#this is strictly about his character
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made a little analysis thread on twitter and thought I’d share it here too if that’s chill ^_^
anyways traffic!impulse using self destruction and the destruction of others as a way to cope with his own frustration and resentment throughout the life series: a messy ramble-y post because I’m crazy.
most of this behavior really only starts after third life. his destructive behavior before then is usually outward and not with malicious intent. instead, he hurt others in third life because he was asked to. it was a part of a greater plan he was undoubtably loyal to and that would later get him killed and tarnish his reputation for seasons to come.
that’s why in last life, he’s much more open to antagonistic behavior (which he barely partook in before and only would if asked of). this mostly includes all the stealing he did that season, the numerous break ins, and of course, spawning the wither. this could also include his personal insistence on becoming the boogeyman and even planning it out in advance (which would later get him killed, his own hubris). he was itching for it to be his turn.
it’s such a huge shift from how he acted in third life, and why? personally, I think it’s because of all the strain and pressure put on him by others and their disdain towards him. specifically the rumors spread about him and the reluctance of others to believe and trust him after what he’d done the season prior. which for some people is justified, like ren and etho, but for others, like bdubs, is not. and this was shown to upset impulse a lot, given how it resulted in him being thrown under the bus, even by his own teammates.
but he’s supposed to be nice and considerate and smart to make up for all he’s done, right? that’s why he sticks with his alliance the whole time and makes a point to be loyal to them and them only. but that doesn’t stop the resentment and anger boiling, and he can only take so much before he has to let off some steam, and destructive behavior seems to be a means to do so.
it turns from him doing bad things because he’s asked to to him doing it because he wants to, to cope. which is why when all else fails and the southlands fall apart, despite him taking the measures to prevent it earlier on, he helps grian spawn the wither, even with the risks and deaths. and he insists on doing it at best’s base, because they ruined him. it gets him killed. he should’ve been smarter.
it gets worse in double life, specifically when homewrecking is proposed. while he’s not the one to bring it up or start the rumors, he soon grows comfortable enough to start talking smack himself. him and bdubs deliberately try to ruin the relationships of others, and they tell themselves it’s to steal away half of each pair for their own benefit, but maybe there’s more to it. maybe they ARE projecting, just like joel had said.
it doesn’t help that impulse is having his soulbound questioned and bdubs “needs” a clock and the horns won’t shut up. when they’re exposed, he takes his destruction to the deep dark. he throws snowballs, he spooks unsuspecting people, he yells into the dark when he finds out his voice can trigger the sensors. throughout the season, he makes multiple efforts to cause distress in the deep dark, malicious intent or not. and maybe it’s to cope with the fact that bdubs keeps sending him down there or etho won’t stop yapping about how bdubs doesn’t want him or how bdubs put a major target on their backs.
and this is when self destructive behavior really starts, too. impulse gives away valuable resources when he realistically could’ve not, he takes risks he absolutely doesn’t have to take (despite how much he values his and, by extension, bdubs’s life), when he’s linked to the fishing rod sequence of death, all he says to bdubs is that it was fun while it lasted. and then he loses their first life trying to get a music disc.
whether he means to or not, he’s slowly killing himself and his soulmate, too. and eventually, by the time he’s red, he just gives in. he starts blowing horn (surely there’s some symbolism there), he terrorizes those better off than him, he wants to cause problems. yet there’s always still some humanity in him that shines through, regardless of his destructive ways of coping.
but this isn’t about that. before the final fight, he even grabs the golden apple him and bdubs had been stashing away, saying if they can’t win, no one can. he would’ve ate it. he should’ve ate it. yet he didn’t, and he died by bdubs’s hand again. more resentment grows.
by limited life, it’s obvious he’s open to dabbling into more chaotic pastimes. bdubs’s ignorance and unwillingness to see his flaws and apologize only fuels the fire. when he’s chosen as the boogeyman, he has a time with it. but he still has the mind to know not to hurt his team, even refusing to use skizz’s accidental death to cleanse himself. but he bombs bread bridge freely, somehow even getting tango and skizz to help him. it’s almost concerning how much fun he has with it.
then of course there’s the complete destruction of bread bridge, which he happily takes part in. and tango’s boogey kill on bdubs, in which he lures bdubs to his demise (something he had been itching to do for seasons). he amasses a huge kill count over the season, his first time murdering anyone since third life.
most of his behavior this season turns more outward, and he grows more keen on sustaining himself the more faith his team puts in him. he is also shown to hold other alliances much less dear than ties, even if they benefit him. this results in the betrayal of many, most notably mean gills in the finale. he fights like hell, he gets his final revenge on bdubs and ends his season, and yet it still isn’t enough.
he begs martyn to kill him, because he’s alone, and he’s scared, and he did all he was asked to do. but they keep him around, despite his pleas. he’s given the illusion of free will, a chance to win, to be given a fair fight. martyn slaughters him in cold blood. a cruel betrayal.
secret life feels like a reset, and most scores are settled, and secret tasks heavily dictate how the sessions go. he isn’t given the chance to cause mass destruction like he could the season prior. he’s not sure if he wants to. most of his mistakes are honest, no self destructive or malicious intent, same with his tasks.
he’s with a team he can trust and confide in. they help him. they care about him. his first two deaths are consensual and willing, something’s he’s never known. the season is rough, but he’s happy. he tries to use his trap as he’s being chased, risky as it was, a final act of stubbornness.
he dies, alone and scared, hearts quivering. nothing’s new. he’ll just have to be ready to cope again tomorrow. get some blood of his hands, whether it’s his enemies or his own.
