#i love your analysis so much | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fumifooms · 3 months

Text

Laios Touden and autism; admiring the non-human

Do you think people exaggerate when they scream about Laios being autistic? Do you feel like it’s weird that so many people including autistics are so set on Laios, the problematic (but incredible and kind) king TM, being the most autistic that has ever autisticed? Why do we cheer on autistic people wanting to be monsters?? Isn’t that weird?

Well, of course it depends on the way it’s done, it can be done quite offensively, but long story short Kui blew it out of the park. The thing is, autistic people really do like monsters and animals and robots. Nonhuman does not mean subhuman, it just means Other. Feeling a connection with them has been shown to be an extremely common autistic experience for that very reason.

Because some people don’t understand why we autistic Tumblr Laios stans cheer “autism! Autism!” whenever he talks about monsters and feeling alienated to humans so! Here’s a post about how yes even research papers are analyzing the special connection we form with animals. I’m not even joking but Laios Touden & the mass cries of relatability with autistic people he gets and all the love for him could be used as study material and evidence for future papers because the link is that strong. Oh also I think it’s notable that being autistic and undiagnosed vs diagnosed makes a huge difference. In my experience as someone who was undiagnosed up until 18, it’s even more alienating to not know that there’s a reason why you’re different, being gaslit that you’re ‘normal’ and you just need to try harder and get with the program, etc. Personally when getting diagnosed I went through the 5 stages of grief because the thought of having been fundamentally different all your life (a difference which you will never be able to change) and mistreated for it when you weren’t “wrong” all along makes you unload all the anger and sadness and loneliness and sheer trauma you’ve built up over time. Like it’s world shattering.

So! Back to seeing dogs as family. Also I implore you to value experiential evidence when it comes to autism and other neurodivergences because brains are complicated and neurotypicals not being able to understand us well even with scientific research is like, a whole thing even though we’re right there speaking about how we feel and being right every time because the topic is literally us and how we experience the world.

Disclaimer for this whole post that, of course, no group is a monolith and everyone has different experiences or can diverge from the norm of the group, and that doesn’t diminish the validity of either side! Like, I know autistic people who have trauma with dogs and hate them. But, trends do happen, and in this case... Autism is very “My experiences with humans make me feel dehumanized in a bad and lonely way so instead I’ll dehumanize myself in a good and inspiring way”.

“I was treated like a failed human my entire life and you’re surprised that my response was to become a dog.” -Patricia Taxxon

It’s literally well recorded that autistic people relate to animals more than humans globally. With this post, besides spreading autistic Laios truthism and explaining why the portrayal hits so deep for so many, I want to show in what way this is a very specific experience and not looking at his character through an autistic lense really misses a lot of why he’s everything that he is. (Tacking allegedly onto here for legal reasons, different interpretations are valid etc etc /gen). This honestly isn’t super long though.

To define an important term, anthropomorphism in the studies and in this post means to attribute human traits to the nonhuman, which not only includes anthro furry designs but also animals irl, inanimate objects, and animated media as opposed to live action, to humanize them and empathize with them.

Paper: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2019.0027

“Dogs taught me how to hunt and socialize and work in groups”, Laios having internalized body language... So real so real. I, too, make a great dog impression. And I want to emphase the part that it helps greatly develop a sense of emotions and relationships! For Laios, he didn’t get along with kids his age, it was him, Falin and the dogs against the world. Since it’s a group of dogs too, it taught him group dynamics and social hierarchies (like with Falin being considered as being below the dogs in authority according to the dogs rip), and the importance of group coordination when hunting.

For me, I cannot like, concisely explain just how much animals were important to me developmentally. I also grew up with dogs, but like I vividly remember encounters with like hamsters as well just radically shaping my understanding of boundaries, the importance of giving something space and the way you interact with them and respect their side of it. Unlike humans they don’t really mask how they feel, it’s direct cause-effect reaction and data gathering. There are no words involved, so the focus on having a perfect phrasing and tone is gone, leaving just pure interactions.

There’s also no reason to mask how you feel either, and you don’t have to feel silly over wanting to form a connection and it showing, what, is the dog gonna laugh at you because you obviously want to make friends with it? Toshiro or Kabru might, but dogs and cats will just tell you to fuck off and leave it there worst case scenario. I often say that I think one reason Marcille is special to Laios and he feels comfortable around her is because she emotes INTENSELY, she gestures, she puts her whole body into it, her facial expressions are pretty exaggerated and her ears even emote too- like with a dog’s ears!

I think there’s def also things to be said about how he gravitated towards Izutsumi at first, all excited, was eager to sleep in the same bed as her, but in the Izutsumi sleep rating chart we see they really just casual and chill so it’s not a Laios talking to Shuro deep into the night situation just a “I like sleeping besides animals” situation and that is enough to hype him up. I love how he pet her in the extra about why Chil let her sleep with him too. He’s just so transparently eager to befriend her, even if in the end they weren’t all that compatible and he accepted that.

There are honestly so many examples I could give for this. Like Grandin the famous cow lady.

More about autism & empathy:

https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/double-empathy-explained/ (Also mentions a study in which groups of autistic, allistic then a mixed group played a game of telephone and both singular groups had similar levels of information retention, but the mixed group was significantly worse. As an autistic person yeah duh, obviously autistic people are different from one another and can have plenty of interpersonal issues, but communicating with other neurodivergent people feels pretty intuitive and straightforward and comfortable. One of the reasons why neurodivergent people tend to naturally gravitate towards each other I suppose.)

^ Paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5932358/ For good, extensive summary of why we relate to animals so much you can go to the “anthromorphizing and asd” section of the paper. This paper extends to our widespread liking of cartoons and robots as well. Ok so this is a whole thing I won’t get into here but this is a big reason why a lot of autistic people are agender leaning as well. Genders and queerness in general is a lot about social constructs, and being queer is being marginal to these, not fitting into boxes or challenging those social norms and conventions. Queerplatonic relationships are a great example of this, where the framework of the relationship is platonic but the intangible nature of what it is exactly is the point, not familial not anything but everything at once too, just adoration, I like to say having pets is a bit like it as well, bc obvi it’s not romantic and often not fully familial, very platonic but also sooo much cuddling and adoration and kissing and whatnot that you wouldn’t typically do with a friend or family member. I’ll talk about qpr and labels another day though.

I got carried away but queerness in Dunmeshi is something I 100% want to make a big post on one day. Experiencing the world with different guidelines and not registering things to have the same boxes, sigh. Personally I also relate to Laios on a gender level, “cis by default because I don’t care all that much but if I were to dig deeper I’m probably otherkin and I want to be socially associated with traits of monsters and animalistic rather than man/woman” sighh hard to be a cryptid in this day and age. I wish we had a term like furry but for monsters, I want to be in the fantasy or folk tale genre ty, like changelings. Goshh changelings... You know, the irl myth where people said their neurodivergent kids were fairies’ children instead of human. Diminished physical sense of self means I see myself as some unknowable black void aesthetic wise, but like in a way that simultaneously makes me feel seen. Like becoming a monster, losing your sense of self but also somehow just being simplified and seen for what you are, it’s weird to try and explain. This post is more about relating to the nonhuman than about seeing yourself as such, but like connect the dots right, that IS an important point of Laios’ character. It’s because our brains literally work different than allistics which makes us feel as other, but also because of social ostracization and functioning in a different way than society at large, living in the margin of society, being weird and non-conforming.

Meanwhile, animals and social norms... Like ok, showing your neck and rolling on the ground to show that you’re friendly and harmless and play biting might not be proper. But have you considered that it’s also fun and feels very intuitive. Play with a dog in the dog’s way I promise it is so nice and freeing. Play tug of war and growl back when they growl. Hiss at your cat to tell them they do something wrong, engage with them on their level.

Autism made social life hard, but it made animals easy. Do you have anyyy idea how good it feels to mask all day every day and feel constantly misunderstood or like you’re doing a performance but then you can just, drop all of that in the company of animals and they understand you. They understand you. You form an understanding and rapport so easily.

And this whole thing with Laios is so explicit too, with the Winged Lion saying “You’re sick and tired of the human world”. Notice the choice of words. Sick and tired of the human world. Exhausted from the constraints, sick of the mind games. It really isn’t as much about loving monsters as it is about loving the nonhuman. Relating to them because you feel that you can actually understand how they work and think, and feeling like they could understand you back as well. Animals are safe.

