#these are my favest hand shots in the series

[hooned]

sarawatine & hands

╰─➤ for my babie, lasya @fushiguroo​

[quietest-rebellion]

Do the chaos household for that character meme you coward

Me upon realizing I have to explain what that is

Basically it's the idea of my fav murder boys having to live together. This being Stefano, Eddie, and Higgs. @christmasace and I came up with this one night and it has been our main source of serotonin since.

I'm going to do the character break downs for them in the context of their original games though. So anyway, buckle in, lads, this'll be a long one. (Eddie and Higgs will be below the cut)

Stefano Valentini

How I feel about this character

Fav. Favest of favs. I would willingly die for this man in a heartbeat. His voice? Beautiful. His personality? Snarky. His art? Breath taking. The way that he has to fix his hair after getting shot with a smoke bolt? Hilarious. Me? I'm in love. Also the fact he put jokes outside of the theater is iconic. Anyway, Stefano was an appealing character from the moment I first saw him in Markiplier's playthrough. I didn't realize I'd fallen until I started crying at his death and Mark was like "I don't even feel a little bad!" Because then I was like "oh shit why am I crying" Also I believe Stefano is an undiagnosed autistic man with horrible PTSD and brain damage(obviously) and I will die on this hill. I could talk about how I feel about Stefano for pages but I won't right now.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Me. Honestly I feel like Stefano is either an asexual aromantic, who only cares about his art, or he is a raging bisexual who is extremely picky with men since he himself is such a perfect man. As for actual ships though, I feel like Stefano is attracted to Sebastian and flirts with him throughout the game. I just don't really see the idea of Sebastian flirting back. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Emily Lewis. I love the idea of them being in a relationship, official or unofficial, and then things went south and he killed her. Stefano killed a lot of people before being put into STEM, why was this one so special he had to make a series of displays representing her? I don't know, just my thoughts.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

This is gonna sound weird, but I guess Theodore? Look, I just love the idea of Stefano driving Theodore insane and making him regret ever hiring him. And like, all the memes everyone makes about it? Amazing. (A personal favorite, also the one that I made) Plus, "You are special. You've always been special." Yeah, anyway I really need to know what the other half of that conversation was. Does Obscura count? I think she does. I see Stefano and Obscura's relationship being like that of a father and daughter or of a pet and an owner. He just loves her so much and he's so snippy when Sebastian gets to the theater the first time. "You did not appreciate my beautiful Obscura's performance." I imagine if you actually chose to fight and kill her in Ch. 7 he was really upset about it. Guardian is along the same lines as Obscura but I think Obscura has a higher place in his mind. 1. Because she is a camera and takes more photos for him. 2. There is confirmed to be more than one Guardian so he probably doesn't grow overly attached to any particular one, where there is only one Obscura. 3. Stefano seems to love whatever he did most recently the most, which is fair. As an artist, it really just Be Like That.

My unpopular opinion of this character

Unpopular only in the world of the game, but his art is good.  Actual unpopular opinion? Not sure I have one, tbh.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

I say it literally all the time but I really want a prequel comic or SOMETHING to tell us more about him as character. What happened to his family? Why did he come to America? What war was he injured in?  Also the idea of him getting some dlc for the second game is still always on my mind, like, it could take place before and during the main game and it’s just us fucking around and making art and then catching Lily and fighting Sebastian. I am not gonna say that he didn’t deserve to die in canon, so really I wouldn’t change that.

Eddie Gluskin

How I feel about this character

Look... uh... I honestly am not sure how to describe my feelings for him. Because on one hand, is a misogynistic asshole who deserves literally everything that happened to him as an adult. But on the other hand, he was an abused child that grew into a hurt and sick adult. Also, when he’s not trying to kill you he is quite the gentleman.  Basically, I love this character, but I have no idea why and am slightly ashamed about it.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Literally no one. This man should not be in a relationship with any of the canon characters. I’d like to imagine an AU where he is sane and settled down with a wife and had 2.5 kids and lived together in their house with a white picket fence but that isn’t going to happen obviously.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Look, I know they never interact with each other, but Eddie and Trager. And like, not as friends really but more as weird acquaintances. They talk about surgeries and such, share a drink every now and then, complain about women, etc. 

My unpopular opinion of this character

He’s straight. 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

I just wish he would’ve been sent to a place that could actually help him instead of Mt. Massive. But then he wouldn’t be in the game, lmao. ALSO, there is a lot of unused Eddie dialogue in the files for the game. I really wish that all of them would have actually been included in the game. Some gems include: “Did I...? Oh lord. I forgot to give you an anesthetic, didn’t I? Eddie, you doofus! Would forget my own head if it was screwed on!” (Timestamp 16:32) “There you go. No, no, don’t cry. You’re not dying. I’m going to make you better.” (Timestamp 10:13) 