#this is just my interpretation btw#impulsesv#traffic!impulse#this is strictly about his character#just some analysis#because why not#he does dumb stuff sometimes and I just wanted to give a method to his madness#3rd life#3rd life smp#last life#last life smp#double life#double life smp#limited life#limited life smp#secret life#secret life smp#the life series#life series smp#trafficblr#idk how to tag this#basically just his overarching narrative throughout the series#clock duo#technically#their relationship is mentioned pretty frequently#I wont tag anybody else though#for everyone’s sake#mars insanity#as usual#trying out fun tags
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i wrote a big long essay talking about tlt and how it engages with describing the skintones of brown characters its under a read more bc it is so long.
I already left a long comment about this on someone else post but I wish I could study tazmuirs odd little habit of dancing around the fact that Gideon and Harrow are women of color when she describes them, and how this kind of extends to other brown characters
We get a million descriptions for how sickly pale ianthe Silas and cytherea are, what a lovely golden tan corona has, the odd tannish yellow hue of colum, all imagined by her, in her own words, to be white. Then when it comes to Marta and Judith they're called dark like Once in the text. I don't think it's even mentioned for Jeannemary and magnus in the entirety of gtn though I will gladly stand corrected if I missed something. It's such a non factor for them, which normally I would overlook if it wasn't for the aforementioned specificity of how white characters are described on Top of one of the major themes of the book being how John, a Maori man, resurrected a largely Polynesian population and then proceed to rule them using the exact same methods that actively colonized new zealand. Like I just think it's really interesting that in many ways, the story is about two young Maori women completely stripped of cultural heritage, they can't even speak te reo maori they cannot even conceptualize the scale of that kind of loss. Theyve been to earth once and during her brief time there Gideon literally died on it's soil it feels so poignant
Back to them specifically being Not Pale, this is not me saying they would be "less" maori if they were light-skinned that's total bullshit and the entire paradigm exists as a product of European bullshit. My fascination is more with the fact that tamsyn has clearly thought of them as midtoned to dark skinned. I'm going to be really generous and disregard the Tommy Arnold covers- he is a talented artist but he's not the author and Taz stated in an interview that she didn't envision Gideon with an undercut either so he clearly has little liberties he can take and I'm fine with that get your coin dude. For these two I'm going to have to focus on Nona the Ninth, bc for the entirety of gtn, harrow is described as grey, and while I understand that's bc she's constantly under a mountain of white and black facepaint, we basically never get an objective description for either of them. Gideon stand out features are her build, hair and eyes, like a lot of characters, but it could have been pretty easy to throw in a line about how she seems less desaturated than what one might expect from a ninth cavalier, like a rich warm brown, possibly hinting to other characters that she isn't a ninth native
Htn also gives very little to work with, again harrows primary colors are the blacks whites and greys of facepaint and her hair and the reds of constantly sweating blood. The character who's darker skintone is Most remarked upon (also one of the few ever constantly headcanoned) as black, is g1deon. I've actually spoken to a few people about this and there seems to be some actual Mandela effect shit going on where people remember Taz saying he's black despite me never once finding evidence for this. However, this is not a case where I'd be overjoyed to be proven wrong, because g1deon being the one black guy in this entire cast, the one who's dark skintone is commented on the most, being the guy who barely speaks, tries killing harrow with a spear 14 times and then dies offscreen. Not good. Bad, actually
Finally onto ntn, in the beginning chapters Nona remarks her (harrows) skintone is the color of an egg carton. I assume she means the light tan, desaturated brown of the cardboard used in certain cartons, which is fitting for harrow, girls lived in an ice cave for 17 years. This is basically the only word we get on it. I believe a few times the text will say something about pyrrha's (g1deon's) brown Everything; brown skin, russet brown hair, rich brown eyes. that character gets to be viewed and constantly affirmed as a brown character in teh way gideon and harrow arent, it kind of others pyrrha. to contrast camillas hands are called tanned way at the beginning while recording nona's dream, then at the way end it says, "Her face still looked grey beneath its nice normal olive," olive being used to describe her once before in gtn as far as i can see. pyrrha's (g1deon's) skintone is one of her most notable features, its brought up to a noticeable agree the text wants you to keep it in your mind when you think of the saint of duty; "Most of Pyrrha was the colours of the building site: deep dried-out browns, dusty hunks of clay, rusted metal." "Pyrrha wouldn’t burn any colour other than her deep cool brown." "Nona took the water from Pyrrha’s brown, work-chapped hand and even sipped it" "Pyrrha had carried Camilla to bed in her big brown arms like Cam weighed nothing" "Pyrrha said, “Thanks, Nums,” and drained the whole thing. Nona,fascinated, watched the brown column of her throat move as she swallowed." its just notable to me when alternatively with nona you'll get a line like "Camilla didn’t say anything to that either, only rubbed her wrists where the tape had been. Nona’s skin was already back to its nice normal colour." like just the vagueness in nice normal color, we get one line about what shes supposed to look like in the beginning and thats it
towards the end during the broadcast, nona gets her first clear look at kiriona, described as: "warm-coloured skin that should have been a similar brown hue to Nona’s, except that there was something wrong with it." break out the champagne its official
Obviously, dying takes some color from you. If anything, gideons desaturation should make them More comparable given the egg carton comment and harrows general state of constant anemia. Has Nona gotten darker during her time on new rho? Was Gideon lighter than the cover led us to believe? We don't know. We well never know, which is odd, bc these books fucking love purple prose about people's appearances. We have like seven different synonyms for the shade of ianthes hair. New words for black have to be invented in order to convey harrows eyes which are Black, not the dark muddy brown of someone like ortus. It's less that I'm bothered by the text not hyperfocusing on their skin and more it picking and choosing when it will laser focus on a detail like that, and how often it's skipped over to the point that I like, constantly see people draw harrow as incredibly pale, which is very different from being light-skinned
Finally, I know people can dismiss this as like an audience interpretation thing. I know I actively draw harrow darker than Gideon which I know isn't canon. But this is less about Fandom response to the text and more the text itself and how it's like. Afraid to say brown. near the end of ntn i found One instance of it referring to gideons "slim brown hand" on nonas cheek and that is direct as it gets. even her other like, strongly non european traits are sort of danced around. her nose is "a nose that was the complete opposite of Nona’s nose, one that put her in mind of those big poison desert cats Born in the Morning was crazy about." a very fanciful description, you have to infer that nona means that its probably flat and wide, also giving us the information that harrows is most likely narrow and straight, possibly downturned. im not opposed to this, especially given the character talking about her is nona, but then you get the following paragraph:
"Her skin was very much dead-person skin, ashen and tinted the wrong colour around the nostrils and the mouth. But even if she hadn’t been dead, Nona was critical. Her eyelashes were very dark, but short and curly, whereas Nona thought all eyelashes should be long and straight (her own eyelashes were long and straight). The corpse had too much mouth and a dimple (nobody in her home had a dimple). You could not, at least, see the veins in her eyelids, which were heavy and cold and deep-set. But Nona thought it was going to be a shame to go from being so lovely as she was to being so—redheaded."
