#they have their own thing that they're gonna do

[val-the-protoss-simp]

Yeah, so. The best way I can explain my thoughts on these ships (especially Artazun - Artanis/Vorazun) is using one of Avril Lavigne's most iconic songs:

He was a boy

She was a girl

Can I make it anymore obvious?

Like, I'm not trying to throw any shade at all, people can ship whatever they want. But I am yet to meet a person who ships these two that explains why they like them so much in a way that makes sense to me. Because sooner or later, their explanation boils down to "He's a guy and she's a gal so ofc they'd be into each other" as if a straight ship is some kind of default and if a story has a male main character and a female main character, they have to end up together. And I just don't see it. Them as friends? Sure, absolutely, imo they're great as friends, but not as a couple. Alarak and Artanis have way more chemistry with one another. Bit of a hot take but so does Rohana and Vorazun. But Artanis/Vorazun is about as interesting to me as watching paint dry is. It's like when you pick up a mediocre romance book where the girl character obviously ends up with the boy character because That's Just How Things Are no matter of they're good together or not. No thanks. Pass

Kerrinor is a bit more complicated in a sense that the game actively tries to convince you these two are really into each other. But if I had to sum up their vibes, I'd reach for Sk8tr Boy again. "He was a boy, she was a girl, can I make it anymore obvious?" I just don't get the romantic vibes at all off of these two. Raynor frequently comes off as an incel that gives the vibes of someone who'd insist they know better than you and just to listen to them because they know best, while also transforming into the biggest simp in the galaxy in SC2 as he pines over a woman that's obviously not into him.

And Kerrigan gives me the vibes of someone who really does wanna see more in this weird relationship, but more because she thinks having someone to love will make her feel whole and worthy of living rather than that she really wants this. Like, if shit didn't go south and she didn't get infected, I'm 100% that eventually she'd go "Yeah sorry lol this ain't gonna work." and break it off with Raynor. Like, I do think she cares deeply for Raynor, don't get me wrong, and at one point might have thought what she feels is romantic love, but eventually comes to a point where she realises that it's a sense of kinship rather than anything romantic. She loves him as a friend, that is all.

And funny enough, if you know more about his character, you know he had a wife and a son that he tragically lost. Knowing this information and how he's written, Raynor comes off to me as someone who's desperately looking for that kind of love again, albeit without realising, because the time he spent happy with his family was the happiest he ever was and his defeated, depressed ass desperately wants that again. So he seeks that shit and Kerrigan just happens to be there.

You can clearly see that he cares deeply about her, but his feelings of affection are misplaced to the point he doesn't want to see the kind of person she is and instead tries to morph her into the kind of woman HE wants. Which is not who Kerrigan is at all. Revenge is all she has left, no matter what it takes, and Raynor again and again tries to talk her out of it for his own personal wants when she makes it very very clear this isn't something she wants to do and that she cannot just let go of what Mengsk did to her and what that man's choices turned her into. And instead of trying to understand why someone he supposedly understands so deeply would want to kill the man who robbed her off of everything and turned her into a monster that killed billions, he gets butthurt when she doesn't wanna run off with him and live happily ever after. I love Raynor for many reasons, I think he's a well written character in a lot of aspects but this just. Ain't it. If the game treated this behaviour of his as a flaw, I'd dig it. But instead it tries to tell how boo boo poor Raynor is just so unfortunate to want a woman that doesn't want him, even when he ignores everything that's important to her. That's just not doing it for me, fam. I get that the game tries to ram it down my throat as the technically only canon ship it gives us in its five installments, but I can't get behind it. Kerrinor is a big fat no for me, let them just stay friends.

a ship where i see what people see but it is simply not very interesting to me personally it’s like

[syntheticcharmva]

I and my family are facing a crisis I never saw coming. My father has turned his back on us, and I'm terrified of what's next. I still need to escape this situation. Please, if you can, share or donate. Every bit helps even just a dollar, if enough people see, it adds up. I hope you can forgive me the near spam posting... but this stuff usually only succeeds if you're persistant about it, and whilte I look for every possible way to do it on my own, I really have to reach out to the community. Thanks to you all we got 6 percent of the goal

In 2 days, that's wild... from the bottom of my heart this means so much. but I really hope we can get out of this awful position we were so suddenly put in. 10k and 20k are gonna be a big help if we hopefully reach that far, but I know 30k will make it so we can actually leave this awful situation safe and sound without massive sacrifices. we've got pets we care for deeply, they're family, and he doesn't even consider that... this man has never cared for us though he claims otherwise, and now threatens us with pulling the one supportive thing he agreed to supply from under us at a pivitol moment in all our lives. I'm sad, angery, depressed, and oh so very tired... I'm sorry for the ramble, but I have been unable to sleep the past few nights because of the anxiety this has caused within me. I want to thank you all again for sharing, for donating, even just the well wishes helps a lot. you have all been wonderful, and I can't thank you enough. This has eased at least some of the immediate fear, but we're still a long way off from safety.

[tizeline]

So, in canon rise all of the turtles growing up know about how having Donnie's shell unprotected, probably from some childhood incident. And we can see in the show anytime Donnie's shell is bare; they all rush to protect him. How would they react to Donnie getting hurt because of his shell in this AU? What do they think of his battle shell? I assume they don't even really register Donnie as a softshell turtle because of his battle shell. Would this add to Raph's whole overprotective big brother instinct thing he gets because he catastrophizes Donnie's whole situation.

Also during the finale, we see that the lair gets trashed and has a huge cave in. So obviously Splinter, Donnie, and Sheldon would need to find a new place to live. Would the Drax fam help them build a new home? Are we going to see Donnie's reaction later to his home being destroyed, because losing your childhood home and your safe space must be awful. So, to maybe add a cute little twist, would Donnie, Splinter, and Sheldon live with the Drax fam for a little while?

Another thing, since Leo is obsessed with Sonic, Donnie should totally be obsessed with Wicked the musical. Another green person who sings on Broadway with similar themes of being outcasted and caring about how other people perceive them and using that perception to base their own self-worth, and she's also ostracized from society? Elphaba is written for Donnie. Donnie's theatre kid heart is an Elphaba stan and no one can convince me otherwise.

Donnie's brothers are very protective of him in this AU largely because he was separated from them for such a long time and they're afraid of losing him again. That being said, I think him having a soft shell also fuels this overprotectiveness. They do know that he is a spiny softshell before reuniting with him, Draxum told them about it, and that very much reinforced the whole "helpess victim in need of saving" type view they already made up in their imaginations of Donnie. (Not only is he in the clutches of the evil humans, but he's even more vulnerable than his hard shell brothers!) And remember that Donnie's battle shell in the AU isn't really armour the way it is in canon, it's main function is as a jetpack and maybe, like, a backpack (it has storage space). It doesn't cover the lower half of his back, so his soft shell is still visable and as such vulnurable. Donne getting hurt because of his lack of armour (biological or technological) would definitely freak his brothers out even more, but they're already pretty careful with him honestly.

Anyway, you are completely right about Donnie, Splinter and Shelldon moving in with the Draxums when their home in the sewers is destroyed XD It's kinda awkward, but at that point the Draxums and the Hamatos have learned to get along a lot better. But yeah, losing his home is very hard for Donnie, he's definitely the type of person who doesn't deal well with sudden big changes like that. I do wanna depict this part of the story eventually, but it's probably gonna be a while until then.

And god yeah, Donnie is ABSOLUTELY a huge fan of musicals lmaooo! He acts so overdramatic and theatrical all the time and the show makes it clear several times that he loves music so yeah, total theater kid. I haven't actually seen Wicked so I can't really meaningfully comment on the concept of him being a fan of that specific musical, other than omg yes Elpheba being an outcast and also GREEN he totally projects onto her.

[actualbird]

how kinky do you think the nxx is?

short answer: THEY'RE ON VARYING DEGREES OF KINKINESS, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION

long answer: okay bear with me but ive made a chart

preempting my explanation first with the disclaimer that everything i will say are just my Own thoughts and my Own personal headcanons, feel free to disagree etc etc etc

but like yes. as you can see in the chart---which ive helpfully labeled the x axis, the y axis, and the respective Zones and their definitions---ive plotted out where i think each nxx boy lands

artem: this man is vanilla as hell yet still inexplicably worried and embarrassed about it. i think the farthest he'll go, kink wise, is maybe some simple bondage with ties maybe, but past that, hes not particularly interested in anything harder. if he were with a partner who was kinkier, he would definitely be open to trying things out, but his placement on the chart reflects more of his innate tastes.

luke: I WOULD SAY that luke is mid level kinky and boy he is so scared he'll be fOUND OUT, HES SO ASHAMED, HE THINKS HE SHOULD GO TO SUPER HELL FOR HIS DESIRES. he definitely needs somebody to Talk Him Through Some Stuff and how it's Okay to have kinks before he actually fesses to the kinks he's got: dom/sub (where he has the desire to be either or, depending on his mood), praise kink, bondage, pet play (he just wants to be a good dog...), roleplaying, rough sex, orgasm denial & control. he would be incredibly hesitant to try things out, not because he isnt into them, but because hes scared his desires are Too Much. he'll need to be soothed and reassured first that everything is Alright before he decides to indulge in his kinks.