Like I could go on about how Laios admiring even just demi-humans like orcs is because they’re socially seen as non-humans more than any true physical thing, that they’re not bound by human society and its rules and live with their own lifestyle. But it would deal myself 1000 points of psychic damage and I am not ready to cry today. It’s idealization 100%, and like, Laios DOES want to be treated as human, to be valued, but it feels like an unreachable thing meanwhile becoming a monster is instant gratification and freedom and a sense that now no one will be able to hurt you in a way that reaches you, never again shall you be defenseless, and then if people dehumanize you then that only strengthens your sense of identity as a monster and UGHH ugh ugh.

And like. This post is a mess at this point but if you want to kinda delve into the more “why” then I recommend this Patricia Taxxon video essay. It starts out on a very different topic, but it’s all about autism and finding comfort in the inhuman. Long story short is othering made us like this also animals are just simpler to intuitively get along with.

So when I post this

I mean it. I really mean it when I say he’s me. I have never felt so seen. So many conflicting emotions all wrapped so concisely yet so intangibly woven into the whole storyline so subtly.

Not being depicted as a monster of an human being for feeling/having felt that way?? The manga understands you. The world can understand you. Other humans can understand you. You can bond with them. You can. And I think that’s a big part of Dungeon Meshi too- Laios opening up to others about how he really is and his interests, and all the bumps on the way but how it was the only way to truly get to know each other and bond. With the climax being Laios confronting head on his complex with monsters and humans, and his monster-loving side and animalistic side being exactly what saves the whole world, what saves humanity. Because Laios does value his friends, does think humanity has beautiful sides to it, he wants to help it thrive and eat and become more accepting, carving out a kingdom for misfits and demi-humans. At the end of it, transforming into a monster and being free is a daydream fantasy, and the reality of it is that Laios does belong in the world as he is, and does receive and give out love.

If you enjoyed this you’ll probably like some of my other Laios analysis! Here’s an analysis of his succubus and what it says about his relationships with other humans. And here’s an analysis about his relationship with Shuro from his perspective.

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #laios touden #character analysis #i guess #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #spoilers #autistic laios touden #asd #autism representation #meta #draft so old it uses the old Tumblr post editor #it would be much better if i could put them side to side rip #i also wanna do an analysis trying to pin down his level of social awareness #i love that the monster story epic saga about misfits and your place in the world on an ecosystem level is just sooo autistic so perfect #this post has a weird structure but hopefully it can showcase some things and make ppl understand and others relate! I know we're out there #hiii therians how we feeling today. Brain chemistry is weird but ours is just wired different not broken #feeling self-conscious bc even with studies this is the equivalent of going 'trust me bro I get it' which usually doesn't go well with us #Humanity is beautiful <3333 Humans are social animals broski love yourself!!!

199 notes · View notes

iridescentpull · 4 months

Text

Actually, I'm gonna ramble about Pac and Ramón for a bit:

Pac knows how it feels to be abandoned– after all, he was abandoned in the orphanage after his parents' divorce. He knows the trauma of waiting for that person to come back, but ultimately never coming back, and feeling like maybe it was his fault for that, and the need to prove you deserve to be loved.

They both had to grow up quickly, albeit for different yet similar reasons. Pac had to grow up quickly because he had to take care and protect his best friend, Mike, and at the same time fight for their survival after the orphanage shut down. Ramón had to grow up because his other father, Spreen, didn't like how childish he was (the moment with the boucy ball comes to mind**) and then he lost his 1st life, which meant he had to be extra careful.

They both also only have had one other person for most of their lives, someone they can trust 100%. It has always been Fit and Ramón & Pac and Mike for the longest time. Of course, other people have come and gone, but in the end, it has always been the two of them.

I think the reason Pac is so affectionate and caring of Ramón is because he knows, he understands him. He wants Ramón to get to experience all the things he couldn’t. Have a big adoption party? Yes, of course. Have two lovable parents who cherish him? Done and dusted. Have domestic and relaxing activities with close family? That can be be arranged, just say a day.

All in all, I think them being in each others lives heals them respectively. Pac being able to love and take care of Ramón helps him heal his inner child. Ramón being able to get the second parent he always wanted (while also making sure Fit is not alone) helps him get to feel like a silly kid once again.

I think that's beautiful.

(** If you dont know, Ramón once had a slime ball he used to play catch with. One time, he gave the ball to Spreen in hopes of playing with him, but Spreen scolded him for being childish and that he had to grow up. After that, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ramón with the ball again [i could be wrong, though!])

#idk if this makes any sense #i just went insane #ramon and pac are so similar it makes me cry #them both being with each other heals them #i will sob i love them so much #qsmp #qsmp pac #pactw #qsmp ramon #fitpac #<< its not explicitly said but its there #fitmc #mikethelink #character analysis #this is all my opinion of course #feel free to disagree as long as youre respectful

281 notes · View notes

grimalkinmessor · 4 months

Text

Just to put a lot of my posts and beliefs about Light Yagami's character in one post (headcanons not included):

• He does not do anything for purely moral reasons. The reason he started killing criminals was because he was curious, and then afterward his "crusade" was built from panic and spite. He thought using the Death Note was going to kill him, so he decided to take everyone he considered a threat to society down with him—that way he would still be good. He would still be remembered. If he can't live, then criminals don't deserve to either. The weight loss and the insomnia shown in the manga, were more likely results of a fear of dying than moral stress.

• Then Light discovers he won't die. This negates part of the spite, but not the need for a moral justification to keep himself "good". He no longer needs to be a martyr, so instead he's chosen to become a God.

• During this week and half of time, Light goes from being a bored, lonely, listless teenager disgusted with the world because it's not how his father taught him it should be, disgusted because if he can manage perfection why can't the rest of the world—to a boy with a new friend and a new mission that gives him purpose. Something interesting. If the world can't be perfect on its own, he'll have to help it. The world needs his help, making him its "savior".

• In comes L. It is no longer about Kira, no longer about saving the world from itself, even if he might tell himself it is—it's about the game. Kira was a fun pastime, yes, but L has made things so much more interesting. (Light and Ryuk are actually wildly similar in several ways it's just not immediately obvious). This game is more fun, too, because this time he has an opponent—one not so nebulous as "the criminals of the world", who offered no challenge. Light is still justifying his actions through a lens of morality, because he has to, but they're beginning to run rather thin.

• Both the broadcast and the obvious taunts to L through changing Kira's killing methods supports the above. "You're too stupid, L. If you were just a little smarter, we could've had some fun." Drawing L in was to progress their game, not Kira's goals. If Light truly only cared about Kira's vision, Kira's new world, Kira's righteous justice; then he wouldn't have continued to play the game after the broadcast. There was no way for L to find him without Light drawing him in—the Death Note is literally the perfect murder weapon. Light knew this, he just ignored it because he wanted to play.

• In the same vein: Yotsuba Light doesn't know he's playing the game. He's forgotten that there even is a game, and so he sees L as someone who's been duped, who either isn't as intelligent as he's been made out to seem, or someone who's being purposefully cruel just because he can. Either way, to Yotsuba Light, L's threat level has only increased, because Light no longer has any sort of weapon to go against him with. He can't even wield his own innocence against him, because his innocence is not certain. Even to himself. Yotsuba Light knows that he has to play along with L's plays of friendship and morality in order to secure his freedom, but he does not respect L or like him. At least, not until near the end, where they're closing in on Higuchi. Where his freedom seems closer....and yet he sees his own, true innocence as more tenuous than ever. Notably, even when Light feels positively towards L there, he still does not share his suspicions about himself with him. His own life still takes precedence over any sort of justice or morality he might have, because Yotsuba Light is still Light. And Light will always put his own self-interests first.

• After killing L, something interesting happens. Because the game ends, but Kira is still left. And Light was willing to take risks and make wild plans in his game with L, but Kira's goals always, always came after his own life. And when only Kira's goals are left, Light stops taking those big, potentially lethal risks. (i.e. bomb desk trap, killing Raye Penber in person by handing him pages of the Death Note, killing Naomi Misora in person right in front of the police station, writing Higuchi's name while sitting right beside L with the murder weapon literally in his hand, etc. etc.). Winning the game was worth dying for—Kira's ideals are not. Or, to put it even more simply: His pride is worth dying for, but his morals are not. Five years after his victory against L, he's presented with another game, but instead of feeling fearful and excited as he did with L, Light is angry. Arrogant and angry. Because this isn't a game to these opponents, as it was to L—they're playing against each other, and Light is merely a piece in it. This game is not like his game with L; it's more like his "game" with the criminals of the world. One with no true challenge, just another defense of Kira's world—worth winning, but not worth dying for.

