#or isolating themselves or what and it stems from his desire of just wanting to help | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sepublic · 2 years

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I really am obsessed with the idea of the Collector being the perfect parallel and foil to King, as the person he once saw himself as, and will become; A feared and revered, all-powerful tyrant, but also immature and who was never told no. And after losing his power and being reduced to just a little kid, the Collector is forced to mature and grow and interact with people as REAL people, and eventually finds out that he’s not really so cruel or evil himself, once he’s made to choose between power and his family!

Like it’d just be so narratively poetic, if King had to confront his worst past self via a true fulfillment of that in the Collector; Who already has an army worshipping his name! Imagine the Collector having feasts with King, just as King himself bragged! It’s like Luz confronting the worst version of herself in Philip Wittebane...

Which is why I really hope the Collector’s fate is to simply be... Stripped of his power and forced to live as a little kid, as King thought he himself had been. We know that people have imprisoned the Collector before, that he’s been freed before, and then trapped again, and it didn’t make a damn difference. He still didn’t learn his lesson, and with how the show critiques Philip for trying again and again the same thing he KNOWS has been proven to fail, via cloning his brother...

And I have to wonder if TOH is doing the same, especially if we compare the Collector to Luz in a lot of ways, how the isolation of the reality camp probably wouldn’t have helped Luz, just hurt and broken her because of rejection. Maybe the Collector’s imprisonment was also like that for them, and while obviously there’s a real difference between Luz and the Collector’s chaos... I think both stemmed from that unthinking desire to have fun while innocently not considering those who might get hurt from it.

And it makes sense, a parallel and foil to King would be one for Luz and vice-versa, because Luz and King are themselves parallels to one another! It’d be poetic if King even had to guide a depowered Collector when all was said and done; Understandably he might not want to after what happens in Season 3. But I think it could really further that cycle of kindness theme that this show has, and be incredibly compelling for King’s arc, to face the person he wanted to be and thought he was, and help THEM with it this time; He did learn many lessons while under the impression he was a knocked-down god, so King sort of still can relate!

Like King, it might be shown that the Collector really is fully capable of being a sweet kid, who might talk hot shit of destroying everyone and razing the world after he’s knocked down a peg; But then it becomes apparent how easily he’s placated with proper attention. How he’s not malicious and when made to face actual consequence, can really learn and take that into consideration.

Plus with King’s lifespan going to make him outlive everyone else, he needs that long-living friend who will actually BE a friend to him this time and relate to King, via the Collector! And the Collector can get closure over any betrayal he perceived from the Titans with the last of them, and make up for his genocide of them by supporting the final one.

The Collector would essentially be what we once analyzed King as back in Season 1, and that’d just be SO fascinating and a wonderful bookend to the show! Maybe the Collector will lose a ‘crown of power’ and/or be struck down by a dark spell... Because the show really is aiming for the idea that to truly break pain for kids like Luz and Amity and Hunter, you just have to treat them with compassion instead of punishment over their mistakes for once.

TL;DR This isn’t just a coming-of-age story for a good portion of our cast, hell it’s a coming-of-age for the Collector as well! And if it’s King’s friends/supporters who help cast down the Collector... Then that’d just be a perfect karmic parallel to the implication of the Collector’s worshippers, the Titan Trappers, taking everything from King by killing his father!

We might even get a parallel to a familiar shot, with the POV of the Collector as he falls from the sun and its power he’s associated with; Just as King believed his fall to be metaphorical. Perhaps the Collector will be in the embrace of another as it happens, like King with Jean-Luc... And/or Jean-Luc himself will return to be a nanny to this kid, indestructible and immortal enough to keep up the task!

#the owl house #king clawthorne #the owl house collector #luz noceda #parallels #foils #speculation #theory #meta

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eruden-writes · 2 years

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Desperation's Summit - Part 11 (Troll x Human)

Summary: What happens when a rich human woman gets kidnapped by a troll in the mountains? The troll claims it was an accident, but is that really true?

Taglist: @coolninjavoid

cw: spousal death backstory

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The crunching of snow underfoot and the yowls of the wind whipping were Cordelia's only companions as she strode into the forest near Rakash's home. She didn't venture far, aware she would likely get lost, especially as night encroached. But she strained her 'safe zone' to get as far from Rakash as possible, for now.

Forgetting for the moment of sap and dirt, Cordelia found shelter in the large space between the ground and lowest branches of a pine tree. Her back thumped against the trunk as she sat and leaned back.

Night had crept in, turning the air even chillier. Though Cordelia didn't notice the cold. She was too fueled by conflicting and confusing emotions to focus on anything except the sickening swirl in her stomach.

A whorl of emotions teetered through her. Relief, since now she had no doubt Ebra would recover.Concern, for Kazri and Zalmir. Cordelia told herself that stemmed from her own desire to not have to take matters in her own hands again. Anger and frustration with Rakash, mingling with something else. Something softer and colder. Something that made Cordelia want to cry.

That was part of the reason she wanted to get away from him. Too many thoughts and feelings swirled around her head, she needed to regroup. It was only when Cordelia registered her own tears, streaking down her cheeks, she realized what she was feeling.

Genuine disappointment.

And with that came the memories.

The empty halls and rooms of her childhood home. The quiet, solitary birthdays and holidays, while she received cards from her parents and siblings. Watching fairs and festivals and parades march by her home, but rarely managing to go to the festivities herself. The few familiar, yet distant, servants that populated her memories.

It hadn't always been so lonely, Cordelia knew. There used to be Nanny Gerta and her plethora of children. The times when the maid would take her out on errands and then bring her to the shack she called home. There, a gaggle of children waited and, for once, Cordelia didn't feel so alone as she played with them.

Angrily, Cordelia swiped at the tears. Those memories only brought more pain, she knew, as her heart lurched in her chest. It had gone on for years, up until Cordelia was ten. Then Nanny Gerta just disappeared one day. Along with her children. Cordelia never got an answer from her parents or siblings or other servants. And to make matters worse, the other servants began distancing themselves further, as well.

Leaving little Cordelia to her own devices, once more.

She hated those memories. Hated the pang that came to her chest whenever they settled in her head. Hated how hard it was to shake the incessant misery.

"Stop it!" Cordelia hissed to herself, as she pushed her palms against her eyes. The tears refused to stop.

She had not thought Rakash could disappoint her so badly. Oh yes, he was stubborn and overprotective of his trollings, to the point of isolating them from the world. But he cared about his children. She had watched him fawn over them, bathe them, feed them.

Never once had it crossed her mind he'd so willfully ignore a problem to the point of allowing one of his children to suffer, maybe even die! Cordelia didn't even want to consider the ripple effects on Kazri and Zalmir.

It was one thing to be disappointed over superficial, silly things. Those didn't matter.

It was another thing to be upset by - and admit - to expecting a level of performance from someone else. It hurt when they failed.

The tears slowly eased and Cordelia sighed, pressing her head back against the tree trunk. This was ridiculous. She was being ridiculous.

This was exactly why she didn't get close to anyone.

They always disappointed her. Her own standards were just too high, so why expect anyone to meet them? Why give anyone that chance? No one needed to deal with Cordelia's expectations and she had no desire to constantly be dissatisfied and distressed.

This was her mistake for inadvertently expecting more of Rakash than was warranted.

A sound caught her ear. The crunch of snow trodden underfoot. Cordelia's first thought swung to Rakash. A frustrating mix of hope and annoyance filtered through her thoughts.

Then she realized the steps were far too light for the large troll.

Narrowing her eyes and sitting straight, Cordelia held perfectly still.

Something moved through the shadows of the trees. She followed it with her eyes and, as if her eyes were adjusting from darkness to illumination, the thing slowly came into focus.

Tall and skinny. Skin taut and tight over their bones. Dark splotches of discoloration, reminiscent of rot, spread from one side of their throat to their cheek. Their dark hair hung, long and stringy and in the thing's face. Tattered grey clothes, with no shape or identifying marks - A dress? A tunic? A shawl? - to indicate what they'd once been.

As they crept closer, from tree to tree, Cordelia realized with a start they were barefoot. Their toes tipped with pointed, dark nails. Dreadful alarms sang in her head, telling her to run.

Being as quiet and careful as possible, she got to her feet. Her eyes flickered to the cabin. Had the thing noticed her? Most likely, since it was creeping closer to her. If so, why hadn't it said a damned thing? Her lips pressed together in thought, her heart thrumming in her chest and her eyes aching. The one thing she really, truly wanted was to lay down somewhere warm.

She should scream for help, she knew. Call on Rakash and hope he wasn't too angry that he ignored her.

"You are aware of my presence," asserted the figure, a hiss to their voice. Without thinking, Cordelia glanced over to them, catching a dreadful smile splitting their lips. It split far too wide along their face, showing innumerable sharp teeth filling every inch of their mouth.

Cordelia simply stared, wide-eyed. She didn't know what to do. Stubbornness didn't want to go screaming for Rakash. But she was so tired, she honestly had no plan of action. While her mind rushed, trying to make her move or do something, something stirred inside her. A cool sensation, like condensation dripping down a glass, trickled through her and made her fingertips buzz.

"Do not play dumb!" They hissed, seeming to flicker in and out of existence, until they were suddenly on Cordelia.

The scream rent from Cordelia's lips, instinctive and surprised as weight landed on her. Her scream cut short as her back slammed against a tree, air knocked from her lungs with a gasp. Whoever this creature was, their ice-cold hands clamped down on Cordelia's forearms - seeming to phase through her coat - as she struggled. Their nails bit into her skin, fabric untouched. Cordelia's stomach lurched with nausea, fright straining at her chest.

Closer, Cordelia realized their mouth certainly was filled to the brim with teeth, jutting at odd angles. Like the deepsea fish she'd read about. A shudder ran down her spine as she continued to grapple against them.

The thing leaned closer to Cordelia, nearly spitting in her face. "Our kind has an agreement with yours and you broke it!"

"I have no clue what you're talking about," cried Cordelia, trying to break free of the iron-clad grip. The chill of its skin was painfully sinking into Cordelia's own flesh. "Unhand me this instant!"

An ugly laugh fell from the creature's maw, dark spittle dribbling from the corner of their mouth. "I am no fool. I know what you are!"

Cordelia attempted to remain calm, even as she began to see black blister along her arms, where this creature held her. She stowed her panic deep in her chest, stilling her fear. Channeling all of her hate and frustration and anger of the previous situation into her words, she spat back, "And what, pray tell, is that?"

Cocking its head to the side, the creature narrowed its gaze. As if they were considering whether Cordelia was telling the truth or not. She wished it'd say something, considering whatever it was doing to her arm hadn't stopped. It felt as if it was reaching into her forearm's bone, chilling her to the marrow.

"Necromancer," breathed the creature, once more elongating the hiss in the word.

"I beg your pardon!" Cordelia's eyes widened, a heat clawing up her spine. A magic user? A death-centric one at that? Unthinkable! Her sister was the only mage in the family, touted as a mystical genius and given a position of authority in a neighboring kingdom. Her family would have known. Cordelia would have known if she herself were magically-inclined. "I am no mancer of any sort!"

Annoyance flickered across the creature's face and, with a jerk, they slammed Cordelia back into the tree. "Stop lying! You stole that child's essence back and now a price must be paid!"

"If I had magic, I'd kno-" Cordelia's own retort ended with a startled shriek as the trembling jittery tingling that had been climbing up her arms suddenly burned her fingertips.

Everything happened too fast for Cordelia to keep up. A dark ball of condensed shadows slammed into the creature and the creature yowled in pain as it hurtled back, into a far tree. The tree shuddered, snow falling in heaps down its branches.

With trembling knees, Cordelia leaned against the trunk behind her. She stared at her hands, trying to make sense of what just happened. The wind continued to shriek around her, unable to shake Cordelia from her shock.

The creature was back to its feet, sliding effortlessly through the snow, too soon for Cordelia to run, to even think of escape as confusion wracked her brain.

With a hissing snarl, the creature crouched down, prepared to hurl itself at Cordelia once more. It was so focused on Cordelia, it didn't see or sense the axe hurtling toward it. The impact of metal and flesh rang out through the air, accompanied by a sickening shluck as the creature's head became pinned to a nearby tree.

From the treeline, Rakash charged toward the creature, a snarl tangled in his throat. He hefted the axe by its handle from the creature's head, quickly slamming it down once more to part head and body. After kicking the head away, watching it tumble over the edge of the nearest drop, Rakash turned to Cordelia.

She looked so small, trembling against a tree, staring at her arms. Something in his stomach dropped, the words 'too late' hissing through his thoughts.

A sensation worked its way through her body, strongest where the creature had held her. It felt cold and slimy, making her stomach pitch terribly. Something else moved through her, though. Threading dark hot-cold something through her veins.

"Did it touch you?" Rakash bellowed, unable to control his volume as he stormed over to her. In his chest, his heart slammed wildly, unable to calm.

Dazed, Cordelia turned her attention from her hands to him. She held her arms out and quietly said, "My forearms."

Rakash's heart stuttered, seeing the whites of her eyes darkened to black, but clamped down on his outward reaction. If he reacted poorly, she would notice and this calm veneer would disintegrate. Calmness, even if it was a state of shock, was needed.

He knelt down in front of her, grabbing her arm and pulling the sleeve of her coat and undershirt up, careful to not touch skin to skin. Where it had touched her, despite the layers of fabric, a dark mark consumed the bulk of her forearm. Like a splotch of bleeding ink, faintly hand shaped. And the inky black was sluggishly consuming her arm.

A curse left Rakash as he checked her other forearm, which was in the same state. They had to act quickly, before it spread. Even if they managed to contain or cure the rot, he had no clue if it'd save Cordelia.

A thrall's soul rot could dig in, deep and fast, until no amount of corporeal medicine would help.

It took Rakash a moment to realize Cordelia was trembling. Even after he had dropped her arm. He couldn't recall a moment in their short acquaintanceship when she had done so. That realization brought a lump to his throat.

A glance to her face and he noted how red rimmed they were, from prior crying, even though her eyes still shone glassily. As if there were more tears yet in her. He didn't focus on that - or the leaden guilt forming in his chest - for too long. She needed to be cleansed before the soul rot settled further into her bones.

Acting more on instinct than coherent thought, Rakash rose to his feet and scooped her up in his arms. A part of him braced for a disagreement or struggle or even a scream, but she just sat in his arms, staring blankly ahead. Dread itched along his skin.

His feet moved without processing instructions from his brain. He didn't need to wonder why her lack of reaction was bad, knowing what he knew.

It was only when he got to the door of his home, he paused. He leerily looked from Cordelia to the door. If she wasn't afflicted with soul rot - but some alternative like a mystical plague or illness - he didn't want her spreading it to his children. There wasn't time to sequester the kids elsewhere as he brought her through, though. And he didn't trust Cordelia's safety outdoors while he cared for his kids.

Faint memories of his childhood, of the troll caves, burbled forth. Whenever someone severely ill - to the point of unresponsive - was carted through to the healer, everyone else was told to stop breathing until the cart passed.

