#to be clear I’m not. actually theorizing I just think it’s fun to think about

[dysfunctionalupsidedown]

Mike Wheeler: Trauma, Insecurity, and "STurn" (Analysis)

In "From the Hair Chair: Finn Wolfhard | Stranger Things", which is available on the official Stranger Things YouTube channel, Finn Wolfhard addresses the question, "What's going on with Mike Wheeler in Season 4?"

Mike Wheeler’s behavior in S4 has confused many, especially general audiences. However, if you look at the bigger picture, his progression (or regression) into the Mike Wheeler we know from S4 does make sense. To get a clear idea of what’s going on with him, we must look at the four seasons sequentially and with a more subtextual eye. We have a few physical puzzle pieces, and for now, we need to fill in the rest with our imagination based on evidence. A Mike point of view isn’t particularly needed to fully understand this, although it would be helpful for the GA and is something I want from S5.

In relation to this particular interview, I’ll examine Stranger Things (2016) for the past and present and “STurn” for the possible future. “STurn” actually does tell us a bit about how Mike’s self-identity arc will potentially continue in S5 and wrap up.

Also, I understand that “STurn” isn’t factual and is not even confirmed to be related to ST5. Though I don’t believe this entire analysis is instantly negated by my use of the playlist, as its only purpose here is to assume a hypothetical future. Aside from the Finn interview, everything else comes straight from the show and holds a reasonable explanation for Mike’s behavior up until the end of S4.

Remember, this post is for fun and speculation, and "STurn" is the best we have right now. Just keep in mind that I’m going into this analysis assuming it’s related to Mike Wheeler in S5. I could be entirely incorrect. Similarly, this interview isn’t wholly factual either, as it’s not what’s in the show, but it relates enough to what we’ve been shown of Mike for me to comment on.

This might be a lengthier post. Be warned.

If you’re still here and interested, I’ll get right into it.

Trauma

Finn first addresses how each of the characters are dealing with their past trauma, and that is a perfect way to describe Mike’s behavior in S4. I think a lot of people, especially the general audience, forget that, yes, while these are all characters, trauma does have the ability to affect them and change their behavior. There was an entire “Your original character before trauma vs. after trauma” trend on TikTok a minute back, and that wasn’t for nothing. 

Mike, just in S1, witnessed one of his best friends go missing, watched this best friend turn up apparently dead (as well as see his “body”), went to his funeral, jumped off of a ledge, saw his other newfound friend disappear, and so much more. Don't even get me started on the following seasons.

Mike is afraid of losing. That’s what happened to him in S1. He lost. First Will, then El. 

His fear of loss and determination to keep things in his life are significant parts of his character and have been since S1. That’s why he was so intent on finding Will. That's why he checked his walkie for El every night. That’s why he acts out in S3-S4. This isn’t an excuse for his behavior, but an explanation. It’s part of his trauma, and we see this in S4 with his fear of losing Will and El again: “Maybe I feel like I lost you or something,” and “I can't lose you,” respectively. I theorize that he fears being out of control regarding these things.

A lack of control also explains why he was so volatile to Will and El during and after Rink-O-Mania. For Will, Mike addresses this directly to him when he apologizes. It’s made evident to the audience that he acted cold in part because he thought Will was slipping away, but truthfully, he wasn’t aloof. He noticed everything about Will’s behavior and even managed to make the tragedy of that day about their friendship. Now, back to the apology, “About the last few days… You didn’t deserve anything… The truth is, the last year has been weird… Maybe I was worrying too much about El… And, I don’t know, maybe I feel like I lost you or something.” His defensiveness during the argument at the rink seems more like a trauma response than straight-up disinterest, which some people apparently think.

For El, I think this translates into him wanting her to need him. If El needs him, then there’s no way he can lose her, right? We know from the show that she doesn’t need him anymore. Mike also acknowledges this multiple times, and that thought terrifies him. In the last episode, he explains this to her, “... The truth is, El, I don’t know how to live without you… I can’t lose you, okay?”

Before Will shows Mike the painting in the van, Mike explains his dilemma. Will tries reassuring Mike, telling him that El will be fine, and Mike says he understands that. Mike then explains his true concern, “But what if after all this is over, she doesn’t need me anymore?... The truth is, when I stumbled on her in the woods, she just needed someone. It’s not fate, it’s not destiny, it’s just simple dumb luck. And one day, she's gonna realize that I’m just some random nerd that got lucky that Superman landed on his doorstep. I mean, at least Lois Lane is an ace reporter for The Daily Planet.” 

Will continues to comfort him, focusing more on the loss aspect of Mike’s trauma, which is made evident here. But those lines also make it clear that Mike is afraid El will realize his inferiority to her and abandon him. This is a good transition into Mike’s insecurity.

Insecurity

I’ve seen people argue against what Finn says here because Mike is part of the somewhat “outcast” group at school. I don’t think trying to argue that takes away from the fact that Mike did, does, and will continue to try and lead a “normal” lifestyle. He’s a teenage boy with a girlfriend and a friend group he fits into. That’s normal. He’s trying to get by. 

It was the same in S3. Mike was a kid with friends, a girlfriend, and a new want for maturity. It’s not unrealistic that the character is aging out of or into specific behaviors, especially ones that he’s previously exhibited. That leads us to his insecurity. 

We’ve had hints of it starting as far back as S1E3, when Troy injures Mike, and he initially lies about it to El so that he doesn’t seem like a loser. Similarly, these themes pick up with Will in S3E3 during their fight in the rain, “...We’re not kids anymore. I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? That we were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?”

Curiously, Mike is shown to be especially “normal” in California. He dresses differently than he does in Hawkins and acts more aloof. As Argyle says, “It’s a shitty knock-off.” Skipping forward to the “... She's gonna realize that I’m just some random nerd that got lucky that Superman landed on his doorstep… at least Lois Lane is an ace reporter for The Daily Planet” line, and we have a good enough view of Mike’s internal conflict.

He is deeply insecure, and it seems particularly so around El. I don’t know if this was addressed in the show, and I wish we had seen some of Mike’s letters, but does El even know about the Hellfire Club? I don’t believe we’re given any indication that she does, which could imply that Mike kept it hidden from her. It wouldn’t be surprising, considering his complete attitude change in California. Also keeping in mind that Mike stopped playing D&D when he was with her in S3 and only continued to play in S4 while El was away.

Mike also displays this insecurity by choosing to distance Will. For what reason, I can’t say for sure, but it’s probably something “abnormal.” 

Regardless, his insecurity ties into his fear of loss. The more normal he is, the more things he can maintain in life and the less he has to lose. Especially when it comes to El. It all stems back to his fear, not genuine malintent, and I see too many viewers misunderstand this. 

It also works the opposite way, to a different and lesser extent. If he’s out of Hellfire Club, he loses his “normal teenage clique.” Aside from losing El completely as someone he profoundly cares about, if he loses El as a partner, he loses his girlfriend. That’s a blow to his normality. 

Will is confusing to me. If he “loses” Will, just like he felt he did at the beginning of S4, he falls more into the pattern of trying to be normal. There’s no impact on his normality. By keeping Will at arms-length, Mike gravitated more towards his “shitty knock-off” version of himself. Something about Will brings out what Mike feels is abnormal in him, so by distancing himself, he could avoid it altogether. That’s likely in part what caused such a conflict at the beginning of S4: Mike’s inability to be “normal” while fully keeping Will in his life and vice versa, his inability to lose Will just to maintain normalcy.

"STurn"

We’ve focused on trauma and insecurity. Now, it’s time for self-identity. I think that's a theme in store for the future. I'll refer back to the “STurn” analysis I previously did.

Many of the songs on this playlist contain themes of a false identity. I’ll start with “Angst In My Pants” first. To quote my "STurn" analysis:

This song is about a person attempting to be someone they're not, suppressing who they really are, and it ultimately leading to dissatisfaction. The lyrics, "You can dress nautical / Learn to tie knots / Take lots of Dramamine / Out on your yacht" describe a faux lifestyle one lives that only serves to hurt them in the end: The idea of putting on a self-harming persona. This could be what Mike is going through in S5.

Next, we have "Substitute":

This track is about an idealized version of someone being put in place of their true self. The narrator describes a scenario in which their partner sees a version of them, "I'm a substitute for another guy / I look pretty tall but my heels are high / The simple things you see are all complicated / I look bloody young, but I'm just back-dated, yeah", that is unrealistic and put on, as seen in the lyrics "Substitute your lies for fact / I see right through your plastic mac / I look all white, but my dad was black / My fine-looking suit is really made out of sack"... The concept of a guise applies well to Mike, as referenced in Angst In My Pants. A recurring theme of hiding oneself really makes me think Mike is going to completely abandon his interests for a different lifestyle. I believe Finn has also mentioned that Mike wants to be as "normal" as possible, so I can't wait to see [how far] they take that idea. It could also be him realizing how he's been acting, and admitting that this "romanticized" version isn't true to him.