• Light's pride is more important to him than anything. He needs to be able to take pride in himself and his actions. Pride comes before everything else, before Kira, before family, before L, even before his own desires and physical health. He does not enjoy killing—he just turned it into something he could be proud of. Into another mastering of craft. Light is not particularly sadistic, he's just spiteful. He'll only take pleasure in someone's suffering if they make someone else suffer first, especially if that someone is him. Attacking his pride would count as making him suffer, because that's the most important thing in the world to him. Even though Light also values his life incredibly highly, attempting to kill him wouldn't invoke as much hell-hot wrath as attempting to humiliate him would. And Light will always get even. Always. He does not forgive and forget.

• He believes every lie he tells himself. Every. Lie. He is a Good Man. He is Good Son. He is a Savior. He is Better. He is NOT Evil, he is Good. He's incredibly adept at not only fooling other people, but fooling himself. Even if he's vaguely aware of the truth, he'll take great pains to make sure that truth never comes to light—because it would crush him.

• Light does not take his own desires into account. If he likes or wants something that contradicts with the perfect image he's crafted, he purges it from his mind. Makes excuses for why he doesn't need it, or even convinces himself very thoroughly that he didn't even want it in the first place. If it's not something he can be proud of (or convince himself to be proud of), he doesn't allow himself to desire it.

• Light sees everyone as beneath him (family notwithstanding, Light loves his family deeply), and while it's a pyramid scale of how far beneath him they are, it's not actually ranked by things like gender, sexuality, race—it's ranked by morality and intelligence. The more intelligent and moral you are, the higher up you are on the scale. Light feeling hostile towards someone does not always mean he sees them as further down beneath him; with L and Misa specifically, it means that they're a threat. Light tends to only see people near the top of the intelligence pyramid as threats; evidenced by him dismissing Matsuda completely even with the knowledge that Matsuda was a marksmen, and yet him immediately setting out to kill Naomi when he found out she figured out one of Kira's secrets. With Takada and Mikami, he treats them exactly the same as each other because they're both on the same level of the scale—and he didn't hesitate to get rid of either of them. (Or try to get rid of, in Mikami's case). Everyone is either a tool, a threat, a criminal, a citizen, or family to him. People to use (tool, criminal), people to serve and/or placate (citizen, family), and people to eliminate (threat, criminal). Everyone falls into at least one of these categories for him.

• Light Yagami is a tragic character. And he's a tragic character because he refuses to believe he's part of a tragedy. He would rather swallow broken glass than be considered a victim of anything.

#death note #yagami light #light yagami #character analysis?#character analysis #the stapels of his character ✨#i see so many character profiles for him that i thought id make one of my own :D #these are the points of contention for me—ESPECIALLY on the pride bit #if his pride isnt the most important thing to him beyond his life (and sometimes his family) then i consider it an ooc interpretation #but he's also not just. blatantly evil. he doesnt revel in the gore of his victims killing just for kicks #again its not about his own desires so much as its about his need to be seen as perfect and honorable #his intelligence bites him in the ass on that front. bc he can convince himself that his killing is righteous with very little struggle #anyway ✨ i love him #he's so interesting #this is how i see him WITHOUT all my headcanons in the way lmao #bigender light my beloved im sorry this is not your time to shine 😔

212 notes · View notes

starry-bi-sky · 4 months

Text

Ugh im writing this on mobile but i’ve been thinking about it nonstop for an hour and I’m just- mmmmm thinking about Clone Danny and his wardrobe choice as Phantom. Cuz like, he doesn’t have any powers, right? He has no built-in secret identity and suit that he can change into in a flash of blinding circular light. If a ghost shows up he’s just got what he’s got on, and whatever he has in his bag.

And I’m just. I have a lot of thoughts about him and his canon self, thoughts that i dont think i can all fit on my phone and im. Thinking about the dichotomy between him and his canon counterpart. From an in-universe perspective, the halfa Danny Phantom looks remarkably human-like. Especially compared to the ghosts he fights, all of whom are unnatural colors, shapes, and sizes. From flaming hair to glowing eyes and pointed claws, there’s nothing about them that doesn’t scream “ghost!” “Inhuman!” “Unnatural!”

And then you look at Danny Phantom, the ghost boy fighting them. And he just… looks like a glowing human boy. The only unnatural thing about him is his white hair and green eyes - and green eyes is a natural human color. Maybe not the shade it’s in, but it occurs in human genetics. He’s about as close to human as he can get.

Think about that from an in-universe perspective, and then think about it with the idea that ghosts take pride in their ‘ghostly’ look. They pride themselves on looking scary; unnatural; inhuman. It’s a showcase of being unique, of their own individuality, of their interests and wants. Looking ‘scary’ is part of ghost culture, and if not scary, then unique and ‘inhuman’. They don’t want to fit in, they want to stand out.

And you look at Danny Phantom, as his canon self without any of the fanon customizations, and he’s none of that. He’s about as human-looking as a ghost can get. He’s got human-like skin, hell he’s even tanner than he is as a human! His hair is normal, his eyes are green but normal, his hands? Soft and round, not a claw in sight, and his teeth are blunt and ears are round.

His suit is all black, it doesn’t even tell you anything about him other than he probably died in a lab accident, and he looks like he’s straight out of a b-rate comic book. There’s no story to tell about him, he’s a book with the pages all blacked out in ink.

His name, if you take it as him only calling himself “Phantom” isn’t even all that unique. It’s a generic ghost term that you can find by googling ‘ghost’ and looking at its synonyms.

And then look at his behavior: yeah he fights ghosts, and fighting is all about ghost behavior. Its one of their social activities- but its clear from Phantom that he’s not being social. He’s being aggressive, he’s doing it for the sake of the living (which while fair, doesn’t make him look good in the context of everything else). Then he comes into the ghost zone, he doesn’t do much to integrate himself into the culture, and yeah he makes allies but it still doesn’t feel enough. He’s not participating in anything, he’s alienating himself.

All in all, Phantom looks like a ghost trying to pretend he’s human, that he’s still alive. And for a ghost culture that prides itself on not being alive? It’s insulting.

And then let’s circle back around to that human thing, but from a different angle. Probably one that’s more mindset than outside looking in. But Danny’s alienated by the rest of the town for ages despite helping them. And while him looking human likely has to do with his own mindset of viewing himself as “living, but with ghost powers” and thus reflects back as a ghost, it also makes it look like he’s trying to fit in with the humans.

“I am not a ghost” he says, with his human skin and blunt teeth. “I am human like you, see? See? I look like you.”

He’s making himself look approachable, friendly. ‘You can trust me, I’m not a ghost. I’m not like them. I’m not scary. I look just like you. I’m different.’ He looks about as harmless as a human child could be. He’s trying to be relatable. And in turn he’s giving his fellow ghosts a cold shoulder - i’m not like you, i’m better. I’m different. I’m not ghost. I may be dead, but I’m no ghost.

Danny is trying to tie his ghost self in with the living as much as possible - he wants them to think he’s almost human. The same way he wants to think that himself. He’s distancing himself from his ghost half and the ghostly qualities the others have. Whether intentional or not, he’s doing it.

He shows his face and goes ‘see? See? I’m just like you.’

And then lets look at clone Danny, mister not-a-halfa. Who doesn’t have his canon offensive capabilities, who only has his ghost sense and the ability to hit ghosts without gear, his scary eyes and pointed ears, and the ability to see weaker ghosts not visible to the mortal eye.

He has no ghost form, no powers. And yet the first time he goes out as Phantom, he wears a mask that looks like a skull. Instead of distancing himself from ghosts, he’s distancing himself from humans. And at first it stems from the need to be unrecognizable, the last thing he wants is for his parents to find out that he’s ghost hunting. To do that, he needs to hide his face. That’s the first step.

The next step is to act in such a way that people couldn’t possibly tie him back to Danny Fenton. He’s not distancing himself from ghosts, he’s distancing himself from humans. To do that, he acts inhuman. He wears his mask and wears baggy, shapeless clothes - his hoodie and his pants - and he learns how to act unsettling. His eyes glow green, unnatural and shining through his sunken-in, skull-like mask. But it’s not enough on its own. He must do more.

