#this is 100% my opinion and my personal reaction/interpretation

[szethsmom]

See the thing is. It’s really hard to full-on *disagree* with Ludinus. The gods are pretty fucking cruel most of the time, and I too hate the idea of human lives as game pieces. But he’s also so reckless, fanatical, and intense about it that you also can’t really *agree* with him either, and thus are shoehorned into working against him. I really feel that frustration from a lot of Bell’s Hells. It sucks that there doesn’t seem to be any middle ground at the moment. Do you let a madman release something that could potentially end all life on Exandria? Or do you side with your sometimes-oppressors-sometimes-tenuous-allies and stop him?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Exandria’s gods are overdue for a reckoning. Just… hopefully it will be a reckoning with a lower body count than what Ludinus has planned. Sure, save the gods I guess, but make sure they know we will be having a Very Serious Talk with them afterwards.

[haedalkoo]

The car conversation and grammar: "When I was busy, you were free but you never called me."

After rewatching the episodes a few times (I just couldn't get enough of them) and reading the opinions floating around, I wanted to add my two cents to the car conversation discourse. This post is mostly about language and interpretations. Keep in mind I'm not 100% fluent in Korean, but I understand the language to a significant degree.

Let's get started!

It's time to put on my Korean-is-an-awfully-ambiguous-language cap. Buckle up.

The conversation starts with Jimin saying they haven't gone somewhere in a long time. I would say it's not that they haven't hung out, but that they haven't traveled together or gone out like that. This is just my interpretation, though. JK tells him, "we were supposed to get a drink" (as in, meet up and go for a drink 만나서 (meet and) 술 한잔 하자 (go get a drink)). Then, Jimin says "원래 그런 거 아니겠니" which loosely translates to "isn't that how it's supposed to be originally?" as in, that's what happens, you talk about doing this or that together and it never ends up happening. Like the travel show, if JM hadn't flown to JK. Like the times he tells Tae to meet up but never happens. Life gets in the way.

But this is the interesting part. Jimin's reply to me comes off a little defensive (in a joking manner), as if saying, "don't blame me for not meeting up (it's not like I didn't want to, I couldn't)." but JK keeps pushing him. He says:

"형 바쁠 땐 / 내가 겁나 한가한데 / 안 찾고. 나 바쁠 땐 / 형 한가한데 / 안 찾고."

This sentence is a grammatical nightmare. He isn't using any particles, which help indicate who's the subject or object of the sentence. So you can only guess based in context. I've marked Jimin (hyung) in orange, JK refering to himself ("me") in purple, and "didn't come looking for" in pink. 찾다 (jatda) means to search for, look for.

Many K-armys have been pointing the same thing out, and I agree. The repetition of 안 찾고, to me, feels like he's making the same point in different situations.

When you were busy, I was so freaking (겁나) free

When I was busy, you were free

And in neither of these cases you came looking for me.

That's why Jimin jumps in immediately to defend himself in a whiny tone.

아니지 찾았지! That's not true, I did go looking for you! (The ending 지 indicates a reiteration, something both the speaker and recipient know as true.)

He took that personally LOL. But this makes so much sense in retrospective, think of all of those 2023 lives were JK was asking JM to come over, to do a live together, and JM's response was always "I'm busy" "Hyung needs to go" "You/I have a schedule." Jungkook was lonely without him. Jimin probably felt bad and did as much as he could to see him ("I did reach out!") - to the point he flew fourteen hours to spend quality time with JK. HOWEVER, this is just an interpretation. The lack of clear pronouns and particles makes this really hard to translate, which is why the show translator interpreted it as "when you were busy and I was free, I didn't call you." Both interpretations are valid, but giving their reactions and context, I feel like this one makes the most sense to me.

If we go with my interpretation, after that, I feel like Jimin tries to ease the conversation/justify himself by saying how him and Tae don't meet up either even if they videocall often. As if saying "I'm not pushing you aside, I'm really not meeting up with anyone else either". This makes Jungkook laugh, but he still wonders lightly "I don't think we would be seeing each other (either) if it weren't for this (trip/shoot)." I want to reiterate how lighthearted this comment is, he's simply wondering (but still teasing a little.)

But again, Jimin feels the need to defend himself "yah, that's why I (hyung) came here!" (again, he uses a grammar that highlights the information being said is something the two of them know, something obvious.) To me this felt very whiny/cute, like, "stop saying I didn't make time to see you! I'm literally right here!!" and I think JK gets the hint that if he keeps pushing JM might get upset, so he smoothes things over by repeating over and over again, "that's right, you came, you came."

It's a response to the previous "you weren't looking for me." You did come looking for me. You found me. We're okay now.

Finally.

[juicedaloe]

Mithrun and brain damage

I'm not sure if anyone is interested in this, but I wanted to make a post talking about why I think that Mithrun has brain damage from a traumatic brain injury instead of him being a representation of other neurological disorders or mental illness. I'm not that involved in the dunmesh fandom so I don't know how common this headcanon is, though I've seen a few people mention it here and there.

This is just my own opinion so if you disagree then that's fine. Some of this is just speculation and I can't say what Kui's intentions were. This post isn't meant to be that serious. I just wanted to talk about it and hopefully inform about how brain damage can affect some people in a way that I hope is interesting and relevant.

This will be kind of long because I like to talk so it will be under the cut. Apologies for the length and how much I ramble. Feel free to give input especially if I got anything wrong or if this is too confusing.

Okay let's go

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is incredibly complex. The long-term effects of a TBI include a wide array of symptoms. Each injury is different, and some people can completely recover rather quickly while others can become permanently disabled, even for seemingly "minor" injuries. What I'll cover here isn't a definitive representation of the experiences of all those who have long-term effects from TBI, nor do I speak for everyone with brain damage.