Finally, "The Rebel Kind":

Like The Better Side, I couldn't find any lyrics, so I'm doing it by ear. Though, I'm happy to say that this song is about a desire to embrace differences and rebellion. "We'll be free to run with the rebel kind" and "It's not easy, but I don't mind / I just want to run with the rebel kind" establish that. The track appears to tie into Mike's insecurity struggles throughout the playlist. It could be the narrator's struggle to keep up with societal norms before finally giving in to their truth instead of trying to conform, read as "they call us rebels but don't get how hard it is to for us to keep up." On the other hand, it could be the narrator commenting on how society doesn't understand people like them, and, by embracing their true selves, it proves more about who they are than conforming ever would; read as, "you think we're the rebellious ones, but you don't understand that we're more self-secure and strong than you'll ever be." I can see both of these interpretations working for Mike and his connection to the Party. The progression of insecurity in Angst In My Pants and potential realization of this guise in Substitute is wrapped up by Mike's self-acceptance here. I really hope this is how it plays out in S5.

Conclusion

Mike's brewing insecurity, paired with his trauma of loss, seems like it may boil over in S5. I theorize that he’ll drift even more into his “shitty knock-off” self, even if just on the surface, and do whatever he can to maintain normalcy in his life. Whether this leads to more conflict with Will, we’ll have to wait and see.

Besides that, Mike might eventually accept his "differences." He also may be willing to cope with loss for what it is, even if it’s the loss of the normalcy he tries so hard to maintain in certain situations. I can see Mike having a heavy emphasis on self-identity in S5, and as I said earlier, I can’t wait to see where they take that.

Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed!

As is customary with all my posts, if anything here is incorrect or you believe there’s something I should add, feel free to let me know. I’d love to have more conversations about Mike and read all the predictions for S5 I can.

[zabala0z]

I am nearing the end of TMA S4 and I am terrified. Hello there! Welcome back to “rando screams over TMA S4” I’m your host and we have uh 7 episodes to talk about!

MAG 150: Cul-de-sac

Nothing I hate more than the suburbs. I remember I theorized before listening that this was The Lonely but throughout it, I was thinking The Spiral was also involved. Then that gave me a thought I should’ve had way earlier: can statements have multiple entities involved?? Like would there really be a downside (for the entities)? I mean you get your fear. It’s just a team effort y’know?

Also yay Melanie! Fight against the power (please don’t die I’m begging you). Although I am still suspicious about her therapist

MAG 151: Big Picture

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD ITS SIMON FAIRCHILD. I was reeling during this guys. I don’t know why all The Vast avatars are so…nice??? Well that’s not the right word. Carefree I suppose? (Also what bet was Simon talking about. Dude.) Im also still very curious about the dynamics between the patrons/avatars. The way they all sabotage each others rituals. The different rivalries. It’s so fun.

MAG 152: A Gravediggers Envy

Man this dude loves dirt. Interesting how he refers to the entity by the actual title without ever being told. Intuition I guess. It was interesting to hear Helen again whose laugh is sounding more and more like Michael’s. Anyways the tunnels are going to be very important later on, aren’t they?

MAG 153: Love Bombing

God I hate cults. Also that clear residue has appeared many other times in The Corruption related statements (MAG 36, MAG 55). Potential connection.

TREVOR AND JULIA 🫶🫶🫶 you guys eat but also like stfu. The way they bounce off each other reminds of Breekon and Hope. Love Daisy but I am worried now. She also growled like an animal. Not figuratively like it actually sounded like a wolf or something

MAG 154: Bloody Mary

God damn it Eric. God. First, no one can ever have a nice life here hug? Second, little Michael mention by Eric (and Emma. Who is Emma? Will she be important?) third, you have to GOUGE out your eyes to quit? What the hell?

Martin and Jon’s talk. God that was basically a declaration of love. I’m going insane. Martin low key psychoanalyzed Jon and it was heart wrenching

MAG 155: Cost of Living

Basira, like I disagree with her on a lot, but man she is so interesting. Also screaming about how she won’t leave because of Daisy oh my god please. Onto the statement; yeah this was a pretty cool avatar. Like, the absolute delusion was the funniest thing ever like god damn.

But MELANIE. Oh my god. I’m like hella impressed by her will power, I guess I wasn’t the one who is trapped in a job and traumatized, but still. I’m worried. Please don’t die girlie, I’ve already lost multiple of my favorite characters

MAG 156: Reflection

I need to know more on Adelard Dekker like I need to know his full backstory. I love how Martin talks to the tape recorders like they’re a pet or something? Does The Eye notice? Or care? Anyways, with every statement, The Extinction rises on my ranking on “how scared would I be if I encountered this TMA entity”

I’m scared for Martin. I don’t know what device it is, maybe a book? I don’t know but

“How does that make you feel?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all”

What if I just *rips out hair and rolls around on the ground* I CANT. MARTIN PLEASE. YOURE MY FAVORITE GUY :(

Okay. Okay. That’s all the episodes.

I have 4 episodes left in season four. I am very worried. I’m going to pray for Martins safety. My next post will be the season four finale so watch out for that!! I really hope everyone will be okay but I know deep down that they won’t. That’s not how this works

[goldfish-or-smthing]

The Tedependent Masterpost

Essentially my deluded ramblings as to why I’m a Tedependent truther 😊

DISCLAIMER: I love TL and no matter what direction the writers take S3 in I will be on board! This is just a theory from some lil' details I noticed 😊Also so that if I turn out to be right I can say I told you so :o but if I’m wrong uhhhh.. you never saw this

Some various important notes before we get into it:

Firstly, I think it’s pretty likely that sexuality will come up in some form in S3. It fits in really well with the previous themes of the show (masculinity, mental health, relationships with fathers etc). TL has tackled some other issues such as the portrayal of mental health in sport but they haven’t mentioned sexuality yet despite it being a big topic (there’s only 1 out gay footballer… which is INSANE.. there’s a LOT of homophobia in football). So it makes a lot of sense for this to come up during S3. A lot of people have also theorized that Colin is gay and although I’m not going to go into that now I think it’s pretty likely and considering that Colin was one of Nate’s main “victims” (for want of a better word) it’s also likely that he’ll be more prominent in S3, perhaps even being a big part of Nate’s comeuppance. There’s also various rumours of Trent (and some say Colin too?) being seen filming at a gay nightclub in Amsterdam…

Here's an excerpt from an article interviewing Cristo Fernández, the actor who plays Dani Rojas, about the themes of season 3:

Interesting stuff....

In terms of whether or not Ted will have a romantic relationship in S3 I think it’s pretty likely through the “rom-communism” speech and how generally wholesome the show is that Ted will end up in a relationship at the end- especially as it would be very satisfying for Ted to start the show in a bad relationship and end it in a healthy one. Also the teaser dropping on Valentines is very…… interesting. Despite this it could be argued that Ted has to go through more personal growth before he’s ready to be in a long term relationship and with Ted most likely leaving for Kansas at the end of S3 he might not be in a good position to get into a new relationship. This is probably one of the biggest holes in this theory- whether Ted is ready for a relationship in S3. If he is though, I can think of someone who would be a very good option…

Before we talk about Trent though (yes there still is more to address) we need to address the other main option- Rebecca. I think it’s pretty unlikely that Ted will end up with Rebecca. Firstly it’s very cliché and the writers know that people expect Ted and Rebecca to end up together. They teased it in S2 before the Sam bantr reveal which felt to me like the writers saying that they know it’s what people expect but that they’re choosing not to go that direction. Speaking of Sam, although he and Rebecca technically ended S2 not together it’s very clear that that arc is not over yet and that’s still something that has to be dealt with in S3. Ted and Rebecca’s relationship is an incredibly valuable representation of close friendships/platonic relationships between men and women, and I think the writers understand this too:

To be clear, I don’t have any problem with people shipping Tedbecca! I actually think it can be quite a cute ship, I just don’t think it’s likely to happen in canon.

Now onto the fun bit! All the evidence!

I don’t think it’s in question that Trent is gay so I’m not really going to cover that here apart from saying that he leaves the pub with a man he’s seemingly on a date with an if you’re still not sold that he’s gay… just uh…. Just look at him..

First some quickfire evidence:

Ted calls Trent “baby”! s2 ep3 3 mins in! crazy stuff

S2 ep1 at about 6:20 Ted says “Trent Crimm, bringin’ that heat”- a reference to the very spicy Indian food they ate together

They speak more often than we see off-screen- we have the iconic “love our chats!” line implying that they have conversations outside of the show and Ted makes Trent’s daughter biscuits (s1 ep9 27:40), showing that he’s not only met Trent’s daughter before but is meeting her again soon to give her the biscuits

Slightly less quickfire evidence:

There’s a lot of similarities between Trent and Rebecca- this post details some of them, but there’s also similarities in lines- in s1 ep3 Ted says to Trent “watch your back Gay Talese there’s a new iconic profile about to be typed up by one Trent Crimm” then on s1 ep9 Ted says to Rebecca “watch your back Kate Moss there’s a new bad girl on the British modelling scene”. They also have very similar hair (look at the first two gifs of the above post), and the only two people Ted makes biscuits for on the show are Rebecca and Trent’s daughter. I believe this is a way of twisting the expectation that Rebecca and Ted are going to end up together to have Ted end up with someone similar, but not who people expect.

