#unintelligible meta

[unintelligible-screaming]

5.

considering homestuck is about kids playing a game, very little of the comic actually shows gameplay. sure, lots of interactions take place while the game session is in effect, but even in the early acts, the actual gameplay is rarely shown. we're more likely to see "on screen" the beta kids in conflict with their parents (rather than with sburb constructs), or the characters struggling to bring each other into the game to avoid meteors. the game itself appears on the page mostly as a series of frustrated conversations about the meta-game: the characters asking each other "why are we playing this? what are the consequences? what happens afterwards?"

if you contrast that with other stories with similar premises, or even other stories that involve games in general, this is really startling. it's a major departure from what you usually find in the game-that-turns-out-to-be-real subgenre of science fiction. instead, homestuck is a series of interstitial moments strung together, and its central drama is the experience of living in those interstitial moments.

to elaborate: homestuck is about waiting. the characters all begin with the hollow feeling that their life has always been missing something, that they're waiting for something they can't name. once the story is in full swing, the characters are stuck in transit for literal years, with nothing to do but fuck around, fall in and out of despair, have absurd romantic drama, and wander in dreams. and the readers waited for years for hiatuses to end! broad arcs of plot are conveyed through blisteringly brisk exposition (more or less the entirety of the trolls' game session, for example, happens "off screen"). moments of high drama happen in a blaze of minutes, and are remembered by readers as the high points they are — but if you weight the text by words alone, most of the story is people waiting.

that's fascinating. it's life approached sideways. it's a long, rambling exposition of what it means to live in a state of anticipation; to hover in the waiting room of your own life.

so i’m re-reading homestuck. currently i’m near the beginning of act 5. assorted thoughts:

1. rose is so fucking funny. fanfic writers never remember this

2. speaking of rose — her classpect means that in fanart and fanfic, her mysterious seer-iness is highly emphasized. but in acts 1 through 4, the mysterious one is jade. DREAM VISIONS! ENIGMATIC HINTS AT PROPHECY! TIME LOOP BULLSHIT! jade is THE mysterious seer-adjacent character. meanwhile, rose acts like she knows what’s going on but she basically never does. as a result, fanfic especially gives the mysterious-seer attributes to rose and jade is just sort of… there. (i am kinda guilty of this myself.) my new 2024 slogan: let jade be enigmatic as fuck!

3. the first time vriska ever appears — unless you count her username appearing without being directly referenced, which happens pretty early — is at the very very edge of a panel, in which you can see one of her horns. that happens a few times pre-act-five, especially in panels that involve terezi. honestly most terezi conversations pre-act-five get funnier if you imagine vriska looking over her shoulder like ::::/ or like ::::D

4. the fandom image of karkat is highly positive. the idea of his character is kinda locked to karkat as he appears in act 6 (maybe late act 5?), and fan depictions of early karkat (pre-sgrub, or simply early act 5) seem to retrospectively plaster his later characterization onto his earlier self. his general assholery is interpreted as blunted grumpiness that no one really takes seriously. that interpretation more or less makes sense for later versions of his character, but it’s startling how genuinely mean he is in early act 5! he’s such a jerk that in a conversation with early act 5 vriska he comes off looking worse! that’s HARD. and a really interesting facet of his character!

[housepilled]

yes i am thinking about the c word again. this episode is my roman empire. but right now i’m specifically thinking about how house literally goes against his nature for wilson. cuddy says “everything you’ve ever done is to avoid pain — drugs, sarcasm, keeping everybody at arm’s length so no one can hurt you” yet he gives wilson the rest of his vicodin, willingly detoxes, so wilson can be in less pain before he throws them up again. house is rational; in his book in any other situation, this would be a stupid decision. it wouldn’t cause much relief to wilson and would deprive house of a lot of it. it’s completely irrational. i’d wager that house would mock it in anyone else. but yet he does it anyway for wilson.

in my humble opinion (with no nuance) house is a good person, but, nonetheless, he will defy that and hurt people if it will cause him less pain. nobody likes pain, of course, but house has experienced so much of it from such a young age, an issue only compounded by his infarction, that (while he does subconsciously inflict it on himself as punishment because said pain from a young age made him think it is necessary because it made him think there is something broken in him that needs to be violently fixed — i could talk for hours about how much i hate john house) he will go to any lengths to avoid it. it is a pattern we see time and time and time again. house constantly hurts others, himself, as long as it can possibly lessen some potential short- or long-term pain.

but then he gives up his vicodin for wilson. he endures the pain, not just of his leg without painkillers but also of detox, for wilson. cuddy says “you’ll choose yourself over everybody else over and over again, because that's just who you are” and yet house chooses wilson. he gives wilson the last of his vicodin. he’s willing to let wilson die on his couch because it’s what wilson wants. he endures wilson saying he should be the one with cancer. he accepts that wilson will die and lets him go the way he wants. he accepts that he will never be able to go back to practicing medicine, will probably cut his own life short as well, and goes off with wilson for his last five months. he literally transcends his own nature, his base instincts from his childhood, for wilson. and if that isn’t incredibly poetic then i don’t know what is.

[an-actual-attack-helicopter]

That was. The best goddamn Helluva Boss episode so far. I need to infodump about this. The animation. The voice acting. The music. The moments. The dialogue. Oh, the dialogue; probably the show’s most impressive aspect. Let me get into it.

Right off the bat, the characterization is sensational. You can tell the thoughts and feelings characters are EXPRESSING and suppressing. You have them all figured out.

I also really like the shot below where Blitzo looks like an angry toddler. Because that’s kind of what he is.

He is childish and shitty. The establishment of that fact kicks off the plot of the episode: not Blitzo apologizing, but Blitzo taking a real good look at what he’s done.

Blitzo still isn’t taking things seriously when he first arrives at the party.

None of his “apologies” have been sincere. It would take more to crack him. And more apparently equals a killer classic-rock-like musical number and a confrontation. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, as Blitzo watches the party progress, he he slowly…

begins…

to feel…

horrible.

I love how this is demonstrated through his behavior with Stolas and Verosika.

