By the way, I am still thinking about the Greater Boston Season 4 finale, and I am obsessed with the idea that when you have days where you wake feeling strange and unsettled without any identifiable cause, it might be because someone who you never met but who would have narrated you kindly has passed on out of the world.

"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A JOKE" As someone who's been playing TWST since march and stopped going out of my way to be spoilerfree after I got stuck at Overblott!Jamil? That's honestly been one of my favorite things about it - seeing something in fanart or a comment you think is just fans joking, only for it to be canon. "The economy!", "May I also throw a tantrum?", Malleus' gargoyle thing, and... everything about Rook being my top examples.

there's a whole bit in Trey's platinum birthday card where he goes on about how he became increasingly obsessed with mustard for like a week straight until the other students held an intervention. how are you supposed to talk about this. how can you bring up something like Trey's descent into mustard obsession to the point that the other characters are worried for him without it sounding like the most obvious lolrandom "he mentioned it once and now fandom acts like he puts mustard in everything" joke. also, how can I slip this into every Twst post from now on, because I need everyone in the world to know that this is a real canon fact about Trey "I'm just an average normal guy (who sticks my hands into people's mouths and owns 20 toothbrushes and used to eat flowers off the side of the road)" Clover.

for bonus points, 1) the punchline is that he still doesn't even like mustard that much, 2) he's saying all of this to Leona, and 3) Leona is actually kind of invested in Trey's mustard story for some reason, which is the most unbelievable part of all of this to be honest. (then Trey gets distracted by a painting of the Cheshire Cat and Leona takes the opportunity to powerwalk away to freedom before they can start talking about dijon versus spicy brown or whatever and extend this bit even longer)

ummmmmm. something something normal being the only one to actually empathize with the doodler before they were dood and teenshaped and being the only one to empathize with hermie when hermie was alive. that's it that's the thought.

I see your tags on the Wocky and Alita art, I would love to hear your thoughts on Alita actually!

I only need one person to show interest in what I have to say for me to talk forever and ever, thank you. HAHA Okay, in seriousness, this won't be as thorough/long as the Klavier post because... there really isn't much to her, but I find it extremely interesting how Alita falls into the same category of witnesses as April May and Dahlia without being — and I mean no offence to her when I say this — stunning? Like, with April and Dahlia, there's a very clear mass appeal to them which most people point out. Contrariwise, Alita's appearance is really only commented on by Trucy, and just glancing at her portrait, you can see that, without her slightly outlandish fashion, she's frankly nothing to write home about.

So why am I discussing this? Surely it's a little reductive to analyse female characters beginning with their appearances? Usually, yes, but that's the thing about this category of witnesses: their pretty faces aren't just pretty faces.

For April and Dahlia, their beauty is part of their arsenal. It functions as both their defence and their weapon of choice; they know how to wield it to bring people under their heel. Alita being ordinarily pretty instead of drop-dead gorgeous deprives her of that weapon and leads you to wonder how she became a mafia heiress to begin with. It also parallels her to Mimi Miney in a way that goes beyond the 'murderous nurse who worked for and killed her awful boss' comparison you get on the surface. Presumably, Alita, like Mimi, only got to where she was because she managed to fool the people around her into believing she was less dangerous than she actually is. Mimi did this by feigning stupidity and inviting people to underestimate her. Alita seems to do this by showing them what they want to see.

When she first meets Apollo and Trucy, Alita stays quiet and spends more time listening to them than she does talking. Once she has a hold on who they are, then she slips into her persona, and I find it interesting how she doesn't even attempt to come across as particularly delicate or lovelorn? Instead she goes for the relatively typical role of a distressed, indulgent loved one earnestly entreating Apollo for help. I'm inclined to say she does this because her read on Apollo makes her realise that he'd likely be exasperated or annoyed by such a person; but it's also almost as if she knows she doesn't have the disposition to pull off that frail, damsel-in-distress archetype and has resigned herself to being ordinary. Like how she looks. The next time she has to reapply her persona, Alita's appearing in court, and again she makes subtle adjustments that best suit her situation. The judge is old, so she takes a chance on expressing her dedication as a wife while balancing her dedication as a righteous citizen, which works. But oddly enough, despite her successes, I don't think Alita is actually good? At donning disguises? Everyone I've seen discuss this case has been able to guess almost immediately that she's the culprit, and maybe we're just prepped by past characters like her that have appeared, but I don't think she's even that convincing in the game.

