One of my favorite scenes in ep 6 is when Hob is telling Dream how much he’s lost in the last 100 years. From his wealth and social standing to his wife and children. How he made missteps and was branded a witch and was drowned. The reason why is of course in part because regardless Hob stays committed to his belief and love of life, but also because Dream is moved in that scene. He’s moved by Hob’s grief and then further moved by his resilience. It’s so lovely to me how much Dream wants him to continue loving life too. And when he thinks that perhaps the world has broken Hob too, he looks ready to cry on his behalf.

I also appreciate the interaction because typically the ageless being has to hype up the character who initially is written to be naively certain of their ideas about life and it’s worth; but that’s not what happens here. Hob isn’t driven by someone else’s assurance that life is good, he’s driven completely by his own. Even through all his grief and loss and even torture of his flesh he accepts it and he lives. Because he just fucking loves living.

see my brain just doesn’t register the idea of anyone having a ‘one true love’ which is why the common fandom tropes of making canonical love interests terrible in order to justify why your ship is better always bugs the shit out of me. it feels like the only reason you would do that is if the idea of the characters in your ship having any other sort of romantic relationship that was important to them, even in the past, is a threat to their current one, therefore all their past relationships need to be demonized in order to make them ‘not real love’ so that they remain pure and chaste and ready for the True Love of the endgame ship.

Something I find really interesting is this panel from "Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot" where the Phantom Blot explains why he didn't straight up kill Mickey even though he clearly overpowered him multiple times and could easily do so.

I think this moment is interesting because it kind of adds a bit of depth to him beyond a generic killer/criminal. Plus it isn't that he is against death in general (as he still puts Mickey into traps with the intention of killing him) but directly being involved where he can see the person dying. What is even more interesting is how people interpret it.

Some people see it as a oddly wimpy moment for the Phantom Blot, with even some just straight up ignoring it.

Some interpret it solely from a Doylist perspective where they understand that the real reason Blot can't kill Mickey is because the story would be over and Disney probably wouldn't be okay with their main character being killed off.

Some take it at straight up face value that he doesn't like to kill, because he doesn't like to see things die and that's it. Just as he said.

And some people even add some element to expand on him as a character such as having some kind of phobia related to blood and gore or even a traumatic experience with death to further expand why he isn't comfortable directly killing someone.

Personally, I like to interpret it as a reflection of a key part of the Phantom Blot's character: His lack of accountability. If there is one thing that is common in many interpretations of the Blot is his refusal to answer for his criminal actions. His first thought when being placed in prison is usually to escape rather than reflect on what he did. And I feel like his aversion to directly killing someone is connected. When he indirectly kills someone in a different location. It is out of sight and out of mind. He can just easily move on to his next criminal action without even a care in the world. But that becomes a bit harder when he is more directly involved.

I like the idea that he constantly tries to separate himself from fault. You even kind of see this in the original comic in how he will sometimes place the blame on Mickey for getting involved instead of him trying to kill him. And while you could say he is just teasing Mickey, you could also see it as him trying to justify his actions. He tries to put up mental barriers to protect himself truly understanding the harm of his actions. And I feel like a part of him knows that if he were to ever directly end a life that it would be a lot harder for him to justify in his mind. He would no longer be able to just ignore it. Any mental barriers he made would crumble.

I also kind of wonder if death also reminds him how vulnerable he actually is. That no matter how skilled and above everyone else he thinks he is. He is not free from the eventuality that is death. That is one thing everyone has in common no matter who you are. His entire criminal career could end before he even achieves the amount of fame and success that he wants. He could be gone from this world and even worse completely forgotten in the sands of time.

eiffel's problem is that he sees every injustice as an interpersonal issue. he doesn't understand how his flippancy or apparent leniency towards hilbert might look to hera; in his mind, it doesn't contradict his support for her. to eiffel, it seems obvious - he is also one of hilbert's victims, hera is his friend, of course he's completely on her side - but he fails to fully grasp how the stakes are different for her.

ep 19: "you need to stop treating this like a joke, officer eiffel." / "hey, i'm the person for whom the joke tolls." / "i get you're scared he put something inside you. but i hope you haven't forgotten emergency code alpha victor. he put that in me." and ep 51: "they're just jokes! they don't really mean anything." / "see, eiffel, you get to have that. they can be 'just jokes' for you because you're... well, you. but we don't get that."

the issue in shut up and listen is eiffel's repeated, if unintentional, microaggressions, but it's also his general use of dark humor as a coping mechanism - jokes he feels justified in making because of how the subjects of those jokes have impacted him. eiffel sincerely believes in treating people equally, but his idea of 'equal treatment' can be idealistic and naive. he has an awareness of interpersonal harm, but he's lived most of his life without ever being confronted with the reality of structural harm - being pre-judged and othered and having his life devalued on the basis of outside categorization.