Here are some long term symptoms relevant to this post:

Alexithymia (inability to process and name emotions)

Inability to process and name physical perceptions

Mood swings and emotional regulation difficulties

Communication difficulties

Social impairment

Apathy about caring for oneself

Lack of motivation

Alexithymia and inability to process physical perceptions

This one is rather obvious. While Mithrun is shown to feel emotions and have physical sensations (for instance, describing his location when he gets lost in the dungeon as "a cold place"), he is also apathetic to how this affects him. This means that his physical and emotional perceptions are reduced in some way. He says that becoming lord of the dungeon will leave someone "empty", showing he is aware of his dulled emotional state.

A good example of this is can be seen here in a bonus comic where he doesn't give much of a reaction to burning his mouth on hot food.

(I love these two a lot, by the way. Pattadol is really under appreciated.)

He is also not able to recognize bodily signals, such as hunger or when he is tired. Despite collapsing from exhaustion and not eating for long periods of time, he still insists he is not tired or hungry.

Mood swings

Mood swings in combination with alexithymia can be an especially disorientating experience. Those who struggle to perceive their own emotions can still feel them even if they don't know how to recognize it.

Individuals with brain injuries often experience drastic mood swings, particularly anger. To those around them, they can appear to go from 0 to 100 in an instant.

This is more speculation/headcanon on my part, as the strongest emotion Mithrun has for most of his appearances is anger. However one could interpret this as being unrelated as he is seeking revenge for a traumatic experience.

Communication difficulties and social impairment

Not only can naming personal experiences be incredibly difficult with a brain injury, but other areas of communication are often affected as well.

Mithrun is not able to set boundaries for himself even if someone is doing something he would not actually want them to do, which can leave him in a vulnerable position.

People with brain injuries can sometimes have a paradoxical experience when it comes to communicating with others. They can go from being very quiet to speaking at length about one topic, seemingly without regard for the importance of each bit of information. (I see it like Newton's first law of motion. It is hard to start speaking and it can be just as hard to stop.)

I really like this aspect of Mithrun's characterization. Usually, he is very quiet because he has no reason to speak. However, once he starts talking he is shown to be overly specific and goes on for long periods of time. Kabru has to spend multiple days figuring out his story.

In a side comic, Kabru tells Mithrun he should condense some of the personal details that Kabru finds irrelevant to the topic of the dungeon.

Mithrun shares many details about himself because his desire not to do so is gone. This mirrors the experience of many people who have brain damage to overshare and not understand how their words will come across to others. Sometimes they say or do things that are insensitive or inappropriate for the situation.

Caring for oneself and motivation

In the dungeon, Mithrun becomes reliant on others for self care. He also seems especially incapable of motivating himself to take care of his body when he is particularly focused on his goals.

In these panels, thus far he had been fairly receptive of Kabru trying to take care of him. However, he could sense that the demon was close and was too focused on that to care to eat.

Refusal of care and treatment is often an effect of traumatic brain injury. This can be for seemingly no reason, even if the person knows that this will help them. Sometimes people will lie about receiving treatment or doing things to take care of themselves, either so they can avoid it or avoid having someone take care of them.

He knows that eating regularly and not pushing himself too much will help him - he's been told multiple times on-screen - but he still has to be continuously told by others to give him that motivation to take care of himself. He's very apathetic to his physical state, even if it seems his only desire is for revenge and he should be doing anything he can to achieve that.

Other things of note

I wasn't sure where to put this, but while Mithrun's sense of direction is speculated by Kabru to be left over from his time as lord of an ever-changing, confusing dungeon, having poor sense of direction in the way he does could also be indicative of brain injury as well.

While the dungeon is confusing and illogical, he is known to have a poor sense of direction and to get frequently lost by those around him, even trying to exit an entrance he just came through. He is shown to be very intelligent, but memory is greatly impacted by brain injuries which affects a person's sense of direction and location.

Something that really stands out to me about Mithrun is how much the things that help him are particularly helpful to those with brain damage. He is physically capable of performing tasks, but he needs an outside source to remind him and get him started. He relies entirely on routine, and when that regularity is taken away he shows extreme difficulty taking care of himself.

Sometimes, the care that some people need is simply someone else to encourage them or to tell them when to do things. The care that he needs is pretty consistent with a person with a brain injury who does not need a full time caretaker and would prefer to have some independence.

Also, healing magic is specified to not work with brain injury unless the person is killed and revived. Mithrun had not been revived after his injuries, so it is entirely possible for him to have sustained a TBI. I don't think this matters that much because one is still allowed to have headcanons even if there is a magical explanation or isn't really possible in canon, but I thought it was an interesting detail.

In conclusion

Because of all this I don't believe that his lack of self care is due solely to mental illness. While mental illnesses like depression or PTSD can cause a decline in self care, the reasons why the affected individual is avoidant of these tasks differs. These disorders can also cause cognitive difficulties and emotional regulation issues, but not to the same extent or in the same way that brain damage would. I think that he does have both depression and PTSD (both are common after a TBI) but those are not his only disabilities.

And on a personal note, I just think that having a character with brain damage is really cool. Most of the time I've seen it the characters are not given very much respect and they are treated as comic relief and a joke. Regardless of whether you agree with this post or not, it is still nice to see a character with a disability like this.

Thank you if you read all of this. I hope it was easy to understand and I did not ramble too much. I don't have anything else to say but I've been wanting to write this out for a while.

Okay bye

[captainjonnitkessler]

The thing is - in order for me to trust you as a religious person, I need to know that you support apostates of your faith. ALL apostates of your faith.