Like, in this scene Blitzo goes super quiet when Stolas tells him how he wants someone to love him. Blitzo wants to tell him but he figures out that that isn’t what Stolas needs. He needs Blitzo go work on his own problems. Those problems have reached a breaking point where Blitzo actually admits to Verosika that he wants to change.

He has fucked up so much and he knows it. He has finally been forced to take a sec and look at the damage he persistently denies.

And so, Blitzo lets Stolas be. He lets Verosika be. He lets everyone he has wronged hate him in peace. Blitzo knows he should probably do some self-reflection or something before he goes breaking more hearts. Great ending.

[dragonagedreaming]

I personally feel that Solas's biggest character flaw IS his inability to recognize his own selfishness. Or rather, his unwillingness. There have been instances through the da games where spirits have become human- I think there was one in awakenings who became human for his lover??? And, of course, Cole. Cole seems happy either way, but I also feel that it's the better ending for Cole to become more human. And Solas refuses to see that! That that may be the better option- that it's a CHOICE Cole made, unlike him.

Solas wasn't able to make that choice, in fact it's one of his greatest regrets. Just like the Veil is. I do think the Veil should come down at some point in Thedas permanently, à la Star vs the Forces of Evil ending (go watch it it's beautiful) but. But!! As the world is right now, as the VEIL is right now, it's just not safe. Solas DID crack open the Veil in Minrathous at the start of datv, and demons came flooding out!! That shit's dangerous!!!

Maybe at the beginning, when people were trapped in the Veil, maybe THEN it would have been a good idea to take the Veil down. The world was very different after all. But as it is when Solas awakens, the world not only is functioning perfectly fine, it's not READY for Solas's world. Its just not. Solas isn't taking the Veil down to help people or spirits- he's doing it to make himself feel better. It's a trauma reaction, obviously, but like Rook says-

Making amends isn't about what you want.

[essenceofarda]

for forever i hated on the idea of fandom Meta (and Academia-esque works on fandom topics) bc I felt too dumb to understand any of it. Now I kinda wish I could get into making or writing Tolkien Meta (?) but I'm still, unsurprisingly, too dumb for that 😂

I'll just leave it to the smart fandom folk lol

[prismartist]

i wonder. if the federation really aims to keep islanders content (probably just to keep an iron grip on them) and really do not wish to harm the eggs (unless, again, they deem it necessary like with cellbit), and if we assume they control the codes now, could this be a... repatch, of sorts? a gradual attempt to make the grieving islanders happy again by giving their eggs back? maybe by taking a code and melding it into a clone of them?

i just think it's curious; juanaflippa might have been sent to spy on the islanders, but she has to be kept a secret, and charlie isn't super up to date with the goings-on of the island. there's not a lot of info she could get from hiding in a cave thousands of blocks out from spawn. but she could have been a beta test. or maybe all of the above: a spy, a test, and a consolation prize. she was the birthday gift after all.

but i don't think there's too much to worry about if she's staying lowkey for now. it's severely messed up if that's not the real juanaflippa, yes, and also that she can't come out and play like a real egg, but unless her real goal is to kill other eggs (unlikely considering how the new codes haven't targeted any eggs, and even so other eggs don't visit eggxile often), i don't think she's necessarily dangerous. unless she's playing the long game. which is also terrifying.

but if other dead eggs come along, and if they seem a lot more like themselves, then we might need to keep a closer eye on them.

[itsmylosssherly]

Things in YuuMori that could be the authors not quite knowing or it could be part of the story - Part 1

So, we can all agree that YuuMori takes quite a few ... artistic liberties, when it comes to western historical accuracy, christian themes etc. (Which I, as a christian-raised european, actually quite enjoy, it takes the forced "perfection" out of the equation and makes for a much more pleasant reading of the actual story)

Now I was thinking of some things, that stood out to me, when reading the manga, that I wanted to talk about

(This will mostly focus on the english translation of the manga, because my japanese is not yet good enough to reliably understand the whole context, so if you see something, that doesn't come across in the english translation very well, but is in the japanese, please do not hesitate to tell me)

This will also be a multi-part-series, because it goes on longer than I thought it would

Sherlock's Cockney Dialect

As people have previously pointed out, Sherlock and Mycroft were born in "North Riding" (presumably "The North Riding Of Yorkshire", which is a historical region near York in, you guessed it, Yorkshire), as per the official character sheets in Volume 18

In Volume 2 Chapter 5 "The Noahtic, Act 1" William says Sherlock "[CHOOSES] to speak with a Cockney Accent"

And while Sherlock doesn't actually speak in a Cockney Accent in the manga (because american translators can't write british dialects apparently) it does get implied every now and then

Now, Cockney is a VERY regional dialect and sociolect of english, that is basically only spoken by the working class and lower middle class in London (which is about 300 km away from Yorkshire (which doesn't sound like a lot, but for a dialect it is))

Side Note - Cockney can also historically more or less refer to people, things, culture etc. from London's East End (The place where William and Louis grew up, before they were adopted into the Moriarty house hold, and I think it's quite funny to imagine William and Louis being able to switch between Cockney and The Queen's English quite easily, and maybe even other dialects)

So Sherlock was born in Yorkshire, has a brother who speaks The Queen's English and chooses to speak in Cockney ... How does that make sense?

And some people have proposed that Sherlock might have commuted between Yorkshire and London when he was younger and therefore he might have picked up Cockney on some or other escapades to The East End Of London, but that doesn't seem completely right

And honestly I did think at first that it was just Miyoshi-Sensei and / or Takeuchi-Sensei not being quite aware of english dialects (and granted, that could be the case)

BUT it could also be, that Sherlock and Mycroft's The Queen's English speaking father, married their Cockney speaking mother

(At this point it should be stated that "proper" The Queen's English is more or less an "artificial dialect" (as artificial as english dialects can get, (which is not very)) and learned and used a lot by for example the BBC (that's why it's also sometimes called BBC english) and government officials (at least until a few decades ago) and about as close as you can get to a british "high english" as some other languages have "high languages" (high german, high arabic etc.))

