#you think you hate him because of the perceived betrayal he just did. he might even think you hate him & you just assume that he hates you

[ccbatman]

actually so evil how much of hal's internal world gets obliterated with the rewriting of his relationships with jessica and martin.

[taughtdefense]

something something miyagi!ethan full-well knowing that he's genuinely happy, & so in love with, other versions of robby in alternate lives (verses), & robby loves him in those alternate existences, while s4!him is Absolutely Fucking Suffering

[astroyongie]

Yongie can you do monsta x reaction to making their so cry pleasee I’m begging

Monsta X Reaction To Making Their S/O Cry

Shownu

The moment he sees your cheeks full of tears, his face closes off

He doesn't say word at the beginning

he has no expression whatsoever on his features

He is the type to just look at you before actually asking you if you are alright

I don't think he understands what he just did at first

but he will want to communicate with you and try to know why you are feeling that way

why you crying

only then will he realize

Shownu will act mature about it usually

he does apologize for his behaviors

and then he becomes clingy

he would want to comfort you with food

with snuggles and hugs

He will fix things

Minhyuk

This man will act all worked up

You probably crying because he didn't hold his tongue and said horrible things to you

and when you start crying he will hate himself

but at the same time, he wonders why you went for it

He is a mix between feeling bad for you and being "see I told you"

Minhyuk will give you a few minutes to get yourself back together but he would want to talk it through

so no bad feelings stay between the two of you

He would probably try to solve the thing with physical touch

like kissing and hugging you

or even taking you inside the bedroom

he can be persuasive if you want me to be honest

Kihyun

This man will feel awful if he ever makes you cry

like yes, maybe he wanted to be right about something but that didn't mean he needed to put you in tears

Kihyun will feel really guilty although he has a hard time apologizing

he will do it

And then it's up to you

if you want to talk things through at the moment, go for it

if you prefer to take some time to collect yourself, he will allow you to do so as well

He just wants to make sure that you are relatively alright

After that, he will act a little bit impulsive

due to his conflicted emotions, he will try to do too much at once for you to forgive him

which can be annoying for you

he will try to compensate you with a going out or a date

and if you don't want to go out he might perceive it as you not caring about his apology

Hyungwon

This guy won't apologize for making you cry

he will be the type to feel everything inside

empathy, sadness, and guilt toward the fact that he made the person he cares for cry

but still, he would be unable to say sorry mostly due to the lack of verbal empathy

he is the type to just look at you, and nod listening and waiting for you to calm down from your cries

Hyungwon will then take some time for himself

meaning that he prefers if both of you just take some time out to reflect on things

he wouldn't want to communicate anyway and he won't give you any emotional of physical contact that you might crave at the moment

just space so you both can reflect on what was wrong and discuss it later

Jooheon

Jooheon like the rest of the boys is the type to apologize after he realized that he made you cry with one of his actions or his words

he would feel very conflicted about the whole thing

and he might not even know what to do

but since he is very close and dependable on you he would want to fix things at the moment

to talk to you about what happened

to understand and to apologize currently

Jooheon has also a big heart

so once you have calmed down he would be very warm

whatever you want as compensation he will give it to you

and he actually makes sure not to betrayal your trust again

I.M

He is so angry

when he sees you cry it probably makes him get even more upset than he was before you guys started arguing, or before you started crying

he just can't stand it

and he won't

in any case and based on his chart, Changkyun won't apologize

and he won't stay around you while you cry

he prefers to isolate himself and wait that you calm down enough to come and talk with "rationality" rather than "emotions"

Changkyun might really act like an ass

this guy could leave the room and go eat a sandwich while you cry

or he would fall asleep on bed while you cry beside him

so it might be quite complicated

[stromuprisahat]

Question: how do you justify what the darkling did to Genya, Alina and Nikolai? I don’t even mean this to sound rude, but I’m just genuinely curious how you just brush past that when you say the Darkling never did anything he’d have to apologize for 🙃

I'd start with stating that I don't like the word "justify". Google says its meaning is "to show or prove to be right or reasonable", which to me sounds like something that's expected whenever you're about to do something that might offend or hurt anyone. Like pre-made apology you owe people even though you might not have anything to apologize for in the end.

It's really about lack of better words. Czech dictionary translates "justify" as "odůvodnit" or "ospravedlnit", out of which the first one is strictly without that moral baggage. Closer to "give reason".

Aleksander's actions are often perceived out of context, as malicious crimes he committed for his own enjoyment, or whatever suits the antis best, while there are plenty of factors we shouldn't fail to consider.

Ravka- The country he loves, even though it doesn't love him. Rarely peaceful- according to Shadow and Bone, current wars last for over a century. Drained by both its neighbours, split in two for long enough it's pretty unbelievable the West is only planning to secede, poor, with ruling class, who doesn't care and has no reason to.

Grisha- From outright hated to respected, but in constant danger anywhere else, Aleksander manged to carve out a place for them under conditions. The Crown allows Grisha to live right on its backyard (to better keep an eye on), safely train and serve as soldiers or servants of noble houses, as long as they're useful, but... also has no need or intention to take it further. Grisha are glorified, envied serfs in fancy clothes. They're used by monarchy, despised and distrusted by masses, as proved by several little things throughout the first book and instant pogroms once the Fold moves (And don't forget there were no survivors- no true witnesses-, aside from few of the Darkling's people.).

His own lives' experience- Let's be honest- centuries of watching his people- however close- die, drawbacks, betrayals, constantly repeating history... gives one quite a perspective. It's a miracle the Darkling is merely numb and tired, yet somehow hardly unfeeling. Unlike the young heroes he possesses enough self-control not to start begging, crying, screaming... He's lashing out, when he has a reason to believe it won't bite him in the ass, he's petty and hurts others, punishing them for hurting him.

setting- Forget 21st century morality. If we're talking about 19th century-esque world, it wouldn't only have fancy nobles, dashing princes to play pirates privateers and masses of uneducated peasants. The reason people think the way they do is they got there somehow. Ravka still has servitude, for gods' sake! Lives don't matter the way people want them to today! It won't be only about some being rich and some poor, there should be huge differences depending on one's circumstances of birth, bloodlines, wrongs or slights generations old... I'm aware we're suppose to pretend Alina get a pass, because she's "Living Saint", but for example slapping a member of royalty should cost her. Bastard or not, you let it slide once, and next thing you know people are getting ideas and building guillotines.

Now to your question:

Genya is the easiest. She got punished for disobeying direct order, betraying the Darkling for a girl she hardly knew and who was too self-involved to truly act like the friend Genya for some reason suddenly feels her to be.

Aleksander let Genya close enough to be considerably honest around her, at least regarding his intentions with Lantsovs. Dangerous thing to do for a man in his position (and although I have my theories, this reply is no place for them). That's why he made it personal. She didn't only abandon their cause, she hurt him, so he took what she valued most about herself, fitting his revenge into her expectable punishment.

He could've had her whipped. To death even. Instead he chose more personal approach.

Alina's the messiest, because way too many feelings got involved and Aleksander's shit in handling those. His only lasting relationship is his abusive mother, others tend to die on him. Alina's a personification of a dream. Someone to keep him company for the rest of eternity. A companion he longed for for so long, he's not able to handle the bitter truth. I don't think he ever considered his "One and Only Equal" might not be interested in his goals and while he might rationally understand Alina's so much younger, he quickly loses his patience and decides to speed up her development because her young self is interfering with his general plans.

Now, while younger Aleksander might have been more passionate, he was never allowed the luxury of recklessness or even childhood, as a consequence of which he has no idea how to handle hormonal teenagers. Alina's worldview is incredibly narrow and she has several mental mechanisms to prevent her from changing that, while Aleksander's living in constant paranoia, possibility of fight or flight 24/7. They're incompatible the way they are- Alina unwilling to change, Aleksander too rigid and lacking the luxury of choice- yet in each other's way too much to merely split up. The Darkling needs the Sun Summoner as a tool and a symbol, and as long as he breathes, Alina won't have a chance to regain her beloved anonymity.

What he did to her?

The Collar was his hand forced. Unreliable deserter possessing the power he needed to ensure ceasefire.

What else is there that couldn't be explain by simple "They're on opposite sides of a conflict."?

The only other moment that comes to my mind is him burning down the orphanage, one of my favourites. The situation is thus:

The Darkling occupies the Throne (Yay!), but he lacks wide support, numbers and resources, therefore he's forced to rule by fear, which is no way to go, when he wants to build future, where Grisha are accepted. Who does have the love of masses, is an undeserving "Saint" and rogue prince, starving his own people, while being cheered on for it, because he's thwarting the Darkling at the same time. I'll ignore Nikolai for now. So, how do you catch a single person, who could be hiding anywhere, with help from anyone, while you can count on no one? You make them come to you. You make them show themselves under circumstances you control.

Alina already fled slaughter of others three times, one she even directly caused. She might pretend to be a do-gooder, but she truly cares only about herself and her otkazat'sya past. Threatening Malyen already proved to be fruitful, but that one's out of Aleksander's reach, so he tries the next best thing. Destroying her "home". There's also poetry in it- he lost his mother for Alina, it's only fair she'd lose hers. As a symbol of the past Alina's so stubbornly clinging to, there's even some chance it WILL really hurt her, which is certainly plus for his vengeful self.

Eventually it proves to be ruthless, simple and utterly brilliant. Alina falls for his threat and meets him in the Fold.

It's a beautiful example of sacrificing a few (The Grisha teachers probably stayed with the children for their sake, and residents of the orphanage were also just doing their jobs as far as we know.) to end civil war and bring the other side to heel. Ravka wasn't able to handle two-front war, opening third one was insanity and I'm genuinely surprised the country didn't fall (or that West didn't use it to finally free itself from East). With Alina's power under control the Darkling could've attempted "Peace or the Fold" again, perhaps even succeed this time.

And then we have Nikolai.

Second-born Lantsov thwarting his plans, proposing "his" Sun Summoner, loved by masses and army alike because unlike Aleksander, he's otkazat'sya. Goals? Same. Positions? Incomparable. Willingness to give everything? Yes for both.

In better world, they could've been allies. One easily accepted, the other highly experienced. But the story doesn't want that, so Nikolai is serious contender and an obstacle in Aleksander's way to "Fine, I'll do it myself.". He needs to be gone. Killing him would be easiest and most permanent, but Kolya fucked up, when he made it personal.