He wants to be the thing someone sees at night and turns the other way. See me and run, he says, crouched on all fours and crawling across a beam like a monster you see in a movie. Twisting his body in unnatural, fluid ways, like he’s not quite sure how having only four limbs work.

Run. He says, dead green eyes glowing through his mask, piercing through black night from the rooftop. I am wild thing. Come no closer, look no closer. I am not like you. I am not your friend. I bite. Run.

You cannot see my face. This is my face, I am not alive. I am not like you. I am an animal about to pounce.

He doesn’t want people to think he’s human, he doesn’t want them to think he’s anywhere close to it. Anything to prevent his parents from figuring out its him.

And the thing is, he doesn’t have to. He doesn’t have to appear ghost-like or inhuman to keep his identity safe, wearing a mask and wearing unidentifiable clothes is enough. But he’s choosing to act ghost-like; unsettling; scary.

And in doing so, he unintentionally participates in ghost culture. And while his clothes are not anything unique, or outstanding, his mask is. His clothes don’t tell anything about him, but that’s okay.

Imagine meeting this boy from a ghost perspective. This annoying, fleshy human boy who jumps into fights to stop you and catch you. You’ve heard stories of human ghost hunters, you know there are hunters on the other side. You have heard the horror stories, you have seen the scars.

And then this boy catches you. This human, fleshy boy who yells quips at you, who puns and insults you, who wears an unsettling mask and acts ghosty. He catches you, and you think you will be the next one on the chopping board.

And then you end up in the ghost zone, untouched. Unharmed. And you tell someone about it. You were caught and released by a human child who feels touched by death. And then you hear that the ones who’d been caught were freed by a fleshy human boy who was touched by death, and a boy who they call “Phantom”.

And, isn’t that the name of the child you fought?

And he talks to you, but then he’s in the daytime. There are living around. He doesn’t speak to them - he ignores them outright. He keeps his distance, he stays away. If he talks, it’s with his hands. They will not hear his voice.

I may be alive but I am no human.

And its just — ????? So good to think about. I’ll reblog later with more thoughts when I have my laptop, but god i just needed to get that out there.

#dpxdc #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #dpxdc crossover #dpdc #clone^2 #danny fenton is not the ghost king #danny fenton is a clone #like i wasnt thinking much about it when i made danny have no powers. like that was purely just for fun #and for a fun little parallel between him and bruce. and i thought the mask was cool #and now here we are doing a- what?? somewhat analysis of his outfit as phantom?#and his choice to appear as unhuman as possible?? as ghostly as possible???#its just so good. i love creepy phantom. he’s the thing you see crouched in the corner of the room #from the corner of your eye. you see him. and you jump but hes not there when you look #he’s the creature you see lurking in the alleyway. crouched like an animal about to jump.#‘come no closer. look no closer. i am not like you. i may be alive but i am no human’#i have teeth. and i will wrap them sround your throat and *pull*

236 notes · View notes

theblacktiecacti · 20 days

Text

jay went to clown school. let’s talk about that

#art by me #jrwi riptide #jay ferin #i was drawing wherever the wind took me #and it took me to clown school jay #the best destination i could’ve hoped for #i feel like so much could be explored or expanded there in fanon #but i barely see anything #welp if there is none make some #sound off in the comments if you ever think about how jay rarely retracts into herself when faced with conflict #but instead goes to clown school or hitches a ride with the loserest boy she can find #and it’s the rare (and most impactful) moments when she responds differently #shutting down after the phone call with her grandmother #or blowing up after learning about lizzie and ava #or crying as she’s told to shoot her friend in the chest #but the every day conflict almost always gets humor as a response #which leads to very out of pocket moments but we love jay for it #oooooough jay ferin the way you express emotions is so important to meeeee #ALSO the fact that often it’s insult based humor or overly confident in self humor #let’s dissect that jay how do you relate to your friends in the hierarchical structure of the navy academy #did you feel like your humor had to subtly place you at the top? or you would not be enough? jay?#your relationship with kira hinges on fixing this structure by being better than it hm? let’s talk about that #let’s talk about how your life centered a lot around being the best even if not directly or intentionally #should i do a full analysis on this?#i kinda wanna do a full analysis on this

147 notes · View notes

optiwashere · 8 months

Note

Please write your thoughts about the importance of Shadowheart for Shar/Selûne :D

I FEED on character analysis.

SO!!!! This got long as fuck and also morphed into what you asked + a general character interpretation.

I relied on a combination of 2nd, 3rd, and 5th edition D&D lore, R.A. Salvatore novels, and of course BG3 as sources. Shadowheart's characterization adds up the most coherently on the purely romance / "get her away from Shar" path, and that is what I'm using as a basis for this post. Even when you're playing an "evil" route, she behaves in ways that betray a lot of what I get into under the break. This post, however, is biased towards the "good" path of her personal quest for the sake of my sanity and a somewhat reasonable word count.

First, a preamble for people that are maybe less knowledgeable about Forgotten Realms lore.

One of the biggest characterizations of Shar and Selûne in the Forgotten Realms is that they are twin sides of the same thing: night. Night as an aesthetic is symbolic of, among other things: mysteries, being lost without guidance (such as in faith or purpose), and finding oneself when one reaches for the truth. I.e., reaching light from the moon, stars, or daybreak (which is itself a symbol as the natural conclusion of darkness being light for redemption following suffering, goodness defeating evil, finding faith, etc.)

Shar and Selûne are sisters that also share the Night domain in 3e, a sort of fulcrum they both work around — Shar as the "malevolent" darkness with Selûne as the "benevolent" night. There is even a recognized heresy called the Dark Moon heresy in both cults/religions that Shar and Selûne are actually the same goddess playing one gigantic trick on Faerûn (this comes from a 3.5e splatbook called Power of Faerûn) but it's been pushed time and time again that the two sisters are, in fact, two separate entities. But duality of divinity, and how worshipers interpret their god, is a theme we see played up a ton in BG3.

What we know about Shar is that she despises her sister. Loathes her. Not only does she loathe her, she tricked Selûne's followers during the Time of Troubles, about 140 years before BG3, into worshiping her instead of the Moonmaiden. The Time of Troubles was a period when gods walked the Realms, rather than tossing avatars around everywhere. This lead to the formation of a fanatical group of cultists that followed the real Selûne, called the Lunatics (I'm still proud of managing to reference them in a goddamn Explicit PWP fic)

Meanwhile, Selûne is seen as a calming force. She wars with her sister every single night, and does not like her one bit, but she does it as a means to protect others from her sister rather than as a spiteful game. She's not as omnipresent in people's lives, she is just a natural force to a lot of her followers.

How does any of this relate to Shadowheart? Spoiler stuff and the actual character analysis under the break.

We know that Shadowheart was a "chosen" of Selûne as a child, per her parents' dialogue under the House of Grief. However, it's important to note that most religions in Faerûn name potential clerics as "chosen" ones of gods and goddesses.

We know that, throughout the game, Shadowheart learns that she is being manipulated by the Lady of Loss to do acts that go against some sort of internalized moral code that Shadowheart has. We see her approval go up when you do good acts (as long as you ask for compensation, or if it's to help helpless people/animals) and we see her disapprove when you press her boundaries or act unjustly cruel. "Unjust" is left so vague because she does not behave at all according to how the vast majority of Sharrans behave. There are numerous other flags for approval/disapproval such as her enjoying playful chaos, or disliking when you're too trusting of other companions when you first meet them, but we'll focus on the first set I mentioned.

We also know that Shadowheart was continually subjected to memory erasure via the cult of Shar in Baldur's Gate. This gets mildly restored here and there via the tadpoles and Dame Aylin, but her memory is mostly gone. So this moral code is something ingrained in her somehow, because Sharrans don't have kindness training. There's another entire character analysis to be written about Viconia's role in this as it relates to her own character in Baldur's Gate 2, but let's ignore that for now.

In the cloister under the House of Grief, there is a note you can find that outlines the squad sent to find the artifact that protects everyone from the Absolute's domination. The squad has a leader, and it is not Shadowheart. She is listed as "healer" and the text before this explicitly states that the entire squad is expendable. None of them matter to Shar.

BUT!

Divine visitation by a goddess is incredibly rare. It usually only happens to high level clerics, which Shadowheart isn't really even at 12th-level, and to those that the goddess has an extreme, vested interest in. If you free the Nightsong/Dame Aylin instead of killing her, Shadowheart is wrenched out of the Material Plane and made to suffer for an indeterminate amount of time. That, plus literally meeting Shar in the conclusion to her personal question, is very odd given what we know about Shadowheart.