but the thing about that is that it has happened to him, too. eiffel is an addict, and a convict, and marked as from a lower socioeconomic class than minkowski or lovelace, and those things are the reasons goddard futuristics was able to buy him as prison labor and - without his consent - consider him expendable for medical experimentation. none of that is a coincidence, but he doesn't see the systems at work, only his own actions and regrets. which he then equivocates to the worst actions of people who don't share his sense of morality or guilt.

eiffel's ability to recognize and bring out the humanity in the people around him is one of his best qualities, but... on the basis of his identity, he's been able to live a life where he conceptualizes himself as the default person, and that's been reinforced by the pop culture he loves so much. that's a massive blind spot. he assumes everyone navigates the world in a similar way, and so, on some level, he sees everyone around him as an extension of or a reflection of himself. if evil is always personal, then it can always be reasoned with.

the thing i have the biggest beef with in the witcher netflix is the fact that the writers seem to. like. not like jaskier. like they make geralt be a dick to him “i’m not your friend” and then have geralt turn around and be friendly and affectionate with loads of other characters. moussack “old friend”, that flashback with eskel, “you’re important to me, triss” why can’t we get this same energy with jaskier. begging for a proper apology in season 3 that jaskier doesn’t have to basically fish out of geralt my dude deserves better

Bad has so many reasons to be cautious, even paranoid, as anyone else on the island. From Federation nonsense to Dapper being kidnapped to the whole purgatory nonsense to whatever fuckass suit of armor “old friend” was setting up cameras in his house. But it compounds on his regular overly aware paranoid self to this state of hyper-paranoia. And as a demon who can and usually will lie, cheat, steal, and use sneaky underhanded tactics, he expects the craziest extent because he thinks of it, realizes it’s possible, and would use it himself. We saw this very obviously in purgatory - when he thought greens desperate last ditch effort to balance the scale was a super planned out tactic to tip the scale, so he did it first, all the hardcore base hunting, the spawn killing, there’s a reason every other tactic he used usually followed a main channel qsmp post with updated rules - all usually things he was surprised no one else thought of. But then this also piles onto the fact that he has to have things go his way, all the time, and that he’s argumentative as all get out, which led to the debate between him and Bagi yknow. Especially because he’s not just doing it for the sake of being right, he doesn’t think he’s paranoid, but that he’s exercising the right amount of caution.

So like. Listen dude. Yeah he’s got reasons to be paranoid. But his thought process around building vaults for separate cookie caches like they locked up the risus pills, only to scrap it because it’s not perfectly impenetrable, is extreme. His character has hardly been a leading example in someone who has reasonable reactions to things. And even when there isn’t his own children’s livelihoods potentially on the line, he has a need for control, and the most control he has is if he keeps the cookies in his inventory at all times. If he makes himself the sole point in which the others can get ones in a case of emergency, then he can control the variables. The problem is he’s unreliable about himself when he’s at his most rational and healthiest, and he’s far worse with the current memory and health issues he’s been mostly unaware of.

I dunno it’s like. There is never going to be a purely impenetrable base. And it’s not just a case of “Bagi just hasn’t lived through __ yet!”. Bad’s own logic about keeping the cookies on him at all times is flawed under his own logic, because Bagi is right - if someone has enough drive to break into separate secured cookie caches purely for the downfall of eggs, they more than certainly have enough drive to find a way to kill Bad and just take them from his inventory, or to just kill the eggs themselves. All it truly does is give Bad a sense of control, and soothe his paranoia.

I'm

listen, i'll say it

if S3 doesn't give us significantly more Colin scenes, it'll be a failure

Colin is completely underdeveloped as a character. He has gotten just about 0 POV. All we know about him is either filtered through Penelope or in an ensemble scene with everyone else. And at this point, even if S3 is half and half, it still won't be fair. To balance out the discrepency, it should at *least* be 75% Colin and maaaaaaaaybe 25% Pen because we've gotten nothing for him

I ship Polin, I like Pen, but I'm over getting Pen's POV all the time. We've had enough of it. We've certainly had an unfair amount of it in comparison to his. I'm sick of seeing all the Whistledown behind the scenes and all her quiet contemplative moments when Colin doesn't so much as get 5 minutes focused on him being on the boat, or on his travels, writing his letters or talking through a problem to himself.