"Hold your breath," he instructed her, his tone unyielding and rough. When Cordelia didn't respond, he gave a frustrated growl. After a quick adjustment, one of his arms cradled Cordelia and his free hand clamped over her nose and mouth.

Though she felt his hand on her face, Cordelia couldn't find any will to react. All she felt was all-consuming numbness.

As quietly and swiftly as he could, Rakash entered his home and locked the door behind him. He passed as far from his sleeping children as he could and hauled Cordelia into the mountain, toward the hot springs. When they had gotten to the bathing area, he removed his hand from her face.

Quietly, she took a deep inhale and Rakash realized she had been listening to him. She hadn't been breathing as they moved through his home. That was a good sign. Cordelia's senses were still there, even if her ability - or desire - to speak was not.

"Stay here," he sternly directed, as he put her down on her feet. She looked up at him, almost dolefully. Voice rough from concern, he reiterated with a growl, "Don't move."

Rushing back to where the hall branched to multiple doors, he ducked into the storage closet, retrieving a small cask filled with herbs and dried flowers and little glass bottles. When he rushed back to the bathing area, he almost expected Cordelia to have not listened, to be gone or already climbing into the water or...

Rakash almost froze when he saw her. Cordelia was standing where he left her, like a statue, staring at the water.

His lips pressed tightly together, bading off conflicting feelings in his chest. He didn't like seeing her like this. After dumping handfuls of dried plants into the springs and pouring an entire container of purifying solution into the water, he turned to her and pointed at the water, "Get in."

Cordelia made a move to shrug off her jacket, but he stopped her with a wave of his hand. Her eyes flickered to him, a glimmer of curiosity deep in their dark depths. Rakash stifled his wishful hope that, even now, she was rallying. Or that whatever the thrall had done hadn't sunk too deep. "Clothes stay on."

She made a soft sound of acknowledgement, or he assumed it was acknowledgement considering she moved toward the water. Into the spring, she climbed, still dressed in her coat and boots. Rakash followed her closely, prepared to haul her up if the heft of her wet clothes took her under. Thankfully, it did not, though she moved sluggishly. It was like she waded through mud, instead of clear water.

"Dunk." Rakash pointed to the water, right in the middle of the swirling herbs and flowers.

Cordelia didn't argue. She simply drew in a deep breath and ducked under the warm water, right where he instructed. Rakash hovered by the water's edge, waiting for her to resurface. He aggravatedly wondered how long a human could hold their breath, just before Cordelia rose. Water streamed down her body, her coat, as she inhaled sharply.

When her eyes fluttered open, Rakash eased as he saw the black had faded to a dark grey. It was progress. Holding out his hand, palm up, he said, "Give me your hand."

"Rather forward," Cordelia sighed, her voice monotonous, but she held her arm out to him. As Rakash pushed the sleeve up over her forearm, he wondered if she had woodenly made a joke about his choice of words. 'To give one's hand' in marriage would certainly be forward. Rakash snorted at the very thought of requesting Cordelia's hand in marriage, especially at this juncture.

Focusing back on her arm, another wave of relief bled through him. The black mark had ceased its encroachment on her skin. That was another good sign, though Rakash stifled the delight in his chest. He was not going to celebrate, until this was entirely over.

"What was that thing?" Cordelia asked, her arm still in Rakash's grip. Her senses were slowly shaking off the shock. Her eyes climbed up from the black spot on her arm to his face.

He met Cordelia's eyes as he released her arm. "A thrall."

"What's that?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she sunk low in the water, up to her neck. For some reason, she instinctively thought keeping as much of her body under the water, for an extended period of time, was the best course of action.

"A soul who bartered with Death." Rakash sat on the edge of the spring, watching Cordelia with an intense gaze. She couldn't quite call it concern, but it was similar enough to add a strange heat to her thawing body. "They return as thralls, beings that exist in the space between life and death, meant to strike a number of others down in order to return to living."

"Ah..." It was a noncommittal reply, only meant to let him know she heard. In her head, she was replaying the whole event and trying to memorize what she'd seen of the creature before it was lost to trauma. Her lips pressed tightly, as her thoughts lolled over what it had said.

As if reading her mind, Rakash asked, "What did it say to you?"

Cordelia's head jerked to him, having momentarily forgotten he was there. She bit at her bottom lip, wondering if she should impart what the thrall had taunted her with. There was no way to tell if it was true or if the essence spoken about had been Ebra's soul. But, given the isolation on the mountain, like it had been.

Eventually, she sighed and relented. As lacking as Rakash's performance as a father had been, he still deserved to know. "That I had 'stolen that child's essence' back and a price had to be reaped."

Rakash narrowed his eyes, wondering if Ebra's illness had been the thrall's doing. It would make sense. A thrall had a number of powers to aid in their end goal. Though Rakash hadn't felt bad for lopping its head off earlier, he certainly felt a stronger sense of vindication now.

There was a slosh of water as Cordelia swam a little further out. Airily, as if it was no big deal, she added, "They also said I'm a necromancer."

Oddly, that didn't surprise Rakash. Many magic users had particularly strong personalities. And Cordelia certainly had that, plus an attitude to match. Although, considering his own solitude, Rakash was probably just unfamiliar with such character.

He watched the woman carefully, head cocked to the side as he discerned her reaction to the potential news. Her guarded mask had returned, firmly affixed. For some reason, that disappointed Rakash. "Are you a necromancer?"

That was not the answer Cordelia expected. She had anticipated a laugh or a derisive snort. Something to indicate that no, of course she wasn't a mancer, let alone one of the necro variety. Who could ever believe such a silly thing?

Turning to Rakash, Cordelia slapped her hands against the water. "Do I look like some creepy, death-dealing mage?"

Her glare only intensified as Rakash dawdled in a reply. Giving a thoughtful hum, he scratched at his stubbly chin with a thumb, eyes tilted away from Cordelia as he mused, "For a non-magic user, that magic shot was pretty impressive."

#exophilia #exo writing #monster man #monster dad #monster x human #troll #monster romance #monster love #fantasy romance #monster boyfriend #human x monster #troll x human #desperation's summit #ds #rakash #cordelia #*record scratch*#Cordelia is a waaaat?

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desertfangs · 1 year

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Who are your top 3 (or 5 if you can't narrow it down) VC characters?

Thank you for the ask! (Send me asks to stem the boredom at work!)

Daniel Molloy - This will surprise no one, but I really love him. I think he's fascinating. The way as a young journalist he's just enraptured and fascinated by Louis in the interview and the way he hears Louis' story as one of possibility. Also the fact that he even does the whole 'meet and interview strangers for their stories' thing is just so interesting! And then of course, everything with Armand, and how he's just the right kind of weird and unhinged to really click with him. I also really relate to his desperate desire to live forever and experience the world for centuries, and I love how being with Armand is like a blessing and a curse for him: he genuinely loves Armand and wants to be with him forever, but it also makes him feel time ticking like a bomb until he finally becomes a vampire. And vampire Daniel is so giddy and high on being immortal, it makes me happy. I'm so bummed we didn't more of him in later books beyond a few little bits in B&G and PL. We even get told he's back with Armand at the end but we don't get a single paragraph of them together, and he just sort of vanishes. I know Anne was pretty much done with him after QotD and the only reason we even got the bits we did in later books is because people kept asking where and how he was but still. C'mon! Anyhow, I love him.

Armand - He's easily the most complex and fascinating character in the series to me. And I think he gets the most character growth, too. He starts as a villain but even then as the 'bad guy' you feel bad for him because he just wants love and passion and something to live for and he can't even have that. And then it's heartbreaking all over again when you learn his history with Lestat. And then finally with Daniel he gets what he wanted, only to have it ripped away (and probably he pushed it away himself because he does that!) and again it happens in scenes we never see on the page (you're killing me, Anne!). But then he finds happiness with Louis finally finally after decades and gets Daniel back as well. He just has such a fascinating dynamic with literally everyone else in the series, I love how he thinks and how he reacts to things and he's amazing. He's never done anything wrong in his life.

Louis de Pointe du Lac - Louis was my first favorite VC character and I've always loved him. He also has some good character growth and also sort of gets lost in later books, though not as much as Daniel because he's too important to Lestat for Anne to totally shunt to the side. We meet him when he's totally dejected and lost and isolated in IwtV and willing to spill his guts to Daniel, and I think that, too, is fascinating. Was he watching Daniel for a while? Did he put himself in position to meet him and be interviewed? Or was it really just a crazy random happenstance? Regardless, I love his guilt and that he thinks he deserves nothing, and that as the series goes on he finally comes to accept himself and also love (from Lestat, and also from Armand). Louis and Armand are that couple who marry young and divorce because they're just not ready or in the right place, but years later reconnect and it finally works because they've both matured and learned more about themselves but also they have both accepted that they DESERVE love (and I credit Daniel with some of that on Armand's end.) Anyway, I'm going to cry. Louis also has zero desire to be some overpowered vampire. He's content to live forever wearing moth-eaten sweaters (at least until Armand starts throwing them out and buying him better clothes) and reading books, and I'm here for it. I know you said I could pick 5 but I have rambled a lot already! Honorable mentions go to Jesse Reeves and Gabrielle, whom we also didn't get enough of in canon IMO, and of course I love Lestat.

#answers in the desert #vc #daniel molloy #armand #louis de pointe du lac #i feel like this is so predictable but it's true #thank you so much for the ask!!!!#nodominion

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linkspooky · 3 years

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The Hands that Will Save the League

In chapter 321 we're reminded once again of the reoccurring motif of hands reaching out to save someone in need, especially with the double spread close-up of Iida's hands reaching for Deku's hands. I couldn't help but think how this could apply to the league of villains. Hand symbolism has always been associated with Shigaraki (duh), both in the fact that his hands destroy everything they touched, and also his reason for being a villain stems from the fact that not a single hand reached out to save him that day. However, we've also had another character in the league with hands drawn up close and personal reaching out to save the others: spinner.

1. Just an Empty Cosplayer

I'm not the first one to make this observation. @codenamesazanka pointed this out long before me, especially in regards to Spinner's importance to the league, but basically, Spinner's role is that despite being a teenage mutant ninja turtle he's also the everyman of the league. He's not connected to the main conflict of the story by bloodline or legacy, the way Shigaraki, Dabi, and Compress are. He's not someone with an incredibly powerful or deviant quirk like Twice or Toga. He is a victim, but he doesn't have the elaborate villain backstories of Twice, Shigaraki, Dabi, and Toga.

He literally is just some guy with a lizard quirk. He has the weakest quirk in the league and the weakest reason for why he joined the league. Spinner faces societal abuse because of his quirk, but what spurred him to action was seeing Stain appear on TV, and a desire to be a less empty person than he was before. Spinner was pushed, he was rejected by society, but I would say as an inverse to the league who are driven by extraordinary circumstances, Spinner is basically an every man who drives himself to keep up with the rest of the league despite seemingly lacking everything "special" they have.

And I believe this every man quality, and this drive Spinner has is what's going to be the key to piecing the league back together. It's because Spinner sees himself as so far behind the rest of the league, and so much less special than they are, that he's driven to try to understand them.

Not only is Spinner a member who has tried to understand every member of the league in one way or another, Spinner is also someone who similiar to Sihgaraki foils every single character in the league despite just being an everyman.

2. Spinner and Toga

While Spinner and Toga may not have the same level of development to their interactions as Twice and Toga, Spinner reaches out to her once but not twice, and there are a lot of parallels you can draw between the characters.

Both Spinner and Toga joined the league for the same reason, an empty admiration for Stain, without really caring about Stain's ideals. Toga admires Stain because he's covered in blood and fighting for something and she wants to become more like the people she admires, Spinner because he saw himself as pathetic for hiding in his room all day and when he saw Stain taking a stand trying to change the whole world on his own he wanted to become that way too. Which means both of them have a tendency to want to become more like the people they admire, because their own sense of personal identity is so weak.

Himiko and Spinner both define themselves by the way society has rejected them. Spinner has internalized the idea that he's an empty person who can't accomplish anything on his own, every terrible thing other people said about him due to his heteromorph quirk he accepted it. At the same time, Toga was somebody born with a "dangerous quirk" who was told to repress it and then did that living under a fake identity as a normal school girl that would please her parents and the people around her for as long as she could. Both Toga and Spinner are taught by the society around them to be self-loathing and to repress themselves because of their quirks. They're also characters who are both defined by a desire for release.

When Spinner asks if Toga still wants to be in the league because of Stain and she responds, Now I wanna become everyone I love. Spinner comments, "You're so free."

Spinner and Toga both claim they joined the league because of love for another person, they both loved and admired some aspect of Stain, but their real reason for joining, or at least the reason they stay is that deep down both of them desire the freedom to be themselves. Toga wrapping her desires up in language like love for other people, and wanting to become them, is because deep down she believes because of her quirk there's no one who would accept her for herself, as the normal girl she believes she is, no one will let her live as Toga thus she tries to become other people. It's the same for Spinner, who believes he can't be anything other than the Lizard Freak, so he too tries to dress himself up and become a Stain Cosplayer. It's only through the league's acceptance that Toga and Spinner slowly begin to learn that they are good enough on their own, just as themselves, and their priorities begin to shift.

3. Spinner and Twice

Twice and Spinner have several backstory parallels already. They are both characters affected by poverty, Spinner lived in a backwater town plagued by old views of heteromorph quirks, Twice lost his parents and began working to support himself at a young age before becoming homeless. Spinner and Twice were also both labeled in a way that stuck with them, after Twice got a criminal charge in an accident on his permanent record he couldn't find another job after being labeled deviant. Spinner was labeled as a deviant because of his quirk and the idea that he's a lizard freak has always stuck with him the same way that Twice has internalized the idea that "bad people don't get saved."

They also both chose to isolate themselves because of the circumstances they faced. Twice's first response to homelessness was to decide to never trust anybody but himself, and he became a criminal who pulled off heists with only clones of himself as team members until that stopped working for him. Spinner's response was also to shut himself away in his room and become a NEET. They both cut themselves off to the society that labeled them as unacceptable, but in the process they also cut themselves off from other people and became unable to trust others.

While they have major backstory parallels, I believe the greatest parallel between them is going to be that Spinner will inherit that role that Twice had for the league. While Shigaraki is the leader, Twice more than anybody else believed the League to be a family, and encouraged everyone to be friendly with one another.

It's Twice more than anyone else who emphasizes the bond of the league, that they're all strays, that they need to take care of each other and save each other. It's Twice who urges Shigaraki to save Giran because he's one of them. He makes the unspoken bond of the league as a group of miscreants into a spoken one, because Twice wants those things, he's well aware of the fact that he wants trust and acceptance and came to the league to find those things. This is the greatest thing that ties Spinner and Twice's characters together, because they both view themselves as worthless, they define themselves by how they help the other members of the league.