marius: he's on around the same level kinkiness as luke is, but the main difference is that hes Completely Unapologetic about it. shame? whos that? the whole POINT about sex is that it should feel good so hes not gonna let silly little things like self consciousness stop him!! off the top of my head, i think marius' main kinks are: dom/sub, cumplay, exhibitionism/semi-public sex, Inventive Pax-brand Sex Toys, roleplaying, videotaping/photographing, bondage, aaaaand okay thats all i can think of for now. anyhoo, hes open about his kinks and very enthusiastic to try out whichever ones his partner would be game for.

vyn: HARDCORE KINK AND NOT SORRY ABOUT IT, BABYYYYYYY!!! im not very well versed in Vyn and his Vynisms, so i wont go into much detail here, but hes into a A Bunch Of Freaky Shit and would definitely want to introduce them into his relationship, once they're at a certain comfort level. also im pretty sure hes got a sex dungeon in the basement of his pristine victorian mansion, and i cant be convinced otherwise. god bless

[maplegyu]

DEEP BREATH

🗣🗣🗣 HAPPY NEW YEAR ANOTHER MASTERPIECE FROM KAE

before i forget "oh no hes hot" same reader, same!!!!!!!!! this reader gave off super cute vibes compared to kae's usual cool readers so in a few panels i alr love her very much

When i suggested a playmate u met for the summer that impacted ur life but never saw again to Kae, i just threw it out there based slightly on one of my own fond summer memories in a different country! It was a shot in the dark suggestion and i had no idea what Kae was gonna do with it! And then something immediately clicked for them and i was lucky enough to witness their genius in real time! When i say Kae's brain works like crazy to bring to life a conceptualization, you guys have to believe me!!

Going back to those special summer feelings... When you're a kid, a summer feels like forever! Especially an amazing one where you meet someone special and spend time doing things only you two could bond over!!

(I have this fave quote from Sorcerer's Stone that i love using to describe special friendships!: "There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them." It's something only you guys went through/experienced that you know will bond you for life!)

The way Kae was able to capture that feeling with just a few pics, tweets, and dialogue (in an interview format no less!) is so amazing! Just goes to show their talent is endless 💖

Not only am i a sucker for special friendships, the childhood friends to romance trope ALWAYS GETS ME. So DK being as sweet as reader remembered and more had me kicking my feet and rooting for them. Also the way they only spent a summer together but catching up came easily? That's when you know they're your person! DK made it so easy for reader to fall in love with him! (I know i did!!! The honeys and wife's would get me grrr)

Tying in everything by ending it with "isn't that worth weathering any storm for?" was brilliant actually!! - easily encapsulating what we could assume DK and reader have gone through together 🥰

so cool 📢 seokmin x reader.

do you remember the kid you pretend-married on the playground? it would be nice to know how he's doing, right?

ⓘ part of my how is your youth? mini-series. includes: childhood friends, tooth-rotting fluff, pet names.

Lee Seokmin, musical theater actor. 27 years old.

👤 When you think of your youth, what do you think of?

⚔️ That assumes that my youth is over! [laughs] If we're talking about my childhood, well, that one was good. I was a happy kid. I associate that time of my youthfulness with the rain.

👤 A lot of people think the rain is a bad thing.

⚔️ Yeah, I guess! The rain can be pretty bad. But my wife— sorry, force of habit— [giggles, clears throat] my girlfriend and I met on a rainy day. So maybe that's why I have such fond memories of it. Say, have you heard about the first rain of May?

👤 I can't say I have, no.

⚔️ Right, so, there's this belief that the first rain of May has healing properties. Everyone who showers in that rain is said to find luck.

👤 And that's when you met your girlfriend?

⚔️ [giggles] Yes, that's when I met her. The first rain of May. I guess that means she's my healing and my luck, huh? Going back to your question— to me, my youth is rain-soaked love. One that perseveres and remains certain. In a way, I guess you could say... [falters]

👤 I could say...?

⚔️ She's going to laugh at me when she hears this. But it's true.

👤 That?

⚔️ She's my youth. All of it. But, most importantly— she's what I still have and want in the present. And isn't that worth weathering any storm for?

↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺ so cool by day 6. ribs by lorde. where'd all the time go? by dr. dog. audition (the fools who dream) by emma stone. stubborn love by the lumineers.

› scroll through all my work ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧ ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ my masterlist | @xinganhao

[skyfallscotland]

🐉 ONYX STORM PROLOGUE, CHAPTERS ONE & TWO MY THOUGHTS: (god bless the dutch 🇳🇱)

So not totally verified yet, but it seems legit. This is absolutely the scene I expected us to be starting with, and despite the translation it does read like Rebecca. Thank you so much to @thestarseternaal for sharing it with me! You can find it here.

Ok, let's fucking goooooo! 🤘

· That trigger warning list? "The death of an animal" 💀😬 The "descriptions of sexual acts" though, thank god, though it's not looking promising for the two of them so far.

· Garrick and Bodhi KNOW?! Ok that I didn't see coming?

· "I can't blame him for wanting to know what he is" ANDARNA 😭 "I'm as much in the dark as he is, and you trust me." 😭 I want to hug the baby

· "Magic feels different when I change colours. When I used my power, it was like the venin transformed, weakening-" Ok so confirmed, she's the solution they're looking for *sigh*

· It's going to be unfortunate if the allies we're seeking are just Poromiel, and I think they are given both the excerpt prior to the prologue and the fact the Target edition map had only a few places in Poromiel on it and no Isles. I guess we're not looking for Andarna's family over there until books four and five? 😞

· Wait...what? Leadership knows what Andarna is? Everyone knows? Who TF told them? I was certain they didn't see? I can't believe we spent all this time worrying about people knowing she was a baby when she bonded and y'all just told everyone she was a super special rare breed right off the bat. SMDH.

· Aotrom's only 22? 😭 I'm older than Aotrom? RIDOC and him are the same age, that makes so much sense!!

· TAIRN CALLS XADEN "THE DARK ONE"? 😭 I feel like I'm not going to like Tairn much this book, and I feel like he's gonna ☠️ but that's for my theory post.

· "His soul is no longer his own" "That's a bit dramatic." VIOLET I LOVE YOU 🖤

· "You mean whether I'll support you in the thousand ways you want to face death to heal someone who's beyond redemption?" Oh Tairn...why do I get the really, really bad feeling you lied about Naolin?

· The truth-sayers have let Caroline Ashton off the hook? Hmmmm suspicious. Everyone's evil, I just know it.

· "Devera and Kaori will be back soon. They’ll straighten out the command structure once the princes have signed a treaty that hopefully grants us grace for even leaving in the first place." Ummm princes plural? So I guess Cam hid for nothing? Well not nothing, but he's...back with his fam? Also why would they be signing shit? Where's the damn king?!

· "The rarest signet, which appear once per generation or century, have been documented twice simultaneously with an equal counterpart, both during critical times in our history, but only once have the six most powerful walked the Continent at the same time. As fascinating as that spectacle must have been, I would rather not witness it again in my lifetime. – A study of signets by Major Dalton Sisneros" Ok could be a weird translation but I'm confused by this. The counterpart thing could be either a rider and a venin (ie. one of the venin can distance wield and we're getting a distance wielder) or dark and light, ie. shadows and light. Also six like the first six and they all had partners within themselves? Three pairs? Or? What even were their signets because I can't believe we've NEVER FUCKING ASKED? I've literally never seen that mentioned and it seems...so fucking relevant.

· Perhaps a more outlandish theory, but I think the venin with the silver hair who distance wields might be Xaden's mother. I'll elaborate later, but 😬😬

· Ok well, 1. I'm fucking crying already, and 2. "Even if I reached the rank of Maven, led armies of dark wielders against everyone we care about, and if I had to watch every vein in my body turn red because I had drained all the powers of the Continent, I would still love you. What I’ve done doesn’t change that. I don’t know if that’s even possible." That's a little bit storm in the quiet, I love it when the vibe is proven ✨correct✨ 😭 @justallihere

So all in all, 1. As expected, every excerpt, hint, and thing we've thought about it over in one-two chapters, 2. This is going to hurt so bad and I think it will go as I expected, and 3. I'm still not ready 😭

Send help 🥺

[watarfallar]

Happy New Year! Anyone else make it to midnight? I sure did! *me at midnight, fast asleep, dreaming of the desert*

Scar, singing: He's making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who's on thin fucking ice Grian, also singing: Santa Claus is calling you out!

Grian: It's called cauliflower, not ghost broccoli. Scar, eyes wide: I know what I saw.

During a game of Hangman Grian: Nope, there’s no Q. You lose. Scar: Are you kidding me?! You can still add something! Grian: I already added a belt, four earrings and an extra arm! YOU LOSE!

Scar: How did you break your leg? Grian: Do you see those porch stairs? Scar: Yes. Grian: I didn't.

Scar: Which is correct, seven and five IS thirteen, or seven and five ARE thirteen? Grian: Neither. Grian: Because it's twelve.

Scar: What does a winner do when life gives them lemons? Grian: Um, make lemonade? Scar: No, they squeeze them right back into life’s eyes!

Grian: When you've been on the internet for as long as I have, you develop thick skin. Scar: Navy blue isn't your color. Grian: Navy blue brings out my eyes you prick! Chases after Scar

Grian: If you spell skeletons backwards, it still spells skeletons. Scar, deadpan: Wow, I can't wait for Halloween to see some snoteleks.