So father Holmes, presumably a government official, might actually come from The North Riding Of Yorkshire, learned The Queen's English, met mother Holmes, had children with her

And while Mycroft, probably already early on, was involved with the Holmes' legacy and almost always has to hold himself in a "proper manner"

Sherlock, as the second son, probably didn't feel as much pressure to conform (or he just didn't really care) and if he has a better relationship with his mother than he has with his father, then maybe he just decided he did not want and / or need to "[FIX] his accent" (as he says to Billy in Chapter 67), the dialect of his mother, Cockney

He might consciously choose to speak in Cockney and not force himself to speak The Queen's English, because he is proud of his and his mother's roots, like William says

I will for now try to ignore the fact that it doesn't really make sense for someone like Sherlock and Mycroft's father (who is presumably a relatively high-ranking government official like Mycroft) to marry someone from a class in London that speaks Cockney (like Sherlock and Mycroft's mother and / or her family apparently does)

[lingeringscars]

And now tiffany has me sobbing in the way spencer completely crumbles at the thought of losing one of the girls or any of them. But also the way her first assumption is that SHE is gonna be iced out. It completely destroys her to think about them icing out hanna and what that is doing to her and how it was her decision. It hurts her even more to think hanna will hate her forever for it. A has taken everything from me please I can't lose you, too. The way she breaks after every fight with Emily. She loves these girls more than anything and it completely destroys her whenever she thinks she might lose them.

[mydaroga]

I just saw a post about how the Beatles aren't overrated but actually underrated, because they did create the blueprint for so much that came after, and in a sense (I'm paraphrasing) just the act of calling them overrated is underrating them.

I agree with all that, but I'm struggling to reconcile how I felt about them just a year ago (when I thought about them at all) as someone who maybe didn't declare they were overrated (maybe I did IDK) but certainly contributed to a "what's all the fuss about?" blather. And it's because it can be very hard to have things forced on you by culture when you don't feel it yourself or when you can't seem to get a good explanation as to why.

I'm not sure what my point is, other than that I'm trying to unpack my 40 years of non-Beatles fandom as contrasted to today, and I want to know WHY it didn't work on me, and WHY I didn't feel it. And part I'm sure has to do with the place I'm at in life or whatever.

But I think partly it's because it's inherently very difficult to understand, when you love something, that others are not having the same experience, and I think the way we try to convince others to be passionate about the same things often falls flat. I think we've all seen this, when you refuse to watch a movie because everyone in your peer group saw it and somehow it's suddenly super annoying that they are all talking about this thing. And this isn't a peer group but all of culture. It's not logical, but it's human.

I think the Beatles as I know and love them now is very different from the Beatles that were presented to me as objects that required my love and fealty, and I'm still trying to work out WHY. Was it just resistance to the very notion there was a Best Band Ever? Was it the songs I got exposed to themselves? Was it that I needed to be both more and less emotionally mature than I was when I was younger? Was I just a little bitch?

You can sub the Beatles for anything here really, we all have things like this I think, but this past year I've been going around finally loving this thing that is basically the air we breathe, and I want to know why I didn't before.

And you know, I think partly it's because I was told where to rank the Beatles when I was issued a birth certificate. But as someone who now AGREES with that ranking, it's hard to figure. So I'm not calling anyone out for, like, over-hyping the Beatles, especially since I agree they deserve ALL of that. Just puzzling over the vagaries of the fannish experience, I guess.

[shdwtouch]

kaey just like. this is my... little sister. and gesturing to shade. shade just like ; w ; you mean it ????

I make him sound so much more tired and grumpy than he is in his assassin era but yeah. kaey just. this is a person in my care. I would kill and die for her. shade just dying internally because someone cares about her. she is overwhelmed by this knowledge. kaey just. yeah please don't die.

[2blokesgoforaswim]

drew this up so i would stop thinking about it.

[vampiric-transsexual]

Okay, serious discussion about s5e7 of wwdits. I have a lot of mixed feelings about it. The creatures fell into the uncanny valley, why did they choose the donut lady as a plot for nadja when it could've been with the guide, etc. HOWEVER, what I do appreciate about this episode is the meta commentary on how Nandor's culture is simultaneously erased in history classes and then mocked by museums. His culture, his writings, his garments.. almost everything about his history is completely misrepresented by the museum and all of his artifacts were stolen. He literally sees a pair of his underwear on display! He is looked at as an object, a relic of the past. The museum portays him as being unintelligent and frowns upon his writings. And that's based on their narrow understanding of him, Al Q, and his culture. The historians do not know Nandor of course, but they view him through a lense that chooses to only see him and his culture as unintelligent, subhuman even- because why else would someone write something like this? Or wear something like this? Or use weapons like this? It reminds me of those TV shows that theorize the pyramids were made by aliens. Because how else could the Egyptians have been capable of creating the pyramids? Surely they can't be intelligent enough! *eye roll*

Idk someone could probably use better words to communicate what I'm trying to say here, but I wanted to bring it to the table anyway. Oh, also Colin becomes the center of attention by acting like the stereotypical white professor who is more focused on feeding their ego than actually educating his pupils. And this ends up in Nandor being pushed out of the conversation. A literal metaphor for how whiteness obscures and diminishes other cultures and immigrant communities. Of course Colin did that just to feed off of the students. Because then he ends up replacing the museum display with a more accurate representation of Nandor (albeit for comedic effect). And then by taking back his horsie necklace. But.. everyone listened to Colin! And ignored Nandor! Lots to think about in terms of erasure, white washing, forced assimilation, how museums profit off of stolen artifacts and skewing history, etc.

Nandor is an immigrant to Staten island and he was forced to assimilate. Imagine how he must feel when he sees all these stolen artifacts in the museum, and plaques that inaccurately portray his culture and history. And people gawking at the clothes and weapons he proudly wore/still wears. This is a reality for many native and immigrant communities here in America and abroad. Being forced to view your culture, your way of life through the lense of the oppressor.

[pyrrhocorax]

Re: Sweden, Norway, and Denmark's Japanese dialects in Hetalia (and potential implications to their characterization) (with briefer notes about Fin and Ice)

Thanks to @nordickies for being the spark that lit the fire to write this post. This information also personally has informed some of my personal takes on the Nordic 5 for over a decade now, so I hope it is useful. A lot of this was more common knowledge back in the livejournal days of the fandom.