Some silly little scene analysis:

The first scene I’ll be talking about is s2, ep7, at about 31 minutes in. Before I go into depth about the details of this scene I’d suggest you rewatch it first, but I couldn’t find a clip of it on Youtube so just go to that timestamp. The first line in this scene is very strange- it’s Mae saying “If music be the food of love play on, give me excess of it”. This line seems completely pointless- it’s not really a joke, nor does it serve to further the plot or develop Mae’s character. But as I will repeat many times and cannot emphasise enough- lines in this show don’t get used lightly. This line is actually the opening line to Shakespeare’s most famous romantic comedy, Twelfth Night. And this line is used at the beginning of a scene with Ted and Trent when there’s seemingly NO REASON for it…. (I’m not going to get into the Shakespeare analysis now but if you want me to I will make a post about it :D)  We then see Trent saying goodbye to a man he’s on a date with- who has a moustache, no less. And THEN he says “of all the pub joints” which is a reference to the line “of all the gin joints” from the film Casablanca- and (mild spoilers for 3) the episode title of ep 8 is “We’ll never have Paris”, another reference to Casablanca. They end off this scene with Trent saying "Love our chats!". This line is reminiscent of when Ted asked Trent "What do you love?" in the Indian restaurant in s1 ep3, and also implies that they are closer than the show makes them seem.

Another very suspicious moment came at end of s2 ep12, which is the VERY LAST scene with Ted in the whole of S2. It’s also sandwiched in between the scenes about the other 2 major romantic relationships in the show- we get Sam and Rebecca, then Trent and Ted, then Roy and Keeley… Which in my opinion is a deliberate way of laying out these scenes to imply more about Trent and Ted’s relationship. Before I go on to talk about it here’s the clip for context: https://youtu.be/fF3A7XSk2HU (it’s pretty low quality so if you want to you can watch the clip at 44mins into s2 ep12). I think Trent waiting outside for Ted speaks for itself, but then there’s the line about the bike accident, where we learn that Trent doesn’t know how to ride a bike. Lines in this show are rarely used lightly and this is likely suggesting that we’ll get a scene of Trent learning how to ride a bike (potentially in Amsterdam?!). We then learn that Trent - and now I want you to listen closely on this part- has thrown away his entire career in journalism and his chance to ever work in journalism again by telling his boss that he revealed a source. And why did he do this? For Ted (...mostly. he has other reasons for leaving as well but...). Not only is this literally insane but by having Trent quit his job the writers have removed the only major barrier to Trent and Ted being in a relationship- whereas previously this might’ve been unethical because Trent was a journalist covering Richmond, that’s now no longer an issue. And then Trent has locked his keys in the car- which shows either how flustered he was when waiting to see Ted or could be implying that he’s here to stay.

Sorry for low quality but look at them. That is a normal way for two straight lads to look at another guy right?

Bits from some interviews:

Conclusion:

Some would say that I'm mad. I'd argue that if you look at the evidence there's a solid chance that Tedtrent could happen in Season 3- the sneaky little references to Casablanca and Shakespeare as well as literally the whole of their last scene together sold me the most tbh. It's hardly debatable that Trent has a crush on Ted, but I believe (hehe) that it could be reciprocal- there's not much evidence that Ted is bisexual, (references to queen and the frequent appearance of their songs as well as the choice of NSync's song "Bye bye bye" which is frequently used on the internet to mean "Bi bi bi") but then again, there's not much evidence that he's not. I feel like I could go on and I've definitely missed some things but this post is already far too long (1.6k words) and I need to stop!

I’d be interested to hear everyone’s thoughts and opinions, and feel free to drop a comment telling me how deluded I am because in all honestly I probably am…. Or am I………….. guess we’ll find out in season 3!

If I’ve missed anything please lmk!

EDIT: ohhh my god I forgot- The scene w/ Ted and Trent at the end of s2 happens in the Richmond car park- just like Roy and Keeley in s1. And Ted met Michelle in a car park :)

UPDATE

[fatcatlittlebox]

I’m not the previous hateful anon. I’m very in support of Haladriel theories, even if they don’t come into fruition, its just good fun. Would love to make an extensive post with all of the half maia Celebrian theorizing that precedes this show, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t even know where to start looking. I adore how you’ve framed it as a potential thing in the show though, I do hope something along those lines comes about.

Seriously, it's all in good fun. Honestly, Ainur "shippers" have been around for decades: Melkor/Niena, Melkor/Varda, Melkor/Mairon. On message boards and on Reddit. I think the Celebrian half-Maia theory was probably extrapolated by the original mairondriels and saurondriels. I'd say their case was pretty solid based on the subtext they interpreted from the Tolkien material. I had never thought that much about it before the show because I never considered Tolkien a subtext kinda guy if you know what I mean.

I think where it gets interesting is that Celebrian is a pretty mysterious character in the Tolkien text. I don't know everything but I know quite a bit about it. And not much is known about her. Not what she looked like. Not her love story with Elrond (they met and got married...hundreds of years later). Tolkien didn't even explicitly say when she was born and how she died. She's actually one of the more intriguing characters from the appendices for me because of that. What is known about her is marked by tragedy. Tolkien wrote that later in life, she was "waylaid" by orcs and eventually rescued. That part is very clear and that is why I think Adar saying he caused a child "pain" is such a significant line. In that brief appendix mention, she was kidnapped and tormented by orcs but Sauron is not mentioned as the actual perpetrator. It is hinted that she suffers psychological trauma so great that she decides to leave Middle Earth. Now that's another Reddit debate: what did she go through? Perhaps it's then, she discovers her origins and is traumatized by that knowledge. But like I said, Tolkien doesn't strike me as a big subtext guy so who knows.

[atopvisenyashill]

I would like to offer up my least favorite rancid takes and I’m doing it on anon instead of in a reblog because some would get me hate mail.

Making fun of Dany for miscarrying or acting like her being unable to bear children is a sign she’s evil or lesser. This is just misogyny. I don’t have issues with most Jonsas but I’ve seen takes that boil down to “Jon deserves a partner like Sansa because she can give him healthy kids and Dany gave birth to a lizard” like ok. Get out of my house.

In the same vein, gleefully theorizing that Sansa will be infertile. This is just weird and mean-spirited. It would add nothing to the narrative and also screams misogyny.

People who get really weird about the Starks being pale-skinned. Like I understand the take “it’s weird to draw only Arya and Jon with darker skin and give the other kids super fair skin since Arya and Jon are described as plain” but some people get super super defensive and go off about Arya’s “beautiful white skin” like hello? Do you not hear yourself?

Really any gleeful theorizing about Sansa or Dany dying. It’s fine to craft theories about this especially because Dany did die in the show but the attitude people take makes a huge difference. And it almost always boils down to ship wars. Jonsa fans smugly theorizing about Jon stabbing Dany for the sake of loving Sansa. Jonrya fans smugly theorizing about Jon pushing Sansa from a great height and professing his love for Arya to mirror Petyr and Lysa. Like. What’s wrong with you guys. It’s just shipping. You’re giddily posting about imaginary teenage girls being killed by an imaginary teenage boy they love for the sake of a different imaginary teenage girl. Seek help.

“Arya is actually very feminine and if you say otherwise you’re the misogynist and also a classist because Arya’s femininity is smallfolk femininity” you do not understand the difference between femininity and being female and the fact you get offended by people saying your fav is less feminine than other characters is showing your ass. You still think women are inherently feminine even if you’re willing to expand your definition of femininity and this will always loop back to sexism.