Twice's death so far isn't something that has been really capitalized on by the plot, Hawks has yet to face consequences, we haven't gotten to see much of the league's reaction because they were scattered soon afterwards. However, if Twice's death is going to cause development eventually I believe it will be in the vacuum in the league created now that Twice is gone. There is no longer someone who is urging all of them to be together. Twice's death causes most of the league to become less stable. Toga goes on a killing spree, Dabi attacks Hawks, Compress tries to kill himself in a heroic sacrifice, Shigaraki hasn't gotten the chance to react yet but he's also gotten worse considering he's currently possessed. You could even say that Twice's death has caused other characters to double down on their worst habits.

Dabi's worst habit is that he acts separately from the league and refuses to participate in the group dynamic, believing himself to be a solo avenger. Dabi not trusting or telling the league what he was planning on doing with Hawks, as a consequence of his decision to play solo avenger, caused Twice to trust Hawks which led to his death. Hawks was the one who killed him but Dabi played a part, and when Twice dies Dabi obviously reacts to it, but also his decision is to double down on his bad habit, insisting he's only using the league and he doesn't care about the rest of the group. Toga also doubles down on her bad habit, she runs away from the rest of the league and insists she's only doing this for the freedom to do whatever she pleases, not because you know Twice got killed right in front of her. Compress's arc is less pronounced, but he also does, in fact, try to kill himself in a grand heroic sacrifice for the rest of the league.

When twice dies the league begins to fall apart and everyone acts on their individual worst flaws, ignoring that they were always stronger together as a group. However, there is still one person who wanted the exact same thing Twice did, to be trusted, to belong to a group. This is most likely the role that Spinner is going to grow to, someone who is trusted by everyone in the group.

Notably, when Toga is about to run away it's Spinner who reminds her that the league is a place for them to come back to. Toga who was probably the closest to Twice and spiraling the worst because of his death, and Toga and Twice's friendship was the first time we really saw how much of a "bond" the league had formed with one another, because in the camp arc they barely cooperated, only begrudgingly. It's Spinner who who emphasizes that even though everyone in the league is doing this for individualism "doing what they want" that they are also together as a group. Spinner is set to inherit Twice's role as the heart, because one he tries to understand other people in the league making the effort to reach out, and two Spinner is aware of what he wants just like Twice he wants to be trusted by the rest of the group.

4. Spinner and Dabi

This one is a little bit harder because Dabi's character arc really hasn't started yet. We have just now gotten to the reveal of who he is and what his motivations are, after it being a mystery for so long. However unlike the rest of the league, we haven't really seen how Dabi has reacted and changed by becoming a part of the group. Even if his motivation isn't "I'm only using them" and deep down he really does care, I don't think he's even realized yet that he does care or that he's not just using them. Dabi still believes himself to be alone, and therefore he's still isolated from the rest of the league and flying his revenge quest solo even though he's really not.

In that case, the biggest parallel between Spinner and Dabi is that they both had to be won over by the league. They both joined because of admiration for Stain, probably because Dabi genuinely believed in Stain's ideals of taking down impure heroes because it fit his own agenda so well, whereas Spinner is a self-proclaimed empty cosplayer.

Spinner, however, has already gone through an arc where he was dissatisfied with his reasons for joining the league and didn't believe he belonged with the rest of the group. He didn't have anything to love like Toga. He didn't know yet he wanted friends he could trust like Twice already did. He doesn't have a strong backstory motivation like Compress, or Dabi or even knows what he wants out of society. However, the entirety of MVA is Spinner letting himself be changed because of his interaction with the group.

Spinner failed at life, his quirk is worthless and only good for sticking to walls. He also internalized the idea that he himself was a failure, and locked himself inside believing he couldn't accomplish anything on his own. Spinner says he has nothing he loves, and nothing he wants to do. Not only that he feels unloved and unwanted. However, Spinner finds something to love in Shigaraki, even if he can't find a strong sense of individualism and still believes himself to be worthless he becomes motivated to help others. Spinner, the most normal person in the group with the most worthless quirk, becomes the greatest help to Shigaraki, basically once he gets over himself and his preconceived notions of himself. Because, you don't actually have to be a special person or have a strong quirk to be a hero, you have to reach out a hand.

The same way Spinner was won over by the League, Dabi has yet to be won over. However, if that does happen, it's probably going to look like Spinner's arc. Dabi antagonizes Spinner a lot, but they actually have more in common than they do differences. They both have failure quirks, while Dabi has an overwhelming fire quirk he wasn't allowed to use, Spinner is literally just a gecko. They both also were labeled as disappointments and given up on, Enji gave up on Touya, Spinner never had any potential from the start and locked himself away in his room. However, their paths so far have been opposites, Spinner let Shigaraki reach him and became a part of the group, Dabi at every possible opportunity insists he's doing this all alone. He takes every chance he can to separate himself from others. If Dabi's arc is going to be a mirror to Shoto's arc eventually, then someone has to reach him and convince him he can't do this all on his own, and Dabi can only truly find himself when he's part of the group once more. After all, so far Dabi is the one most resistant to change. Toga's goal has changed, Shigaraki's changed, Spinner has changed, even Compress now admits that while they're just a gang of thieves that he cares more about everyone else's dreams than his own. Dabi is still nursing a ten-year grudge against Endeavor and doing everything he can to take him down on his own because he hasn't let the group in. And he won't improve or change until he does let others in.

5. Spinner and Shigaraki

I love Compress but I'm skipping over him because his arc hasn't been elaborated on yet. If you want a quick summary though, both Spinner and Compress didn't believe the group to be anything more than a gathering of selfish criminals, however, both of them changed because they wanted to see Shigaraki's dream come true. Not only was Shigaraki the one who inspired both of them to change, but also Compress is the one who first sees how close Spinner is to Shigaraki more than anyone else in the group was.

He also sacrifices himself BECAUSE he's come to realize that what he wants more than his own dreams is to see everyone else's dreams come true. I know Compress's backstory is rushed as all hell, but it almost... almost... works because Compress isn't actually doing this because he's Oji Harima's grandson. His motivation changed a long time ago, he just didn't realize it until he was about to lose the league.

There are a few more parallels, they're both dropouts. It's implied that Compress was literally just a retired and failed stage magician before he decided to become a villain. Hopefully we'll become more on that later because the idea of Compress sucking in showbiz so he decided to follow his grandfather's legacy is really awesome. Spinner was a Neet before he saw Stain on television. They also both have more minor quirks, Compress just shrinks people, Spinner sticks to things. They both also are characters who don't seem important at first, but consistently hover around in the background constantly making sure everyone in the group is okay. Compress calls to check up on people, he talks to Dabi a lot, he tries to keep up with everybody in a melee, it's the little things he does that make Compress same for Spinner. They're both cosplaying as legendary villains who are greater than they are, Stein is cosplaying his grandfather, Spinner is cosplaying Stain, but it's unknown whether Compress really cares that much about his grandfather's ideals, I think he cares about the league more. Compress and Spinner are also people who question and try to understand things, Compress lectures the kids that they had their ideals handed down to them for adult, Compress realizes Spinner's importance to Shigaraki before Spinner even did, Compress and Spinner also both try to understand other people's dreams because they're lacking in their own. Spinner doesn't even have a dream, but he's the one who listened to Shigaraki's dream first.

Now it's been directly said by canon that Spinner and Shigaraki's connection is the most developed, and they are the closest to one another. By developed I mean, it changed over time, when it started out they had almost nothing to do with one another. Spinner was just a rank and file league member that Shigaraki used on the hideout raid. They didn't even get a character introduction scene like Shigarki did with Dabi and Toga.

However, Spinner and Shigaraki's characters are extremely closely tied together. Shigaraki's like the main character of the league, his backstories parallel everyone else's, including the main character of the entire story Deku. He's the one who makes the plans, goes through training arcs, he's the one who the league unites around. However, Spinner actually has all of that too. I just spent a very long time showing how Spinner despite not having an overly complicated backstory has strong parallels to everyone in the league. If Shigaraki is the main character, then Spinner is the everyman / the perspective character, hence why he's the narrator of MVA. Shigaraki is a person of extraordinary circumstance, the symbol of society's oppression who everyone in the league deepy relates to because he's suffered the same way that they have and he accepts them. Whereas, Spinner has suffered because of Hero Society too, he's more like a normal guy who makes an effort to understand everyone around him.

However, Deku wasn't saved by his love interest, or even his childhood friend who is apparently his destined rival, he was saved by Iida trying his best to keep up with him.

Spinner and Shigaraki are both the emotional core of the league in different ways. The league all respects Shigaraki, they rally around his ideas, his dreams are what inspire everybody. However, more and more it's looking like Spinner, ordinary, average, Spinner is working to build emotional connections to everyone in a much more normal way. He talks to Toga and tries to understand her love. He even consoles Toga when twice is gone. He challenges Shigaraki directly to his face. Compress who is always sort of watching the league in the background and checking up on them in little ways notices how hard that Spinner is trying to take care of Shigaraki.

Shigaraki accepts people at their worst and gives them a place to belong, but I think by Spinner's efforts to get to know and understand others, we as an audience are shown how humanizing of a presence that Spinner is on everyone else. Spinner, just being a normal guy, brings out the fact that the rest of the league despite their extraordinary circumstances are deep down just normal people to, who want to be loved normally, and live normally. Spinner literally wakes up Shigaraki, because he remembered the one time that he opened up in front of all of them, and cares enough to try to understand Shigaraki's hurt feelings and what he cares about.

If anything from the last arc in the manga, we're shown at great length, how understanding, reaching out, it all takes effort and it's not as flashy as defeating a villain or rescuing someone from a natural disaster.

Spinner is so important to Shigaraki, because while Shigaraki has given everyone in the group a place where they can be individuals, Shigaraki hasn't realized he himself can be an individual yet. He ultimately, shares the same character flaw as Deku. It's because he's decided that he's going to carry out his dreams for the sake of the league and to create a better future for them, that Shigaraki no longer cares what happens to himself, or about his own future. Everyone talks about Dabi's suicidal nature, but this is something that Shigaraki is challenged on over and over again. What are your motivations. What are your reasons. What do you want to accomplish. He always responds with nothing. There's nothing that he wants, there's nothing worth living for, he only wants to destroy and make a better world for the people who are around him. Shigaraki is the most thoroughly dehumanized character, to the point where he just straight up accepts "god of destruction" because that is at least an identity. Shigaraki needs Spinner and his normalizing influence, because Shigaraki can't see himself as a normal person.

Shigaraki shares the same character flaw as Deku, he does everything for the sake of others, with no regard to himself, which leads to extreme bouts of self-harming and fighting alone. Shigaraki faced off against Endeavor, and basically all the heroes alone even though he did call for backup. However, even before that Shigaraki made the decision to get dangerous risky surgery that would be like hell, because he believed deep down he wasn't good enough alone. Shigaraki just does not care about himself and is unable to see himself as an individual, which is exactly why he needs someone to care for him and see him that way.

Shigaraki's greatest challenge to date is that he's been dehumanized so thoroughly, and lost sight of himself to the point where he's lost even his own body autonomy. When Shigaraki is battling for possession of his body as AFO attempts to take total control and make him into a symbol again, denying him his personhood, we're set up directly with Spinner being the one who reminds us that Shigaraki is just a person, who likes video games, and gets along with his friends. It's Spinner who notices right away that AFO is different from Shigaraki and challenges him the same way that he challenged Shigaraki directly in the My VIllain Academia arc. This is all set up most likely, for Spinner being the one to reach out a hand the same way IIDA did, because what Shigaraki needs the most right now, is not a hero who will save him, but rather a normal person who will understand him and remind him that deep down he was just a normal kid too before all of this happened. What Shigaraki is most in need of is a hand that will reach out to him, and Spinner has already done this once putting Nana's hand back on his face when he couldn't wake up, but what he's failed to realize is that it's his own scaly lizard hands that should be doing the reaching out.

#mha meta #lov meta #league of villains #league of villains meta #spinner #shigaraki #toga himiko #higuchi iguchi #shigaraki tomura #dabi #touya todoroki #twice #jin bubaigawara #compress

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attemptsonherlifepdf · 3 years

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bojack horseman and bo burnham: the art of acting like you’re acting and the comedy of misery

at the core of bojack horseman, raphael bob-waksberg’s 2014 comedy, is a story about the relationship between performance and depression. the protagonist of this renowned tragicomedy is best described as a sympathetic villain; he is shown to clearly be in the wrong across various events of the show, and is explicitly referred to as a bad person, but the audience is granted deep access to his personal struggles, resulting in some portions of the audience finding themselves on bojack’s side. the duality of his character is complex, but can be broken down into some core components, that all stem from the impacts of stardom and performance. the standup comedy of bo burnham arguably echoes this sentiment in real time. having been a performer from a young age, burnham creates work that serves as a satirical commentary on the life of entertainers. he uses original songs to explore the reliance upon and resentment for his performative nature both onstage and within his personal life. both the comedian and the netflix show are widely understood to be thinly veiling their critiques of the entertainment industry behind a particular brand of witty and absurd humour.

both bojack and burnham’s content openly criticises their audiences and explicitly states the manufactured nature of the narrative the audience is fed. in the fifth season of bojack horseman, the show satirises itself by having bojack star in a police procedural drama, parts of which are actively written by other characters to reflect events of bojack’s life. the titular character he plays, philbert, is the epitome of selfish male angst, and an example of what bob-waksberg’s show could have been; another story about a sad and angry man whose guilt supposedly makes up for the people he has hurt. according to bojack, philbert teaches us ‘we’re all terrible, so we’re all okay’, an interpretation that is harshly disputed by diane: ‘that’s not the point of philbert, for guys to watch it and feel okay. i dont want you, or anyone else, justifying their shitty behaviour because of the show.’ this moment is a direct reaction to some of the online reception bojack horseman has received. various circles of the show’s fanbase have found themselves relating to the protagonist to the point of defending his untoward behaviour, a response not intentioned by the show’s creators. this is not the only example of bob-waksberg’s ability to make his work self-evaluative. in season six’s exposure of bojack and sarah lynn’s problematic relationship, characters question their sexual encounter from the first season. the writers use this as a way of examining their own choices, and the harmful tropes they played into when using this exploitative sexual encounter as a gag. this self-evaluative quality is what sets bojack apart as a show that assesses the performance it participates in, much like the comedy of bo burnham.

bo burnham is known for directly addressing his audience, particularly in terms of discouraging idolisation and parasocial relationships. some examples of this manifest as responses to hecklers rather than a planned bit in the show, for instance:

heckler: i love you!

bo: no you don’t

heckler: i love the IDEA of you!

bo: stop participating!

he actively addresses the issues posed by being an entertainer, and encourages the audience to understand and recognise that his onstage persona is just that: an exaggerated persona. not once does burnham claim to be fully authentic onstage, and even moments of authenticity we see in his latest special, inside, are staged. we make the assumption that having the physical setting of a stage stripped away grants us a more personal look at the entertainer’s life, but he makes it clear that even in his own home we still see the aspects he has carefully constructed rather than the full truth. arguably though, parts of the show really are authentic; in his monologue during make happy, bo deconstructs his own show in a way that is similar to bojack horseman’s later seasons, admitting that all he knows is performing and thus making a show about the more mundane and relatable aspects of life would feel ‘incredibly disingenuous.’ in his attempts to separate himself from this onstage persona he actually manages to blur the lines between what is acting and what is now part of his nature as a result of his job. this notion is echoed in bojack horseman as bojack’s attention seeking nature is attributed to his years acting in front of a camera every day.