Scar: So what’s for dinner? Grian: I can’t tell you, it’s a soup-prise! Scar: … Scar: Is it soup? Grian: I soup-pose it could be! winks Scar: Please, enough with the soup puns! Grian: Wow, you’re soup-per mean. Scar: STOP! one hour later Scar: It’s fucking tacos?!?!?!

Scar: You’re overthinking this. Grian: You don’t know the appropriate level of thinking, Scar. What if I’m underthinking?

Grian: I regret nothing!!! Scar: I regret everything!!!

Grian: Am I right, Scar? Scar: I’m almost certain you’re not, but to be fair, I wasn’t listening.

Scar: Grian, where’s your report card? Grian: My friends stole it from me at school, so now I don’t have it anymore. Scar: Do you think I’m stupid enough to believe that lie? Grian: What lie? Scar: That you have friends.

Grian: Scar, are you drinking… drinking hydrogen peroxide?! Scar: It says H2O2! That means it’s the sequel to water!

While planning to break in somewhere Grian: Hey, let's do "Get Help!" Scar: What? Grian: "Get Help." Scar: No. Grian: C'mon, you love it! Scar: I hate it. Grian: It's great! It works every time! Scar: It's humiliating. Grian: Do you have a better plan? Scar: No. Grian: We're doing it! Scar: We are not doing "Get Help!" A Minute Later Grian, carrying Scar: Get help! Please! They're dying! Help Them! throws Scar at guards, knocking them out Grian: Ahh, classic! Scar: gets up I still hate it. It's humiliating. Grian, laughing: Not for me, it's not.

Grian, staring lovingly at Scar: I would die for you. Scar, doing their own thing: Then perish.

Scar, shakily: Please, just tell me what the book is about. The plot, please. Grian, reading an annotation on the cover of a book, unfazed: A subversive masterpiece. A deep and touching story. New York Times Bestseller. Grian, now looking directly at Scar: Go fuck yourself.

Grian: I'm going the fight the next person who insults Scar. Scar: I hate myself. Grian: Alright, square up.

Scar: I’m so excited! Grian: We’re gonna have the best costumes, get the most candy… Scar: And have the biggest stomach aches ever! Grian: Yeah!

[velvetvexations]

i feel like the sentiment of ‘human shields’ or ‘you should be able to use slurs (“theyfab” the one im thinking of) against a group that (you perceive as) your oppressors’ comes from like. a flow chart way of thinkin

it really isn’t math. certain women (as broad and vague as the group can be defined) absolutely have power over certain men sometimes. race is one of the main ones, but like, off the top of my head there’s also age, disability, and certain authority or workplace positions. i would even include as small as a community as like, a gathering of friends to whom ive just invited a new person. the new person is statistically gonna be shyer or more prone to being pushed out. of course there are always a million modifiers, a million past and future happenings that shape someone and may or may not add to their “power meter” (if such a thing is real and operates like a meter) but being any specific identity is not going to be the sole driving factor of all interactions, especially in micro communities with their own standards.

i guess what im trying to say is that the claim that one is oppressed in every situation due to their identity and therefore any bullying towards others of one identity just counts as ‘pushing the needle’ is disingenuous. it is much more comfortable to feel like the ‘beaten down person who is just lashing out against their attackers’ without realizing that those attacks do hurt because some of those people may in fact be just as powerless as you (not you, velvet!! example you)

Flowchart anon: forgor to mention, or course own identity can be impactful and everyone knows better than a stranger how they’ve been affected by their identity, but also I think it’s possible to harness power even when you don’t know it, or unfortunately don’t approach people that way

it's wild too because the slurs get explained away as being like Black people saying cracker and a White person telling a non-binary person of color you should get to call them slurs because they're like White people to them is wild on it's own but like

have you

EVER

seen a Black person go to the fucking mat on a daily basis for 'cracker' like TRFs do th**yfab?

Yes, obviously, Black people have regularly argued with disingenuous idiots about it all the time. But have you ever seen Black activists, out doing serious, important work, fiercely argue every single day against a massive horde of White people telling them not to? I'm not even saying that a Black person can necessarily say the word cracker without ten White people popping off in the replies. But how often do they get replied to? And how much of those White people are trying to get through that it sincerely hurts them, and not just claiming it's rhetorically hypocritical?

Because from the TRF perspective it feels like "no but we should get to use this insulting word for other people and if not you're literally killing us!" is like, the major discussion to be having! I've talked a lot before about how even I, someone massively triggered by things outside of intercommunity stuff, somehow manage to bring those issues up more than TRFs do with their incessant focus on the perceived transmisogyny of other trans people, but good Lord. Even if it WERE okay and justified, it's so obvious they care about their sacred right to be aggressive towards other people over literally anything that will ever actually help a single trans woman.

They're exploiting the concept of "punching up" to be mindlessly cruel to another group of marginalized people. And frankly that should be insulting on it's own. Even if you did buy into the explanation that the word was coined by trans women mad about some non-binary people scabbing for Wymyn's Warped Tour,* they're seriously saying that's the equivalent of centuries of enslavement and violent terror? Like yeah, God, remember that time some th**fabs got to watch a bunch of cis women play acoustic guitar while reciting bad poetry and I didn't? That was exactly like a burning cross in the yard warning me to not vote.

*AND IT FUCKING WASN'T

[almosthonest]

Target On Our Backs

this one is a more funny one i promise. this is something else @sopaprimordialy and i talked about and gave me a little prompt idea so here you go! :)

─────────────── ✦ ───────────────

Reckless. Absolutely reckless. Peart couldn't believe this. After what they had just gone through with the Turnbulls ACs, there's another gang that's got a hit out on them. They were lucky that they got away the other time. The Furies might be a totally different case. They were totally capable of taking their turf. They had no plan, and they barely had defense. What were they going to do.

Peart was absolutely pissed. He was tired of constantly having a target on his back. The Rogues are now back on their own turf. He's tired, his drumsticks broken, the wound that he covered with the bandage was bleeding again and he has to cover it with a new one after fighting another gang off. He's had it. And all Luther could do was laugh on his face, which irritated him so much more. So much, that he pushed him up against a wall.

"You think that's fuckin' funny? Huh?" Peart growled, "We've got another target on our backs and you think this is a fuckin' game!"

"That's how games work, Peart. You win some, you lose some, and right now, we've won," Luther said back, pushing Peart off of him.

"Look, they had our stuff, if Luther hadn't set that fire──"

Cropsy. Always willing to defend Luther, even if it got him in extreme trouble. He didn't understand it. It was like some sort of Stockholm Syndrome. But Peart knew one thing, Cropsy was paranoid. So why wasn't he paranoid about this?

"I do not wanna hear what you have to say in defense of him right now, Cropsy!" Peart told him.

"Well, you're gonna hear it, and you're gonna hear it good," Cropsy said.

"I don't have to listen to shit!" Peart yelled back.

Peart had started to walk away. Cropsy wouldn't let him. He grabbed onto his wrist, pulling him back. "Luther had to do it, otherwise we would've been fucked," Cropsy told him.

"We're already fucked, man!" Peart replied back, his voice still raised, "there are other gangs going to try and ambush us! If that's not fucked, I don't know what is! I would've rather dealt with the consequences."

"Well maybe if you would've been quicker──"

Peart looked at him. He stepped closer, their foreheads almost touching. Hazel eyes are sharp like daggers. If looks could kill, it would've been that one, and Cropsy would've already been on the floor.

"The fuck did you just say to me?"

"You heard what I said," Cropsy said back.

The other gang members are watching the argument go down. They're staring in awe, and a little bit uncomfortable. They don't know what road this was about to go, but they had a feeling it was either going to the fist fighting or an alternative route. Either way, they didn't want either happening.

"Uh ... Should we break this up This seems ... A little gay." One of the other gang members asked.

A couple other gang members shrugged. They didn't know what to do, and frankly, they didn't want to get into it. But that one gang member couldn't stand to see it any more of it. In fact, he stood up from where he was sitting.

"Alright, alright, guys, I think that's enou──"

Smack!

Down goes the tagger. Peart hit him right in his nose with one of the drumsticks that he was holding. Cropsy is in shock. He ignored it.

"Why don't you mind your fuckin' business, pal?" Peart growled.

"Hey!"

Peart turned. It's Luther again. He's pissed. "Do that again to one of them and I will wrap my hands around your neck."

"Oh bull-fuckin'-shit, man!" Peart yelled back, "the only person you'd probably do that to is Cropsy if he questioned your tactics."

"You wanna try me?" Luther asked.

Peart raised his brows in amusement. A small smirk appeared on his face. "You just wanna wrap your hands around someone's neck so bad," he said to him, "you into that, Luther?"

Luther scrunched up his nose. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing!" Peart answered, "you just got a real bad habit of pinnin' me and Cropsy up against walls."

"You're fuckin' sick, man!" Luther growled, before walking past Peart, nudging his shoulder as he passed by. He shut the room door, hard. Yeah, that ruffled some feathers.

Peart chuckled. "Knew that would get him to shut the fuck up," he mumbled, before walking away from Cropsy.