its a very frank description. dimple, curly lashes, red head, dead skin, probably a wide mouth. her nose is contrasted against nonas nose, which is also never directly described, and then compared to a fantasy animal we have never heard of until right now
kicks rocks. there isnt a point to this. the series is almost over, there is zero reason to like, knock on taz's door and ask why she did this or that. it doesnt stop me from loving the series, and the insinuation that noticing this means i must dislike the series is frankly insane (real thing that happened). if someone got the impression that harrow was white given how shes described i wouldnt blame them honestly, its most apparent she isnt in the third book (with the cover art being incredibly ambiguous) and a single blog post from taz mentioning shes maori, immediately followed by an "oh i dont care how you see the characters" addendum, which i think is like. an odd thing to tack on bc them descended from kiwis is like, very integral to the story, and gideon being the daughter of the maori man who took everything from her she didnt even know she could have and the (presumably, given her name and a very brief description) maori woman fighting to get that world back its like. damn. it feels a little important. that the audience knows theyre maori. like a little. it feels intertwined with the whole thing about john using european standards of imperialism and general aesthetics to hurt his own kid. actually.
#tlt meta#hi im black but not maori or kiwi so thats where im coming from with all this#i am fully aware some fans of color will disagree with me thats chill this is just where im at#i have never been a fan of being cagey with how a character looks#it feels like. idk kind of leaning into the fact that the audience wants a blank slate to project onto#and with her being So specific about it like this guy is nz chinese these two are tongan these two are mixed maori this guy is pasifika#it just kind of intrigues me like do you have reasons why as to each one specifically or did they jsut kind of. happen upon you#spring up fully formed#this isnt like a 'tlt is bad' 'you should feel bad if you thought this character was white or black' thing#its strictly about how the text communicates certain ideas and how the audience reacts to them#were kind of primed for . a waifish snobby pale aristocrat. ianthe is Right There harrow being white or pale feels like a natural assumptio#but it is. directly contradicted by the text. and done in a way that can be easily ignored
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wanna see a magic trick? 🪄🎩
#YEAYYYY i like drawing this guy#now that i think abt it i cant remember the last time i saw a furry with tattoos.... ive decided not to think too hard about how it would#work but i think i like the idea of him getting playing card tats on his ears would be cool ^_^#apparently anthro species on furth include birds and mammals and i think fish amphibians and reptiles are non anthro#so instead of whipping out doves he would make white butterflies appear out of his hat :o)#its sort of meant to tie in with the ruffles on his shirt resembling a butterfly!!! i thought id make it close to a swallowtail so#that way its easy to see at a glance. i think that would look really cool irl#he looks a lot like joker p5 now that i look at it... it wasnt intentional but the red eyes and black messy hair is obvious huh#oh but the way his hair curls in the front isnt strictly in one direction just so that its easy to draw lol. its meant to curl around his#hat brim a little bc i thought it would look cool#my art#myart#my oc#oc#sleight#laika's comet#laika's comet oc#fan character#furry#furry art#fur
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favourite thing: his new habit of saying uhuh/mhm and also this
#the first time he did it in unmortricken i was like Fuck Yes and little did i know he would just keep doing it the whole time#DESPERATELY hoping they keep both of these things. i Love when characters have tiny little habits sprinkled in their actions#to me these things kinda sorta symbolise him no longer being afraid to really be himself#like he no longer has to hide certain things about himself that inside of the cfc wouldve made him appear ‘suspicious’#since he IS like so much different than any other morty ever#also barely related but like. em is fundamentally such a good character bc everytime we see him he’s feeling something different#in his first appearance he was cold and distant because at the time he was new to being free and was strictly focused on his goal and wasn’#even sure if it would work#in his second appearance he seemed hopeful and honest both of these things just being a trap to get the people of the citadel to trust him#and his old colder self unfurling near the end after he successfully becomes president#in his third appearance he seems giddy almost. he’s constantly giggling before and after sentences and he’s super eager to just Get The Hel#Out. and also to reveal the truth to morty prime. make it so that he doesn’t have to be the one to shoulder everything anymore.#and this fourth appearance. apart from a few little details he really just seems happy and comfortable. the entire episode he was just doin#whatever he wanted and nobody got in his way at all. and i could not be happier#normal about this character!#rick and morty#evil morty#rick and morty spoilers#odiespeak
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I think more people should go back and either replay or rewatch (.... or forbid, play or watch them for the first time) aa1, even if it's literally only case 1
fanon phoenix is so completely disconnected from the actual character that at this point they basically share a wacky hairstyle and a name to me. In the actual games, Phoenix is almost always depicted as the "straight man", even in comparison to Edgeworth: he's somber, dry, sarcastic, and often very tired of shenanigans and bullshit. He's a very ordinary "everyman", and that's like 80% of his appeal to me, tbh. It's not to say that he can't be silly or nonserious, but we have a unique look at the inside of his head and all the things he COULD say, but most likely does not.