bo suggests that the era of social media has created a space in which children’s identities mimic that of an entertainer like himself, describing the phenomenon as ‘performer and audience melded together.’ in this observation he criticises the phenomenon. bo attempts to force the audience to recognise the ways in which their lives are becoming shaped by the presence of an audience and to some extent uses his own life as a warning tale against this. he points out the way in which the ‘tortured artist trope’ means that your cries for help or roundabout attempts of addressing mature themes such as substance abuse, mental illness and trauma become part of that on stage persona and therefore become part of the joke. both bo and bojack address these topics in more discrete manners earlier in their careers, but this eventually becomes expected, and thus they are forced to explicitly detail their struggles with these topics in order to be taken seriously. even then, portions of the audience are inclined to see it as part of the persona or as something that fuels the creators creativity and thus does not need to be addressed as a legitimate issue. the emphasis on creating a character or persona promotes the commodification of mental illness: any struggle must be made into a song or a joke or a bit, must be turned into part of the act in order to have value. this actually serves to delegitimise these emotions and create a disconnect between the feeling and the person, as it becomes near impossible to exist without feeling as though you are acting. even when an artist’s cries for help become blatant, they continue to go ignored because now they serve the purpose of creating content that criticises the industry they stem from. online audiences can be seen as treating bo burnham and his insightful work as existing to demonstrate the negative effects entertaining can have, and because this insight is useful or thought-provoking to audiences, he is almost demanded to keep entertaining and creating. in response to this demand, his work becomes more meta and his messages become clearer, and the more obvious his messages, the more people he reaches. this increases audience demands and traps entertainers in a cycle fraught with internal conflict.

during bojack’s second season, bojack’s date asks him, ‘come on, do that bojack thing where you make a big deal and everyone laughs, but at the same time we relate, because you're saying the things polite society won't.’ this moment exemplifies how aspects of his genuine personality have now become a part of his persona and this is demanded of him in genuine and serious situations, undermining the validity of his emotional reactions. he immediately makes a rude comment to the waitress at the restaurant they’re in and satisfies his date by performing that character he has set himself out to be. some circles of the fan base have argued that bojack is written as a depiction of somebody with borderline personality disorder, offering a psychoanalytical lens through which to view this notion of performance. a defining symptom of borderline personality disorder is a fluctuating sense of self; having grown up on camera, being demanded to perform to others as young as six years old, bojack’s sense of self will have been primarily dictated by the need to act. whether this acting is for the sake of comedy, or as a representation of masking his mental illness, when they need to act is taken away bojack entirely loses his sense of self and relapses into his addictions: ‘i felt like a xerox of a xerox of a person.’ burnham’s depictions of depression run along a similar vein; in his new special he poses the idea that his comedy no longer serves the same personal purpose it once did for him. he questions ‘shit should I be joking at a time like this?’ and satirises the idea that arts have enough value to change or impact the current global issues that we are facing. burnham’s ‘possible ending song’ to his latest special, he asks ‘does anybody want to joke when no-one’s laughing in the background? so this is how it is.’ implicit in this question is the idea that when the audience is taken away and there is nobody to perform his pain to, he is left with his pain. instead of being able to turn his musings and thoughts into a product to sell to the public, he is forced to just think about them in isolation and actually face them, an abrupt and distressing experience.

the value of performance and art is questioned by both bojack and burnham, particularly during the later years of their respective content. burnham’s infamous song, art is dead, appears to be a direct response to the question ‘what is the worth of art?’ he posits that performing is the result of a need for attention (‘my drug’s attention, i am an addict, but i get paid to indulge in my habit’) and repeatedly jokes throughout his career that the entertainment industry receives more respect that it deserves (‘i’m the same as you, im still doing a job or a service, i’m just massively overpaid’). his revelations regarding the inherent desire for attention that runs through all entertainers is frequently satirised in bojack horseman. bojack is comically, hyperbolically attention hungry and self-obsessed, and the show has a running gag in which he uses phrases along the lines of ‘hello, why is nobody paying attention to me, the famous movie star, instead of these other boring people.’ his constant attempts to direct the focus of others towards himself result in bojack feeling like ‘everybody loves you, but nobody likes you.’ his peers buy into his act and adore the comical, exaggerated, laughable aspects of his character, but find very little room to respond to him on a genuinely personal level because of this. interestingly, bojack appears to enjoy catering to his audience and the instant gratification it produces, whereas bo burnham becomes increasingly candid about his mixed feeling towards his audience. ‘i wanna please you, but i wanna stay true to myself, i wanna give you the night out that you deserve, but i wanna say what i think and not care what you think about it.’ he admits to catering to what audiences want from him, but resents both the audience and himself in the process as it reveals to himself which parts of his character are solely for the sake of people watching him.

within bojack horseman, this concept is applicable not only to the protagonist, but to the various forms of performer demonstrated in the plot. towards the show’s end, sarah lynn asks ‘what does being authentic have to do with anything?’ to which herb kazzaz responds, ‘when i finally stopped hiding behind a facade i could be at peace.’ this highlights the fact that because entertainers are demanded to continue the facade, they do not receive the opportunity to find ‘peace.’ this sentiment is scattered throughout the show, through a musical motif, the song ‘don’t stop dancing.’ the song stems from a life lesson bojack imparted to sarah lynn at a young age, and becomes more frequently used as the show progresses and bojack’s situation worsens.

sarah lynn is also used to explore the value of entertainers; in the show’s penultimate episode, she directly compares her work as a pop icon to the charity work of herb, arguing that if she suffered in order to produce her work. it has to mean something. she lists the struggles she faced when on tour: ‘i gave my whole life...my manager leaked my nudes to get more tour dates added, my mom pointed out every carb i ate, it was hell. but it gave millions of fans a show they will never forget and that has to mean something.’ implicit in this notion is the idea that entertainment is the epitome of self-sacrifice. there is a surplus of mentally ill individuals within the industry, largely due to the nature of the industry itself, but some may argue that the cultural grip the industry has, and the vast amounts of respect and money it generates annually, gives the suffering of these prolific individuals meaning.

the juxtaposing responses entertainers feel towards their audiences manifest as two forms of desperation: the desperation to be an individual who is held accountable, and the desperation to be loved and validated. we see both bojack and bo depict how they oscillate between ‘this is all a lie’ and ‘my affection for my audience is genuine’, or between ‘do not become infatuated with me im a character’ and ‘please fucking love my character i do not know how to be loved on a personal level.’ bojack explicitly asks diane to write a slam piece on him and ‘hold him accountable’, similar to bo’s song ‘problematic’ in which the hook includes the phrase ‘isn’t anybody gonna hold me accountable?’ for his insensitive jokes as a late teenager. their self-awareness is what enables their self-evaluative qualities, but self-awareness is its own issue. bojack grapples with a narcissistic view of his own recognition of his behaviour before settling on a more nuanced, albeit depressing take. originally he makes the assumption that in recognising the negative aspects of himself, he is superior to those who behave similarly: ‘but i know im a piece of shit. that makes me better than all the pieces of shit that don’t know theyre pieces of shit.’ eventually, during his time at rehab he is forced to reconcile with the fact that self awareness does not, to put it bluntly, make you the superior asshole, it just makes you the more miserable one. the show does, however, make a point to recognise how the entertainment industry protects ‘pieces of shit’, prioritising their productive value over how much they deserve to be held accountable, demonstrated using characters like hank hippopoalus. the show itself obviously stems from the entertainment industry, as it is a form of media produced by netflix, one of the most popular streaming platforms available. bojack horseman and bo burnham represent the small corner of the industry that is reflective enough to showcase the damage it inflicts. this is powerful in terms of education and awareness, and urges audiences to question their own motives and versions of performance, but the reflection alone is not powerful enough to help the artists in question. burnham’s candid conversations surrounding his mental health continue to reveal a plethora of issues somewhat caused or sustained by the nature of his career. within bojack horseman, bojack is only able to stop hurting other characters when those characters construct a situation that forces him to face consequence, his introspection alone is not enough. while bojack ends on a message of hope, suggesting to the audience that reverting back to the status quo is not the only acceptable way for events to end, it leaves stinging lessons and social commentary with the audience regarding the unnatural and damaging narrative that performers live through. on a similar but markedly different note, bo burnham’s work and personal progression is playing out in real time, and not in a way that is as raw and genuine as it appears. each bit is planned, even the most vulnerable moments that appear unplanned and painful. his latest special is not entirely devoid of hope, but does translate to audiences as a somewhat exaggerated look around the era of social media and the development of performance, using himself as an example.

the absurdist humour that often acts as a vehicle for poignant statements or emotionally provocative questions is very specific to each media creator. bob-waksberg’s use of puns, tongue twisters and entirely ridiculous circumstances served to simultaneously characterise his points as an expected part of the show’s style of humour, similar to bojack’s emotional instability, but also to make them appear gut-punching in comparison to the humour. burnham’s work is similar in that poignant but blunt statements are often sandwiched between absurd and exaggerated jokes, making them stand out via contrast but not giving the audience too much time to dwell upon them as they are said. performance art is second nature to entertainers, and is presented a an issue that is infiltrating the general population via social media rather than solely affecting the ‘elites’. bojack horseman and bo burnham present the duality of artists simultaneously attempting to level the playing field and increase their chances of survival in the industry, and encourage audiences to know that everyone is bluffing and you’ll never have the right cards anyway.

i.k.b

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kylorenisadorkable · 3 years

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How TROS Failed Rey

These are just my opinions and from my personal perspective, if these things worked for you in the movie then cool, but this is why it was never going to work for me.

A Feminine Power Fantasy

Growing up in the 90s there wasn't a ton of media that had female lead characters. I grew up with strong female characters but they were often relegated to being the token girl of the group (see the Smurfette principle), the story was never centered around them and we never got to experience things from their point of view or really get to know their story. It felt like I was being asked to relate to male characters but boys were never asked or expected to relate to female characters.

Just as young boys see themselves as Luke, leading the adventure I also wanted to see myself as the main character. I wanted to have my own adventures.

When I first saw TFA, I went in knowing nothing about the movie. I had seen the OT and the Prequels as a kid and I had thought they were ok but I wasn't a huge Star Wars fan and in hindsight I really think this was due to the lack of female representation, Leia and Padme are great but I never really felt like I really got to know them as people. Not to mention that these characters are 2 women out of a cast that's predominantly male, it just seemed like the message LF was sending was that Star Wars is for boys, yeah girls can watch it if they want to but this isn't a series that is meant for you. So as you could guess I wasn't really expecting much from these new Star Wars movies, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I fell in love with Rey's character during those first 3 minutes of her introduction. During this brilliant example of “show don't tell,” story telling they were really able to convey so much about Rey's character and personality, I really began to care for her and felt like I understood her, as I could relate to her loneliness and isolation in my own way. And I was excited to see a story from a major fantasy/adventure franchise told from a feminine perspective. It felt like I was finally getting the representation I wanted to see.

So what happened? How did we go from Luke's line “And I will not be the Last Jedi” which is essentially him “passing the torch” to Rey, the next generation, to “One day I will earn your brother's saber?”

As if the saber didn't already choose her in the Force Awakens? Why did they decide that all of a sudden Rey was unworthy? Didn't Yoda say “that library held nothing that the girl Rey didn't already posses?” which yes was a clever way of saying that Rey already took the jedi texts with her but was also implying that she already had everything she needed within herself to be a jedi (courage, humility, compassion etc...). Why did they take a step backwards in the last movie in the franchise? Insisting that Rey needed to train, that she suddenly wasn't good enough?

I can't say for sure what happened to lead up to this point. Was it just that the creative team gave in to the pressuring of a loud minority of alt-right youtubers and bots. Were they relying on Reddit and Twitter for public opinion rather than doing actual marketing research? While I think that this was definitely a big factor I think there was just a general misunderstanding of the characters on Terrio's and JJ's part to begin with.

What Does Rey Want/Need?

To know where they went wrong, we have to ask ourselves who is Rey? All characters have a story goal, or the thing they want. By the end of the story the character will either get what they want after some struggles of course or learn that the thing that they want isn't what they need. So what does Rey want? To understand what she wants we have to first understand her wound or past experience that caused emotional pain and interferes with the character's life. Rey's wound stems from her abandonment. Along with the wound, comes the concept of the false lie. What is a lie that the character believes about themselves that we as the audience knows is untrue? Rey's lie is first, that her family is going to come back for her.

The other lie she tells herself is the belief that she is worthless because she was abandoned, as she tells everyone she meets “I'm no one“ or “I'm just a scavenger.”

When Daisy Ridley was asked in an interview why Rey says she's “No One.” Ridley says it's because our relationships to people define so much of who we are and without relationships then who are we? This makes sense considering that our parents are major influences in our development and in how we think about ourselves through much of our lives.

Rey seeks out parental figures, thinking that through them she'll figure out where she belongs. “Whoever you're waiting for on Jakku, they're never coming back. But there's someone who still could. The Belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead.”

Rey initially believes that Maz is referring to Luke and when she later sets off to find him. She believe that he is going to be able to give her answers, and provide her with the belonging that she longs for, but Luke ultimately ends up disappointing her but finds comfort in her relationship with Ben.

This goes back to the idea that what Rey thinks she wants, Isn't necessarily what she needs. As JJ stated in the directors commentary of The Force Awakens, “So there was a very powerful idea that what she desperately wanted was belonging, which she’ll get, but just not how she expects.”

JJ and Terrio try to fullfill Rey's need through “found family” the family she finds with her friends and the resistance, but I think there is more to Rey's desire of wanting family that can't be satisfied by this alone. Finn, Poe, Leia are definitely a part of her journey in finding belonging but they're not the final piece to the puzzle. Otherwise she would have felt completely fulfilled by the end of The Last Jedi when she is on the Falcon surrounded by her friends.

I think part of Rey's desire for family, is also the desire to be understood, to be “seen.” Rey even tells Finn in TROS that “People keep telling me they know me. No one does.” We hear Ben's response in the trailer “But I do...” (which was cut from the movie)

Ben has always been shown to be the person who truly “sees” Rey. He sees even the aspects of herself that she doesn't like to acknowledge. Recognizing that her holding on to her parents is affecting her negatively and that if she really wants to “find herself” she needs to let go.

Which is why when Ben says “You have no place in this story. You're nothing. But not to me.” What is really being expressed is “I don't care about where you come from and I see you for who you are.”

This is why I believe that Ben was always suppose to be the final piece to the belonging Rey is searching for. As their narratives are intertwined. They both satisfy each others needs as characters, Rey's need to be seen for who she is and Ben's need for reconciliation and healing within his family.