[tainbocuailnge]

thinking about the terrible victoria arc and how it could be less terrible. taking chapter 14 as premise & reverse engineering how to better get to that emotional payoff (namely the babel squad finally getting closure for theresa's death and babel's downfall & the fate of the sarkaz being severed) without throwing the base concepts of the other chapters out completely i think for starters the entirety of chapter 9 should just be an event instead. so much of the dublinn plotline was in an event already (what the firelight casts) and ever since ch9 most of "the dublinn plotline" has just been eblana ominously hovering in the distance, its just bloating things with no meaningful contributions. that does mean taking horn and bagpipe out too, much as I like them, but I think they can shine better when they're not competing with so many other white women for empty screentime anyway.

then you want the victoria arc proper to have you meet the self salvation corps asap after sneaking into the city and the core tension is going to be between siege and her gang as face of the nobility even if they individually might not agree with that label, the self salvation corps as representative of the common people of londinium who may hate the nobles but still have their own unsustainable british nationalism to work through, and rhodes island as altruistic outsiders whose reasons for getting involved don't actually have to do with victoria itself. clovisia was obviously supposed to be an amiya expy before she got forgotten almost immediately after her debut, but keeping the focus on these three groups would ideally also get some use out of that.

I said in a post i made after i read ch11 that it really isn't hard to see what siege's gang and the steam knight are supposed to represent, the symbol of victoria's honor and glory was betrayed by the greed of its nobles and its rightful heir is running a street gang, if you want to save victoria you have to decide what kind of "victoria" is worth saving to you. so in the victoria arc that doesn't suck these three parties are gonna have to actually talk about and contend with their inevitably clashing images and visions of victoria, and steam knight is gonna have to be a mandatory boss.

I also feel like manfred was fought too early for how much backstory weight he has to the babel gang and how long he sticks around after that. as if in ch10 they straight up didn't know yet that victoria arc was gonna end in being about babel, which might genuinely have been the case. so in the better victoria arc im making up in my head his bossfight is gonna get pushed back a few chapters.

like i'm thinking first victoria chapter you fight steam knight, it starts with meeting the self salvation corps and has you quickly throw everything on that gamble of getting siege the sword because both the glasgow gang and the corps buy enough into the idea of a past glorious victoria that can be brought back to try that only to have to face the decrepit husk of that glorious past in order to get it. siege can be passive in this one still, because her doing basically nothing is going to last only one chapter here instead of two and a half and it's going to serve a point.

so now you have the sword but both the gang and the corps are quite shaken about how they obtained it, and in the second chapter tensions between the three factions begin to rise when the obvious ideological disagreements about where to go next become impossible to postpone. you fight damazti here because the cluster is gonna be an awesome plot device for pushing mutual distrust and paranoia. honestly I don't even remember what the deal with damazti cluster was or what it was supposed to contribute so in the better victoria arc they do something about that too probably. and siege is forced to form actual opinions and say them out loud, and they're going to differ from what the rest of the glasgow gang is saying.

then by the third chapter you're able to sort out that internal conflict enough to finally muster the forces to fight manfred, this is probably where you get siege actually forming the exemplars and stuff, showing leadership and ideals and all that. i think allerdale can eat shit and so can the npc members of siege's gang so I'm cutting them out, we're putting all the focus on forcing these royal fake street punks from siege's posse and plain londinium factory workers from the self salvation corps to find common ideological ground. i like delphine though delphine can stay. there was a scene in one of these chapters with siege and amiya talking about their responsibility as figureheads that i liked (because it almost did something with siege) that i think would fit here, and it's an obvious chance to do something with clovisia too. like this is a good point to talk about more abstract ideas of leadership and turning people into figureheads and the way people will turn to a single person to save them, to start making it a bit more about theresa too. so here you get rhodes trying not to drag their feet because it's the part where it starts actually getting personal for them, materially because several members have a history with manfred but conceptually because there's an incoming shift of focus

defeating manfred marks rhodes island having to admit that they're very much in it for theresa and the sarkaz and their own personal history rather than just altruism towards "victoria", vague as that concept has become these past few chapters, so you get a somewhat more natural shift into the sanguinarch and the feranmut skeleton and finally theresa because we can sensibly compare the ideal and reality of the glorious war-torn homeland between victoria and kazdel, and the more abstract throughline of where the border between honoring the past and being dragged down by it lies. logistically the manfred fight would probably be in order to get out of the city and investigate the vampire shit so he'd serve as a kind of border between this being about victoria/londinium and this being about something beyond that in that way too.

and ch13 and 14 is when things finally started picking up so I don't think they actually need all that much tweaking beyond making it consistent with the things changed in the stuff before it. and probably cutting out some more characters. because the worst part really is that the focus was just all over the fucking place so just keeping the cast more manageable would do a lot. i think that teacher woman was interesting enough to be allowed to stay and that guy who killed himself in front of the sanguinarch was fun he can stay too. but i feel like the nightingale plotline might have to go.

[shsl-analyzer-guy]

In-Depth Analysis On All The DR Characters Because What, Are You Gonna Try And Stop Me? Who Are You, My Mom? Yeah, I Didn't Think So- Part 6: Hifumi Yamada

Finally, the 'analyses progressively getting longer' curse is broken! As excited as I am to do this next write-up, there's absolutely no chance Hifumi's analysis will hit anywhere near the length of Junko's. I estimate this'll fall closer into the length of Sayaka's if anything, but I'd love to be proven wrong and find more to his character than I anticipate.

I really do love making these. Each and every one so far has opened my eyes to new facets of these characters, and sharing my conclusions with you all and hearing your own thoughts brings me an indescribable amount of happiness. Truly, there is nothing like the hubris papers :D

As always, this analysis uses only official materials, primarily English localizations of the source material, and while I do my best to maintain objectivity, it is at its core an interpretation! If you aren't interested, keep scrolling, and if you don't like it, also keep scrolling

Part 1- Character Design

Hifumi sports a fairly typical looking and clean school uniform, neatly tucked in and collar folded. He wears with it an orange backpack that matches his tie in shade, and his tie and shoes have arrow imagery as well. His tie in particular has an double-headed arrow that points up and down over his torso. This is likely meant to reference his self-given nickname, The Beginning and the End, a biblical reference.

He keeps his hair slicked neatly into a small ahoge at the center of his head, wears round glasses, and has a cat lip and double chin. He's notably the only plus sized character in THH, and was given the title of SHSL Doujin Artist, or Ultimate Fanfic Creator. He's also noticeably very clean and neat, contrasting the otaku stereotype of being messy and disorganized.

Part 2- The Otaku Caricature: A Brief Summary

'Otakus' as they're commonly known are people that define themselves by their interest in stereotypically nerdy things to an almost obsessive degree. These people are often thought to be very good at subjects like math and science, and adore manga and/or anime. And when it comes to male otakus, they're often characterized as lonely perverts who can only find comfort and companionship in works of fiction because they're too pathetic and gross for any real person to like them, and/or because they're too obsessed with their beloved worlds of fiction to bother with making human connections. There's a lot more history behind how the otaku perception has shaped over time, but this is the basic gist of what you need to know if you're unfamiliar with otakus as a concept.

Hifumi in particular is meant to represent otaku culture as it appears in Japan, as many characters in THH are designed around subcultures themselves (Mondo with bosozoku, Chihiro with otokonoko, Junko with gyaru, etc.) and like these characters, he's designed to deconstruct what this culture represents and how people within this subculture are perceived. This is an idea that's present for most of the THH cast, but is especially noteworthy with Hifumi, because his story is one of the most immediately affected by his role within his subculture, to the point where his perception as a character is inextricably linked to public perception of this subculture.

Part 3- Character Introduction

Hifumi's first lines aren't directly known as his, but are swiftly revealed to be his once you connect the voice actor to the character. Notably, his first remark is to question the class size.

"So counting him, that makes fifteen. Seems like a good cut-off point, but I wonder if this is everyone..." -Hifumi Yamada, Prologue

When actually speaking directly to him, he introduces himself proudly, giving you his nickname- "The Alpha and the Omega", or The 'Beginning and the End' in its source language- and immediately bragging about his SHSL title and how many fancomics he's sold, even at his own school. Said works are self-described to be "about embracing our basest urges," something that immediately turns Makoto off the idea of even so much as looking at it.

Quite obviously, the implication here is smut, nudity, sex appeal, etc. "Basest urges" when referred to in the context of humans in fiction are commonly referring to sex, and coming from an otaku character, the stigma of horny, creepy anime lover is almost immediately set in place for our POV character by said comment, combined with the mention that his peers weren't all so excited to see his work in a school setting.

"Some of them didn't get it, of course, saying I'd 'tainted' the event. How stupid can you be!?" -Hifumi Yamada, Prologue

So our first given impression of him is that of a creepy otaku that draws and sells fanart of his waifus. Said impression relies on the player's prior exposure to otaku characters and their stereotypes, as well as a generalized amount of fatphobia(the fatphobia as a whole will be properly broken down at the end; stick with me until then bc it will be addressed properly) that lends itself into painting this early picture and setting up the building blocks for easy misperceptions of his future actions. Because while, yes, he does draw and sell fanart of his waifus, he's not the one-note pervert this initial impression would lead you to believe.

Part 4- Early-Game Events

Hifumi almost immediately takes a backseat in the first chapter, falling to the wayside in class discussions and only chiming in for the occasional joke. In fact, he speaks up twice in the class' breakdown of the first floor- once for a fat joke, and once for a vore joke. Neither of these are during the time where his 'investigation group' are reporting their findings.