Tricking the Darkling, shooting him, proposing to his "not"gf, evacuating royal family AND Baghra, starving his forces once Darkles sits on the throne... taking away Nikolai's most valuable quality, while keeping him conscious enough to comprehend it is the way to go!

There's also a POV that says showing your essence down your rival's throat to irrecoverably change him might be seen as a romantic gesture or outright foreplay, but I happen to be a Fannibal, so I'm aware the majority of Grishaverse fans might find my ideas of romance a bit harder to digest (pun absolutely intended).

To sum up: Most of the Darkling's actions corresponds with his position of 19th century-esque war general and revolutionary attempting Coup to save his bankrupt country, while hated by masses and lacking resources. Plus a drop of clever, petty vindictiveness.

(And whole bucket of bad writing, because there are things that just DON'T MAKE SENSE- both regarding worldbuilding and characterisation.)

[the-bi-space-ace]

Crosshair… that’s it that’s the post

This is going to be a full analysis of how I personally view Crosshair as a character. You can certainly disagree with me that's chill! I just want to yell about this man. This will be long so thoughts below the cut!

Let's start with meeting him in The Clone Wars. Hunter immediately says that Crosshair is not a big conversationalist. He looks and acts the most severe, usually only speaking to say some quip.

I want to start with how he reacts when Rex says something about Cody being hurt. Crosshair gets defensive and immediately bulks at the mere thought of leaving Cody behind. Now, we know Rex is not suggesting that, but Crosshair doesn't. That defensiveness really strikes me as a defining character moment for him. This idea of 'being left behind' or 'leaving someone behind' is so poignant for his character and I will touch on that a little later!

Crosshair really gives Rex a lot of shit, and as someone who loves Echo and Rex a fucking lot I definitely had my fair share of side eyeing when it was happening. The moment when Rex breaks, when Crosshair accuses Rex of leaving Echo behind and he says that he would have done it to. After all he is 'just a reg'. Now, hmmm. He definitely said this to get under Rex's skin and I have the BIGGEST suspicion that it was because he did not trust Rex at this point and was really trying to push buttons to see what Rex's reaction would be. And boy does he get a big one. Now, I am not saying that you should ever punch somebody for pissing you off but... I totally see why Rex swung at him. He was pushed to his end, he was emotional, he was being needled and he was fucking angry. I get it. I think it's understandable that Rex finally was pushed to have an outburst. Because not only is he upset but he has again been accused of leaving someone behind for the hell of it and not caring.

My thought here is that Crosshair cares so much about loyalty and never leaving someone behind and he judges those that even consider it so harshly without understanding the circumstances behind it. Being left behind is a deal breaker for him. No questions asked. It is the biggest betrayal. We see this come up in how he reacts to getting left behind when the batch flea kamino after his chip is enhanced. He hates that he was left behind. It breaks his heart.

Now, his chip was at least active until after Bracca? I feel like that's pretty well established throughout the fandom. After Bracca? That is Crosshair. He is still angry but there is a heartbreak weaved through it. He's so desperate to have his family back that he honestly doesn't really care about how it happens, as long as they come back to him. Because he felt betrayed. He believes they never looked back after they left him behind the first time. And he believes it because he perceives them leaving him behind every single time their paths cross. He's hurt. does he think about how the batch perceive the situation? No. It is the same assumption he makes about Rex. You left a man behind, I don't care about the circumstances. And when you feel so deeply hurt and betrayed? When you were experimented on and you see your family leave you behind and never attempt to save you? When you see them come for Hunter but never for you? Yeah. I get it. I understand.

He is mad at them and they are mad at him on Kamino the second time. And I think what bothers me throughout the entire finale is that they don't try to understand each other. They don't try to understand the anger palpitating behind everyone's actions and it is because everyone is so hurt. They are all heartbroken and there is no time to have a heart to heart because this is life or death. And if they don't get off of Kamino they are all dead. I think if they could explain and talk through the rock and the hard place both parties were stuck in that it might still be heartbreaking and there would be some resentment but there could have been a path forward.

That moment where he saves Omega and his act of loyalty and usefulness is rejected? It really solidifies the thought in his head that the batch does not want him, and never did. Despite the fact that there are a lot of layers here to explore (and everyone is hurt and suffering and is fighting to be understood) this is what Crosshair sees and since they all can't get on the same page it is a losing battle. He's staying on Kamino. He's choosing the Empire. Because the batch didn't choose him.

Let's talk about how Crosshair is handling his trauma. Now, everyone handles trauma differently and I want to say that being traumatized does not excuse a person's actions but it can explain them.

Crosshair clung to the Empire because he needs to feel useful. He needs to be useful in the way he has always been taught to be useful. He knew his place with the batch but that unit was disrupted and he lost it and now he needs to cling to what is familiar because without that familiarity he feels like he has nothing. The batch didn't come for him. He has no family. If he then also has to deal with not having a purpose? He'll break down. He can't handle that.

We see it start. He has been isolating while he recovers. The other clones want nothing to do with him, the new recruits don't want anything to do with the clones. He's alone. Alone is something Crosshair doesn't do well with. So he tries. He tries to sit with and be near other clones but they immediately get up and walk away. He has no idea how to make connections anymore, it is being stripped away from him quickly. And do you know the easiest way to control somebody? Isolate them. His isolation makes him easier to control. He was isolated from the batch to enhance his chip. He is isolated in recovery.

Then he gets to work with Cody, a person who he respects and is honestly shocked to see. I have a feeling Cody saw Crosshair's name pop up in a file and had to reach out to him because he was thinking of defecting and he wanted to know if Crosshair would go with him. Crosshair can't actually let Cody in, he can't actually allow himself to close the distance and not only hear what Cody is saying but agree to it. I think he wants to see, but he is so blinded by his own pride and fear that he simply refuses. That is just my own theory but I still like it.

Then we have what we just witnessed. Mayday. A commander who says the things that everyone else is thinking. That voices his own opinions on the bullshit the empire is pulling. A man who has a quip at every turn and cares so deeply for his own men that he honors every single one he has lost. He fought for them. He was loyal to them. BUT we see Crosshair break his own rule here. 'Don't want to carry around dead weight'. That is SO INTERESTING to me because I've spent the last... idk how many words telling you that being left behind is his biggest deal breaker because he views it as a betrayal. But now. Dead weight is how Crosshair sees himself. He thinks he is the dead weight to leave behind and he does not want to be that anymore. Crosshair has realized that he has very little chance at connection and a bond with other people so he has given up. He has given up holding true to whatever he wants or believes in. He's tired. He's too quiet. He's despondent.

But then Mayday shows him that he trusts Crosshair and this man is reminded that Mayday is not a commander that considers his men 'dead weight' or easy to leave behind. And Crosshair can't help but be reminded that leaving a man behind, when they could be saved or taken care of, is not something he has ever wanted to do. And he can't do that now. He half drags Mayday through the snow and the ice and tries so desperately to save him. Because Mayday is a man worth saving. And Mayday is not dead weight. And when that act is thrown in his face. When his show of loyalty and trust is shoved back at him and they let Mayday die? He can't take it anymore. He is broken, he's beaten down, but he is going to take revenge on the fucker who let this commander die. So he does. He shoots Nolan and he crumbles. He's exhausted. He doesn't care what happens to him. And he is devastated that he's lost yet another person and that truly breaks him down.

Crosshair is a deeply complicated man who has been tortured and brain washed and controlled. It is not as simple as right and wrong. There are layers to explore and depth to be seen. And I want to see what we can learn if we just dig a little bit harder. I’m sure I’ve missed things since there is so much I could say about him. But this is pretty comprehensive of my thoughts on him. Terrified of change, fiercely loyal, acts on his emotions, and does not handle isolation well.

@anythingbutmynamebro @marvel-starwarsfangirl @heyclickadee @irononyx32 @meganebutterflyrei @starrylothcat (this took a few days but I did it!!! Thanks for the encouragement lol)

[purplebowties]

Hi, chair ask! What're your thoughts on the whole Blair and Jack thing? Just the "Love triangle" and incident before his redemption

Hi! Thank you so much for the interesting question!

So, I’m gonna start by saying that my feelings and thoughts about Jack are very ambivalent. Much like Chuck, I have a love/hate relationship with the character.

I know many people in the fandom think of Blair having sex with Jack in season 2 an out of character thing happened for shock value. Though I can see where they’re coming from, I don’t necessarily agree. I think Blair was in a very dark and vulnerable place when it happened, and I can see her doing it out of sheer desperation, and Jack taking advantage of it.

There’s no actual canonical explanation as for why Jack was so jealous of his nephew and so adamant to take everything that was “his” away from him (I’m clearly not referring to Blair as property because I think of her in these terms, but because Jack does), but it’s a factor that played a part in their relationship for a long time. I’m gonna take a not so wild guess here and assume that Bart treated him horribly and that Jack took it out Chuck as soon as he got the chance. Upon meeting Blair, which happened offscreen, Jack, who’s tremendously smart, must have understood the depth of the feeling that connected Chuck and Blair. I’m not sure he had any actual agenda when their sexual encounter happened, as Bart’s will had not been revealed, but the thrill of getting so close to the person Chuck loved must have been irresistible to him and reason enough to do it.

As for Blair, I believe she was out of her mind with worry, as she is always so in tune with Chuck that she must have known he was self-destructive and borderline suicidal. Jack must have offered her comfort in this sense, promising her he would find Chuck and take him home, which was the only thing Blair wanted at that point: for Chuck to be home and safe. Jack must have also painfully reminded her of Chuck - they are, after all, so similar in many ways. I don’t think it was something that was meant to “make sense”: it was likely a moment of weakness and disorientation for Blair, and she is far from being immune to making irrational decisions in emotionally charged situations. A part of Blair might have even done it because she was furious at Chuck, not just for leaving her and not saying “I love you” back per se, but mostly because of what he was doing to himself and his refusal to let her help him. A complex and hurtful mess of contrasting emotions led Blair to have sex with Jack.

Coming to season 3, it is obvious from the way Chuck looks at Blair and Jack speaking in 3X15 that he’s not really over what happened between them and perceived it as a betrayal from Blair. It is part of the many, intricate reasons behind the lack of communication that leads to the hotel incident and everything that came after that. Jack knows too, obviously, and this is why he uses Blair as a pawn in his game - eventually, he just wants Chuck to lose what’s most important to him, and that’s Blair.