Rey Palpatine

Rian Johnson said that when he began working on The Last Jedi, he wrote out all the character's names and next to them wrote what would be the hardest thing for that character to face. For Rey, this was that she needs to stand on her own two feet and define who she is for herself but JJ and Terrio seemed to have misunderstood this as Terrio states that,

“We also thought that Rey’s arc cannot be finished after Episode VIII. You can leave Episode VIII and say, “Well, now, Rey is content. She’s discovered her parents aren’t Skywalkers, or whatever, and that’s fine.” But so much of her personal story was about where she came from, what kept her on Jakku all those years and the trauma that shaped her. We see quite strongly in Episode VII that something mysterious and troubling happened to her. Although she did get some answers in Episode VIII, we didn’t feel that that story was over. We felt that there were still more questions in Rey’s head about where she came from and where she was going. So, that was the other big idea that we had to address in this film. Rian’s answer to, “What’s the worst news that Rey could receive?” was that she comes from junk traders, and that’s true. She does come from junk traders; we didn’t contradict that.”

Rey's conflict wasn't that she came from junk traders. Rey didn't care about “legacy.” Her conflict stemmed from her abandonment. Rey thinks she's “a nobody” not because of her parent's occupation or lineage but because she feels that she must be worthless because why else would her parents give her up? Rey learning that her parents sold her off for drinking money, that they didn't want her, was already a difficult and traumatic truth to overcome. Star Wars is a coming of age story, in the OT Luke grows from being a boy longing for adventure to discovering what it truly means to be a Jedi (following your principles and having a compassionate heart). Rey's journey is about letting go of childhood trauma and discovering her own independence.

It's also strange seeing as JJ had previously stated during The Force Awakens press tour that “I really feel that the assumption that any character needs to have inherited a certain number of midi-chlorians or needs to be part of a bloodline. It's not that I don't believe that as part of the canon, I'm just saying that at 11 years old that wasn't where my heart was. And so I respect and adhere to the canon but I also say that the Force has always seemed to me to be more inclusive and stronger than that.”

And there was still conflict for her to overcome. The one person who she felt truly understood her is now the supreme leader of the first order, will the resistance discover their connection? Will they see her as a traitor? All of this had the potential for great external and internal character conflict, but for some reason they didn't see this as conflict enough to sustain a whole movie?

Instead they gave Luke's character arc in the OT of having a dark side relative to Rey. “Discovering that you actually descended from your adoptive family’s greatest enemy, the same enemy who corrupted Anakin Skywalker and is responsible for the destruction of the Skywalker family in the first place, felt most devastating to us.” This doesn't make any sense to me as it feel like they just gave Rey Luke's internal conflict of being afraid of his dark side, I don't think this was ever a problem for Rey. In fact, in The Last Jedi she leapt into the dark side cave to face her darkness (her abandonment). Luke even says “You went straight to the dark and you didn't even try to stop yourself.”

The dark side cave in The Last Jedi was symbolic of Rey coming to terms with her darkness (the parts of herself she wants to hide). It relates back to Jungian psychology (which much of Star Wars is based on) that people can only become whole through understanding both the light and shadow aspects of their personality. So it doesn't make sense for Rey to be afraid of who she is in the final movie when she just finished a journey where she learned to accept who she was?

Rey Skywalker

Terrio says that the decision to have Rey take on the name “Skywalker” was a way to show that “you can choose your ancestry.” Which is not true and also a strange thing to say considering the trilogy started with this:

But even if this was just awkward phrasing and what Terrio meant to say was that she considers the Skywalkers her family. Does this make sense considering that she didn't have a great relationship with Luke to begin with?

I've seen it argued that she took the name as a way of honoring Leia but Leia never took the name or considered herself a Skywalker. Also this is another step backwards for Rey's character as The Last Jedi was trying to assert that Rey does not need to keep looking for parental figures to define herself.

So why must she be a Palpatine, a Skywalker and “all the jedi” anyways? I think this was done for two reasons, the first was because by killing Ben they were going to kill the last of the Skywalker family and they wanted to keep the name tied to the franchise, in case they need the characters for future projects down the line, so they just pushed it onto Rey. The second reason is that I think they were trying to appease the misogynists' who spent the last 4 years calling Rey a “Mary Sue” so they explained her power away through powerful male lineage. It just feels so weird to me, like the creators are saying that we should like Rey not because of who she is as a character but because of who she is in relation to all these other characters we know you like (Luke, Leia, all the jedi that use her as a vessel etc...)

Daisy Ridley has even expressed her frustration with the Rey's lineage debate multiple times, “I love that Rey is such a great character, they’re like: ‘No, no, she has to be… she has to be-’She’s her own person! Let her be her guys, let her live.

Yet even at the end of the final film poor Rey can't seem to catch a break as she's once again asked for her last name. She once again has to justify herself for just existing. Why are surnames suddenly so important in Star Wars now anyways? Shouldn't the correct answer be “just Rey,” now that she's come to accept who she is and where she's come from and shouldn't that be good enough? What happened to the message of anyone can be a hero? That you don't have to come from or align yourself with a powerful family legacy. That we all have the power to make a difference?

TROS seems to be constantly asking Rey to prove herself. And weirdly enough it reminds me in a strange meta way of my own experience being a woman in the fandom and being constantly asked to prove that I'm a “True fan” (whatever the f@#% that means...) to prove that I'm worthy of consuming and participating in this content that male fans feel belongs solely to them.

In Conclusion

So what did our heroine gain in the end? Did she find family and belonging? No. So what does she have in the end? A yellow lightsaber (for merchandising purposes) and a surname of a dead family? I guess she finally has an answer to give all the nosey nellies, obsessed with ones pedigree that have suddenly popped up all over the galaxy.

It's not a satisfying ending for her, as she's basically right back where she started. Alone, in a desolate desert, once again staring face to face at an old woman (an old woman which at the start of the Force Awakens symbolized her fear of growing old and wasting away her life on Jakku).

Terrio states that this is not meant to indicate that Rey plans to stay here, “The very last thing Rey would do after all that is to go and live alone in a desert.” but when that is the last shot you chose to end the movie on then what is the audience suppose to think? The bigger issue however, is that Rey's ending holds no significance to her or her journey. Terrio says that “In our thinking, Rey goes back to Tatooine as a pilgrimage in honor of her two Skywalker masters. Leia’s childhood home, Alderaan, no longer exists, but Luke’s childhood home, Tatooine, does. Rey brings the sabers there to honor the Skywalker twins by laying them to rest — together, finally — where it all began.” Tatooine, the Lars homestead and the twin suns, don't mean anything to Rey. You know who did mean something to Rey? Who was the one person who understood her, who she had an intimate relationship with, who she explicitly states she wanted to be with? Ben. But he's gone too. But clearly a light saber and surname are more important. Again this all comes from a lack of caring for what Rey wants.

I just wish that the Sequel Trilogy had stayed Rey's trilogy, that she got to be a heroine in her own right not because she was a skywalker, or a palpatine or from some other powerful family. I will always love Rey but I will always hate what they did to her and I'm tired of people invalidating my feelings and telling me that it was a good ending or that it was empowering. I just want heroines to be taken as seriously and to have all the same privileges as male heroes. Let them stand on their own without connecting them back to every male hero in the franchise, let them be their own character, and finally just let them be human, let them fall in love and have relationships if they want to. Male heroes are never considered to be less of a hero for having a love interest, so why are female heroes? Basically what I got out of the Rise of Skywalker, was that it was created by a couple of guys that loved Luke and the OT and could care less about Rey and that's truly heart breaking.

#rey #rey nobody #reylo #ben solo #rey deserved better #rey deserves better #bring ben solo back #I love rey #aTROSity #just rey #reunite the dyad

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van-zieksy · 2 years

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Asking for a friend, but, do you think Barok is the type of be protective in any relationship, platonic or otherwise?

Hi anon and friend! Thanks for the question.

I definitely see Barok as being protective in any relationship. This stems from a) losing his whole family (brother, sister-in-law, unborn niece) in what can only be described as an unfortunate chain of events, and b) having been raised as a courteous, noble human being who - despite his privileged upbringing - decided to become a prosecutor in order to protect the public at large. To him, being protective of others means more than merely protecting them from physical harm.

We do get a glimpse of that when he decides to watch over his long-lost friend Albert. Barok is loyal to those he values as well as loyal to his ideals. When he saw a friend in need, he knew what he had to do. Not only did he everything he could to paint Albert as an honourable man of science (which was very important to Albert, as he treasures science and his honour more than his own life), he also put his faith in Ryuu to work with him to establish his compatriot's innocence. He then sent Albert back to Germany to protect him from the Reaper's curse, even though it meant not being able to spend time with a friend he hasn't seen in ten years.

Despite his own pain and aloof, tortured appearance, his true nature - that of a kind, protective, thoughtful, principled, selfless individual - can be established based on the way he conducts himself in court. His protectiveness/concerns sometimes even extend to people he doesn't think highly of because he knows people are allowed to make mistakes and grow from them.

Other examples that show his protective, caring nature:

- returning to the courts to take down McGilded, a "monster" who exploited others

- allowing Roly to return back to duty, as he is a poor man who just wants to provide for his loved ones (but not without teaching him a lesson first, so that he can protect him from making the same mistake again)

- withdrawing from the courts because he couldn't stand the thought of others dying because of him (or so he thought; even if those people were terrible criminals)

- enquiring about Natsume's well-being because he knew all too well that the curse may reach him, too

- trying to protect Kazuma from himself by pointing out that he will fail as a lawyer if he allows his emotions to get the better of him (i.e. protecting people from themselves)

- protect people from the misconceptions of others (e.g. reminding Patricia that Green is indeed not "deceased", so she should not speak of her as such)

- the way he relates to witnesses (e.g. getting Drebber to finally speak the truth so he can get those thoughts of resentment off his chest; asking Drebber to remain polite when speaking to Tusspells, a lady)

- relentlessly pursuing the truth as doing so protects the public at large (despite the prejudices the public has against him)

- after he learned that Klint has a daughter, he immediately voiced his desire to care for her without any hesitation, yet he also respected that she was taken from him (it's questionable if Klint made the right decision, though)

His protectiveness/thoughtfulness/concerns can take on many shapes and forms. He lived a decade in isolation, alone with his sadness and grief, because he did not trust anyone anymore, but also because he was afraid of anything bad happening to people were he to allow them to become a part of his life. The constant threats to his life in the form of assassination attempts meant he "had to" stay away from people in order to protect them from himself (very sad).

Now being freed from this curse, his past experiences would still guide his actions. Being protective to him does not only mean protecting others from physical harm, it also means protecting their souls, being respectful of their ideals, guiding them to the light, protecting their honour/dignity etc.

Let's say he did eventually end up in a romantic relationship with someone. There's no doubt he would make sure they are safe from bodily injury and similar, but he would also want to protect their soul, their personality, their uniqueness. He wouldn't want them to give up their own dreams just because they ended up in a relationship with a noble who is also an accomplished prosecutor. He would want them to be able to fulfill their own desires so they can bloom beautifully, their dignity as an individual preserved.

In a nutshell: yes, Barok is - and would be - protective in any relationship.

Thanks and kind regards!

#anon ask #barok van zieks #ace attorney #the great ace attorney #dai gyakuten saiban #the great ace attorney chronicles #tgaa #dgs #tgaac #asks

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ruby-whistler · 3 years

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I feel like if we really want to take a closer look at the topic of c!Dream’s obsession with c!Tommy, we have to look into both his reasons for it, and the tactics he employs to achieve his goals concerning it.

[ /dsmp /roleplay I did not tag this that way but this entire analysis is hugely c!Dream critical and focuses on the various facets of his manipulation, so if you’re not in the mood to read that, you have been warned not to. ]

Interestingly enough, before the SMP was actual heavy roleplay, back during the original disc war, the reason c!Dream listed for keeping the discs was to use them as bargaining chips, because he knew c!Tommy wanted them back, as they were hard items to get at the time, and knew he could use them for that purpose.

He had just gotten mugged and repeatedly killed by c!Tommy, who had also participated in a conflict beforehand, and only gave a half-hearted apology in the end. He had also seen him cause problems on the server before that. The discs were meant to be something he would threaten to destroy if c!Tommy started acting out of line, because he didn’t trust him to keep his word and wanted a guarantee. That was the reason he insisted on keeping the discs after getting his armor back, which is why he originally stole them.

And I feel like c!Dream’s train of thought, while skewed and twisted with irrational mindsets, is rather straightforward in essence. Conflict is what he actively stands against and what stops him from having a united server, hence in his mind, he needs to destroy things that bring conflict, and control what he can’t or doesn’t want to destroy. He thinks c!Tommy brings conflict, so he feels like he needs to find ways to control him.

Sure, we all know about the systematic abuse and isolation he employed to make c!Tommy believe he was his friend, but one of his major tactics since the beginning has also been intimidation, or a particular type of manipulation that leads to people fearing him or thinking that he has more power than he actually does. In his mind, if people are scared of him, they’re much more likely to listen to him. And the most fascinating thing is that it works.

During the initial exile conflict, despite him being just a single person with no official political power, he assures victory by aggressively, and very intelligently, threatening his way through the negotiations. c!Tubbo is scared of him, and that is not a coincidence. It’s purposeful.

Seeing as he planned to give L’Manberg technical independence either way - he said that there was no real way for him to stop them from pursuing that anyways, so that wasn’t the intention - even the war seems like a very likely ploy to make the revolutionaries fear him enough so that they wouldn’t start conflict after seceding. c!Wilbur is careful not to start anything with the Greater Dream SMP after this, because c!Dream has shown that he can and will ruin them if they do. c!Tubbo also knows exactly the lengths c!Dream will go to if he promises war thanks to this, and that if he says he’ll build a wall and keep them from leaving it with force, he’s going to do it. When c!Tubbo is faced with an ultimatum, seeing as his goal is to keep New L’Manberg safe and peaceful, he knows he has no option but to give in.

Another variation of this tactic is making himself seem more dangerous and unpredictable than he actually is and obscuring his motivation. If people don’t know what he wants, they are less able to devise effective tactics to stop him from getting it. The element of surprise is something that he utilizes constantly throughout warfare, and psychological battling is no different. For instance, during Doomsday he begins talking about how the server will “be at peace now” thanks to L’Manberg being gone, before c!Tommy barges in, and begins implying he did this all because he hates him.

DREAM Tommy… Look. In all destruction *looks at the falling TNT* there is a new beginning.

TOMMY You- you did this…! To all of us! Not just to me, but to everyone here…!

DREAM Beautiful. You know… the unfinished symphony, right?

…

TOMMY Why…?

DREAM The server will be at peace now.

TOMMY Why, Dream…?

DREAM Because I didn’t-

TOMMY Couldn’t you just- couldn’t you just burn the discs…? Couldn’t you just do it to me? Why did you have to…?

DREAM This is much more fun.

[ credits to @dsmptranscripts on twitter ]

Although c!Dream’s motivation for destroying L’Manberg was actually that, much like with c!Tommy, he thought that it bred conflict and division, he picks up on this and switches to saying how he did indeed do this all to hurt c!Tommy because he finds it fun.