He goes on to become a literal world renowned defense attorney, and so many people want to boil him down to a silly stupid little rabbit of a guy when he's anything but
#yes this is about the polls#I guess this particularly irks me because before I replayed the games for the first time in a decade+#I'd fallen for a bit of fanon phoenix as well#and it really surprised me to revisit ace attorney as a fully grown adult (instead of being barely an adult)#and to see how somber and reserved phoenix really is#it's not even strictly a trilogy thing either he acts the same in aa4#if anything his “worst” qualities are amplified and he very frequently goes mask off about being pessimistic and balefully sarcastic#I guess to sum it up#phoenix is an interesting character and it makes me sad to see him reduced to a gag bit that's basically used to prop up other characters#obviously I fully support people playing with interpretations#what is fandom if not to play pretend with our dollies#but I feel like they're really missing out by not paying attention to what actually IS there
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Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple and how “ability users” (opposite to “normal people”) learning to accept themselves through the acceptance of their own abilities is a queer metaphor of acceptance of own's sexual orientation and gender: an essay by me
#bsd#bungou stray dogs#About: Dead Apple. Watched this a while ago with a friend and it was a lot of fun!!!#If you're reading this: thank you so much for hanging out with me I had such a good time (ㅅ´ ˘ )♡#Next to general considerations: wow they were right that Bungou Stray Dogs movie sure can Bungou Stray Dogs#It's always nice to see the detailed animation and elaborate backgrounds of movies. The animation quality compared to the manga is–#definitely noticeable and it's nice to see. That said... I still like the season 2 art style more? And I'm speaking strictly of art style.#The s2 one looks more soft and smooth while the da one is so much more rough.#The plot is... Very bsd-esque I don't think there's anything to add.#In my opinion Kyouka's arc is the one that turned out best tbh. I really like her narrative development and personal growth in this movie.#I like the complexity of her state of mind. how full of contradiction she is. I especially appreciate the recurring small changes of–#expression that indicate how she thinks differently from Atsushi even if she doesn't voice them. The fight between her cynicism and her–#kind nature. It's all very interesting.#Atsushi's development is interesting too. Although all the open questions about his ability we still have kind of leave me frustrated#I don't feel very strongly about Akutagawa in this movie? I mean‚ he's there. The ss/kk scenes are always great and in character and a joy–#to witness no matter what they do. He just doesn't shine particularly? Or at least personally I dont find the “proving my strength against–#myself” narrative arc to be particularly interesting. Imo it was a lot better flashed out in the da stage play! With the complexity that–#the dialogues with Chuuya added to the character. Dazai attacking him. And especially Aktgw understanding that Rashomon wasn't testing Aktg#but rather only expressing that unstoppable rage that is also Aktgw's own. About that I checked out the play and I really liked it!!#I only watched highlights (aka: ss/kk and chuu/aku scenes) but there's some stuff I really like. I like the conflict between Aktgw and–#Chuuya and how Chuuya messes up with Aktgw at first maliciously and then amiably. It's interesting how Atsushi himself observes that Kyouka#and Akutagawa get along. And especially the sskk almost-handholding and Atsushi saying Akutagawa has a nice profile were cute akjdhbsawhjb#Next. Da really is shipping paradise (╥﹏╥) Sorry but... It is. oda/zai. daz/atsu. ss/kk. s/kk. fuku/mori. chuu/aku. It really has everythin#and the moments are so good!!!! What else. Wish we'd see more of Tsujimura. And Christie. And women in general tbh.#Also‚‚‚‚‚ Atsushi's tiger form in this movie is ATROCIOUS. I've said it before but it's crazy how a franchises that relies so heavily on–#fanservice came up with something this hideous. Man the movie overall was pretty but Atsushi sure wasn't. Firmly stand by the belief–#that only Akutagawa would find that form attractive.#Oh last note. honestly if we're ready to accept a movie where an antidote has effect AFTER the person has effectively died then we really–#can't complain about any kind of insanity the manga brings up#random rambles
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holding finn tidestrider in my hands. why are you SUCH a whore.
#i mean i know why (born and raised in a society that enforces strictly monogamous relationships by punishment of death --#--and coming to the surface was really the first opportunity hes ever had to openly explore himself and his sexual/romantic preferences)#but also why have you written and published more than one book on this. what possessed you to do so.#jrwi riptide#jrwi#just roll with it#finn tidestrider#jrwi finn#i love shitposting about finn and then putting my actual character analysis in the tags. its a fun treat for me.
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my glorious dreadhead king ekko, i will die loving you
#absolutely golden. only guy who is strictly morally good#not to say i don't adore morally grey characters they are my goats#but there's something to appreciate about a character who has maintained his sense of justice and his moral compass in times of total chaos#ekko#ekko arcane#absolutely gorgeous#arcane#arcane league of legends#arcane season 2
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I was joking a while back that the actor they have playing KDJ for the orv movie was too handsome for him and a friend who's read orv was like "KDJ is actually secretly attractive!!" And I just felt my soul leave my body right then
SIGHS...
Okay. Buckle in. I'm gonna finally actually address and explain and theorize about this whole...thing.
I'm not gonna cite any exact chapters cause it's like 11:30 and I've got an 8 hour drive in the morning but I'll at least make an approximate reference to where certain things are mentioned. Also, this post is just my personal interpretation for a good bit of it, but it's an interpretation I feel very solid about, so do with that what you will. Moving on to the meat of things:
There is one (1) instance in the web novel that I know of which describes specific features of Kim Dokja (especially ones other people notice). This takes place when members of KimCom are trying to make Kim Dokja presentable to give his speech at the Industrial Complex (after it's been plopped down on Earth). This is when they start really paying attention and focusing on Kim Dokja's appearance since they're putting makeup on him; I still don't think they can interpret his whole face, but they can accurately pick out and retain more features than usual. If I remember correctly they reference him having long eyelashes, smooth skin, and soft hair. These features can be viewed as (stereotypically) attractive.
