#until the entire society has been destroyed

[thearsonistofarland]

It’s about young motherhood and raising a child when you don’t quite know who you yourself are yet and being societally undesirable and finding community in fellow outcasts and unconventional families that aren’t mom-dad-child but are still full of love all the same and masking and trying not to “ruin” the life that your child has managed to scrape together because you know how hard it is to be happy when you’re Not Normal and breaking away from our base “instincts” to punish and isolate the undesirables in whatever shape they come in because because we’ve been socialized our entire lives to want to achieve and maintain the idealized status quo and we know how hard it is to unlearn things so deeply ingrained into us and how you can’t just immediately change the way someone was raised and how the ruling body is a machine that does not care about you or your personal joy and will gleefully destroy the lives and homes of anyone and everyone associated with those who are Not Normal and they will not stop until they know how to prevent more undesirables from coming into existence and how you can’t just erase someone’s neurodivergence or queerness or heritage or physical disability it’s a fundamental part of how we interacted with the world growing up and how the world interacted with us in turn and it’s about how all of these things intersect because we live in this world and in this society in this community in this family and we are trying to be happy and lead fulfilling lives when that is an uphill battle against social norms and scared people but those social norms are not inherent and are artificial and even though the way there is paved with hot coals and require us to mask to pass and fit in to so that we can make gradual change and as much of an infuriating answer as that is, things can get better

I really liked The Wild Robot you guys

[thesquid06]

After the war, I want the kids to rot.

I want them to fail living up to their purpose. I want elven society to look upon them with awe and disappointment.

I want them to feel the weight of heroism and ignore it. They may never recover their childhood but, maybe, they can enjoy the beginning of adulthood.

It would start with Sophie. She saved them, saved the entire elven society. So, they’ll ask er to join the council. The question will tear her apart until her family and friends convince her to say no.

She won’t know what to do with herself, how to be something other than the Moonlark. She can wonder her house, helping with the animals and finding who she is without her life in danger. Maybe she’ll pick up a book, find something interesting to research. Eventually she may rejoin the world of politics, with her own policies. She’ll find ways to incorporate even species, even humans.

Dex will go back to Slurps and Burps. Giggle with his dad as they make new medicines and watch his siblings become adults. He can make little technologies that improve their business. Eventually he’ll have an invention that is used in every household.

Biana will design the latest fashion. She never wanted to fight, this has been her dream her entire life.

Keefe will heal. Actually spend time to understand his abilities and utilize them in a way that does not destroy his soul. Maybe he’ll share his way with the younger generation, be the teacher children look up to. (Maybe become principle of Foxfire).

Tam and Linh will look upon their childhood experiences in sorrow. As adults they will learn forgiveness but will never forget what they have gone through. Tam will make sure no child grows up in a household like his own. He’ll teach them how to handle their emotions, work on finding safe homes for everyone. Linh will teach at Exillium. She’ll make it an education to be proud of.

They will all change the world in their own ways. It’s quieter, compared to what was expected, but full of honor. They will not be puppets to the council but learn how to separate from the past and become themselves.

(On a side note, I cannot picture Fitz being anything other than a councilor. I don’t know if he can move on from being the golden boy. But he will be so proud of what his friends and family have become. And he will be a councilor for the people, refusing to continue any ignorant ways)

[xxgothchatonxx]

I want to talk a bit more about my unofficial tagline for Nosferatu (2024) - "shame is a monster". The things you do in the past and the things that happen to you can haunt you, and can even destroy you and the ones you love.

Ellen feels shame for accidentally summoning a demonic force and at first enjoying that new dynamic. ("I am unclean" - yep, still not over that that line made it in!) She is also made to be ashamed of her "melancholy", from her father to Friedrich, just society in general. And something that just hit me is that she is also made to be ashamed of her medical episodes. Her seizures. Something she has absolutely no control over, yet she's still made to feel shame because of it. How dare she be such a burden in the Harding home?

Thomas' whole motive in going to Orlok's castle is so he can provide a "better life" for Ellen, and be a "real proper gentleman", right? He doesn't want to be a "weak" man. So the fear of that shame drives him. Then he gets attacked, assaulted by Orlok. But he can't talk about it because a) he's traumatized and b) who would believe him? Or take him seriously? That scene where he literally tears his shirt open to show the evidence, I'm surprised Friedrich didn't have a go at him for being a "weak man"!

Speaking of Friedrich, his entire storyline is driven by him not wanting to be ashamed of anything! God forbid anything around him isn't the pinnacle of Normal Behaviour. Oh dearie dear, what would the neighbours think! Meanwhile, he goes ahead and does THAT in the crypt. Go figure.

Back to the Hutters - it's not until both Ellen and Thomas are able to share their "shames" with each other (and Von Franz!) and get comfort and reassurance from each other that they're able to rebuild their self-esteem and fight on. Sadly it is too late but, hey, that's Nosferatu. It's always been a tragedy.

[perseidlion]

Now that I've finished watching Rings of Power Season 2, I have to say they were right to cast Celebrimbor as an actor who looked older than most of the other elves. People will point out that in canon, he was younger than Galadriel. At first, I didn't really get why they changed that for the show. Was it just for variety? Some other reason?

Well, after finishing the season, I think it's safe to say the reason was thematic.

The tragedy of Celebrimbor is so much greater when he visually reads older to the audience. Here is a man at the absolute pinnacle of his craft. His name is legend. He built an entire city around his forge. He has a talent so rare that Sauron needed him for conquest. If he had been cast as a younger actor, even if he was 1500+ in Elven years or something, his story would read as a naive youth seduced by power. It's so much more poignant and tragic to see the legacy of a master of his craft destroyed along with the man.

Watching fantasy is a different experience to reading fantasy, especially with wacky elf ages. The LoTR movies knew this, which is why Hugo Weaving (39) was old enough to convincingly play Liv Tyler's (22) father even though Elrond probably still looked similar to his daughter's age in the books. It's so it doesn't feel weird for the audience and they don't lose suspension of disbelief.

Episode 8 of S2 (and the episodes that precede it) really hammer home that Celebrimbor's undoing isn't just a win for Sauron - this is a loss for elvenkind. Elrond's utter horror at watching Celebrimbor's written legacy being burned to ash was a brilliant storytelling choice. More was lost at the Fall of Eregion than Elvish lives or a weapon in their enemy's hand. They lost the work of a master - the kind of person who comes around once in an age, if that.

What's more, they didn't just lose Celebrimbor. Sauron destroyed him from the inside, eating away at him until he was a pathetic shell of himself. He tried very hard to turn Celebrimbor from celebrated master to a man corrupted by darkness - both in reality and in reputation. But he resisted with what strength he had left. And his kin saw the truth before he died.

All of this was heightened by Celebrimbor being played by a man older than most of the other elf actors. It was a visual signal of his position of respect and wisdom, regardless of his actual age. That was his position in Elvish society that was efficiently shown by aging him up.

You might not always agree with what the minds behind Rings of Power are doing with their story. But after this season, I trust they do have their reasons and will be eagerly awaiting season 3.

[inbabylontheywept]

maybe a book idea in here or something i dunno

When South Africa requested that its nuclear weapons be disarmed, the response from the rest of the world was disbelief. The technology for isotopic separation was closely monitored, and South Africa had been very carefully blocked from obtaining it. No vendor would sell them centrifuges, nor anything necessary for gaseous diffusion, nor anything for the other half dozen novel ways of separating isotopes. 

But that didn't matter, because South Africa had simply invented an entirely new way of making a bomb.

