#this isnt a completely serious analysis

[vivitalks]

i can't stop thinking about lydia's role in the nightmare-ception nightmare stiles has at the very beginning of season 3b. it's fair to assume that the nogitsune is, on some level, pulling the strings on this matryoshka of a dreamscape, possibly because it doesn't yet have the strength to control stiles while he's awake, but even if it's not the nogitsune, lydia's presence and behavior make no sense.

she's in the part of stiles's dream where he thinks he's awake, and other than wish fulfillment, there's no real reason why she would be there. and while she seems like just another part of the dream - manifested by stiles's subconscious - the way she acts suggests more than that. her presence is the first thing to tip stiles off that something is wrong. he thinks he's awake, but if he's awake, then why is lydia in his bed? maybe lydia was not, actually, supposed to be part of this dream at all.

the moment stiles realizes this, his door creaks open, distracting him from lydia and drawing his attention to the door - specifically, the idea that someone could "get in" if the door is open. if we run with the likely theory that the nogitsune has already entered stiles's mind by this point, then this is stiles's subconscious understanding to a certain degree that he could be in danger, but not yet aware that he already is.

but lydia knows. from the second stiles moves toward the door, lydia does her best to persuade him not to. first she tries to dismiss it ("just go back to sleep", "don't worry about it") and then to challenge his reasoning ("what if someone comes in?" "like who?") but by the time he's reaching for the door, lydia is full-on begging. she's panicking. she knows that (1) stiles isn't going to close the door, but walk through it and (2) there is something through the door that is incredibly dangerous.

and i keep wondering: if the nogitsune was already there, and on some level, however small, controlling the dream, then why the hell was lydia there? her entire role was to counteract the nightmare. she did everything she could to prevent stiles from opening that door. how did the nogitsune benefit from that?

now. i know this is a far-fetched theory. but hear me out: the lydia in stiles's dream was the real lydia. stiles and lydia were in the same dream - they just didn't know it.

essentially what i'm saying is lydia "dreamwalked" into stiles's mind without meaning to. i know there is no canon basis for this being a thing that can happen, but play in the space with me for a minute:

lydia is specifically singled out for her clairvoyant ability to predict danger and death, though it is often presented to her in an abstract fashion

she has been known to sometimes have these visions while she's asleep

there is a door open in stiles's mind, meaning theoretically anything with the capacity to enter a mind could enter stiles's mind, whether intentional or not (and we know that at this point, lydia lacks the ability to control her powers)

there is a connection between stiles and lydia - a tether - that linked them in a supernatural capacity at least once before (with the ice baths)

given the other supernatural concessions of the show, it's not that much of a stretch to propose that lydia could have unwittingly entered stiles's dream, perceived it as her own, picked up on the threat to stiles, and been inclined to protect him from it, without knowing exactly what "it" was.

and before you say "banshees can only predict death, not any danger," that has generally held true for lydia...but with one notable exception, which happens later on in this season: she finds nogitsune!stiles unconscious in the parking garage, after the nogitsune slices his stomach open. he's not dead, and we know he's not dying because deaton says he seems to be healing. something about the connection that exists between lydia and stiles enables her to predict any kind of threat to him, not just the imminently fatal kind.

so: stiles has a nightmare where lydia is inexplicably there, the only part of the nightmare that isn't nightmarish. and at the same time, lydia has a dream that has all the makings of a banshee vision, and responds accordingly: by trying her best to protect her friend, pleading with him not to go near the door, because she can tell there's something bad behind the door. they had the same dream. they were both there. lydia, somehow, entered through the same open door the nogitsune used to get into stiles's mind, and, thinking the stiles in her dream was a premonition of danger coming to him, did her level best to keep him safe, unaware that this was the real stiles, and the danger was already here.

[istherewifiinhell]

IS FLYING GENDERED?

On the masculine default, typifying gender in genre, and women as the other in the transformers cartoons.

question for the ages

once again i said back in the halcyon days of watching g1 (aka 5 months ago) i was like. Nooooo, decepticon is NOT a gender that's Silly. It's funny, but as a Read Of The Text, I thought it largely unneeded. (The concept came about, as a joke, involving dismissing the bad guys using the same language you would abt women (sexistly) that they're emotional [heh, flighty], vain, and shrill) after all. If in the 80s era there are 5 whole named/speaking woman tfs, its only ever gonna get better from here right? (<- booboo the fool)

anyway

Let's consider the axiom that the assumed default gender is male, that maleness is often seen as LACK of gender, and femaleness and gender variance are the PRESENCE of gender. In certain reasoning and worldviews, of course (See Androcentrism). Then add that, for transformers, the assumed default thing a transformer turns into, is car. (Autocentrism, if you will)

(The most general term for what a tf turns into is "Alt mode" as some of them are not vehicles at all. The other mode is "Robot Mode", whether its humanoid or not)

So I will be laying out why I believe the cartoon iterations support: non standard alt modes = non standard genders. This is in spite of the fact that FIRST lady tfs were all cars. Sleek cyber cars, but still. For whatever reason, (possibly, the reason for everything in tf, toys) they might as well not exist for how woman tf characters presence in the cartoons progressed over time.

And, to be clear, this is a reading of how these works of fiction are created, not a new unified bioessentialism but for robots aliens I'm proposing for like. In universe lore reasons. I hate that idea.

That said, alt modes in order of most to least gender: Spider, motorcycle, flying (in general, with rotors, jets), tank, and then FINALLY, car. (water and space crafts are already too marginal to rank, but they too can be assumed in relation to default maleness, AND that in making one a woman, would still qualify as othering her).

The NUMBER one reason for this is the bizarre need to have an ESTABLISHED woman tf character before making new ones. AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE. With a g1 gender ratio something like.... (counting even the most marginal cases for the ladies) 9:120? (That's a rough count from a quick scanning of the tf wiki g1 char list) Shits dire out here.

The second is, ofc, character design based. cis people [stand in phrase for the hegemonic world view] are not okay, and their opinions about how tf gender must need be depicted visually is. uh? Im not a fan. Size and shape dimorphism in general is a given, and specifically having women tfs as far more humanoid and curvy in specific. Also general cartoon lady face syndrome but, whatever. I think there's exactly one character here who doesn't have "lips" or "lipstick" as a distinguishing factor. I'm so tired.

Third is generally, the idea of The Girl Of the Team. When there's The Girl, she often isn't JUST a normal character, who happens to be a girl. See, of course, the Smurtfette Principle. But in my view there's also a trend to give The Girl "special traits" on top of "Girl", maybe even to directly combat the idea that the Girl Character has no other traits? To stop this from being a General Primer on Woman in Media, my explanatory focus is things specific to the tf franchise.

(A phrase I use for thinking about normative modes [in general, not just the Alt ones] in within the tf universe is "unique transformerdom" or, even more clunkily, "A transformer of unique transformerdom". The excessive verbosity is amusing to me personally. All I mean by it is to have an umbrella term for any of the ways tfs can be made unique from their peers in the non allegorical realities of the fiction).

I could, and do, and greatly want to, speak about this AT LENGTH. But it keeps spiraling away from me. So I'll say for now were looking at ways a character is being depicted different from her peers, not because she is the only woman (which she likely is), but cause she's a different kind of transformer, AND if she's othered for it.

(IN SOME forms of the lore. Being a transformer woman, IS A UNIQUE KIND of transformer unto itself. Let's just say I hate it and move on)

Fourth, is the gender of villainy. There is much to be said about gender presentation of villains, the ways they are allowed to be aberrant. We will get to it. There is also all the tropes specific TO evil women, and the modes of villainy open TO female characters. But a general thing I think impacting the gender ratios of the factions is the how "Good" and "Evil" female characters are written. I'll generalize and call this the "Damsel vs Temptress" dichotomy. (See concepts like the Madonna-whore complex). Transformers, is by and large, an action franchise. Unless special reasons are made, characters who can impact the action– have more screen time, and likely more memorable, and iconic presences. A villainous woman can be unchaste, violent, aggressive. While a heroic woman, even if not a literal damsel are more likely to be in a support role. The secretaries of the action genre: medics and techs.

(Another factor is that tfs are giant robots, and the good guys are often friends with tiny squishy little humans. These make very good damsel fodder, and can be taking up the spots on the roster that might, in a different franchise, go to women. Additionally, while woman characters in transformers overall is an interesting topic. When I say tf women, I'm referring to ones that are in fictionally, transformers.)

SO, now understanding our points of attack/obstacles for getting woman into transformers. (Getting established, gendering the designed, uniqueness of existence, and general villainy). Lets go over those alt modes, and the characters that have em, in more detail.

Spiders

The "Beast Era" (1996) intro-ed the spider ofc. And what don't we have with this one. She's a villain, but shes also misunderstood, the era and design style let to these more organic shapes. And they used them to make sure she was very sexy. She's genre aware, she's quippy, she's an absolute icon. So naturally. She gets ported to other later shows. Which means we just have sexy spider ladies running around when everyone else is a fucking truck and shit.

