. To an extent they still might want their darling to act a certain way, but they have their own stuff going in on life to attend to. That or they prefer to have a more “natural” feeling relationship. Lenient yanderes can control their darling in other, more subtle ways rather than outright taking away all darling’s freedom. 

Examples of lenient yanderes include Guido Mista from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, Dabi from My Hero Academia, and Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter.

Questions to ask when characterizing a yandere into either category:

How likely is this yandere to restrict their darling? 

If they choose not to restrain their darling, why is that?

What rules would they want their darling to adhere to? 

Thank you for reading my musings, and like I said before, feel free to chime in with any thoughts of your own! Feel free to send asks if you’re wondering where I’d place a yandere on this scale. 

[cinnamonest]

Normalized yan region predictions

Mondstadt is surprisingly darling friendly, coaxing them to a 'healthy' relationship by gaslight. I mean, you're really lucky you're not being held in a basement, you should be grateful. Delusional.

Liyue is a much more business like fatigue. Selling darlings and making contracts with the yanderes. The darling must follow the contract, so does the yandere. Forced marriages basically. Protective

Inazuma is well- blissful in a way, fairly neutral towards the darlings but once in a while some people would be rather forceful. Having a darling for all eternity is quite exciting. Obsessive.

Sumeru has a system of it's own. They will host examinations to the 'darlings' if they fail said examination they would be bought to their yanderes. Ah, but no one would know that the exam is rigged. Soft?

Fontaine similar to Inazuma. But instead of being forceful. They would pressure the darlings with rules and other necessities. It seems that you're unfit to live alone, maybe you should stay with him? Delusional.

Natlan is a fierce competition. A competition for darlings. Sometimes the darling would challenge yanderes in order to have freedom. If they lose they'll stay, if they win they're free. Sadly it's not that easy. Sadistic.

Snezhnaya is cruel and delusional. Aligning with the fatui that is. If you ever peek a harbinger's interest say goodbye to your rights. Sadistic.

Consider: all members of the Fatui get special privileges and are allowed to generally break rules when it comes to how darlings must be obtained/treated. Sure, legally you technically have to respect consent when it comes to fucc™ and have to make sure a darling has a certain amount of interaction with others and outside time for their mental health but...

As you can imagine, of course, this draws a lot of people even from outside Snezhnaya to come work for them. It's a valid employee attractant honestly. A business strategy.

Also, the Liyue government gives out darling grants/benefits for registered darlings. You know, like stimulus or tax returns, basically you get a chunk of money that's supposed to help upkeep. It's also a strategy - see, you can't get the money unless you have your little captive registered and properly recorded, and darling successfully passes maintenance/anti-abuse evaluations. This encourages yans to register darlings, which helps the government keep track of them and ensure they're not abused, and so they know which missing persons are truly missing persons and not just someone's new breeding toy.