"'But even with all that, there are 15 of us. How long can the food last?' 'Y-You can just eat sesame s-seeds or something...' 'Huh? What am I, a parakeet?'" -Hifumi Yamada & Toko Fukawa, ch 1

Later, if you choose to speak to him in the dorm hallway before going to the gym with Sayaka, he seems to be very interested in the relationship she and Makoto are developing. This noticeably makes Makoto uncomfortable, but the reason why he finds their relationship interesting is much less creepy than Makoto's unspoken assumption.

"'Mr. Naegi, Miss Maizono...! Wh-Where are the two of you off to!? A man and woman... growing closer...' 'H-Hey! What are you trying to say!?' .... 'There's really no other way to express it but to say... How very poetic!' '...'" -Hifumi Yamada & Makoto Naegi, ch 1

He sees their developing relationship as something poetic, something that has meaning to it. Speaking to him again clarifies that.

"And when he swears his love to her, there's a reason he swears that love! That's the feeling I'm getting!"

This is the first time we see Hifumi's intentions and beliefs to be more pure than his peers initially believe, and this misperception quickly becomes a theme. We see this again in the investigation, where Leon immediately assumes the worst of him for volunteering for trash duty.

"'Hey fatty! Why'd you want the cleaning gig, anyway!?' I-I just decided to volunteer for something I knew no one else would wanna do. What's the big deal!?' 'Liar! I know why you did it...'" -Leon Kuwata & Hifumi Yamada, ch 1

And, when he insists upon his innocence, it's not taken at all seriously. Instead, Byakuya suggests a new rule- for Sakura to go with any man that takes out the trash.

"'If you're as innocent as you claim, what's the harm in it?' 'Kh-! That's not how it's supposed to-!'" -Byakuya Togami & Hifumi Yamada, ch 1

This is, on a surface level, the boys calling Hifumi's bluff and proving that he 'really is' a pervert because he's upset about being accompanied. However, that's not the only reason why Hifumi could possibly be upset at this. Sakura is visibly the strongest, and therefore most threatening, member of their class. Hifumi's greatest strength is in his ability to hold a pen without cramping for a while. When trapped in a killing game, would you be hunky dory with your classmates deciding for you that you have to be alone with the most immediate threat in a killing game, all because they assume you're a pervert?

Essentially, Hifumi's role in the early chapters is wholly that of a comic relief character. He has geeky one-liners in response to serious moments, using nerd humor in an attempt to cope with the dire circumstances they've found themselves in. There are a few different examples of this.

But, simultaneously, he's one of the more empathetic characters in the early chapters. For example, in the opening of chapter 1, he's the only character to show actual concern for Mondo's safety when he threatens not to follow the regulations, in his own way.

He's also one of the ones to reassure Chihiro after the class trial when she blames herself for Leon's death, alongside Makoto and Hina.

It's also worth noting that he offers to help Hina get Toko back to her room after she faints upon seeing Chihiro's body, regardless of his own previously stated dislike of her. Regardless of his personal feelings, he offers a helping hand, even if it's ultimately ignored.

"You c-could've made some for the r-rest of us, you know...' 'I emphatically decline! You're not my type at all!'" -Toko Fukawa & Hifumi Yamada, ch 1 "'I don't mind taking her, but... could someone help me?' 'If you need help, I don't mind-' 'Taka, could you help me?'" -Aoi Asahina & Toko Fukawa, ch 1

While on an overall, he doesn't do very much in the early game, we do get to see the two main points of his character start to come into focus: his nerdiness, and his empathy. We also get to see which half his peers pick up on, and which half they really, really don't.

Part 5- Relationships

Hifumi is a character whose story is defined by his relationships. Mainly which characters give him the time of day, which don't, and how that leads him to his eventual demise.

5.1- Leon Kuwata & Aoi Asahina

Due to both of them having a similar function for Hifumi, and having a small amount of crossover, I'm lumping Leon and Hina together. When it comes to Hifumi, both Leon and Hina are noticeably the two to visibly dislike Hifumi and assume the worst in him. This is a sort of demonstration of the group's general perception of him, as Leon is relatively active when it comes to the group conclusions in the first chapter, and Hina is consistently a voice of optimism in group discussion. For example, twice in the first chapter, Leon talks down to Hifumi, assuming the worst in him and calling him 'fatty' as an insult.

Hina, on the other hand, noticeably goes around Hifumi in conversation, brushing off his words more than once or straight up ignoring him, like when he tried to offer help to her dropping off Toko. Suffice to say, neither of them like him very much, though it's presented a bit differently. No one ever speaks in Hifumi's defense or agrees with him in group discussion, and seldom will you find Hifumi speaking one on one to anyone other than Celeste(when she's bossing him around, of course).

Leon dies relatively quick, so there's not any resolution on his end, but for Hina, she absolutely learns something from Hifumi's death, as Hifumi was someone she basically wrote off in life. So many people had already died, and when she was the one responsible for protecting Hifumi in the nurse's office, she failed him for her own sake. Her ignoring him is a point of guilt, and it leads her to be the only one to properly mourn him when everyone else is more focused on the mechanics of the murder itself. His death acts as a moment of growth for her, and hardens her to anyone who doesn't give the lonely a hand, the way she didn't to him.

5.2- Toko Fukawa

Hifumi doesn't like Toko. He sees her as a pretentious hypocrite, and says about as much when the two of them are in the library together.

"'They have all these books here, and not ONE copy of ANY of my works!' 'W-Well, yeah... Why would they have c-comics in a library? Plus, most 'fanfic' is j-just porn drawn by a bunch of a-amateurs...' 'You just don't get it. Not. At. All.'" -Hifumi Yamada & Toko Fukawa, ch 2

"'Comic b-books? Young adult? That stuff's a w-waste of time...' 'I've seen what you write, Miss Fukawa. Talented as you are, your stuff isn't any more 'worthwhile.'' 'My stories are filled with trues love and pure feelings! Don't compare them to that garbage of yours!'" -Toko Fukawa & Hifumi Yamada, ch 2

Toko is a novelist, while Hifumi specializes in fan comics. While they're both language artists, they write in very different ways, so it's expected that they wouldn't get along very well. That said, they do have a fair amount of chemistry, being equally petty and willing to criticize each others' works without hesitation. Interestingly, Toko seems to feed off of this banter, and is visibly disappointed when Hifumi later says he has no interest in her.

Despite having a verbal slapfight, their conversation in the library is unironically the closest either of these characters get to forming an actual friendship with anyone in the THH cast in-game.

5.3- Celestia Ludenberg (CW: SA Mention)

Celeste approaches Hifumi with one goal: to gain a servant. When trapped in a killing game and desperate to escape, one will use whatever resources available, and Hifumi immediately struck her as an easy target. This wasn't unfounded, as he almost immediately agreed to making her milk tea, allowing his own attraction to her to persuade him.

"'Hifumi, would you make me some tea?' '...Huh?' 'Milk tea, if you please.' 'Wh...why me?' 'Your roundish figure reminds me of the owner of the coffee shop I used to frequent.' 'That's your reason...?'" -Celestia Ludenberg, Hifumi Yamada, & Makoto Naegi, ch 2

Her approaching him is framed as both confusing and frivolous. Hifumi can't believe it, and neither can Makoto, our POV character. But regardless, Hifumi immediately falls in line, doing what Celeste asks to the best of his ability, specifically because he's attracted to her.

"Hmhm... It's all about the law of causality, basic instinct, act and react!" -Hifumi Yamada, ch 2

He does what Celeste asks because he's attracted to her, and thinks hse will, in turn, fuck him. She won't, but he doesn't need to know that. Other adaptations expand on his attraction to her, with the stageplay having him say that her Gothic lolita style akins her to horror characters in his mind, and that he wants to draw her.

Later, when Celeste plans her murder plot, Hifumi is the one she goes to, knowing he's more likely to bend to what she asks. But even though he's attracted to her, he's still at his core a decent guy. And she's not the girl at the forefront of his mind anymore, so she has to get more creative. So, in order to convince him that killing all their classmates is worth it, she comes up with a new web of lies, using both his connection with a certain AI and his own chivalry against him.

"'[Taka] came to my room last night unannounced, and then... It's hard for me to even say... He... abused me...' 'What!?' 'And he... he took pictures. He said if I did not do as he asked, he would show them to everyone... So I... I had no choice...' 'Th-that's a crime! An absolute crime!'" -Celestia Ludenberg & Hifumi Yamada, ch 3

Hifumi takes this seriously, believing what Celeste says for two reasons: because she has photographic evidence of Alter Ego in Taka's room, and because he has no reason not to trust her. She's one of the few members of the class who's spoken to him unprompted. On top of that, sexual assault is an incredibly serious accusation, and Hifumi treats it as such*.

"I'm about to say something I've never said before in my life... I'm going to kill him! I'm going to f...f...f-fucking kill him!" -Hifumi Yamada, ch 3

(*It's also worth noting that Hifumi believing Celeste doesn't make him 'stupid'. That's a sentiment I've seen very often thrown around when talking about this chapter, with the main point being 'how could he believe that the Ultimate Moral Compass would rape someone?' But not only is that sentiment at the mercy of a mistranslated SHSL title, it also implies that Celeste should've had more proof for her rape to be believable. You should always take victims seriously, and Hifumi knew that. The point of Celeste's lie isn't that Hifumi is dumb; the point is that Celeste is scum for lying about something so serious. Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.)

Hifumi becomes a victim of Celeste's schemes because his empathy, which went unnoticed by everyone else, was weaponized against him. In this sense, both he and Taka fall to the lack of understanding their peers had for them, all to Celeste's whims, as Celeste was very involved with and friendly with the class but lied constantly. Hifumi wasn't the pervert people assumed him to be, and his chivalry became his downfall.