Her own origin is, well think of her as a "Bride of Frankenstein" to the resident evil scientist, also a spider. She was designed for, and manipulated by him in multiple ways. Her protoform (A blank robot base), was supposed to be one of the good guys (a Maximal), but was reprogrammed into a bad guy (Predacon). Even then, she eventually joins them, for her own reasons. She's not even the first predacon to do so, the difference? Well the characters are a lot more NORMAL about his autonomy. Both of these characters stress that being a predacon is an identity they still see as important. But only the woman is told that really, she is was was always MEANT to be a maximal. And while that's true in a sense. There's also a plot were she's forced (by plot contrivance, not the other maximals) to get corrective robot surgery for it. And when they think she died from, everyone's more sad for her boyfriend than for her. Ouch.

The second spider, in the 2007 show, is now one in a world where she is the only "techno-organic" transformer, hence, she is spider, everyone else is a vehicle. Similar to the first, her narrative is very gendered, but less in the way were, like, I do literally think the first was was experiencing in universe sexism from other characters. Here, they really focus on the "techno vs organic" narrative, and the tragic circumstances on how that happened. In this case its just real world sexist writing.

THIRD SPIDER, (2010), instead of misunderstood and tragic evil, this ones just super mega likes to cause pain evil. She also occupies a strange place between the typic vehicular tfs, and the insecticons. This is because she has a helicopter alt mode, and her robot mode is just, a lady with spider characteristics. And, more than just a passing bug like similarity, she has the power to control the insecticons (you know, cause evil woman mind control). However, she doesn't fit in with them either, as the insecticons are at the most insect like they've ever been, in look, living in hives and that most don't even speak.

They may vary in exact character, relationship to the story's moral conflict, and design. But they stay comfortably established, dimorphised, flirty and flirting with villainy. And bonus points, always, for black widow spider trope.

SO. SPIDERS. Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: ✅️ (Extremely!) Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ Villainy: ✅️

Motorcycles

Tooooo my knowledge the first bike lady was in 2004, and fairly minor, in the actual plot, but rest assured, they did go the previously established woman route, by being pink, though, which one shes named after varies by language. But neither were previously motorcycles. (And yes, there is also this problem of mixing together or swapping out one woman tf for another. As if we have the ladies to spare). Even though motorcycle men also exist, this one just stuck for a bit. Maybe something to do with Those Movies. I think the Gendered Existence of a motorcycle is pretty evident though, general sex appeal, being smaller, the mode of riding a motorcycle is different, more physical and intimate. Mainly this ranks so high for the level of grossness they can pack in. Just how objectifying it can be, particularly with two instances where the human rider is an annoying teen boy. Naturally, I've also never seen a male and female motorcycle in the same room, but the approach to design tends to be different. And yeah most of em are Arcee, who's first alt mode was cyber car, but it's not just her.

Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: ✅️ Unique: ✅️ Othered: Depends on iteration, I do NOT like the way one gets called "tough, for a two wheeler". Villainy: ❌(they wouldn't need to be motorcycles if they weren't making them the Special Girl Autobot, after all)

Flying

General: It just tends to stick out when your one girl is only flyer in the group, even she's otherwise tactfully done. Only flyer of the Maximals, a falcon, only flyer of the dinobots, a Pteranodon.

Rotors

I can barely even figure this one. Maybe it's just a general, aesthetics and use case of the actually vehicles, the associations? None of these ladies (and special case) are very connected otherwise. As previously mentioned, the spider helicopter. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A big one for this is the preschool demo shows, which are rescue team focused. In the first one the only woman on the human response worker team pairs with the helicopter, they mention she does medical at times. The helicopter is male, like the other tfs. But also he's afraid of flying, and while not the first case of a flyer with a fear of heights, their personalities are, pretty different. As he's both fearful AND effeminate, fine as character traits go but, with the tone of humour used, marks him as Other.

In the second, Whirl (pointing to icon) becomes a girl for the first time, now with standard humanized face. I assume as move to keep with the previous show of having a girl one, as there's no human team mates. She's also the only one who really likes rescue school. Aaaand that's all know of her. What more do you want from me.

Helicopters: Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ (milder than some)

But why'd I call this section rotors instead of helicopters? That would be because one of the latest Sole Female TF we just put in everything™ is a VTOL jet with rotors. She'll tend to be the only jet of her type, which is also smaller than the type of jet used for the villains.

And, of course, aside from alt mode, the thing that makes her stand out most in the cartoons? That she's very clearly a comics character. (I find the emphasize that she's "fan created" over done, as it only controlled minor aspects, and irrelevant cause tfs get completely overhauled in new versions all the time). From her design, which is a bit busier than most characters she stars with. And also uses Japanese aesthetic signifiers in ways that I think are a bit misappropriated and untactful. (VERY USamerican comics). Also, when she stars next to a guy, also from comics employing Japanese aesthetic, you can tell its not deployed in the same manner. (E.I she has hair and makeup, he has armor). Either way, her depictions have her either as badass sword lady on mission from god who's constantly getting hit on by an annoying guy. Or have her be from a different planet and has special telepathy.

Do we see how both her gender AND the cultural signifiers are having affects here? That the main woman tf in a series can be a literal alien even among our alien robots, with cultural signifiers they don't have?

Ratings Established: ✅️ (made the comics to cartoon jump) Gendered designs: ✅️ Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ (SO SO EXTREMELY, using methods in fiction and real life)

Jets

I think my association of jets with tf gender is stronger, than some of the above examples, even if there's less reason to it. And why is that? Well, lets get socratic. Here's another question.

Is This All Starscream's Fault?

No. He's not real, he can't do things. But. His legacy as THE main stay transformers character that gets to subvert gender? Yeah. (Sure, the G1 autobots have their own effete, but he's not in every single cartoon they ever made now is he? Plus now that I think about it, he is a FLYING car...)

From the get, he's not a Man's man. He's shrill, he's manipulative and duplicitous, petty and emotional, cowardly and wheedling. He is, of course, the Perfect character. Now naturally, the 80s cartoon was not concerned with your paltry logics. Starscream and his ilk are the jets, but every decepticon can fly. The gun, the cassette player, the camera, the cassettes.

And each to a last, more masculine than he is. Vocally or behaviorally, physically. Every one of them fit the gender expectations more than he does. Even being a small time grunt, is a masculine trait, after all, more so than unchecked ambition. So its not femininity from flying, from jets. But direct relationship, reference, and descendancy from Starscream that makes it. I've yet to see female versions of Jet fire and or the aerialbots, for example.

So what to do when an effeminate male villain was less maltese falcon and more that man has effeminate hips? Well. We had to start getting his ass for being effeminate, explicitly. They made the female clone of him, which yeah, is an offensive joke stemming from the various The Gender Anxieties. (Transmisogyny, homophobia and sexism. General relation toxic masculinity. A heady mix of all and more).

But I mean. It's free girl tf... Once given a name in extra canon materials, she start's showing up in other things. Once you're in books, video games, comics, and most importantly, toys, you're real. And then eventually, her first non clone appearance in a cartoon, and how her presence shaped it.

That being, Cyberverse. Which is a cgi show, you need to know this for reasons of production. Making new models is expensive. This has always been the reason you just make recolours of Starscream and name them different things. Chicken or egg on this one, I don't know, But because CV has Slipstream, and the only difference between her and the generic "male" decepticon jet, is a more feminine face; Suddenly, any random decepticon goon can be a woman.

An absolutely revolutionary take for striving to populate a fictional world with gender parity. By at large it also means they're way more lady villains, and specifically flying model of villain. The show has other woman, but none who get the same androgynous body mold treatment.

Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: Mildly to NO. Unique: By design, no. Othered: Yes for the clone, and Screamer himself, I suppose. No, otherwise. Villainy: ✅️(That's, the whole idea)

Tanks

It needs to be said. Sometimes, when doing things that transgress a norm, anteing up is less subversive. This is another reason why gender variance, female agency and overt sexuality are more common traits of villains. When already defying strictures of society. What's one more.

That's Right. TANKS ARE THE BUTCH WOMAN OF TRANSFORMERS.

Alright. Let me back up. Strika is the stone cold knock out undefeated champ of lady tf designs that, actually has a reoccurring cartoon presence. She is, admittedly, only a reoccurring to minor character.

Her introduction is in another show with techno-organics, this one involved in the struggle between well, the techno and the organic. Strika as we see her, and as the design that will go on to be iterated, is not in her normal transformer body. She has been transferred into a 'vehicon' body. Without a preexisting essence contained in one, vehicons are not considered alive, in the way a transformer is. Visually, they lack the more human body plan, a standard face, feet and hand like appendages.

To further contrast Strika against the two techno-organic woman. Both of them are tall, and slender. Their softer organic shapes designed towards elegance or beauty, whatever your subjective opinion of that result might be. They both have romance subplots too. By the way. Or honestly one subplot and one main plot. Strika. In contrast. Is built like a brick shit house. Her face is. Minimal. And her goal: protecting her planet... by terminating the heroes.

Now, existing as a character that can be referenced for other media, and given the detail that she was a "Famous general", it's off to the races. She makes a wonderful big tank menace that can fill out a background shot, too.