I must stress how Chuck’s judgement at the point he makes the unfortunate decision to agree on Jack’s deal was clouded by immeasurable stress and deep trauma: in a way, he extended what he felt towards Elizabeth’s betrayal to Blair, and tested her loyalty (much like he did with his mother, “Writing the check was just a test, but I wanted her to pass, not fail. As soon as I handed it to her, I didn’t want her to take it.”) Both Blair and Elizabeth were involved with Jack and both accepted to scheme with him and betrayed Chuck’s trust (Blair out of love, Elizabeth out of cowardice). There are several factors under the surface of Chuck’s choices at that point of the story, complicated and contradictory, not least the fact that he was going through a depressive and self-destructive episode, but this is one of them.

(If you’re interested, I attached a post I wrote ages ago about 3X17)

I’m sorry, this was exceptionally long and I probably digressed here and there. At the end of the day, I like that Chuck and Jack rebuilt their relationship, and satisfied with the fact that Blair is okay with it. By the time their stories end, the three of them are completely over all that was mentioned above. They are people who did, do and would do horrible things for the right reasons (when it comes to Chuck and Blair, no longer to each other or their loved ones, but to the outside world) and I think this is something they fundamentally understand about each other.

[ugh154628]

why is she convinced that anyone would be jealous of her relationship her fiancé is a fucking dork

Agreed. I would say dating him is in my top 5 most embarrassing decisions LOL.

I think she knows I'm not actually jealous of her dating him, and is just trying to convince herself of that because it's her main reason for even dating him LOL. I also think that she is projecting and thinks her and I operate the same way. Like the whole "I hate my ex and I'm going to try the convince the rest of the world to also, but I actually only hate him under the circumstance of him getting a new girlfriend" like SHE did.

I seriously can't think of any other reasons that a bitch would be HELL BENT on making posts about their ex's girlfriend being awful SPECIFICALLY in relationships on a daily basis, ya know after trying to defame them for 3.5 years before that....while also bragging about how much better she is to him and constantly needing to essentially say "I have him and you dont haha" all the time. If you pay close attention, she is the essentially mirroring him and I's relationship in regard to me being the ex girlfriend now, trying to get pay back by doing similar shit to me with him that in a sense happened to her when him and I were still together...but on an insanely dramatic and obsessive level.

Like for example, I made ONE snarky post ripping on her appearance and how she wasn't taking him away from me (the red post) in 2019, which wasn't unprovoked mind you, and she took that, clearly never let go of it, and sent it back 10 times worse and for an ongoing long period of time. She has gone on a tangent ripping on my appearance and what not nearly every day for two years now, as well as constantly posted about how she has him in a way to try to step on me. When it isn't actually affecting me really. And those are just a few examples. She has a weird obsession with trying to hurt me in the same ways she was hurt.

But the thing is, her and I aren't the same people. We don't get hurt by the same things, obviously. I mean, most remotely stable people don't flip utter shit about their ex getting a new girlfriend for an extended period of time like that, let alone freak out this hard over someone making a single post about them on Facebook that probably would have been forgotten about by everyone in a month or two. I have my issues for sure, but my tolerance...most people's tolerance...to getting their feelings hurt over some originally petty Facebook drama is a lot higher than that. And almost always high enough not to harass and stalk over the perceived, petty betrayal everyday for years on end.

The way she projects her character onto me is actually insane, too. Like, she was actually the one (secretly) jealous of Sam and I dated when she the ex girlfriend, meanwhile accusing him of abuse / assault and trying to cancel him but primarily me for dating each other, or the way she clearly saw it someone "taking him away from" her. I noticed that it seemed like the main reason she was accusing him of assault was to say to others "Amber is dating my r*pist/abuser", too. Like I was always involved in her posted accusations some how, which I find pretty significant to the bigger picture here. I also think that might be way she amped up her slander about me after they got back together. I think she is trying to deflect away from the way she originally smeared him and I all those years.

With that said, I think she started with the assault accusations to justify her harassing me, particularly to drown out her threatening behavior in the background that I had started to make others aware of, and as an added bonus, to take advantage of the movements against abuse/assault skyrocketing at the time to harm "Ricky"'s reputation at the same time as mine.

And low and behold, when he's single, she clearly takes it all back, was originally disregarding all of what she used to say about him when it was brought up....while going on and on about how I'M the jealous ex. When you look at the bigger picture, the dots connect and it looks weird as fuck. I would say that constitutes believing she never really hated him and the assault accusations were just a revenge tactic based around a jealous rage that he moved on with someone else. And that everything else she says now is also a twisted version of the truth or not true, to distract people from the original bullshit / lies she was telling for years prior.

However, I also think she would rather date someone thinking it hurts another person's feelings than date someone she really likes. Kind of like when narcissists don't really have a soul and only date to hurt others indirectly. Like intentionally date someone their ex is friends with, or someone the ex was insecure about. They don't actually have a heart or like those people. They're just users and date certain people to hurt someone else specifically. Makes me wonder why she even dated him the first time to be honest because from what I've learned, she only dates and befriends people for some type of ill-themed personal benefit.

And at this point, I also believe, that is why "Ricky" dated me. I think she was always insecure about me based on things he told me (apparently talking down on my makeup and getting mad at him for sticking up for me or something is what he said) and thats why he went after me in the first place - to hurt her already injured self esteem in regard to me. I mean, even her getting so bothered by me dating him specifically says a lot there. I think he was at least initially using me to get at her self esteem, and likewise, now using her to get at me with my long-run anxiety about her extreme vendetta against me. I also think that "Ricky" doesn't really love people. I think he grows dependent on using them for some sort of personal gain after awhile like she does, but he doesn't actually have a heart either.

And I think he used/uses his girlfriends for a lot of things, especially to hurt his last. I have thought about this a lot and I truly think he is the worst kind of strategic sadist. Between just her and I, both times show a clear pattern. He first picks women that are confident in terms of expressing their feelings and opinions, generally strong-willed, loyal and territorial. He also picks women with some level of mental illness / mental health weakness to use against them in some way later or that would make them vunerable to fighting for him: in my case things like anxiety, people pleasing, and fear of abandonment as some examples, and in her case, a severely low self esteem, codependency, and vulnerability to extreme embitterment. He then plants the seeds to have his girlfriends and ex's hating one another and one of them ultimately defending him against the other. He might start by targetting a few girls to make the current one insecure, to set the stage of a nightmare come true later that someone unstable like "Cece" would lose their mind over... and/or... spreads horrible rumors them to the next girl he dates, victimizes himself in extremes to said girl in regard to the last, manipulates the new one into putting him on a pedestal, and then, into fighting the bullshit he ultimately starts himself - to overall, hurt his ex girlfriends. Because to put it simply, he can't handle being dumped but also isn't confrontational, so he would rather throw lowkey tantrums to his new girlfriend and essentially uses the new girl against the other.

He prefers passive aggressive, underhanded shit and pulling the strings in the background, (ex. Telling me how she abused him, showing me her social media accounts, telling me how she is vengeful and vandalizes cars, etc.) and basically does little manipulative shit that seems like innocent venting, but is actually purposefully fueling the fire without the receiver realizing it. I think he's a sadist and knows exactly what he's doing, but also underneath that, just a weak-esteemed coward.

Anywho, and TLDR: "Cece" knows I'm not actually jealous, and she's projecting how SHE used to think when they were broken up and he was with me. Also, she only wants relationships where she thinks she's harming another person and to feel above than other people (their exes) because she fully operates from ego. And then, "Ricky" suffers from little man syndrome. He is a sadistically selfish pussy with no soul and only values women for personal gain, primarily to use them against each other. Because he's overly sensitive to rejection and gets his fee-wings over the top hurt when he ultimately gets dumped.

[asoulofatlantis]

I think I was a bit unfair when I said that Van not being as protective of Agnes anymore in Kuro 2 was do to the focus on Elaine and his relationship with her. I guess it was also do to the fact that he had more trust in Agnes strength and abilities at that point.

"dead" is the word you are searching for and at this point there is nothing you could do for the man anymore.

What an hard first experience our girl has made when she just started out for her search of Grandfathers momentum.

These days these guys actually come to us for help and information exchange. Oh how the tables have turned...

Looking at this tho, it is really true, that Agnes joining him has changed Vans life and the way people perceive his work.

Oh god! Kinkaids voice is awful! Like... really awfully unfitting. He doesn't at all sounds like that down to earth guy that works for the famous CID.

I am not sure if Kaela got a new voice-actor. She sounded slightly different. But she only said like 3 words so it could be my immagination.

They actually pronounce René in exactly the way the name would be pronounced in Germany and I can not even kick them for it because I think that would have been the intention if Japanese people were able to speak german words so easily...

You know what is really weird? Kinkaids relationship with Van wasn't that hot at the beginning either but they hit it right off when they met again and treated each other with the same old "high five" we even see in Kai. And yet, that is the guy who tricked us to get Agnes in the position that led her to... well... vanish.

I HATE owing something to the likes of you Kinkaid. You know. I mean traitors! (You might argue about the whole mess with Claire and Lechter in Cold Steel being somewhat the same but it was not. Not ONCE did Claire or Lechter hide who their loyalties lies with and it was never truly unexpected when they turned against us - not to mention that they never truly liked doing it to begin with. Kinkaid on the other hand played us like a freakin fiddle. He even betrayed the very president he was working for and with. He did not give a damn about the feelings of the people around him, was even feeling to stand on the other side of a battle with Elaine, his childhoodfriend that he has always watched over. He is not as bad as Crow was back then and I am sure just like with Dominique his intentions weren't bad, but a betrayal stays a betrayal and that makes him one of those damn traitors!

She was such a clumsy nuisance in the beginning and look how amazing and reliable she has become now! I guess I wasn't looking close enough when I said we barely had any character-development in Kai. Its just that it really happened over the curse of all 3 games, like its supposed to, which is likely why it did not feel as strongly in Kai itself.

Ah... I kind of forgot that they started out as somewhat rivals in the beginning...

I wonder if we have the chance to changet hings now that we... you know... have the chance to do things differently. I mean, IF we do remember things we should be able to save even Aida in time, if Van is up for it that is. And that would be so Trails to do that. BUT the Calvard-Arc might still do it differently.