He talks very inconsistently plenty of times, but it’s rather easy to spot a pattern of him being honest about his motives with his allies but straight up lying to his enemies. This makes sense, and it is usually employed as a deliberate tactic.

Intimidation is something he also uses to manipulate people during his time in prison. Ever since he got locked up, it became a mental fight. If people fully realized that he was powerless to stop them from hurting or killing him, his life only hanging by a thin strand on the concept of the revive book, he would’ve lost the control he needed to assure his survival.

The difference is that before then, c!Dream had actual physical power, however the manipulation gets harder to pull off when he has none, even with people he finds naive enough to fall for it. He still risks it because he’s desperate, and has nothing but his own life to lose, which is something he believes to be protected by his possession of the revival book. He had never been big on self-preservation besides staying alive to reach his goals.

He first tries this on c!Sam, who, rather unpredictably, begins to get morally corrupted by the power he has over c!Dream, on top of other factors. c!Dream talks to c!Sam about exile and about c!Tommy because logically, if he’s afraid of him, he’s less likely to try to hurt or kill him. This backfires because this new, unexpected version of c!Sam begins to fiercely hate c!Dream instead, hurting him further.

The same thing happens with c!Tommy - when he realizes that he can’t influence him through repeated visits anymore, he attempts to scare him into obedience again. He establishes himself as someone dangerous who has the power to escape and hurt c!Tommy as well as his friends, which he hopes will subconsciously sway him to not do things that he would disagree with. We can see him pretending to be the one in control throughout the stream after c!Tommy first got revived.

He also tells him that he can bring back the person who he’s afraid of the most and get him on his side, which is precisely the bit that ends up backfiring, but it doesn’t really matter, and trying was still the best thing he could’ve logically done.

If he hadn’t, at some point people would realize he actually has no power at all, and pay back the fear he’d instilled in them previously. This happens with c!Quackity, who began to take advantage of c!Dream’s lack of control as soon as he realized how easy it was to strip away the last bit of power he has, which is also keeping him alive.

Getting back on track, c!Dream essentially tries to control c!Tommy first by manipulating him into believing he is his friend, then believing he is a threat to him when that fails. We can see this from the way the Finale is prepared to be somewhat of a final showdown between the two, and also by him actually revealing the tactics he used to employ during exile, for example talking about taking away the invites to the party and not actually being his friend. This also proves he knew exactly what he was doing during that time, and he could easily switch between tactics because the end goal of controlling c!Tommy was more important to him than what c!Tommy thought of him.

And that’s it.

It’s all just a ploy to control him because he finds him one of the hardest people to stop from causing conflict.

Controlling him is as important to c!Dream as destroying L’Manberg and dethroning c!George and collecting people’s attachments, because what is important to him is achieving his goals through whatever means necessary, not the means themselves.

As for people, while he has no desire to actually kill them - or feels he cannot, because they could still be useful to his plans in the future - he treats them as either tools or obstacles he needs to deal with, especially if they ever get in the way of his plans, and he isn’t particularly attached to them. He does this to himself as well, and doesn’t seem to care about his own well-being or reputation as long as he achieves what he wants. While he’s focused on the ends to his means, that is the only thing that is important to him.

You could argue this does stem from thinking of the people he wants the server to be united for as important, since cc!Dream said his goals are for “everyone to get along”, but that doesn’t change the fact that the ways in which he works towards that goal doesn’t treat others’ or his own feelings as consequential at all. In the case of people who stand against him, their entire well-being is put to the side until what needs to be done in his mind gets done.

c!Dream isn’t “scared” of c!Tommy per se, nor does he seem to be obsessed with the guy himself, but he finds him something necessary to get out of the way to accomplish his goals, and he does so, ruthlessly as ever.

And even though the goal of eradicating conflict and uniting the server is something that he is so focused on that it could definitely be called an obsession, c!Tommy really isn’t that important within the equation at all.

This wasn’t a post to excuse or downplay any of his actions, nor do I agree with the “logical” thoughts I mentioned. There is a reason why I used phrases like “he finds” “in his eyes” “he thinks” “in his mind” “he feels like” a whole lot throughout this essay.

The character has an extremely flawed worldview that I in no way agree with (and although that should probably be pretty obvious, you really don’t know with this fandom). All this post is for is to analyse certain traits that are assigned to him, and figure out through logical reasoning whether they’re a mischaracterization or not.

And as far as the evidence goes; c!Dream isn't obsessed with c!Tommy, he is obsessed with his goal, and he sees Tommy as a big obstacle to achieving it, which makes him focus on him. These feelings he puts on display are an illusion to distract people from his real goal so they don't know how to get in his way - because, just like cc!Dream said, he “likes to withhold information; withhold plans; and withhold feelings” from everyone else.

#dream smp #c!dream #not really c!dream positive so not tagging w/ drblr #anyways #gotta go out with a bang #huh?#haven’t done analysis in a long while #this one’s a doozy

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mrsgiovanna · 3 years

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Yandere Don Giorno headcanons

So Yan! Don Giorno has been dwelling in the recesses of my mind for the longest time, this is my version of him.

TW: emotional manipulation, toxic relationship dynamics, controlling behavior

Giorno is the type of yandere to insidiously creep into your life. He’s aware of his gifts, and uses his charm and charisma to win over not only his darling, but the people his darling holds dear as well.

He would be lucid to the extent of knowing that its wrong to just kidnap someone and force them to live with you, however he is extremely confident that you would fall for him, which is where his thought pattern becomes a bit deluded, reasoning that the end goal of you falling for him justifies the means of getting you there.

Giorno would definitely employ manipulative tactics to correct your behavior. He doesn’t like isolating his darling when they’re being difficult, but if they’re simply not reasoning at all or are becoming violent and a danger to themselves, he will lock them away in their room, instructing all their handlers to withhold all communication from them. They need time to think about what put them there, so no distractions.

All of his actions would stem from his innate desire to protect them. The world is a cruel place, his darling is too precious to him for him to allow any harm to come to them. He also has utmost faith in his abilities, believing that only he can fully protect them. His convictions are unyielding and his orders are absolute.

He would try by all legitimate means to get you to move into his home, but if that doesn’t work he would end up taking them, effortlessly plucking them out of their old life and into their new one as one would pick a flower and place it into a vase.

Physical restraints and other items of a similar fashion are too vulgar for his darling, if he needs to isolate them, which he most likely does in the beginning, he’ll do so in an impenetrable room, filled with some of their own clothes and other belongings mixed in with new gifts of things that he thinks you would enjoy.

He isn’t one for unnecessary violence, and physically harming his darling is an absolute no no, he’d rather they come to realize on their own that his villa is the best place for them to be. His warfare is more psychological in nature, but even so, he’s not the type to want to completely break their psyche.

He has a lot of patience with his darling, and is able to withstand a lot of the snarky comments and anger his darling would initially hold, but he is human, he will get angry if they hit the wrong nerves with their comments. When they do manage to anger him, he simply sends them back to isolation, and leaves them there for a few days.

As soon as his darling is able to accept their new normal, life with Giorno is quite enchanting. When they’ve stopped trying to escape and their behavior becomes more cordial, darling will be afforded slivers of their liberty, being able to meander in and around the estate as they see fit.

Once his darling has completely earned his trust, he’ll indulge their little date ideas whenever his schedule allows him to do so and he would make time to plan little trips and vacations for just the two of you.

He’s a gentleman, so he wouldn’t force himself on his darling , he might steal chaste kisses here and there while comforting them, or in quiet domestic moments. He’s very perceptive, so he would be aware of the subtle changes in the way his darling reacts to him, and would gently test the boundaries at those points, slowly building up the levels of intimacy.

As the “relationship” starts to bloom, and his darling starts becoming more affectionate, his touch starved self would relish the attention, but in the back of his mind, in his quiet moments he would feel guilty for acquiring their affections in that manner, nonetheless, he would lavish you with as much as he can in both time and material gifts for being “good” for him.

All in all, if darling can just accept their new life and submit to his will, they would have a relatively normal existence thereafter.

"Shhhhhh, it's okay tesoro, let me take care of you... You don't need anything or anyone else as long as you have me... Now be good for me and calm down, okay?

#giorno giovanna #giorno #yandere giorno #Yandere Don Giorno #yandere giogio #yandere jjba prt 5 #don giorno #don giovanna #giogio #giorno giovanna headcanons #giorno giovanna x reader #giorno x reader

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sylvanas-girlkisser · 3 years

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I'm genuinely curious what do you mean by "her desire to protect the outcast makes her incapable of realizing when she is being manipulated." You think that when she accepted the deal with the Jailer she was trying to protect the Forsaken?

Okay so totally valid question, especially because to really understand that argument you would have to have read a post I made like 2 years ago in a sleep deprived haze and never tagged.

My argument boils down to this: Sylvanas, despite her political acumen, has now on 3 different occasion been manipulated by men whose bad intentions she by rights should have been able to see coming a mile away.

All 3 men described themselves to Sylvanas as unjustly vilified: Varimathras was just a pawn in the Lich King's schemes, Lord Godfrey had been sentenced to exile for standing up to his king, and the Jailer wanted to right the injustices of the Shadowlands. Now we the audience can clearly tell all those stories are BS, but Sylvanas has gone from the hero of Quel'Thalas, to being viewed as a monster deserving of death due to no fault of her own. It makes sense that she would have sympathy for the devil, to many people she is the devil.

Perhaps phrasing it as a "desire to protect the outcast" was not the most ideal way of framing it. What I was trying to say was: It seems to me that Sylvanas has a glaring blindspot when it comes to people claiming to be wrongly vilified, which likely stems from her own sense of isolation from being vilified for her trauma and disability.

Then there's also the matter of Sylvanas's being a survivor of what is essentially fantasy domestic abuse and rape, which I admittedly hadn't thought much about in this context before today. Survivors sometimes find themselves drawn to people who remind them of their abuser (in Sylvanas case, men like Arthas), in a roundabout way trying to prove there was something good inside the abuser all along. (Remember, abusers have a way of twisting your perception of good and evil, making you the bad guy and them the victim).

I'm gonna stop it here before I launch into a whole separate rant about Sylvanas' complex and traumatic relationship to the label of villain/monster. I hope this answered your question, otherwise send me another ask <3.

#valk replies #warcraft #sylvanas windrunner

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skimblyshanks · 2 years

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so. Earlier I made a post abt Cori and Tantomile, with the focus/intent being to illustrate the general disposition I think Cori has, and why, along with introducing the disconnect that keeps him and Tanto feeling like their own characters despite how foundational their symmetry is blah blah blah headcanons.

Well I'll be real, as much as that was to break the ice on the characters as themselves, it's also bc I wanna be able to chew on my ships for them a bit more. Namely, Jemipat.

Bc for me, Jemipat was born from a tiny interaction during the entracte in the Madrid Proshot. The twins and Jem see each other and begin moving to meet. Tantomile stops but Coricopat keeps going, reaching out his head as if to nuzzle. But he gets nervous and breaks away, with Jemima waiting for him to do what he wanted to do; following him with her eyes and a smile on her face.

For actual onstage moments aside from that, I mean. There's the end of Moments of Happiness except for the fact that he doesn't touch her. He touches the ground, tantomile touches him, and then grabs jemibub's Paw.

But that actually works v well for me. Bc this ship is one of many based on vibes and hcs, and this indirect contact works.

If the friction between Tanto and Cori as concerns their mysticism stems from Tantomile's desire to be socially active clashing with Coricopat's desire to hunker down and get to the root of their differences so as to eliminate social failures, then Jemibub enters into the equation on Coricopat's end to move him into a level of compromise.

Bc Jemibub is a mystical cat to me. And beyond deut, who has the weakest abilities of all 4, she never knew anyone else with these experiences until the twins. Her main network has been Deme, Bomba, Electra, Platometus, and occasionally Munk and Alonzo. Aka, a whole Lotta normies. Pounce carbucketty has magic but no extrasensory abilities. Misto has some, but he keeps it close to his chest. Victoria is abt the same level as Deut, and has just genuinely never thought to bring it up.

So when Jemibub meets the twins, the connection is with Coricopat right away. Here's someone who sees all the weird shit she sees and is also trying to make sense of it. But they both differ in approach. Cori gets locked up in his own head, while Jemibub is naturally exploratory in nature. She wants to find the answers by getting out and doing.

And Cori is drawn to her, but he's also overwhelmed, somewhat. He's been so withdrawn, so isolated, and now there's someone who shares this core Otherness, but is going out, socializing, acknowledging the weird shit around ppl who can't even see it—even tantomile doesn't do that when she's in social mode.

And Jemibub has been starving for anyone who understands the way she sees the world; anyone who might have additional perspectives to offer and help each other navigate easier. Bc Electra is a great sister. She is! And they're both always down to do things with each other, for each other, but this is a fundamental disconnect. Electra can't understand this. And Jemibub doesnt want to portray it like its some bad thing that her sister should feel lucky she doesnt deal with, but nor does she want to make it out like its dome awesome blessing bc its not that either. Its just. Different. And weird. But bringing it up too often around her sister makes both of them unhappy the older they've gotten. They used to try and figure out the mystery of it all together when they were little but now it'll be like. Jemibub makes an observation that only she can notice and if it pertains to Electra she'll throw up the ok sign.

And so Jemibub sees an experiment partner in Cori. She sees the chance to have that bond with someone again, and this time, her partner can actually know what's being observed. He sees it too. He smells it, he hears it, he tastes it.

But she's gotta push him along sometimes. And he's been so scared of making mistakes while socializing that he has basically no practice at it. So even without his main excuse of the sensory disconnect, he's scared he'll make a fool of himself in general. So he backs out a lot. Hides behind his sister sometimes. Takes sudden rain checks because he justvsaid something really cheesy and oh my God she thinks you're so stupid and—

So it's a bit of a waiting game.

But once they do really get started as a pair-and i think it's something they basically just fall into without ever making a statement-i mean cri isn't suddenly great at being social; he doesn't suddenly love talking to people. But he does sustain longer conversations. He's more willing to show vulnerability. And around Jemibub he feels safe to be dumb. He doesn't need to think through his sentences. He can call apples crunchy red balloon fruit if he forgets the word, and most importantly he stops framing their Otherness as a problem to be solved and more as, well. A continuous source of learning.

And I've mainly been looking thru the dynamic of the pairs they get started thru coricopat's perspective here but that's bc I. Literally just made my breakthrough on his relationship-defining character attribute hmvfujbffihddt. I've already had many thoughts on jemibub, as an individual and with her friend group, so it'll be a matter of combining those with the nature of her and Cori as a pair and testing out what I think comes of that.

#jemipat #cats musical #cats the musical #Coricopat #jemima cats #sillabub

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bluestarscribbler · 3 years

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Writing Characters With Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

Hi everyone! :) How are you doing? 🥰💕 Today I'll be outlining the main do's and don't's of writing characters with SAD, as well the definition and the main symptoms of SAD.

DISCLAIMER: I am not diagnosed with SAD myself; however, all of the following information had been obtained from different posts and sites of people that have first-hand experience with SAD. I will be linking those at the end of today's post, please feel free to check them out.