The ones who left because they faced spiritual abuse, the ones who left because they didn’t think the religion was true, and the ones who left because they simply didn’t like it. The ones who are open and angry about their religious abuse. The ones who still participate in cultural events and the ones who completely cut contact with the faith. The ones who left because their community was sexist, racist, homophobic, or transphobic. The ones who converted to a different religion and the ones who decided they would just rather assimilate and the ones who don’t give you a reason.

And when your reaction to an apostate, ESPECIALLY ones who left because of abuse and conservative communities, is stuff like “well, the people who hurt you weren’t REAL [X]s”, or “well, actually if you interpret this religion the RIGHT way (by joining MY community) then it’s totally not bigoted at all -” or “well you can’t let your bad experience taint a whole religion” or “you shouldn’t talk about your bad experience because it gives the rest of us a bad name” or “then I guess you never REALLY had faith” or “the idea that you can leave a faith in a meaningful way is a Western colonialist ideal” or “if you leave this faith then you are committing voluntary cultural genocide” - the last two of which are real things I saw real people say recently - then it’s very obvious you care more about protecting your religion and its power over its adherents than about caring for the individual people within it.

Nobody owes it to you to stay in your religion. And if you can’t 100%, wholeheartedly respect that, then I'm not going to trust you or your opinions about religion.

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Malleus Draconia - Platinum Jacket Voice Lines

When Summoned: This was quite the special invitation. Let us celebrate this auspicious 100th year together.

Summon Line: Just as the rumors have said, this truly is a vast museum. I am elated that I have this opportunity to walk these halls.

Groooovy!!: Do take care not to act discourteously while paying your respects. That is, if you do not wish to incur any unwanted curses.

Home: My blessings on 100 years of history.

Home Idle 1: I hear the Asim household has enough paintings to rivals this museum. I do hope to receive an invitation someday.

Home Idle 2: It seems that Rosehearts has memorized a plethora of anecdotes so as to be able to respond to any question. How very enthusiastic of him.

Home Idle 3: It is said that the subordinates of the Thorn Fairy were unwaveringly loyal. Seems as though they all held her in high regard. We are quite similar in that regard.

Home Idle - Login: Allow me to show you around the museum. I have an affinity for art appreciation. You'll be in good hands.

Home Idle - Groovy: Spade seems to have a very straightforward personality. He spoke his mind without any hesitation... Fufu, that was quite the pleasant encounter.

Home Tap 1: That's some furrow in your brow. Each person will glean different impressions from the same painting. There's no need to figure out a correct interpretation.

Home Tap 2: The King of Beasts would turn to his chamberlain for a song to soothe his woes, I see. That chamberlain's singing must have been superb.

Home Tap 3: While I was gazing upon a painting of the Fairest Queen, Hunt began to recount her stories and his opinions on them in rapid-fire succession. His intensity was quite something...

Home Tap 4: The painting depicting the Thorn Fairy's castle is spectacular. It is quite a useful reference for the style of gargoyles of that time period.

Home Tap 5: I cannot say I'm accustomed to this silvery-white color, or your human formal attire, but... From what I gather of your reaction, it does not seem like it is ill-suited.

Home Tap - Groovy: Have you found a work of art you like? Your eyes are glittering just like a child's.

Duo: [MALLEUS]: Follow me, Spade. [DEUCE]: This will be a good experience, Draconia-senpai!

Birthday Login Message: So, you've come to wish me a happy birthday. You certainly know no fear, it seems. Most people are too frightened to even say one word to me... If the people of Briar Valley were to see this, they would be quite taken aback. Heh, I don't mean it as a rebuke in anyway. I only am reminded once again about what a strange human you are.

Requested by Anonymous.

[drulalovescas]

Okay, the confession was romantic. It was just poorly written. Like the rest of the show.

okay, the confession was romantic, agreed. but for me it's absolutely and utterly beautiful and very good writing. like, I'm not even exaggerating. castiel's words and his love for dean was pure and selfless and uconditional. so i gotta disagree?? unless you mean it was "safely" done in order to leave the window for a platonic interpretation open in which case yeah, i guess. Bobo could've written: I love you. I'm in love with you to leave no doubt but the thing is he really couldn't. I'm 100% convinced that that was the condition under which the confession was even allowed. Hence, Bobo tried to work around it. hence we had Cas say "the one thing I want is something I know I can't have." He wasn't allowed to give us explicit "I'm in love with you" so he gave us the second best thing. And if you mean the execution, how it was shot, the distance between dean and cas (the way they always stood on top of each other and here it felt like they're million feet apart lol), how there were some of jensen's and misha's reactions cut (which is literally confirmed by jensen himself) then yeah, that happened but that's not on the writer.

My personal opinion: the confession was done, written, shot and then edited (aka butchered in the editing)"safely enough"to not alienate homophobes. but that was the condition tptb set. and, again, it is not on the writer.

[justanotherfanartist]

taps mic. ahem.

help a student write a dumb rvb research paper? pretty please?? for funsies???

This is exactly what it sounds like.

My current final of the year for my language composition class is a massive synthesis + argumentative research paper on any topic of our choosing, and Roosterteeth + RVB has too much messy junk going on that I’m knee-deep invested in mentally at this point to pass up the opportunity to write about it.

And yknow, I see a ton of media analysis posts coming out of the fandom all the time and I’ve always loved seeing it and reading into it and sharing ideas and whatnot and this feels like my way of doing that too.