Victim-blaming. This is far more rampant with hotd but I see takes like “Dany raped Drogo” and “some part of Sansa wanted Petyr to prey on her because of that line where she momentarily kissed back” puke vomit goodbye. The number of times I have seen TB people insist that “people hate Rhaenyra because she’s not a perfect victim” and then say that Alicent didn’t have it so bad evidenced by the fact that she didn’t fight for power and cried when Viserys died is maddening like hey bestie guess what you’re doing right now? :-) I’m throwing tomatoes at you

dany & sansa infertility talk

oof yeah i've talked about this one before in that i think part of why everyone is so weird about dany's infertility is that clearly george is cooking somehting up here but no one (imo) has hit on just what it might be. and because the concept of infertility = bad is so prevalent in fiction, and also quite a hot topic in asoiaf, it means people theorize the most out of pocket shit imaginable. they do it with dany, with sansa, and it's so annoying. especially because it's like - neither of these two are even 18 i think it's sooo uncomfortable to speculate over "they're infertile because they're eeeeeeevil" when it's like no, there's a pretty clear reason dany is infertile actually and it's that she gave birth for the first time at 14 and is horrendously inbred! "oh but the magic" so have we noticed that there seems to be an uptick in in miscarriages when valyrian women give birth under 16 and are a bit more inbred or ??

pale skinned starks

in general i think people are so nauseatingly weird about this. i got at it in my original hater ask where i said i don't follow those "weird racist libs" because people always do this regardless of whether they're a stark or dornish or valyrian, it's just soooo fucking weird to harass someone because they're drawing a character darker than you think it's appropriate regardless of why you're doing it. i've seen this happen where people will get mad that dornish characters are drawn particularly dark and never mind that one of the places in the world that george based dorne off of is, ya know, fucking north africa, which has a large array of skin tones! and like i guess i get the criticism of "jon and arya are described as plain" but it's also sort of like well but...in canon they're described as having "northern coloring" as opposed to the more "tully look" and i think if you consistently draw other "northern coloring" characters like jeyne poole, beth cassell, alys karstark, lyanna stark, harwin, etc etc who are not considered plain as also a little brown skinned, it's fine. why is the idea of like, being fucking normal about skin color such a hard concept for this fandom to grasp.

love triangle stuff with jon

i do think some of the vitriol is due to like, the sheer number of people who are picturing women closer to sophie, maisie, emilia's ages in later seasons when they picture sansa, arya, and dany. i think for a lot of people, it's a lot harder to swallow dany's tragic ending as being, ya know, tragic, because show dany is just not particularly tragic as a character and the Fandom At Large loves to pretend like she's a hated character when she's consistently popular purely because of her aesthetic (and emilia's face) and not because of any real interest in engaging with her character. which is frustrating because it's like....i think the finale is coming when none of these characters ar even 20. they're going to be young as HELL when the long night comes and their youth is the tragedy. "old men talking young men dying" and all that. i say this as someone who does think it's not unlikely jon kills dany explicitly to save sansa, arya, or both girls, but I think the people who posit this as some sort of triumphant murder scene as if george didn't deny us happy catharsis over tywin and joffrey are in for a real rude awakening when we get ados/george's eventual outline to be released in like 40 years and see he meant all along for us to weep when the final moments come and not cheer!

but yeah the moon door stuff is especially stupid because it's like bro lysa basically date raped petyr when she was sansa's age, she consistently shows herself to be selfish and incapable of empathy even as a young woman (and there's like reasons for that obviously but the heinous way she's treating her sister and niece is not like, excusable especially when neither catelyn nor sansa are the reason her life sucks shit. killing jon arryn was fine tho let's be clear). what on earth has sansa done that is even in the realm of that? and no, the trident moment doesn't count, that's insane. i think the "jon puts down rabid dog dany" type takes are similar to the "jaime puts down rabid dog cersei" takes in that it's like maybe there is a framing here of "he has to kill her because someone has to" type deal but it's NOT going to be that clean of a kill, there WILL be guilt and a lot of discussion over whether it's necessary, over whether they're adding to the cycle of violence, over the toll it's going to take on them, and even whether they themselves are culpable in the sins of the woman they're passing judgement on!

arya is feminine

yes my GOD i posted here about this a little bc someone quote tweeted that last one about "erasing arya's femininity" with "what femininity???" and it's like YEAH. arya should be allowed to Not Do Femininity, she should be allowed to Do Womanhood The Way She Prefers and the way she prefers is NOT femine! that's okay!!!!!! the entire point of her character is that women shouldn't HAVE to be a certain way. if you're looking for "character who is gnc partially bc she's denied access to feminimity" that's BRIENNE not arya, arya wants nothing to do with it!!!

victim blaming

ya this is part of my "tg loves to say daemon is an abuser and then refuse to acknowledge rhaenyra is his victim" spiel. screaming about how "rhaenyra you saw what being a teen mom did to alicent now you're doing it to rhaena" RHAENYRA WAS A TEEN MOM TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! people constantly put rhaenyra in this third space 's like "well she sees herself as a man because she's entitled and she acts like a man because of that so i can analyze her from the point of having male privelege" WHAT IS THAT. NO!!! THIS IS VICTIM BLAMING. and YEAH i see that take a lot with alicent, that viserys isn't "abusive" so it's fine and it's like. how do you miss tery real commentary going on here about how every one of these relationships where a teenage girl is marrying a grown man is abusive to some degree. how do you miss the commentary that a man sees his wife as an extension of himself and therefore denies her personhood is a structural, societal problem in westeros and the way he dismisses her real fears and wants and desires and uses her as a replacement for both his dead wife and his daughter he can't talk to is deranged, abusive behavior? except i know why it's bc these exact same tb stans are saying that "the feminist marriage is when a woman chooses" bud we are quoting stephanie meyer here with this. lyanna's relationship with rhaegar isn't feminist bc she "chose" him, she's 16 this is like saying aria and ezra from pll is a feminist relationship bc she "chose" him. that man is her abuser. it doesn't matter that there's no physical violence or that the sexual violence isn't actually ~violent. rape and assault still exist even when the victim doesn't fight!!!!

[coredrill]

perhaps my most insane collection of brvn thots yet

do we think lulu is from the moon. i think this for three reasons. one: when she told superbia she was going to ride him the moon was quite large and prominent in the shot. symbolism. two: when she got her fancy hairdo, she had two little buns that looked like moons. three: “lulu” could come from “luna” the same way it could come from the first syllable of smith’s name. why would she become spanish? don’t worry abt it. also if she’s from there then maybe the “final battle” which obari allegedly said would take place in an unexpected location will indeed be on the moon (pls dont ask for a source on this bc i don’t think i could find it again but it was one of the like. EARLY early interviews iirc. or it was just a rumor. this part of the post is a joke anyways LMAO). however this IS a super robot show so i feel like the moon in general is actually a more expected location for me than like. idk. cleveland

everyone pointing out the animation differences maybe indicating different timelines is so funny to me cause like. if it’s NOT intentional, the fans are putting together a list of fixes to make for the bluray on a silver platter LMAO. also god i hope we get a western bluray release, i honestly am considering getting the jp one if it somehow winds up w eng subs though just cause i know it’s such a long shot for CRUNCHYROLL of all motherfuckers to put one together 🥲 discotek ur our only hope………………

i keep thinking abt the like. pacing of the previous fight scenes being reused in ep9 in such a smart way…………like with smith/lulu v superbia - isami/bravern v cupiridas AND with smith/lulu v knuth - isami/bravern v pessimism/vanitas they kept doing the quick jumps between each of the two fights in a way that made it clear that isami and smith were in conversation even if they were doing completely different shit, and then bringing that completely to the forefront this ep while isami is asking smith why he died and at the same time smith is refusing to die bc of his promise with isami. BLEW MY FUCKIN MIND to see the pattern reused like that, i swear to GOD everyone talks about how fun and hype this show is but it’s so damn GOOD too 😭😭 and then after that the fuckin. symmetrical docking ass cut and then later the gattai which has been held off for SO long bc they are no longer separate conversations. JESUS

called my shots too early tho w smith not melting ppl’s minds in a kaworu manner where they convolute the story x1000 to try to make him seem straight 😭 congrats white boy, your days are numbered until ppl start saying you love isami like he’s your pet dog……….also in a related fashion the giant naked smith fanarts are taking me out LMAO

you can tell idk shit abt fuck when it comes to time travel fuckery cause i rly am just here like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ atp LMAO, the serious theorizing is GONE. i trust the show to finish out in a satisfying manner and also in a way that my pea brain can understand and i’m rly looking forward to savouring these last 3 episodes :] and then rewatching the whole thing from the beginning once the remaining twists have been revealed and i Know :3 like not to get way too sentimental w 3 whole episodes left but we are so lucky to be following this story in real time you guys 😭 like i’m just gonna put the same post i made back after episode ONE here cause it’s true but times a million with what we’ve seen so far, truly this is such a special experience to have and i’m so glad this show waited until i got into mecha to get made so that i could like. Understand it yknow. anyways good for january 14 2024 version of me, you are so excited andyet still have NO idea the kind of treat you are in for 😭

“lewis” jumpscare tho omg. i forgot it took me like a week to figure out what the hell was goin on with all the characters first and last names LMAO. anyways everybody go look at sumiisa sekiha love love tenkyouken right now i am no longer asking

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Hello there! I've been thinking a lot about the parallels between Atsushi and Sigma lately(their clothes in their respective flashbacks looking the same,how they're both curled in similar positions with locked up,their faces looking alike when they panic,and Dazai openly saying Sigma reminds him if Atsushi).

With all these comparmemts I've been reminded of hoe Atsushi also apparently has a connection to the book like Sigma does,with Fitzgerald saying that Atsushi is the "tiger beetle" that he needs to find the book in the Guild arc.

I was wondering if you had any theories on what this could mean for Atsushi's character since its been something that's been relatively ignored for a while now which is odd considering Atsushi is the Mc and in other series this would have likely been addressed more but then again we don't really know much about Atsushi as protagonist,but aside from that,any thoughts?

Oh yeah, the parallels between Sigma and Atsushi are numerous to say the least.