XD Ah Bermotti... its almost upsetting that his role got smaller over the games, with the cast getting bigger and more people being willing to give Van information.

[BTW... my CPU really had to put the cooler on full speed for a while XD]

Its propably the Erebonian-Bitch inside me speaking but isn't it somehwat annoying that the newest and best model always comes from the place we are at right now. Would it not have been fun if Erebonia actually used the Ramda and then we get to Calvard and they use the Arcus and so on? I get that with the... problems between Erebonia and Calvards that seems a bit odd, but how likely is it that the place were the current Septerion is active is the place that managed to produced the best Battle Orbment? If we ever get to the east, were people die because of the desertification I wonder if they still manage to have some sort of technical company pop up that actually manages to produce the best battle orcment technologies just in time for us to deal with shit that has to do with the next Septerion ^^'

Given that Verne, ZFC and Reinford are working more together now (and need to do so to catch up with Marduk anyway...) it would be nice to for once have a battle orbment that they all produced together next time. I would also have my character wear it with pride, given that Alisa, Tita and Tio were likely involved in its production.

*achem* Sorry... the Erebonian-Bitch inside me is sometimes to strong to fight it XD

Fuck! We met her that early? Urg. I mean... uh... look! I am usually not a shipper that hates a character for being part of the rival ship or anything so that is NOT the only reason I have some... uh... qualms with Elaine. But I gotta admit the way I look at her is highly influenced by her role in my personal-shipping war ^^'

I do NOT by any means deny that Elaine is strong and cool and overall a really nice and understanding and mature character... but sometimes she just pisses me off with the way she is such a "play it strictly by the rules" kind of bracer. I've loved the Bracers before we came here, but our Bracers just operated much less to the rules and... uh... I don't know. Something about Elaine just... doesn't work for me.

Sometimes I wonder if it isn't because she is so different from the characters in my favorite MCShips. Like her good qualities somehow annoy me for some reason ^^' I liked the was Alisa was so jealous and possessive of Rean and I liked the fact that Elie's attitude when it came to Lloyd wasn't so far away from that either. Elaine... handles her feelings more maturely and that should be something good. But its just plain boring for me ^^'

Her voice is okay and they do pronounce her name right. Funny. The one character I have problems with is the one character they did not wrong with anything else but changing her amazing "Sword Maiden" name to freaking "Beauty Sword" as if it was necessary to change the name just to point out that she is pretty.

So that is how they deal with it, huh? Its not an insult to be called beautyfull. HOWEVER Claire made it pretty clear that "maiden" is the way bigger insult after a certain age. But maybe that IS the reason why they changed it? Like... some weird for of censorship?

Interesting to notice tho, while the high five indicated otherwise, Kinkaid was just an old acquaintance, with Elaine it was much more awkward and yet he called her an old friend.

Why the hell has the announcer for the subway train a french accent? O.O

Grrrr... those stupid reparations destroyed Erebonias economy and there were unreasonably high for a freaking one-day war! Like I get that they had to pay reparations for caused damage including the one on Calvards reputation for framing them for trying to murder the Emperor and all that. And while I also get that a lot of that money likely went into the space project that was suppose to save the whole of Zemuria even this Gremheart only aimed for it for selfish, yet understandable reasons, it still pisses me off.

Yeah, no nation can because no other nation had its own money AND an immense sum of money from another country to add to its Economy. This position of supremacy has been reached by a money cheat, not by actually handling your Economy well.

OR to the next reset... just saying.

I wonder tho, given that it is hinted that we might need Rean to fight that... thingy in space that keeps us locked in... while this man be able to ask for Erebionias help for more than just a mock battle I am sure he thought his people would win? (But we won ;P All Erebonian-Bitch bitching aside tho... it would have not made any sense for us to lose, despite the fact that our machines were the less advanced ones. Rean and Crow not just had a shitload of battle Experience but also the clear advantage when it came down to teamwork. I was afraid we would lose those Mech-Battles by default because its Calvards turn to look cool, but that's the point! If Calvard had won those Mock-Battles, it would have only been for the sake of Calvard looking cool because its the main place now, not because it would have made sense...)

*achem* I am doing it again, right? Sorry, but you have to bear with me here, that is just who I am.

Did they change her voice-actor AGAIN?! Geez. Can't keep up with it. Isn't this like the third time in 3 games?

Was that game always that easy? I played on super easy last time too and while it wasn't super hard either I can remember that those Gargoyls were a bit harder to handle. Weird.

Well... I guess we have the full reason for that somewhat solved by now.

[rodismancave]

43/55/56

Weirdly specific but helpful Character building questions

I already did 43 so I went for 41!

41. What phrases, pronunciations, or mannerisms did they pick up from someone / somewhere else?

He tends to pick up stuff from people very easily. He’s picked up accents from Earth (he especially enjoys faking Texan accents to annoy people), he’s picked up Jazz’, Springer’s and Kup’s taste in music (Blaster is part of that list, too, but he’d rather be shot than admit to that out loud), he’s picked up some nervous ticks from Brainstorm, he’s picked up some of Optimus’ speech patterns when he’s strategizing out loud, he’s got Drift’s bad habit of staring at people a little too hard to get a read of their aura (he doesn’t actually know how to do that, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t try), when writing, his letters tend to curve a specific way that he saw Prowl write once that he found to look pretty and organized (his imitation isn’t the best when he’s writing fast), he pronounces Nyon in his own especial little way(though he rarely does so), and when he’s particularly nervous his Nyonian accent is thick, and In private settings he might even attempt to recall some specific Nyonian dialect.

55. What’s something they’re expected to enjoy based on their hobbies / profession that they actually dislike / hate?

I can’t think of anything for this, because I don’t think people perceive Rodimus as anything but an adrenaline junkie and a little self centered, so I’ll tell you what I think people assume he hates but he does like, though! I think he enjoys infiltration jobs, stealth jobs. I think he fucking loves being a scout. He’s got a shiny paint, sure, but he’s pretty good at thinking his way inside buildings without being noticed, he’s small enough for it, and he usually gets away. Beat up, but he gets away.

He just doesn’t like waiting around for people, and as a scout, people need to wait around for him.

56. If they’re scared, who do they want comfort from? Does this answer change depending on the type of fear?

This may be a shocker, but Rodimus is not very easily swayed into vulnerability. He doesn’t enjoy being vulnerable in front of others, because vulnerability tends to equal betrayal equals loss equals grief.

I know it’s a popular headcanon that he often confines in Drift— but I frankly don’t think he does that very often. He’s very stubborn and only opens up about things that don’t necessarily mean much. For example, he’d never tell Drift about Nyon, about his nightmares about such. He’d never tell about Dealer, or Swindle. He’s got walls, they’re made of steel, and they’re taller than he is. There’s a hole in there where he can talk to Drift, but it has a time limit.

I can see him confining in Ultra Magnus in the beginning, though. Er. Maybe confining is a strong word— just making offhand comments about things that he wouldn’t even mention out loud to others. Magnus’ been alive so long, he knows about Nyon, about Swindle, about Dealer. But none of it necessarily came out of Rodimus’ mouth, he’d only mention it in passing because Magnus has certainly read his files, but any thoughts of longing finding comfort and vulnerable trust in Magnus is lost when Minimus is revealed. He’s not one to get hang up on stuff, he tries to let it go, but it’s complicated when it comes to his own personal problems. People come first, he comes last.

[neapologist873]

Who killed Katerina?

If you are not already familiar with our theory about Katerina being Maria, please read it here. It is also advised that you read this other theory of ours.

DGM is full of unreliable narrators, and there is no better example than Mana. Take this scene from his memories, for example. We see a looming figure that appears to be Nea, a younger Bookman watching with a disinterested eye, the wheat fields of the Campbell Manor, and the Earl's elvish form standing before the Cornelia tree with a lifeless Katerina.

This begs the question; who was the one to have killed her? This is all Mana's memories, the same Mana that has been consumed by the presence of the original Earl and Adam, and the very fact that he considered the Noah to be his family in the past suggests he's always been easy to manipulate. So it's possible that this memory of his is really more his perceivement of everything based around how he remembers things or the lies he's been fed. What I mean by that is that perhaps "The Betrayal" to Mana was believing that Nea killed their mother. But if Cross is really the brother of Katerina, then why the hell would he be helping Nea? Because it wasn't Nea that killed her, but Joyd.

Reasons why I believe this to be, include:

1.) It's the perfect way for Mana to go against Nea and to be vulnerable enough to return to being the Earl. And I really do think Joyd has to be at the center of that all, as it makes too much sense in being the Noah of Hedonism.

2.) The fact Tykki looks like Nea could really suggest that Joyd has always taken up forms that resemble Nea. I speculated that Joyd feels like an imperfect copy almost, or like he wants to take Nea's place beside the Earl, and so he could have staged this all in hopes of him dying. It brings me back to my theory that Tykki might not be a regular human, as his symbol (butterflies) seem to suggest as well, being the symbol of reincarnation and rebirth.

3.) The Earl hovering over the dead Katerina could be him grieving. He resents Mana and Nea, and the death of the only human he loved could have been enough of a shock to bring him back. After all, this is Mana's subconscious and Nea and Allen have shown that it's possible for the two to bleed together in memories and dreams.

4.) We keep having these moments where we see Joyd grinning, but he's just a blacked out silhouette and so there are no key features to associate with him outside of Tykki's appearance. I did once point out that of the silhouettes from the original Noahs (art can be found in Night 187), there were two that seemed to resemble Nea.

5.) This could explain why Nea and Joyd always have these moments showcasing that they are connected somehow on a deeper level than their looks (i.e., both of their exorcist sword scars throbbing at the same time). And if Nea is aware of the fact that Joyd used their similar appearances to trick Mana, it's no wonder why he hates him in particular so much.

6.) In Night 187, the Earl had said that Wisely took so long to be reborn because his memory was damaged after Nea killed him, and yet when Wisely looks at Tykki, he says "I'm surprised. Joyd looks just like that man...". Wisely tends to refer to the Noahs by the memory they possess, but it is interesting that he specifically said Joyd looks so similar to Nea. Road also said to keep this a secret, as she's the only other one to remember what Nea looks like. So that suggests that Noahs forget details about their past life, but would this apply to Joyd when we know that

Tykki unconsciously wards against his memories so that Joyd isn't able to take over

Joyd smiles with malice whenever he sees Nea, hinting that he remembers exactly what Nea did to him.