What I learned from the intense research I did is that nobody has social anxiety the same. Some people feel like they can't breath. Others tend to laugh in awkward moments. Nobody is the same. No character is exactly alike. You can't get it "right," because it's not an exact science. So don't feel too pressured while writing a character with SAD, there's no "one" way to write them. A helpful approach is to think what about how the SAD fits into the story you want to tell because the topic is really as complicated as any other and you can view it from many different angles and go as deep as you want - depending on what this story you're trying to tell calls for. So rather than trying to get an objective view of this complicated topic, focus on the aspects that are relevant to the story.

What is Social Anxiety Disorder?

AKA Social Phobia, SAD describes an intense fear and avoidance of negative public scrutiny, public embarrassment, humiliation or social interaction. This fear can be specified to particular social situations; such as public speaking, or more typically, is experienced in most/all social interactions. Those suffering from SAD will often attempt to avoid the source of their anxiety; this is particularly problematic and in severe cases can lead to complete social isolation.

Symptoms of SAD:

person paces a lot

very fidgety

stops talking mid sentence...a lot

wrings hands

angered by slightest infractions of others

finds fault in others a lot

hard to breathe when focus/attention is shifted to them

sweating profusely

mumbling

shrinking to hide

lack of eye contact/wandering eyes

painfully shy and withdrawn

picking the nails, picking the skin

always the person in the back of the room or in a corner

gravitating toward the first person they recognise and following them everywhere

headaches

finding ways to avoid certain situations

crying before or after social events

feel dizzy and the entire world becomes very far away

feeling like chest was caving in

assuming that everyone is focusing on them

assuming that people are laughing about them

grind their teeth a lot

bite their knuckles

tap out drum patterns with their feet or fingers

nausea and vomiting

muscle weakness

migraines

heart arrhythmia

increasing nervous tics

Keep in mind that social anxiety exists on a spectrum. Not everyone is paralysed at the smallest conversation, but some are. Others feel mild discomfort at certain types of socialising. It’s all relative.

DO'S:

DO write in a lot of internal dialogue. People with SAD say that most of their anxiety is created by their own internal rumination. So, add a lot of overly self-critical internal dialogue and have them think about trivial things that they may or may not have gotten wrong for hours after the fact. People with SAD also tend to avoid initiating with anyone, instead preferring for them (the other person) to initiate — because then they know they're not inconveniencing them (the other person). If a person with SAD does have to interact with people then they tend to plan and rehearse what they're going to say to them. However, once the social interaction has begun, there will be very little internal monologue. In those situations, the character is very much relying on instinct. After the interaction, if the character feels that they messed up (which is likely; be sure to pick up on even the slightest fumbles or awkward pauses), they should keep thinking about how they're an idiot and they want to never have to talk to another person again, because they know it'll end the same way. If they feel like they did a good job, they should express surprise at how well it went, congratulate themselves, and say that they should maybe do this more often — although they probably won't.

DO let them have observational skills. Part of the anxiety stems from not always knowing how to/being good at socialising. Thus an anxious person will watch others closely for clues to their performance and acceptance. While it doesn’t always tell the person how they are doing, it does teach them a lot about the people around them and how they feel about each other. The person in a group with SAD may actually have a better idea of who in the group are friends, enemies, annoyed with the others, think they are better, have crushes, and so on. Having SAD doesn’t mean that a person doesn’t know social cues, it means that they underestimate their ability to use them. Don’t confuse SAD with autism.

DO make it influence all decisions. This is one you can do as the writer and not include every bit of internal dialogue. Just keep in mind that Every decision an anxious person makes is put through the anxiety filter first. Even if they are doing things by themselves, they have to evaluate the chances of meeting people, meeting people they know, having to talk to people when they are done. Keep that in mind when writing these characters in order to keep their personality consistent. That said, in general you can think of someone with SAD feeling physically, mentally and emotionally uncomfortable and "out of place" in ordinary social situations - they want out of it, looking for the door, excuse to leave, cut the interaction short. There could be a sense of shame, guilt and self-loathing about not being "good enough", or that there is something broken and wrong with them (or society).

DO give them other traits. Make sure you give them other traits that influence their decisions and drive their motivations. Someone can have anxiety and also love adventure, want to save all the stray dogs, want to help orphans, want to be a basketball hero, etc. One of the big problems with SAD is that it interferes with a person’s desires to do and be other things. It doesn’t always win though. And sometimes a person may decide that an awkward encounter or two is worth taking part in some other activity they love. Just remember to keep your characters balanced.

DO let them find each other. SAD is probably more common than you’d think. Not everyone has a crippling case. You can have characters share their anxiety with each other and comfort each other and help each other through tough times. SAD can make a person feel isolated but they don’t have to be, and often aren’t as isolated as they think. That observational skill can also help them find the right people to share their feelings with. Not all socialising is terrifying, it can often be cathartic.

DON'T'S:

DON'T make them hate people. Social anxiety does not mean that the person afflicted doesn’t like people or always craves solitude. One of the harshest aspects of SAD is that a person may want companionship and friends but still have uncontrollable discomfort when faced with making friends or spending time with the friends they already have. This constant tug-of-war between wanting friends and feeling the anxiety around people can cause a lot of internal pain and lead to other emotions and conditions such as depression. Someone with SAD can have friends. Even a lot of friends. But certain factors may influence how a person with SAD chooses friends more than they influence others. The level of contact is different for everyone and there will be some friends who can take up more time while not taking up more energy on the part of the anxious person. However, SAD can get so bad that the person with it is unable to leave the house for days at a time, ghosting on all social engagements, not answering their phone and ignoring all texts; but that still doesn't mean they hate people.

DON'T always make them succeed. If you are writing about a person with SAD and they are forced again and again to go outside their comfort zone, make them fail. Have them go to a meeting and then duck down a side corridor at the last minute and disappear. Have them talk to a person and then freeze up in the middle of a conversation, at a loss for words. The longer they go without knowing what to say the stronger the anxiety gets and the harder it is to think. Or have them execute the socialising brilliantly but then go into the bathroom and cry from the overwhelming sense of effort it took to look normal. And just because they have had a few successes doesn’t mean that they will start succeeding every time. Sometimes, the energy it takes, even when the interaction was a success, means that next time they are reluctant or too exhausted to do it again.

DON'T always give them "tells". Anxious people can be very good at hiding it. In the example above of the person who socialises brilliantly and then cries in the bathroom, no one knows how hard it was. They only saw the brilliant “performance.” Keep that in mind. Not all people uncomfortable with socialising are bumbling awkward goofballs. Sometimes they actually appear very cool and collected.

DON'T suddenly make their anxiety disappear when they're at the end of their character arc. This pisses me off, anxiety is a life-long condition. It cannot be "overcome" easily. However, the person with it can learn to live with it. They can visit a psychiatrist, get pills prescribed or change their lifestyle completely to fit around their SAD. A person with anxiety always thinks about their anxiety. Even when they are happily at home reading a book, sometimes they will think about an upcoming engagement, or wish they made friends like the characters in their book. Every time a person with SAD makes plans they have to run through a list of criteria before nailing anything down. Will they have time before and after to prep for and cool down from the experience? Is it something they have done before and feel comfortable doing? Can they back out at the last minute if they feel too overwhelmed that day? These are just a fraction of the things that go through an anxious person’s mind before committing to plans. Again, this isn’t an absolute, but for many people with SAD it is a defining characteristic of who they are. They don’t talk to a single person, even a spouse sometimes, or make a doctor’s appointment without the anxiety affecting how they feel, think, and behave. It is always there. Always.

That's it for today folks! I hope everyone has an absolutely fantastic day! 😊❤

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#social anxiety #mental health #social anxiety disorder #writing tips #writing advice #writing #writblr #my writing #anxiety awareness #anxiety disorder #mental illness

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adarlingmess · 3 years

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Surprise, the Last Boss x OC brainrot hasn’t left me yet!

I’m still knee-deep in academic work but I took a much needed break and tried my improved inking and coloring style on these two’s portraits before I apply it to my thesis output oof

anyway if anyone wants to read me word vomit about my thoughts about these two, it’s all under the cut

26 cm/10 inch height difference. Last Boss is taller, but Yamaneko’s muscles are denser.

I kind of based Last Boss’ age on his actor’s, and judging from his manga appearance and his mother’s appearance, I think we’re within the correct range. Yamaneko’s born March 3, 1998, so that makes her 23 during the events of the game.

Neither uses conventional pet names. Last Boss was the one to give Yamaneko her nickname/moniker, but everyone else uses it now, so it doesn’t count. Yamaneko affectionately calls Takatora “tiger” or shortens his name to “Tora” only when no one is around.

Being militants, they have a reputation to protect, so neither really engages in PDA much. Last Boss is a quiet man, so he prefers letting his lover physically feel his affection instead, but he will respond to “I love you”.

Oh boy. He’s just quiet about it, but Takatora can be quite the jealous monster. My headcanon is his jealous tendencies stem from the fact that he felt unworthy of human interaction in the past, and Yamaneko’s one of the few people who interacts with him. When jealous, he needs to be reassured and often physically. Yamaneko is more secure in their relationship, but when she gets jealous, she’ll need some space to think things through and avoid saying anything that might hurt him.

Between the two of them, Yamaneko is more chill because she knows how capable her lover is in the games, and oftentimes, she’d head to the meeting room after games because she knows she’ll see Last Boss among the executives. On the other hand, Last Boss worries about her in the games, especially when she’s separated from the group and he couldn’t protect her. Expect him to seek her out immediately after a game. As much as possible, he wants to stay by her side at all times, like a second shadow.

Yamaneko was forced to confess to him in a Heart game and asks him to kiss her after the game.

Yamaneko is first to say both daisuki and aishiteru, but it takes some time for her to use the “heavier” I love you. And the situation is heavy for her to use it too.

Like what’s mentioned above, Last Boss is more worried about his lover than she is for him. Aside from the games, he’s worried about Yamaneko disappearing from his life. Even though she had expressed the desire to stay in the Borderland, she hasn’t completely turned her back from her fashion design dream, and he doesn’t know what to do if she’s given the opportunity to trade her life now for the one that she always wanted.

As someone who was kicked out at 18 and had to enter the workforce early, Yamaneko budgeted her meager salary well enough for her to rent out a studio apartment by the time she was 20. Her major in college before she got expelled for intentionally flunking it was Business Administration too, and she remembers some of what she learned. Conversely, Last Boss was coddled by his mother and is sheltered, so he doesn’t know jack shit about finances. In the Borderland, money doesn’t matter, but Yamaneko still fares better, having the initiative to stock up on goods like food, water, and fuel, while Last Boss mostly floundered about before being invited to the Beach.

I headcanon Last Boss to be a virgin, tbh. He’s that isolated from other people. Meanwhile, Yamaneko was a maneater in high school, and is definitely far more experienced. When she was disowned at 18, she had to do some shady things to survive too, including compensated dating.

Yamaneko is a deeper sleeper and is the type of person who needs more than 8 hours of sleep to feel well-rested so she tends to wake up later. Last Boss is skinnier and tends to get cold easy, so he hoards blankets when they’re available.

Even in the Borderland where he’s known as a menacing entity, Last Boss is still a shy and quiet man. Yamaneko becomes a chatterbox when she’s comfortable with the person she’s speaking to.

As mentioned above, Yamaneko had to fend for herself since 18, while Last Boss was coddled as hell, so it takes some time for him to be useful in the kitchen. It doesn’t bother Yamaneko though.

It’s not that Last Boss doesn’t know how to apologize when he’s in the wrong, he doesn’t know how to use his words. Yamaneko breathed the word “sorry” on a daily basis in her difficult upbringing, so she apologized for the most minor transgressions, perceived or real, and it bled to her romantic/sexual relationships.

heehee Last Boss ticklish

I’m a Deftones fan I’m sorry that their songs are all from the band lmfao

Entombed is their main song and describes the general progression of their relationship. Key Lyrics: From the day you arrived / I've remained on your side / In chains, entombed.

Beauty School is more about the physical aspect of their relationship. Sex is one of the few times they allow themselves to be vulnerable. Key Lyrics: I like you when / When you take off your face / Put away all your teeth / And take us way underneath

Rosemary reflects how their relationship is influenced by the Borderland. They’re both lonely souls, albeit in different ways, and the Borderland is a means of an escape to them. Now, they’re fulfilling their escapist tendencies together, and neither wants to leave each other or the new world they’re in. Key Lyrics: Stay with me / As we cross the empty skies / Come sail with me / We play in dreams / As we cross through space and time / Just stay with me

Sidenote: Last Boss’ appearance here is different from his Netflix depiction as an attempt to reconcile it with his manga design, and I added some new tattoos as seen in my other post

#all my friends are shipping their ocs with canon characters and tbh mood #let me continue feeding my self-indulgence as well #alice in borderland #alice in borderland oc #last boss #takatora samura #takatora samura x oc #oc: minami yamane #illustration #shipping chart

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californiannostalgia · 4 years

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Tangled the Series Character Analysis: Childhood Trauma POV

I can't believe Tangled the Series really created two incredible antivillains and threw them in direct contrast with the pre-existing golden couple. I love what the showrunners did with the main quartet, so I made a very subjective analysis post about it from a Childhood Trauma POV. (Spoilers, obviously.)

The Boys

The series' focus is on Rapunzel, and by association her direct opposite, Cassandra, so the boys get comparatively less screen time. But it doesn't take long to figure out that Varian is meant to be a parallel for Eugene—these are two people dealing with the absence of parental guardians, struggling to reconcile the lives they previously had with their changing ideals in relation to a less-than-perfect Father Figure.

They both respond to the helpless state of being young, alone, and powerless by trying to take back power in any way they can. Eugene reinvented himself and buried his desires for a family. Varian throws in everything he has into recovering what he lost, because he's a child and the best solution he can think of is to return to the familiar safety of his father's presence. A significant portion of his desperation is fueled by fear of his father’s disapproval, because as much as Quirin loves Varian, he wasn’t the dependable voice of support. Varian needs approval from outside sources, which was also Flynn Rider’s purpose in life, once upon a time. (Again, parallels.)

Throughout the series, the boys' relationship with each other transforms from exasperated incomprehension to easy understanding. The process is hastened as Eugene lets himself realize he cares a lot about troubled kids who remind him of himself. He becomes aware that children should not be required to survive on their own like he and Lance had. Spurred on by his significant other's love and encouragement, Eugene is able to acknowledge the adverse affects of his childhood on his life and start moving on. His extending a ready hand to Varian is his process of healing. Though Eugene's first priority will always be Rapunzel, he truly wants to save Varian from the uncontrollable volatility of risky decisions because he knows that downward spiral intimately.

Of course, there is a difference between thieving from the rich and planning the destruction of a kingdom. We'll get to that later.