About Atsushi: I’ve made a couple theories about him and his connection to the Book, namely

I think it’s possible him and Akutagawa have the capacity to create a singularity that is the only thing that could destroy it or its “seal”. (The tiger claws can cut through anything including abilities/Beast Dazai zeroing in on some kind of singularity they can make which will be necessary somehow, when the tiger claws can’t really be a singularity because there’s no inherent contradiction as far as I’m aware)

Atsushi has two abilities - one is the blue crystal from Dead Apple which is a latent power related to the Book that is “stored” within him for safekeeping. The tiger is a defensive ability specifically for the purpose of protecting it - the red crystal.

About Sigma, I don’t have as much but I did come up with a really weird concept that Sigma was the “main character” of his parallel world. This would explain

Why he has so many notable similarities with Atsushi.

Why his memories are missing - because without the protagonist, his fragile parallel timeline collapsed and now no longer exists.

To be clear I don’t think this is what actually is going to be revealed with Sigma (it’s far more likely he just had his memories written out or there’s some kind of failsafe to keep him from retrieving them - like the “no law enforcement will believe the agency” caveat) but it’s fun to theorize. I wrote up a big post on everything we know about the Book so far, including character connections; if you haven’t already seen that, you can check that out! I intended it as a helpful reference for theory making in the first place.

If you do think up an interesting theory about these two or notice something else cool, feel free to drop me another ask and explain it! :)

[1moreff-creator]

Not related to DRDT, But I saw in your pinned post you like FNAF. If you haven't answered this before, which FNAF game is your favorite? Or who is your favorite animatronic/character? I like fnaf1 foxy :)

Yee FNAF! I might not talk about it here much, but it is the fixation that Always Comes Back for me, so I’m glad to have an excuse to ramble about it :D

Favorite game is a bit complicated because I haven’t played all of them (my computer couldn’t handle the FLAF demo it is not running Security Breach), but depending on the day, it’s one of FNAF 1, Sister Location or Help Wanted.

FNAF 1 gets a ton of nostalgia points, the atmosphere is immaculate, and the little story it has is fantastic, though without as much complexity as later entries.

Sister Location is horrible on the replayability department… except I count the Custom Night DLC as part of the game, and that’s pretty fun. The game itself is fine on a first play through, has pretty good atmosphere, and (in my opinion) beats FNAF 1 in terms of self-contained story, themes and narrative weight, wider lore and character building. Night 5 is (in my opinion) one of the best written segments of any FNAF game, both Real and Fake ending.

Help Wanted also beats FNAF 1 in terms of self-contained story (those tapes are genuinely an awesome evolution of the Phone Guy concept), and the introduction of Vanny is genuinely captivating (regardless of how much they fumbled her in later entries), but it also added certain elements to the overall plot that I don’t quite like the ramifications of (even if I tend to ignore the “in-universe games” debacle, I dislike what it represents for theorizing). In gameplay it’s generally better than SL, but it’s not as charming as FNAF 1. Though I feel my opinion of it would change if I could actually play it in VR, but alas, that is not my situation.

It’s hard for me to pick between those, frankly. Probably Sister Location though, I just like the characters too much…

What shit I forgot Into the Pit. Yeah no it’s Into the Pit probably. Even accounting for recency bias the game’s insanely peak lol. Still gonna leave those other three there, for posterity xD

Speaking of liking SL characters; Baby and Puppet are my favorite animatronics, though admittedly that’s more of an extension of my favorite characters being Charlie and Elizabeth (that order). Btw, FNAF 1 Foxy is a very good and solid pick, I respect it :D

I genuinely think Baby in Sister Location has an argument for best written character of the entire franchise bar maybe Movie Mike, and I am willing to defend that take. A ruthless killer born of horrible circumstances, yet compassionate at heart (see: the very fact she chose to form Ennard instead of leaving with Michael’s body on her own, “the scooper only hurts for a moment” line), in her eyes betrayed by those she saved because of being… well, a child.

Shame her character got absolutely assassinated in FFPS. Unless she was trying to manipulate William. I know it’s not ever even remotely suggested, but I genuinely would have no (serious) complaints about Baby’s character if that’s what she was going for in the “I will make you proud” speech.

As for Puppet, old fan favorite for a reason. It was always a standout of the cast, which obviously meant I loved them, and the exploration of its personality in UCN in particular is pretty cool. To be clear, my enjoyment of Charlie as a character is based on highly specific interpretations of certain lines, but when literally 90% of the story is up to interpretation, I feel that’s not too surprising.

In particular, taking Charlie as a deeply regretful person, who realized how badly she fucked up by reviving the children only after dozens of night guards had been killed and they’d already been trapped for years, with possibly hundreds of deaths on her hands, just trying to make things right again. And, just, so, fucking, tired, by the time Lefty happens (see: Lefty UCN lines). And don’t even get me started on the angst potential of being tortured by her supposedly loving father in the Bear Torture Contraption, the mistakes of her past haunting her because Henry sees her as the bloodthirsty night guard killer that no longer exists (see: she doesn’t attack Michael in FNAF 3), and hearing that he wants to “save her now” as she burns half-alive. Etcetera.

Again, hyperspecific. But I like it, so.

For the sake of completionism:

My favorite Silver Eyes character is probably Elizabeth/Adult Charlie/Baby (why is this character so hard to refer to).

Favorite Frights character is probably Eleanor. She’s just so sassy and girlfailure and somewhat intriguing she’s fantastic (or, at least, better than other Frights characters in my books).

Favorite Steel Wool Era character is Gregory if he dropped the elevator and probably Vanessa if he didn’t (I wonder what that says about me lol).

Favorite Mega Cat games character is Oswald (not that many to pick from tbf).

Favorite movie character is Mike. Just a really amazing spin on the already solid basis of Michael Afton.

Favorite Interactive Novels character is Ralph (is it cheating if I mainly like him cuz he’s Phone Guy?).

And… do I really not like any character from Tales? I don’t remember almost any of the stories very well, but I guess if I’d liked the characters enough, I’d remember them.

Since I don’t care about Edwin for now, I guess the Mimic is the only real option, but I’m not the biggest fan. I have hope Secret of the Mimic will sway me to actually caring about the guy, though! I’m already enjoying what we have of Jackie, because in case it wasn’t obvious by the fact I picked Eleanor over Jake or Larson, I kinda enjoy the fucked up clown women quite a bit! Mimic will never be Ennard, but he can get close, and there’s worse things to be than worse-Ennard.

Thanks a lot for the ask! I might have been wanting to write about FNAF more than I’d realized lol.

[flfverse]

Ok so I’m so obsessed with Free Falling and I actually think about it all the time and make up little scenarios in my head for it like I’m writing fanfic of it, so when you said the other day, shoot me ideas, I probably screamed. (Sorry this ask is really long again; I’m just incapable of shutting up)

Full disclosure here, I actually found FLF not because I’m a massive fan of BNHA (I actually stopped watching after season 3 before I even found your fic lmao) but because I’m kinda obsessed with BDSM-AU, specifically as the whole extensive-world-building-biological-imperative type genre.

Obviously now I’m super invested in your Dabi-Hawks. But honestly, I would be so thrilled to see you delve into more of your d/s world’s world building. Like what’s up with the submissive’s rights movement you’ve alluded to? Obviously most of the core leadership of the villains are subs, or switches, and Shigaraki’s made clear that he has a vested interest in that, but maybe not yet publically. How are they viewed? Are villains extra threatening to society because their rejection of a heavily respected institution that���s very dom central is appealing to the sub rights movement??? And so not only are they dividing on lines of hero and villain, they’re diving people along lines of traditional orientation and traditional relationships, etc etc?

I’m also just so fascinated with how other people see Hawks. I’m obsessed. I’m always scanning FF for the little tidbits you share about how other people view him. (Like the fact that Shigaraki clocks and thinks about way more of Hawk’s sketchy behavior than he lets on, or that Aizawa is probably pretty concerned about him.) obviously this is limited POV so there’s only so much of that. but beyond simply the stuff like cutting off Hawk’s bird features, how much of his meetings with the hero commission are about, well this tweet say you were acting a little subby in this press conference so that’s a problem” or “you react too defensively to questions about your dynamic” etc etc.

Do people theorize online about his orientation? Is he unusual in that he’s not super open about it, or are there others like him?