Without her I hardly think we could have Clobber, also from CV. Who is. The true goat. The finest thing, the achievements of all we could ever hope for. A big fuck off woman, gender swapped from a previous male design with minimal faff, with now even more personality and show presence. Friends, wants, desires. Emotions. Thank God for Clobber, Thank Clobber for Clobber. Thank Randolph Heard and Mae Catt for Clobber.

Established: Depends if you want to count that Strika had so much swag they kept drawing/modeling her Gendered designs: FUCK NO Unique: ✅️ Othered: only originally Villainy: ✅️

Cars

So now you have the final piece of the puzzle. In transformers, Autobots are Cars. Yes, there are plenty of autobots that are NOT cars, and there are cars that are not Autobots. But they're exceptions, they're aberrances. They're unique. And Autobots are the norm. They oppose the Decepticons. Decepticons are Villains. And Decepticons can fly. Modal simplified binaries and false dichotomy abound!

And the thing about those original Autobot woman, the one's who largely did not influence all of this? They were cars, it's true, but not like how the men where cars. They've not been designed from transforming car toys, with a shellac of humanoid gender over top. Their designed in the way of human gender. With the car on top.

When the preexisting clause leads to the original designs to be revisited, which, has largely only happened in more recent years. They aren't car woman robots. The cars are literally not part of their bodies, they are additional. Instead of a unifying identity of a robot who is a car, its Arcee and her backpack. Parts of cars get grafted onto their petite lady bodies, and placed anywhere out of the way.

In order to make a transformer a woman, they have to give her a gender, not understanding that that's always been the case. And to give her a woman's gender, she's got to LOOK like a woman, not a transformer. And to look like a woman, she's got to act like a woman. She must be heroic but reactive instead of active, or else, villainous, conniving and or self centered. To be a woman, we must have some other previous woman to explain her presence, or else explain it anew with her unique, strange, or exotic origin. How could she ever be a woman if she simply, existed, looked average, talked average. How could she be a woman if her body is hunks of ungendered car. How can she be a woman if she's everything we expect a transformer to be.

A woman is transgressive, a woman is not normal. Autobots are normal. Autobots are heros. Autobots are men. And Autobots do not fly.

[twipsai]

ive been wanting to do something like this for a while, so here we go

Silver's straightforward attitude and anxieties: a poorly formatted analysis

Silver's anxiety is something i havent seen talked about a lot, and im really just barely going beneath the surface here -- i hope i did it justice in anyway sfdkSKHJFDSKFH i think about his obvious anxiety disorder a lot

transcript of all the text i added under the cut incase its hard to read for some ppl ^_^

image 1 (source: IDW #8): "isnt really used to banter, got worried he actually offended Sonic"

"he worries a lot about not being useful, because thats pretty much his entire purpose in life. if hes not doing something, he will find something to do (badly) or panic. he gets nervous at the slightest insinuation that he mightve messed up because the last thing he ever wants to do is get in anyones way."

"for how powerful he is and how much shit he talks, Silver doesnt really think very good about himself or his own worth."

image 2 (source: Sonic Universe #82): "its hard to say anything here that i havent already said, its just another example os Silver having issues with his self wroth, and also a lot of his motivation coming from protecting the people he loves (and, more generally, protecting the world), considering a page after this he gets up and completely wrecks the Second Devourer"

image 3 (source: IDW #8): "Silver will take pretty much anything literally. he lacks the social skills to identify when someones being serious bc he grew up completely alone"

image 4 (source: IDW #14): "he cant lie (is both bad at it, and it really just doesnt cross his mind to do so), but he can change the subject"

"he also really doesnt like it when people are worried about him -- almost every time people show concern for him, he tries (and fails) to lie or change the subject"

image 5 (source: IDW #14): "he didnt see anything suspicious about [Starline giving the "vault code"] because he doesnt usually assume people lie directly to him, its just not something that usually crosses his mind"

image 6 (source: IDW #60, TSR interview): "Silver's rudeness, his naivete, misunderstanding of jokes/quips/banter, inability to lie, it all stems from his straightforwardness. its simple, but but oftentimes effective (yes i chose a bad page to showcase when it works, ignore that)"

"Silver doesnt like to beat around the bush or show off too often. go in, defeat the bad guys, get out. it ties in with his anxiety of the future -- time is always of the essence"

"Q: What are some of your favorite items to use during the race?

Silver: [...]but the Jade Wisps' "Ghost" is the only one I like. I can disappear and focus on the race."

"it does make him forget to stratagize and cooperate with his friends sometimes, though, when his first instinct is "hit it until it stops moving""

image 7 (source: Sonic Rivals 2): "im not really going over his bluntness in this, but literally the entirety of Rivals 2 covers that. he doesnt think to hide what hes doing because he knows hes in the right, so he just expects everyone else to know that. he expects people to believe him just because hes telling the truth. he doesnt see why he would have a reason to lie, so he never thinks to justify his actions."

"a lot of this bluntness is also shown in IDW #64 -- Silver cant be stealthy and observe someone from afar to save his life when he knows hes right about them. he really takes no time to explain that Duo is Mimic before Whisper steps in and attacks Mimic, even though if he took the time to talk through what happened, he probably couldve convinced Lanolin of Duo's true nature"

image 8 (source: IDW annual 2022): "Silver has pretty much zero idea how to navigate the world outside of helping other people and saving the world. he is almost constantly in "survival mode" and doesnt know how to handle low-stakes"

"(he sometimes takes casual conversation too seriously because of this)"

"he is constantly worried about the future. to an almost unhealthy degree sometimes, its often all he thinks about. when he knows exactly what to do, he comes off as confident and powerful, but when he doesnt know what to do..."

"...he completely spirals. to him, an uncertain future is worse than a doomed one. not knowing how to fix things is one of the most terrifying thoughts to him."

"if Espio hadn't been here to calm him down, i think its super likely he'd have had an anxiety attack."

image 9 (source: Sonic Generations, IDW #64, Team Sonic Racing, Sonic Universe #79): "like, i truly cannot emphasize enough how he cannot relax. anything can be a threat, and if he doesnt see an immediate one, he will find something that is one. "

"he can rarely calm down, because every second hes in the past is another second he should be saving the future"

"i cant properly showcase it here, but if you run past him in Gens, he'll immediately be on-guard."

"he has to always be looking for the next world-destroying foe, it's pretty much his default setting."

"there are tons more examples of his overt anxiety, but these are some of the more prominant examples."

image 9 (source: Archie Sonic #235): "we even see in the traitor arc in archie how Silver is constantly paranoid. the idea never crosses his mind that there is no traitor, because something is always wrong. hes like a machine built to find a problem with no off switch"

"almost anything can set him off and make him untrusting of anyone, because thats the only way he knows how to live. anything can be a threat in his eyes, and when there is no threat, he will either find one or panic that he cant find one."

"because when you spend your entire life fighting,"

"how else are you supposed to live?"

[superm4ks]

max released his very own verstappie all-time win list, i must get your analysis 🔎

Omfg tastyyy ok heres Max's picks for his top 10 wins according to his latest red bulletin and transcribed by the awesome @tyrannosaurus-maxy , lets check if they feature in the verstappie rewatch

spain, 2016 ✅ mexico, 2018 ❌ ((analysis: a classic maxiel shootout that I wud have included if not for format limits and my pick of china, 2017. although very cunty of him to pick this as a crucial victory in his career, because it was a proper 'u wont win while I'm here' send off.)) austria, 2019 ✅ germany, 2019 ❌ ((analysis: ok I get it because that race was like .. netflix's drive to survive live action so to come out of it p1 is a classic max slay. also rip Hockenheim shout out to a real 1 u put the fear of god in those men fr)) 20th anniversary, 2020✅ france, 2021 ❌ ((analysis: entire 2021 season shud be its own verstappie rewatch lets keep it FRESH and TRUTHFUL howevr. I did go wid Emilia Romagna for my pick of the first wins because of what it represented ..dramaturgically. Like imagine the existential horror of knowing Verstappen has the car to challenge u in a classic f1 track on pure pace. Horrifying. But France did start to chip away at the 'average qualifier' myth in the culture and it did show rbr were willing to go freak for freak to dethrone Lewis. Looking back to it , it IS a champion drive from Max at such an early stage of his maiden wdc run, so makes sense it felt like that to him too.)) COTA, 2021 ✅, Spa, 2022 ✅ miami, 2023 ✅ , japan, 2023✅ 

Veredict: verstappie seal of approval. Some new insight particularly into COTA, 2021 which answered a few questions I had about the Silverstone crash and its consequences. Idk if yall ever saw pics of Max's lid after the crash, but the paint on the left side was completely scrapped off. Obvi we knew it the hit was serious enough from his radio, the general state of his car, how he looked climbing out of it, but I truly never expected him to share the full extent of the concussion. This isnt like the cramp or the like the bird he hit that one time, concussions are scary and uncomfortable and we still learning how to deal wid them in sport. Its an ongoing debate between medical responsibility and individual choice and that demands sensitivity and care and often lacks both. Because this time it involves Max and he didnt die, it now invites the worst people in the world to be purposely nasty and disingenuous in their interpretation of what he shared. But I think its important he told us. He shud not have to hide how much a crash like that impacted him, his title run, and what it meant to come out the other side a champion. I always said COTA 2021 is when he went from lil bro to big bro and now I'm sure he feels the same.