Essentially what I’m reaching out for is for you guys to help me crowdsource resources and share your ideas with me to include in my term paper*.

things that would be wizard cool of you to send me are:

any interviews or behind the scenes with the cast and creators you happen to know of

your own analysis or hot takes of the characters or the show as a whole

what the show has meant to you

any clips of old Roosterteeth expos

for the older fans, a rough idea of what the release timeline looked like for the episodes and what the buildup and fan reaction was for each one

any commentary or hot takes on how the fandom has changed since you joined/that you know of

what Roosterteeth did wrong (writing wise and irl)

what Roosterteeth did right (writing wise and irl)

tropes within the show you noticed whether originated by the show or not

tropes within the fandom, things like similar portrayals or bad/good takes on characters or face canons that span artists

literally anything you can give me, media, commentary, or opinion wise

(not to say I can’t find things on my own, I already have, but this is also about varying opinions and the general outlook of the fandom as a whole and measuring the broader impact of a show like RvB and it would be incredibly cool of you to help me out even with just crumbs of character opinions)

The idea is to get evidence together from clips, personal anecdotes, and opinions so I can present an accurate read on the fandom, especially when it comes to fan interpretation of RVB vs Roosterteeth’s intentions for the show (and behavior as a company) and explore what the show was supposed to be, what it literally is, how people see it, what its impact has been, and a general overview of the it’s legacy and lifespan, that sort of thing.

My thesis is most likely going to end up something in the ballpark of “How Roosterteeth exemplifies the Franchisation of Indie Media” or “Why RvB is one of the most complicated/misunderstood/divisive shows in modern media” or “How Fandoms interpret and recontextualize media”

I’m going to guess that I likely won’t be able to post the finished paper up online without a solid buffer window to avoid the two mortifying scenarios that are (a) being accused of creative plagiarism and (b) having to tell my instructor that the tumblr account with a 100% match to my course final is, in fact, my tumblr account, are two things I desperately want to avoid.

However if I can, simply for the sake of contributing to the fandom and creating something for us to all contribute to and discuss and crediting various peoples’ help and input would be ideal and, if at all possible, that would be the end goal.

so yeah. if you’re up for it I’d love for you to dm me your thoughts or (more conveniently for the both of us) fill out this Google form down here!

*im not gonna, like, repost your detailed character analysis as my own or something. I’m just trying to find some good quotes, general opinions, and ideas from the fandom so that I can accurately represent them and do our little corner of the internet Justice. And also because the audience of a work is a massive factor in media analysis lmfao. and also to create a community sourced Fun Thing™️ we can all look at and bite the corners off of instead of watching Roosterteeth crash and burn in the backgroun

[getsuuna]

Can we politely talk about *some* SaneKana shippers...

I would normally address how toxic they tend to be and the ridiculous amount of misinformation they spread, which not only misleads the (mostly new) fans, but also heavily mischaracterizes both Sanemi and Kanae, ESPECIALLY Sanemi though because he's really complex and the misinformation just misses the entire fxcking point of the way he's written and it's enraging to say the least

..however, it's starting to be common knowledge that they're insufferable, but something that is bugging me right now is that they're getting sexualized lately. and almost no one seems to complain.

There's recent VIRAL videos, either animations or cosplays who want to allude that they'd "get freaky" or that Kanae wants to get undressed when he sees him or something...am I overreacting or gagging a little is a fair reaction to this?

They were MINORS.

No matter how much I might not like Kanae as a character, I find it baffling when she's sexualized or mischaracterized by anyone. Kanae was created for Shinobu. Kanae is Shinobu's fuel, her motive, the reason behind her grief and her anger and her overall initial character development and the way she planned her own demise all revolved around her older sister. Kanae exists for Shinobu, not to be any man's love interest.

Let's also be fr, Kanae was more of a mother to Sanemi rather than a love interest, they had heavy platonic subtext in the 1 and half interactions that they had. Romanticizing the Light Novel's interaction specifically, would mean projecting Œdipus complex onto Sanemi, which is absolutely messed up considering the amount of people I've seen justify that with "but it was her hands!" who do you think that touch belongs to? would you think about your dad or any family member if a person you like touched you?

But that's besides the point, I respect the ship per se and I acknowledge it's 100% up to the viewer's interpretation; but if you're one of the shippers who overlooks Sanemi's character, sexualizes and mischaracterizes their bond and water down Kanae's character to "she's the girl that Sanemi likes" AND/OR even spread misinformation and consider them as canon while harassing other shippers then please take several seats.

I'm usually very chill about ships, rarepairs, anything as long as it's legal, but this behavior from shippers is where I draw the line + those ShinoGiyuu shippers who also do the exact same thing to Giyuu and Shinobu, and I kinda like them as a pair so I'm not being biased here.

If you're one of the normal SaneKana shippers don't take it as an attack, it's not about you🫶🏻 as much as my opinion on this ship is complex as I only like them if we consider them as a platonic duo, I totally respect those few sane shippers and multishippers I've encountered

This being said, I hope we can all agree that sexualizing minors is disgusting ⛹🏻‍♀️

[blanceyblance]

Unpopular Klance opinions because I had been in this fanbase for quite a long time. So I have seen things and I'm coping with current events yk

Fans do tend to treat them both differently 100%. We all have our biases of course but fics do tend to baby Keith more, his mistakes are usually excused and Lance's pain is used to fuel his character development. Lance is usually the blandest most protective sunshine boy or an unrepentant jerk whose suffering is deserving because he choose Allura instead.

And some fics who try to focus on Lance growing post s8 only end with his big character resolution being...winning Keith back? Show that he has grown enough to finally deserve him or something. Eh, not a fan.

Both are pretty boyish boys but different fans have different interpretations of the characters and thats fine. But it seems that the reaction for Keith going for more "feminine" clothes and appearance is more accepting, while some people react strongly if its Lance instead.