If we presume that Larian did their jobs, and I'm going to because I trust them, then there is an immediate dilemma presented here. Either Shadowheart matters to Shar (she is not expendable), or she is just another zealot (she is expendable.) There is no half-truth in that logic table that really works for Shar, she's an absurdly dogmatic goddess. See: literally any Sharran you encounter in BG3 that isn't Shadowheart. It's possible that the writer of the note didn't know what they were talking about, but I think that's a lazy out that doesn't hold water with the rest of the evidence.

So, which is it? This being the part where I'm mostly in interpretation territory, Shar views Shadowheart as the perfect puppet, a toy to needle at her sister, not because she is important at all as a person, but because she's a representation of Selûne that Shar can mold to suit her image as she did in the Time of Troubles. We hear that in the game when Shadowheart basically says that she was just a thing for Shar to use. She's beaten into (what Shar believes will be) submission for not becoming a Dark Justiciar, but it only serves to sever the tie between cleric and goddess.

Shadowheart is Shar's answering play to Selûne beating that trick from the Time of Troubles, and there will be another Shadowheart after her eventual death. Shadowheart is both incredibly important and utterly worthless to Shar in the same way that an abuser uses affection and trust to hurt their victims. Love bombs in the form of divine power, sending her on this important mission, and offering the title of Dark Justiciar are followed by pain when Shadowheart displeases her. As if, on a whim, all that supposed mutual respect could turn into non-consensual, extreme violence.

Shadowheart is an objectified opportunity for Shar to fuck with Selûne for the entirety of a single half-elf's lifespan (anywhere from 150-200 years) and nothing more. A plaything to discard when all is said and done after a microcosm of time where a goddess is concerned. Whatever Shadowheart thinks she's benefiting from with Shar, it's all a trick. It's a massive delusion with which she's been brainwashed into participating.

And deep down, deep deep way deep down, Shadowheart knows this even in Act One. She spouts random sayings and the sorts of 2edgy4me one-liners that you would expect from a somewhat goth-y, slightly sassy Stock Evil Cleric in a fantasy RPG. For a good portion of Act One, you wouldn't be wrong to assume she's extremely one note and a total zealot. That is, unless you know two things:

That Shar is a fucking menace in Faerûn, and nothing good ever comes naturally from her cult. Anyone that knows FR lore was probably like me when they first interacted with Shadowheart. I know I basically said, "What the fuck, you're not a Sharran lmao. Either Larian goofed hard, or something's fishy here."

That extraordinarily devout people tend not to babble in verse, prayer, and all that unless they are also trying to convince themselves to have more faith in a set of beliefs that they're not entirely sold on. This isn't 100% of the time, but it's something you see in people whose faith is not very strong. People who have ironclad faiths and hold consistent ideologies tend to rely more on personal interpretation of faith, for good or ill. You see this all over BG3 in the people that are more confident in their beliefs, as well. Isobel, Orin, and Z'rell are three wildly different angles on that, for example. It's really all over the game in the NPCs.

That second point is the more important one here. Shadowheart, in Act One, is constantly talking about her goddess. If she's not hiding the artifact from you, she's couching an event in concern over what Shar would think of how she behaved. Like she's still a scared child who doesn't know how to handle what's happening around her despite being completely capable in scenarios as hectic as melee combat with ogres. The difference shines bright as day if you play a follower of Selûne and push back on her beliefs, though you do of course get a lot of vitriol in the beginning. Even so, it's clear that Shadowheart knows something is off about Shar whenever confronted with actual Sharran activity/belief, but she's been brainwashed and abused so horrendously that she constantly tries to "correct" herself to appease her abuser.

Selûne, however, isn't really a "part" of Shadowheart's quest in the same way as Shar. The Moonmaiden is not an active participant, she is not a guiding hand or even a faint idea in Shadowheart's thought processes because of how intense the memory blending got for her. The most we ever really get of Selûne's opinion comes from external sources (pretty much entirely from Shadowheart's parents, Isobel, and Aylin when she's not PROCLAIMING DIVINE RIGHTS.) To the Moonmaiden, Shadowheart is really just another of her many, many children spread throughout the Realms. Yet, Shadowheart retains that sense of inherent goodness that Selûne instils in her followers.

Unlike the Lady of Loss, Selûne's indifference isn't hateful or spiteful at all. For Selûne, the ultimate goal of any of her followers is to find themselves. To illuminate who they are meant to be by moonlight. Two of her domains in 3rd edition are Protection and Travel, and in 5e she has Knowledge as well, while one of her "mantles" (the domain equivalent for psionics) is Freedom. She wants to give her followers the ability to freely tread whichever road will lead to self-actualization.

Selûne demands almost nothing of her own followers so long as they act according to the basic tenets of a traditionally Chaotic Good deity. She accepts flaws, faults, and failures in her clerics as much as she rewards strengths, virtues, and victories. There is no divine intervention from Selûne because she accepts Shadowheart intrinsically as long as Shadowheart finds herself. All it took for Selûne to take Shadowheart back after forty years of being a fanatical Sharran was saving one person, and trusting one of two people that we know she's let in for that forty years (the PC, as well as possibly Nocturne) — Selûne sees that she's an abuse victim at the heart of it all.

Side-note: Selûne's primary holy symbol is two eyes surrounded by stars. She is always a passive witness to her clerics' deeds. I don't think I need to get into that symbolism.

Whenever given the chance, Shadowheart values freedom incredibly highly. Even in someone she can take the entire game to warm up to, such as Lae'zel. Her dialogue after Lae'zel denounces Vlaakith speaks directly to this. It's seen repeatedly in her comments on other characters' personal quests such as Astarion, or Karlach, and with Lorroakan's intent on imprisoning Aylin in Act 3.

Once Shadowheart is pulled away from Shar's influence in the end of Act 2/early Act 3, she is... not a completely different person, but she is absolutely a calmer individual that also allows her emotions to surface more intensely. If you're romancing her by Act 2, she confesses that she wants to be with the PC (forever) IMMEDIATELY after being punished horrifically by Shar; she progresses the romance far faster once Shar is out of her brain; she cries, alone, in front of the PC if she chooses to listen to her parents and spare herself from Shar while also killing them. She's known this entire time that she's purposefully holding parts of herself back, and this is her immediate reaction to being set free.

Of course, it's a video game and things aren't always perfectly paced, especially considering the implementation of the Long Rest system. Much of this interpretation requires you to accept that.

After the small dialogue about Shar's intervention after the Gauntlet, the narrator comments that you're not sure if telling Shadowheart where her divine power now comes from will break her spirit forever. That's interesting, and it makes her almost manic change to "I have to be with this person forever" in the romance so utterly sad. Shadowheart is an almost textbook depiction of someone who struggles immensely with vulnerability and emotional openness due to childhood neglect and abuse. Even worse, she's been suffering that neglect and abuse for forty-plus years and she cannot remember what life was like before the time when she constantly yearned for the approval of her abuser. When she's set free and given the appropriate space to manage her feelings (all of the times she asks to be given space/asks the PC to respect her boundaries), support from friends and loved ones in the way Larian handled the camp crew's reactions to everyone's personal quests, and a purpose in life that extends beyond her abuser, she flourishes almost immediately.

To Selûne, Shadowheart is simply another person finding themselves in a world that's incredibly difficult to navigate. Under Shar's domination, Shadowheart will never be anything more than a useful puppet that dances happily whenever her goddess asks, pleased to be what she thinks is useful as she wears the false title of Dark Justiciar. With Selûne watching but not pushing, Shadowheart can be free of everything but her own choices, her own mistakes and victories. Her own person, freed from expectation.

P.S. "Breaking out of toxic thought patterns" is a common thread in the companion romances and quests. In a similar way to how Astarion uses sexuality to mask a part of himself in his romance, Shadowheart sees all this time she's spent holding herself back as an excuse to reverse course and accelerate ridiculously fast by comparison.

My point is, she is a U-Haul Lesbian.