It was a little more expensive than the centrifuge method, but actually cheaper than standard diffusion techniques. They'd run a stream of uraneous gas over an airfoil and apparently, there was a low pressure region that excelled in trapping the lighter isotopes. Pulled the U235 right out. No one else had considered the technology for it, and frankly, even attempting to ban it would have been difficult. Making a wing just isn't that hard. It seemed almost like a philosophical question right up until inspectors were shown the bombs. Then it was real. Then the world really believed. 

The weapons were handed off to be voluntarily disarmed, and the rest of the world asked South Africa to please, pretty please, keep their technique secret. 

And thankfully, they have. 

---

I don't understand the mechanics of LIS, but I think that's the point. Their research was classified once it became clear that their technique was at least an order of magnitude cheaper than standard isotope separation techniques. All I know is that it involves Australians and lasers. 

Their work wasn't a huge breakthrough because fuel price has never been what held nuclear energy back - but it was interesting for other reasons. They remain, in theory, the cheapest method of isotope refinement.

---

There are more novel isotope separation techniques than just these two. But they work for my point. 

I think it's just going to get cheaper and easier to build nukes. Worse, the invasion of Ukraine has made two points absolutely crystal clear. 

First: If you have nuclear weapons, never, ever give them up. 

Second: If you don't have nuclear weapons, get them. You won't be safe until you do.

I actually see this as the start of a new wave of colonialism. We already determine if a country is first, second, or third world by who their nuclear allies are. Eventually, statehood itself will be determined by the presence of a nuclear arsenal. Anyone who has some gets a seat at the negotiation table. Anyone who doesn't is up for grabs.

Yoink.  

But even this is just one point in the journey towards nuclear proliferation. 

The worst is yet to come. 

---

Imagine that you live in a newly conquered satellite of the Neo-Russian Empire. No outside country is coming to save you. Their cities are just targets for nuclear bombs. They have far too much to lose by playing stupid games - so they don't. The peace between states is terrifying, but strong. 

But the peace between conquered peoples and their conquerors is not. 

How easy does it have to be, for one group to get a nuclear bomb? Would it be money? Would it be connections? Would it be their own internal skill sets? At what point do the fragments of some conquered nation cobble together a nuclear weapon? 

A nuclear bomb detonates in St. Petersberg. A resistance group/terror cell immediately takes credit. What does Russia do? How does it retaliate? It only takes one bomb to destroy a city. Millions of lives. Trillions of dollars. All gone. One bomb. And no enemy city to fire back on. 

Nuclear weapons do not favor states. States can be retaliated against at scale. Nuclear weapons favor anarchists and terrorists and revolutionaries - small groups that can hide safely inside their foes. And once that rubicon is crossed, something new happens: Society's fundamental benefit is suddenly gone. There is no more strength in numbers. For the first time in human history, it is more dangerous to be near people than it is to be alone. 

And what is an empire, if not millions of people, huddled close? 

---

I don't know what will happen after that. 

Maybe the world burns and everyone dies. Maybe states just fall apart, and people retreat to small communities, to live in anxious peace. Maybe it all turns into a feudal hell, where warlords wander in groups too large for passerby to defeat easily, but too small to be worth nuking.

Can you imagine that kind of perpetual fear? Keeping your group large enough to defend itself, but small enough to not be a target? That feeling of always being watched? Fermi imagined the Dark Forest as a solution to why we don't find aliens - maybe they're too busy hiding from us. But what if it happens sooner than that? What if the reason we don't find aliens is because they're hiding from themselves? What if every species winds up like this - sitting in the ashes of their once great cities, remembering how much easier it is to destroy than it is to build? What if that's just what Life always winds up doing?

I don't know. But I think about it a lot. 

[mapoeggplant]

skip to loafer chapter 68 + shima analysis // spoilers

acceptance of the monster: how facing the past is necessary when the goal is a brighter future

i think that those who have been following me for a while have seen all my analyses and random insights about shima. i have immense affection for him and he will always be one of my favorite characters ever. and chapters like this remind me of how important he is in my life. 

chapter 68 is very straight to the point, but it also hides some small and big changes that started to bubble up from previous chapters. for the first time, we no longer have small, not very explicit scenes from shima's memories or him being so afraid of finally facing the past: now we have the naked truth, laid out in front of us, so that we can understand a little more about how the childhood that shaped shima's entire life until now was.

unlike what i imagined, i didn't get angry with taiga now that he was introduced. of course, i don't think his actions were right or that he didn't influence shima in a negative way, but his appearance at that moment served as both a salvation and a tragedy for shima's life.

there are many layers to be analyzed. we know very, very little about taiga, but we can understand that he didn't have a very good relationship with his family either — the moment he talks about his parents' disappointment in him for giving up acting shows us that he was probably also forced to do something he didn't want to do. he is also the result of a desire imposed on him, causing him to rebel as the years went by.

in a way, meeting shima is like meeting your past self. i don't see much evil in his actions or see it as something malicious. i think he recognized in shima's face the same nervousness that he himself felt every time before his rehearsal, thus proposing that he also have an act of rebellion to feel a little freer.

however, the evil of all this is that taiga, without knowing anything, ends up entering shima's life at a time when he is most fragile and hurt by everything he has been facing (whether it be his abusive relationship with his mother or his growing fear of acting). shima sees taiga as an equal, someone who understands all the pain he has faced but managed to escape from it, while he’s still a prisoner. he sees the older boy as an inspiration, as a friend he longed for, who would show him what a life away from cameras and rehearsals would be like.

shima is still too young to understand everything that is happening around him, and too young to see any kind of problem in following his new friend. having a destructive act at a time of such fragility gives him a certain strength, because he understands this as the only way he has to face his mother and go against everything that is imposed on him. going out with taiga, even if secretly, is a message to his mother: you no longer have control over me.

unfortunately, we have known the result of these escapades for a long time. ririka, also worried about shima, decides to follow him and ends up being targeted by several online attacks. even though shima was the one who “took” her there, ririka, a beautiful and successful girl, is the perfect target.she is the one who suffers the direct consequences, and of course this is closely linked to the sexism that is rooted in society and how much people wait for a girl to make a small mistake so that they can destroy her in some way (i talk more about this in my exclusive ririka analysis).

now shima no longer has to face just two monsters: they have now multiplied into a thousand, becoming even stronger. the consequences of his rebellion come in an aggressive form, with his mother’s abuse and the new tarnished image he obtained in his artistic circle. his mother’s anxiety comes from the fact that shima would no longer get big roles, either because of this transgression or because he missed so many rehearsals, which did not lead to any improvement in terms of acting. blinded by all the anger she feels inside, shima's mother's direct response is no other than to attack her son.

child abuse is extremely common in the arts, whether by parents, the press, the public or co-workers. shima is just one of many young actors who have had to suffer the wrath of a parent who is disappointed by a dream that they themselves forced their children to have. and of course, this would result in years of being afraid to be who they are, to speak out and to live a normal life without carrying immense guilt. the prison that he has placed himself in for all these years is the evolution of the bonds imposed by his mother.

the turning point does not happen in this chapter itself, but in a sequence of long events that led him to where he is. it is impossible for shima to change overnight: it takes a lot of work and a lot, but a lot of analysis (even if it is self-analysis) to finally understand and be able to heal all this pain that he has been held hostage by for so many years. and the second part of the chapter shows exactly that.

shima is no longer afraid to face the monster of the past because he is no longer alone. he finally understands that there are people around him who care about him and fight to stay by his side. having people's support and love gives him the strength to move forward and continue this arduous battle of growing up. shima now understands what it is to be loved to the point of being happy about a past fight, as it resulted in an even closer relationship with mitsumi. he understands that being loved is being able to look back on the past and no longer feel pain or guilt, but to recognize the one who suffered so much, with no one by his side.