Like the way some oppose so much to the idea of Keith being taller than Lance but also make Lance clearly taller than the actual difference they have in the show.

And the way some people are still mad about Lance's childish rivalry in the first seasons before his relationship with Keith improved but say nothing about Keith's jerkish tendencies or justify it with "he doesn't know how to deal with his feelings"

Just let's maybe think why there is the tendency to make Lance the boyish, tallest, abrasive, perverted one while Keith is the sensitive, beautiful, short, innocent one

Maybe I will add more things later but, basically as a Lance stan I have become really cautious with the KL content I see.

Nothing wrong, overall that's how fandom works and I'm not entitled to the content others make, its just my personal taste and observations and i needed to vent

[stil-lindigo]

okay so, not entirely sure what the last anon was on about (and it very well could be a troll just trying to bait. they really should have at least brought up what they meant if they wanted to appear in good faith), but it may be in relation to "drink up" and how it attracted terf attention on twitter? (which I know you addressed btw, so I hope this doesn't come across as an attack or anything)

personally, I think the phrase "our only natural predator" might have appealed to terf rhetoric just a little (but that's my opinion - I very well could be 100% wrong). I have my own personal feelings on the use of "natural" in the phrase (men don't naturally prey on women like animal predators do their prey - if anything, it's unnatural, deliberately chosen behavior - and it reminds me of the excuse that "it's just naturally how men are," like "boys will be boys." HOWEVER, I see how that phrasing ties into the "lioness/women turning it around and preying on the predator" theme, so honestly it works well there), but aside from all that, I can also see why it might've attracted terfs: bc they very often view and frame trans women as male predators to cis women. I know that's definitely not how you intended it though!!

and this also isn't meant as a nitpick to your work, so my apologies if that's how it comes across. I really like your art and your writing (and "drink up" has a very cool theme)! it's just that I can see how terfs might've interpreted it a certain way. it's not your fault that they viewed it like that though, and you've made it very clear you're NOT down with trans exclusionary BS. so that's literally the only thing I could see anon complaining about tbh, assuming they're not just being a troll. also I'm sorry for the super long message (I have an issue w/ typing too much smh). I just thought I'd share my thoughts on it in case it's at all helpful, but also this might just be annoying to read instead, so honestly feel free to just discard it if you prefer!

It’s not annoying at all anon, and I appreciate you taking the time to send this in. The comic you’re talking about is one I think back on with a lot of regret. It was made in a furious haze after a big time female streamer revealed that she was being mentally abused for years by her husband, where he would waste her hard earned money, threaten her dogs and her livelihood and overall be a monster to the woman who was their primary breadwinner. The reaction online to this information by her largely male audience was so genuinely vile and violently misogynistic that I made the comic, without thinking broadly about the implications you’ve already pointed out. In reality, the comic was meant to talk about how all women (cis and trans) suffer under the patriarchy and how the label of womanhood can often be an open call for baseless derision, dehumanisation and entitlement at many levels.

TERFS quickly co-opted the comic, and I’ll always regret ever giving them an opportunity to feel empowered and validated by my art, but I’ve learned from the experience overall to do better by my trans siblings. Thank you for engaging in good faith - I hope my behaviour now and in the future can make up for past mis-steps.

[sysmedsaresexist]

so this is an honest question because you seem to understand the ToSD really well, and this is something that has always confused us; is there a specific reason for the idea that identity integration can only be interupted by trauma and not a neurological or biological issue?

We ask because we have autism which has affected almost everything about our existence and functioning from how we process information and sensory input, to how we learn, and even how we experience emotions and more complex things like our self perception and gender.

It is confusing to us that all these other things, including identity and perception, can be changed by something biological/neurological, and thats generally accepted to be true but the idea that and extremely long and complex process that also depends on feedback from other people can't be?

We get specific trauma responses and symptoms but the whole "the only way for states not to integrate/integrate fully is trauma in one specific window" seems to make integration one of if not the only processes in the brain that can't be disrupted by neurology and that is confusing to us

This is a good and valid question.

And here's the truth.

We don't know that it's the only way.

However, that conversation is 100% completely separate from structural dissociation.

It's so important to remember that structural dissociation is specifically and solely focused on dissociation in response to trauma.

Nothing else. It can't be compared to anything else.

I'm genuinely not sure how to structure this post, so I'm going to talk about a couple different theories/ideas, in no particular order. Give it a chance and read to the end, where we talk about the flip side.

I think we need to first talk about trauma in relation to developmental and neurological disorders.

As a reminder, trauma is not an event, but a reaction to things around you.

For children with things like autism, ADHD, anxiety, OCD, they're not only at a higher risk of being abused and traumatized, but they're more easily traumatized by a wider range of things. They're the populations most prone to pathological dissociation.

Did you daydream a lot as a kid? Does MaDD kind of hit hard? Did teachers and parents get really mad at you for your dissociation?

I hate to tell you this, but there's a high chance you're traumatized.

And the thing with CPTSD, what is essentially a precursor to DID and (largely considered) to be a dissociative disorder, is that it can be so hard to pinpoint where and how it started. It's a lifetime of papercuts vs a car accident. Do you remember every little cut? The cause can seem invisible.

The leading cause of CPTSD is emotional neglect, something even the most well-intentioned parents can do without ever meaning to. It's called the invisible abuse for a reason.

And emotional neglect happens so much easier when your child has additional needs that are commonly missed and not diagnosed until adulthood, long after the crucial period where they needed the most help.

All that said, we need to talk again about how many of those disorders include dissociation already.

Not only is dissociation common, but things like autism are highly recognized to affect a person's sense of self, specifically in childhood, but now you're getting into "chicken and egg" conversations.