Both the identities she assumes are risky manoeuvres that happen to fall in her favour, and she's not particularly dedicated to maintaining the front. When she asks Apollo to be Wocky's defence, she admits that marrying him is largely a chance at a more exciting life than some great love story; Plum Kitaki straight up says that there's a darkness in Alita she doesn't like, despite how docile Alita behaves in front of her; and Wocky has moments where he slips up and calls her things like, "imposter" and "fallen angel", implying that at least subconsciously, he knows she's not what she makes herself out to be. Even her general mannerisms don't greatly differ between her actual self and the mask who's blunt her claws — nothing is ever overtly coy or cutesy — and when Apollo brings up the fact she was Wocky's nurse, she drops the facade almost immediately. There's no waffling, no, "Whatever do you mean?"s or, "You're scaring me"s, just the statement, "I don't know what you mean by 'meaning', Mr. Justice!" delivered in a sudden cool, frosted steeliness.

And I think that steel is what really makes her different.

See, the other women are all driven to crime by some defining trait in themselves caused by their circumstances. For Dahlia, it's her desperate need to be free of the Fey clan; for Mimi, it's grief over her sister's unjust death; and for April, it's her fear of Redd White. You don't really get that with Alita. Instead of there being something dark in her life that leads her down this path, she just seems... tired. Tired of being "pretty enough" but not "gorgeous", tired of being the obedient nurse to the corrupt doctor, tired of being ordinary. There's no predatory external force pushing her into a corner, there's no abusive family beliefs pinning her down. There's just an ordinary life, lived dull and ordinarily, and she had had enough. So what does this girl, who's tired and ordinary in every way except the steel that lines her spine, do to get out of this?

She gambles.

Marrying into the mafia was a gamble, seeking Apollo as council was a gamble, shooting Dr. Meraktis was a gamble. Every decision she's made since she met Wocky has been a series of high-stakes gambles that leave her life on the line all so she won't be second-best anymore. This time, she was going to be the one on top. No matter what.

... And I'm sorry for loving evil women, but girlboss?? Girlboss???

I've heard people say they're disappointed that her "breakdown" is just an extension of her usual damage sprite, but it's honestly one of my favourite "breakdowns" in the series ever? Just because it isn't really one? Everything Alita has done up till now has been reckless, calculated risk, of course being convicted for murder is no different than losing in any other aspect of her life. Of course you're not going to get more than her damaged sprite, because this doesn't warrant a more dramatic reaction. She's lived this whole time knowing it could all come crashing down around her, and it finally did.

She made a bad bet. You caught her. Oh well.

The frosted girl of steel, standing tall to the very end. It's kind of sad that, even after all that, she's still seen as only second-best, incomparable to mimi, dahlia or any of the other women who've stood in her place.

nghm okay my take on the neuvillette 'ships' is that they're...all kinda boring? theres a lot of interesting dynamics to explore dont get me wrong but for all of them romance is the least interesting option lol. first is because i dont think he's romantically-inclined by nature (aroace king) but also he intentionally tries to keep people at arms length because of his position as iudex (so even if he has friendly connections i cant see anything 'more' than that actually working out) .

however the most interesting juxtaposition for his character imo is being so filled with love for the world and the people around him and simulataneously not experiencing 'love' in the way a lot of people traditionally understand it. he loves people so deeply no he does not want to pursue any of them romantically. it doesnt even have anything to do with him being a dragon, he's just like that.

maaaaaan! Sarge died :(( he was fine this morning, then just now went down and he was gone... parameters are ok so idk, it could've been classic random betta death. (i do have a weird theory after looking at his body but it's so hard to know...)