he now takes on the role of the monster, but no longer to affirm his guilt, but to be able to show his past self and all the other monsters around him how it is possible for him to be happy. how it is possible to decide things for yourself and follow your heart. how it is possible to love so many people and be loved in return. how it is possible to look at a person and feel an immense warmth, an inexplicable desire to keep fighting, all so that he can be by their side. 

shima is finally reaching out to his past self, so that they can form a new future together.

before i finish, i would also like to touch on an important point that i see the possibility of being discussed in the future: shima's current relationship with his mother. chapter 67 brought something very important, which was shima's recognition when he admitted that he felt a certain pity for his mother, due to all the comments he heard about her. deep down, he feels a certain empathy for his mother and no longer sees her as an unbeatable villain. he has been slowly trying to change his relationship with her, and the first step is to invite her to watch the play he chose to be in. this in my opinion shows shima's desire to forgive his mother in order to move on, but also seek some kind of forgiveness from her (which can be a result of many years of manipulation, since he still thinks he is guilty for a lot of his mother’s pain). i feel that we will still see a type of closeness between them and a deeper conversation, so that shima can finally feel like he belongs to a family again. this can be a triggering moment to a lot of readers, so if it does happen, please be mindful of it. 

the layers that not only this chapter but this whole new arc has are much deeper than we imagine. building a character requires love, patience and conversation. you need to listen and understand what your character wants. respect is needed so that the story can grow. takamatsu misaki has a huge affection for her characters, for her story and for everything she has been building since 2018.

we're so lucky to be able to follow such amazingly beautiful story.

thank you so much for reading 💛💛!! don't forget to support sensei if you can! always here to discuss more about the chapter!

[faerghusfucker]

my evolution as a fe3h fan is rlly funny to me lol. i played the game for the first time when i was 15 and now at 19 im playing through three hopes (yes im super late dont ask) and the fact that there have been times where ive been obsessed with EVERY HOUSE is rlly funny to me

at the start i was a claude and golden deer stan through and through bc funny meme house and also the nemesis fight

then when i was starting to get a little more politically minded i fell into the “edelgard did nothing wrong” camp because. yeah!!!! meritocracy!!!! united!!!! fuck religion!!!

and now as an adult with a lot more awareness and a lot less edgy atheism i came to the conclusion that not only is imperialism and destroying people’s lives for an ideal you have no concrete way of upholding bad, but the entire “let’s get rid of crests” argument is not even a solid one because it centers adrestia and doesn’t take into account the other two regions’ need for heroes relics.

correct me if i’m missing something or if i’m wrong, but no one in adrestia’s nobility actually has a hero’s crest. if they have crests, they’re saint crests, and saint crests have compatibility with sacred weapons, which are different to heroes relics because anyone can use them without turning into a beast.

additionally, adrestia doesn’t have any immediate neighbors that could cause them trouble. it doesn’t directly border a non-fodlan country, and they seem to have taken care of their brigid situation by kidnapping petra. the empire has no immediate threats.

the kingdom and alliance tho????? they border sreng and almyra respectively, which seem to invade at the drop of a hat and force houses gautier and goneril respectively to be in constant combat. those two houses literally DEPEND ON THEIR RELICS FOR SURVIVAL. until someone figures out a better way for them to defend their lands, they NEED crests!!!

obviously this isn’t necessarily a good thing, since we see the path that miklan and rufus as crestless older sons go down, but it’s not like the kingdom is exactly keen on keeping this in place either. in three hopes they talk a ton abt how crest bloodlines are dying out and how something needs to change. hell, sylvain is someone who directly benefits from faerghus’ crest dependency and yet in his supports with shez, he’s going and devising powerful weapons that people without crests can use!!! we see time and time again that the young nobles of faerghus are interested in the same things edelgard is: establishing a more equal society, and decreasing the need for crests. but why doesn’t she just collaborate with them to that end???? why doesn’t she hear dimitri out when he tries to talk her out of continuing on this path????

oh yeah. the church.

i’m probably gonna yap abt the church later lol i’m running out of steam on this ramble. tiktok is banned and so this is what i’ve resolved to do while i sip my morning coffee lol bear with me

[thewebcomicsreview]

Hey hey, an upd8. Looks like Vriska leveled up from killing Jane. It's kind of hard to read some of these tier names, though. "Descent Horizon" is an a'ight one. Kind of weird that the non-pun one is the one we're one, though. Not even irons in the hellfire.

John sees some images of a Pumpkin Cake (What Cake?) and...himself as Mark Immortell from Pathologic? Is the idea that these are alternate realities?

Rose is freaking out at not being in a coma. The "Thanks for Playing" message being destroyed is a good gag in and of itself, but also a good visual for Rose's carefully laid plan to make Kanaya hate her before going brain-dead falling to pieces.

Panel from Narbonic

What the fuck, Jane survived having her head cut off?

Anyway, never mind that. It's Adult!Vriska. I guess being in Silhouette isn't stylishly hiding her Hell Tier form from us, she's literally all black when transformed.

KARKAT: BY THE BY, WAS TELLING ME VRISKA WAS BACK ON ANYONE'S AGENDA?

I went to check the epilogues to see if anyone had a chance to tell Karkat that Vriska's been back this whole time, but Homestuck.com is broke and they're not in the unofficial collection. I think Vriska appeared in Candy just in time to bang/kill Gamzee before HS2 started. God, no one ever tells Karkat anything. I guess the kids didn't mention it to Rose/Kanaya.

MEENAH: figured youd pop a vessel over it MEENAH: decided to keep that out of your briefs MEENAH: im the only one around here watchin your blood pressure MEENAH: and your briefs VRISKA: Don't mention it! VRISKA: Just one grown adult helping out another. VRISKA: I mean damn, Karkat, speaking of grown. VRISKA: Look at you! MEENAH: i know right VRISKA: You're like... yoked. MEENAH: i knowww right

Now that Jake English is god, Karkat is Jake English. Also Candy Karkat meeting Meat Karkat is going to be amazing.

JOHN: besides vriska looking like lucy liu from charlie's angels now JOHN: is that what the machine was for? making lucy lius? not that i'm complaining, but... KARKAT: OKAY, HOLD ON. KARKAT: SHE LOOKS WAY MORE LIKE SANDRA BULLOCK FROM A TIME TO KILL. KARKAT: OR THE INFINITELY BETTER MISS CONGENIALITY. KANAYA: Sure KARKAT: ACTUALLY, LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT MOVIES ANYMORE OR WHICH TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WOMEN FROM A DEFUNCT ALIEN SOCIETY VRISKA WHO IS AN ADULT NOW MAY OR MAY NOT LOOK LIKE. JAKE: I think theyre both equally good, if were sharing movie opinions. JOHN: wait, are you naked under there? JAKE: Well,

While John/Karkat conversations are always great, what really makes this scene is Kanaya's "Sure". She's above this silliness, but she still has opinions.

MEENAH: step one we gut scale and filet this sea cow ROXY: !!!! JAKE: Shucks and shit, people, not sure whats left to try. JAKE: I mean look at her. MEENAH: tsk cmon kingfish what is this amateur hour? MEENAH: you blow all your gumption out when you were stalkin the battlefield like a human lens flare? MEENAH: clearly we gotta give this dirty girl a bubble bath JAKE: Er, id rather not. JAKE: Ive been twenty thousand leagues under that particular sea more times than a fellow might care to remember. MEENAH: oh yuck MEENAH: im talkin bout dippin her in acid JAKE: Oooooooh! That should work! JAKE: Or if it doesnt we could give her the ole mummy treatment. JAKE: Jade did a bang-up job with dave... JADE: aww thank you! JOHN: or we could just smash her with a hammer. JANE: Mmf????? VRISKA: Hey, so- KARKAT: LOOK, AS MUCH AS I'D LOVE TO SPEND THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON TESTING OUT VARIOUS CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS ON JANE'S HEAD UNTIL SOMETHING STICKS, THERE'S AN ANNOYINGLY VAST ARRAY OF VITAL INTEL WE NEED FROM HER FIRST. ROXY: wow okay can we pause for a second JOHN: yeah, what kind of intel? ROXY: not what i meant!! KARKAT: DO YOU KNOW WHERE JANE'S HEAD KEEPS HER POLITICAL PRISONERS?