Also, while only Wisely remembers his previous lives, Devit said "so they're working for your side now?" in reference to Lavi, a Bookman. This insinuates that Bookman could have even done nothing while Katerina died because they don't pick sides, they just record history and don't necessarily care about saving lives. As Nea doesn't side with the Noah, this could further add to the fact that Katerina's death was a catalyst of sorts.

You could also turn this theory on its head and suggest that the look on Nea's face is because Mana was the one to have killed Katerina under the Noahs' influence, as depicted here:

Of course, this is all purely speculation, but it would make sense within the realm of theories we've made here previously. The fact that Cross seems to hold sympathy for Road and not Joyd has also been on my mind a lot, and this theory could explain some things regarding that. Potentially even Road's fear of Joyd.

[our-happygirl500-fan]

You know the whole Baterang to the throat thing that causes a lot of discussion in the fandom? I think Bruce might not have been aiming for the throat

It ricochets

This point in comics Bruce has been through a ringer Steph's died, Barbara and Jim have left, Leslie betrayed him and he's had to send Cass and Tim away and now Jason is back but for revenge so Bruce isn’t at his best and I think Bruce threw the Baterang in a moment of panic and either over or undershot which ended up with well that.

This moment causes a lot of debate but I don't see it as “Bruce harming Jason to save the joker” the way a lot of fics paint it I see it more as he'd been aiming for Jason's arm or something to disarm him but overshot and it’s kind of like a symbolism of their relationship. 

 Which is basically Bruce takes an action to stop Jason from going down a path that he thinks will end up hurting Jason, but ends up hurting Jason in the long-run.

Like when he discussed taking away robin from Jason (because he thought Jason needed time to deal with issues that were becoming more prevalent) which only ended up making Jason feel insecure about his position in the Wayne household, contributing to why he so desperately pursued a stable parental relationship in his biological mother.

Bruce knows that if he gives in and kills the Joker he'll never stop killing we've seen timelines that prove that and I think Bruce also thinks the same of Jason that if Jason kills the Joker he won't stop at all so it’s not that he’s saving the Joker but that he’s trying to save Jason but Bruce ultimately misunderstands Jason’s needs and winds up hurting him.

Bruce is trying to save Jason from what he sees as a downwards spiral, but he ends up hurting him not just emotionally, but physically, and in the most extreme way possible. It's like an even darker echo of how trying to bench him as Robin led to his death.

Bruce has spent YEARS haunted by the memory of Jason’s death his death fundamentally changed Bruce's entire character Alfred said that Jason's death affected Bruce more than his own parents death.

In Underworld Unleashed it's revealed that his greatest desire is to have Jason back, in Hush he talks about how he wanted to put Jason in the Lazarus Pit and how he believes Jason knew he always loved him, and in As The Crow Flies we learn that his greatest fear is Jason coming back as an enemy and then in Under the Red Hood he gets Jason back (his greatest desire) but as an antagonist (his greatest fear) and moreover his belief that Jason 'knew' he loved him is WRONG.

Jason's insecurities from before his death combined with the perceived betrayal of Bruce not avenging him have led Jason to the point where he genuinely believes Bruce doesn't care, and in Jason's eyes, killing the joker is the only way Bruce can prove that he does but instead, in that moment, Bruce's attempt to diffuse the situation backfires.

Bruce misunderstands what Jason needs in that moment like he misunderstood what Jason needed at the start of Death in the Family it's just the ultimate representation of their constant emotional feedback loop. They trap themselves in a cycle of fighting because Jason can't read how Bruce really feels and Bruce can't read what Jason really needs and in that moment both those things are true, with Jason not seeing that Bruce truly cares anymore, and Bruce not knowing how to properly deescalate the situation and show Jason that he still cares.

It's extremely easy to read the batatrang throw as purposeful even though I wholly believe it was accidental but if that moment was explored more, I'm positive that Jason would believe it wasn't an accident, and would view it as proof of his already held view that Bruce doesn't love him anymore after all, that could have killed him, symbolically disowning him in the most extreme way possible.

Heck in Jason's appearance in Green Arrow (2001) Bruce had thought Jason might have died again! Before Jason turned up to mess with Mia.

The thing that's tragic about Jason that actually leads to a lot of his own suffering is that Jason doesn't really know what a healthy relationship looks like so I'm not sure when his actual 'last straw' would be.

Jason is the kind of person who sees love and acceptance as entirely circumstantial. He believes he must /earn/ love and acceptance, i.e. by being Robin, rather than it being inherently given.

A huge piece of understanding Robin Jason is understanding how much he lacked proper support systems back then. School was his only connection to his kids his age, and he didn't benefit much from that connection, his life was essentially: manor, school, Robin, repeat.

Jason loved school, but his school life was also pretty depressing. Jason kept to himself, he didn't have the time to participate in extracurriculars even when he wanted to and his peers didn't view him very positively. Jason was also really isolated from the rest of the hero community, there was his stint with the Titans, but it was pretty brief. He was also penpals with Kid Devil, but for the most part, he just had Batman.

The lack of support is actually one of the reasons I give for Jason and Steph dying in universe since they were the two Robins without support systems outside of Gotham. When Bruce was a jerk Dick and Tim could be like 'fine I'm going to go hang out with the Teen Titans or Young Justice' but Jason and Steph could only be like 'oh no' plus Bruce would deliberately try to take away Steph's support systems that she did have multiple times like when he ordered Cass to stop training with Steph.

But that's besides the point, I wouldn't be surprised if Jason confused being Robin with being accepted in the manor so when Bruce threatened to take away Robin from him, he might've seen it as his only proper support system being taken away from him, his world felt rocked back into instability once again.

When you look at it like that, it's very easy to understand why Jason sought out his biological mother. He had a hope that Sheila would offer him that stability once more, and that he'd get support and trust and unconditional love.

And that’s what make it all the more heartbreaking to me he came to this woman seeking love and gave her his greatest secret and she repaid him with a horrific death.  Jason’s death is one of the saddest to me because there’s no high stakes 'he died saving the world stuff' he’s just a kid who wanted a mom and got killed for it.

DC’s habit of taking away who he was is so detrimental to his backstory as the Red Hood because the transformation from someone who tried being kind and who did give it their all being killed for it and coming back like ‘no more’ is so much more interesting than ‘we always knew this would happen’.

Robin disobeying orders is nothing new. If that was the core of why Jason died, then any Robin disobeying orders should never be put in a positive light, but often it is. Jason (and Steph) were just the ones unlucky enough to emerge dead and judged for it instead of alive and praised for it.

Jason died because he was a child who just wanted to be safe and loved.

So many times Robin disobeying orders saved lives it’s nothing new and Jason had a pretty solid reason, the story of Jason Todd should be portrayed as the tragedy not make him some warning sign.

This is why I always hated the victim blaming after Jason & Steph's deaths because they died doing what if it had been Tim or Dick a Robin would be praised for, like take Steph for example we've seen constant stories of Bruce firing Robin, them going off on their own & Bruce realising he's wrong & taking them back but when Steph goes off on her own she dies the only reason Jason & Steph died is that the writers forced them to fail where they would have allowed the others to succeed.

But anyway back to my point the thing about Jason feeling like he had to earn love is why he was initially so hung up on the idea of Bruce 'replacing' him when he came back to life, he viewed Tim being robin as Bruce /transferring/ his love for Jason to another person, rather than seeing that Bruce could love Tim while still loving and missing him.

The reason Jason sought out his mother after Bruce benched him as Robin was that he viewed Bruce benching him as Bruce rejecting him and latched onto the idea of finding someone, i.e. a birth mother, who is supposed to give /unconditional love/.

The fact that his birth mother REJECTED HIM and then played a hand in his murder undoubtedly affected his attitude when he came back, if even his mother didn't want him, and then Bruce let the joker live and replaced him, then, in Jason's eyes, OF COURSE Bruce doesn't care and as mentioned previously Jason didn't really have any friends in school or the hero community, believing that the only real close personal connection in your live, someone you spent all your time with, had forgotten about you and rejected you is bound to mess a person up.

[autisticandroids]

gosh sometimes when you do these character analysis posts, like this last one about deancas and emotional intensity, i’m like “oh i can’t look at that it’s too personal. that’s dean and cas’ insides being taken out and examined” gbdndjs

anyways if dean hates the intensity of being in love with cas during all the drama of the show and hates cas for being so lovable, craving so much emotional intensity, do you think then when dean blows up at cas for perceived crimes or slights or whatever he’s doing the logan roy thing (/john winchester thing) of kicking cas to see if he’ll come back. i’m tired this might not make sense or you might’ve talked about it before but

i think he does, but it's separate to the explosive nature of the drama between them. i think dean does load cas up with small, belittling cruelties when he's feeling insecure in their relationship, just to see if cas will come back to him. 8x08 is a great example of this, where dean is incredibly nasty to cas for no reason, but once he's done that for a while he flips to sweet because he's tested cas (with cruelty) and cas didn't leave, and he wants to reward cas for that, make sure he doesn't think of dean as someone who is mean to him. and also he's just nice because he's happy cas didn't leave.

but the big, explosive lashing out is a symptom of something different. like. one of dean's big issues is that like. he's not good at acknowledging that his emotions are his. it's not that he feels bad. it's that the world is bad. dean is objective, it's the entire world that's suddenly horrible. and one of the things this leads to is dean blaming other people, including cas, for how he feels. it means that when cas upsets him in any way, whether that be by dying, disobedience, betrayal, leaving the coffee making on the wrong setting, you name it - all of that is something cas did to him, maliciously, because cas controls dean's emotions, dean just experiences them. that's what makes him angry. and worst of all is the vulnerability of caring at all. cas did some sorcery on dean to force his to feel this way whenever there's a problem between them. and dean hates him for that.

there is, by the way, an association between this dog-kicking impulse and the lashing out. like, the reason dean feels okay lashing out at cas is because cas has been tested. if cas hadn't been tested and found able to take anything dean might like to dish out, then dean would either react differently (perhaps a fawn response), or as soon as he cooled down a little he would chase after cas and beg forgiveness. but cas has passed dean's small tests of cruelty, so you get situations like the divorce arc, where dean is upset, and he processes that as anger, and he needs someone to punish once jack is dead, so he basically just picks cas to lash out at, because he knows cas will never stand up for himself or leave. he actually kind of overshoots the mark on that one and cas does leave, which shakes him. but he wasn't testing cas there. not the way he tests cas by being cruel. he was simply acting based on the evidence of previous tests.