Certain parts of the fandom have taken this scene and run with it at a very surface level, without realizing (or without acknowledging at the very least) that this scene is not about how Kim Dokja looks. This is, in part, due to not realizing or acknowledging why Kim Dokja's face is "censored" in the first place, and what that censoring actually means. I think it's also possible that some people are assuming the censorship works like a physical phenomena rather than an altered perception.
I'll address that last point first. The censorship of Kim Dokja's features is not something as simple as a physical phenomena. It's not a bar or scribble or mosaic over his face. If that were true it'd be very obvious to anyone looking at him that his face is hidden. But his face is not hidden to people. They can look at him and see a face. If they concentrate on his eyes, they can see where he's looking. They know when he's frowning or grinning. They see a face loud and clear. But what face are they seeing? Because it's not really his, whatever they're seeing.
No one quite agrees on what he really looks like. And if they try and think about what he looks like, they can't recall. Or if they do, it's vague, or different each time. We notice these little details throughout the series. Basically, Kim Dokja's face is cognitively obscured. Something - likely the Fourth Wall, though I can't recall if this is ever stated outright - is interfering with everyone's ability to perceive him properly. This culminated in him feeling off to others; and since they don't even realize this is happening, they surmise that he is "ugly."
Moving on to the other point about what the censorship means: To be blunt, the censorship of his face is an allegory for his disconnect from the "story" (aka: real life, and the real people at his side). The lifting - however slight - of this censorship represents him becoming more and more a part of the "story" (aka: less disconnected from the life he is living and the people at his side). The censorship's existence and lifting can represent other things - like dissociation or depersonalization or, if you want to get really meta, the fact that he is all of our faces at once - but that's how I'd sum up the main premise of it. (The Fourth Wall is a larger part of the dissociation allegory, but that's for another post).
So you see, them noticing his individual features isn't about the features. It's not about the features! It doesn't matter at all which features got listed. Because they could describe any features whatsoever and it would not change the entire point of the scene. Because the point isn't what he looks like. The point is that they can truly and clearly see these features. For the first time. They are seeing parts of him for the first time. Re-read that sentence multiple times, literally and metaphorically. What does it mean to see someone as they are?
This is an extremely significant turning point dressed up as a dress-up scene.
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P.S. / Additionally, I'm of the opinion that Kim Dokja is not handsome, and he is not ugly. He is not pretty, and he is not ghastly. Not attractive, nor unattractive. Kim Dokja isn't any of these things. More importantly, Kim Dokja can't be any of these things. The entire point of Kim Dokja is that you cannot pick him out of a crowd; he is the crowd. He's a reader. He's the reader. Why does he need to be handsome? Why must he be pretty? Why is him being attractive necessary or relevant? He doesn't, he doesn't, it's not. He is someone deeply deeply loved and irreplaceable to those around him, and someone who cannot even begin to recognize or accept that unless it's through a love letter masquerading as a story he can read. He is the crowd, a reader, the reader. He's you, he's me. He's every single one of us.
#orv#orv analysis#orv meta#orv spoilers#beso babbles#inbox#there's also the meta that he is described with these (stereotypically) pretty features as they are about to try and 'sell' him to a crowd#which feels to me like a very pointed way to convey how 'beauty' is commodified. how audiences like 'attractive' characters more#note: made some edits to add in a couple of sentences my brain forgot in the moment so make sure u reblogged those if u do#tag edits for further commentary that isnt strictly relevant to the point i was making:#do i think that this face censorship was executed as well as it could have been? nah.#not that it was like. done Badly. it's followed through to a certain point. its established enough for me to make this post at least.#but i do think it is the one thing in the web novel that SS didn't capitalize on.#like. they still stuck the landing but it was not as picture perfect of an execution as the rest of the metaphorical stuff in orv#also. this (not the face censorship specifically but the 'hes just some guy' point of it all) is one of the big reasons i think that-#-visual adaptions of orv can never quite work. they can do the best that they can with that medium but a lot of nuance is lost-#-simply by virtue of it being a visual medium#i personally think the only way a visual medium could work would be one where they commit to the power move of not showing kdj's face#(until a certain point (of view) that is)#his face is always facing away or out of frame or hidden by someone or something else in the way#commit to the fucking allegory or simply perish
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Reading your post about buggy and shanks. I get a lot but why guy like shanks would care about guy like buggy?
Their interactions in marine ford for me were just nostalgia with using buggy for what he needed. The way he talked about him with white beard also seems just nostalgia vibes. He doesn’t even know if he is a pirate or not.
Shanks seems so much more open to others. He parties with Mihawk. Drinks with Whitebeard. His crew interactions. All of them are much better. More honourable. Have courage.
Let’s be honest, buggy is one of the worst people. He is greedy and selfish af.(( I think it’s good he gets some shit from cross guild) I don’t see any reason other than my childhood was with this guy so I have soft spot but nothing special here.
well, if you don’t like buggy, i can see why you’d have trouble imagining what shanks might see in him.
but one of the worst, really? the guy who lied and stole to get a devil fruit is on the same level as the guy who murdered a decades-long ally for a devil fruit? like, yeah, buggy’s greedy and selfish… he’s a pirate. i know most of our heroes are Good And Noble Pirates, but it’s not strange to see pirates in one piece who have more ordinary motives.
imo buggy’s worst trait is not either greed or selfishness, but his two-facedness. he’s got a very very small number of people he actually feels loyalty towards, and everyone else is one bad situation away from getting metaphorically stabbed in the back. he tells himself it’s their fault for thinking they could trust someone like him—or in the case of his impel down followers, that they admire him so much they’d want to die in his place. sometimes he feels bad about it! (he wouldn’t bother trying to justify his actions to himself otherwise!) but self-preservation is always buggy’s highest priority.