[sukunasweetheart]

Thoughts and analysis + rambling on sukuna's character! JJK anime AND manga spoilers below. Pls read with compassion, im not great at articulating my complicated thoughts 🙏

When sukuna told jogo that he shouldve just burned down everything he desired to without worrying abt identity or the future, sukuna was most likely referring to himself,, thats probably how he became so strong

Gege outright said in the official fanbook that its questionable whether the people around him ever considered sukuna human and that he himself most likely didn't think so either. He was nicknamed the king of curses before he even became a cursed object, so sukuna really didnt give a damn abt what he was, or whatever nickname he was given and he just kept doing what he was doing

And he's never referred to himself as the king of curses, it was always the people around him or the literal narrator! Even the famous quote "throughout the heavens and the earth, he alone is the honoured one" was said by the narrator, or by nanami in the season one anime. Not once has sukuna needed to introduce himself to someone, they already knew who he was and/or there was really no need to, since he was going to kill them anyway.

The idea of cannibalism isnt a big deal at all to him, its kind of like a complete and final line where he really crosses over into the non-human area, he literally views everyone else around him as something akin to either a thing to toy around with or to eat.

And this involvement of "cannibalism" is actually very interesting to me, because if he doesnt consider himself human, and other people didn't believe so either, is it really cannibalism? Gege seems to blur these kinds of lines with sukuna so incredibly! Sukuna is always drafting between human and nonhuman, life and death, the honoured one and the disgraced one. He's like everything all at once.

Though his trueform may have extra limbs and mouth, in my opinion he still looks and functions mostly like a human... yet theres also many moments where we realise that he really is far away from the rest of the cast, both in strength and thought.

To show evidence of sukuna drifting between life and death, I'd like to mention how he has spoken soul-to-soul with characters right before their death TWICE now, first being jogo and the other being kashimo... this isnt a coincidence! How was he able to do this? We have no clue, perhaps jogo + kashimo were only hallucinating or maybe sukuna really is able to have a lil chat with someone right before they die like some grim reaper 😭

I think this is what makes him a really poetic character, the way speaks is one thing, but to watch him really reach out and have a conversation with his opponent while they are in a very vulnerable state makes him really like a otherworldly figure (even though he slaughters them right atfter).

He's not a human yet he is still capable of understanding the desires that humans have, and their goals.

I believe sukuna is a really complex and flexible character, I've never really seen someone be so many things at once. He can be serious, strict, playful, goofy, evil with only the tiniest hints of compassion and many more...

[melissa-titanium]

uh violence ask game

12

ok . ok. i'm gonna talk about my two current faves right now because imFucking deranged

khan. im so serious .he is so fucking interesting i honest to god havent rewatched md in a hot second but if you think about his concepts & how he acts in ep 7 AND HONESTLY EVERY SINGLE EPISODE THAT HE'S IN . he's just. hes just so interesting??? i don't see people talking about him alot for reasons that are totally justifiable but just once i wish to see character analysis that isnt about n or uzi..

i want to know about his dynamic with nori. i want to watch his descent into depression (?) after she died & i really, REALLY want to see his redemption. because he does care. everyone is capable of change, and even if he's had a few hiccups in his appearances in the show, i really think he can improve. he DOES care. even if he's forgotten how to show it. i find the conflict between him and uzi very interesting esp involving n. because i think he understands n's a good friend for uzi but there's that innate fear he's immortalized in his brain after having to put down his wife who was attacked by the very creature uzi's new friend is.

the guy's clearly traumatized. he lost his wife, he's emotionally distanced from his child, he's clearly poured himself into his work. and this is from the . like. ten minutes of screentime he's gotten. like COME ON. even if you have no interest in him you have to admit there's a lot there to unpack. even if you have no interest in HIM, you have to admit it's fucking hilarious that his pringles logo ass pulled NORI of all drones. come on. i'm also very curious because he seemed to be a drone that came from before the core collapsed... assuming he and nori were similar ages, he must have had personal run ins with humans. i wonder what that was like

i can completely understand where people are coming from when they say they dislike him because he reminds them of their dad. but i guess i have a different opinion on him cause of how My dad was? i don't know i don't want to get super personal about fictional robots but to put it bluntly i don't have a relationship with him. a lot of factors in my life that weren't directly his fault lead him to being pretty absent in my life and i guess i connect alot to khan because i kind of. wish. he w as . my dad ? i dont know. khan is like an exact parallel of my dad if he Cared. so like. yes :) i have a weird affinity for khan haha. mr uzi!

ok. mob psycho. other than my absolute faves who are hilarious & underrated , inukawa, goda, mezato and TOME <3333 ... my absolute fave has to be tsubomi motherfucking takane. i have not read the reigen spinoff, but i'm REALLY fucking hoping we get to see more of her in the spinoff. because. she's so interesting. she's so fucking interesting.

the entire series presents her as this unobtainable thing of goodness, the end-all of mob's goals. this is ESPECIALLY emphasized in the show which makes her (in the words of ONE i think) more heroic in appearance... and by that i mean they gave her yaoiful eyes. like they made her really pretty in the show to emphasize how mob's looking at her through rose tinted glasses, which is such a cool detail because as the story progresses we see her with her original comic design as mob realizes she's just a person like him! she's literally the driving force of the entire narrative, but barely gets ANY screentime... in the moments we do see of her, she shows a lot of interesting traits. but BESIDES her interactions with mob, there's so much more i find interesting about her. i've only been into mp100 for a month and ive only watched it maybe 6 times so please forgive me if my information is skewed.

in the divine tree arc... dimple points out how she's very openly honest about her wants and is not afraid to deny someone, no matter how forceful. she's literally the only fucking person next to teru who was described as being able to withstand the mind control. not even fucking reigen could.

she rejects a shit ton of people in one of the arcs i can't remember. but literally the fact that someone asks her "why :(?!" when she rejects them and she's like. oh do you really want to know? and goes out of her way to ROAST THE FUCK out of this random ass guy.

in the confession arc, mezato talks to mob about the things she's learned about tsubomi (which is gay as hell btw. i know she's a reporter but god damn) about the fact that she appears to feel strongly about maintaining her image. she's very polite upfront with friends she talks with, but when she's alone/away from other people seems to drop that facade into something more disinterested/distant... which sort of tracks, considering a lot of people only want to connect with her because of her looks/the popularity she can give them by interacting with them. that gets exhausting, i can sympathize lol. she also seems to have trouble trusting others / feels like she's constantly got to be on guard. maybe her place in the school's hierarchy is really the only thing she has? i don't know, but her reaction to literally. sneezing in front of other people was so overblown it really seemed she thought her life would be ruined if her friends saw her needing a tissue which is so interesting to me.

EVEN RITSU DESCRIBES HOW DISINTERESTED SHE SEEMED IN OTHER PEOPLE when she left them playing hide & seek as a kid LOL. like she's in her own little world. my takeaway from her scenes is that she's constantly keeping everyone else at arm's length because she doesn't trust anyone. to her, everyone just wants to get close to her because they want the positives coming from being near her, not because they want to get to know her. everyone seems to know her behind her mask... which i know i said i wouldn't compare her to mob (and i'm not! i just find this comparison interesting, she's incredible on her own) but they have this in common from my understanding. mob has also hidden himself away from the world via insane suppression & masking because he had an experience that taught him that expressing himself was dangerous. tsubomi hides herself away from the world with masking I Think because she believes it's dangerous/can cause unnecessary grief to get close to other people because they'll always fuck with her in the end (hence the fucking. sneezing scene IDK WHAT TO CALL THAT SCENE HAHA)

so like. mob's infatuation with her is like him grasping at a life that's out of his reach... when in reality, she's not on a higher level than him -- she's just like him. i don't know i'm thinking about this now. okay. i really like tsubomi.

[anonymous-eggy]

your leander analysis was soooo spot on !! it's the first one that made sense to me !! i was always like ?? why would he try to mess with you ?? it just didn't make sense to me ?? you're so big brain

exactlyyyy!

i think my point didnt really get across because i said it in a very dramatic manner, but the point is there.

at the end of the day, Leander wants to manipulate you into trusting him. for what reason? we don't know yet. To take down the senobium? for selfish reasons? both?

no matter the reason, he's cunning and manipulative. he's not prone to outbursts and immediate revenge from what we've seen in the demo. he didn't become the trusted and adored leader of a huge gang by having childish outbursts and taking his frustration out on others for not trusting him or not wanting to be around him. he's like a wolf. he will play the long game if he really has to. if it becomes a game of stamina, he'll keep chasing you until you dont want to or cant run anywhere but into his arms. into his maw of fangs that he's conditioned you to believe is home so he can finally snap his jaw shut on you.