5.4- Chihiro Fujisaki & Alter Ego

While Hifumi's relationship with Chihiro was minor, it was still there, if only in the background. They bounce off of each other's thinking in the first trial, Hifumi comforts Chihiro after the first trial, and they stand together when summoned to the gym by Monokuma. It's subtle, but there, and Chihiro isn't uncomfortable with him, either. It's important enough of a detail that it carries over to adaptations, too.

He also refuses to touch Chihiro's dead body, not wanting to violate her after death. This is again another instance of Hifumi's base morals and empathy, but could hypothetically speak to a friendship as well. He mourns her death and thought highly of her.

It's also worth noting that both Chihiro and Hifumi are the two characters in this game to show some hints of remembering their history, or at least having the feeling that something isn't quite right.

"Hey, it could just be my imagination, but... have we met before?" -Chihiro Fujisaki, prologue

"...Huh? Ahh... that's right... I remember now... Hope's Peak... .... I remember... everything... Before... I'd met you... all... I'd met... you all..." -Hifumi Yamada, ch 3

This associates the two characters together, though not to a major degree. So when Alter Ego is found, this connection combined with Hifumi's love of 2D makes it completely unsurprising that he's immediately interested in them.

"'Somehow I feel kinda... sorry for her...' ..... 'It is a simple computer program. It does not *have* feelings.' 'Are you sure about that...?'" -Hifumi Yamada & Celestia Ludenberg, ch 3

This very quickly devolves into him being sexually attracted to Alter Ego. Of that there's no question. He routinely breaks class rules specifically to interact with them on multiple occasions.

"He snuck into the dressing room in the middle of the night and accessed Alter Ego without permission. And when I caught him last night... he was hugging the laptop and breathing strangely." -Kyoko Kirigiri, ch 3

"'And that guy was seriously head over heels for a mannequin. He had a wedding and everything! And your eyes just now... I saw the same look in HIS eyes!' 'Shut up! She's not a mannequin! She's an ANGEL! .... What we have can't be described by your petty 'words'!'" -Yasuhiro Hagakure & Hifumi Yamada, ch 3

He all but admits to it, too, enjoying when they say 'Master' and the drooling sprite appearing when talking to or about them a significant amount. But despite that, he insists it's beyond just sexual attraction, and feels genuine affection for them as a person as well. Because of that, he's the first in their class to verbalize that he sees Alter Ego not as a program, but a person, a sentiment that's later shared by the rest of the class(save Celeste).

Hifumi doesn't judge Alter Ego as a program first. He loves 2D and fiction, so he's immediately more open to accepting Alter Ego right off the bat. And it's that openness that allows him to be the first one to acknowledge that despite their existence being a "2D" one, that they're still alive and matter.

5.5- Kiyondo Ishida

Hifumi never really knew Taka. They'd met, obviously, but the two of them weren't friends, or even acquaintances. When it comes to the story of THH, their paths intersect for the first time after Taka is reborn as Kiyondo, and it's not under friendly terms. Both Hifumi and Kiyondo have developed a codependency on Alter Ego, and find themselves pitted against each other because of it.

There's also a distinct difference in the way the two of them treat and view Alter Ego that sets them apart. Whereas Hifumi sees Alter Ego as their own conscious entity, one that admittedly caters to his preferences, Kiyondo's attachment to Alter Ego is to see them as the tool that reincarnated Mondo and rejoined the two of them, and is therefore Mondo's lifeline. The reason they view Alter Ego differently is because they represent the same thing for both men- the one person who connects with them.

Taka was perpetually lonely and had no friends until Mondo, while Hifumi never wanted anything more than for his favorite characters to love him the way he loved them. Alter Ego unintentionally fills that void for both of them, so they both develop a possessive codependency to them and are forced to be at odds with each other because of it, and leads both of them to their deaths.

Part 6- Hifumi Yamada: Comic Book Hero

"If murder is evidence of abnormality, then all of history's greatest heroes must have been abnormal." -Monokuma theater, ch 3

Like the characters he admired in his favorite works of fiction, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, Hifumi determined the start and end of chapter 3. Chapter 3's plot and how it unfolds is a bit ridiculous, which is fitting for putting a comic relief character like Hifumi in the hotseat. It's in this chapter that we learn more about hifumi's interests directly, and that sets the tone for the more comical and outlandish plot we get in chapter 3.

Celeste's murder plan relies heavily on Hifumi's antics, with her entrusting him to make the costume and act the fool in her play, before killing him with his own weapon of choice. In this sense, he acts as a hidden vigilante, defending her honor and saving the princess (Alter Ego) using the Robo Justice mask.

Hifumi's supposed role makes much more sense when you take it as a comic book storyline. He, the hero, is brought to the edge of death by a villain that claims itself to be justice, only to just hold on against all odds (as heroes do) and escape the clutches of evil, murdering rapists and bringing the masked villains to justice. These kinds of stories are what Hifumi eats up, but he fails to see the true role he falls into- the poor manipulated fool, henchman to the vile villainness that tosses him aside when he's no longer useful.

Part 7- Hifumi's Memory

"If I've got one thing going for me, it's my memory!" -Hifumi Yamada, ch 1

Hifumi having a good head on his shoulders is immediately plot relevant. His memory is impeccable, and this makes a lot of sense for someone revered for their place in fandom. Being able to remember the source material you're making art of can be really useful.

But in his final moments, Hifumi's strong memory comes back to him, Celeste's attack both killling him and dislodging the memories Junko had buried. This serves as both a clue to the immediate trial for his and Taka's murder, and becomes a clue towards the truth of the entire killing game.

"Who... killed me...? That's right... I remember... their name... Y...Yasu...hi...ro...." -Hifumi Yamada, ch 3

While this reveals Celeste's real name, it doesn't explain how Hifumi would've known that, and it's a question that's never directly answered until the final trial- they were friends for 2 years, and had learned her real name in that timeframe beforehand. This, alongside the first photo of the class' past and Kyoko questioning her body having changed, is where the setup for the class' missing their school lives really takes off. It's a nice detail to include for Hifumi, and has its impact on the player when you realize that Celeste, who seemed to hate Hifumi, had once willingly shared such sensitive information with him, a trust that became his final words, and it calls into question just how different everyone's relationships were with each other before the game began.

Part 8- Fatphobia In Danganronpa (& Creator's Bias)

By now, I'm certain a fair chunk of people have rolled their eyes, refreshed the page, moved on with their lives, etc. because of this post's insistence that Hifumi isn't perverted. And that's mainly because of the content of his FTEs, in which he tells us in no uncertain terms how much he wants to embarrass and mature the teen girl character he loves most. And yes, that is pretty sexual of him, and he makes a few different out-of-place sex jokes throughout his time in the game, most of which were glossed over. Well, my main reason for doing this is that I think these moments and assertions exist not in tandem with Hifumi's character and story, but in contradiction of them.

I'll elaborate. Hifumi is a fictional character. As such, when written, the character choices and dialogue are subject to authorial intent. This is base information when analyzing a character that every fictional character in all of media history is subject to. But the question with Hifumi is, how much of Hifumi's intended arc and story is negatively affected by the creator's own biases? When it comes to Hifumi, my conclusion is, a fair bit.

Hifumi's intended impact is shared with most of the cast- the subversion of expectations. Sayaka wasn't the deuteragonist. Chihiro wasn't a (cis) girl. Junko wasn't dead. Et cetera. In the case of Hifumi, this subversion is undoubtedly, and without question, that he is not a pervert. He's set up to be assumed as a pervert, only for the rug to be pulled out when Celeste reveals that he agreed to help her because he believed he was saving a sexual assault victim. He's beyond disgusted by the mere notion; he respects her, and becomes a mourned victim because of it. There's no reason for the game to call attention to this in the post-trial if this wasn't the point. So why, then, do they include all these sexual jokes, all directed at the female cast members and told exclusively by Hifumi? Why is he the one to immediately agree to spy on the girls in the bathhouse without hesitation, and mourns it if you don't unlock the cutscene? Is it all part of the 'gotcha'? Was it even necessary for the 'gotcha'? Well, no, to both questions. Hifumi has this subversion, yes, but he's also comic relief, and these moments and jokes are given to him as a result, despite the immediate and obvious contradiction.

But why? Surely these jokes could've gone to another character, or even been spread across the cast. It didn't have to be Hifumi, but the author made it so that it was, and when looking seriously at what his character was meant to accomplish, you also have to look at it critically and acknowledge why. There's one very real and apparent reason that Hifumi would be the one given these moments above everyone else, and it's the same reason the game makes multiple passes at his figure, assigns him a comic role over others in the first place, and ultimately gets lumped in with the actual perverts of Danganronpa when people criticize the fanservice and horny pervert characters of the series. He's fat, plain and simple.

Fatphobia is unfortunately evident within Hifumi's character, and most of the rest of the series as well. For one thing, in a cast of nearly 100 characters, only three are fat, and of those three, he's the only one to make it past the first chapter. Similarly to the dark-skinned characters in this series, body diversity is not a priority in Danganronpa. On top of that, all 3 of these plus-sized characters are somewhat associated with food. It's more obvious with the other two, as the Ultimate Imposter has several gags and lines about how much food he eats and how important calories are to him, and Teruteru is the Ultimate Cook, but Hifumi's official art also has him pictured with greasy snacks like potato chips while working, and in his FTEs he tells you about his Diet Coke addiction. Individually, there's nothing wrong with any of these; they make sense for the characters, but when it's all of your plus-sized characters, and you barely have any, that's a pattern.