And lastly, because I can’t shut up, that one specific scene where Shigaraki and Hawks are sitting on the couch together and Shigaraki is like you’re obviously not a dom bc you suck at this and they’re talking about collars and contracts and Shigaraki is literally so keyed in to Hawk’s discomfort about contacts and the fact that he wants a collar so bad literally lives in my head rent free. Think about it all the time. And it’s just so fascinating to me because there’s something so uniquely domestic about it? I just love their relationship in this. They can’t be friends. They shouldn’t be. They’re not even open people. But it’s just this casual way that they interact on a dynamic level, it’s literally just subs chatting about sub things, and there’s this moment when Shigaraki realizes that something (contracts) that are a comfort and a safety net for him could be used to cause hurt in Hawks— idk it’s just this window to where it feels like the heros and villains part of it comes seconds. They’re just people, who have limited power in their society, talking about things of cultural importance, and relationships, and the ways they’re either supportive or abusive and it’s like … it’s so subtle but it just added so much to them as characters and the scope of your world and mostly I’m just saying that that one specific scene just lives with me.

bullying tumblr mobile for not telling me i have asks smh. anyway, hi!!

it’s my turn to be honest here and say i’m really not a worldbuilding person. which is weird, given the types of things i gravitate towards! FLFverse is my attempt at…i don’t want to say “working on that,” which would imply i want to write stuff like this all the time. i definitely don’t. but i do think having one project where i get really into it is fun and good for me. that said, it’s hard! i don’t know how people do this on the regular! there’s a lot of stuff in my head!

some of y’all compliment me on that and i just need you to picture a very frazzled writer at a comically large desk, surrounded by loose papers, just being like “ahaha, thanks??” bc i don’t know how i got here, but i am pleased with it, but also this is not my native habitat send help.

this is why chapters are taking longer ajshahdgs. or part of the reason. it’s a good thing, stretching my creative muscles, and i probably could stand to be a little better at worldbuilding overall, in other projects, so, there’s that.

so this ask has reminded me that i do need to add more little worldbuilding tidbits, which actually might work very nicely with my plans for chapter 16.

you’re absolutely right re: sub’s rights movements and villains. i wouldn’t call it part of their public mission statement or anything (yet), but anyone following them sufficiently closely knows the league has some pro-sub’s-rights leanings, at the very least, and it is definitely another big dividing line. i wouldn’t be surprised, even, if we start to see some regression in the rights subs and non-traditional folks have because of that.

i definitely want to write about how hawks is viewed online now and the commission’s reaction to it, omg. people definitely theorize. he’s definitely an outlier in not picking a label because it’s just such a hard thing to hide for a very long time, especially when most heroes are well known in their teen years and have some kind of accessible public record. and most heroes are doms and switches anyway, so there’s no real reason for them to hide. it’s sort of like how on forms when your gender options are “male / female / prefer not to say” you CAN be a cis person and pick “prefer not to say,” theoretically, but that option functionally just signals that you’re trans or nonbinary or what have you.

i think the commission probably does their very best to not outright label hawks as anything, but very heavily imply things. so your average person who doesn’t care much probably just assumes he’s a switch, but knowing how crazy fans can get in our world with theories….yeah. now i’m thinking about hawks being accosted by fangirls, tbh

a good way to test it would just be to command him on the street…..now that would be a nightmare scenario. tucks it in my back pocket.

i had to go looking for that shigaraki and hawks scene, lol, because i only partially remembered it. i do like that scene a lot so i’m glad you do too! i should write him and hawks more, too. it’s such a weird relationship, because shigaraki is this unhinged, angry guy, but he’s got this soft side, and i think he does care about people like him on some level—the league wouldn’t be so loyal to him if he didn’t. and in that scene he really starts to realize that hawks is a lot like them and, yeah, the different perspectives they have on things.

i still want to write a side spinneraki story at some point, lol. shigaraki has so much stress, even in canon, someone’s gotta help him out with it.

i don’t know if i added that much or if this is just a very long post reiterating your points, but….i definitely need to do some thinking. i get tunnel vision about strictly writing dabi & hawks’s relationship a lot of the time and forget other things exist. so thanks for the reminder!

[bonesandthebees]

Okay, the proper analysis for the vision. I really really like it, but it gives me so much anxiety. Also I’m pretty sure we’ve always had a vision either at the start or end of a chapter. (I don’t remember when the tommy murder attempt one was, but the ball was the start, curse was the end and this one is start again).

[There’s smoke in his lungs.] This is not a good line to open the chapter one, especially not in bold (I have a dyslexia friendly skin that turns italic into bold because that’s easier to read). My anxiety went up so hard I had to pause and rewire my brain for reading because I was not mentally prepared.

Anyway, what I like so much about the vision is the slow build and how clear half of it is even without Wilbur elaborating later on (but the elaboration later on is very good, Wilbur is the Pythia after all, he should be trying to figure it out and probably do a good job).

My thought process while reading was: oh shit fire -> is someone trying to smoke them out of the temple. Oh shot water -> did he fall into the bathhouse river or something? Looking for someone -> Tommy? Clara statue -> palace -> palace pool or whatever it was, there’s a Clara statue in the room Wilbur was praying to in the first chapter.

Through the chapter we get confirmation that Wilbur was looking for someone. And I think both him and Tommy know he’s looking for Tommy in that vision, but neither of them wants to say it out loud because that’s very scary (it is kinda fucking Tommy up even more though).

And in his conversation with Phil, Wilbur mentions that he thinks it’s at the palace and now he have the plan to send him back there and the confirmation that Tommy will follow him there/go out of his way to get Wilbur back outta there.

That leaves a few things, like why are they in that room specifically? Where is the smoke coming from (probably the active coup)? And why is (presumably Tommy) in the water?

So my finally theory is this: Wilbur is at the palace during the coup, shit goes wrong (as it does), fires are started (because of course they are), Tommy either comes to find Wilbur or has already done so. Problem: Tommy’s lungs still have not been fixed (Thanks a lot, SAM) and girl you love sneaking that into the past few chapters, so I’m just going to assume the smoke + potential running fucks with his lungs, he somehow ends up in the water (maybe a fight, maybe he trips, maybe he faints by lack of air). Wilbur then has to dive after him, which is where the vision comes in (can either of these boys swim?).

Anyway, have fun reading this and not being able to answer cause spoilers.

(1/?)

-🌲

the thing about writing the visions is that I'm constantly balancing on the line of making them clear but not at the same time. they need to be understandable to the point where wilbur can interpret them, but they can't be too obvious because that's not how they work. they're meant to be sporadic and dream-like and most of the knowledge that comes from them has to be more interpretation than actual fact presented in the vision itself if that makes sense. it's always a challenge to write one but I have fun with them

can't confirm what you're theorizing but as always I love seeing you guys try to figure out the visions when they happen. I'm really excited for this one to eventually play out :)

[desmondkane-of-ao3-fame]

So how would Skara and willow become an actual couple? I’m only asking because you have a few different answers.

Unfortunately, I'm not certain what to say, because if you're asking me 'How canonically would Skara and Willow get together,' it's kind of difficult one to answer.

The reason I've given so many answer's as to how Skara and Willow become a couple is because A) People asked often for different variations of it, and B) The show itself doesn't give a lot insight into their relationship, so a lot of speculation's can be made. We know Skara bullied Willow in the past, and we know now the two are friends, but a lot of specifics and nitty gritty details are less clear. The show never even gives a hand-wavey explanation for why Skara and Willow became friends, for Titan's sake. It can make for pretty fun speculation fodder and fan theorizing, but it also means creating a perfectly 100% show accurate answer to how Willow and Skara start dating involves a great deal of headcannoning, and also would involve explaining how Huntlow would break up since it's fairly obvious the intention at the end is that the two are in some form of romantic relationship.

I dooooooooo have something of an idea, a potential outline for a long-term Skarlow focused post-timeskip fanfic I'd be happy to see someone tackle, but with life, GS, and another project, there's too much for me to ever do it myself. So if you would like to take up the challenge of writing it yourself, feel free to take the idea and do it yourself. Hell, I might even beta-read it for you.

It starts from Skara's perspective as it follows her developing feelings over Willow while the pair are at Hexside. Over the years, Skara can't help but grow fond of her team captain and friend, eventually realizing she likes Willow a lot more then she should. She refuses to act on her feelings though, both because of her past as a bully and the fact that she's dating Hunter, so Skara mostly just vents to her bestie Viney about it all. After Hexside, Skara becomes a teachers aide and thinks she's fully gotten over her feelings for Willow until Hunter's 21st birthday, where he proposes to her in front of all their family and friends. Willow runs off, panicked, Luz and Amity follow after, and the party attendee's, unsure what to do, try either to help cheer Hunter up, or slip away before things get bad, which is Skara's method. Later, she hears that Willow broke up with Hunter, and a tiny, selfish pang of hope in Skara's chest reminds her that she hasn't given up her feelings for Willow. Even if she wishes she really had.

Later through Willow's perspective, we see how her relationship with Hunter was like. How she always liked him, cared about him, but never felt the same way for him as she did for her. How she always saw Amity and Luz and her dad's and wondered if she would eventually feel as happy with Hunter as they seemed with their partners. And how she never wanted to hurt Hunter, but after he proposed to her, she just didn't know how to react other then to panic. Essentially, she'd always love Hunter, but never felt in love with him, which leads to a lot of her personal conflict in the story. How she never wanted to hurt her friends, but now seems to have created this painful awkwardness in the Hexsquad because she could never be honest with Hunter or herself...