#hey you can ask me things!#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 spoilers #shadowheart #shadowheart analysis by yours truly #there is so much to analyze about viconia in bg3 as well #shadowheart's romance has some interesting mirrors to viconia's from bg2 #there is a phenotype for unsure sharrans and it comes back to “why do I trust this person so much?” and battling with that #it is - as they say - girl dinner #also shar should absolutely share the Twilight domain in 5e #and on a final note: if you ever want to know where my shadowheart kink headcanons come from hellllllllloooooooo this post #bc as sweet as she is goddamn that girl loves when you degrade people and she has a CONSISTENT interest in sadomasochist behavior

240 notes · View notes

another-delta-lover · 9 days

Text

-THIS POST IS BASED ON @jamisonwritestf2trash 's post about Meet The Medic!!!-

(This post is heavymedic btw, I'm not doing an actual analysis XD) (ISTG IF TUMBLR MESSES UP HOW I PUT THE PICTURES AGAIN I'M GETTING MAD)

I just wanted to tell u all the way I see the Meet the Medic video and the way Heavy and Medic interact, headcanons n stuff:3

Look at them. I like to Imagine that this trailer is the first time heavy and medic actually interact in a friendly way. I believe that Heavy and Medic didn't interact in any way besides professional stuff until this trailer, so Medic is trying to be cool and funny, trying to impress heavy; while heavy is just enjoying the moment, enjoying himself and making a new friend (And after, a new husband).

(The way medic uses his body(hands) to express himself makes him look so friendly and silly, and the way his hands are animated (the way he holds heavy's heart) IS SO DETAILED???)

first, look at this part. The way medic looks at heavy, with shinning eyes, a smirk, one of his eyebrows being lifted up. He just wants to impress heavy (in my opinion), he wants to look cool, the cool doktor dude, and heavy, of course, agrees with that.

Heavy is happy to be there, to listen to medic. He really likes him, indeed.

They are having quite a nice moment, but then!...

They get interrumpted!. Medic was way too focused on being cool and friendly, and of course, on heavy; While heavy was focused on his new (boy)friend. Medic is now distracted and can't be the cool dude!! (Archimedes you're embarrassing him!)

Medic looks really pissed, like how a kid would be pissed on his mom walking in while they're playing in the room with a friend they invited over XD. He even look a lil frustrated because his lil child interrumpted his (date) meeting.

(I'm so sad there isn't a good frame where medic n heavy are angry at archimedes, but anyway.) I love this so much. The way they look so pissed because archimedes interrupted them xD ; Heavy is more like, annoyed, than angry or pissed, but anyway.

I absolutely love how OFFENDED heavy looks when Medic calls his insides filthy; and how 😨 Medic looks.

I feel like in medic's mind, he just fucked up; he insulted his (crush) NEW FRIEND?! He can't believe he just said THAT?!, after all, heavy's insides are beautiful and clean! 🙄

Medic now is just INSANE, but EXCITED!. He enjoys this moment... He just let his real personality put. Heavy looks concerned and confused, but he is clearly not judging. It is just new for him and he's learning about medic.

(WHY YOUR LEGS SPREAD OPEN LIKE THAT GIRL CALM DOWN) medic is enjoying himself a lot here, he almost looks like he has completely forgotten heavy's presence (me when I'm talking about my hyperfixations suddenly forgetting about people's right to speak lmaooo); in the other hand, heavy looks kinda... Uncomfortable, but even so, he's trying to play along, laughing (even if it's awkwardly).

Btw, THE WAY medic's hands (specifically his fingers) are animated it's SO COOL!! He's holding everything so ~ peacfully ~ I LOVE IT.

Not much to add here! I just love heavy's " :< ?" Teehee

Just look at his expression and the moment. The way medic is smirking with his eyebrow up; while he has the blood of his (LOVER) new friend all over him... In my opinion, this part is when Medic accidentally reveals his actual personality, how crazy he is (for heavy). If I was heavy I would've DIED. (Literally).

And that's it for now! I'll reblog this adding some bonuses of my 100% professional analysis teehee. I'm so obsessed over this tbh, imma redraw some of these!

86 notes · View notes

solitary-star · 1 year

Text

I’ve had a ridiculous workload for the past few weeks, but that hasn’t stopped me from reading chapter 16!!

@naffeclipse I want you to know how much I was wailing at this one. Just how quickly the hunter went from referring to them as their “dear friend” to “the demonic cryptid.” And the little moments when they finally began to realize that cryptid isn’t entirely dissimilar from the person they’ve gotten so close with… absolutely phenomenal!!

I’d say I’m at the edge of my seat after this, but I fell off that seat way back in episode four. Regardless, I cant fully articulate just how excited I am to see how things play out!!!

#tags first then brain dump!!#star’s art #cryptid sightings #cryptid sightings spoilers #this didn’t technically happen in the reveal but it’s about the reveal #fnaf y/n #fnaf sun #fnaf moon #fnaf eclipse #fnaf daycare attendant #daycare attendant x reader #I have so much to say yet so little time #the next millisecond I get I’ve GOTTA make an analysis of this chapter #how I’d love to make an analysis of all the chapters…#this one has gotta be my favorite to date #I was wondering how many scenarios I was hoping for would play out in the reveal #and the answer is a lot of them!!!#absolutely in love with your writing naff I hope you know #such a phenomenal chapter from such a phenomenal story <3

434 notes · View notes

yuseirra · 26 days

Text

**P3R spoilers**

Full Moon Full Life is Life and Death singing together in harmony (with Death being intrigued by the beauty of life and encouraging life to give it their all while life is determined to pull through without falter)

Color Your Night is about a moon that fell in love with a special someone and their beloved reciprocating their affection back with a kind heart

I really can't unhear this and apparently the songwriter really did say something like that along the lines(in the persona magazine there was a mention that the latter show the warmth and kindness of the moon and as for the prior, lotus juice seems to have said full moon full life has a more friendly approach towards death as compared to the original p3 in a commentary)

These songs align with ryoji and the mc's relationship and what ryoji's said about how connections are formed both ways. They have a bond and they appreciate each other. It's what their whole link was about, forging a relationship on the paths of life and accepting death as a friend. I was really looking forward to what they'd do with this character because I had a big hunch after having seen the opening sequence AND the song that went with it.. I take these as their song and it's not so wrong considering what they're supposed to symbolize, P3R's approach towards the inevitable end is much warmer and tender! I believe that's one of the main themes, if not the theme of the game. While it's unstoppable, it could also be part of what gives life more meaning and makes it more precious..

I think that's really beautiful and it's what I like seeing, it also helps when death is one of the most loving and sweetest character you get in this franchise, isn't that a pretty sight!!

When you listen to the songs with this in mind, you can see ryoji's love towards life and the protagonist's immense.. He cares for him so much-to be fair, he has always been that way-and this time the protagonist does care for him back and considers him dear. That was made more obvious not just in the songs but in reload too, mc treasures his friendship with ryoji!! I feel that's very wholesome.

#ryoji mochizuki #ryomina #persona 3 reload #persona #and I'm not saying this because I'm a shipper or sth..; it's an analysis #I genuinely believe the songs do imply these sort of message #persona 3 reload spoilers #spoilers #I ship shuyuka so hard but ryomina is so so so wholesome and I appreciate them a whole lot too #it has to do with the plot and the message as well!!!#so ryomina nation rise I say #this is your stuff-it's your song!! I can confirm #and it's my new fav songs from the franchise.. you have it SO GOOD!!#you gotta say.. ryoji loves the protags so much #he's a sweetheart #p3 reload

70 notes · View notes

counting-stars-gayly · 2 years

Text

Mike being visibly angry as they walked through the airport and when they were at Rink-O-Mania just because Will wasn’t talking to him enough and because he thought Will had a crush on a girl is still so funny to me. Yes, funny “haha” but also funny “queer.”