In my own opinion, I would think that if autism alone could result in dissociated identities, we would know that by now. I mean, look at BPD, we know what happens with trauma in childhood that doesn't result in DID. There's an incredible amount of discussion about whether certain cases of BPD are actually sister-versions of OSDD (think OSDD-1c, the less defined alters seen in 1a, plus the lack of amnesia seen in 1b).

All THAT said, we're talking about dissociation and trauma.

This doesn't touch on the way people define and interpret their personal experiences. It seems completely plausible that people could simply just be more in tune with aspects of themselves, and view life through a comfortable, happy lens of multiplicity.

The multiple self theory has been around as long as the ToSD.

And that discussion doesn't necessarily need to be separate from dissociation and trauma, but I think for some it just is.

In every sense of the word, it just... is.

It simply is that way for them.

I firmly believe these two concepts would be 100% separate and different (acknowledging that for some, these can and do overlap, but I'm talking about brain scan level differences)

Unfortunately, words are limited, and there's only one perfect word for both experiences.

"System".

I hope this was some food for thought. I encourage people to get involved in the conversation!

[mikuni14]

Takara's Treasure - Ep 4

I admit that I watch Takara's Treasure with morbid fascination 😆 I don't vibe with this romance at all, I watch it like a scientist wondering what will happen and how the show will handle this relationship.

I read with interest the opinions about Taishin from people who explained his behavior and respectfully, but I disagree. (I would like to emphasize the word respectfully just in case 😘). First of all, I fully accept that I may be misreading this character because I may have a completely different background and character than those who understand him. That being said, I think the problem with Taishi lies largely in the script. First of all I think Taishi would be more believable in this story if he were YOUNGER. Second, the script is not consistent in showing his character, because sorry, but either you create a completely clueless person who is clueless about everything, or you make this character innocent, naive, or having difficulty "reading" people and themselves, and it applies to everything. Taishin correctly recognized the threat in the form of his stalker and correctly called for help, just as he correctly recognized the figure on the roof as someone who might want to commit suicide, rather than just standing and gazing at the clouds. Going out involves panic about what to wear, which is 100% just the behavior of an ordinary person. Somehow he got into college, and if I'm not mistaken, in Tokyo (?), so I assume he's a good student, which means he must have had some education. At the same time, the series portrays him as someone who is so clueless that someone else has to silence him so he doesn't sound "weird" (???), someone who has been still wondering about the concept of people being attracted to someone of the same sex, and is completely unable to connect the dots between how he panicked when someone invaded his space and him invading someone else's space by rummaging through their bag (edit: I forgot the most important thing, which is him interpretating of his feelings towards Takara, which the series shows as both comedic and romantic). For me it just doesn't add up.

We've already had characters in BLs who are clueless, uninterested in love, characters who are just figuring out what's happening to them, what this new feeling, new state, new reactions of their bodies are - including people in college. But these characters were consistent, their behavior was logical, and above all, it didn't make them stupid and problematic at times (I feel like if Taishin was not a sweet uke, but a macho guy, and Takara was a cute, petite girl, the reaction to him , his stalking behavior and "weirdness" would certainly be different). Ae from LBC analyzed his new feelings, consulted with his friend, Chu Sang Wu from Semantic Error had a whole meltdown because of his new, unknown feelings, Mork from My Ride was also confused about his feelings for a guy, in many other series the characters were surprised with their often new, anxiety-provoking, unknown feelings, they panicked, analyzed them, discussed them. But in each of these cases everything was logical. And series still can keep as much as possible that the characters are clueless and "do not fit into generally accepted norms" (that's why so many viewers identified with Ae - many called him our demi king ^^ and Chu Sang Wu as a neurodivergent character, or with Mork and him discovering his bisexuality as a grown man).

tl;dr imho Taishin should be clueless in all social situations, not just the select ones that fit the script. And he really should stop his stalking, strange actions and rummaging through people's things (and.. it's actually getting worse! and it's presented as funny, cute and romantic!). There are limits, and quite often legal limits to finding out something about your crush (in Chery Magic, Adachi/Achi had no idea that he was someone's object of affection and that that person knew almost everything about him, because his boundaries and right to privacy were never violated). Sorry to all Taishin fans but for me what Taishi does and what he says is not romantic or cute in any way 🤷‍♀️

[cardboardheartss]

omg since leaks are going around about huh yunjin possibly being on jhope's special album are the rumors true and if so what was the behind for this collaboration?

like how do they both feel about this exchange because personally im SUPER stoked

J-Hope x Yunjin Collaboration?

⚠️DISCLAIMER! TAROT CARDS ARE NOT 100% ACCURATE! TAKE EVERYTHING WITH A GRAIN OF SALT! IF MY INTERPRETATIONS ARE INCORRECT FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME!⚠️

⚠️ this reading was so difficult to read on… the energies were really blocked and guarded. yunjin did not want to respond and I literally had to ask soooo many times for her thoughts… hopefully the song will be loved because all these cards and energies are something else…🤷🏽‍♀️⚠️

Will they collab : The Emperor

Yes

Yunjins thoughts : The Hierophant rx, World, 5oC, 10oC rx, 2oS rx & AoC rx

Well…Yunjin firstly Yunjin is happy about the collaboration. She believes it will boost her career and popularity internationally. She thinks the sound feels brand new and fresh, and is a completely different sound that she’s not used to. She believes that new horizons are coming soon but she could also be quite scared and worried about the publics opininon on the song.

She believes this song would lead to fan wars and disharmony amongst the fandoms, and just overall disapprovement from fans. Yunjin will try to block out the negativity and probably avoid her phone, just to avoid seeing all the comments. Yunjin will feel really emotionally overwhelmed and really upset to be honest.