He is the safehouse, the leader. everyone follows him eventually. he just likes to make you feel like it was your choice all along and not something he was steering you towards since the very beginning.

this is literally what makes him such an attractive character. we know in the back of our minds (whether or not we realize it) that this is what he's doing. its so bad, but it so good at the same time. he has secrets and depth to his character and we want to know them.

honestly, if anything, he grabbed mc's hand when they choose to hesitate out of desperation to prove he can handle it and gain that huge leap of trust in Mc.

which caused mc a moment of panic and surprise, thus causing their curse to flare up. the same way i assume mhin's curse would flare up to protect them. this flare up was more than what leander had planned for, so he has a moment where he has to bat away the curse with whatever stupid powerful magic he's gotten ahold of.

once again, he wants you to trust him. this is obviously a bad situation where there's only two believable and sucky ways to play it off. the truth, or a prank. so he has to pick the lesser of two bad choices and play it off like he was just messing around. like it was just jokes and everything was fine all along!!! i think theres a small crack in his facade when he says something along the lines of Mc's curse being some serious stuff he's never seen before. this is a true statement buried in false ones. its easy to breeze over. he's successfully fooled you and won if he can get you to believe he was genuinely just fucking with you.

but yeah, sure Mc could have gotten pissed with him, but isnt a moment of Mc being pissed at a joke better than them not trusting him with their curse? the trust broken from a prank is MUCH easier to repair than trust broken from a curse that almost slipped through his magical protections.

Leander wants Mc alive, safe, and trusting him COMPLETELY. He (i assume unknowingly) hints at this anytime he talks about how he shouldn't have let you leave his side. he is that one "the illusion of choice" meme.

My ending statement will be this: i am OBSESSED with characters that have a true personality hidden under a different one. the little phrases that slip out and give insight into the truth are my JAM. characters that dangle a shiny charming personality like an angler fish. maybe its because of my trauma, but we dont have to talk about that.

[spooksnett]

WHATS UR LENA ANALYSIS

OKAY OKAY OKAY SO THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG ONE CAUSE I HAVE A LOT TO SAY BUT PUTTING IT INTO WORDS IS DIFFICULT 😭

SPOILERS UNDER CUT

Lena has been working at the OIAR for a good while now. Probably not always in the manager position but she's been around for some time. Before Colin, before Alice. before Amelia and around when Klaus was there (Probably not the manager when Klaus was there but not important) and ofc (now confirmed by ep13) she knows what the OIAR does

The video that gets sent to Gwen has Lena's name titled in the transcript as 'Young Lena' which further proves my point. She's been there a long time. awesome okay.

Was she always this stone cold, very distant and strange woman? I don't think so! We hear real emotion and passion in her tone when she says to Klaus 'you know I do' when talking about something. She was 100% not in charge then and even now, she has higher ups. thats the only time we really hear passion behind her words. Episode 2 when Gwen overhears Lena talking to someone about 'expanding external operations'. she's discussing externals with someone else who doesn't work in the building. She's not chosing which externals get what etc

okay. I truly believe Lena is exactly what the OIAR ever wanted, she is perfect material. Thinking back to Sam's interview in the trailer she mentions how he seems to be a 'bright and socialable young man who works hard' and that she 'would have no need for him'. the OIAR only hires people who are at a rocky place in their lives. I think the same was present when Lena was hired. Lena is the last one standing in whoever her coworkers previously were. you have to remember the OIAR has been around a good while now dating back to Starkwall protection services in 2000 and the magnus insititue even earlier than that. Alice says she THINKS it was made in the 70's. Lena also says 'most people simply move on after 12 months or so' again, she's been there ages if she's seen people come and go like that

Her parallels with Gwen are the next thing I want to talk about. they are complete opposites but I think Lena was exactly the same as Gwen years back. she knows what it's like to work her way up in the OIAR and what 'climbing this particular ladder entails'. so she has climbed up the rankings, probabaly by doing similar things to what Gwen is doing as of now. She says Gwen isnt ready for it. she knows how much shes suffered from it. she's been through so much to get where she is now. her 'did you scream? you should, it can help with the more afronting aspects' is throwing it in our face. she used to (maybe still is) being face to face with these horrors. she knows what it was like. and back to what she says to Klaus, it really doesn't look like she's ever got a say in this, similar to Gwen now.

my main thing I've analysed over Lena is her psychological state. she isn't your typical serious, emotionless character. she's not that at all cause she CAN have some uniqueness to her words, when she chuckled slightly at Gwen etc etc

she isn't emotionless (or evil) but she is very very detached. She is so emotionally detached from everything. she's had to detach her thoughts and feelings over the years to cope. Alice always mentions how you need to not care in this job and just not pay attention, I think that same goes for Lena

she's perfect for the job because she's so good at 'not caring'. After so many years of experiencing this stuff she probably built up a sort of immunity to it to keep herself safe. and she doesn't seem to care anymore. she has no thoughts or passion behind anything she does or says. She's so numb to it all and she's sacrificed part of herself to probably survive this whole thing. the OIAR only wants people who doesn't care about what happens and just gets it done. Gwen was freaking out when talking about Mr bonzo and Lena was speaking as if it was an everyday occurrence. even if you have seen supernatural stuff before, you don't react like that. That is such a traumatic response way of speaking. Her accepting that this is just how it is, is not good at all. she's been through hell guys I'm telling you

she's also in the manager position but she doesn't seem to use her authority too much. she uses it a normal amount but nothing that you'd expect. it's strange?

small unrelated to the actual story thing:

but in the cast q&a whenever Lena is mentioned everyone always says either 'unknown' or 'she doesn't'

it really seems like she has no depth to her at all. she threw any defining traits she had out the window

My theory on Lena as a whole is that subconsciously she became exactly what the OIAR wanted and now she's too far gone. She wasn't always like this but after so many years it's basically routine for her now. she doesn't want to hurt people and 'manage' the externals as she put it but she either just doesn't care anymore, or is acutely aware of what happens if she doesn't do her job correctly. maybe both. she's been almost brainwashed into thinking this is normal for the OIAR

I really want to know why and when Lena joined the OIAR. how she became manager etc etc and I really hope I can piece things together over time. she means so much to me. I don't think she's this evil spooky boss, I think she's just so emotionally numb and detached that she just doesnt know what to do with herself anymore

LAST THING

When Gwen is talking about Mr Bonzo in Episode 9 Lena goes "Possibly, I don't watch television"

Gwen was specifically talking about how she watched Mr bonzo as a kid all the time. Nigels SOS was huuuggeee back then

Lena was either lying I suppose? (I don't see why she would) or genuinely she didn't even watch TV as a kid (Lena is older than Gwen but still SOS was around a while and even if Lena was in her teen years she'd still be aware of it on TV)

Did Lena really never watch TV in her childhood at all? that's concerning to say the least about her backstory! maybe she couldnt catch a break in her childhood either

ANYWAY YEAH I THINK IVE GOT MOST OF WHAT I WANTED TO SAY INTO WORDS. THANK YOU FOR READING IF YOU DID :D I MIGHT BE WRONG BUT THATS WHAT IVE GOT OFF THE LITTLE WE GET OF HER

I love lena kelley 🥰

[laithraihan]

how do you perceive your own art? does it evoke a specific emotion in you? how do you come up with your ideas?

how do you perceive your own art?

I dont really know, I think my art is average. Or not, I dont think average is the right word because I draw strange things sometimes. I'd say my art isnt very appealing to a large audience, that's how I see it. I dont think it looks bad or anything but I feel like it doesnt stand out enough for other people to talk about it a lot. Kinda like seeing something nice and thinking "oh that looks nice" and then moving on with your day. I dont know if it's my art style, my ideas, or something else unknown to me. But yeah Id rather not think about it too hard, I just draw things I want to see that I cant find because nobody draws them. I dont really cater to people or focus on what's popular so it's understandable why my art is not very memorable. Maybe I should rebrand and only draw Reigen with his anime color palette or something lol

does it evoke a specific emotion in you?

Not really, I always turn my brain off whenever I draw. If I ever feel something it's mostly related to the technique, like sometimes I'll say "damn I drew that hand really well here" or something like that

how do you come up with your ideas?

Hmm they kinda just spawn out of nowhere whenever Im bored. I'll daydream about certain headcanons or other ideas for a while and as soon as I vaguely figure out a way to depict them then I start drawing. If it's a more serious drawing with more depth to it then I never really start out with this idea in the first place if I'll be honest, I just improvise and adapt as I draw something random until I end up with something that looks cool enough. Whenever I post an analysis of my art it's always after I completely finish the drawing that I start assigning meaning to it. Basically bullshitting everything except the bullshit makes sense to people because Im the artist so it's okay. I just dont like to plan big projects in general, if I spend too much time planning the idea the composition and all the other little details in depth then I'll get impatient. I get things done much faster when I dont think too hard about it and simply follow whatever appears on my canvas.