I just wanna post snippets of dialogue and say they're good. These are fun characters and they have fun chemistry and we basically have not just let them riff for the entirely of HS2 or the epilogues.

Also, obviously John's plan is a hammer. Even now, he can't let Homestuck 1 go.

KARKAT: DO YOU KNOW ANY OF HER PASSWORDS, FOR THAT MATTER? JOHN: i guess not. SOLLUX: i do. KARKAT: YOU DO? SOLLUX: yeah. SOLLUX: the passw0rds, anyway. SOLLUX: problem sleuth with a zer0. SOLLUX: honk undersc0re enjoyer sixty six. SOLLUX: imwithher. SOLLUX: id0whatiwant<3 JOHN: this guy again. JOHN: why are you even here?

Oof, the Hillary Clinton reference there. I know a lot of people accused Jane of being a blatant Trump analogue, was she meant to be Hillary Clinton this whole time?

Also, bantz aside, Jane is the Maid of Life. Can't she just, like....get better? Stick her head back on that body and be good?

Anyway, Vriska explains that Candyland is doomed and everyone here is going to die as the Black Hole collapses without Alt!Calliope sustaining it.

VRISKA: 8ut, as I said, I can get all you guys out of here! Hell Tier gave me a pretty comprehensive lay of the land, metaphysically speaking, and we can move on from this 8ummer aaaaaaaaltogether. KANAYA: Including The Children KANAYA: ? VRISKA: Of course! That's actually where shit gets real interesting. VRISKA: Turns out they're all needed on the other side, for a very, very special game. JOHN: wait, you don't mean... VRISKA: Oh, 8ut I do. JOHN: :D JADE: D:< JADE: NO WAY! JOHN: what? JOHN: why not?

God, I really do love John's midlife crisis manifesting as Homestuck nostalgia. He's so fucking hyped to kill his kids!

VRISKA: I'm... normal now.

Lies.jpg

Vriska literally walking out of the comic is a good visual.

Oh god, what is this.

Let's start with "You are coming". I presume it's not another Meat/Candy choice and it's just who's splitting up where.

Oh wow, only the kids go, and it's mostly only Yiffy that wants to. Meanwhile, in the other path

JOHN: we have to go fight dirk! JAKE: Erm. JAKE: Fight him? JOHN: he's obviously like... the new bad guy! CALLIOPE: oUr friend dirk...? JANE: HMMHMHMM?? ROXY: john ROXY: wt actual f are you talking abt JOHN: roxy, this is our do-over! JOHN: our meat! MEENAH: nobody wants to hear about your meat man

John's midlife crisis being nostalgia for Homestuck is funny, but also it's so goddamn sad. He doesn't actually care about any of this, he just wants an adventure.

KANAYA: What Did She Say JOHN: well... we were kinda talking about how messed up every thing was on sort of a fundamental level, and she basically said she was happy every thing was shaking out as it has been? JOHN: which was nice to hear in the moment, but when you think about it for a little longer, people have died? KARKAT: YES, JOHN. KARKAT: QUITE A FEW FUCKING PEOPLE HAVE DIED. JOHN: also that she's been married twenty years, but also not? JOHN: it was all kind of over my head, but also i sort of get it. KANAYA: Takes A Depressed Dissociative Cop-Out To Know One I Suppose ROSE: I think I'm going to be sick. KANAYA: *FUCK*

Of all the Candy characters, John is the one acting the most like his original characterization, and that makes him the most fucked-up one of all.

JOHN: no offense, jade, but you're right behind rose on the crazy train. JOHN: you can't even be trusted to be normal around a dead body. JOHN: OR TO NAME A BABY.

He's got a point there tho

JOHN: and i've been really trying, but no matter what, it all seems kinda ... dumb and random? KARKAT: OH, I WOULDN'T SAY THAT. JOHN: what do you mean? KARKAT: JADE'S A PATHETIC PATHOLOGICAL LIAR, BUT SHE'S NOT STUPID. KARKAT: NOTHING ABOUT ANY OF THIS IS RANDOM. KANAYA: ? KARKAT: TELL ME, WAS A KID NAMED "YIFFANY LONGSTOCKING" A JOKE DAVE MADE, OR DID YOU JUST *THINK* HE'D FIND IT FUNNY? JADE: are we seriously talking about this NOW? KARKAT: THE ONE THING HE EVER STOOD HIS GROUND ON. KARKAT: AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN LEAVE HIM THAT, COULD YOU? JADE: its not that simple! KARKAT: SHE LOOKS LIKE HIM! THAT'S, WHAT, A HAPPY ACCIDENT? KARKAT: THERE WERE A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT OF WILLING, UNMARRIED WOMBS OUT THERE, BUT YOU JUST HAPPENED TO STUMBLE INTO THE CLOSEST ONE THERE IS TO DAVE? KARKAT: WOW!!! KARKAT: LUCKY!!! KANAYA: Huh

I really do love the Jerry Springer-ness of Candyland. All these people are so unbelievably fucked up, too busy fighting over stupid shit to notice all their kids went away and left them in the doomed timeline.

KARKAT: I HAD A LIGHT PLAYER RUNNING ESPIONAGE FOR ME AND IT STILL TOOK US FIFTEEN SHITTY, GRUELING HUMAN YEARS TO WIN THIS EMBARRASSING RUBE GOLDBERG TRAVESTY OF A WAR. KARKAT: ALL THOSE WEAK-ASS PROGNOSES... MUST'VE BEEN A REAL RIOT! ROSE: Karkat, please... I never tried to hinder the war effort... KARKAT: YOU MUST'VE USED UP ALL YOUR HINDER QUOTA ON SABOTAGING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FUCKING WIFE THEN. KARKAT: BUT HEY, WORKS FOR ME!

A lot of the time Karkat's not really mad, it just reads as angry because his text is all-caps, but he's out for blood today, Christ.

KARKAT: AND NOW, KANAYA FINALLY KNOWS THAT YOU AREN'T FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER. KARKAT: YOU NEVER WERE. ROSE: *Sniffle.* KARKAT: ARE YOU CRYING? KARKAT: WHAT THE HELL. STOP THAT. KARKAT: YOU DON'T DO THAT. KANAYA: I Think Those Might Actually Be Real Tears ROSE: *Sob.* JOHN: see? JOHN: this is what i mean. JOHN: the only reason why things are even remotely better now is because of karkat. JOHN: he's like the only guy capable of putting all of us in our place when we start acting insane! JOHN: and... he's the only one that won't be around forever.

See, like, I know I said I like the banter, but that's because I don't exist in this fictional universe. John does, and acting like Rose being reduced to literal tears is "better" than that not happening is fucking insane.

JOHN: listen, i've tried taking roxy's advice. JOHN: i have been paying attention, i've been involved, and i can't shake this feeling that maybe, there is such a thing as too much freedom.

John going insane while at the same time turning his back on "Freedom" is going to drive the Classpect Inversion theorists wild. I can hear BladekindEyewear from here.