The main focus would be on both girls and their complicated emotions, both regarding their respective situations and, after a while, their feelings for each other. It would also feature a number of subplots, such as Skara being a teachers aid, Boscha and her relationship with Maya, and Hunter's own journey of self discovery after the breakup.

Not all the details are worked out perfectly, but I think there's at least something here, ya know?

[puhpandas]

tbh i am So Glad that you Also hate matpat’s robotkid/evil gregory schtick. it’s so bad! it isn’t even narratively satisfying! and i feel like sooo many people get dragged into his theories too… plus i just. hate hate hate that the books keep getting associated with canon. parallels are fine and dandy, but canons getting mixed like that pisses me off. idk if I’m being Clear on what i’m trying to say because i am Big Tired but yeah.

like, no hate to matpat for theorizing or anything! he’s having fun with it and that’s good, and he puts a hell of a lot of work into it all, but it gets so widespread and I’m just like >:( leave my son alone he is a Child!!! i want him and cassie to playfully bicker over who’s animatronic parent is The Best… pls-

FR like the mimic would have been a good villain if It wasnt ruined by the books. it feels so disconnected and last minute even if it isnt meant to. I feel like a lot of people definitely takes what MatPat says as fact and that might have had something to do with the fandoms fixation on the mimic

and yeah I actually try to take the writing and story aspect into account when theorizing and gregbot definitely isnt good. it's a fun concept but it should stay just that. I'm not gonna get into why Gregory being a robot would suck but tbh I dont think we have to worry about it being canon

[strandedcrow]

crow where can i find out the whole fnaf story easily? do i just go to the wiki or is there a good video to watch online? i love the games but have never actually learned all the lore behind them and with the movie coming out i want to finally do that

an actual super short explanation that is genuinely really good and concise and covers the majority of the plot is this video right here! this is probably the kind of thing you’re looking for and it sums everything up way better than i think i ever could tbh

however. long-winded response with extra details below lol

so i do want to start with saying that there Really isnt an easy explanation for a lot of the lore of the games bc so much of it is still heavily debated, to the point that even a lot of the basic timeline is pretty open for interpretation. that said, theres a good few commonly accepted timelines and theories that tend to be very similar to each other with only minor differences (such as swapping the order in which a few deaths happened early on), but part of why i really love fnaf so much is because the plot holes and inconsistencies make the story feel more involved as you try to figure out how you think everything happened. all this to say that my answer (and the video’s answer) is probably different from the next person’s answer which is different from the next person’s and so on

also despite being deeply obsessed with these games for like 9 years now, i havent read any of the books at all! the books and games (and movie) are viewed as being different canons, even as far as having different children in the main characters’ families in the books compared to the games. so my answer is only going to be about the games.

NOW while i love that video, for the sake of being concise it does miss a few things! and instead of sending you on a scavenger hunt to find answers for each specific thing i figure it would probably be easier (and more fun for me tbh. mostly the second part. i really love these games) to just briefly explain some of them:

the storyline order of the games: this is slightly complicated because of the cutscenes and main gameplay often taking place at different points in the storyline. some bits and pieces can be argued about what order they happened in, but my personal timeline is:

fnaf 4 cutscenes (bite of ’83)

fnaf 4 gameplay (evan’s nightmare coma following the bite of ’83)

fnaf 5 gameplay (sister location)

fnaf 2 gameplay (ends with the bite of ’87)

fnaf 1 gameplay

fnaf 3 cutscenes (william gets springlocked) (im torn putting this one here tbh but elaborating on that would make it more confusing i fear lol)

fnaf 3 gameplay (fazbear frights)

fnaf 6 gameplay (pizzeria simulator)

fnaf 7 gameplay (ultimate custom night, not a canon game to my understanding, but i really like including it, personally)

who do you play as in each game: like the timeline, some of these games are pretty clear on who you play as, and some are still debated a bit (i’m looking at you “fritz”). some of these are just heavily theorized, some are essentially confirmed. for the sake of simplicity, i’m just going to list them all together though.

michael afton: fnaf 1 (as “mike scmidt”), 3 (unnamed), 5 (as “mike”/“eggs benedict”), 6 (unnamed)

“evan” afton: fnaf 4

william afton: likely fnaf 7

jeremy fitzgerald (no that name has not been mentioned elsewhere in here, this is his only appearance shoutout jeremy, he showed up, nearly got murked, and never came back): fnaf 2 nights 1-6

fnaf 2 night 7 is where “fritz” comes into play: i think hes michael, as he was fired for similar reasons to “mike scmidt,” but from what i’ve seen this is still debated a bit, so im giving fritz his own section

evan’s name: we don’t actually know his name, but “evan” is the most commonly used fanon name and has been for years now. not that important but just in case you see someone calling him another name such as CC, which stands for crying child (because his sprite in the cutscenes in the game was almost always crying)

the order of the murders: the video i linked quickly covers the murders of the five children (susie, jeremy (not fitzgerald), fritz (also not the possibly michael fritz, i do not know why scott only knows like 10 names), gabriel, and cassidy), charlie emily, elizabeth afton, evan afton, and michael afton. to my knowledge, the only confirmed sequence of these deaths are actually:

susie, the little girl who haunts the chica animatronic, was the first one to be killed

evan died in 1983 (the bite of ’83)

michael died last

while the rest are usually left to fanon and theorized timelines.

the bite of ’87: while this has not been explicitly confirmed to my knowledge, the general consensus is that following the 6th night, a security guard during the day shift, likely the same guard you played as during the first 6 nights of this game (fnaf 2), was bitten in the head by an animatronic during the last birthday party that was scheduled at the location before it closed down due to someone (presumably william) breaking in and “using” the spring bonnie animatronic (which would later be called “springtrap” after william dies in it). the culprit behind the bite is commonly theorized to be the mangle due to the positioning of its jumpscare lining up with the player’s forehead. don’t worry, he survives though! as confirmed by the first game’s phone message that says “its amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe” in reference to the bite of ’87 thumbs up emoji

where the hell is anyone’s mother in these games? truly one of life’s great mysteries

have you seen the games but never heard of remnant until this video? don’t worry, it wasn’t explained until the AR game made for ios and android. it literally was not explained in the core games. you didn’t miss anything, these games are just a mess (said with all of the fondness in my heart)

movie tie-ins: WOOO MOVIE so obviously this is all speculation based on one teaser, one trailer, and audition descriptions, but so far we know we have “mike scmidt” in the movie as our main character. is he going to be a new character? is he going to be michael afton using an alias like in the game? no idea! and aside from potential leaks, we probably wont know until october 27. we also know that he has a little sister in the movie! her name is abby, not elizabeth, but its very possible she’s a similar “character” with a name swap, we really don’t know yet (also i feel that “abby” is a bit close to “baby” like the “circus baby” animatronic that killed elizabeth and that she then haunts so). we also know from audition descriptions that michael is “riddled with guilt over a tragedy in his past” which people are hoping will be the accidental manslaughter of his younger brother, as it would lend to the possibility of movie michael being michael afton. i dont really feel the need to elaborate on william speculation given its everywhere lol, but i do want to place an emphasis on vanessa being in the movie - almost certainly the same vanessa from help wanted and security breach. full transparency: i did not like her in those games because i felt she was a potentially original new villain that could’ve been cool to see after william was finally killed in pizzeria simulator, only for her to then be turned into a plot device to resurrect william. i’m in the personal camp of “let peepaw stay dead can we move on already,” so that twist annoyed me a lot lol (all the power to those who enjoyed her character/arc, but personally im just too attached to the ending of pizzeria simulator having michael and william both finally dying to enjoy the william resurrection plot like at all). given william seems to be fairly alive in the trailer, though, im hoping this means she’ll actually get to be her own character. either way, she looks like shes going to be important in this movie, so you might find her worth looking into as well!

[bucket-of-grass]

hai can i hear about the theories used to explain spontaneous human combustion ^_^ that sounds quite fun

HECK YEAH YOU CAN !! this is going to be long, also I’m pretty sure i got into wick effect because of a matpat video?? I cant be sure, anyway some of the debunked theories about it are so silly (such as ‘it was ghosts 🤷‍♀️’ and inventing a particle out of thin air that fistfights body cells as a hobby) so yes it’s so quite fun

Warning theres a couple gory details as you might expect from SHC so just watch out and all lol for anyone reading

SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION: Ok so, spontaneous human combustion/ SHC, defined as a phenomenon where a human will ignite without any clear cause. It’s a bit of an enigma and no proof that it actually exists hence all the theories about what it actually is and the general notion about it being all like spooky scary and paranormal.