Disclaimer: my Japanese is limited and by no means do I claim to fully understand all of the cultural complexities surrounding this topic. I will try, where I can, to back up my claims with at least somewhat credible sources especially since I am someone who is not Japanese in origin either ethnically or culturally, however I DO know more than the average person would because I have lived in Japan, was exposed from my practical birth to the culture and language waaay more than is typical due to me living overseas, and I have studied the language on an elementary level in several academic settings. I am by no means an expert (I am a wildlife biologist by trade), but all of this is done in good faith, and if you do know more than me (especially since I am limited in my ability to get access to academic texts right now — nor am I going far out of my way to find those, as this is a meta post about Hetalia of all things and I am not going to do a whole giant thesis about this for one post), feel free to correct me and/or send me further resources, as I want to convey as accurate of information I can as possible. Part of my motivation for making this post was to spur conversation and hopefully have others who know more than me contribute to the ongoing conversation, to which, I encourage those who read this post to check the notes for any further updates. Another note that I also do not originate from a Nordic country, so there may also be additional layers people from those countries may be able to add. Thanks! Let's begin.

*********************************************************** Like several characters in Hetalia, the Viking Trio speak in unique Japanese dialects that further make them distinct and characterize them in Japanese. Sweden speaks in a Touhoku dialect, Norway in the Tsugaru dialect (which is a specific type of Touhoku dialect), and Denmark speaks in Ibaraki dialect. The Ibaraki dialect is sometimes seen as belonging to the Touhoku dialect group or the Kantou dialect group, and the classification is debated. Generally, Touhoku accents are characterized by slow speech, the slurring of words together, and the muttering of words — as well as being associated with rural country folk (Kumagi 2011, direct PDF download). This dialect is often translated into English as a redneck/hick accent and drawling speech — and as those who speak it are often characterized or stereotyped as unintelligent folks from out in the sticks. Kumagi cites Inoue (1977) as saying that Touhoku dialects are "degraded at the bottom in the Japanese language" scoring low on "intelligence and emotion-related associations." One American English rough equivalent (not localized, but in terms of reputation in U.S. culture) by my best estimations would likely be Appalachian dialects, which are also stereotypically characterized as being a hillbilly, unintelligent, and rural accent also featuring drawled speech and often truncated speech (source). Like many Touhoku dialect speakers in Japan, Appalachian dialect speakers often hide, mask, or reduce their accent, especially if they relocate someplace outside Appalachia, in order to seem more credible to others, as it is generally seen as an “inferior” dialect of American English in the wider culture (personal/family lived experience, but also a good radio piece on it here). The other way Touhoku dialects are translated in media are as Upper Midwest or Northern Plains dialects of American English (not the most credible source, but a lot that is on here that I can confirm to be correct). This characterization is likely a more accurate candidate for the Nordics (and may be why Hima chose this dialect group for them), as many immigrants from Nordic countries settled in the Upper Midwest/Northern Plains (source, personal experience living in this region for a lot of my life). Touhoku dialects are also a more northern dialect group, which geographically coincides with the Nordics being, well, northerners!

(Map of Touhoku dialects regionally) I have not been able to find any information re: if Sweden speaks any particular type of Touhoku dialect (or if it is more broad), but I will talk a bit about how his speech was transliterated in early scanlations before moving on to the other two. Because of how slurred/more truncated/less intelligible Touhoku accents generally are (and remember, Den/Nor/Ice did not make their appearance until well after Swe/Fin did!), likely early translators decided to chop off letters/make Sweden's speech seem less intelligible in order to convey that to readers. Unlike Norway and Denmark, Sweden also often speaks in shorter sentences/phrases in Japanese, and given that Finland canonically says "it's just hard to communicate with him" (see Running Away with Mr. Sve) that is also likely why early Hetalia scanlators before official translations of the comics were available (note: god this is making me feel old as hell) made the decision to give him the speech patterns that they did, and that ended up spreading through the fandom. When the other Nordics with their regional dialects dropped, given how Sweden’s vocal trait got translated into English and then fandom ran with it to varying degrees of intelligibility, I think the decision was made to not translate Norway the same way to cause less trouble in fanworks, while the Ibaraki dialect did influence how Denmark was translated (more on that below.

Norway speaks in a very particular Touhoku-family dialect within the series that is generally not well-reflected outside of the source material at all. The Tsugaru dialect is spoken in the northwest part of the country, specifically in the western part of Aomori Prefecture — Tsugaru dialect is a particularly unusual dialect, even by Japanese dialect standards, by being one of the most difficult dialects in Japan to understand (source). Even within Japan itself, people speaking this dialect often have to be subtitled on television for other Japanese audiences to understand, and there have been occasions where the dialect has been displayed on television to marvel at how strange and unintelligible it sounds to other Japanese speakers. Sometimes speakers of this dialect have been characterized (or mischaracterized for comedic effect) as French in Japanese because the odd sound and unintelligability of the dialect (source). Kumagi (2011) also states that "[...] within the Tohoku [alternate transliteration of Touhoku] dialects, Aomori [prefecture in which Tsugaru is spoken] dialect is at the bottom [of the hierarchy]," meaning that even among the already disrespected Touhoku dialects, Tsugaru belongs to the worst of the bunch in terms of reputability and respectability in Japanese perceptions. The Tsugaru dialect is a source of fascination, comedy, and disrepute/low standing all at the same time. While we don’t know why Hima selected Norway to have this dialect, I have a few proposals. First, this gives him a similar flavor to the other members of the Viking Trio while keeping him distinct — while Ibaraki is a more southern dialect geographically (for the region), Tsugaru is spoken both more north and more west than it. So if you map their dialects out on a map, their geographical location to each other also somewhat resembles their actual locations as nations to each other in the Nordics! Which is neat!