ROXY: john! JOHN: i'm glad you've been happy roxy, you've done so well for yourself. JOHN: but... that doesn't change the fact that none of you are good people. JADE: because youre so great??????? JOHN: no, not at all! JOHN: that's my point, i only had like half a foot in my own kid's life for ten years! JOHN: and i was a real jerk to you guys. JOHN: ugh, i even emotionally cheated on my wife. ROXY: exsqueeze me? JOHN: and honestly i don't even know how old she was. JAKE: Dude.

What in the fuck is happening? Is John saying he wanted to bang....Vriska? What the fuck is he even talking about.

JOHN: and i think the last time i did was when we were all in the game. JOHN: that's when we were all at our best! JOHN: right? JADE: john! JADE: WE ALL DIED! JOHN: that didn't even happen to this you, don't pretend like any of that affected you! JADE: of course it did!!! JOHN: ?????? JADE: OH MY GOD.

What? What is John talking about? Of course Jade died. She died the most of any of you and she went to Squiddlehell.

God, this art of Dave's corpse is so fucking creepy.

JADE: you keep talking about something being wrong with us, yet not once have you asked yourself what we all have in common!!!! JOHN: you can't blame the game for everything. JOHN: playing it saved us! JADE: children shouldnt have to make other children, or kiss the corpses of their friends, or know what it feels like to die!!! JADE: the kids have a chance here, john. JADE: to grow up like real people do and be... actually FUCKING normal! JOHN: jade, your daughter has dog ears and a tail. JOHN: she's never going to be normal!

This fight is really well-written because both perspectives are absolutely insane and steeped in fantasy nonsense and yet it still feels really uncomfortable.

Also John had that coming.

Bro, this art is so good. Screenshotting it doesn't really do it justice.

YIFFY: FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tch. Obviously this would be her first line.

JOHN: we have to kill dirk.

John, she left. Like...she's gone. The only bus out of Candyland and you missed it. You've gone completely mad.

And you're the most interesting you've ever been.

[freeluigihesbae]

luigi mangione

I wanted to write a dedicate a serious post for Luigi since today is one of his first serious trial dates/days.

Luigi has NOT been convicted as guilty, which means he maintains his innocence. I think I'm guilty of this too, but when we call him a hero, we take away the little grace and dignity he has left. I'm not saying that I'm perfect, but recognizing that he is still innocent until proven guilty is something we should practice.

That means our love for him needs to go beyond the assumption that he is guilty. A lot of people have been saying they like and love him because he did something good, but it is difficult to justify when that if you don't recognize that he is a human being.

Recognizing him as a human being means you take the correct assumption that is IS innocent. When you look at it that way, you'll realize that Luigi is a victim of this entire situation, no matter how strong Luigi has seemed to be in this entire process.

He's a few years old than me, which means, he's just a guy. A kid. Stellar intelligence and future that he had which got destroyed because of how cruel and hierarchal this "so-called" justice system. Let's remember this is the same justice system that strangely struggles to give needed charges to rapists, believes in reducing gun regulation and solving school shooting issues, and advocating for corporation because trickle-down economics (thanks reagan!! fuck you.) is a convenient excuse to milk money from the average person.

We live in an unjust society that will always remain no matter where you go in the world. It will always exist and the best we can do is keep ourselves close to the truth rather than fall prey. We are smart, independent individuals who can pick and choose the things we want to in logical ways to adhere to what is right.

Luigi Mangione is a human. He is a human. He is a human.

Keep repeating this to yourself. He is a human being who when to Penn. He has two degrees. He has a family. He has friends. He went to parties. He was in clubs. He had jobs. He tutored. He ran around on the beach. He went to Hawaii. He had back surgery.'

I hope Luigi's story inspires us all to realize that no-one is perfect. We all have something dark and painful within us all that manifests differently.

With that being side, let's keep hope on our side. Let's use the things we have learned about Luigi and approach his situations with confidence, forgiveness, and kindness.

Fuck these insurance companies, health or not. Fuck the government (in certain aspects not entirely!) and most of all, good luck Luigi,.

We love you.

~

Any tags pertaining to Luigi fics were on purpose; I want this post to get as much coverage and attention as possible!

[badaziraphaletakes]

these people do not understand abuse. y’all abuse is NOT making mistakes. either they have never been in an abusive relationship or have awful media comprehension skills. I watched the entire show with my mom (who is a licensed psychologist and has worked with abusive relationships since the start of her career) and we analysed the show (because she was also an English teacher) and that never came up. what are these people on

Oh, my goodness, thank you so much for sharing, @z1ish ! I am so happy to hear that a psychologist is saying the same thing we've been saying! :))))

So, then, let's get into it...

I sure as hell hope that somewhere deep down OP realizes Aziraphale isn't actually ab*sive and that they are just grasping at straws, because otherwise they should know perfectly well that there WOULD be no way for the writers to make it all come out right in the end with Aziracrow together. If you think Aziraphale is ab*sive (or whatever TF "borders on ab*sive" is supposed to mean, which, by the way, that's a whole thing in itself - ab*se is ab*se, period, and the suffering of victims is degraded by that kind of language, so if you're trying to say it's ab*sive, then you need to either piss or get off the pot) you shouldn't ship Aziracrow, and - I'm just gonna come right out and say this - you shouldn't be supporting this show in the first place, because this show ships Aziracrow.

If I thought for one SECOND that this show was glorifying an ab*sive relationship, underscoring it with beautiful music and pretty lighting and yada yada, then no power in heaven or hell could make me support it or give it one cent of my time or money. This is doubly so since we know that the couple is going to end up together and it's going to be portrayed as a good thing.

And frankly, I profoundly resent people misinterpreting my perspective on Good Omens as that. Not to mention it's the rankest hypocrisy for that to be coming (as I can only assume it is) from the subset of the fandom that is hell-bent (heh) on minimizing, if not outright denying, Heaven's ab*se of Aziraphale.

Also, the phrase "it's what victims tell themselves so they 'can' rationalize away the bad behavior" is highly, highly problematic. It veers veeery close to implying that the problem is with the victims who think that way - that victims are somehow enabling themselves to remain victims (when I hope we all know the problem is with OTHER PEOPLE - the ab*sers, the enablers in their circle, the broader society - who tell them things like that to try to keep them imprisoned. If we're going to make judgmental statements like "they're rationalizing away the bad behavior", we should make them about the ab*sers, not the victims).

Finally: I got slight vibes of "I stopped thinking about my ab*ser this way, so you should too!" from OP. That bothers me a LOT.

Many victims can't leave. For such people, thinking that way about their ab*ser is often a survival mechanism. A way to keep going. After all, if you allowed yourself to think about how horrible things really were, it would destroy you. It's not always about "rationalizing away bad behavior". Again I say, WE CANNOT CRITICIZE VICTIMS FOR HOW THEY THINK ABOUT THEIR AB*SERS. IT'S NOT OKAY!

To any victims out there who aren't able to leave: I hope and pray that someday you get to be free and safe. Until then, think whatever you need to to get by. I'll never judge you for it.

Whew. Sorry this got dark. But OP is playing with fire here. This one really, really pissed me off.

(EDITED TO ADD: This one is from before the NG thing broke. Yes, we really are that behind on our backlog, lol.)

[dcdreamblog]

Since I brought him up and was invited to ask further, can you talk some/shed some history on Captain Comet?

He seems to have appeared during the period where super heroes were supposed to have been banned, but later showed up to battle the first incarnation of the Secret Society of Super-Villains. He later told the Planet he’d been out exploring space.

But he’s also never spoken about the decision to leave Earth (and seems to have left Earth again after battling the SSoSV). Did the government go after him or…?