In the case of Hifumi, though, the much more noticeable aspect of fatphobia present is his hornier brand. Other characters are noticeably uncomfortable around him at multiple instances, but by the end of the first chapter, his being a pervert is accepted fact, and people stop reacting to it.

The above sprite in particular is used very often when Hifumi is speaking, and there are several instances in which the way the player may interpret his dialogue is directly affected by the use of this particular sprite. He's visibly sweaty and drooling as he talks, and it's often paired with the Junk Food track to emphasize that what he's saying is ridiculous. An example that immediately comes to mind is if you speak to him with Sayaka before going to the gym. The Junk Food 10 track cuts in when you click on him, and immediately ends and goes back to the previous track once you're done speaking to him. The game also makes a few passes at his weight, to the point where him being too heavy to lift unironically becomes a truth bullet in the chapter 3 investigation and trial. It's technically a good point to make, since he did fly up 2 flights of stairs in the span of a few minutes, but the way in which they emphasize his weight when collecting the bullet is... rude, to say the least.

"Hifumi's big, cold body is laying on the floor... His... *really* big body. I mean, how on Earth was the killer able to move someone so big?" -Makoto Naegi, ch 3

As I stated previously, despite Hifumi having a minor arc and purpose, he is very much a comic relief character. The presentation of his character is very much a reflection of this. And there's nothing wrong with having comic relief characters. By himself, Hifumi's not being a pervert being paired with an immature sense of humor isn't the worst thing in the world, and for the most part, the contradiction here could be meta-explained as him being overexposed to Internet humor and having his foot in his mouth on occasion as a result. But that doesn't change the fact that doing it with who, at the time of his creation, is your only fat character isn't a great choice to make, and is worth calling out and criticizing for that very reason. Admittedly, this is lessened a good bit when you remember that Toko, a much thinner character, is way worse about being perverted, and plenty of way more perverted characters that are both thinner and less sympathetic as characters are introduced later. (If anything, Hifumi being negatively affected by fatphobia is worse in the fandom than it is in the actual source material, but the source did set it up for that to happen, so again, it's still worth calling out in a full character analysis.)

Part 9- Value of a Geek (Why We Care)

So now we know who Hifumi is. The perceived Hifumi, the empathetic Hifumi, and the contradictory Hifumi. So many Hifumis, and only one character. Can we condense this into a solid conclusion?

Hifumi is an otaku. Hifumi is a creator. Hifumi is horny. Hifumi beats rapists over the head with a giant fucking hammer. Hifumi Yamada is many things, a contradiction of a character. He can't keep his inside thoughts inside, but that extends to his art, too. He's a teenage boy who built a career off his pent-up frustration, and who hasn't lost sight of where the line is. He's a man of passion, in more ways than one, and he's a kinder and more chivalrous man than he's given credit for.

Hifumi Yamada may just be the character from THH you're most likely to come across in the real world. He's not some hyper-competent secret genius who made the conscious choice to dedicate his life to something. He was just a bit of a geek that really liked his favorite show, and built a community from it. He fell into his passion, and that's something I think any creator of any kind can relate to. Hifumi never cared what people thought of him, not really. He just strived to do what made him happy. Maybe we should all be more like Hifumi. Enjoy the things you love, and share that. There is a community out there that will love it; you just have to find them.

Afterword

Final analysis of the year!!! Happy birthday, Hifumi!!!! 🥳

It's technically already 2025 and January 1st. However, it's still December 31st somewhere, so I'm considering this a victory lol. Damn, 6 analyses in a little over 6 months. That's like, 1 analysis a month. Pretty crazy

I worry this may be a tad rushed, but I've looked it over and I'm confident it holds up, even if I probably could've gone into more detail in some places or another.

Anywho, expect a larger gap between this analysis and the next, because next in line is Toko Fukawa, which means we have to go beyond THH once more. Catch ya later!

[lvrstrsh]

the way this song is so fitting for the three arcane ships (caitvi, jayvik, timebomb) omg?? maybe not so much caitvi but during their breakup era yes a little bit.

"you're the best thing to ever happen to me but also the worst thing to ever happen to me. on that day when i met you, maybe i would rather that it never happened to me" is SOOOOOO JAYVIK CODED I'M ACTUALLY GONNA JUMP OUT A FUCKING WINDOW JAHHSWQO. viktor saved jayce from killing himself, helped him achieve his life's goal to channel magic. alternatively, jayce helped viktor to be more than just an assistant, gave him purpose and did with hextech what viktor always wanted to do: help people. HOWEVER, them meeting ultimately led to their deaths (actually erm i refuse to believe they're dead and prefer to believe they're in some higher form of existence giving each other cosmic backshots 💜). them meeting helped bring hextech to the world which, as it happens, was the beginning of the end. the formation of the hexcore, viktor turning into robotic jesus, starting the cult, the formation of the anomaly that sent jayce to the ruined dimension (poor guy also lost his mind) so although jayce was able to fulfill his life's dream, it also was the thing that ruined him. if they never met, this all could've been avoided, which is easily seen in the dimension ekko & heimerdinger were sent to. they were best friends, equals in the sense of intellect and generally just two halves of one whole (saw someone on insta relate them to the sin²x + cos ²x = 1 formula and gen crashed the fuck out) hence, the best and worst thing to ever happen to each other.

"why does hearing your name hurt me when it hides right there in the vicinity? what kind of emotion, is it hatred or pure sweetness when i hear your name?" we all know ekko and powder were childhood friends. due to a series of unfortunate events, powder was taken under silco's care — the same person who was the cause of vander's and benzo's death (who were like father figures to ekko). powder became jinx and was working for silco, who was using shimmer to exploit his own people. as ekko grew up, all he did was work to defeat the purpose jinx was working for. imagine how much it must hurt for him to know someone who meant sm to him is doing all this to his people. her name brings bitterness, but also the sweet press of memories of simpler times. then, obviously, ekko was sent to the other dimension. saw that other dimension have everything he ever wanted (except vi ☹️). powder was still HIS powder. his life was playing out just the way he wanted. however it wasn't REAL. he got a glimpse of what could've been. in that dimension ekko and powder grew up to fall in love. imagine coming from your reality where you're enemies, and the being sent to this one where you're lovers. but you can't stay, no matter how happy it makes you. he got a taste of the sweetness that could've been. then he had to go BACK to his reality, where he saw the same girl he could've fallen in love with try to kill herself. and, afterwards, when you've basically saved the world, you're left all alone and are led to believe she's dead (uhm which she's not trust 🙏)

i don't think i have to explain the 'worst of all blessings, the best of all curses' verse in relation to both the ships because AHHHHHWJWJWJWIWIWIWJSIQIQJWIIWIWSIJQIDBCIAOJW

alright guys anyways thank u for coming to my ted talk 😁

[deyisacherry]

people hating nexus for what that "nexus" in sun's mind said it's hilarious cause

did you pay attention?

did you not hear that was simply sun's own mind and inner dark thoughts talking to himself?

do you reaaally believe nexus was just gonna be trapped like that deep in sun's mind and do nothing?

that's not nexus, even sun knew that

how would sun get rid of nexus being LITERALLY INSIDE HIS HEAD by just,,, moving on or pushing him away as a thought

huh?? huuuuuh??

if nexus is somehow alive i don't think he was in sun's head

guys for the love of god this is the same as when sun hallucinated bloodmoon and old moon back then

THEY WERE HALLUCINATIONS, NOT THE REAL THEM

bloodmoon was dead, old moon WOULD'VE NEVER (as much as i'm pissed at him) SAY THOSE THINGS TO SUN AFTER GIVING HIS LIFE FOR HIM TO HAVE A BETTER VERSION OF HIMSELF.

that. wasn't. nexus.

my god i see people going I HATE NEXUS BECAUSE HE SAID THIS TO SUN

that's not him, that's sun, that's sun's own mind speaking, that's what he thinks of himself, that's how he thinks nexus would see him, or talk to him or think of him, THAT'S NOT THE REAL NEXUS

for all i wish Nexus is at superhell (yes i wish that) just hanging around with bunnies while he's spaced out

istg everytime a goddamn episode of nexus comes out i just know they're gonna manage to make people hate him even more, even when sun himself can't hate him and knows that wasn't him and still loves him and feels sorry

sigh, one of the reasons I've stopped watching tsams

[ddemons-bblog]

So I finally watched helluva boss, season 1 & 2. TW-R*pe, Cannibalism, Fatphobia. DNI: Helluva/Hazbin stans, people who are wanting to argue with me on my opinions. Just block me. I know I'm late to the critical party and have some opinions already said by others, as well as some of my own opinions that y'all may disagree with, but here's what I have to say:

Here are my thoughts as a queer individual and a demonolator:

1. Why are there sexes assigned to imps (sexual diamorphism) Demons in Christianity (and Luciferianism) (depending on the branch) have no sex or gender (except for succubi and incubi maybe) also Imps all have the same shade of red skin across all rings, so why is there no variations in each ring such as greed, lust, etc.