Second, Hima characterizes Norway has being slightly otherworldly and unusual largely due to his fairy-friends and such. But I also think that he likely chose Tsugaru for him not only because that makes him seem like he’s out of this world, but also because Japan is kind of fascinated by that dialect in particular despite not holding it in high regards by it too — sure, it is a hick accent, but it is an interesting hick accent. I think the fact that Japanese speakers sometimes liken the dialect to French is interesting specifically because of how Japanese people often view the French — French culture something that is often romanticized and idealized, and given how Tsugaru dialect can sound French-ish to Japanese speakers, that may be why Norway is kind of designed as the “pretty boy” of the trio by the fandom? In the same way that “Paris Syndrome” is a thing, where Japanese who go to France are often shocked at how their idealized version of France does not live up to the realities of the country (trust me it's real there is a wikipedia page lol), I think you can argue that in-universe Norway can be seen in a lot of different ways depending on the preconceived notions of how you view the dialect. If you view it as French-like and think it sounds interesting, you may find it alluring/beautiful. If you think it is crass, you'll look at it with disdain and disgust. If you think it just sounds silly and stupid, it is. If you think it is nostalgic (as Kumagi states that this is the only positive association this dialect has) and has a close association with nature/pastoral life because of that, it is. I think Norway in canon is characterized on all four of those axioms at the same time (if you really wanna pull canon receipts I will at another time) which makes this make a lot of sense to me as to why that dialect was chosen for him. Third, I think that given Norway was largely the worst off of the three kingdoms for most of history, it makes sense to give him the worst accent in terms of reputation/status out of all of them, too. Note: specifically, re: how Norway uses "brother" in Japanese is also interesting when referring to Denmark. What he is saying is "anko" (あんこ), which literally means "young man/eldest son" directly translated and is specifically only used to mean that in northern Japanese dialects. A good way to put it is it is like people in the U.S. use "bro" as a catch-all term for a similar-aged guy you are trying to get the attention of kind of informally, in the same way you can say "nii-san" to both mean "older brother" and also "guy who seems older than me I am addressing informally" I guess?? Funnily enough, which I didn't know until researching shit, it apparently also means bottom (homosexual) in prison slang??? Which may or may not be intentional I guess on Hima's part, and could also influence your characterization of Norway as a result. Finally we move on to Denmark. The Ibaraki dialect is characterized by number of things, but for our purposes I think that the two most important traits are the general lack of polite speech and the slightly faster rate of speech (unfortunately, my only written sources I can point to are wikipedia and TV tropes again, but I have heard this orally from someone a long time ago - I looked for more credible sources but couldn't find any easily). Because of it being debated as to whether or not is a true Touhoku dialect or if it is actually a Kantou (more southern/eastern) dialect, I think you can also argue that makes sense given Denmark is kind of the "gateway" into the heart of Europe geographically. People have generally translated this as him being excitable and more casual in the way he communicates to other people. I have been able to find less resources on this particular dialect and how it is perceived culturally, so I will sadly have to leave it at that, but from my understanding he is generally translated appropriately in the manga from what I have seen, with the -in' instead of -ing and ya instead of you to have it seem more relaxed/familiar/casual.

Final notes on Finland and Iceland: I cannot confirm this personally, but from what I can hear from Finland, it sounds like he speaks pretty standard Japanese to me, but take that with a grain of salt since I am not the expert here. Which, dialect-wise, places him as the odd person out (which fits with Finnish being the linguistic outgroup of the five) and also puts him as the relatable “stand in” for Japanese people learning about the Nordics — reminder he is the one who introduces them all in that one comic (see The Nordic 5+a) and even earlier comics (see Running Away with Mr. Sve), and we’re viewing the Nordics from largely his perspective). Since Finland in this series is largely characterized (and often deemed a poor stereotype by Finns) because of the Japanese perspective on Finland/Finns, it makes a lot of sense Hima used him kind of as a self-insert for Japanese readers/viewers to understand the Nordics from, as of the Nordic nations, Japanese folks are likely going to have the strongest familiarity/connection to Finland because of the Moomins. Please take the following information about Iceland with heaping grains of salt, but from a memory, I believe he also speaks the Tsugaru dialect, at least some of the time???? This makes sense he shares the Tsugaru dialect with Norway, as he’s Norway’s in-canon sibling, but I have a vague memory of a meta post I cannot 100% confirm or deny exists re: him only speaking the dialect/the dialect coming out more when he’s alone?? This following is speculation since I cannot confirm/deny that right now with my current abilities, but if it is true, would also be an interesting level to his character and make sense — it puts further distance between him and Norway if he purpsefully doesn’t speak the same way as his brother when his brother is present, and it also is reminiscent of my own experience living with people with discriminated accents who then mask their “less desirable” dialects in their teens/20s so they don’t get discriminated against as they move up in the world. Kumagi (2011) states that "Therefore, young female native speakers of Tohoku [alternate transliteration] dialects feel ashamed of their dialects and hesitate to speak them in big cities such as Tokyo. They are made to feel inferiority complex about their dialects, which are stigmatized as unfeminine". Since Iceland is very much characterized as a teen in canon, I think that this makes sense to do in the broader context of Hima’s choices. The specific reason as to why I state that I believe he speaks Tsugaru some of the time but not always is because there are some panels he speaks without it and some where he does seem to have an accent (HWS Chapter 112, relevant screencap below, this is the only time he speaks like this from what I can find in scanlations/translations, but it has to be a deliberate choice). Would love more info on this from someone who knows more about Japanese than I can do.

Again, please check the original post and/or notes for any future additions that I will add/edit accordingly (with notes as to where/when that happened) if any other relevant information surfaces, but I hope that was at least a little informative and interesting to read. I consulted a bunch of other resources too (read a bunch of papers I could find online), but a lot of those I read several months ago and no longer can find :x otherwise I would list them here.

Let me know if there are any typos/things are unclear, b/c holy shit this took a lot more effort and time for me to write up than I thought it was going to, and I am too tired to proofread it after spending several days on it. X_X

[strangeshoepatrolbandit]

Brotherly Love Pt.6 J.T D.W

Summary: You get hurt by a frightened Meta-human, and your brothers become defensive.

Warnings: injury, a gun, death threats.

~☆~

It was Friday, and you agreed to spend time at Penelopes apartment with her and Reign. Not yet used to the idea of staying the night with someone, but they were happy with whatever you were comfortable with.

The three of you laughed in sync over a stupid joke, until you were cut off by a loud crash coming from outside, screams of terror following soon after. Penelope let out a yell as Reign held onto her as a way to calm down her nerves, which hardly helped because she could feel how badly he himself was shaking.