Captain Comet, AKA Adam Blake is a man who bears some study. Not only is his an outlier within MY field as like you said he was active during the time when the Keene Act was still being actively enforced but he's also something of a holy grail in the fields of biology, anthropology and the Xeno Studies versions of both fields. If half the things said about him are true then he represents and massive forward leap for mankind that has been going on in the background of most of our lifetimes. He wasn't always so extraordinary though, not when he was born in the early 1930s to two entirely normal parents in an VANISHINGLY small town somewhere in the midwest. The event that would change his life forever would happen almost instantly though when an inexplicable comet passed overhead bursting and burning up in earth's atmosphere raining down a torrent of low level exotic radiation on the Blake farmstead. While it was benign enough to leave most things untouched, the newly born Adam absorbed the radiation and began to undergo a rapid metahuman mutation.

As young Adam grew he developed impossible mental acuity, memorizing an entire series of encyclopedias by the age of eight and by his teenage years he was able to play Mozart by ear without ever having touched an instrument before. It wasn't until he was in college that his physical abilities would match his mental ones, becoming superhumanly strong, never experiencing physical fatigue and gaining potent psychokinetic abilities that manifested when he saved the life of a classmate in an accident.

Eventually he came to the attention of a physics professor at his university who studied him intently and discovered his body had been mutated beyond almost any cellular recognition, undergoing changes to his body that would have taken tens of thousands of generations for humanity to naturally accumulate. Wanting to use his newfound powers for the betterment of mankind Blake continued working with the professor until he was forced into the open.

An alien race known as the Astur attempted to invade the earth by siphoning the oxygen from our atmosphere with a massive mechanical device. Blake responded to the attack under the moniker of Captain Comet and managed to outdo the aliens in a battle of wits that saw the device destroyed, the alien invaders rejected and Earth's oxygen supplies returned.

However, once he had returned to Earth he was confronted by police and government agents attempting to arrest him for violating the Keene Act, operating as a costumed vigilante (nevermind the fact that if he hadn't the entire human population would have choked to death inside 24 hours). He was, of course, easily able to swat them away with his abilities but when his resistance to arrest caused the crowd to turn on him he decided there was no place for him on the Earth of the 1950s. He flees the Earth into outer space where he makes contact with many alien races and becomes a known quantity among the stars. He doesn't return to Earth until after the beginning of our modern age of heroes, intervening in a battle between Green Lantern and the Secret Society believing Lantern was the aggressor. It's only after that battle where Comet is brought up to speed as to what has changed in his absence and he helps bring down the Secret Society in a series of battles alongside the Justice League.

Afterwards he again leaves Earth, this time on better terms but with the understanding that he is a man out of time who no longer has a place here among normal society. It's after his return and after mankind begins to slowly open itself to alien information that we learn what he's been up to. Stopping an interstellar war here, bringing down a planetary cartel there, becoming the nemesis of an undead cult and the champion of a well traveled galactic space station.

Basically he's become THE most famous Earthling out among the galaxy, to the point that the good impression he has made has brought peaceful contact to Earth's shores on multiple occasions.

I think it bears repeating, after being run off the planet of his birth by an unjust and small minded law he then spent the next several decades up to and including now making the best possible name for the planet Earth to the point that the galactic CLICHE for Earthlings between him, Superman and our various Green Lanterns is that we're all square jawed, justice seeking hero types. He got run out of town on a rail and decided his response was to make us look good!

I don't think we're in the right CENTURY to know all the aftermath of Blake's existence. Not only is he the better part of a century old and seemingly not slowing down an inch but we're just not far enough along to see what kind of legacy he's left us among the stars. When we DO reach that point in our development, WE will be the ones walking through the door HE opened for us in the eyes of uncountable trillions across the star speckled black.

Hopefully we don't waste it.

[sepublic]

The Rapture, the Day of Unity, and Happily Ever After

I wouldn’t be surprised if the upper echelons of the coven regime weren’t concerned with being sustainable, because they were privy before the public was to the Day of Unity, which was itself essentially one big rapture where everyone goes to a perfect utopia! They don’t have to worry about the world they’ve left behind, they just need to last long enough to make it to this endpoint, like Belos talking about how he only needs to ‘live long enough to see this through’.

So it must’ve been quite a shock, realizing that’s not it; There’s nothing for all their hard work. They have to go back to their lives as normal, but knowing it’s eternal in the sense of worrying about living life until it naturally ends for them, and making society run ahead of them for the next to pick up. Now people have to do their jobs in creating an actual functioning society instead of loftily dreaming of a fantasy, which is of course topical to the show’s themes about being beholden to the world and people around you as you make dreams practical.

I can see a comparison between the apathy that came from the Day of Unity and how a lot of rich, powerful folk —especially the ones running fossil fuel companies— don’t care about destroying the Earth and its environment, because they’ll be dead before it gets bad enough that the devastation reaches them in their cushy little suites. On the Day of Unity, Emira’s frustrations over her mother only caring about money feel in a similar vein, it all hearkens back to the same problem with these CEOs where their personal, material enjoyment is the only priority.

And this makes me think of the rapture comparison too; It comes from the Evangelicals, who are the descendants of the Puritans. I can see the writers playing with how Marx called religion the opiate of the masses; The idea that Christianity was often exploited by the upper class against the lower class to justify their suffering. The idea was that if you were poor, you didn’t need to worry about improving your material world because as long as you remained pious and faithful, you’d eventually inherit a heavenly afterlife.

Thus, working-class Christians were made complacent, believing their mortal suffering was just temporary and even a test for their ascension. Whether you think they actually got a heavenly afterlife is an entirely separate real-life theological discussion, but the point was that it was an excuse by those in power to avoid being held accountable in making the living world actually tolerable for everyone else, and everyone else would not hold them to that standard because they thought it didn’t matter anyway.

So I can see the Day of Unity functioning exactly like that, in fact I’m pretty sure it just did onscreen because we see wild witches such as the Demon Hunters accept the coven bindings because for whatever losses they suffer, eventually the Titan will make it all worth it right? And this framing of the Titan as an abstract God who will take you to an abstract universe is interesting; We know tangibly that other worlds exist of course, but in the context of the show, the utopia bit is a lie.

And if we apply it to real life, much how the show calls out IRL witch hunters (and its fictional one, because TOH’s fictional witches warranted nothing for their existence) as insincere… I do remember a college lecture in things like Animism or cosmocentric belief systems; They saw the ‘spirits’ as not existing on a separate plane, but our own. There was no afterlife or heaven, it was all in this world, people live on when they die and break down and are consumed by other beings, that sort of thing.

The practices of wild magic and the worship of the Titan seem to follow in a similar vein to these and Animism; The Titan is sacred and her body has its own life reborn as the environment, but she’s also undeniably dead, as pointed out by a Deadwardian witch. Eda stresses learning from the natural environment around you for magic, their ‘god’ is a mortal being and also their tangible world. The magic comes via glyphs in nature, as well as the magic in everything that witches get their own magic from. There IS something resembling an afterlife in-universe but we never get to see it, the beliefs of wild magic seem to be at odds with Belos’ Christian colonialism, and again its promise of a rapture and a separate, abstract God and utopia.

Point is; There is no universe after this, or at least that’s not how wild witches treat it. The focus is on the here and now and making this world last, and making it last for the future generations that will take your place. And this defiance of a rapture in favor of life always going on makes me think of how Dana hates the term Happily Ever After, for the implications of everything just being over and that’s it. That’s the end. All the problems are solved now, there is no story left to tell.

I can’t say this was intentional on a conscious level or otherwise, but I do have to draw a connection between this and how TOH’s ending was in response to this critique; Life keeps going on, the protagonists have to keep fixing the Boiling Isles, and then keep it going even if it IS fixed. They just undid coven bindings and King found his first glyph. The Archivists are still out there. The protagonists don’t get an eternal unambiguous happy ending where there’s nothing left to do, they don’t get a ‘heavenly afterlife’ as one could call it, and that’s good!