I love Colin. He's my absolute favorite character. And it sucks to have a favorite character who is *supposed* to be a lead but has had a grand total of nothing. Bton stripped him of character qualities and threw them onto Benedict, gave Colin like 5 lines, and filtered near all his 'development' through Penelope. Aside from his 'everyone says that [I'm Daphne's favorite]', our literal second scene of Colin is through Penelope's eyes. Everything he says, everything he does: it's always through Penelope's eyes. And I'm over it. I wanna see the world through *Colin's* eyes. And it would only deepen the narrative if we do.

Listen, the directors and showrunners have called Colin 'stupid' or 'dim' or 'not smart enough for Penelope'. The fandom has been rather blatant with their disregard of him, calling him boring, that he's not leading man material, writing him as a cardboard cutout in fics, assuming he's an empty charmer (hmmmm, just like what he's upset about in the books), and it's all because he's been denied a narrative. Colin is a rich, nuanced character. He's funny, he's kind, he's compassionate, he rejects toxic masculinity, he's got imposter syndrome like nothing else, he has a very unique role in his family and experienced a very unique perspective after his father died, he has hobbies (writing, boxing, fencing, studying, traveling) and strong values. But we've barely gotten any of it. Sure, we're *told* some things about him, but we never *see* it.

So if S3 is going to be his time to shine, his season, his falling arse over elbow in love era, they *have* to give us his perspective, and I don't fucking want it all to be his perspective about Pen. I am *tired* of Colin as an extension of Penelope. Penelope has had so much room and time and care to be a character on her own. Colin has gotten nothing. And that kind of dynamic does not a good love story make. And if all that underdevelopment wasn't to pull an Uno Reverse on us and give us a season that focuses on him and builds him up, what was it even for?

S3 should be Colin's story

People really never talk about katase like i genuinely feel bad for her😭 would love to see a katase centered fic abt her thoughts on minedai or smthing like that or just more of her would be so nice. I know you have some fan arts and thank you for that they’re wonderful!!!

everyone got that niche rgg npc they fixate on and katase is my best friend ever i love her so much idc if most of her character lives in my brain she's perfect to me

I hate working but I actually really do love working with kids. Like how dare you interrupt my (barely kept) internal stream of complaints to very politely say "I've never been here before and I'm kind of scared can you help me?" Like of-fucking-course I'll help you!!!! and I'll heal a discombobulated little part of myself too while I'm at it or whatever. Damn

This is a little embarrassing to say, but your fic has seriously helped me in the final months of my husband's deployment and got me out of a slump to draw again from someone's hc they posted here. I know it's so silly but thank you for helping me during my darkest time

Oh my gosh.

Honestly this is probably the kindest and most sincere comment I think I've ever received. I can't imagine the loss you're feeling right now and I hope the next few months go by quickly so you two can be together. I'm glad my writing/this blog and community has been a good space for you to keep your mind off of things. I think it makes complete sense to be in a slump, and it's amazing that you could feel creative and inspired in spite of what's going on; this speaks so many volumes about your strength and character.

All the writing & blog stuff will continue to be here - I hope it can continue to be a source of comfort. Your ask was also anything but silly. Thank you so much for sharing, and seriously, it's such an honor to know that it's all been helping during a tough time. <3333 (P.S. lowkey??? If there's ideas you want me to write about somewhere I am so happy to see where I can squeeze them in just for a lil' day brightener.)

really love alternating between girls to the front and listening to washed up emo episodes. to me it so clearly demonstrates a lot of the friction btw the nebulous diy posthardcore/pre-midwest emo conglomerate and riot grrl is often a matter of like. basic difference in musical ideology and subculture values lmao. like. this guy from art monk was talking about how some of his friends bands have been forgotten because a lot of the scene was v. humble and believed in letting the music speak for itself which imo fits with a lot of women in these bands who talk about wanting to be seen as "serious artists" not bc women arent "serious" but rather its emblematic of the type of band/music relationality they want to embody. like. the women in these scenes, to varying degrees, certainly interacted and invested in the same values as their peers- its weird to imagine just bc they are women that (1) they all should think the same and (2) they all felt inherently isolated from their communities??

Recently finished Wodehouse's A Damsel in Distress (I believe at @isfjmel-phleg's recommendation! from a WHILE ago) and am happy to report that Wodehouse is still so good for one's heart

Feed me spoonfuls of perspective. Open my mind to your thinking. Show me what you see, what I'm missing.

diduseemeontelevision (tumblr)

if someone doesn’t take a restored gideon nav’s face between their hands in alecto the ninth to tell her that her life meant everything and that she has inherent worth just as she is, and that she should live for herself and not for others, and then give her a tight hug, im going to do a john gaius on this bitch of an earth

Lol my bestie is visiting next weekend and we're gonna watch the final few eps of Saiki and they're gonna get to witness a blorbo breakdown IRL after the horse gambling, guaranteed.