he’s made himself into a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy of untrustworthiness, acting like this… and i find it kind of funny, because buggy takes other people at their word even when they’re obviously manipulating him! a very trusting, very untrustworthy guy. these contradictions are a big part of what i like about buggy as a character.
as for cross guild… i might enjoy the shit buggy gets from them more if it was for anything he did on purpose. like, beat him up for making unilateral one piece-hunting announcements, sure! but he didn’t design that boat. it just feels like punishing him for having followers who buy his hype… who mihawk and crocodile are also taking advantage of, so it’s not like they have any real moral high ground there. they’re just embarrassed to ride on the clown boat.
anyway, you aren’t really asking about buggy’s qualities, you’re asking about shanks’ feelings. and as i’ve mentioned a time or two before, we don’t really have any insight into those in present day! my big shanks/buggy post is about their thoughts and feelings in the past, because those do seem a bit more transparent to me, so i feel more comfortable speaking on them.
but present day shanks…
he says natsukashii when whitebeard brings up buggy, which is usually translated as “nostalgic” or “fondly remembered.” he’s not like buggy, when they parted ways he didn’t linger over any hurt feelings and let them grow bitter. that’s good! that’s healthy behavior! and his knowledge of buggy’s current status is kaze no uwasa de mada kaizoku wo yatteru to kiita, “heard a rumor on the wind [he’s] still being a pirate.” shanks has been on the grand line, in the new world, for years, why would he know anything concrete about a minor east blue pirate? he only learns about luffy’s first east blue bounty because mihawk brings the poster to him; i think we can assume shanks doesn’t have the time to search through newspapers from a distant ocean in the hopes of maybe seeing a one-line reference to an old friend.
i do find it amusing that the verb he uses to describe their separation is also used to mean “break up/divorce” but i’m sure you don’t care about that.
as for being more open with others… it’s not like they reunite under good circumstances. ace and whitebeard have just died, along with who knows how many others; massive bloodshed is only being held off by shanks’ presence and attention. shanks uses buggy to keep his old promise with luffy from being broken because that promise matters to shanks but he cannot afford to put in the time himself, he has to keep the marines from starting shit while they sort through their dead and wounded. it’s not exactly a “let’s get a drink and catch up” moment.
and that’s the only time we’ve seen them interact as adults!
claiming that because shanks wasn’t open with buggy in that moment he would never be open with him in another time and place is an ungenerous interpretation of the character. even if you don’t think the chapter 581 cover is canon, one of the few interests we’ve seen the buggy pirate crew and the red-haired pirate crew have in common is their love for a party. (probably taught to their captains by roger back in the day!) why wouldn’t they hang out and get day drunk if the opportunity presented itself?
and saying “my childhood was with this guy” and “nothing special” in the same sentence cracks me up—it’s not like they were in school together with dozens of other kids! buggy is the only other person who went through that experience. everyone else on the oro jackson was an adult, many of them 20-30 years older than those two. their experience of those events was inherently different. sharing an experience like that with one other person is special, even if that’s all there is between you.
and that’s what your question is ultimately about, right? is that nostalgia for their childhood all that exists between shanks and buggy? i don’t know. i don’t think we’ve seen enough of shanks around buggy in present day—or heard any of shanks’ present day thoughts about buggy—to make a definitive claim one way or another.
sure, on paper buggy seems like the kind of person shanks would look down on at best. but he smiles when buggy chews him out for saying hisashiburi (long time no see/it’s been a while) like he didn’t just lie about having a treasure map for buggy. now, maybe that’s just shanks being amused by a tiny yappy dog who’s no real threat to him. maybe it’s a real, sincere affection for this dumbass who still doesn’t see shanks as a threat. or maybe it’s nostalgia for the dumb fights they used to have as kids, with a hint of disbelief at how little buggy has changed.
even if it is, i don’t think that’s all their relationship has to be. an old fond feeling is a fine place to start from, to build something new—if that’s what they both want.
#tos answers#not sure what kind of response you’re expecting from me#a person who’s been answering asks about this relationship for weeks now in a strictly positive light#but i never know what people who dislike character a get out of talking to a/b shippers#anyway! so what if it IS just nostalgia!#my childhood friends aren’t lesser to me just because we haven’t stayed close all our lives!#there’s nothing stopping us from becoming close again but our own desire to do so!#translation nitty gritty#(just a bit in the middle there)#one piece#shuggy#buggy#shanks#my meta#—buggy makes bad choices#—people being mean to buggy#—shanks hides his feelings
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CAUSE THIS IS THRILLER (bark), THRILLER (bark) NIGHT
Usopp's outfit is so funny for reals
He got the whole squad laughing
Luffy enablers at it again.... (Robin.... I know.....)
The humor panels so far have been so good!!! God this arc is so funny
HE SAID IT‼️‼️
They look like birds 😭😭
It's just too good... luffy taking cerberus and zombies what can't he do
It's just banger after banger what can I say
Franky feeling for other people because of his guilt complex and sanji lying through his teeth and pulling out the women excuse to seem unaffected... yeah
Look at them.... look how they ate
Omg joyboy reference?? (No)
Sanji is rubbing off on usopp.... also chopper noticing that is sogeking's weapon akdhaksjak
ANOTHER SLAY!!!!!