Reign yelled out for you as you creeped up to Penelopes bedroom window to see what the noise was. In the middle of the street, you could see your father...well, Batman. Robin's unintelligible yelling could be heard, but you couldn't see him, that is until he popped up right in front of you, suprise evident on his masked face as he realized who you were.

Reign and Penelope retreated further into the apartment to try and distance themselves from the noises coming from outside, screaming your name as they tried to get you to follow them.You fought with yourself on whether you should go help or not. On one hand, you were a trained assassin. On the other hand, you were a random Gotham civilian.

Your legs moved faster than your brain as you ran out of Penelopes apartment, running down the flights of stairs rather than taking the probably non working elevator. Stopping your movements once outside you gazed into the street, watching as Batman tries to talk to a boy around your age. Robin is creeping up behind him, a thick type of collar in his hands as he attempts to get close to the boy. A hand landing on your arm alerted you, causing your reflexes to move faster than your brain. Your movements falter as you recognize the man, Red Robin, Tim, your brother.

"Get inside Y/N." He says in a stern tone that's still laced with concern.

"But-" you try to argue with him.

"Y/N!" You could tell by the slight whine in his voice that he's wasn't telling you he's begging you. You nod before turning to look at your father one more time, instinctively your gaze moved to the boy he was talking to. Your eyes trailed down to the boys hand. It flexed as if he was going to shoot something out of it. Looking back up at his face, you could see his eyes dart to the side, trying to see Robin, as if he knew he was there. He must have heard Robin because his hands shot up towards Batman, your legs ran towards your father, attempting to push him out of the way. Whatever invisible force the boy shot at Batman was now colliding with you, sending you flying into the brick wall of a building. A jolt of pain overtook your body, and the air was knocked out of your lungs, making you gasp. Each breath only filled you with agony. Your eyes drooped as you watched a fugure run towards you, cupping your face as it finally got by your side. You attempted to keep your eyes open for longer, but being able to hold them got harder by the second, a muffled voice came out from beside you, yelling out at the men in the street then whispering to you.

"Y/N, please stay awake!" The muffled voice pleaded as they watched your eyes close, darkness engulfed your vision, and ringing in your ears started as you passed out.

~☆~

Your eyes slowly peeled open as you awoke, the bright light above you made it hard. A hand grabbed your arm as you finally got your eyes open, coming face to face with the same green eyes you had hardly seen before passing out. Damian's voice slowly filled your ears as he attempted to tell you where you were, you knew exactly where you were. Tucked into the corner of the Batcave, in the little makeshift hospital room that was added on for moments like this.

Your body attempted to sit up much against Damian's protests. However, you didn't make it far because the pain overtook your ribs. Damian tried to coax you into laying back down, but you continued to try and get off of the bootleg hospital bed, Damian's hands snaked around your abdomen as your feet touched the ground.

"Where is he?" You croaked out, trying to find out if the boy was okay.

"Absolutely not." Damian stated, already knowing that you were going to try and talk to the boy. Tim came around the corner, still in his Red Robin gear.

"He's out here." He whispered as he took you from Damian's hold.

Walking further into the batcave you spot a giant clear box, the boy from earlier inside of it, with the collar Damian held in the street around his neck. Tim held you up before you swatted his arms off of you, leaning against the cage that the boy was in. Tim guided Bruce away from the two of you, sensing that you wanted to be alone for the moment.

As you heard their footsteps get further away you finally looked at the boy, his dirty blonde hair fell into his eyes as he looked down at the floor.

"Hello." You whispered, trying to grab his attention. His head shot up as he stared at you with wide eyes, his eyebrows furrowed as he stared at your hunched body.

"I-im so sorry." He whimpered out, seemingly trying not to cry as he looked at you with banages around your torso. You let a gust of air out of your nose as you chuckled, trying to lighten up the situation with a laugh.

"You were scared." You smiled at him "You were scared, right?"

He looked back down at the floor, picking at his fingers before nodding his head.

"Whats your name?" You asked, his head once again shot up to look at you, confused as to why you were standing here asking for his name after he threw you into a building.

"Arkin...kinda like Arkham." He whispered.

"Hello Arkin, I'm Y/N." You introduced yourself, smiling even wider, causing Arkin to quickly look back at the ground.

"They're gonna take me away." He whispered again, breaking the silence that had taken over the cave.

"I know, but I'll make sure you're okay." Arkins head slowly rose back up to look at you, blush evident on his cheeks. A shy smile crossed his lips before quickly falling again as Red Hood stormed into the cave.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" He yelled at the boy, talking about how Arkin was right in front of you now, rather than huddled in the corner of the cage. Jason was obviously seething with rage as he grabbed you from behind and pushed himself in front of you, pointing a gun at the clear material that kept Arkin separate from you. You were about to try and calm Jason down before your father and other brothers stepped in to help.

"Hood, please calm down." Batman tried to coax Jason.

"CALM DOWN? HE HURT Y/N!" Red Hood yelled.

"Guys please stop!" You yelled out, only your words fell onto deaf ears.

"I'm siding with Hood, you should be seething father." Damian calmly spoke, not caring that Arkin heard him call Batman 'father'.

"Please, he was scared!" You tried to reason, Tim nodded along with you, trying to signifythat he's on your side no matter what.

"I SHOULD PUT A BULLET IN HIS HEAD!" Red Hood screamed, pulling his gun back up to the box, obviously it meant nothing, the material that held Arkin was made to stop meta-humans, no bullet could peirce through it.

"JASON, ENOUGH!" Bruce yelled, making everyone stare at him.

"IM PISSED BELIEVE ME, BUT HE IS A CHILD!" Bruce yelled again.

Everyone stared at Bruce with looks of shock, Jason lowered his gun before looking away, jaw clenching as he thought of what to say. He turned to look at you before pushing against Bruce and heading up to the Manor. Bruce let put a sigh as he turned to look at Tim and Damian. Your eyes landed on Arkin, who had tears streaming down him face.

"Take Y/N upstairs." Bruce whispered, turning to look at Arkin himself.

~☆~

The two boys held you around your waist and shoulders as they held you up in the hidden elevator that the batcave had, Damian eyes never once left your face. The doors opened, displaying the luxurious Manor, Alfred was already waiting for the three of you to arrive. He tried to take you from both of the boys' arms only to earn a glare from Damian.