3K notes · View notes

oceanwithouthermoon · 4 months

Text

at the end of a lot of my posts involving toritsuka i always stop myself from elaborating too much cuz i end up thinking like 'ah everyones knows how i feel about toritsuka' but DO THEY ?? do they.. because ive gotten (and ignored) multiple asks from people who think i fucking hate toritsuka and its so insane to me because WHERE DID I FUCKING SAY THAT?? guys.

he is literally so silly! i lowkey feel like i need to make a masterpost of everything ive ever said about him just so that i can force it down everyones throats and make you all understand my complex feelings on this stupid dumb idiotic little freak!

its a love-hate kind of obsession <3

#its not really 'love-hate' i dont hate him at all i just think he is very complex and interesting #and i do like to focus on his wrongs more than his rights but its not because im trying to invalidate his progression #its because i think he does those bad things for a REASON and i want to build on that #my beautiful princess with a traumatic past and a redemption arc #its not really a redemption arc idk what else to call it though #this is also how i feel about kusuke btw like how can people think i hate him.#both of these characters i literalky just acknowledge the bad things they canonically do and people take it as hate #that tells me so much about how u guys ignore the bad parts of your fav characters #stop pretending they did nothing wrong. they did so much wrong.#'hes my babygirl he can do no wrong' NUH UH hes MY babygirl and he's committed atrocities #its just sooooo crazy to me that people refuse to acknowledge him doing shitty things just cuz they like him..#this is kind of why i created the meownalysis tag cuz i wanted people to b able to see my specific takes if they were looking #but sometimes i just talk and it doesnt quite fall under an analysis or i just like mention something quietly in a post #saiki k #tdlosk #the disastrous life of saiki k.#toritsuka reita #meows post #meownalysis #?? not realky but in gonna put it here

51 notes · View notes

justanotherdumbteenboy · 1 year

Text

A little rant over the why I consider that Bakugou Katsuki is autistic

Disclaimer: This is just one of my many mha theories. I would rather if people didn't attack me for this. If you don't like it, just ignore it!. Also, I believe he probably has PTSD as well, but that’s for a different post. This post HAS manga spoilers!

I added pictures this time!

______________________________________________________________

Special interest

I believe Katsuki has two special interests. Becoming a hero, and All Might. He is a person that constantly feels the need to mask, which leads to him hiding and minimising his special interest in All Might despite being an All Might fan basically his entire life. A clear proof of this, is keeping hidden his All Might limited edition card despite always carrying it in his pocket. The reason why he doesn’t mask his special interest in becoming a hero as much, is because it’s an interest that he has been praised for through all his life after his quirk manifested. (Which I find quite interesting, taking into account how this gives us more insight about how their society works, quirk and quirkless discrimination, and the way society praises and treats heroes as gods).

Low empathy and emotional dysregulation

He has trouble identifying and expressing his own emotions, despite feeling them very intensely, which I believe leads him to mask by displaying anger. Because of this, he struggles with vulnerability as well, wanting to maintain his reputation and image of strength and victory, and hiding all of his potential “weakness”, including, his autistic traits.

He also struggles with emotional regulation, causing him to have sudden “outbursts” since he suppresses his emotions, until they explode. (no pun intended).

This is something shown in his fight against Midoriya, and how the only way he knew to express his emotions, was through fighting, and being angry at himself, and at the world.

He struggles to recognize the feelings of other people, he is unable to relate personally to others' feelings, and doesn’t know how to show empathy, especially verbally. (This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care for the people around him. He is actually a very kind and caring person. He helps Kirishima study, he defends his classmates, he trains with Izuku. The first thing he asked after waking up from a severe injury was how Todoroki and Midoriya were. In the manga, we see him taking into account Shouto’s past, and actually listen to him when they were dealing with the kids. He clearly cares for the Todoroki’s too).

He needs routine

He has a very specific routine, and always goes to bed at the same hour. This could also be because he needs to spend some alone time after a long day of socialising and dealing with sensory input in order to calm down and relax, and actually be able to sleep.

He needs to have time to recharge

Apart from what I just explained about his routine, this is also something we see after he has a panic attack during the Battle trial Arc. He leaves early, making Deku and All Might worry that he was going to drop out, when in reality, he just needed time for himself.

Has a different way to view the world

During the sports festival arc, when he was analysing one of the fights, we got to see a little bit of the way he methodically analyses and understands things, and it’s shown that one of the things he does to take things apart, is thinking about it like a videogame! (Which I find really cute by the way, especially because he doesn't strike me as a videogame person).

Sensory issues

His sensory issues focus on physical touch, as we see him avoid physical contact with others multiple times, for example, when he struggled with the hug that Endeavor gave him and Natsuo and practically ran away. He also struggles with tight clothes, and it’s probably one of the reasons why he uses oversized clothing, and hates the school uniform tie.

I believe that in the sports festival he felt overstimulated by the restraints, and that, in addition to his PTSD, and trauma related to the sludge villain, lead him to having a meltdown.

(Also, what the fuck with U.A, why would they put RESTRAINS on a child, and then HUMILLIATE him in public, and in television??)

He also has a surprisingly high pain tolerance, which means that he has difficulty processing pain stimuli.

Stimming

He very often grits his teeth, which can be interpreted as a stim, and his way of dealing with the stress and struggle of daily life.

I believe he uses his insults, and curses, not only to avoid having to interact with others, but also, as a vocal stim. Especially curse words. And his iconic ‘Tch’.

Another example of a stim, can be his habit of creating mini explosions with his quirk when he's under stress.

He also has a very atypical posture, which is just a small thing that I would like to mention.

Struggles with social cues and understanding how to behave and adjust depending on the context

This is something that in my opinion, can be seen mostly when interacts with class 1-B, and on the first episode, especially on his discussion with Iida. He overcompensates his lack of understanding of his own body language through his (sort of) aggressive and ‘exaggerated’ movements.

As I already mentioned earlier, I believe he uses the curse words as a vocal stim, however, I also consider that the way he casually throws around the world ‘die’, is him not understanding social cues, and the fact that this is usually considered something bad. He probably understood this later and just didn’t care though.

He avoids maintaining eye contact for too long with others, and stares at the floor very often.

He is also a very ‘blunt’ and direct person, and won’t hesitate to call people out, even if it’s seen as rude. For example, he was not afraid to call the Todoroki’s out in their diner, and also didn’t hesitate to question All Might when they were observing as Izuku train.

He is a very observant and detail oriented person

People underestimate how analytic and observant Bakugou is because of his impulsive facade, however, in my opinion he is one of the most observant people in class 1-A. This is something that shines mostly when it comes to battle, for example in the final exam, and in the ‘Futari no hero’ movie, where he was able to quickly pick up how the quirk of one of the villains worked, and on the joint training arc with class 1-B as well.

Strong sense of justice and rigid thinking

His way of thinking is very ‘black and white’. An example of this is his difficulty changing his mind about Izuku being useless. (We also know that this is deeply rooted in his insecurities, but I believe this also has an impact on it).

His ‘win to save’ mindset, and determination to defeat every villain no matter what, in my opinion is an example of his strong sense of justice.

Speaking differences/struggles

He very evidently has difficulty with volume control of his voice, causing him to scream most of the time mostly by accident.

Other little details that I want to mention

He has a difficulty remembering names and faces, causing him to rely at the beginning on his nicknames. Which if you think about it, usually has something to do with the physical appearance of the person. Kirishima’s hair, Uraraka’s facial structure, Todoroki’s hair (and quirk), Momo’s hairstyle, Iida’s glasses, Sero’s ‘plain appearance’ (I don’t know how else to describe it, don’t hate me, I love Sero), etc.

His skull t-shirts that basically grew up with him. He probably likes them because of the familiarity they bring, being an item that he had worn through his life.

_________________________________________________

In conclusion: He is autistic and very heavily misunderstood. I love Bakugou, I think he is an amazing, and very complex character, and I love it when people analyse him, so if anyone has anything to add, or a different perspective, please do comment on it.

Thank you for reading my one AM rant. Sleep? I don't know her!

201 notes · View notes

clegfly · 1 month

Text

I want to talk about how Mari's entire character revolves around love.

I kind of talked about this in my Mari clothing analysis, but I've never seen someone go REALLY into depth about it, so I'm going to try to.

As stated previously, her character revolves around love, as a concept. And I don't mean giving love specifically, though that is a large part of it, I mean receiving. Love is Mari's goal. It's her motivation. A search for love is at the root of every action Mari takes in the game. Even the insignificant ones.

And what's awesome about this is that we can not only trace this back looking at everything she's done as a character, but it manifests itself in Headspace too, against Sunny's will. Because Mari's lethal quest for validation is her biggest flaw and Sunny would do anything to keep it hidden, and he tries to repress it throughout the game.

For example, the scene near the beginning of the game where the party rests for a picnic before fighting Ye Olde Sprout. The group compliments Mari, she denies it. Aubrey asks Omori if he agrees.

If he does, Mari accepts the compliment happily, but what's more interesting is that if he doesn't, the game goes out of its way to ensure Mari doesn't comment on it whatsoever, even jokingly. Headspace is essentially ensuring Mari can't hear Omori refusing her validation, because it is what she needs as a character. It's why all it costs is your love. Because that's all she needs, all she wants. Headspace also manifests the prevention of Mari being invalidated by Aubrey immediately scolding Omori, and saying nothing else of the incident, as though Headspace is warning him.