Higgs Monaghan

How I feel about this character

Garbage boy stink man. Just a rowdy, dirty boy. Pizza rat. Like, I sometimes have a difficult time imagining that he ran a company before he was a terrorist, because he doesn’t seem like a very organized person. Higgs is so multifaceted it’s impressive. In the game we only really get to see him a this asshole who wants to end the world. In his journals we see his hunt for power and want to be important. In his bunker we see the organized chaos of how his brain worked and how he operated his life. Not to mention the Peter Englert emails that are so well written. Anyway, I love him.  Plus I’m gonna mention something my sister(Thrushheart) pointed out when I was having her watch me play. He is the exact opposite of Sam. Examples: Sam hates being touched or touching people. Higgs is touching people as often as he can, including but not limited to even licking them. Sam is reconnecting the world, at first for Amelie, then for everyone he’s met along the way. Higgs is ending the world, at first for Amelie, then for himself(or possibly still for Amelie). Higgs is loud and bombastic while Sam is more quiet and reserved. Sam is smol and Higgs is tol.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Look, I’m not gonna say that I do or do not ship Goldenbridges. I’m not sure how I feel about it because, as I said, Higgs and Sam are such contrasting personalities I don’t think it would work. Fragile. Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking, but I imagine they were together before he met Amelie. His betrayal would mean even more if this was true. And in his journals he only ever refers to Fragile as “his partner.” Now I know this was done to hide that they were his journals and because they were work partners, but it could also mean more. And of course we can’t forget the somber and clear writing, directly over his bed in his bunker. “Fragile forget you ever met me.” And how surprised he was to see her on the beach after the fight. The sad look he gave her as she caressed his face. Aaahhhh.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I wasn’t sure whether to include Higgs relationship with Amelie here or in the last section. But he quite literally worshiped her and the ground she walked on so  🤷🏻‍♀️  I don’t feel like she ever really gave a fuck about him though. Amelie is extremely manipulative and proves that every time she opens her mouth so I have no doubt she told him whatever he wanted to hear so that he would help her.

The Veteran Porter. If you worked hard enough to get more than one star with this guy, you learn that he used to work for Higgs and that’s why he is reluctant to trust the UCA. I like to think that he and Higgs were good buddies before Amelie.

My unpopular opinion of this character

With likable villains it’s hard to figure what is a popular opinion and what is not. So I’m really not sure. Maybe just that he didn’t get enough screen time?

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

Redemption ark! Redemption ark! Higgs is the one guy on this list where I’m like, “Okay, he saw the error in his ways. Maybe he gets a second chance.”

______________________________________________________________

Anyway, that’s all of them! If you actually read this whole thing, first of all... wow. Second of all, thanks! Here is a screenshot of these chaos boys from The Sims 4 as your reward. 

[velvet-tread]

The Wire and Breaking Bad are generally considered two of the best television shows of all time, which leads to many comparisons (that and the drug thing) despite their differences. Do you prefer one over the other and what do you think each does better than the other?

Cards on the table it’s been approximately 3 years since Ifinished The Wire and I struggle to remember actual character names beyond TeenyFurniture Policeman, Flaming House/Aunt Kid, Slackjawed Stevedore, FailedNepotism Project, Greek in Hat etc etc.  Therewere a great many characters and I cannot be expected to retain that level ofinformation for too long.

Although my heart is forever changed by

On the other hand, Breaking Bad is probably my fave favestshow of all time and I’ve seen it three times (probably? Maybe more?) so I amacutely familiar with everyone in it and everything that happens and why andall the theories and meta surrounding it. And while I enjoyed the Wire a lot andadmire its scale and ambition and recognise its importance, it didn’t inspireme to immerse myself in it post-viewing in the same way, so anything I say heremay already have been covered by critics/meta writers elsewhere.

Caveats over.

So, the short answer is that I love Breaking Bad the mostbecause it is an intense character study with themes and characters that Iconnected with hard. The show is an expertly crafted piece of TV and everythingabout it – the characterisation, the narrative, the acting, the editing, thecinematography, the symbolism, the dialogue, the tension, the pacing – EVERYTHINGABOUT IT IS SO PERFECT AND ICONIC I COULD CRY WITH JOY.  It’s quite rare for me to find a piece of artthat I want to drown in that is also so faultless in its execution.  My relationship with art, especially TV, isoften quite fractious. I often love things despite all their faults (*cough*the 100 *cough* the X Files *cough* The Hunger Games), usually because I fallin love with some element that surmounts everything else.  So it was such a glorious experience for meto connect emotionally with a show whilst also revelling in my boner for epiclandscapes and crafty camerawork and snappy dialogue and the word “bitch”delivered without irony.

But honestly, while these two shows cover similar topics(i.e. individual choices and the axis of cause and effect) in a similar context(i.e. gangs and drugs), I think they sought to achieve different things so Ifind it quite hard to make a comparison. Breaking Bad is compact character study, centred around two maincharacters and around 7 supporting characters of varying impact (I rank Hankand Skylar highest because they had their own threads).  Although I frequently rave about the beautyof the cinematography  - and seriously,whoever does their location scouting deserves cookies for life – the show is sotight it could be staged as a theatre production quite easily and honestly I’msurprised that nobody has already.  