Their priorities: I'm not strong enough, there isn't enough food, and nami isn't here
Franky going from wanting to kill brook for his jokes to making a joke like his after he hears his backstory... exactly (Robin was already enabling him before the backstory even fdagjsfha)
Sanji is altering his body and actually being on fire to communicate to us how fucking mad he is..... I need more of him going insane I do I do
My god what is he doing ALDJALAJALA
AHSAHAHQHAH THEY ARE THE SAME!!! naaah sanji wouldn't force a woman to be his wife
You cant see me but I am nodding my head in agreement over and over
You don't understand he altered his body to communicate to us how mad he is. He inploded himself and then reconstituted again. Those germa 66 genes are insane
You tell em usopp!!!! The first of many girls you've scared into defeat!!! Akdjqknql
Zoro zombie regressed to not trusting robin akdjaks he's still in there
ROBI-CHO SUPLEX??? HELL YEAAAAAH
There is zosa- [GUNSHOT GUNSHOT GUNSHOT GUNSHOT]
Super frapper gong.... he is doing combo shots with frobin... omg.... parents....
Everything is so fun I'm having such a good time reading.... and then zosan angst like damn I am being fed well here
#in the anime the guys didn't say they wanted to die aldjlajala for the kids luffy just wants to turn into a clam#thriller bark is so funny.... 'worst arc' my ass.... it's funny as hell and then we get zosan angst. best thing ever#same with skypiea but there we got really nice relationships betwen characters and nolan x calgara homoeroticism for the ages#and LORE for the ages. not like the kuma incident won't be talked about in the history books but yeah#everyone calling absalom perv salom... yeah#sanji in that fucking penguin never gets old.... also HELLO LOLA#moira fought against kaido and lost akdjsksnks is that why he became a warlord? just like whitebeard defeated crocodile?? out of spite??#also what is the land of ice where moira got oars? he also mentioned it before too... i thot he was referring to ryuma so it was wano but n#the legend of the continent puller who built a nation of villains.... okay okay oars....#oars was killed 500 years ago.... ✍️✍️ this somehow feels important bc of its closeness to the void century etc#zombie luffy oars wanting sanjis food.... 🚬🚬🚬 of course.....#oars luffy maintaining his dream... yeah yeah. also namis outfits for this arc are so sickening.... i miss them already#the zombie generals being at absalom's wedding... thats so funny..#luffy oars is so funny aldjslsn just making himself a hat and steering his giant ship... of course#you guys think they are going to make sanji mad about the clear clear fruit in the opla or completely ignore it bc his reasoning is bad#like it makes sense with the wci backstory it does but that would be spoilers lmao. so its either he wants to peep on women or nothing#i love the greek chorus of the two zombies telling the audience how they are both as bad in that regard. amazing#did ryuma use french for his attack.... there is zosan everywhere for tho-[GUNSHOTS]#zombie ryuma's design is also cool as hell.... his blood is literally fire.... come on now....#also zoro says he wants to act like this fight didnt happen... is that why he says fuck all in wano to hiyori? damn. he said i put shame#in you and your country but i will keep it quiet bc you gave me a cool sword and fight and i am actually so honorable. thats him yeah...#zombie zoro and sanji remaining tfait being that they hate (love fighting) each other... there is zosa-[GUNSHOT GUNSHOT GUNSHOT]#i forgot how much oars destroyed them... after enies lobby they seem untouchable but without their captain there... the gears are turning..#also btw i cannot believe im gonna get an answer about why the skypieans and the shandians have wings. thats insane#i am enjoying luffy oars so much it is so fun. trying to enjoy it bc i know i won't be laughing anymore once sabaody kicks in.... fuck me..#usopp and franky wanting to wait for luffy to beat oars down but zoro and sanji know... and they will KNOW soon enough....#i forgor kuma asked about ace to nami... what is going on. kuma coming from the warlord meeting too.... did he want to warn him??#he wanted to inform moria about balckbeard becoming a warlord omg here we go.... also moria being racist towards kuma hello???#and he strictly follows the government.... until here bc he lets luffy go.... christ.... he asks about ace bc he knew what blackbeard did..#reading one piece
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hey does it ever make you kind of crazy that post-reunion, c!owen introduces himself to us as owen agarci? agarci as in the name of the demon he shot in the chest during his trial? we know that's not c!owen's real last name -- he tells us so right then and there -- but i think it matters that of the last names he could have chosen for his lie, he took this one. his last name might have been the only thing he still carried with him of his family, of his past before the attack, and he refuses to use it or admit to it.
because it is an introduction, y'know? his narration, after the reunion, is a way of remaking himself in our eyes -- he is not the person we thought he was, so he needs to introduce himself again. and here, the thing he claims as his originating point, as the moment from his past he wants to carry around with him in something so fundamental as his name, is the moment he first killed a demon. this is the most important piece of his past. this, he is telling us, is where he comes from.
i think a lot about how we never actually see owen's parents. i don't even think we get their names? we get their voices in flashbacks over shots of empty fields and unpopulated streets. there is a kind of blankness to owen's past, or to what owen will reveal to us of his past, that forces us to take on faith that he is telling the truth when he talks about his own history. there is no one who could say otherwise; all the people who might have known him before he was a soldier and then a general are almost certainly dead.
it grants owen a fascinating degree of control over his own history. of course he can remake himself in this way, of course he can tell any story he wants of himself in this way; there's no one left to dispute his claims. in a way, he is his own origin -- as he tells us the story of his life, he is also creating that story. he came out of those woods with nothing but a bow on his back, no history, no one still living who could call to him by name. whatever life he lived before that point doesn't matter -- the thing that fundamentally made him the person who walked into town and demanded to join the army wasn't the life he lived with his parents, it was the violence he'd been exposed to and the violence he'd discovered himself willing and able to engage in. or so his story goes.
do you think when he woke up at the bottom of that elevator, memories wiped, nothing left to him of his past, there was some strange sense that he had done this before? do you think he rose up toward the light of the clearing above, empty-handed and alive, his entire life before this point a history waiting for him to tell it, and wondered why it felt familiar?