From a meta standpoint, you can see how it encourages fans to write more stories, to be inspired to keep it going, and it’s another way Dana made the shortening work in the show’s favor. Dana said back in 2020 that she encourages fans to build off of things, as she did as a kid with her own shows, she also wanted it to be that deep growing up! So both in-universe and IRL, TOH isn’t meant to be over, there is no absolute ending because fandom lives on.

Hell, Dana even professed interest in a prequel following Eda’s childhood; She’s since become pessimistic about the possibility, more than likely on account of her cutting ties with Disney and executives’ disinterest. But the point still stands; Life keeps going, IRL. The lives of the characters keep going, in-universe and IRL through fandom.

I also wonder if you could discuss Lumity under this lens; I’m making exceptions for queer romances, especially in children’s media, because they often have to deal with censorship pushing them to the last minute. But when it comes to romance in general, romance involving the main character largely consists of Will They/Won’t They, with the climax having the romance achieved. But because of the Thrill of the Chase, a lot of writers don’t want to explore how characters actually navigate a relationship, hence why it’s drawn out and saved for the ending; The romance has been nearly tied up as a Happily Ever After, there’s no more story to tell. So when they get a continuation, they’ll often undo progress.

Lumity avoids this; Lumity has them get together at the halfway point of the series, and then actually explores their dynamic as a couple together, without creating misunderstandings or breakups or anything. We see how they work as a couple, how they get to enjoy each other as a couple. So them getting together isn’t the ending climax, it’s just another stage in their continuing dynamic. There is no Happily Ever After; There’s problems for them to face together that do sometimes strain their relationship, but they still work on it together; Dana was adamant on showing these things instead of settling for them asking each other out and letting the rest be an implication.

And I think that’s so much more healthy to show kids than just idealizing the Thrill of the Chase and its climax, without appreciating the mundanity of just being together. Because kids grow into adults and don’t really expect or care to pursue a romance past that point, and I wonder if this is part of the culture behind cheating, of still reaching for something unattainable because media doesn’t normalize already having things when it comes to romance. Nor does it care for tackling things together as a couple most of the time.

Dana was raised Catholic, which is separate from Puritanism, but she did have to deal with Evangelicals growing up, as they raged about innocuous things like Pokemon; And Pokemon was her Good Witch Azura, a last gift from her father before he died in a car crash. It’s something Dana still enjoys and she’s done crossover art for it and TOH.

So I can see the coincidence/connection in Dana critiquing Evangelicals’ rapture ideology and how the end of everything is used to placate people instead of worrying about what needs to be eternally maintained, and like. Her feeling similarly with stories and even romances where it ends definitively and perfectly. Because fandom keeps going and she’s a part of it too.

The world keeps going, there is no endpoint to history IRL or in the show; People have to adjust going back to the banality of continuing to live and worry about running society in the long-term, rather than expecting it to not matter because they were going to be raptured anyway. And you know what, this could be good, it means it lasts forever as we see Luz and co. embrace it, happy to enjoy their lives, actually getting to be in a relationship; But life is fragile as we see with the Titan, so we gotta work to keep it going, so that even when we get our definitive end, the people after get their time.

[delawaredetroit]

Hi, I know you said you didn't want to talk about this last chapter until the other rereads, but you're one of the few blogs that I trust won't respond with biased information about any particular ship or character. I'm hearing that there's a problem with chapter 431, that it shouldn't be counted as part of the chronology because the author didn't write it or something? but it doesn't appear in the final volume and is part of the end? Sorry for the question, I'm just really confused.

This comes from a misinterpretation of commentary written by Horikoshi expanding on the metaphor of BNHA as live theater. That theatrical connection has long been established. There was a reason the manga was split into three acts; the story focused on masks, roles, stages, etc.; and the manga spent so much time breaking the fourth wall and speaking of fantasy and reality.

I'm paraphrasing, but Horikoshi's commentary was that chapter 429 was the end of the play, chapter 430 was the curtain call, and chapter 431 was what happened after the curtain fell and the cameras dimmed.

It makes sense why chapter 429 would be "the end" of the play. It was the end of the hero society where everyone played black and white roles with very particular masks. (Because Shigaraki destroyed the stage). The play reached its conclusion with an ordinary person putting down the mask and reaching out to the child in need in front of them.

Chapter 430, where it ends with a spread of all of Class 1A, is the curtain call. If you've ever seen a play live, the actors all come back on stage for one final bow to the audience. That is the role of chapter 430.

Chapter 431 is what is left after all of the dramatics of theater are gone. The stage is no more, the masks are destroyed, and the roles will never be the same. Their current roles may eventually disappear entirely. This chapter is what they chose after the fantasy ended.

Even if the final two chapters were "extras", it would be dubious to argue they aren't canon. This argument is either coming from a place of those unhappy for shipping or other reasons...or they don't read much. Seriously, epilogue chapters (even those labeled as extras) set after a time skip are common from mainstream YA novels to Korean webtoons. Some folks in this fandom interact with BNHA as if they have never read a book before and it's mildly concerning...

Beyond that, acting as if a chapter included in a published volume of a text isn't canon is absurd on its face. Even if Horkoshi said it wasn't, at that point apply Death of the Author and actually read the manga as presented.

Tl;dr: Yes, chapter 431 is canon. It's in the official final volume and Horikoshi's commentary about this chapter was part of a metaphor about BNHA as a play.

[curtis-brothers-hug]

Little Brother is a song that does so much, and I didn’t understand its full purpose and impact until I saw the show and the staging. It’s a load bearing number, which is ironic because Dallas tears down the set.

The first part of the song gives the audience a chance to process Johnny’s death. In the book, the characters have no time to process it before the next catastrophe, but theatre is a different medium. I think would have been underwhelming and anticlimactic and clunky if Johnny was immediately rushed offstage to make room for the next big moment.

On stage, you have to give a moment like Johnny’s death room to breathe. We need to linger on the visual focal point that is Johnny in the hospital bed, covered in striking, almost blinding white on the dark stage. We need to watch as the angelic image of him is slowly lifted up and carried away on the backs of his friends. The song takes us through an entire burial for Johnny, performed by the gang, while Dally is too consumed by his grief to participate; synchronized rituals performed in the background in silence, while Dally is center stage screaming.

Then there’s the next part.

Dally climbs onto the platform, that throughout the show has been the socs domain. We see greasers up there sometimes, but never without socs also up there. Only the socs have been up there alone, literally looking down on the greasers. Please correct me if I’m wrong, people who have seen the show a hundred times, but I believe this is the only time we see a greaser on the platform alone with no socs.

Then of course he starts tearing apart the set, literally breaking the fourth wall. Tearing down the staging of their society. Because this song isn’t just Dally’s personal swan song. It’s an indictment of society.

Ponyboy tells the story, but Dallas destroys it. Ponyboy is only able to put the story together because Dallas first takes it apart. Ponyboy constructs, Dallas deconstructs. Ponyboy writes the story, Dallas is the story.

Then that choreography of the entire cast fusing into one big hunched over clump. Oof. That was the second moment when I thought oh, that’s what this song is doing. (The first was when the gang poured the gravel on the ground). For the first time, the ensemble isn’t above or beside or surrounding the singer. Dallas is above, and everyone else in a huddle below him.

The ensemble takes over singing the melody while he echoes it, because they are the ones singing it to him now. Little brother sorry I failed you. They bend towards him on every beat like they’re bowing to him. It’s like all of society is apologizing to Dallas Winston. The Greek chorus of the story pays homage to him the way the real world never did.