Tim stepped away as Alfred took his place at your side, walking you upstairs to your room.

~☆~

Alfred lightly layed you in bed, Damian just stood watching your aching body try to stay awake. Even though you had just awoke from being knocked out, you still had the desire to sleep for the rest of your life. Alfred made sure that the pillows were layed to your liking and you were tucked in comfortably before pressing a kiss to your forehead and walking back downstairs.

"Go take a shower." You told Damian who hadn't left the room yet, his Robin costume still clinging to his skin. The boy stood watching you a little longer before finally leaving you to your slumber.

~☆~

When you awoke, there was a body next to you, petting your hair with their hand. You breathed in, seeing if you could uncover who it was without opening your eyes. Gunpowder was the first thing you smelled. It was strong, masking the other scents that clung to the body. Tobacco, leather, slight scent of lavender, and the smell that sticks to the room after you've baked.

"Jason?" You croaked out, trying to see if your guess was right.

"Yeah kid, it's me." He whispered, still playing with your hair.

Your eyes opened, finally revealing the man beside you. He wasn't in his full Red Hood gear like he was earlier. He lacked both masks, and his jacket was discarded, along with his shoes. His hand that wasn't toying with your hair lifted up to point at your nightstand, well, the book that layed upon it. It was the same green book that Jason had read and given to you when you met him, the one that had its name rubbed off and the spine falling apart.

"What did you think?" He asked with genuine interest.

"I didn't really take you as a romance type of guy." You teased him, both of you let out a chuckle at your comment.

"It was good though, i liked the part where Madelyn punched that one guy." You confessed. Jason stared down at you with a smile on his face, watching as you went into more detail about the book, but were cut short when you tried getting out of bed.

"What are you doing?" He questioned, sitting up himself.

"I want to go see Arkin." You told him, Jason only furrowed his brows.

"Who?" He asked you, you only looked back at him with wide eyes.

"I...I need to go down to the Batcave." You whispered, turning away from Jason and standing up.

"No!" Jason almost yelled as he walked around the bed, trying to get you to sit back down. "Absolutely not, Y/N." He said sternly.

"Jason, please." You whined, looking up into his eyes.

"He hurt you!" Jason tried to reason, holding you tighter as you tried to escape him.

"Jason he's scared." You whined again, still trying to get out of his grasp.

"Y/N, No!"

"BRUCE!" You yelled out, hoping that he would barge in and help you. Jason's grasp on your arms loosened as you yelled out for your father, giving you and opportunity to get out of your room. As you walked down the hallway you passed Bruce, who was seemingly heading to where you called him, your hand raised as you pointed to your room, where Jason still stood, hoping that Bruce could talk to him.

~☆~

You walked down into the batcave, wanting to bid goodbye to Arkin before he was sent off to God knows where. Damian however was already stood infront of the cage that Arkin layed in, seemingly asleep.

"Go back upstairs Y/N." Damian spoke, already knowing it was you who was walking up to him.

"I wanted to see him." You whispered, the way you were hunched over put you at the perfect level to look into Damian's eyes. The boy next to you let out a sigh as he let his eyes land on you, his body still facing the cage.

Damian and you stood there until Arkin started to stir, that was enough to make Damian walk off, back to the Manor.

"Y/N?" Arkin croaked as he caught sight of you.

"Hey..." You whispered to him.

"What are you doing?" He questioned.

"Um, I have water." You mentioned, opening the lock that opened a little window for things to be placed in. Arkin watched you, expecting you to place the bottle into the cage and close the window back up. His eyes widened as you didn't let go of the bottle, a small smile stretched on your lips as you waved your hand a bit, giving him a go-ahead to grab the water. Arkin slowly scooted forward, reaching an arm out. Your fingers lightly touched each other before Arkin quickly retracted his hand.

"I'm sorry." He whined, retreating further into the cage, distancing himself from you.

"Hey, you're okay, Arkin." You smiled at him, lightly placing the bottle on the ground. Arkin's lips slightly raised at the corners as he listened to you. The boy in front of you grabbed the bottle, downing the water inside, his eyes stayed locked on your own as you watched him. The door to the little window stayed open as you and Arkin sat in silence. You knew you were gonna have to talk to Bruce about staying in contact with the boy in front of you.

~☆~

As you made your way back up to the Manor, you decided that it was probably best if you call Reign, knowing he'd still be with Penelope. Your disappearing act probably wasn't the best thing you should've done to them. The phone only rang twice before it was immediately picked up.

"Hey are you guys okay?" You questioned, hoping that they would say yes.

"Are we okay?!" Reign yelled "Y/N, you're the one that ran out there and didn't come back!" He exclaimed, still speaking loudly.

"I'm fi-" You started before being cut off.

"Y/N, BABY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Penelopes voice yelled, desperate to hear from you.

You let out a little chuckle before talking about how they shouldn't wory, you're back at home and taken care of.

The three of you talked until the elevator doors opened and you walked into an empty room of the Manor. After bidding goodbye, you walked into the living area of the house that was surprisingly empty. You would've figured that at least someone would've been in there.

You plopped down on one of the couches, allowing your aching body to relax from your standing. Almost immediately, Ace ran into the room, jumping up to your side and resting his head on your thigh. Dick came running into the room after him, yelling out your name and settling on the other side of you, hugging your head in between his arms. You let out a groan as your ribs started hurting from the way your body leaned into Dick. He immediately let go of you and rested his head on your shoulder. Tim walked into the living room after hearing a commotion, Ace jumped from the couch and onto the floor, next to your feet.

"You feeling okay?" Tim asked as he sat beside you. You let out a tight smile and nodded your head yes. Your body was tense because of both of the men resting their heads on you. Physical contact was still something you were getting used to.

~☆~

Bruce and Alfred walked into the living room side by side, but stopped in their tracks as they caught sight of the three of you on the couch.

Dick, Tim, and yourself were passed out cold, leaning on one another for support. Alfred retrieved a blanket to place over the three of you, whilst Bruce watched with a smile on his lips.