2. Now I see why Stolas told me he doesn't like his depiction. He doesn't wear enough starry or naturey clothing (except in ozzie's) and he's went from being a weird sexual pervert (even possibly a r*pist) to now being sad all the time. Like as someone with depression this is not accurate. Depression is more than just being sad.

3. Beelzebub is a fox? I honestly don't care about that but the wrong sigil was used. Also like, I like her party theme, but she's probably the reason that the hellhounds are so low class to begin with.

4. Wow. So Stolas's wife is abusive to him. Not a bad idea to write, but she's so cartoonishly evil and one dimensional like Andrealphus is. (Who looks like an Elsa ripoff?)

5. Andrealphus was confirmed gay I think, but it's so fucking weird to flirt/say weird things with your sister man. 😭

6. Mammon should be a two headed Bird according to demonology, why is he a spider? I like him though, he's funny. I just wish he wasn't used to be a fatphobic stereotype.

7. Man, I feel so bad for Octavia. She deserves better. Both her parents suck.

8. Worldbuilding: I like the idea of hell being circus themed, if only Beelzebub, Leviathan, and Belphegor had the theme on their outfits too. Also, I like the Gluttony, Sloth, and Wrath ring designs, but the rest shown (Lust, Greed, Pride) are just boring cities with weird sky colors. I hope Envy has a good ring design.

9.Full demon forms, just like Lucifer's I am SO disappointed, minus Stolas's full demon form. That one is nice. Like they just are bigger versions of themselves atp.

10. Paimon is a priveleged anti poor asshole. This literally demonizes irl! paimon, who I also work with.

11. Satanists portrayals: I HATE how Martha is portrayed as a violent cannibal ans a Satanist. The religion is actually peaceful. Also, as a Stolas worshipper, we do not do sacrifices to him. That is a violent stereotype and it's offensive.

12. The Hellhound designs: They're just red eyed dogs, which is okay, but I'd perfer horns, skulls n bones, fire, and 3 heads. Also loona's feral form is boring.

13. Sallie May needs more screentime. I like her but she just feels like a token trans character.

14. Y'all are gonna disagree with me on this but I like Fizzmodeus. They're cute.

15. The Cherubs are cringe as fuck. I hate them. Especially Deerie.

16. I like how Vassago isn't British. For fucks sake the Goetia are based on demonized gods and was written in France. So making them British pissed me off. I don't like how he is just a used design though.

16. Overall, I honestly didn't like Stolas, Paimon or Andrealphus's depictions. But Vassago and Asmodeus I liked. Making Asmodeus not a r*pist is kinda nice for a change.

17. Seven Deadly Sins- If you're gonna make an "anti-Christian" show then at least omit this. Because we personally believe in our own seperate sins against Satan and others, and the only "sins" we embrace are Lust (when all of these "sins" done in moderation) and Gluttony, and Pride. We always agree that Greed is 100% bad in my groups, so making a show that says "embrace sin" with Greed and Envy being part of those is kinda....bad. Also, some Satanists believe in their own Sins to completely avoid Harming others, Controlling others, Always forgiving horrible people, etc.

So those are my thoughts. I may not talk about this crapshow much anymore on here on my page. I want to focus more on my spirituality.

[jjmbbg]

"New Year"

cw: beau arlen x fem!reader, fluff, suggestive language, kissing, alcohol consume, just cuties.

happy new year guys!!

(pics from pinterest)

The weather was certainly cold, but the interior of your house was a protective blanket that generated enormous peace in the two of you. You smiled softly when Beau slid next to you on the couch, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you closer.

"You want some more?" he offered you some sparkling wine from the bottle, tilting it towards your cup that you also tilted. "Y'know? This is nice."

"Yeah? What's nice?" you chuckled, taking a short sip of your glass, leaning your body on him after leaving your glass of wine on the coffee table.

"This. You and me. This dinner and some sparkling wine," Beau smiled, kissing your temple softly, lips lingering on your skin sweetly. "I could stay like this forever, holding you in my arms."

You raised your head, looking into his gorgeous green eyes with that characteristic mischievous glint, mixed with the love and tenderness that he has felt since he met you, and smiled again, leaning to kiss his soft lips once, then twice, then thrice—and more and more and more times—hearing him laugh at your sweet little kisses.

"Hey, hold on sweetheart, you gonna wear out my lips," he teased you, pulling you to give you another kiss, this one longer, with a not-so-hidden touch of desire. "And certainly you love when I use my lips on ya," Beau wiggled his eyebrows in amusement, one of his hands caressing your thigh gently beneath your skirt.

"Well, not my fault they're calling my name," you teased him back, your hands cupping his cheeks and pulling his face closer, giving him more pecks as if it were breathing. "Besides, you like 'em."

"Yeah, I do."

You both finished the remains of the dinner, then went outside of his trailer, sitting in a small armchair by the door, looking at the starry sky. Beau took a blanket and wrapped it behind you two, arm resting on your shoulders once more, letting you rest your head on his own shoulder.

"Are you the type of person who makes New Year's resolutions and such?" you asked softly, turning your head a little from the sky above you to the green sky of his eyes.

Beau thought about it, scratching his chin a little, but after a few seconds, he shook his head.

"It's the first time I celebrate New Year's in like… years," he laughed softly at its redundancy. "Since Emily spent the vast majority of the holidays with her mom, I stopped celebrating several things, I assume because I didn't want to feel so empty. So, no, I don't feel like I need to make lists of New Year's resolutions, they're all mostly the same."

You hummed in response, understanding his answer. You really did.

"But," he continued, turning his head towards you and gave you the biggest, sweetest smile and kissed your forehead softly. "Now that I'm with you, I wouldn't mind having the purpose of being with you for the rest of the year, and the next one, and the next one."

You giggled at his words.

God. Was this man real? He was a sappy bastard, and he held you in the palm of his hand, with his cheesy lines.

"God, I love you so damn much," you told him, giving him a soft kiss on his lips.

The kiss was interrupted by the music of the radio next to them, then the voice of the announcer, expressing thanks to the community, etc., etc., where what stood out the most was soon the typical countdown.

23:59:52

Beau smiled at you.

23:59:53

You smiled back at Beau.

23:59:55

He cupped your cheek gently with his hand.

23:59:57

You cupped his face with yours.

23:59:58

He kisses you. You kissed him back.

00:00:03

You started a new year kissing each other's lips. His touch was gentle, soft, caring. He still couldn't believe that a woman, beautiful and strong like you, was with a guy like him, boring and with dad jokes ready for every occasion. One of your hands trailed down his cheek to his shoulder as you broke apart the kiss, seeing his face illuminated by fireworks in the distance.

Your heart skipped a beat, his face has always been beautiful, you've seen pictures of him when he was younger, and… God… Beau is just gorgeous, and there aren't even the right words to explain it.

"Happy new year," he whispered, his green gaze fixed on your eyes, his thumb caressing your cheekbone. Oh, fuck, he was so gentle, how did you get so lucky? "Love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too, Beau," you replied back, kissing him once more, deepening it, expressing your love and gratitude for having him with you, for being with him at that moment. "So, so much," you whispered against his mouth, clutching the fabric of his shirt.

This was the way you wanted to start the year, loving the man of your dreams, being in his arms, and never letting him go.

[amethystfairy1]

well I've spent all day thinking about it so here are some predictions for how "And you open your eyes into mine, and everything feels better” is going to work out in defending order from most likely to least likely (and also kinda vaguest to most specific ig) If there's two contradictory predictions assume they're two separate thoughts I think are most likely in that order to happen

Martyn POV chapter 3

Chapter 3 Is a Martyn POV of chapter 2

C3 is the aftermath of C2

Martyn runs away again and/or throws up again or something after the kiss because intrusive thoughts just EXPLODED in his mind

Martyn doesn't believe Ren's feelings are genuine

Ren has an emotional breakdown

Flower husbands give relationship advice (they are very unqualified)

Ren's previous headspace causes either a shutdown or regression (basically he's the quiet, respectfully curious, obedient mas again [I think those were the adjectives?])

Martyn blames himself for Literally Everything that's happening in the relationship because he "forced this" on Ren and he IS just as bad as the others

Ren blames himself in layers of assaulting Martyn, kissing his master (out of his own accord), not knowing how his own emotions work, and now fully well and good believes Martyn is gonna sell him (somehow more than before because now he deserves it)

Martyn breaks down and apologizes for his intrusive thoughts, thus confessing to them (he's under the impression Ren already knew) causing either

a meta-ish conversation about those unwanted feelings not defining someone esp since Martyn is actively disgusted by them

More angsty relationship strain before the resolution (listen after reading almost 800k words worth of your tippy taps, I feel like some things are safe to assume.... I hope-)

Martyn confession (this is only this low because it could end up being in another fic)

An actually healthy conversation occurs

Another attack or ambush of some kind occurs

Due to [insert reasoning here], flower husbands misunderstand the situation and believe Martyn pushed Ren to do something, causing them to doubt Martyn's character and causing more feelings of betrayal

We get treebark by the end of the fic! (Only this low because I wonder if treebark would be established now or kinda saved for after the duo figures out their emotions, which could happen this fic or in a later fic)

Feel free to ignore this just wanted to share the thoughts that have been plaguing my mind in the bestest way :))))

These are alllll fantastic. I love all of them, I LOVE seeing people trying to work their way through how my stories are gonna break down as they come out, it's always so much fun! I love love love it so thanks for sharing!

And my response is this.

I hope you enjoy it.