Literally everything she does can be traced back to this desire for love. The recital. Her perfectionism. It stems from wanting to appear flawless in order to be loveable. Even small things, like the mention in the crossroads segment that Mari started taking flower arrangement classes with her mother, likely to spend time with her and receive more love. (P.S. Sunny's disconnect with his father and Mari's disconnect with her mother is a topic I really want to touch on, but that's for another post.)

Mari represses herself to become perfect. To become idealised. To become loveable. It's why she seldom cries, because she sees it as an imperfect trait. And in the process, she destroys herself, and tries to erase her personality in favour of a flawless human being, when she is really so, so much more than that, and that is the great tragedy of her character.

Sweetheart is literally a mockery of Mari. It's how her flaw manifests in Headspace to taunt Sunny. Sweetheart's character also revolves around love in the same way Mari's does. Sweetheart bargains with the Keeper of the castle and obtains everything she wants. Except for love. Sweetheart becomes unloveable, obnoxious, in her attempts to convince herself that she is the opposite, that she has worth. Because everybody likes Sweetheart, but nobody loves Sweetheart, despite her extreme denial of this, knowing deep down it's true. It's why she has so many spouses in game, and inadvertently loses them all through her personality, distorted so much that it deters the one thing she traded it for in the first place.

It's also depressing how Sweetheart causes most of the group's problems, and they resent her entirely, when this is a reflection of the person they love most. I find it really horribly ironic that Hero, the person Mari trusts most to be herself around, is the one who detests this idealised mockery of her the most, and rejects her affection and "love" the most throughout the game. It's a brilliant way of showing that despite Mari's insistence of her perfect idealisation being what makes her loveable, it's actually the opposite, and her friends treasure the real her so much more than anything else.

And while I said receiving love is Mari's main thing, giving it is also significant to her. Motivated both because she craves it so and wants to give the gift of love to everyone around her as much as possible, and also in an attempt to receive love back. This is why she is so maternal to the rest of the cast, it's why she sacrifices parts of herself to satisfy them. She understands the desire for love because she feels it more than anybody else. Her whole thing is the number 143 which literally means I love you, for crying out loud.

It's also incredibly bittersweet that her moments beyond the grave are spent reconciling with herself, and helping Sunny to not fall into a similar fate. Realising how wrong she was for hurting Sunny, though intentionally, just to obtain love. Telling him that it's hard to own up to her mistakes, because she knows better than anyone else, but that it was essential to do so in the end, and beneficial.

It's so depressing that her last mark on the planet is to try and prevent her mistakes from causing Sunny to make more of his own, and telling him to do the one thing she couldn't, even if she is in Sunny's imagination or not.

#omori #omori mari #omori sunny #omori hero #omori aubrey #omori analysis #omori sweetheart #waghhh Mari :(#This whole post was inspired by lilac-gold's heromari post #specifically the all it costs is your love mari part #i really loved how they put it and it was a connection i'd never made before #despite knowing her character was about love #so i decided to go more in depth about it here #so thanks to them!!!!!#mari posting so much lately wow

25 notes · View notes

the-sage-libriomancer · 7 months

Text

i try not to overthink the worldbuilding in Scoob and Shag because it's a thin premise that can't withstand much scrutiny (especially stuff relating to Toone), but i did have some thoughts that don't blow up the story's logic, so.

-first of all, the concept of "cartoon characters = actors" is inherently fascinating. especially since a lot of the actors seem to be government workers as well, implying the government used their own staff along with professional actors (like Yoge). what was the criteria? did they just have to look human? did Toone write show premises around whatever "characters" they had available? maybe that would explain some illogical plots and clunky lines in saturday morning cartoons - the actors didn't have much acting experience, and for all we know the writers were entry-level accountants.

-ballyhoo is also fascinating. it's basically a living metaphor for how an audience can influence their media: a toon's ballyhoo is directly empowered by how much love the human population gives them, just like how enough love of a fictional character makes them popular enough to keep appearing in media. it increases their strength (bc they have influence over the world) and extends their lifespan (bc they don't "die" until people stop caring about them), and all the ballyhoos are named after tv/movie terms like Picture in Picture or Jump Cut, implying that using tv/movie screens as a medium influences what sort of abilities they can get.

-the fact that too much ballyhoo causes you to instinctively, uncontrollably break the fourth wall is super fun and super fascinating and (as Bugs demonstrates) super horrifying. too much energy from meta sources causes the confines of your narrative to break down, leaving you in a weird spot in-between your world and a world you can't see.

-i can't stop thinking about The Inspector's backstory. it's just so tragic. born an android, given a literal soulmate shortly after creation, constantly looked down upon for not having a ballyhoo, losing his soulmate to old age, then losing his home to a war caused by the very thing you were devalued for not having. Bugs said that a toon's ballyhoo can extend their lifespan (likely bc a character who's beloved by fans doesn't really die), so the fact that Penny got old and died means she wasn't popular enough with the humans, which makes sense - Inspector Gadget is the iconic one after all. he's the one who everyone loved and remembered, and it was completely useless to him because he didn't have ballyhoo. no wonder he never smiles.

-i just realized that the Inspector was forced to leave Penny's grave behind when he escaped Toone. he can never visit her again :(

-speaking of screen partners, i love thinking about how the dynamics in cartoon series translate into real life and vice versa. it's a chicken and egg question: did certain characters land roles together because they were friends, or did they become friends because they worked together as actors? were Spongebob and Patrick actually buddies? did Felix the Cat work with Mick back in the beginning days of sending broadcasts? what's Scooby's professional opinion on Scrappy-Doo?

-(i wonder if you could justify the short period in Scooby-Doo history where Shaggy and Scooby were the only members of the gang regularly appearing in shows as "the government needed a way to keep the dangerous terrorists busy so they literally Could Not let those two stop appearing in things" asjhshbjahsjahsja)

-i I love that all the commanders are cartoon characters who were so popular/beloved that they seeped into (usamerican) popular culture: Mickey Mouse, Homer Simpson, Bugs Bunny, etc. They were the most powerful because their cartoons became the powerhouses of their respective eras - you can't get more loved than them.

-i wonder if the Simpsons were basically an ageless family back on Toone because they're still popular even after 40+ years, halting their aging. actually, i bet a lot of toons stopped aging after ballyhoo became commonplace. if your lifespan was defined by how loved you were by a fickle human audience, how do you think that affected relationships? it must've been hard if you had a tangible, literally life-affecting gauge of how popular you are according to alien beings you've never met.

-i was thinking about why Kermit is included as an mc when he's a muppet and the other toons are strictly western animation characters. the doylist explanation is that the author hadn't decided to limit the media used (similar to how Mario and Goku appear in early episodes), but i have a watsonian theory. i think Kermit is from the old Muppet Babies saturday morning cartoon, all grown up. he might've been a child actor who stayed with the government even after aging out, possibly explaining why there aren't any other muppets: they left the business and probably didn't escape Toone as a result.

-relatedly: my headcanon is that traditional (i.e. not toon-led) animation IS possible in this universe, and any animated project not usamerican is created that way. so anime is to the toons as a cg character is to humans, and the Goku pic is the equivalent of...i dunno, a photo of Avatarized Jake Sully lol.

-the fact that anime characters apparently didn't exist on Toone is probably for the best. can you imagine how powerful characters like Sasuke and Bakugo would be lmao.

-lastly, i was thinking about the old gods (or whatever they are). i'm pretty sure they're beings who exist behind the fourth wall. when Dee is pulled into the purple one's domain, she at first sees it as a wide open area in space, but then she starts processing it as more of a glass cube, with one huge window screen, large tubes, and wires running through the floating spheres - not unlike being held inside a tv. the purple god even says that staying too long will cause her mind to "shatter under the weight of reality" which...i think discovering you're actually a fictional character in a webcomic would do that to you. so the gods "interfering" is them going against the story's narrative to give the characters a boost. (this might tie into who Bugs is talking to when he/she addresses the camera - it's not technically us, it's the gods behind the wall.)

i have other thoughts but uh. this post is probably long enough.

#scoob and shag #analysis #i just finished rereading the webcomic and i'm obsessed with it again #there's so much going on and so much still untold #the metaness of it all is so much fun to read!#i love not knowing which characters will show up #and how their cartoons will be molded into new backstories #every single one always hits me like a truck #sage speaketh #i hope it updates again. i miss it #edited for your convenience #<- just cleaned up some wording + formatting

68 notes · View notes