THE THEORIES: Wick effect (we’ll come back to this one, my fav). — Excessive amounts of alcohol in the body making victims more flammable, this one was because the majority of SHC victims were proven alcoholics, the association of SHC with alcoholism was made during early research during the Victorian Era. — Methane buildup in gut bacteria leading to it reacting to the enzymes in the intestines during digestion, this was however debunked as species like cows produce substantially more methane than we do and they’re not spontaneously combusting. — Static electricity build up in the body or from some external like geomagnetic source. — Some self-proclaimed ‘SHC expert’ Larry Arnold said that it was a new particle, pyroton, interacting with the bodies cells creating small explosions, as of 2018 there is no evidence of the existence of pyroton, good try Larry. — In 1976, Michael Harrison blamed the work of poltergeist, Harrison also wrote a book about SHC titled Fire From Heaven I haven’t read it tho lol. — Lastly, as many victims were of old age, intoxicated, disabled, or in any other way possibly unable to quickly respond to a threat, it was theorized that there was simply an external ignition that the victim was unable to get away from and caught fire, the main issue with this theory is that it does not account for the characteristics that set SHC apart from just,,, catching fire normally. — Oh and some people, more so earlier in SHC research, just said it was god which isn’t surprising i guess.

CHARACTERISTICS: A 1938 article from the British Medical Journal written by L. A. Parry, using research from the book Medical Jurisprudence (1823), listed chronic alcoholism, elderly women, an external lighted source coming in contact with the body (lamps, cigarettes, etc etc), hands and feet separating from the body (yikes), environment around the body is intact, greasy and ashy residue was a harsh odor with the body, as common characteristics of most SHC victims. Another notable characteristic, not mentioned in this article, is that many of the cases (especially those supported by wick effect) remained ignited for a pretty long time (think like 8-13 hours, i made up those specific numbers but it’s around that long) and burned at a low temperature.

WICK EFFECT: alr we got a looooot to get through on this one so buckle in. Wick effect explains most if not all of the characteristics of SHC cases and is kind of fun and interesting so its my favorite lol. Wick effect is essentially the theory that the body can act as an inside out candle, idk how much sense that analogy makes to me either but thats why it’s called wick effect so i figured I’d mention it anyway. SO what that means is body fat acts like the wax of the candle (fuels the wick and keeps it burning for extended periods of time), and the clothes or hair acts as the wick (houses the flame). The kicker of wick effect is that the hair or clothes were ignited by some sort of outside source, so not really “spontaneous”. Anyway, as the body fat (flammable) melts, it seeps into the clothing and hair which keeps the fire going. The melting body fat is also what would be causing the greasy residue noted in most SHC cases. Wick effect also explains why the space around the body is mostly unaffected by wick effect as it’s not in contact with the “wick”. Wick effect also explains why the hands and feet are often separated from the body, there isn’t enough body fat on the hands and feet for it to burn/melt to the same extend as the rest of the significantly more fatty and therefore more flammable body so they just kind of,,, fall off when the rest of the body is burned.

CASES SUPPORTED BY WICK EFFECT: — Mary Reeser (1884-1951) Ignited herself with a cigarette, her clothes acting as the wick. Supported by the body fat found in the rug near Mary during investigation. — Leeds (1963) An experiment in wick effect, wrapping a small amount of human fat in cloth and then igniting it with a Bunsen burner, taking over a minute to light. After removing the burner, it took about an hour for the entire amount of fat to be burned, leaving behind grease and soot. This gave insight into the extended amount of time it takes for a wick-effect-supported-case to run its course. — Oregon murder (1991) After two hikers discovered an adult female body in a well oxygenated area of woods, many factors made this case very likely to have been an example of wick effect. The upper body had been stabbed several times, leaving the body immobile, allowing the flame to run it’s course over wick effects signature long-amount-of-time. Only the center portions of the body were severely burned/ damaged (upper legs, torso, mid chest, fleshy parts of the arms, and the spine which was entirely disintegrated, yikes) which checks out with wick theory as the ends of the body did not catch. The offender had also soaked the clothes and body of the victim in almost a pint of barbecue starter fluid and ignited her which would have allowed even easier ignition. — Forensic scientist John DeHaan (1998) This experiment by DeHaan was publicized on BBC, he wrapped a pig’s body in a blanket and lit the blanket with petrol. The pigs body fat liquified, feeding the flame. Most of the pigs flesh and bones turned to ash (not including the feet) although the rest of the room remained almost untouched. All lining up with the criteria of wick effect. — Geneva (2006) The body of a man was discovered in his home. His body was mostly disintegrated between the mid-chest and knees. The death was likely caused by the victim having a heart attack (inability to escape or put out the fire) while smoking (ignited by the cigarette). The man and the chair he was sitting on were burnt as they were both in contact with the “wick”, but the rest of the area was untouched outside of the grease left by the melted fat.

Anyway for more info i highly suggest just like poking through the wiki on SHC bc theres so many more details i didn’t include here that are so fun and also a few theories i didn’t have in my notes and whatever so YEAH SHC AND WICK EFFECT

[32flavorsotbbg]

7.29

So Mr is paying for the movie tomorrow by choice, even tho I was the one who pitched it

I’m excited

I’m honestly glad this isn’t moving fast like that’s actually one of my pet peeves is when someone thinks they like me without getting to know me. I can’t believe I forgot that one when he asked

Love the sexuality convo because it means he’ll be less inclined to try to fuck me or be overly sexual. Makes me feel way more comfortable and not threatened by dick flying at me.

He REMINDED ME about the mirror selfie (in the mirror in the closet of my parents room at the paso rental) last night and said it was a need 🥵 yummy

He said if I sniff him and like his stink then he’ll “know it’s real” like bitch I’ll fucking lick your pits don’t play with my strange ass

But like whatchu finna know is real?!?!?!?! 😬 cause I don’t smell my friends like that booboo

I think I read into things too much.

But it’s so fun!!!!!!!

The convo in which we figured out we were in fact being set up was nice because it was kinda like welp, neither of us really has a problem with that cause we get along well lol plus there’s a built in sense of time-taking because he’s not even divorced yet. There’s just enough flirting-ish behavior to know the pins are set up but we will have to wait a while to knock them down if that is in fact what we’re going to do. Honestly everything is fine.

If this doesn’t go anywhere, that’s fine. I still have a friend who is a guy which is great! It’s something I wanted anyway! I’m not worried about it. I’m not obsessing really. It’s really fun to have a crush and have that kind of tension of almost waiting for him to be ready. or waiting for more to happen to be said. I say almost because I’m really not waiting. I’m doing my own thing 100%. I wasn’t talking to anyone before him and it’s not really my desire to. It just so happens that I’m attracted to him and we get along.

But he’s open about how he feels like he’s known me for a while, he wants to talk about things and be open and honest and vulnerable.

He said the other day some of the things he daydreams about are “too embarrassing” but he feels like he’s getting closer to them????? So I’m wondering like, if that’s something like being in love with someone or being with someone who actually likes him and is attracted to him and wants to do fun stuff and is laid back and cool and honest. Like maybe he daydreamed about a shot at redemption in love and now he feels like he might be getting closer. That may be me projecting but it’s certainly fun to theorize!!!!

Idk I just feel like this is headed straight for something more but I myself will not be pushing it there if I’m not catching the lead from him. I’m not budging no matter how long it takes. And I mean I’m not budging in the sense that I won’t be pressing for anything. If it’s clear he’s coming for me then of course I’m matching that energy. He’ll need to prove himself as someone for ME specifically and then I’ll follow suit.

But I like where he’s at rn I feel like it’s very mature. He is looking at himself right now so I really don’t need him to look at me and if he does look at me I hope he’s just getting to look deeper at himself thru me.

Because there would be nothing worse than throwing him off his course (him throwing himself, on my account) and then somehow I’m paying for it emotionally or otherwise.

I’ll match energy for sure but he’ll have to make it KNOWN what he wants. Until then I’m friend Elizabeth 🫡 I’m gym partner I’m penpal I’m hiking buddy I’m whatever. But once that flag is raised I’m most likely in. I’m still getting to know him as well and I think that’s really important to remember.

Cause what if he’s not for me? What if I see something I don’t like that’s a non negotiable???? Speaking of, I need to find that notebook….

[bdoubleowo]

I’ve just been wondering how like. Pink parrots even came to BE.

Because like. It’s a wild-ass team. Winner from the last mcc. Lord Grian Dreamslayer. Mr. Techno “several mini games had to be reworked because you broke them” Blade. Wilbur soot.

Was Scott so restricted by the YouTube partnership stuff that he had to make this team? Or did he see us and hear our calls. He looked upon those of us desperate for Grian/sbi content and granted our wishes. Did he pair them together because he knew it would bring in the views to make cash money for charity? Did he just think it would be a good team, nothing more?

Or was it a specific request of the competitors? Did Wilbur ask for Grian? because as we all know Wilbur is a Grian fan. Did Wilbur have to mark off “I can be family friendly if I need to” in hope of pairing with Grian? Did Techno ask to pair with Grian for some of that sweet sweet Hermitcraft clout?

Or perhaps, my favorite theory.

Grian lately has been marking down Very Good players as people he wants to play with because he desperately wants to win. He’s spoken about this. Now. Perhaps, this MCC. He heard whispers of Techno returning? Or even just.

In a blind hope, Lord Grian Dreamslayer asks “Scott. My man. My most trusted ally in 3rd Life. Please. I have one request. Give me.

The Blade.”