[takusan-no-ai]

Abysmal Curse

PAIRING: Jean/Ganyu/Kokomi x Male Reader (Romantic) (Separate)

SUMMARY: Their boyfriend, (Y/N), is an outcast because of a “curse”.

You were a normal young boy, having a good childhood. One day your friends invited you to play hide and seek. But it lead to you adventuring farther out, where it wasn’t safe.

You came into contact with the abyss and ever since then have been cursed. It was a pretty flower, yet it corroded your hands into something deadly.

Not knowing what happened you ran for your parents. They were at the fountain in Mondstadt. You grabbed your mother’s hand and she died in an instant, her entire body rotting before your eyes.

Since then you were given gloves out of curtesy, but ostracized from society. Your father, friends, everyone abandoned you; the only person who didn’t was Jean.

Everyone called you a curse. A misfortune that will one day destroy Mondstadt. But Jean didn’t believe any of it. She listened to your story and sympathized, wanting to heal your trauma.

She didn’t care for the dirty looks she got, and even convinced her sister Barbara to “cleanse” you at the church so you’d be accepted somewhere; better than living in the cold forest.

Life isn’t easy, and yet Jean will always be there to make everyday a little better. She promises one day the world will accept her boyfriend; perhaps making you a knight should be the first step?

A disgraced being corrupted by the abyss, your existence has been tantamount to a bad joke. There wasn’t a good thing about you; a man who was born immortal thanks to Rex Lapis, but because of the Abyss, slowly kills all life surrounding him the worst his mood gets.

Being young, you weren’t aware of such a curse. Until at Liyue Harbor you got into a fight with another kid and threw a tantrum. The whole block was sick for weeks and BuBu Pharmacy was running low on supplies.

But that kid died. Then some elderly. And eventually your one tantrum killed ten people. As much as it saddened Rex Lapis, your existence proved to be dangerous, and so he banished you. But you agreed with his judgment.

You sheltered yourself far away from society in Liyue, where no one’s life would be at risk because of your tantrums. Your constant switching moods didn’t help, and soon your sanctuary became a wasteland.

You’d think it would scare off others, but Ganyu wasn’t always the most normal person in society. She’d heard of your life from Cloud Retainer, and although different, it reminded her of Shenhe.

She couldn’t help herself and started to care for your wellbeing. Comforting you when life was tough, helping you find ways to control your emotions, and loving you. It was a shock for her, but she quickly embraced the love she had for you.

Ganyu really wants society to accept you but she knows just how impossible that will be. Instead she introduces you to Xiao, saying you can help him eradicate evil from the shadows. It’ll take a long time for you to be accepted, so she hopes the legends of you can bring some light to your goodness.

When you were a young boy Miko found you outside her shrine. Immediately she recognized you as a yokai: Zashiki-Warashi. A creature that visits homes and can bring good fortune, but leaves horrid misfortune when it leaves the home.

Miko took care of you over the years; she made sure you were never allowed into a home for your own safety. However news of a good fortune yokai spread in Inazuma thanks to some eavesdropping kids, and soon you were captured. Brought over all across Inazuma, misfortune following every house you went.

You finally found refuge in Watatsumi Island. There the abductors were arrested and dealt with swiftly by General Gorou, who later introduced you to Kokomi. They tried to convince you to live in a proper house, but you constantly denied.

Eventually you had to tell them you were a zashiki-warashi, and that if you ever left your house a great misfortune would consume Watatsumi Island. Naturally, this lead to many of the residents wanting you gone. Throwing stones at you, shouting vulgarities, just the tip of the iceberg.

However Kokomi wasn’t pleased with that decision. Sure, your existence may be potentially dangerous, but you didn’t choose to be. So she arranged for you to “live” at her special place, where she reads books on military strategies.

It was there that a bond formed deeper than either of you expected. She loved to unwind with you, your playful spirit being a nice distraction from work. Kokomi even absentmindedly writes about you in her diary; he’s so cute this, handsome that, strong, sweet, smart, ect.

You found it and asked Kokomi if this was her bizarre way of giving you a love confession, to which she promptly snatched the book and “died” of embarrassment. She died even more when you agreed to being her boyfriend.

- Fin

[even-in-arcadia]

I was rereading "Lovers of Human Flesh" by Caleb Crain as one does and I was very struck by two particular lines in relation to one Cornelius Hickey:

Incorporating what you love is a sure way to see that it never escapes from you.

and

Eating something is a way of keeping it with you forever, but it is also a way of destroying it.

I don't need to delve into the implications for Hickey's actual cannibalism - that's been done by those better (and more attached to Hickey) than I. What I want to talk about more is this concept in relationship to Hickey's ambitions to godhood.

Hickey has a plan always, at all times. It's a plan that shifts based on what seems best for him, what seems most convenient, and whatever he thinks his relationship to Crozier is at any given moment. They all essentially make sense in a scrappy, aggrieved, mutiny kind of way. Until: Solomon Tozer tells him, horrified, that he witnessed the Tuunbaq eat Mr. Collins' soul. Hickey says, specifically, that this merits a change in plan. He spends a long time by himself on a hill doing --we'll never know what.

EC/Cornelius Hickey, a man who clearly has never known a love that didn't turn on him or leave, has determined to be become melded to the Tuunbaq, an eater of souls. Gibson turned on him by falsely representing their relationship to Irving; Crozier turned on him by denying the "clear" bond they had and denying Hickey's gift of Lady Silence; he's been betrayed by this entire voyage that was supposed to take him to Oahu. Who knows what other loves have betrayed him.

If the Tuunbaq can eat souls, if Hickey can become connected with that power, then perhaps he too will be able to incorporate souls! Perhaps he will be able to finally ensure that something, someone will never turn on him. And if those souls must be destroyed in the process, what is it to him? Has the world not spent his entire time on earth trying to destroy him? (Conjecture: but given what we learn of him, the Nagaitis lore, and the cultural & economic context in which he exists, I think this is reasonable.) He yells into the Arctic air:

Bugger Victoria! Bugger Nelson! Bugger Jesus! Bugger Joseph, bugger Mary! Bugger the Archbishop of Canterbury! NONE EVER WANTED NOTHING FROM ME

He feels abandoned by every institution of society, and so he is going to create one in his own image. He offers a captain, an officer, a marine, and a ship's boy: the ship's hierarchy in miniature. If he feeds the Tuunbaq their souls and then melds with Tuunbaq himself, he can eat society and reconstitute it not just in his own image but in his own person, with only his chosen loyal followers, those who do want something from him. As Crain says, "In Freud's Totem and Taboo, the cannibal feast is the founding act of crime and sharing that binds society." That's the founding myth Hickey is not just counting on but trying to actively create.

And maybe, maybe! When he has access to Tuunbaq's power - will he have a line on those souls as well? Tuunbaq devours both body and soul in tandem, suggesting they are connected. As Hickey has already eaten of Gibson's flesh, maybe he can reconstitute and reingest that as Gibson's soul. Thus the destruction becomes the resurrection becomes the incorporation. Crain writes: "The body is a convenient boundary for the definition of the self. [...] in practice the peculiar act [cannibalism and homosexuality] violates that boundary. The act offers an ecstatic union." A cannibal rat wedding, if you will.

Crozier says to Hickey, "You must be a surpassingly lonely man." Hickey doesn't deny this. He merely says "Not for long." This is about power, but it is also about an end to loneliness, to his sense of betrayal at all levels and at every turn. Of course, it doesn't work out. In not caring about who suffered the consequences of his actions, he failed to take into account that incorporation & ingestion involve destruction. He thought himself the instrument of this, but by failing to see the Tuunbaq unto itself, as something other than a tool, as the independent Arctic that could never stomach Western society and live: he turned that back on himself and so was himself destroyed.