J-Hopes thoughts : 7oP, KNoS rx, QoP, AoS rx, 9oW rx

Well J-Hope on the other hand will feel quite confident about this. He thinks that the song is really good and that him and yunjins hard work really paid off. J-Hope could also think that the song will lead to spiteful and unnecessary arguments on social media, and just everything will be a mess to be honest.

Apart from this for now, he really did want Yunjin to be in the song, he thinks she’s really talented who’s really career oriented and is also well established! (he seems to be a fan of LSFM to be honest lol)

Once again, J-Hope thinks there will be a ton of judgements towards the song. He could probably feel really powerless to be honest, and if the reaction to the songs ends up turning out negatively, I don’t think there will be collabs anymore…☹️

Publics thoughts : AoW, PoP, 8oC rx, 9oW rx, 5oS, 8oS and Wheel of Fortune rx

Well… on the positive note. People like you anon, are all looking forward to fhe collab and are literally just over the moon lol! Everyone feels really confident about this! The public believes that the song will be a success and a good listen.

But unfortunately… the public who are fans of the two idols will not share their honest opinions on the song and not share their thoughts. They’ll think the song is not good enough?! They could thinks it’s a flop or the disliked song on the album?

On the other hand… people who really like the song will have to be HIGHLY defensive, they will be fighting tooth and nail to prove to people that the song is actually good.

As per usual! There will be fan wars for DAYSSS! People attacking each other for hours, bullying, disagreements, arguments. And to be honest, this all stems from jealousy and selfishness.

I believe Yunjin and J-Hope and probably the whole company and groups are the 8oS, they will feel really insecure. A lot of worry, anxiety and just feeling trapped overall.

They could be terrified of having to speak up about because they are aware of the mess it could create.

Unfortunately the WoF rx shows to prove that this will be quite unlucky toward the general public and artists themselves. This whole discourse will probably never be forgotten to be honest, because the fan wars that are going to happen…😬

And I really hope that won’t happen because yea… it’s not a good thing for one (Yunjin) to experience for collaborating with one of the idols who inspired her to be who she is today.

[penultimate-step]

Oshi no Ko 144 Reaction

After the big climax of last chapter, jumping straight into a more everyday, less tense situation is a bit jarring. I know this was done intentionally, I can see what they're trying to do here, but the part of my brain that craves the short term rush, the part of me that is desperate for answers and for the twins to actually start talking amongst themselves more and finally got a taste of it last chap is hungry....I know it needs to be pushed off for pacing reasons. I Know. But it does hurt a bit. Reading serially published works is hard.

Anyway. So the big theme of the movie arc is taking a look at how people are viewed in the eyes of others, right? That's why we have this whole setup of a movie within a manga - Ai's life, her real thoughts and personality, cannot be recovered. Even we, the semi-omniscient audience, aren't actually getting real flashbacks at her life, but rather her life filtered through the extremely biased eyes of Aqua (and Gotanda) with edits for marketability made by people who never knew her, like Abiko and Yoriko. This movie is likely going to become the definitive version of Ai for the general public, millions of people who never spoke to her at all - to those with no connection to someone beyond knowing their image, the constructed self is all that exists. The fact that this arc is the backdrop that we place Ruby's infatuation with Gorou is fairly intentional, I think, and if I wasn't 100% confident in that before than I absolutely am after last chap.

Which leads us into 144 - right after we had the dramatic chapter in which Ruby talks about how she views Gorou to Aqua himself, telling him that she sees him as a fan sees an idol, we cut directly to how Gorou is being portrayed in the movie. Melt and Ruby are both constructing images of of Gorou, but for very different purposes - while she cares for him and wants to idolize him, Melt is aware he never knew him, and is coming up with his interpretation solely for work purposes. This is the direct contrast being explored in this chapter - the different ways of seeing someone's image.

Ruby gets upset when what she sees as Gorou's charm points are not being fully expressed, that the movie's view of him won't match hers. Gorou needs to be painted in the best possible light, so that everybody else will share her image of him.

This is very amusing to me, considering that Gorou himself, as Aqua, couldn't even match up to her image of Gorou before she was outright told that it was him, but let's put a pin on that for now.

Melt, on the other hand, has no personal or emotional attachment here. He isn't trying to glorify Gorou, nor slander him, nor even really get to know him. For him, The Doctor is a role, a story, a character.

This is why he refers to the pin as a "character symbol," while he is doing his best to get a feel for Gorou thirdhand, his priority is not the man, but the role. He papers over gaps in his knowledge with story tropes, things that would work best for the narrative of the movie. From the perspective of an actor, this is probably the correct way to go about things. Abiko and Yoriko are probably satisfied with his interpretation of the role. But for Ruby, who has a personal investment, his image is not the same as her image.

(as an unrelated side note, this bit was funny. I can't believe they're having an adaptation vs source material debate about RPF of Aqua of all people.)

Ruby comes around to Melt not because of any change in him or his acting, or because she approves of his interpretation of Gorou, but because he starts talking about her:

Ruby accepts Melt's interpretation because so long as it maintains the connection between them, this is the most important element for her; she is satisfied. Her opinion of Melt then does a 180, just as her opinion of Aqua did in chapter 123.

This is where I will uncork the pin from before and say - one thing that I am kind of unsure about is what Ruby's image of Gorou actually is, at this point. Usually she seems to see him wholly positively, dissociating all of her criticisms about his behavior from the image she is idolizing. But last chap she started talking about his flaws, so she clearly knows at least some of them...but here she's right back to talking about his radiant inner strength. Leaves me a bit uncertain where she stands. However, I'm not the only one - I think she herself doesn't fully understand her own image of Gorou right now, to be honest.