~☆~

Yes, the name Arkin is taken from Arkin O'Brian... I like both of those movies.....<3

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[codenamesazanka]

being a hopeless spinaraki, but also not just spinaraki, because this applies to all of the League and Villains in general—

Is it possible to dig deeper into Shigaraki's "If Spinner is still alive" and its meaning/implications and like. cry over it?

If Spinner is still alive = We went into fight knowing we might not make it out alive. (Heroes get total victory. The Villains don't count as part of that.)

If Spinner is still alive = AFO gave him those extra quirks and I, while possessed, wasn't able to stop it. Maybe I wouldn't have stopped it, because Spinner chose it. It might have been the quirks which killed him.

If Spinner is still alive = But it's also entirely possible Heroes could've killed him. Spinner is just a weakling with a useless quirk and some swords, but still, maybe he's dead because Heroes killed him. Heroes killed Twice. Heroes have repeatedly tried to kill me; cannot save me from this death. Toga went into battle thinking it was life or death. Heroes kill, and we Villains all know this.

If Spinner is still alive = I wanted him to see my horizon, because he was looking forward to it. I wanted to be a Hero for the League. Now, I can't do that anymore. Because of that, tell him this, for me.

If Spinner is still alive = Maybe he lived. Out of everyone in the league, Spinner lives because he's weak, he's ignorable. He was only following me. He didn't have a death wish, his power is something Heroes could manage. He wouldn't be considered too dangerous to live.

If Spinner is still alive = Because I know that he might not be. Because I don't trust Heroes have to saved any of us, whether from AFO machinations, or from ourselves, or from the ravages of battle.

'If' implies uncertainty. There's significant meaning in that - that Shigaraki knows Heroes there's a good chance cannot/would not/did not want to save them. And the fact that it's Spinner who gets an 'if' - Spinner, weakest one in the League. How hard is it to stop Spinner? Even with the extra quirks. Maybe especially with the extra quirks - he'd be disoriented, unintelligible, clearly not doing well. He was assigned the task of invading a hospital and retrieving Kurogiri with 15,000 rioters, the relatively least dangerous task out of all other Villains. That's basically zero trust in Heroes to have stopped Spinner in a way that didn't kill him, to have helped him from his melting brain.

Like, Shigaraki has seen the aftermath of his own 'saving'. Deku might have had some intention to save him, but not enough to actually succeed preventing his death. If that was ever the goal. Maybe all that mattered was just ghost of The Crying Child.

If any of the League lives, it's luck. It's mercy.

One might argue, it's because rhe League was so dangerous, and they made the choices that got themselves killed.

But meta-wise, we had that whole Ending arc about Heroes Don't Kill or whatever; we kept getting hit over the head with 'Heroes Save People'; the narrative dangled in front of us 'Heroes Will Save The League'. During the war, background Heroes made gestures of pulling captured Villains away from fire, of capturing them alive.

Then again, Twice was killed and that's probably the escape clause - if the League became dangerous enough, saving them can stop being the goal, despite the narrative supposedly having made it its goal.

Heroes fought the Villains and Shigaraki knew was there was no guarantee Heroes would save them or keep them alive. Despite being Heroes. Because they're Villains, they're unforgivable, they got too broken, they don't get that promise of being saved. Never had - not from abusive homes, not from societal apathy, not from the cruelty of conformity, not from their 'one bad day'; never will.

It reminds me of when Toga sought out Ochako. Twice was killed, and Toga desperately wanted to know, if she ever needed it, if it came down to it, Heroes would save her. Heroes would treat her like a person who deserves being saved, because she's a human being and should be afforded at least that. The League already knew Heroes would not save them. But Toga kept hope. She wanted to believe that Heroes wouldn't put her down like a mad dog. She was disappointed. She gave up hope. Ochako rekindled that hope, but just Ochako. And then the narrative seemed to have refused Toga getting saved anyways.

(Unless, of course, being saved is only about the heart being saved. Then yeah, I guess they can just die.)

[prismartist]

yeah no okay i need to sleep but i also more importantly need to talk about stairway to paradise. literally what the hell is that about. chris wheeldon must've known how queer that number is right?? right????

i mean, the beats are like so:

first: henri struggles with his performance. though he loves dancing he's nervous, he's cracking, he has the stage presence of a newborn deer. he approaches adam for help, and the moment adam encourages him... he's able to bring his fantasy to life.

second: about a fourth into the performance/fantasy, suddenly adam shows up to dance with him. not his ballerina fiancee. adam. his other half, if you will, in the song-and-dance duo. henri briefly questions it, they have cute banter, and then.

and then they have a marvelous goddamn time.

third: adam and henri fall into rhythm as if they'd been doing this for years. they take turns on the verses, on the dance... and they dance together in sync, joyous and unrestrained. henri's certainly enjoying himself. he's living his ultimate dream, the vision that he's striving for all his life. which... just so happens to have adam in it. nothing quee- i mean strange about that at all. just guys being dudes. having your best friend be in your dream fantasy. sure.

fourth: he kicks adam out eventually, because of course, and henri's free to finish on his own terms, carrying that levity into real life and ending strong. he slayed. he was fantastic. he even managed to convince his parents to support him. he was finally his true self.

what a nice fun number. so nice, in fact, that the show then does the same thing again! but this time, it's with JERRY AND LISE.

you know, the main romantic couple of the show???

an american in paris goes like this: lise is agitated about performing, stating that there's no real passion when she dances. even though she loves dancing, there's just something missing. when the ballet starts, about a third into it jerry appears. she briefly questions it, and then they fall into rhythm like they've always done by the seine. lise feels that passion again, and after jerry leaves and the fantasy ends, she's able to finish strong and absolutely slay the performance, finding her true self... and her true desires.

SOUND FAMILIAR???.

the fact that these two numbers are back-to-back as well?????? like we're supposed to see those parallels right?? i'm not going insane??? ignore the fact that it's 3 am.

to be fair i've thought about this for years but the details finally hit me and i'm just. dude. yall see my vision? stairway to paradise is to henri as american in paris is to lise. and so it follows, then, that jerry is to lise as adam is to henri.

god how are they literally so gay without being that gay at all. i am taking this show by the collar and shaking it. what did you meaaaannnn by this i swear to god!!!!!!!!!!!