[soranis-sunshadow]

Hordak can’t catch a break even on his birthday...

Oh fandom, you really like this sort of drama don’t you? 

A few days ago, on Hordak’s birthday, there was this ‘interesting’ post in the tag – since, apparently it’s impossible to get any peace even on that day.

I was  too tired to answer it at the time after being on call the day before so, here’s my delayed answer to all of that:

First off: this post has this bit in it when asked what that person dislikes about SPOP.

 He doesn’t need to get a redemption and he doesn’t get one in the show. 

None of his actions constitute a redemption arc. The man merely acknowledged his personhood and freed himself from his master and God. That’s what his arc was about: the right to have a personal identity. 

He gave himself a name and wanted to be his own person. That’s it. That’s all he wanted.

The man was merely freed from Prime’s influence- an influence he was born into since he’s been specifically manufactured to serve as a disposable mass produced soldier and worshipper of Prime.

 If the argument that Catra was “forced” to commit crimes and thus she is not completely guilty of them since she was under duress – then the argument doubly holds for a person who has been directly programmed and conditioned to do so under the threat of death or mental rape (purification).\

Even while away from Prime, he was still conditioned to obey and brainwashed by Prime’s cult. He literally knew nothing else – he was not meant to. It’s how indoctrination works.  

Prime’s clones aren’t people to Prime, they are tools. Those clones, while cut off from Prime still want to serve and please him: That’s what Wrong Hordak’s purpose in the show is- to show us just that.

Hordak is not considered “OK”  because Entrapta likes him. Hordak is merely shown – by Entrapta that he could live apart from his cult and have worth outside what Prime tells him he has. 

Just like real life cult victims, he needs an outsider to help him see a way out of the cult. The nature of indoctrination and brainwashing makes it impossible for the brainwashed person to know they are brainwashed unless someone points it out.

Now for my favorite thing:

and

oh and

Oh boy… this makes me just so damn uncomfortable.

To offer a bit of context as to why. I have never been on social media before SPOP or in any fandom and as such, I have never encountered the ‘all men are evil’ discourse that seems to infest these places. It’s been quite a bit of culture shock for me. 

What is it that makes anyone think it is ok to judge a person because of an accident of birth? (being born male)

Why does hate for 50% of the human population get such a free pass on these platforms? Misandry is just as terrible as misogyny. You are being biased against another human because of their gender. I don’t care that males are perceived as ‘privileged’ – that doesn’t make it ok to be terrible to them unprovoked. 

How does hating all men help achieve equity?

Do you realize that this sort of discourse is exactly how you radicalize people against the very cause you are championing? You breed hate and adversity for the rest of us who actually want to to have a discussion on the topic. 

I’m a feminist myself (in a country where feminism is hard-work) and let me tell you, making all men hate us does nothing but push away potential allies and make it a lot harder for our voices to be heard.

Feminism is about equality, not women dominating.

Now onto the second post: the one comparing Catra and Hordak with the question of which of them is a better person. 

This whole war orphans that were personally abducted and tortured into serving the horde HC that some ppl have is really starting to get boorish. This has been going on for more than 6 months. 

I have no idea why everyone thinks he went down chimneys and stealing babies left and right while cackling villainously. The man had a busy schedule of brooding in his lab, wallowing at his inability to use insulated cables and having his device blowing up in his face with the occasional Skype call to Shadow Weaver to see what the Horde is doing. 

And yet, to a part of the fandom, this is what he looked like:

( @bat-burrito​ made this one and it’s glorious) 

And if you don’t believe me about the lab recluse thing, you don’t have to, the show pretty much states it for me. 

and 

+

Hordak is a recluse that stayed in his lab and let the running of the Horde and most operations to Shadow Weaver and later Catra. He did not personally abuse anyone and he is not the origin of the cycle of abuse.

Shadow Weaver was a child grooming manipulative woman before she even joined the Horde – she did this to Micah while she was not “evil” or presumably abused by Hordak.

Even if you want to HC that Hordak abused her somehow, he is still not the one who started the cycle: Horde Prime is. 

The whole fandom seems to forget about the eldritch monstrosity that created a whole army of brainwashed slaves to worship and die for him. Prime is the one that sent Hordak to die and gave him the motivation to try to prove himself worthy of life and love. If you want to point fingers, point them at the origin of all of this. This fandom has a strange Prime blindness. He is never talked about when it comes to being the start of all of this.

If Prime didn’t exist, Hordak wouldn’t exist. If Prime hadn’t sent Hordak off to die, then his clone wouldn’t have accidentally ended up on Etheria. None of the things in the show would have happened.

Adora would have died of exposure in a field, the monarchies on Etheria would have continued as they are and the planet would have continued to exist in despondos. 

He is a dictator, yes. So are the princesses. Monarchies are dictatorships where the ruler is born into power. Hordak gained his through military might while Glimmer was born with hers and enforced it with tradition. I don’t really care to play “who’s the better dictator”. The princesses have their power because of the runestones- magical rocks put there by the First Ones to channel the planet’s magic and use it as a weapon. How come no one talks about that?

Do you think a king/queen keeps their crown without effort or subjugation of their subjects? 

Also, Hordak had never interacted with Catra before SW dragged her before him to be judged. He was indifferent to etherians in general and didn’t seem to care which of them were his underlings so long as the operations were running smoothly. He was more focused on his portal and returning home than on anything else. He did not set out to “ruin lives” or quest for power. What he wanted was to return to his deity and become a mindless part of the whole again – that is as opposite to power hungry as you can get.

Catra was directly abused by Shadow Weaver throughout her childhood. That makes Shadow weaver responsible for 100% of that abuse.

Catra was found in a box by Adora and adopted by Shadow Weaver. Hordak didn’t know or care that she existed.

He is responsible for the war, he is responsible for the war casualties and the property damage. He is not responsible for Shadow Weaver being a terrible person and mother figure.

Again with the orphan thing. We have 5 cadets in the show. 

Adora was found in a field. 

Catra was found in a box. Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio are unexplained. The only lizard ppl we see in the show are in the Horde or the Crimson Wastes. The other two could just as well be the children of some of the soldiers. 

I may harp on about what a bitch Shadow Weaver is – the reason I do so is because she is legitimately terrible to the two girls in her care.

I was the unfavorite growing up, I WAS the Catra in my family who could do no right while my sibling was the golden child. I don’t however hate Shadow Weaver. She is a cartoon character in a show and she does the things she was written to do. Hell, she is a very compelling and believable villain. Her motivations are clear and she is consistent. Her voice actress portrayed her splendidly and her character design is superb. I like her but that doesn’t mean that I don’t acknowledge her role in the story. I don’t however make up parts of the story to make her more evil than she was or treat my headcanons about her as absolute fact. 

Again, sigh: Prime is the worst villain in the show. He is quite literally Nyarlathotep and does this to planets: 

 This to people: 

and this to the people he created to serve, worship and love him: 

How is that not worse?

I love Catra and it genuinely annoys me when people erase her agency or try to paint her as one-dimensional victim. Catra was an antagonist for most of the show and she rocked it! She was 400% more efficient at it than cloneboy. Give the queen some damn respect and recognition! Catra had a lot of agency and her actions moved the plot of the show more than those of the protagonists. (they were mostly reactive).

Catra pulled the lever of the portal in a moment of distress after a breakdown, a Shadow-Weaver related breakdown because that’s how trauma works.

Hordak didn’t make her do it, he didn’t send Catra after Adora either. These were Catra’s choices. They came from a place of hurt but they were her choices still.

The portal was a means of transportation, not a weapon. Building it was not Catra’s mission, it was Hordak’s. He built it so he could contact Prime and either summon him here or go home –whichever course of action Prime wanted. Again, Hordak wanted to go back to this:

...

The only person who knew the device was dangerous was Entrapta and she tried to warn Hordak about it. Catra was the one who stopped her, violently so, then sent her to die on Beast Island- the fate Entrapta saved her from a season ago. Catra then tried to have Hordak open the portal before it was ready.

When he wouldn’t – she pulled the lever herself because that is how desperate she had gotten at that point, to show Shadow Weaver how wrong she was. That is how hurt Catra was by her mother figure’s betrayal and abuse.

Don’t take that away from her. Don’t call it curiosity or naivete or whatever. She knew the portal was dangerous but she wanted to prove Shadow Weaver wrong so badly that she didn’t care at that point. She had been pushed that far. 

Catra’s actions led to Angella’s death but she was not directly responsible for it. She didn’t activate the device to kill Angella, it merely happened accidentally. Catra was however glad it happened and wanted to profit from the aftermath of her death.  

Hordak didn’t care or plan to kill Angella personally. There is no in-show moment where any of that is portrayed. Since he doesn’t care about the specifics of running the horde seem to know what they are conquering at the moment, it seems that that was usually a task reserved for his second in command. 

^ - troop movement ordered by Catra

Hordak doesn’t even know what his own army is doing.

Again with the Hordak “drilling into orphan’s minds”… I seriously doubt that any of them had ever seen him out of his lab or that he came up with the propaganda himself.

Manipulation is more Shadow Weaver’s game not his. For all of Hordak’s faults, he is not deceptive or manipulative. If anything, he is woefully incapable of spotting lies. (it might have something to do with him being born in a society where lies were almost impossible because of the hive mind and Prime being able to browse his thoughts at a whim- as such, it wouldn’t be a skill he would have been able to develop).

Hordak canonically despises deception and lies.  I really don’t understand where this image of a manipulative and cunning Hordak comes from. He wouldn’t be able to plot himself out of a paper bag if his life depended on it.

First off.. S4 Catra was his equal, not his subordinate. Don’t take that away from her. She earned it.

He doesn’t look that threatening here... 

And again:  Prime created the system. He made clone slaves and programmed them to serve. His clones have hardware installed for the express reason to facilitate his control over them. He has a religion in place to make sure their thoughts do not stray from his purpose. I am legitimately boggled by this fandom’s tendency to completely forget about his existence.Does anyone really think that these people that are born “prechipped” and programmed to know nothing but Prime’s Light are really knowledgeable about human morality?