[relaxxattack]

hwy so i saw ur poll ab arasol and f they were matesprits or not and ive been into homestuck for about 7 years and its a special interest and im autistic and thwy are my first and tbh only otp anf so if this is ok i wld like to infodump my opinion/hcs ab them bc i just 🥰 i love them sm 🥰 (def not frothing at the mouth at the idea of an audience for my opinions bc everyone irl is sikc of me lmao /lh)

ok so i deffo think they ar e matesprits BUT i think they never liie. clearly confirmwd it while aradia was alive. and once she became ghost aradia i think she got so distant and aloof (i think thats the right word?) about everytuing that it made sollux feel like she disnt love him anymore, and he eventually just had to move on, even thouvh it hurt. and feferi was there, not necessarily as a "rebound" but as a shoulder to cry on. someone for sollux to confide in, and to listen to him because he didnt have anyonw else he felt like woild. and i feel like feferi was def nto him and wanted to be his matesprit but i think sollux wasnt really. and i think they developed a kind of mixed/blurred lines relationship and the whole ghost and aradiabot phases pushed him and aradia furhter apart because aradia was dealinf wth so so much and in turn sollux was dealinf with the loss of his presumed (unofficial, wtv) matesprit, because that wasnt the aradia he knew and had fallen in love with. the ghost thing wasnt a bother - he loved her, not her physical form - it was the personality shift, i think.

and so when she reached god tier and regained her body nd her sense of identity, ithink they started to rekindle what they had nefore, if that makes sense? like aradia was his aradia again, an aradia interested in life and adventuee and archaeology and not this stupid, stupid game and suddenly not everything felt like it was collapsing around him and he felt like things could be okay again. and she helped him and he helped her and together they did make thinfs okay again. with each other.

and i think aradia's living>ghost>aradiabot>godtier timeline is a good allegory for depression and how it can absolutely shatter your sense of self and strip your world of colour and how that can make you push people away and self isolate and whatnot. idk thats just how i see it but :3 yea

i havet checkwd out the epilogues or homestuck^2 btw so this is based solely off of andrew hussie's homestuck bc i love it sososo much anyways yea !!!! tysm if anybody took the time to read this i love u all!! and ty for letting me drop this in ur askbox lolz and yea :3 srry if this isnt v comprehensive i just got off an 8hr closing shift at work lmao <3

this is a REALLY good analysis and i really love it, thank you for sharing! this makes complete sense to me.

aradia's depression being the catalyst for their split is very true! especially since she then sort of broke his trust with the whole sgrub thing-- and before that interacting with her was hard because sollux felt so guilty about what he did to her. it's just sad on all accounts, and i'm glad they both got better

honestly my poll was more to ask the question; "so we all agree that aradia and sollux were matesprits right because they do NOT act like moirails lol but it's funny because if they're matesprits that makes the feferi business weirder", but i don't think it came across in the post correctly, pfft

yes i definitely agree that they were matesprits, and also the idea that feferi was more into sollux than he was her is a really interesting one-- i also wonder if maybe feferi was maybe less into sollux than she thought, herself-- it's possible she threw herself into that relationship because she was just so relieved to be finally cut off from eridan and "allowed" to have relationships like that. but that's just my thought!

at the end of the day they're all just kids trying stuff out and it's kind of adorable and not that serious. i'm an arasoler at heart but there's nothing wrong with solfef either

[vasito-de-leche]

What are your general headcanons of SAYU?

;NSR SAYU - General Headcanons

Compilation of headcanons and analysis about Sayu (+ the "Sayu Team") and other related things.

just a heads up! I don't see sayu as an AI even if the wiki lists her as such (the wiki also lists the sayu team as her creators which isnt. true???). to me, she's literally just tila's vtuber rig, so this post won't focus much on sayu as a "person" like the DJSS post!

I do have some in-depth HCs about it and stuff, but yeah! this was just the warning for ppl who don't like this specific portrayal of sayu

All of the marketing related to Sayu is meant to blur the line between fiction and reality.

Okay, okay bear with me for a second! This is gonna be a long one just to explain a single HC.

Sayu is meant to be an obvious homage to digital idols like Hatsune Miku, but whereas Hatsune Miku can be easily described as a voicebank and a very malleable character to play with when creating songs and different versions of her, Sayu doesn't have this advantage within NSR, since she originates from a videogame instead.

This means that while Miku can be a blank slate for people to do as they wish with her, it's harder to do with Sayu because she has an established, solid lore and personality within the game she comes from.

I like to think that, as rock (not just the music genre, but that specific mindset and all the subcultures and aesthetics that came with rock) began to fade out from Vinyl City, it was inevitably overshadowed by the complete opposite - cutesy, colorful and starry-eyed characters.

Doki Doki Mermaid Club was released during this transitional period within Vinyl City, and because it was brand new and so very different from what people knew, it became a hit. Like Kul Fyra, the citizens of Vinyl City became tired and their passion fizzled out. Instead of rock and its mentality of addressing serious issues, speaking against injustice, being loud, brash and so on, people were now drawn to the more chill, soft and pastel vibe this new genre brought.

And I like to think that NSR, specifically Tatiana, noticed that there was a lot of potential within parasocial relationships between idols and fans. But because Sayu was still tied to a game, they had to slowly force her out of it so she could go from "Sayu, from DDMC" to "Sayu, NSR's Megastar", if that makes sense.

This process would include buying the company behind the game and allowing it to simply disappear from the public's memory while Sayu's fame continued on growing. The rest of the characters were used to prop Sayu, as a way to profit from nostalgia, but once they outlived their usefulness, they were forgotten. The same thing that happened to Ex-Jay and all other rock bands prior EDM.

"But why would NSR go so far as buying a company just to let it die?" They canonically did that with smaller companies - in Akusuka, you can interact with Sayu Snacks and this dialogue confirms the lengths NSR is willing to go for success:

MAYDAY: I remember the day they bought over the tiny Vinyl City factory that made these. The mom-and-pop couple was so happy, but I kinda miss the packaging for Sheriff Bob's Barley Shots. ZUKE: Sayu-brand snacks… does Sayu even eat these? She's completely digital, right?

With this context, it makes sense to me that once Sayu established herself as a popular character, NSR would risk it all and hire a bunch of teenagers to ensure she continues being relevant.

This ensures Sayu's existence as an alleged "AI", she's as real as you and she's promoting your favorite snacks! She's cute and she lives in a huge tower where she hosts her concerts! She's Sayu and she loves you and she's also your internet provider! She's real because you can take pictures with her! She's REAL because her influence bleeds into every aspect of Akusuka.

MAYDAY: Hey! It's one of those picture booths I've heard so much about! This one even lets me pretend to take pictures with Sayu! Wait, why would I want that? ZUKE: I heard these things were once all the rage, but now, they've been relegated to only the Akusuka district...I guess we have Sayu to thank for that.

By allowing people to believe in Sayu as a person, NSR also makes sure to protect the identity of the unseen team behind her. It's two birds one stone, really. It's not unlike the way 1010 operates, with Neon J behind it all as a manager. Both of them profit from the exact same thing: allowing fans to obsess over made-up personas.

That's why implying Sayu isn't real is such a taboo within Akusuka - it destroys everything NSR worked so hard to build. But in the end, Sayu is still four people acting and keeping up with the façade because of their love for the character. That's why her mural in Tatiana's office only pictures her without the Sayu Team, unlike 1010's which has Neon J in the dead center.

The idea of turning Sayu into a proper, independent AI in order make better use of assets and resources hasn't been entirely shelved, however. But given Vinyl City's history with AI - that is to say, the fake background memories given to warbots - I think NSR would want to wait a little more to polish that plan before putting it into action, as a fully conscious and independent Sayu wouldn't be able to properly care for a whole district, and having her team of teenagers take the lead in administration would also be pretty fucked up.

And that leads me to my next headcanon!

Similar to Yinu, the Sayu Team has little to no power when it comes to managing Akusuka. They do, however, have full control over Sayu and how she's portrayed.

The reasons are the same as mentioned above - they're too young, lack knowledge and NSR would prefer to be the ones running the whole thing instead from the shadows, etc, etc. It's the same situation as Yinu.

But! To balance things out, though, the Sayu Team was given full creative control over Sayu - her design, her personality, the types of ads she'll be involved with, etc etc. This ensures that Sayu continues being relevant and "hip" with the newer generations, hence her popularity with younger kids and teens. The only reason she hasn't strayed much from her original conception is because all four members are very careful to respect Sayu's roots, being their favorite character and all.

I like to think Remi is the most protective when it comes to Sayu's image, his designs are always in-character for her and all potential collabs/crossovers with other franchises or whatever must go through him first to ensure she doesn't break too much character. I'd even argue that he could be the leader (or at the very least, the much more organized member) of the group, just based on that little moment of him staying calm and planning how to win against B2J while everyone else was panicking.

Tila and Dodo, while they both trust Remi's judgement, believe that broadening their horizons could be fun and better for them on the long run - Tila, as the heart of the group and the voice of Sayu, loves engaging as much as she can with fans, and Dodo just thinks it would be very cool to have Sayu in different media, like fighting games (though it's more of an excuse to show off his motion capture skills).

Sofa and Remi are also the members who care the most about the other mermaids from Doki Doki Mermaid Club. And while Sofa often insists for them to bring them all back somehow, Remi understands that their contract is most likely against it, so he's content just doing fanart for the group.

Since all of them are young and their designs are meant to represent introverted and geeky students, plus taking into consideration their demographic, I could see them use Sayu to speak a lot about important issues like bullying and mental health!

All four members are very close, obviously. But they're also very close to Yinu and her Mama!

This is partially because all adults agree that Yinu should interact with people her age - the thing is, the closest people to her age are the Sayu Team.