Also, side note: the way Melt's "Gorou" act in this chap parallels Aqua's own in 143 was super cute.

But after thinking about that for a bit, I realized that it's deeper than a cute shot. while the movie arc has been giving more focus on Ruby's view of people than Aqua's, there's the interesting side note simmering in the background that Aqua, too, has a constructed image of Gorou at this point - even if he actually IS him, it's been over 20 years since he's been Sarina's doctor. Ruby, Melt, and Aqua all have very different ideas of who Gorou was - and none of them match the man himself.

I don't have very much to say about the last third of the chapter tbh. The supernatural elements of this story very much confuse me, I am not sure where they are going or what it's doing and don't feel confident speculating anything. Crow Girl is a cool character and I want to see more of her, but I suspect I'll appreciate her a lot more if I reread the series once it's done and we actually know what her deal is.

Overall, solid chapter, I think does a good bit to contrast and deepen our understanding of Ruby's views, and even if part of me really wants them to narrow in the focus on the twins a bit more after last time, I am content to let Aka keep cooking.

[ikamigami]

I'M BACK

I realized that I wasn't in the wrong for being concerned. Being concerned is never a wrong thing. Yeah, you can go a wrong way about it. But I realized another thing. I never sent anything to VAs specifically and like Davis said himself that he rarely interacts with fandom.

I never pushed down their throats any of my theories and headcanons or whatever you like to call it - just my interpretation of a character, my opinion on this.. I never pushed this on anyone.

Even if they portrayed me with Miku in that ill-fated episode.. it says more about VAs than me. And seeing people's reactions - that there are people who defend this monstrosity of addressing the fandom.. it says more about those people than me.. or any person who has a right to relate to Sun and his mental issues or any person who has a right to be concerned about Sun - none of us were in the wrong here.

We have a right to have different opinions and we definitely have a right to be concerned about our favourite character and we most definitely have a right to relate to Sun and his mental issues.

People are obnoxious about their opinions and hcs etc all the damn time.. so surely I CAN BE OBNOXIOUS ABOUT MY OPINIONS JUST AS MUCH AS EVERYONE ELSE.

If you feel offended then block me. I always say that because this is what the block button is all about - to block those who I don't want to see.

Also if VAs can be obnoxious about things in the show - even though it'd be better if they just made the story more clear - I can 100% be obnoxious as well.

I'm feeling better thanks to everyone's support here and irl 💗

Thank you so much for everything ^^ I love you all/platonically 💗🫂

You can prepare because I decided that I'll make post about that damn episode - I mean that I'll theorize if I think that Sun is lying or not because I CAN.

SCREW IT! NO ONE CAN SAY HOW I SHOULD FEEL ABOUT SOMETHING. HOW I SHOULD THINK ABOUT SOMETHING. NO ONE CAN SAY IF I CAN OR CANNOT BE WORRIED.

Because if you think you can push down my throat your obnoxious narration just because you simply was unable to tell your story coherently in the first place then I have only one thing to say to you - GTFO!!! AND YOU CAN KISS MY ASS!!! 😘

LOVE AND PISSEACE TO EVERYONE!!! 💗

[spicybylerpolls]

I know this blog has died down a bit but there's been some "leaks" (take it with a grain of salt) regarding spicybyler. Apparently Mike wants to take his relationship with El "to the next level."

I see some people saying if the leak were true, it would be a horrible idea. Of course these are people who are viewing the show through a sex-less lens (which, honestly, is so so intriguing to me. because many of them primarily stan the show for this exact thing: sexuality.)

But I was wondering what you all thought about this "leak"?

Personally, I think it's positive (for byler). In my opinion, the Duffers have already set this up through visual metaphors in S4. (I could talk about this further but it's regarding the hose gate scene.)

Mike may want to "take this next step" but he's not going to have a positive reaction and he's not going to like it. This is my interpretation: he's going to be forcing himself to conform even further until ultimately he can no longer deny the truth.

A lot of people think the Duffers are "simply not going to have enough time" to focus on a scene like this in the midst of everything else going on. But I just don't think they're viewing the show from the right lens. This is exactly what they have time for.

Will is a central character in S5. Mike is going to be right there beside him most of the time as we already know based just on their filming schedules and production. Will's arc is going to heavily revolve around his sexuality. Yes, there will be time for other things too, but the main focus is undoubtedly going to be about his sexuality (because it will be intertwined with the supernatural storyline). This means Mike is going to be involved in this storyline too!!!! Obviously!!!

And since he is, they're 100% going to have to explain his side of things. Why he's behaved the way he has. Why he said certain things to Will. What better way to do that than Mike forcing himself to conform to the ultimate standard (in this context) and ultimately failing or disliking it?

This would *show* the audience exactly what they need to know without having to explicitly state it. Honestly, if anything this saves time. It's a perfect and easy way to show that Mike is gay without having to rehash moments from the past in his perspective in a long, boring storyline (because we've already seen those moments.) Rehashing the past means conversation means longer scenes.

The best and quickest way to show Mike is gay is to just put him in a sexual situation with a girl lol.

The audience would be like:

"Oh, cool, they're going to have sex and essentially come of age.... But wait ... Why is Mike... having trouble? Why does Mike look dissatisfied?"

Cut to a scene of Will, sad and lonely.

"OH............."

Please note that the purpose of this blog is not to be creepy or to make anyone uncomfortable. That's why I created the #spicy byler tag (I will tag all polls with this). If you don't want to see this blog or anything related to it on your feed, please block that tag. Not everyone is comfortable with this sorta stuff, and that's okay.