That they would know that conquest is bad when that is the express reason for their creation? 

If I were born in that situation, I’m not sure I would have known any better. Hell, if any of the clones even try to disobey Prime, they would get either mindraped (erased) or killed for the effort. They really have no choice, even if they knew that killing in Prime’s name is wrong (they don’t) they really can’t do anything about it. They have no choice but to be what they were made to be. I find it personally abhorrent when these designer slaves are held accountable for what Prime has made them do.

And to the people that say Hordak was free of Horde Prime once he was stranded on Etheria.. That is not how indoctrination works. The fact that I can’t go to church this Sunday because I’m locked in the house and can’t find the keys doesn’t make me an atheist.

Hordak was serving Prime even on Etheria. He keeps mentioning it to both Entrapta and Catra. He started the war because that’s what he thought Prime wanted of him and that’s what he’s been programmed to do. Personal and informed choice really doesn’t factor into his decision at all.

He is not sympathetic because Entrapta likes him. Notice how I haven’t brought up his relationship with her up to this point?

He is sympathetic because he literally had no choice but to do the things he was indoctrinated into doing. He was build and programmed for it, just like all the other clones. They are not able to deviate from that because of the way Prime functions and rules over them.

There is no point in the show where Hordak relishes over his status as a ruler or the “luxury” it affords him. He does not engage in the same behaviors his progenitor manifests.

There is no point in the show where Hordak relishes over his status as a ruler or the “luxury” it affords him. He does not engage in the same behaviors his progenitor manifests. He attempts to emulate Prime in order to project authority in the only way he knows how but since those are some really big shoes to fill, he is woefully inadequate. 

If Hordak had been power hungry, he would have stayed in despondos and ruled his own faction. Being away from Prime is the most powerful and autonomous he’s ever been and yet, he wants to throw all of that away in order to be a powerless, nameless part of the whole. What Hordak wanted was to be enslaved by Prime because that’s what he had been created for.

“vengeful” – and how did Hordak manifest this vengefulness? Who did he take revenge on in the series?  

“apologize” – when and where in his 3 minutes of screentime would he remember everything after 2 mindwipes, realize that the whole worldview he had since inception is wrong, realize that he had been mistaken into doing the horrible things he did and then go to all of the characters and apologize for it?

Would anyone be convinced of that had it happened in 3 minutes? I’d rather they don’t redeem him than do a shit job at it.

Very true. He’s not a better person. He’s just a person in an impossible situation. Both Hordak and Catra were handed a raw deal, I don’t understand why everyone insists on pitting them against one another. They both did bad things and they were both in horrible situations. The specifics don’t really matter since neither of them would have done the things they did had they been more fortunate.

This is the exact reason for which I don’t hold Cara’s actions against her. Catra’s only model of success was Shadow Weaver. She emulated her abusive mother figure because she had no other example and because she wanted to please that woman. It does not excuse the way Catra acted but it explains it.

I really don’t understand why some people want Catra punished. I’d rather she get love and help. That is what she needs. In time, she will want to do better and be better by herself. She doesn’t need to be forced, heavens know, she’s been forced enough as it is.

They are really different. Catra got an abusive, shitty and violent childhood. Hordak got this:

He was literally robbed of a childhood. 

She was taught by Shadow Weaver that weakness gets you killed. Hordak was not allowed to have emotions to begin with, or thoughts of his own, or a name...

Comparing to victims of abuse to see which one of them is more likable is such a strange concept to me.

Catra was robbed in s5 too. I don’t hold that against her. I  blame it on the writers. S5 could have been a lot better. 

[msevelynsilver]

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ALL FOUR SEASONS OF BLACK SAILS AND ALL SEVEN SEASONS OF BUFFY + SEASON 1 OF ANGEL

I wonder what the level of overlap between these two fandoms is. I think it’s probably low and definitely should be higher.

One thing I can’t get out of my mind is the comparison between Buffy and Faith and Flint and Silver. There’s an especially good Buffy and Faith fan video that really inspired me to think about this, so I’ll leave the link below.

Amazing Buffy + Faith video: https://youtu.be/GpIHwrPhJyQ

But essentially both of these relationships have a friends-with-homoerotic-subtext-to-enemies-with-homoerotic-subtext story arc. And both play with the idea of morality, responsibility for others, the burden of power, and being/becoming the same person.

In Season 7 of Buffy, she becomes the leader of a group of young slayers and shoulders the responsibility of looking after that. But she is seen by the Potentials as cold and standoffish and as not having their best interests at heart. (Sound like anyone we know?). Faith then tries to take control of the girls and finds that it’s hard being first in command instead of second because you have to make the hard decisions and the people under you will resent you no matter what you choose.

Buffy says to Faith: “Whether you wanted it or not, their lives are yours.”

(I’m not bothering to look up episodes right now, but I have a near encyclopaedic knowledge of Buffy and I think this is 7.19 “Empty Places”.)

Does this not sound like something Flint would say to Silver? Silver, who as quartermaster was the better liked of the two but who had to shoulder more responsibility due to Billy’s creation of Long John Silver as a pirate king and who found that he didn’t like the role he was forced to play? Silver was responsible for the lives of all the men on the Walrus crew and while he liked the power it gave him, it also terrified him to have to account for and rely on people other than himself.

Here is more dialogue from Buffy. (Technically I think this is Angel 1.19 “Sanctuary”):

Buffy: “You told me I was just like you.”

Faith: “And you can’t stand that. You’re all about control. You have no idea what it’s like on the other side. When nothing’s in control, nothing makes sense. There’s just pain, and hate, and nothing you do means anything. You can’t even-“

Buffy: “Shut up!”

Re-read that but swap Buffy’s name for Flint’s and Faith’s for Silver’s. It’s not a perfect analogy. Buffy was created to be an expendable hero and Flint is seen as a pirate menace to society, so they face completely different issues regarding their role in the narrative. Faith and Silver do better. Both have relatively unspecified tragic backstories that turned them into cynical, self-serving people who are mistrustful of authority figures (Faith’s is never specified at least in-show, and I’m not taking comic book canon into account here because I’m not caught up). In particular, I think Faith’s line about “nothing you do means anything” is something Silver would agree with. I think if he had believed that Flint’s war could succeed and that they wouldn’t all end up dead, he would have followed Flint to the ends of the earth. But he thought that none of it would mean anything and that they didn’t have the power to effect that kind of change. It also might explain why he views his own past as story-less. Nothing you do means anything. I think he, like Faith, has experienced a complete loss of control over his circumstances and himself, and thus his story at some point in the past. It is their defined roles (quartermaster and slayer) which begin to give their life some shape and meaning, only to have it fall apart because of the burdens/limits of the role they are forced to take.

But my absolute favorite comparison comes from something Faith says to Buffy in season 3. (3.17 Enemies):

Faith: “What are you gonna do, B? Kill me? You become me. You’re not ready for that. Yet.”

Oh, the parallels. For context, if you haven’t seen the show, (and you should, it’s really good), Faith says this while she and Buffy are holding knives to each other’s throats. She then kisses Buffy on the forehead (like Judas did to Jesus) and runs away. The drama! The betrayal! The romantic subtext! The vague implications that Faith is a future version of Buffy who has lost her idealism and illusions about the world and that Buffy will one day sink to the same level of (perceived) villainy!

In this case I would flip it and say Faith is playing the role of Flint while Buffy is playing the role of Silver. Because in the end of Black Sails, isn’t this what happens? Silver kills Flint (literally/metaphorically depending on your interpretation), and in doing so assumes the role Flint had played. This is a man who has lost the two people who he loved most in the world to their dangerous idealism and who now shoulders the weight of being THE pirate in Nassau who society will brand as a monster. In killing Flint and releasing him from the torment of the ten years without Thomas (like a man waking from a long and terrible nightmare), Silver becomes Flint. He had already made so much of Flint’s mind his own and he kind of sacrifices himself so that Flint can live out his happy ending, knowing all the while that he won’t get his own (I know this is a generous reading of Silver, but I love him so I’m biased).

Faith and Buffy don’t get a story that is so neatly tied up because they’re not the two main characters. But Buffy develops a lot of Faith’s ideas about the inherent power of being a slayer (“There’s only me. I am the law”) and makes a lot of morally grey decisions that she probably would have condemned Faith for in her youth. (“Are you the bad slayer now? Am I the good slayer now?).

I need someone who’s talented at video editing to combine these two relationships because I’ve barely touched all the potential parallels (and the visual ones are so good as well!).

I feel like there’s also something to be said for “freedom in the dark” parallels in the two shows, especially with Spike and Buffy in season 6 but I haven’t thought it through and I would need to give a lot more thought to the implications of comparing society’s vilification of queer people and Buffy and Spike’s toxic straight relationship, which is nonetheless taboo for being a Slayer/vampire one.