I like to think they've become sibling figures to her, and that they're all often lumped together during NSR events. There is also something to be said about Mama and how she just immediately takes the Sayu Team under her wing, since they don't have their parents around 24/7 to support them like Yinu does. Maternal instincts and all.

It's very surprising for citizens of Vinyl City to see Yinu and Sayu doing collabs together, as Sayu is often paired with 1010 due to their similar status as idols, but because of the team's friendship with Yinu, it never feels out of place. The Sayu Team did attempt to keep the myth of Sayu being a real AI, but Yinu was much too perceptive to even fall for it. Besides, she has much more fun composing and coming up with ideas with them than talking to a hologram.

When it comes to their dynamics with other Megastars, I'd say all of them are intimidated by Eve's strong presence - though Remi really looks up to her from an artist's point of view, and Tila admires her confidence. Dodo is a fan of Neon J and practices his dance moves in secret, something that all the other members tease him for. As for Sofa, I can see him asking DJSS about his creative process. The guy runs a club with sick effects, he wants to know how DJSS does it!

All four of them also like 1010, but are in different levels of denial about it, with Dodo openly gushing about his favorite bias (it's Purl-hew, he LOVES Purl-hew) and Remi seething, screaming and crying whenever someone notices that his drawing tablet has 1010 stickers on the back. Sofa and Tila are more in the middle, being casual fans but getting flustered and a little ashamed whenever someone brings it up face to face - they promise they're not like those deranged fans!

You know, like those teens who are into things that the media has deemed cringe and whatnot, so they feel they have to be a liiittle detached and mean about their tastes to avoid being criticized.

Regarding their backgrounds, I like to think that Remi and Tila didn't meet each other face to face until it was time to sign their NSR contract, while Dodo and Sofa went to the same highschool and are childhood friends who made amateur action movies together. It just clicks very nicely to me!

Aspects of the Sayu Team bleed into Sayu and viceversa.

It's small details, like Sayu's dominant hand perhaps being the same as Remi's, or Sayu's casual speech patterns during streams being somewhat similar to Tila's. Maybe her typical gestures are also things that Dodo is known for, and so on. All of it helps make Sayu feel more real to fans.

In turn, there are times in which the Sayu Team find themselves adding Sayu's popular catchphrases into their vocabulary entirely on accident, their wardrobes now full of clothes she would wear. I can also imagine Sofa and Remi having trouble separating their work screens from reality - you know, like when digital artists try to press ctrl+z when doing traditional art. Dodo's is the funniest by far, since he straight up has an idle animation taken from Sayu, but I'd argue that he's a very physical person and needs to be constantly moving somehow. Another contender for funniest slip up is Remi, who will just end up screaming "Pyun!" really loud when excited.

While fans only see the final product, the NSR staff can see all the love and effort that goes into Sayu just by looking at her team! Even Tatiana respects the way they've turned Sayu into their very own personal project, with that initial giddy energy that every content creator feels when starting out and seeing their work pay off.

Should Sayu ever become her own independent AI, I can see every Megastar come together to design a proper body for her.

The Sayu Team are, at the end of the day, a bunch of kids with a dream - their design is the priority, of course, but Neon J and DJSS would be the ones to tweak and work around it, doing their best to ensure proper mobility - both on land and within her streaming hub - and to add all necessary safety equipment. Neon J specifically would be the one to work on her AI, I'd say.

Yinu and Eve would ensure that the aesthetics aren't lost during the building process, finding ways of allowing Sayu to still be recognized by fans but with enough room for changes, should she require them for concerts or events.

I feel like the Sayu Team would prefer for Sayu to only have a single body, instead of endless ones to be replaced like 1010, and they would keep a back-up of her AI in a little pendrive (a nod to Monika from DDLC!). It just makes her feel more real!

And with Sayu being an actual, sentient AI working as a Megastar, I imagine this would pave the way for all the other robots who are fully sentient in Vinyl City to be acknowledged by everyone. So really, it's a win-win!

[agnessmadness]

Askin character analysis post because @naturesbeat actually wanted it

askin is genuinely a really complex character. being made out of everything yet nothing at once. being the definition of CONDRAICTION itself. wanting to die but also wanting to live. wanting the fun but also avoiding the risk. acting weak but also acting cocky.

but we arent completely in it yet. have u notice the way he acts weak but also having that cocky and underestimating tone within his voice and his words? well that is one of his acts, wanting his enemy to get angry and go all out just for him to be completely weak in the end and makes them put their guard completely down just so he could take onto that and get the advantage out of it.

he done that over and over again to trick and trick and trick the enemy further and further.

hes also somewhat a really polite person despite being cocky and underestimating everyone he have fought with proven by two screenshots of him calling Gerard 'Gerard-san' Lillie 'Lillie-san' and pernida 'Pernida-san'

he also seems to have interacted with bambi and claiming that she creeped him out with her saying the same exact thing of choking out the enemies while they were down and not knowing the thing he called 'delicacy'

he also seems to never really use a hand-to-hand combat and moreso using the feet and leg to attack back and counter once close distance. if it's far he still going to use a bow, which moreso more than likely that he don't want to get his hands dirty so he have to resort to ANYTHING but using his hands to fight

he also have mentioned that he likes to kill people purely off of lethal doses despite admitting himself that he hated his power

this leads to me feels like he THINKS that despite hating his power there was still something good abt the power so he have to use it somehow someway just so he could make himself and the power itself useful. it isnt good to have a power and not use it right? it'll be kinda dumb in fact

he also seems like hes always caught off guard by EVERY attack he ever receive despite him having the off guard attack happened to him TWICE by now. why isn't he learning from him underestimating oetsu and then he pulls out a different thing?

well because is a part of his act to get the enemy to think he was the weak one

now lets talk abt his facial expressions shall we? first. in this panel he both looks like hes pitying her yet he seems somewhat bored out of his mind like this have happened so many times before

and into the next panel you see a closer look and how his eyes and facial expression changed into a softer tone but also full on pitying yushiro

in this panel he quickly calm himself down after yoruichi fucking flew up like she wasnt suffering from his ability before and immediately tries and analyze everything within or under a second just so he could get all of this and avoid the worst possible situation

also him taking yoruichi more serious. just kidding he just being a piece of shit here is all, but do you see how his eyes follow yoruichi's movements? because he wanted to analyze more onto what is going on and what just happened to yoruichi

also his favorite breed of dog might be Pomeranian but im not sure, im just not sure y tf did he have to mention a pompom here

back onto the more serious topic of askin facial expression. in this panel he seems rlly rlly crazed like he was actually going to have fun within the battle of him and kisuke

looking completely lost out of his mind right?

well in the next panel he straight up look bored. is almost like the moments hits and he already guessed that this it just going to be another fucking boring ass fight that he going to only use one trick and one trick, act weak and arrogant and then caught them off guard so he could kill them fast and quick

just for kisuke to knew and counter the attack of his. he never find anybody like kisuke before.

in this panel now he seems he wanted to try and keep up the calm composure despite being in pure panic, obviously he would act scared shitless and run like how he did with grimm. but kisuke was different. he knew there was no chance in running from him anyways, for grimm is bc he knew the kitty was weaker than him and there ws no chance that one could take on him. but why the calm act then? well it's a way for him to analyze the power that he never saw before. he needs a way to counter them because he doesn't know what the fuck is that thing

now check onto his expression will ya? it goes from shock, to an angered one, then confused just for it to end with fearful one

but hen within seconds and onto the next panel he was back to his arrogant cocky self because he feels like he have put up Kisuke's guard down enough same with the power and then says that he hates power vs power battle

but then in the next scene he was back to the crazed smile because he never met an enemy like kisuke who knows him more than himself and predicting in everything he was going to do and then counter it all like it was nothing to him. in the panel you can see that his smile was crazed like he was having fun, but then you look at his eyebrows and he looks like he's also pissed. hes having a really mix up feelings about this, because he LOVES that KNOWS what he's going to do next making this fight more fun, but also hates that he KNOWS what he's going to do next making this fight becoming a slower death

in this panel you can't see his eyes but his mouth tells everything, he was completely lost out of his mind because he was fighting one of a kind. one of the man that actually compete with him in intelligence, he never met one such as this

but now in this panel..he have completely stop with the cockiness and the underestimating and instead it becomes a respected and 'overestimating' him which is the first he ever did that

now in this panel you can see that he seems he's struggling, wanting to die in peace but also wanting to see of how kisuke is going to get out of his gift bereich so he tried and stay alive as much as he could just so he could see what is kisuke going to do

he also seems to really like playing with his words using 'gift' in german for 'poison'

he also seems to really be a highly focused person because of how he have gotten surprise by another party joining onto the fight TWICE. first was with oetsu and tenjirou and second being kisuke and grimmjow, because he wanted to focus on one and one enemy alone. he needed to focus and analyze onto every single little thing about the one single enemy he have in front of him just so he could analyze them and counter them better, but even if there was multiple from the beginning it still isnt much of a problem because he's going to try and do both somehow..he just get a bit surprise when someone new join in and that someone new is someone he have no knowledge of

you can say he prefer one on one battle

now onto his quotes that have hidden things being hidden within all the words

"The way I speak, the way I act, I seem like a worthless underling, even I know it. But you know, I don't think I really mind. It used to bug me something awful, but lately, I've come around to thinking that it's actually one of my good points. That's what I tell myself, anyway. Think I'm gloomy, do ya? Well, that's just what's so fatal about me." ah yes, the main quote of them all

'It used to bug me something awful, but lately, I've come around to thinking that it's actually one of my good points. That's what I tell myself, anyway' is a line that hidden behind a confident looks and words with his action acting like he was all high and mighty while in fact if you focus and look into it more further you can see that there is some insecurity hidden within his words

"The reason His Majesty took me in was quite simple. It’s because I just wouldn’t die. A bit of a pathetic ability, right...? I hate it, myself. Just thinking about this ability of mine makes me feel so fatally irritated." ah yes more insecurity

'A bit of a pathetic ability, right...? I hate it, myself. Just thinking about this ability of mine makes me feel so fatally irritated' calling his ability pathetic and also admitting that he also hated his power, must mean something right?

passive-suicidal Passive suicidal ideation is the desire to die without a plan to reach that result. It can come in many forms

(theres many more than this just read im lazy to go find more)

wanting to die but also not wanting to die.