I'm just so sad...i made him his beautiful 10g and he never ever got to live in it. swim in peace little dude i wish I'd known you longer :'(

The coolest gender thing in the 2009 Japanese video game persona 3 100% how hard they coded shinjiro as the dead mom

Update the stupid Ukrainian guy sid he was surprised "nobody (Native people) smoked, drank, or wanted to kill me" at his first pow wow

.

so I was on the el yesterday with a big honking canvas---there was a sale, so I bought a 30x40---and happened to sit down across from an older gentleman, who naturally asked if I was an artist?

because he was an artist too, he explained; he worked in acrylics, splatters like Jackson Pollack---even though his current apartment was pretty small, and he gets paint on the walls, on his shoes. (he did have paint on his shoes.)

(in hindsight, I really appreciate his body language---he was leaning back, his hands crossed over his stomach with his feet up on the seat in front of him. It telegraphed ‘I will not be moving any closer to you’ which made it a lot easier to have the conversation in the first place)

and we talked about being retired and rental prices in Seattle (where he goes once a year to visit family) and Chicago, and the problem of taggers, because he likes painting murals and if he has to paint over tags it delays his work.

(I did not get the sense that anyone hires him to paint murals, he just does, when a white wall pops up nearby.)

in the grand scheme of things, it was nothing---maybe 15 minutes out of my day---but it carried me through the rest, that little interaction. I liked that even when he talked about how small his apartment is, how infrequently he sees family, he did so through the lens of making art. I hope he had a good weekend.

Who would win in a dance battle, Michael or Jenna?

oooh good question!

I think Michael would get really into it, (as described by the script, "Jeremy's music obsessed friend" lmao) but I think he's more of the kind of guy to jam out casually and alone than in front of other people. He'd reluctantly accept the battle and absolutely crush it, but i think ultimately Jenna would win. She thrives whenever she's the center of attention, and would try to keep all eyes on her. She's tried hard to be noticed for so long, so I wouldn't be surprised if she practiced in her spare time or something to be seen at Jake's parties or something. Michael would probably falter under that attention, leaving Jenna as the winner.

tbh the same way dark doesn't really bother to let himself be loved is the same way he doesn't rlly bother to try to live. its only particularly relevant around specific muses or in verses like fgo wherein he and daisuke don't have to worry about keeping the whole phantom thief/identity thing a secret, but dark usually relinquishes control of the body to the niwa very easily outside of any instances of a heist (or is flat out sleeping and not present,) even when it's his own appearance. dark says himself that his only specializations are 'treasure and women' and while it's played for gags in the moment it really is the truth. he doesn't really Do anything outside from steal and entertain himself with flirting, because in most cases he pretty much Can't do anything outside of that. he recognizes himself as someone (something) that's much more a literal and metaphorical concept before it's any legitimate individual, and likewise he's mostly taken a passive, back-seat approach to coexisting with the niwa. the real q then is how much of it all comes from his own inherent apathy (it's extremely hard to capture his interest sometimes, 99% of aspects of 'human' life bore him,) or if it's simply learned helplessness due to the fact that he's been attached to the niwa for so long already.

Started crying over the Batman Beyond Animated Movie concept art. I am so normal.

Holy sh*t HaiKaveh feels like chaotic version of Thomato 🤣🤣🤣

I really can't wait to play Haitham story quest !

sai: i really admire you. you’re so much better at normal social interactions than i am

yamato, genuinely touched: sai, thank you so much it really means a lot to hear—

sai: putting naruto in a wooden box to keep sasuke from biting him was the perfect move. i had no clue how to deal with that kind of situation even though it’s so ordinary

yamato: uhh yeah….ordinary………..

i  think  whenever  he's  dealing  with  non-vision  wielders,  ren  occasionally  tries  to  pass  off  his  various  "quirks"  as  products  of  his  vision.  his  regeneration?  no,  he's  using  his  vision  to  heal  his  wounds.  his absurd  stamina  and  physical  strength?  all  part  of  being  a  vision  wielder.  his  glowing  markings?  you  already  know  the  answer.

only  a  small  percentage  of  the  population  actually  has  a  vision,  so  he  feels  comfortable  lying  through  his  teeth.  he  can  use  it  to  fly  —  is  it  really  so  unreasonable  to  think  that  isn't  the  only  thing  he's  capable  of?