[thenarator]

Hi please ramble about how much Nighteye SUCKS (either in HAOT or canon) bc ur rambling is very on point it gives me l i f e (don’t do it if u don’t want to tho)

i’m not gonna rant about “heroics and other things that don’t require superpowers” because that fic is going to contain plenty of ranting a few chapters from now, but i will absolutely go off about canon nighteye.

i fucking hate how canon tries to imply that nighteye is a basically good person who’s been driven to extremes of behavior by his desire to save all might. that’s literally not what’s happening here at all. he has been a toxic influence on all might from the beginning, because he perceives his “love” for all might as giving him a kind of ownership. he believes he has the right to dictate all might’s life to him because nighteye thinks he knows best because of his quirk, and if he knows best then what other people want doesn’t matter.

let’s talk about boundaries.

a boundary is a rule that a person sets in place to maintain their comfort. it could be “i don’t work weekends” or “i don’t have sex when i’m drunk” or even “i don’t like to be touched.” all might has set multiple boundaries with nighteye, and nighteye had disrespected every single one. the most egregious form of boundary violation is violation of bodily autonomy, ie. rape, institutionalization, forced medical procedures, etc. however, violations of any boundary are serious business, and nighteye has crossed both physical and emotional boundaries with all might.

first, all might didn’t want sidekicks. he didn’t think he could trust a sidekick with his secret, so he decided to just not have any. however, he broke this rule to make nighteye his sidekick. that wasn’t his idea. he didn’t see nighteye’s career and go “hm, i think i can make an exception for him.” nighteye came to all might asking to be his sidekick. we don’t know exactly how he went about convincing all might, but we can extrapolate that it wasn’t a snap decision for all might. canon tells us that nighteye was his sidekick for less than a decade, and that was less than a decade ago. all might has been in business for like 40 years. he was well established as the symbol of peace before nighteye came along. he didn’t need nighteye, he had no reason to break his personal rule. nighteye was the one who crossed his boundary to gain entrance into all might’s life.

that’s already super sus but let’s continue.

second, all might didn’t want to tell too many people his secret. whether the decision to tell nighteye about ofa came bundled with the decision to take him on as a sidekick we don’t know, but we know that was another boundary nighteye crossed. again, all might didn’t, like, watch nighteye at the sports festival and decide to tell him. it was nighteye’s efforts that put pressure on all might to tell him the truth.

thirdly, all might didn’t want nighteye to use his quirk on him. we know this for a fact: it’s told to us in a flashback in which all might gets justifiably angry about the betrayal. this is a hard physical boundary that all might set with nighteye, and nighteye violated it to look into his future and see how he would die. that’s treated like a small thing, but it’s not at all! that is a huge violation of trust! nighteye’s quirk involves touching someone! setting aside the metaphysical headfuck nighteye’s future vision seems to be, he touched all might with the intent to violate his wishes! that’s super fucking not ok! and then he uses what he learned to try and manipulate all might into doing what he wanted, retiring directly following his injury at the hands of afo. thankfully all might decided there that nighteye’s actions were too big a breach of trust to keep nighteye in his life, but that was a serious decision made with very good justification.

fourthly, and this is a bit weirder because the boundary is fuzzy but the action is unforgiveable, nighteye disregards all might’s choice of successor and tries to undermine izuku’s confidence to make him give up one for all to mirio.

holy.

fucking.

shit.

like, i guess you could say that it’s an implied boundary rather than a stated boundary, but all might giving izuku his quirk (which cannot be taken by force) is a pretty strong declaration of his wishes! all might chose izuku for his successor! that is not something nighteye gets to question! and it’s certainly not a thing he gets to try to circumvent by destroying izuku’s confidence! nighteye’s not stupid, he could tell that this was a huge decision for all might and he did not make it lightly. he knew that izuku was important to all might. but he still attacked izuku. he still took him on as a work study student with the express purpose of undermining his confidence. everything he did and said to izuku was a direct attack on all might’s decision, all might’s right to choose. because nighteye doesn’t think all might deserves the right to choose if he’s going to make choices nighteye doesn’t like.

because that’s the thing isn’t it? all might isn’t a person to nighteye. he’s a thing. a thing that nighteye has decided his has ownership of. he thinks he knows best and so he’s the only one who gets to make decisions. all might is at best a child who doesn’t know what’s good for him, and at worst a doll that has no relevant opinion at all. all might isn’t allowed to have boundaries if nighteye doesn’t like them. he isn’t allowed to make decisions if nighteye doesn’t agree. and nighteye will do anything to gain and maintain the control over all might and his choices that he thinks he deserves.

tl;dr nighteye is toxic as fuck and always has been, thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[dsmp-shitposts]

OKAY I'm in an analysis mood so!!

Here's why "Savior" by Rise Against is such a good song about c!wilbur and c!Tommy's relationship in the dream smp!

Firstly tho I just want to give an honorable mention to the first lines of the song: "it kills me not to know this / but I've all but just forgotten / what the color of her eyes were / or the scars and how she got them." it's such a good c!bee duo line and I might have to analyze it in another post lol

(there's kinda a tldr at the bottom if you don't want to read the specific lyric analysis and just was the overall analysis!)

The lyrics I want to analyze (these are more about characterization) are: "as the telling signs of age rain down / a single tear is dropping / through the valleys of an aging face / that this world has forgotten." this is about wilburs resurrection. the first lyrics, "as the telling signs of age rain down" are about how much more different Wilbur looks to Tommy after he was resurrected. wilbur was in limbo for what he perceived to be 13 years, and he shows it physically. he has the white streak of hair that signifies his revival, and I know there's a popular headcanon that wilbur came back "wrong." "A single tear is dropping" is referring to Tommy's reaction to the revival. we know he was in disbelief and even angry at wilbur being back, but intense emotions also can bring on tears. it's a very natural response from your body. The third line is pretty much the same as the first, but "that this world has forgotten" is about wilburs impact on the history of the smp. obviously he's been a very big player in many major plot points, but since his death he has mainly faded to the background in most characters minds, especially after ghostbur's library with all the records from lmanberg got destroyed. as the smp progressed, wilbur got talked about less. focus shifted from him to dream who really emerged as the villain in the story after wilburs death. we can see the impact of this after wilburs revival. everyone on the smp had gotten used to living without him for so long, growing past the people they were when Wilbur was alive. and now when Wilbur gets revived, he expected fanfare and everyone welcoming him back, but in reality people's memory of him faded.

okay now that we have the preface lyrics, we can go into the ones that are more about tommy and Wilbur as a duo. the first ones before the chorus are "but seldom do these words ring true / when I'm constantly failing you / walls that we just can't break through / until we disappear." I'm gonna analyze this with the first two lines and the last two. the first two lines are from Tommy's perspective about him trying to constantly please wilbur. we see this with him gathering lots of stone for him and following Wilbur to stand against Las nevadas and quackity. but even with all of this, Tommy still feels like he's "constantly failing" wilbur and that he needs to do more in order to stay in high regard in Wilbur's mind. we could even look at these same lyrics from wilbur's perspective! wilbur might have felt like he's failed Tommy for not being there for him for the time he was in limbo. I know Wilbur doesn't know about what dream did to Tommy in the exile arc, but I'm betting that if/when wilbur finds out about that, he will feel horrible for not being there himself to stop dream because wilbur cares about Tommy. (this could even lead to him resenting ghostbur more because ghostbur was there but wasn't able to do anything). now with the second half of these lyrics, the "walls that we just can't break through" is referring to the emotional vulnerability, or lack thereof, between the two. I'd argue that wilbur is more emotionally vulnerable to Tommy than Tommy is to wilbur. now, there is a severe lack of communication between the two, but wilbur drops "trauma bombs" where he'll unload something all at once and suddenly. he doesn't do much internal reflection of his feelings, instead wanting to share with others, Tommy in this case, to get validation. with sharing, he wants people to agree that he's a bad person but at the same time wants them to refute those ideas so he feels like he's healing without actually doing anything. now Tommy does more introspection about his feelings (cc! Tommy monologuing) and doesn't feel as big a need as wilbur to share his feelings and trauma. and besides, Wilbur dominates the conversation most of the time anyways so Tommy wouldn't likely be able to carry a constructive conversation about his own feelings without getting talked over by wilbur.

now we're moving onto the chorus! it goes: "that's when she said / 'I don't hate you / I just want to save you / while there's still something left to save' / that's when I told her 'i love you / but I'm not the answer / for the questions that you still have.'" I see this as a conversation between Wilbur and Tommy; Tommy saying the "I don't hate you" section and Wilbur saying the "I love you" section. it's important for Tommy to make it clear to wilbur, and himself, that he doesn't hate Wilbur despite his past betrayal of lmanberg. wilbur thinks everyone hates him, so Tommy consistently sticking by his side is a reminder to Wilbur that he isn't alone. Tommy staying by wilburs side is also how he's ensuring that wilbur doesn't spiral again ("I just want to save you"). he knows that wilbur still isn't in the best mental place, not having the right environment to heal in limbo, so it's more crucial in his mind to be wilbur's crutch right now because it'd be very easy for wilbur to spiral again ("while there's still something left to save"). wilbur, with his part of the lyrics, wants to ensure that Tommy knows he still cares about him despite being gone for a long time. now for the last part of wilburs lyrics, I would love for it to mean that "wilbur understands that he can't be a good mentor to Tommy anymore because of everything that happened. he wants Tommy to realize that he does care for him but their relationship shouldn't function with Wilbur as a mentor anymore," but that wouldn't be accurate to their canon relationship. wilbur still wants to be Tommy's mentor because that's how their relationship has always functioned. my hope is that in wilbur's healing process that he realizes he doesn't have to be a mentor to Tommy, they can just exist as friends. and I would love for Tommy to realize that it's not his job to save Wilbur! while having friends you can talk about your emotions with is good, he shouldn't have to push his own feelings aside to prioritize wilbur's. wilbur also needs to learn that self reflection is a part of healing

the final specific lyrics I want to analyze are: "one thousand miles away / there's nothing left to say / but so much left that I don't know / we never had a choice / this world is too much noise / it takes me under once again." the first three lines, in my opinion, all relate to the fact that Tommy had gone through so much while wilbur was dead, such has dream's manipulation. the last three lines of this section, which are honestly my favorites, are relating to both of their revivals. even though wilbur and Tommy have developed so differently since the lmanberg and pogtopia eras, they have this one thing in common. Tommy didn't have a choice in his death or resurrection. both were committed by dream and have contributed to the massive amount of trauma and PTSD that Tommy has. wilburs death was practically by his own hand as it was an assisted suicide, but his resurrection wasn't his choice, again done by dream murdering ghostbur. that line could also refer to wilbur not feeling like he had a choice in living anymore, feeling like death was the only option for him at the end of his spiral. the last two lines refer to the mental problems that both Wilbur and Tommy are still facing. we talked about wilburs a bit with his need for validation and him villainizing himself in his mind. Tommy still struggles with suicidal ideation, seen most recently with his comments while on the balcony in Las nevadas. he also struggles with his triggers from the final control room and the prison that we see him try and speedrun exposure therapy for. what I'm trying to get at with this is that wilbur and Tommy have developed so differently while away from each other but they have their resurrections in common.

OKAY CONCLUSION TIME!! (also kindof a tldr)

while Tommy and wilbur have been apart from each other for a while and developed in different ways, their relationship after both of them have been revived is centered around both of their relationships to healing from their trauma. Tommy feels like he's the one who has to "save" wilbur and keep him from spiraling again, letting his own feelings be pushed aside to prioritize wilbur's. wilbur lets himself be the saved to Tommy's savior. he consistently seeks out validation for his own feelings instead of taking the time to sort out how he really feels about the things that have happened to him.

if you read this far then oh wow thank you!! I hope this made sense and I'd love to hear what you think of the comparisons to this song!