OVERALL. askin is a really interesting and really really deep character that at first, i only love him because of how he looks. but the more i look into him everything just..i start to love him more and more because of his complex and almost incomprehensible personalities. he's made out of everything yet nothing at once. we know for a fact that one character at least had to have one thing that are contradicting each other because it just a natural thing for humans to be contradictioning. but askin on the other hand is made out of every contradictions, being the definition of

CONTRADICTION

thank you for listening, there's probably gonna be more because I'm insane about his character in general

[demadogs]

hey there! i love your analysis on why you think mike is already aware of his feelings. but my question is, wouldn't it also make sense for him to be behaving weirdly and doing all of that even if he's already gathered that there's something off about his relationship with el and his feelings towards will even if he doesn't know that his feelings for will are romantic? what makes you 100% sure that he's fully aware of how he feels?

yes it does make sense that he’d act weird just because he knows something is off and i think a perfect example of that is “its not my fault you dont like girls”. i dont think he was questioning his sexuality or wills sexuality at this point but he does have the idea ingrained in his head that he SHOULD have a girlfriend and not showing interest in girls at their age is bad.

there are other odd behavioral things he does in s3 but theyre different than s4. i think of s3 as the anti-mlvn season and s4 as the pro-byler season. in s3 we see some actions that can tell us that he may not be romantically interested in el but we see almost nothing in that season (behavioral wise) that tells us he is interested in will. that changes dramatically in s4. almost all of his questionable behavior in s4 is towards will and the odd behavior towards el is just a continuation of how he acted in s3 but with a much more serious tone. (im not including 1 or 2 bc i dont think any part of him was questioning his sexuality or feeling like something was off then).

in s3 most his odd behaviors are towards el. and theyre little things.

in the very beginning he doesnt let el touch him while shes kissing him.

when hes biking back el looks so happy talking to him on the walkie and mike just has this weird concentrated look on his face.

when she breaks up with him he looks like this is just an inconvenience to him, not like hes genuinely hurt.

theres also a big difference in how these odd behaviors are shown in s3 than s4. s3 usually shows it in a light, comedic way. like the first time he struggles to say he loves el to her face when hes cleaning her wound. this scene is portrayed as comedic and lighthearted. just your normal awkward teenager nervous to tell his first girlfriend that he loves her, makes sense. but then they continued that narrative in s4 and showed that it was actually a real issue in their relationship. i think that means that mike is in a much darker place because he knows how he really feels but isnt telling her the truth.

they do this again with the last kiss scene in s3. he doesnt kiss her back at all and looks completely baffled after she says he loves him. again, could easily just be an awkward teenager moment, but they made the tone much more serious in s4.

and then theres all the new questionable behavior towards will specifically that we’ve never seen before. not calling will but writing to el all the time, looking visibly nervous talking to him (airport scene, ‘cool cool’ scene), insisting that el is his girlfriend and theyre just friends. theyre not vague oddities anymore, they revolve around will.

we have seen mike stand up to homophobic bullies badmouthing will, stay with him 24/7 when he was in danger, hold his hand when he was shaking, tell him that asking to be his friend was the best thing hes ever done, and now hes scared to just hug him. he knows how he feels about him.

all that being said, i do think hes suppressed this knowledge a lot and is still in denial and trying so hard to hold onto his precious heterosexual relationship but he knows his true feelings. and i think he feels terrible for staying with el knowing this but if he did break up with el it would be like admitting/accepting that he really is queer which he does not want to do. (which is why hes the perfect victim for vecna)

[nahalism]

Hi! Do you sometimes catch yourself analyzing things too much, always getting really deep underneath and kind of ending up having too little room to actually be carefree and sort of experience life without the constant buzz of those thoughts, searches/analysis/seeking meanings/truths/lessons? Or do you find that’s it’s possible to + that you do best when you have both happening simultaneously? If the question doesn’t make sense let me know and I’ll rephrase it. Love& love

hey. i think i get what you mean but lmk if i didnt— i think im the type of person that ricochets between extremes in order to understand myself, the world, what balance means for me,,,, and then when i find the 'truth', or where that extreme has led me, i have a level of understanding about either me or the world that i can hone, either as an ideal to understand or one i can live up to/aspire to. — so there have been times where im in the kind of haze you described. over analysing, over thinking, isolating myself, getting deep into rabbit holes or theories about why what is what. but then i also swing to the other side of the pendulum and have times where im completely in my body, in my feelings, and in response to the world. im not over thinking, although im still hyper vigilant & it feels like im processing the world on drugs. its just in that moment, the need to understand, analyse and chew over the information on my own isnt there yet. something allows me to register everything in a more intuitive way? to where the 'buzz of thinking' still exists but its an energy i can ride rather than one thats stifling me or causing me to over question, over think, & ultimately doubt myself.

there are benefits and disadvantages to both ways of being. sometimes it feels good 'taking things lightly' and feeling unbound and i feel more social because of it. other times it feels good being alone so i can really process the world in the depth i want to without interruption or a need to discuss/debate what i feel. other times solitude and analysis feels overbearing, and the clarity feels stifling. theres all the concepts but they have nowhere to exist out of your head. their just a glass cage youve made for yourself & it can be lonely. that compared to the rush of action and freedom i feel in my 'non disciplined state' is horrible. buttt at my heart i am a serious person. i do like to consider and process and understand. so when i am in a more carefree space, i might have the freedom and the energy to express myself, but the energy is hard to harness or channel to anything thats not purely hedonistic or running off of the same impulsive energy as me. the key / balance here would be for me to channel the momentum of my energy in those moments toward goals/aims set when i am in the analytical, precise, clear space.

and so yeah the reason i explained it in such a drawn out way is that both the extremes help me understand and then actualise the middle ground thats right for me. unless a persons too uptight they may never have the reason / face the kind of discomfort that makes them understand the necessity of being happy go lucky. and if your never happy go lucky you may never understand the necessity of seriousness, or learn that there is a difference between being carefree, and being lackadaisical. vice versa. every experience especially the negative ones show and teach us things either about ourselves, what we need to keep doing, or change, to be where we want to be. deeper than that, sometimes your learning things, seeing things that you arent meant to understand now. they go in your rolodex/subconscious and pop out to save your life/tip you off to something when you least expect it.

dont let anxiety, over analysis, or anything rob you of your life, but trust your brain, trust body and trust your heart to be true mirrors for you. know that they are showing you and telling you things about your reality & that nothing shown is ever wasted. trust in ur journey bb. 🌟

feel free to dm me if u wanna chat. big love to u <33

[lets-talk-spirituality]

I saw the ask about fish eye and pov from SM but lost it on dash and I remember I had a question but couldn't ask that time no idea why was and is that after you said how is his album covers meanings and stuff I'm wondering isnt it tripled and finished don't know how to describe especially you're analysis and the ask long gone lmao like 3 different way and pov and meaning as in story completed now book closed what now? What will he do as in new story and cover I hope this make sense but I've been thinking this that time and now it stuck again and maybe if he won't happen to release an album in fall or soon he waiting to meet his SM and the story of his covers and albums change ? Idk idk

Hmmm interesting anon. I had an insight this album was a new inspiration and different from whatever he’s done before and HsH felt like a letting go and acceptance to me. So realistically the next viewpoint would be direct or head on, straight ahead.

I do think meeting his person will impact him and show up in his music and really in any area. I think we will know he’s met them before we see them. I could see him like making an album inspired by them and like that’s how everyone finds out he’s in a serious commitment. Like he’ll talk about it on Zane Lowe, not super in-depth but just about the process and being inspired. I actually got this insight his way of being inspired by them is not typical, like he may write a song where he tries to capture the essence and musicality of their voice, and I think he will make an album that lyrically expresses how he feels about them, but also sonically how he feels and I also think he will make the album for them like making decisions based on what he thinks they’d like based on knowing their music taste. An entire album tailored to them. And people will be like who the fuck is this person? Lol.

[pauein]

Every day i want to be That Guy about something that a bunch of people will disagree with me about but im being so brave about it <3