The Girls

Rapunzel and Cassandra are the biggest driving forces of narrative power in the show, and they are survivors of child abuse. Every one of the main quartet has Parent Issues, but Rapunzel takes the crown (figuratively speaking) with this one. She was kidnapped and groomed into a life-giving doll, and she was only able to escape her abusive adoptive mother through incredibly traumatizing means. For Cassandra, it was neglect, and even her loving adoptive father couldn't leviate the scars left on her childhood mind.

They're a classic case of Golden Child vs. Scapegoat, which is a common case seen in siblings raised by Narcissistic parents. When one child is "favored" more than the other, the kids experience vastly different childhoods, resulting in resentment that stems from their inability to understand each other. Rapunzel and Cassandra are both jealous of what the other had—Rapunzel wants Cassandra's casual, practiced ease with freedom and personal agency, while Cassandra wants the attention and respect that Rapunzel is given by the status of her birth. Because they're unwilling to speak candidly about the unique hardships of their childhood, what results is a series of miscommunications that put a strain on their friendship.

Cassandra and Rapunzel both want the other in their lives, but how they attempt to make that connection is very different. Cassandra wants to be a helpful, essential force in Rapunzel's life. Unfortunately, Rapunzel has been raised on the idea that when push comes to shove, no one will help her survive. Cassandra interprets Rapunzel's desire for independence as Rapunzel scorning the connection that Cassandra is attempting to create. Add in some manipulation from an ancient evil, and Cassandra decides she is done exhausting her emotions for Rapunzel.

Rapunzel, on the other hand, wants absolute honesty in her relationships. Gothel raised her on lies, so she spurns deception. But Cassandra knows the merits of protecting herself by holding her opinions in, which is where the misunderstandings occur. Rapunzel cannot trust someone who isn't completely forthright with her. She's tired of dealing with liars, and she grows afraid that Cassandra will cause her the same pain as Gothel did. But the thing is, Cassandra is not Gothel, and Rapunzel loved Gothel. She couldn't save Gothel, but maybe she can save Cassandra. It's not too late.

Rapunzel doesn't know when to give up on Cassandra because she is aware that she and Cassandra are similar people. Giving up on Cassandra would feel too much like giving up on her own hopes for a happy life. Rapunzel can't let Cassandra be unhappy. This princess cares too much, loves too hard. She never learned how to write people off because you can't survive a childhood like hers with that much cheer if you don't hang onto your optimism like a goddamn lifeline.

This is Rapunzel’s method of taking back power for herself: saving others. Rapunzel could have been Cassandra. Rapunzel is trying to believe she herself is worth saving—therefore, Cassandra must be worth saving as well. Rapunzel's significant other is giving her a stable source of love and support, but without a proper resolution to Cassandra's struggles—a final proof that despite Gothel's influence, they can both be happy—Rapunzel would feel incomplete.

The Golden Couple

At the end of the day, Rapunzel and Eugene are fundamentally good people. If it comes down to it, they would be unable to sacrifice the world for their own desires. (Eugene's thievery doesn't count as an expression of true desire because it was literally his method of survival. An expression of true, selfish desire for him might've been something like manipulation and abduction for the purposes of making people stay, but Eugene is not Gothel and he would never do that to anyone in a million years.) (On a side note, Rapunzel's selfish desire might've manifested in the abandonment of all duties and personal connections in favor of eternal exploration, or revenge towards a kingdom that failed to save her, or a thorough destruction of authority figures—but she loves people too much and would never be able to forsake her family.)

Life threw a lot of rocks at them, but these two came through it marginally well-adjusted. They affirmed their love for each other in a violent, unforgettable manner, which makes it easier for them to trust in each other's affection. Eugene would've been okay with never finding his biological father, just as Rapunzel had been okay with her biological parents' inability to protect her. They have no wish to punish the world for what they suffered. They’re content with who they are. They're just glad they made it, that they're finally allowed to love someone without being afraid. They're each other's saving grace.

The Antivillains

This is the difference between Hero and Antivillain: Cassandra and Varian are willing to punish the world for what happened to them. There’s a very faint line between justified retaliation and venting. In their desperation and anger, they cross the line, and they’re unable to stop themselves once they get going. Unlike the Golden Couple, Cassandra and Varian refuse to settle. They want what is owed.

Also, they really, really hate themselves. (This is important.)

Varian believes Quirin is the ultimate source of affirmation. The fact that he lost his father by way of his own dangerous experiment, coupled with the fact that no one prioritizes his call for help in the face of national disaster, is enough to make him feel isolated from the world. Though he is burdened with a growing sense of remorse for his deeds, he doesn’t stop resorting to drastic, harmful measures to get his father back until he is forcefully stopped by betrayal from his allies. He finally makes the full transition from “antagonist” to “protagonist” when Rapunzel risks herself to save Quirin from the rocks. If Quirin could not be saved, there’s a possibility Varian might have stayed an antagonist, unenthusiastic though he may have been in his villainous role. As long as Quirin is trapped in those rocks, Varian remains the villain who put him there.

With Quirin safe, Varian allows himself to take huge steps in healing. He slowly rediscovers his self-worth, one that is separate from Quirin’s approval. Rapunzel—and by extension, Eugene—play the friendly, supportive role to Varian’s ingenuity, helping him along in his quest for self-acceptance. Varian still has trouble working through the heavily ingrained self-hatred, but he recovers enough confidence in his own judgment that he takes Eugene’s warning to heart and is able to install a safety device in his father’s helmet, just in case.

This is the Varian who meets Cassandra in the Tower that once belonged to Gothel. At this point in time, Cassandra has been manipulated into thinking of herself as weak and unimportant in comparison to Rapunzel. Her adoptive father, much like Quirin, was too gruff to be vocal with approvals. Her efforts have not been met with successes. She feels like a failure, and she hates feeling like a failure. This is Cassandra’s method of taking back power: by turning herself into someone unforgettable. If she can make something of herself, she’ll finally be able to prove Gothel wrong. She can be just as special as Rapunzel, if she’s given the chance. She wants that chance.

Similar to Varian, Cassandra doesn’t stop her downward spiral until her supposed ally and mentor betrays her and forcefully takes her power away. Only when there are no options left does she allow herself to admit that she was wrong. She is then rewarded for her honesty with Rapunzel’s love and trust. Armed with a new confidence, the sisters vanquish the evil together in an epic showdown that will long be remembered. Cassandra finally gets her dramatic hero’s tale.

Rapunzel and Eugene have an internal compass that lets them make snap decisions. They don’t have the healthiest self-esteem, but they can at least stand by what they think is right. Comparatively speaking, Cassandra and Varian have terrible self-esteem. They don’t trust their own judgment and are heavily influenced by outside forces. Without the constant barrage of trust and affection from Rapunzel, who is akin to a blazing sun when it comes to personal loyalty, these antivillains might never have reached their redemptive ending. They wouldn’t have been able to let go of their twisted priorities without outside influence. Can’t blame them for it, though.

It’s no surprise that Cassandra and Varian are relatable to many people. Who wouldn’t want to reclaim what was taken from them during childhood? (Of course, the problem occurs when you start hurting others to reclaim what you lost.) Their journey is a different kind of vulnerable from Rapunzel and Eugene’s journey, and it’s extraordinary in its detail. This show is essentially a long exploration of the various ways a parent can mess you up and the coping methods of kids who want to become more than their past, which is totally up my alley of expertise. I’m grateful I got to watch them grow taller than their trauma.

Finally, here’s a parting gif of Lance, because I love him and he’s a well-adjusted ray of sunshine. We all wish we could be as mentally stable as Lance—the main quartet included.

#tangled the series #rapunzel #cassandra #varian #eugene fitzherbert #character analysis #my thoughts #child abuse #trauma recovery #when the villain origin story is self-hatred

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sourwormsaresour · 3 years

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what are your thoughts on La Squadra's sexualities?

First off, Happy Pride Month! Please have a safe one. Before I start, I just want to let you guys know that I’m a straight cisgender woman so I’m not 100% knowledgeable on sexualities so these are based on my current knowledge of the community. I’m open to all head-canons about La Squadra’s sexualities besides my own :)

Sorbet and Gelato are gay, both using he/him pronouns, and are the most out compared to everyone in the team. Even though La Squadra knew about their relationships, the two themselves aren’t open about it outside of the team and their families. This is especially because relationships can be used against you in the crime world but also because their families rely on them to have a “good reputation” to live comfortably. I head-canon that they are both breadwinners of their families: Gelato has siblings that go to very conservative, academic institutions and rely on scholarships that look into family history for recommendations, and Sorbet’s mother requires medical attention from reputable doctors that also have homophobic biases that can be used against her. They’ve secretly used some of their money to help a street kid or two that they learned was disowned after being outed or assassinated a few people for hurting kids for being part of the LGBTQ+ community or even preying on them. The two men probably both went through phases where they thought they only liked women, tried to be in heterosexual relationships, and their enemies-to-lovers type of relationship had probably stemmed from their inability to properly process their attraction to each other at the time.

Formaggio is bisexual and prefers using he/him pronouns; he has a stronger attraction to women but is unaware that he’s attracted to men as well. A big part of why he’s so unaware or in denial of it came from his conservative upbringing in a working-class family and lack of representation growing up. Formaggio knew that men can be attracted to other men, but other aspects of the LGBTQ+ community is either unknown to him or seen in a negative perception; he’s learning more about the community and how to be a better ally, especially after meeting Sorbet and Gelato, but he’s still struggling to reverse the anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments he grew up believing. As a result of his past, Formaggio assumed that one can only be attracted to one gender and never crossed his mind that people can be attracted to more than one. He often tries to hide his attraction to men via “straight guy who’s unaware he’s gay occasionally spits homophobic jokes and says ‘no homo’ every time he says "I love you" to his friends but he means full homo” approach.

Illuso is pansexual and gender fluid, preferring he/him/they/them pronouns most of the time but also likes using neo-pronouns and occasionally prefers to use she/her pronouns. As a former intern for a fashion designer before he joined La Squadra, he’s relatively more exposed to meeting different people in the LGBTQ+ community through fashion; those who were higher in status and power would be more out about it than those in lower ranking and the community was a huge source for avant-garde, counter-culture influences. Despite getting more inspiration for his designs from his interactions and developing his identity in the LGBTQ+ space, that also led to him witnessing discrimination, abuse, and powerplay caused by the higher-ups; some became victims simply because of rumors that they may be part of the LGBTQ+ community or being forcibly outed, some are forced into relationships in exchange for opportunities and privileges, etc. He remains closeted and part of his arrogance stems from him hiding his sexuality due to the trauma of enduring the abuse and witnessing it as well. La Squadra doesn’t know his sexuality or know that he’s genderfluid, but they’re fine with adapting to his pronouns whenever they change.

Pesci is unaware that they’re gay and are non-binary that prefers they/them pronouns. Although they try to stick to he/him pronouns to avoid being out, they like using they/them more and get secretly happy when someone refers to them as such. I head-canon that they’re actually younger than Giorno when they encountered Team Bucciarati, which would explain why he never killed anyone up until this point (they’re a literal kid that’s slowly getting involved in the team when Sorbet and Gelato were killed, albeit they’re on the buffer side despite their age), and with their sheltered childhood and Prosciutto’s strict mentorship, they never got to sit down and think about their sexual and gender identity. They often try to pretend they’re a macho straight man alongside Formaggio but they end up feeling bad about it after trying to say a bad comment or joke to fit in. Pesci themselves feel like they’re alone in terms of the emotions of not being able to put your sexuality into words. It doesn’t help that they’re rather isolated compared to everyone except Risotto; they only knew La Squadra as their family ever since they joined the team and they never talk to anyone outside of the group.

Prosciutto is bisexual and genderfluid, preferring to identify with he/him pronouns, but he’s also the most closeted and probably has the most internalized homophobia as well. Growing up in the entertainment industry, especially in acting, means adhering to heteronormative standards; controversies of any kind would make or break a career and he constantly heard homophobic statements “disguised” as critiques around him from all levels of the entertainment industry. The fact that he was overworked up until his “career retirement” also didn’t give him the time to sit down and realize both his sexuality and how fucked up the film industry is in terms of its treatment towards the LGBTQ+ community. With his upbringing of being presentable and hiding his sexuality, he tries to present himself in the most Italian metrosexual straight machismo man he could and uses his “gentleman charms” towards women to avoid people from questioning further about his sexuality. But at the end of the day, he knows he’s lying to himself about his sexuality. And unfortunately, his anger at being unable to express that is often misdirected.

Melone is demi-sexual, though he presents himself as asexual and panromantic, and prefers using any pronouns. Like his teammates, he prefers using he/him for his safety. As a former scientist, he learned and got to know about the LGBTQ+ community through a more scientific perspective, but also knew there are hidden homophobic biases in the science community as well. Still, he does his best to be an ally for his peers before realizing he is demisexual and panromantic. His sexuality allows him to view the incubation and child-rearing aspect of his Stand without emotions or feelings involved and further explains how he views fornication and training his Juniors in a very scientific and analytical way without guilt taking over. Despite presenting himself as ace/straight (mostly for safety and because it’s easier to explain that he has no attraction to people than being a demisexual), I also see someone who yearns to have a strong emotional connection to someone and would give his all to the person he loves most. His overtly sexual nature is more of an act (I've heard that some aces tend to act overtly sexual, either to avoid being outed or as a result of growing up thinking that need to feel an attraction is necessary) and Melone secretly desires being attracted to someone he learns to trust, admire, and love over time. I have a backstory that plays into that but I might disclose it another time. ;)

Ghiaccio is on the same boat with Prosciutto in terms of having internalized homophobia due to his childhood career as a child athlete. At the time he was training to be an Olympic hopeful as a solo figure skater, Ghiaccio was born female and had to remain in the closet due to the conservative nature of the ice skating world and his step-father being notorious for his opinions favoring homophobia and sexism. Once he joined La Squadra, Ghiaccio began experimenting with himself and ultimately came out as transgender, presenting himself with he/him pronouns, and had been using testosterone ever since. Most members that joined after him only knew Ghiaccio as male while the other members are either indifferent about his gender or are involved in helping Ghiaccio transition to be male. Transitioning also helped him realized he was aromantic and gay, which provided him closure from the years of struggle he had trying to fit into the heteronormative expectations he thought he had to conform to when he was female. The effect of testosterone also explains his brash and short-tempered nature, although that stems more from him finally being able to express himself after years of repressing his emotions as a child.

Risotto is also aromantic and asexual, preferring he/him/they/them pronouns, although he doesn’t know that he is aro/ace, to begin with. Growing up, he never really cared when he heard his older relatives or adults making comments about how “he’d make a good husband” or “have the girls chase him”, because all he cared about was his family and friends. He just assumes that once he becomes a “big boy”, then he’ll have thoughts of wanting to get married like the fairytales say. Just let his future spouse have children with him in any way and he'll play the role of husband regardless. Since his cousin’s death, he gave up the idea of having any sexual or romantic interest in anyone. Why to go out of your way to find any relationship when they’ll be dead soon enough- that was Risotto’s logic. He’s not aware that he can define himself as aro/ace, he just assumes that the trauma he went through with his cousin’s death stops him from feeling any attraction and doesn’t make an effort to figure out why.

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