or maybe it's that he's refusing us. because following his turn during reunion, there's almost a sense that he has tighter control of the camera now. he addresses his 'voices' nearly antagonistically, wishing we/they would go away, responding and talking to us/them in a way that feels harsher than how he's addressed chat in the past. he's frustrated with us/them: why are you still here, i thought i was done with you. he accuses us/them of only pretending to care, of lingering not so much out of concern or any desire to do something as out of some morbid curiosity. there's a degree of access to him that we seem to have lost. it's as if he's finally certain that there is an audience, and what he's willing to show us shifts.
there's something really lovely and horrifying about a lot of the more scripted sections of owen's pov after the reunion. how it shows us things only he knows (the knife in his hotbar for much of his dinner conversation with guts, the beat where he grabs his backpack and reaches for a weapon when it seems like ayngel is about to recognize him, the interaction with puddy in the second clearing when he visits with krow), but we are nevertheless shut out of his interiority as he starts talking less to others, starts favouring third-person camera shots and narration where he gets to step out of the moment and talk to us directly. you can even think about the 'scripted by owengejuicetv' segments after each kill as signalling this: he has such visible direct control of the story we get to know now. he is the one who gets to tell this story, who gets to move the pieces on the board. here's what happened, he says to us. this is how it went. this is what i do and who i am and here are the parts that mattered. do you ever think about how rasbi's ending wasn't streamed from her pov? do you ever think about how the only witnesses to rasbi's death were rasbi herself, and owen?
#sparrowsong#outsiders smp#i'm aware i'm being inconsistent about using c!owen vs owen with no indicators attached#i am mostly talking about the character throughout but#the realm of 'discussing the strictly fictional' and the realm of 'discussing the creator's storytelling choices' are... blurred.#in this particular case.#and there's also some interesting accidental resonances in how cc!owen is so careful about archiving his stuff and#has such a comprehensive edited playlist for his pov because it means he also just has a ton of#unintentional narrative control just in general?#owen's stuff is easy to find and watch#if he says something and everyone acts like it's true it may as well be true. what are the odds you'll ever see the vod that contradicts it#you know?#anyway i had to get this post out of my system; sorry about the derangements
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"IDW Megatron got a redemption arc and Starscream didn't it's so unfair--"
Do not slander Metalhawk, Bumblebee, and Windblade's hard work trying to fix this man they didn't work for half the continuity (and in 2/3 of their cases) literally die and come back as zombies/ghosts for y'all to be out there saying no one helped Starscream get redeemed and have friends and be a better person
#squiggposting#i'm so fucking confused why people keep saying this honestly#'M got a redemption so why can't SS' HE LITERALLY DID LIKE HE LITERALLY DID#this was the subject of most of his character development in exrid/op and wb/taao did you just not see it?#i don't get it bc like. even if you try to argue that M got to have friends and validation and shit. so did SS#SS lost his power and then died saving the world at the end#M also lost all his power and prestige and then went to his execution at the end#STRICTLY IN TERMS OF IDW1 they literally both got redeemed idk why ppl are piss fighting about this#and i would expect ppl who are SS fans to like. BE AWARE OF all the story content he got in idw1#mscott clearly liked SS based on how she made him so sympathetic (even dealing with his M related trauma!)#barber said via word of god once that SS is his favorite decepticon#you literally can't even claim that the writers were just biased against him#i dont get it. like of all ppl to know all of SS's lore i would expect SS fans to be the one to know it#is it bc their hateboner for mscott and non-reading of barber is just that strong? i dont get it
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Overheard someone saying T*re Liy* is the best author in my country and subsequently took psychic damage
#okay so im def not judging anyone who likes his writing#i liked his older writing!#i like his current writing worse bcs i think the guy is starting to burn out BUT that is strictly my personal opinion#to say that he is the best in this area tho??? deadass????? NO#his writing style is stiff and more tell than show. actually. it's mostly tell than show#his dialogue is .... well ... this one is a matter of taste but god his characters cannot just say things normally cant they#his romances dont feel like romance too lets be real for a sec here#like okay if you will be adamant about it alright fine. but maybe try other authors like dee lestari or ziggy z first#sure theyre both flawed too but at least i dont feel like im being seen as third grader when i read their things#luca rambles#random thoughts#vent post
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I love explaining gay people to my dad without explaining gay people to my dad
#i was telling him about the significance of the song titles#without telling him that they're queercoding#like i just said that one of them hints to a part of a character#and i said something about the same song playing during a scene with two people that are just friends and very strictly just friends and#also playing during a scene with a guy and his girlfriend (and the guy clearly doesnt love his girlfriend)#PLEASEEE THIS IS SO RISKY#byler#< target audience
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lowkey annoying how the same people who say “wesker would not say he loves you” and accuse people who say that of making wesker ooc are the same people who genuinely think he’d kill you for interacting with him, which is also ooc
#like shut up shut up shut up y’all only like him cause he’s hot and you have no actually regard for his character#y’all r so annoying thinking in his general life he’d be genuinely disgusted at a normal human interaction#no he wouldn’t kill you the second he saw you he’s not an impulsive person#y’all only think that because he’s weird as fuck in re5 and you base all your opinions on him strictly on that game#did you forget the part where he literally fucked some girl from edonia ??? and had a partnership with her ???#people who genuinely think he acts like his re5 self in his general life do not know his charcater at all#and it’s so genuinely frustrating to see him so out of character in that way#also people wanting wesker to comfort them does not mean they think he’s a soft little baby man#it’s called having a comfort character#of course the character is gonna be softer#people who go ‘he wouldn’t comfort you he’d kill you in a second’ are the most insufferable people#shut up and let people have a comfort character#i could rant for hours about how wesker is perceived so wrongly by other wesker fans#well.. THOSE wesker fans that r annoying asf#oh lawd#(they just think he’s hot and have only seen him in re5)#daily reminder wesker would not kill you the second you spoke to him 👍#he prob doesn’t know you he has 0 incentive to kill you#like why is he being characterized like a sensitive angry man#why would i ever want to associate wesker with a real man#no thank you
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