The Wire, by contrast, is a huge sprawling tapestry with alarge cast of players operating across several different sets, in fact many ofthe characters never meet or know of the existence of the others.  The stories are superficially intertwined,but only so far as all of the characters are operating in the same space(Baltimore) and are subject to the same Baltimore-specific pressures. By comparison,the consequences of the choices of the characters in Breaking Bad are clearlydelineated – from the small - Jesse and Jane’s spiral into heroin addiction-  to the big – Walt’s desire for moreterritory resulting in Jesse’s breakdown, Combo’s death, Jane’s death and thedeaths of the 300 or so people killed in the aircraft collision brought on bythose events. These consequences are repeatedly reinforced by some pretty epicsymbolism – the pink teddy bear that pops up all over the plane crash scenario,for instance, and the plane crash itself which Vince Gilligan describes assymbolic of the chaos and violence Walt is raining down on everyone in hisorbit.

In fact, the main difference between the two shows, in myopinion, can be found in how they address the question of choice andagency.  The Wire is heavily weightedtowards inevitability, and the endless cycle of violence, corruption and miserythat will perpetuate forever, as will the forces that work against them.  And so the end of the show sees Jimmy McNultyhanging up his badge, and Kima Greggs taking up the mantle as the BPD’sresident maverick.  Omar Little ends updead in a convenience store, but we witness the forces of corruption pushhonourable Michael Lee down the same path. Likewise, Avon Barksdale spends thesecond half of the series fighting to retain his crumbling kingdom as youngpretender Marlon Stansfield poaches his crown. And so on and so forth. Themessage you’re left with is not bleak exactly, because for all the evil andhorror in the Wire’s tapestry there is also goodness and beauty, but a sense ofimpotence because all the protagonists’ efforts to effect change resulted innothing because they cannot upset the balance. Nevertheless, their efforts are also necessary because they alsoprevented a complete descent into chaos and evil. So, it’s a stalemate, a harshlesson in realpolitik.  Don’t stop whatyou’re doing, but don’t expect to change anything ever.   Theforces at play are greater than any one of us.

By contrast, Breaking Bad infers far greater agency upon itscharacters.  What each character does hasgreat and severe meaning. To pluck one random example out of the air: Jesse’sdecision to expose Jane to his crystal meth habit was an active choice.  Yes, it was a choice made under pressure –and a choice influenced by other people’s choices too – but it was still achoice.  And that choice has consequencesfor him and for her.  Because once Janewitnesses him in his drug-fuelled spiral, it’s not long before she joins himand then – oh their gentle hearts – she brings her own demons to the table,which in turn take them both on a path that ends in tragedy.  When Jane dies, he makes that connectionbetween his choices and her demise – “I loved her and I killed her” - even asWalt turns away from his own role in her death. The scene where Walt and Mike go to scrape Jesse off the floor of thatcrack den remains one of my favest moments of the show as a Jesse stan. Thereis something really beautiful to me about the fact that Jesse – who lacks allof the qualities that make Walt Heisenberg – has a clarity about who he is andthe responsibility he must carry, while Walt cannot see himself for who hetruly is.  Jesse has wisdom where Walthas delusion.

In fact, the show’s entire premise is that Heisenberg wasnever inevitable.  Initially, we’renudged into rolling along with Walt’s fallacy that he has “no choice” but to dothe things he does, but season by season the myth is dismantled.  Anyone who was still rooting for Walt by thebeginning of s5 -witness me judging you.

You’ll notice I use the word tapestry a few times inrelation to the Wire.  I use it deliberatelybecause it’s the same word I’ve heard David Simon, the Wire’s creator use (andnow I can’t find a reference – ugh – you’re gonna have to trust me) and this,tbh, is where I have some pretty major beef with The Wire.  Because the quote I saw (and it may not havebeen Simon, but someone else associated with the show) was something along thelines of “it’s a tapestry of how we all live together”. And by “all”, thatperson meant “all people in possession of a penis” because LORD SAVE US thatshow is heavily weighted towards people of the male persuasion. Now, I’m not gonnashit on it from a great height because it did a great job of telling stories ofmen of colour from all walks of life and it gave some amazing black actors aplatform but YOU DO NOT GET TO CALL YOURSELF A SOCIAL TAPESTRY AND THEN LEAVEOUT 50% OF THE POPULATION. The whole time we were in the school, I was like….But what are the girls doing?  When wewere with the Baltimore Sun – again – one single low-level female reporter?  Kima Greggs, obviously, gets an honourablemention as OFFICIALLY THE BEST but otherwise the entire police department isjust a dick fest. Same with the political infrastructure, in which PoliceChief’s Wife who is also running for office is literally characterised as…Police Chief’s Wife. Oh, and apparently there are no females in the teachingprofession in Baltimore. So. I know this was shot 15 years ago but still. Notcool, Simon. Not cool.

Anyway: