#this has some funny implications with a couple people
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who will dance with you at the starlight ball?
the court mage
You enjoy the ball but wander away in the early hours of the morning, losing yourself in the corridors of the palace. Your steps take you up a spiral staircase and into the tallest tower. There, you find the court mage deep in research of a spell. Their fine clothes tell that they were at the ball at some point, but their sleeves are now rolled and their face deep in concentration. You speak softly, and the spell flashes out, as they rub their eyes, clearly tired. They invite you to stay and you sit next to them, sharing tea and conversation in the candlelight. They tell you about the magic that comes from the heavens, show you how to turn starlight into a spoon or a teacup, and talk about the ancient tunnels buried under the palace, filled with arcane secrets. Near the end of the ball, the music is so loud that it rises up to the tower. You take their hand and offer a dance, spinning across the room, stumbling upon books, and catching alembics before they crash on the floor. When they open the door back to the palace and you descend the first steps, their hand will linger on yours for a few seconds. In your hand, you will find a note with a hastily scrawled map of the palace, and a secret room marked on it, along with a delicate earring made of starlight, that will light your way down the stairs. Will you meet them on the next new moon and uncover the secrets of the palace?
#fire doesn't dance to their dictates; and now you're dancing with the greats 🔥 red / royal ball au#this has some funny implications with a couple people#wonder what this says about me 🔥 red quizzes
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I saw a post a couple of days ago that said one of the most important things about Steven Universe, thematically, is that everybody in the core cast has done at least one completely morally unjustifiable thing, regardless of how likeable or sympathetic they are otherwise, and that this is important to understanding the show thematically. This is true.
But it also reminded me of one other thing I really like about Steven Universe, which is that it’s the emotional-toxicity equivalent of all those posts about how cartoons have to come up with unimaginably worse forms of death and violence in the course of avoiding getting censored for depicting plausible forms of death and violence. All of the ways in which SU characters cross those emotional and interpersonal lines are wrapped up either in their fantastic abilities or their bizarre life circumstances in a way that makes it all esoterically awful and often much more existentially horrifying than any of the real-life dynamics it’s alluding to. You’ve said nasty things to people in the heat of the moment but you’ve never shapeshifted into the guy’s dead wife to twist the knife a little more. No violation of bodily autonomy is ever gonna involve contriving a situation in which the other party will believe that it’s necessary to fuse with you, body and soul in order to do demolition work. The most toxic relationship in the world isn’t gonna involve imprisoning someone at the bottom of the ocean for several months and only emerging to participate in humanoid-sacrifice rituals. Your codependency will never last 8,000 years, be frontloaded with a faked death you’re biomechanically incapable of confessing to, and end with your partner’s suicide-by-childbirth. Your worst roommate situation will never end with one party stealing the apartment and taking it to the moon. Et al. Et al.
I don’t remember where I was going with this, precisely, (and I may have drifted sideways from the original discussion topic of crossed lines per se, but whatever.) I mean part of it’s funny because it exists in a series with tons of mundane, non-metaphorical examinations of interpersonal issues, like everything to do with Lars and Sadie, or Sour Cream and Marty. And there’s an extent to which I’m just describing how cartoons are written. But there’s something special about how Steven Universe does it. Something delightfully fucked up about it all. I think maybe part of it is that it’s a considered and embraced fucked-upedness, none of this is just an ill-considered fridge-logic by-product of something else they were trying to do. Like for every one of these, someone in the writers room probably went, “Man, this has some fucked up implications,” and then everyone would go, “Yeah!” and hi five and put it in specifically because of that. Great Show. Great show
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Honestly? So much of Sonic Prime happens the way it does because Sonic is unabashedly, wholeheartedly neurodivergent, and I wanna talk about that in detail for several reasons
I think most people assume he has ADHD, and while I agree, I think they tend to leave it at "he's hyperactive and impulsive" when there's actually a lot more going on there.
For example, he lacks a filter. He says exactly what he's thinking, all the time, regardless of who's listening. I wouldn't be surprised if he does it as a type of vocal stim, considering that he talks to himself as much as he does to other people. Maybe he dislikes the way silence feels on his ears, too?
Something I noticed was that when Thorn gets on his case for this, asking if he ever stops talking, the way he says "eh, not really" sounds... almost resigned?
He could have easily said it in a more jokey way, but his tone (and the wide camera shot) gives me the impression that this isn't a trait of his that he feels especially positive about.
It's not cool or funny to him, at least not in this instance; it's just something he does, which further proves to me that it's more of an unconscious stim than anything else.
On the topic of the jungle world though, it also shows us a couple instances of him not being able to read others' intentions very well. Prim lies to him about knowing what the Prism shard is, and Thorn uses him to get to said shard - and despite how hostile they are, he takes both of them at their word.
He only realizes Thorn's intentions after she hits him across the clearing - not for the first time that day, mind you - and Sonic berates himself a little for not seeing this coming.
But it's not like this is the only time he has difficulty understanding intent; just look at his interactions with Shadow.
This is not the behavior of someone who understands why Shadow's picking a fight with him. He doesn't understand the implications of "you literally shook the world" because he doesn't know about the Weirder aspects of the explosion. In his mind, he just messed up a mountain.
Though I think his attitude implies another thing about his dynamic with Shadow that might explain why he was so quick to dismiss what he was talking about, which is. I don't think Sonic usually understands why they fight??
Shadow is a person of few words and Sonic has a hard time picking up on subtleties, that's a recipe for miscommunication already. And if Sonic's already predisposed to thinking that Shadow fights him Just Because, then of course he didn't take this particular instance seriously.
Though going back to "he only registered the physical effect of the explosion," Sonic is actually pretty consistent with understanding things that are tangible a lot better than anything else. Case in point: that One Palm Tree
His first reaction to seeing it presented as a gift is that it must be a trick. because he doesn't see the tangible point of the tree, and isn't enough of a symbolism guy to see the sentimental point of it, either.
Don't get me wrong, he is being insensitive here, but I don't think it's on purpose in any way. Look at his body language and expressions:
Even as he's getting on their case for being too sentimental, he's not unhappy or uncomfortable with them. He's just completely failing to recognize that this was supposed to be a big deal for them, so he's treating it way more casually than is appropriate.
Which is like. a classic social flub for neurodivergent folks
(Quick side note - this specific "huh" that he makes as Tails is flying away before Sonic realizes he's upset is a whole mood. I don't know how to explain it but this is Exactly what it feels like when you can sorta tell something's not clicking but you don't know what yet)
(Look at him. brain static)
I could go on with the detailed explanations but some of that would just be me repeating past posts I've made, so I'll leave it at "he is clearly not handling change well either" and link back to an example.
So anyway, this is what I meant when I said that so much of the show is impacted by Sonic being neurodivergent. It affects how we hear his thoughts as viewers, it affects his ability to understand and connect with his friends, it's why he dismisses Shadow, it's why he impulsively smashes the Paradox Prism, the list goes on.
And he's not stupid because of any of these traits, either. None of what I've described has to do with intelligence, but I've seen "Sonic is too dumb" as a reason to criticize the show, and that's just not what's happening here.
If anything, I'm actually really impressed with how well the writers have managed to portray a more nuanced take on what a character with ADHD would look like. Because he's not just being hyperactive and chatty, you can tell it affects how he perceives things too.
Which is a much bigger part of the overall experience, and it's really cool to see in a cartoon like this - and in the lovable main character, to boot! Who cherishes his friends despite his struggles to understand them! Why is it so good!
In conclusion Sonic is the ADHD king we both needed and deserved, thanks for coming to my TED talk
#sonic the hedgehog#sonic prime#sonic prime spoilers#analysis#meta#He might also have autism because there's a lot of overlap there#I mostly just went with ADHD because it seems to be the consensus#and it takes too long to specify that it could be either or both in the main post
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request!!: peter parker who has a huge crush on reader and one day r just accidently friendzones themself without even realising that they did? (i hope that makes sense?) then after that u can take it anywhere u want to honestly!! ly <333
ily anon, you answered my pleas. also you know that tt prank where couples kiss and then say “thanks brother” or “love you sis”… couldn’t help but add it for some comedy.
mcu!peter parker x fem!reader
masterlist
you need to learn when to shut your mouth. tripping your foot into your mouth has gotten you into too many situations before, but this one is absolutely the worst one. you might as well be taken to the grave already.
your just a girl. sometimes you say your crush is “like a brother to you” when getting hounded by mr. delmar. it’s a panic move, mouth speaking before mind catches up. and it landed you in the dog house when you saw the way peter’s face dropped at the implication. but you thought he was smart enough to know that wasn’t true, you were touchy and teasing with him. you wouldn’t do that with a sibling, you’re not one of those people.
“mj, i’m a fucking idiot.” groaning into your pillow, trying to suffocate yourself.
she gave an exasperated sigh that you knew was followed by an eye roll. “yes you are, but you don’t need parker.” you heard the flip of a page.
you whined in your throat, “but i want parker!” acting like a tantrum kid. even adding a kick to your feet, your bed springs creaking.
mj groaned, “then clear the air! it’s not that hard!” over your peter parker drama.
you rolled from your stomach to your back, arms flipping to your sides as you stared up at your white ceiling. “but what if-“ your sentence was cut short by a knock at your window.
“say his name and he appears.”
peeking at the tips of your toes you saw peter squatting on your terrace, a hesitant smile with an awkward wave. welp, now’s a good time to clear the air.
crawling off your bed you pushed the window up and were greeted by a cool breeze. bits of peter’s baby curls swaying with the touch, a angelic glow surrounding him. you feel yourself melt just at the sight of him.
“h- hey peter, whatcha-“ “can we talk? alone?”
your eyes zeroed in on mj who was blantanly staring at the two of you, book of no interest at the moment. “oh, i’m fine over here.”
“mj…” “fine. fine. i’ll see you both at school.” packing up and leaving your home with a wiggle of her brows.
“so what did-“ “do you really think of my as a brother?”
you couldn’t help a small chuckle, “kinda funny how you’ve interrupted me three times, but uh, no. i- i don’t see you as a brother, that thought feels gross. mr. delmar was making me anxious.” looking to your fingers as you drummed them along your windowsill.
“oh thank god.” peter declared while cupping his hands on your cheeks to bring your head up. both of you smiling brightly at each other
two months later
“so what do i do?” “just sit there and look pretty.”
a shy smile at peter’s lovely words. he finished setting up his camera and pressed record, you just stared at his side profile.
“you wanna get to her, well you gotta go through me.” and peter turned to kiss you on the lips. a shiny haze covered your eyes then- “love you sis.”
“peter!”

#erin’s blurb requests#peter parker x you#peter parker fluff#peter parker angst#tasm peter parker#peter b parker#peter parker fic#peter parker imagine#peter parker x female reader#peter parker x reader#peter parker#mcu peter parker#ps5!peter parker
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So I’ve been thinking more about one of the more subtle but striking questions brought up by Ruby’s tree vision:
Namely; to where or rather to who were Raven and Summer portaling to? After all, it’s been established that Raven’s semblance, Kindred Link, allows her to create portals specifically to people she has established a certain bond and connection with.
And this is particularly interesting, because of the people we thus far know have Raven’s ‘Link’, only ONE was otherwise not present in the flashback; Qrow.
And wouldn’t you know it; Qrow also happens to be one of the people we can definitively say DOESN’T know what happened to Summer, going off his talk with Ruby in Volume 7 where he mentions having no idea where Summer went or what she was doing on her mysterious last mission.
Now, as I’m sure some people will bring up, it IS possible that Qrow was actually present and is simply keeping quiet about it to Ruby. However, personally I seriously doubt that. As I simply don’t see the writers cheapening such a personal and important scene between Ruby and Qrow by later revealing that Qrow was actually outright lying to Ruby at the time.
So that seemingly leaves us with seemingly only one other option: That Summer and Raven portaled to someone else.
As to who that someone might be? Well personally, I think it would have to be someone we likely haven’t met yet. I know some people have suggested it could have been Ozpin, but frankly I don’t buy that one bit. Whatever happened to Summer is clearly meant to have MASSIVE implications, impact and general status-quo shattering revelations, all things it would make much more sense that Oz has NO idea to. Not to mention it’s kind of hard to imagine Raven forming a link, clearly a very close connection, with someone she seems to have always distrusted like Ozpin. Meaning that we’re left with a character that we simply haven’t be introduced to yet.
However, after giving it some more thought, I think there may be a THIRD option:
Raven and Summer DIDN’T actually portal to a person.
Remember just how we learned the mechanics of Raven’s semblance?
It was via Yang explaining it, via information she was told by TAI.
Here’s the thing though; Tai certainly knew how Raven’s semblance worked back when they were a team with Summer and Qrow. But it’s also been a LONG time since then. And wouldn’t you know it, these last couple volumes have ALSO introduced us to the concept of SEMBLANCE EVOLUTION.
So what if in the near-twenty-odd years since leaving her team, Raven’s semblance ALSO ‘evolved’? To the point where she can form her ‘Links’ with more than JUST people?
Perhaps now Raven can form a link with objects that have particular significance to her? Or, and this one I find the most compelling, LOCATIONS that are particularly important to her?
It’s funny that we’ve never actually known for sure where or to who Raven has been portalling to all the times we’ve seen her. Sure, in hindsight I think we’ve all been assuming it was Vernal in Volumes 2, 3, and 4, and to Taiyang at the end of Volume 5. But the funny thing is, we DON’T actually hear the characteristic sound of Raven’s portal opening in the V5 post-credits scene with Tai, only the flapping of wings. Implying that Raven may not have actually portalled to Tai directly…
Meaning that throughout the show, perhaps Raven wasn’t actually portalling to Vernal, but rather to the camp, the home which now has great significance and meaning to her. And at the end of Volume 5, she portalled not to Tai, but rather to the home she once had on Patch. Or, for the REAL spicy alternative, to Summer’s grave.
So what if at the start of their world-most-homoerotic-suicide-mission together, Raven and Summer portalled not to a person, but rather to a LOCATION that Raven was able to set up a link to?
(shoutout to @mikey-polo420 for the ask that got me thinking about this :D)
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Honestly, the implication with the Sendings that there is something wrong with the leylines and the weave of magic in Exandria is so funny to me. There is a non-zero chance, not even a low chance, that Ludinus is pissed because he got tossed to some random point in Exandria, and now he has to walk places. And maybe get on a ship. God forbid.*
But this also has a lot of other implications. The leylines tend to be associated with both intra- and interdimensional travel, as well as things like Scrying, Sending of course, and possibly other methods of divination.
It is also possible that, given what we know about dunamis, that dunamancy is also tied to the leylines or the weave in some way.
We know that divine magic is at least working—but we only know this to be true of divine magic granted by a god of the Pantheon.
So, with all of that in mind, a HIGHLY incomplete sample of things that may or may not be happening across Exandria while the Hells A-Team is traveling to Uthodurn:
Yussa is torn between gratitude for being free from the menace of Caleb Widogast teleporting into his house and Jester Lavorre sending him messages at all hours, and irritation that he can't get any of his work done because it all has to do with planar magic.
Any gratitude wears off when Fjord and Jester come banging on his door because Jester cannot send any messages nor contact Artagan, who is bound by the rules of the planes and by extension the leylines (since he can, unlike the gods, pass mostly freely from plane to plane).
Fjord's magic is completely fine because he is operating on sheer force of will and obeys no laws known to mortals, physics, or nature. Essek, who was holed up in the Lavorres' spare room for the week, is absolutely pissed because half of his magic is broken (and also he has no idea where his partner is).
Caleb and Beau take like seven hours to get the collar off before discovering that they are stuck somewhere in the Issylran tundra. (They would probably get fined by the Slayer's Take for the number of bounties they take out their rage on, if the Slayer's Take had ANY idea who the fuck they were.)
Caduceus is cheerfully gardening and has no idea this has happened. Melora decides not to bother him. Let him live in bliss, unlike the rest of Exandria.
Dorian has been having a meltdown into his Sending stone while Opal and Dariax run rampant and Cyrus looks very pretty but does absolutely nothing. It has no effect.
Keyleth is sitting in a daze somewhere next to a tree that will not open wondering if the last thirty-six hours were a fever dream.
The city of Syngorn saw the moon nonsense, panicked, tried to hop to the Feywild, then panicked harder. Fortunately, they could not contact anyone, and Allura Vysoren did not have to hear about it.
Ludinus has murdered several people. It has gotten him no closer to leaving whatever random part of the Tal'dorei countryside he is menacing.
Somewhere, there is a bird. That bird saw this beam, looked down into a very old, very precious orb, and said, "Not this fucking shit again."
All in all, very funny couple of days Exandria is happening. I'm sure things will not get any worse.
*I know he traveled by ship to the peace talks, okay, but that was for appearances. He didn't have shit to be doing at the time.
#critical role#cr spoilers#cr meta#honestly what's up in bazzoxan. I was gonna make a joke about verin but I truly don't even have a CLUE#I do think either the shattered teeth are in chaos or the perpetual cloud over it is just suddenly clear for the first time in a millennium#now THAT would be wild actually#yes this is just a post to clown on everyone. I'm having a great time actually.#yes I did make an agrupnin joke cerrit was invoked and I am being absolutely normal about it.
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WHO IS EOC? i am very curious now!!!
>:) okay SO
tumblr picture formatting is utter garbage and i dont want these to take up too much space so im cramming these drawings into one row (or not if this crapsite breaks on me, because it seems to be REALLY fighting me on this, so if it ends up not making a nice little picture row know that i tried my best). but this is effigy of composure!
he has a couple problems, but the big one is that his superstructure has a terrible parasite situation. the parasites are flat, thin, and able to make it into grooves and pipes the inspectors cant reach. flushing out doesnt do much to dislodge them and they breed faster than they can be killed, so theyve happily made their homes in this sheltered, food-rich haven (to the obvious distress and horror of the host iterator). originally the concept for these parasites were much closer to centipedes and had the placeholder name "synapcipedes," but ive since started leaning more towards an obvious tapeworm motif for them because its gross and i enjoy it morbidly. it also has some pretty cursed implications if you think about it for too long which i have decided are funny/really disgusting/so stupid that they have to stay. i still flipflop between considering them centipedes vs tapeworms though and i dont think thatll ever be rigidly defined. the ambiguity is nice to toy with
on the top 10 list of "things that are not fun" having turbo worms has to be somewhere up there, so eoc has it *rough,* and kind of sort of eventually barrels off into the deep end because of it. his futile attempts to clean his own structure are frustrating enough, and the constant feeling of bugs crawling all over the inside of his body (which only gets progressively worse with time) does no favors either. however, the real big reason why he mentally declines is just because there's a ton of centi-worm things eating like fire through his neurons and other what-have-yous that iterators need to think and function. i think if he only got hit with one of these 3 things then he might have been able to hang onto his sanity, but with the triple combo he doesn't really stand a chance of doing much except stalling his functional death. which is good on him because if i was an iterator and my overseers told me i had a structure infestation, my mental health would have just preemptively swan dived off a bridge before anything even happened
anyhow, exponential parasite population growth meant exponential increase in all this other fun stuff, which means the time from the beginning of the infection to the time eoc is considered officially gone is startlingly short (for iterators, at least). it still took quite the while because losing your marbles is a loonnnng process, but still, yikes. its unfortunate because eoc was a real jokester pre-everything, and a cool guy to talk to. he was one of those people who could come up witty comments for anything like hed been ripped from the script of a sitcom. oh yeah, also, should have mentioned this earlier, but he ends up accidentally amassing a scavenger cult mid-insanity which goes hilariously bad because he's barely aware it's happening. nothing really works out for this poor iterator.
tldr: eoc gets parasites, they erode his brain, he goes nuts about it, (accidentally amasses a cult,) dies
#thank you for asking!#oc: eoc#rainworld#my art#ask#tw parasites#his complexity rating is low because he loses personality during/after the whole insanity thing#and also because he really only existed as the crux for the scavenger cult until recently#he became more of a character and less of a background plot device#why is the readmore broken wtf
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I wanna talk about something I have mentioned a couple times. Sasuke is a character that by various other characters and by Kishimoto is called by various different Japanese words that imply attractiveness or something preferable, such as beautiful, good-looking, sexy/hot, cool, even cute and pure. No other character has them called this many words as Sasuke. Kishi clearly wrote Sasuke as someone really desirable, to the point some people see traits of how some female characters are often written. It is due to homoeroticism and Kishi’s own bias towards Sasuke.
Let’s first look at volume 38 which I have always found interesting. It is the volume where Sasuke finally properly comes back to the story and starts to move the plot forward. First we have the cover that people have said looks romantic, like a pair of star-crossed lovers, in which Sasuke is on the front with his shirt open. But that is not all. In the same volume in a matter of few pages we see Sasuke in questionable positions with three different male characters. So Kishimoto just happened to draw Sasuke in these odd positions in a matter of a few days. What is the reason? The reason is simply to imply homoeroticism and Sasuke being desirable in a male-male interaction. It is not even subtle.
Of course, Kishi doesn’t forget to drop an implication of Naruto desiring Sasuke as well in the very same volume, despite the two not interacting.
Nor Sasuke’s blunt disinterest in women.
Another thing is Sasuke tends to lose his clothes in his fights, is it fanservice or is it self service from Kishimoto? When Kishi talked about designing Sasuke and Sai, he used “kakkoii” for Sasuke’s open shirt and Sai’s open stomach. So looks like kakkoii is his G-rated word for sexy.
Thank you Karin. It is funny how Kishi sometimes has to make a character say something out loud to make sure people got what he was doing.
With Orochimaru it’s most obvious. There’s obvious sexual subtext to Oro’s pursuit of Sasuke’s body.
Tobito isn’t much better. Why are the villains around Sasuke like this?
Or even Kabuto. Kabuto kept trolling Naruto for being obsessed with Sasuke and then he does this. Telling Sasuke he wants him to stay by his side (I didn’t bother to look for the panel but it’s when Sasuke and Itachi fight him) and then this... obvious innuendo with his... thing. Even Orochimaru has to make an ironic comment about it like seriously Kishi? You just couldn’t help yourself with that Oro panel?
Do you understand now what I mean? Kishi does this weird stuff with Sasuke all the time. Oh he’s so sensitive and beautiful and pure I must have him, he’s mine.
And here’s a bit of mythology Kishimoto used. During the confrontation between Orochimaru, Itachi and Sasuke Kishimoto used the legend of Kushinada-hime as an influence. Kushinada-hime was the youngest of the eight daughters of Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi. Kushinada-hime was to be offered as a sacrifice to the eight-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi who had a sword inside of him, and who had already devoured seven beautiful maidens, but she was saved by Susanoo, who defeated Yamato-no-Orochi with the Totsuka Sword.
The Eight-headed Serpent is obviously Orochimaru in the manga. His eight branches technique and the sword inside of him are clear references to the mythology
The Totsuka Sword is wielded by Itachi’s Susanoo in the manga and it is what defeats Orochi. Just like in the mythology.
So who is the princess/goddess/maiden that needs to be saved from Yamata-no-Orochi? Well it is our Sasuke of course. Is it any wonder why people think Sasuke is heroine when Kishimoto writes him like this? He just wants to stress how desirable Sasuke is, but that at the end of the day, he’s Naruto’s...
(Note: I remember a manga Ranma½ also featured Yamata-no-Orochi, but since it was a comedy manga it was a perverted snake who only liked devouring pretty girls.)
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Yo what's up it's me, ya boi, [horrendous infection that knocked me down for a couple days]
Anyway I'll be catching up episodes 3 4 and 5 tomorrow/day after, but for now I just wanna do my thing with ep 6. 6&7 are possibly some of my favourite episodes in Tristamp, so I'm hyped to show off my theories/details about them.
Once again spoilers for Trimax [HEAVY spoilers in this case, we're talking about Legato and Razlo]
TL;DR there's something fucked up with Tristamp Livio and by extension Razlo, and I need more of them all the time.
@tristampparty I'm back in the game!
So a lot of these theories and details will link to episode 7 :]
So of note in this scene is (obviously) Wolfwood's weird red eyes which. Pretty cool ngl. But I do think there's something to be said about the way he pauses and carries the Punisher in this scene; there's a pretty popular theory that Wolfwood gets extremely overstimulated when he takes a vial and the way he pauses and wobbles with the Punisher here is, for me, more evidence for the list.
Also that they won't give this man a CAR. Give him a Thomas or something??? I think it speaks to the dehumanization of Wolfwood by EOM that he doesn't seem to get to use transport like a normal person - always set to wander the desert, because he can survive that! Not like a normal person, of course. Only the Punisher is inhuman enough to do that.
I'll have what he's having [I love that Nightow's wanted poster gets in the magazine despite being. Yknow, 30 $$]
I'll talk about this more when I actually get round to analyzing episode 5, but Roberto calling out Vash's not-being-human and then immediately going "well I'm not risking my life for that" is interesting because he's, well, a reporter. It speaks to his experience that he's not willing initially to chase down something that could be a big scoop. But also,,,, Vash looks like. 20. Roberto is probably about in his 30s-40s, which means he's probably heard of Vash since childhood [Since Tristamp Vash has a much longer reputation history than Trimax/98]. I really wonder what Roberto thinks of that; did the picture not come as a shock to him, or did he already know? Does part of the reason he keeps letting himself be talked into following Vash stem from a lifelong curiosity? Much to think about.
This plant HAUNTS me. Why does she have such a different tank? Used to power the Ion Cannon, maybe, but there's the possibility people adjusted it so she can better power the sandsteamer and that's,,,, There's a complicated relationship between humans and plants (obviously), but little implications like those adjustments make me go !!!! [My friend @millions-dykes has a Plant Engineer oc, Enigma, who focuses on that concept. She's very cool]
LIVIO SIGHTED. Let me get this out of the way quickly, but y'know that panel that is often cited as inspiration for Tristamp Livio's design? Yeah that's. That's Razlo.
Which is really fucking funny to me because it's foundational to Tristamp Livio - love that for him, but trimax Livio specifically does not wield Punishers, and the page that this appears on is when Razlo is getting Livio to tell him he's the strongest (Which then goes into this training flashback montage page which is Razlo-centric). Which again, extremely funny to me.
Not necessarily analysis, but something all iterations of Trigun do great at is a sense of Scale. The sandsteamer is massive, yes, but so is the desert. There's some great shots with the moons later on, which I love as well.
Wolfwood really doesn't try and keep it secret, huh? I mean, in every iteration Vash Knows[TM], but tristamp Wolfwood in particular just,,, doesn't keep the secret. I wonder what other conversations they've had, when Wolfwood realized Vash knew.
Being always able to see Wolfwood's eyes gives him a layer of emotion that I really like - Trimax Wolfwood is a little more reserved, because he's more developed, further layered into those coping mechanisms and repressions that make up his character. Tristamp Wolfwood hasn't quite had that yet, and it's reflected in his design. It's sick as hell
Time for me to be so normal about Livio and Razlo ^_^ so I've built up a bit of a study case on the differences in when Livio or Razlo are fronting [Trimax], and once you start looking into paneling and shit it's Very apparent! Which is cool! And I'm starting to build up one for Tristamp Livio, which,,, well, you'll see. Anyway take note of his movements here - slow, even footsteps and steady guns.
The mask here is. Also a red flag for something being Off. The eye moving independently suggests that either they have some Weirder Than Usual Body Stuff going on, that Trimax Livio and Razlo can do that and nobody comments on it because they're being polite or - My theory - the mask having those electrical components are embedded somewhat in Livio's face. I will explain in just a second.
Livio as a kid being so upset about his parents interests me - In Trimax, Razlo kills Livio's parents because Razlo was formed as a protective alter due to heavy childhood abuse, and Livio doesn't seem too upset by that specifically, more just being,,, alone. I wonder what happened with their parents in this specific timeline, or if Razlo just hasn't presented yet.
Now I've uh. Kinda semi-intentionally blocked out some stuff I've read in the Bible, but I do remember someone being crucified upside down. St Peter that was it! I don't remember anything else but I'm sure people more well-versed in the Bible will have some imagery to point out lol
Legato's outfit seems a touch inspired by that one July flashback in Trimax. Which, given that Tristamp is a leadup to July, is a nice touch!
Legato might be a bit protective of his hair. Can't imagine why.
On a more serious note, it makes sense for Legato to have such a protectiveness around his body and physical appearance, especially if Knives had an influence in it.
sands undertal
I really do wonder what Legato's ability is in this. Like unless they retrieved Vash's arm from the. Wherever it got sucked into when it was amuptated they can't go the 98 route. But the wire explanation of Trimax also doesn't quite seem to fit. Something new, maybe. Could be related to Plants!
I wonder if Vash here is thinking about Rollo. That Wolfwood was willing to kill Rollo out of mercy, and he's going to do it again to Livio. Except this time, Wolfwood knows Livio. Vash doesn't know Livio, but Wolfwood does and it's going to hurt Wolfwood if Vash lets him carry on with this. So he goes to save Livio, and save Wolfwood as well. Similar to Trimax, where Vash kills Legato to save Livio as a remnant of Wolfwood's memory, Vash here could be protecting Livio to protect Wolfwood.
Okay here's where my crack theories come in. So I do think that Razlo is elbowing his way into front about here, not even necessarily because Livio is getting his ass handed to him, but because of the mask. He's probably not fully There, because the progressing fighting style continues in Livio's movements, but the eye changes are. Well, it's Livio and Razlo you can never be too careful.
So Livio hits the mask here and is down for the count for. A Bit. What's important here to me is that the mask does of course have an electrical component. Now, what would that be for? Well, gathering that Livio seemingly has a bit of trouble after this (early episode 7, this is a two parter theory), that the mask is used by EOM to force a switch remotely. After the mask seemingly malfunctions, we get a lot more Razlo-esque movements and traits in episode 7 before Livio seems to come back in and have his little meltdown.
It links in with both dehumanization of neurodivergent people (In this case, a system) and the usage of Razlo and Livio by EOM. Razlo's very often portrayed as Big Scary Murder Alter by EOM for scare factor, whereas when we get a bit more into Razlo's head in the Elendira fight we see a bit more what he's actually like - protective alter groomed into assassinhood by Chapel - and lends more understanding to the character. EOM being able to force trigger a switch would be viscerally horrifying for that loss of autonomy theme in a way that speaks to many neurodivergent people. Thanks for coming to my ted talk????
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Talking about a ship for me is complicated because the feeling that I might be missing something or extrapolating too much. But still, I want to talk about Kafka/Blade.
Since HSR is a gacha, the chances of playable characters having romantic relationships are very low, so the fans have to pick the crumbs. Sometimes it’s pretty much obvious the devs want certain characters together, but the hand of the gacha business model holds them back. Other times, not really, maybe the devs are really aiming for platonic or other. And, of course, fans are free to interpret their own. So, I’m here to give my interpretation of KafBlade, why it called my attention.
From their interactions, they are working together and they have a level of affection: Kafka calls him Bladie (and he’s upset if others call him by that), Blade loves hearing her singing and is receptive to her whispers; they also seem to have good synergy in the battlefield. It also works in accomplishing missions, with Kafka’s lack of fear making her prone to injuries and Blade acting as her immortal bodyguard. Plus, there’s the implication they had to fake being a couple for a mission, which I hope it never gets a full flashback because imagining how it went is funnier. How they complement each other is what makes them so interesting.
They are both fundamentally broken people. We know Blade’s story, but it’s pretty implied Kafka has some tragedy in the closet (with Blade commenting he doesn’t want to see her sad; would it really be surprising?). And, they are villains after all.
But still, what I see in them is how they can still experience with each other things that they couldn’t imagine to experience or that they thought that they’d never experience. For example, Kafka is a liar. It’s a strength in her job, to the point even when she’s telling the truth it still feels she’s lying. She uses her whispers to dominate men and then discard them when they’ve done their jobs. She goes full “nothing personnel, kid”, because for her everything is just a job.
And then, one day, appears a guy who’s like “can you do that again?” A guy who wants to be whispered, whose lies sooth and motivate him. And then she learns he’s an immortal that wants to die and then she decides that she’ll help, but that she will strive to make his life more fun until that day because he amuses you. She has no feelings for him, because she has no feelings at all (or are very different from what normal people think to be); either she wasn’t born with them or the organization she learned her skills remove them, but still she just wants to make him feel good about his journey to death.
Blade is similar: he wants revenge. He crafted his entire life and used all his bladesmith skills to pursue that goal; it’s easy to imagine him forgoing everything, his feelings, his self-care, eating whatever slop he puts on his face, a very miserable life. And then one day a woman appears saying “join me” and she’s actually…fun to be around. Sure, they are using each other to their respective objectives, but there’s something more to it. He starts to pick her habits and helps her whenever she needs carry her stuff. And then he starts to wonder that, yes, his life sucks, but it sucks a bit less with her around. The blade he crafted for revenge can be used to protect, unexpectedly.
It should be noted that the devs already had opportunities to portray their relationship as toxic and abusive, but they haven’t. I’m not sure I’d call healthy either, but there seems to be a mutual respect and trust about them. I mean, they are dangerous (along with the rest of the Stellaron Hunters, Silverwolf, Sam and Elio himself (it’d be really funny if he was the cat)), but still it’s not hard to imagine them as a found family. We have to wait for future updates to see how they’ll be developed, but their Team Rocket dynamic with the heroes is fun.
One last thing is how I think it’s funny that KafBlade is “what if Gojo and Marin (from My Dress Up Darling) were evil?”. Kafka is the extroverted girl that loves shopping and fashion, while Blade is the recluse artist, but that grew bitter - as Yingxing, he was one the best bladesmiths of the Xianzou, he knows what beauty is (also please read the fanfic “dal segno al fine”, it really captures this side of his) – and would be reluctant even if Kafka’s feelings were like Marin’s; Kafka would have to have a lot of patience, but I think she’s not one to give up once she set up a goal.
I didn’t really review their text and quotes, I’m remembering all of it in the game and some comments in the internet. Even so, I wonder if others share these thoughts on them, especially the fact they bring out things that were previously kinda buried in each other, so it has potential for a more mature love story.
#honkai star rail#kafblade#blafka#kafka x blade#blade x kafka#again this is how i extrapolate#but still i never understood the term comfort ship until now#of course it also has potential for their interaction even as platonic#or platonic in the lack of a better term#stellaron hunters
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tyler galpin x reader where he continues to trick her even after revaling himself for wednesday at the police station? just begging for some angst !
when he has nickels for every time he manipulates someone from the addams family. he only has two nickels, but funny it happened twice..
word count 2.05k | pairing tyler galpin x reader | show wednesday (netflix) | warnings manipulation, unhealthy relationship/situationship(?), don’t romanticize stuff like this, minor implication of suggestive content, but like rlly it was just making out | author's note i think my stack of scenarios that have to do with tyler, it’ll be called something like tyler-tinted glasses or something like that. | character notes reader has the power to be able to play the past memories of hers and anyone’s as long as she puts her mind to it in front of her and visible to anyone in the room, like if u watched anastasia, when the past memory of dance during once upon a december. she can pause a memory and inspect much more deeply for hints about something. she also doesn’t like doing it to someone else’s memory due to invasion of privacy | i dont write angst well lol
—HAPPINESS is what you thought you would be feeling. well, it has been what you have been feeling for the past couple of months. that was until you realized that your barista crush happened to be two-timing with your cousin. with wednesday’s lack of being in touch with her romantic feelings or whatever feelings she was having, you had no idea what was going in her head until she acts upon something. it explained the nights with the unresponsive texts and no shows from tyler. even if he would reassure you the next day that he was just busy studying or taking closing shifts at weathervane, there was just something not right.
funny enough that you trusted him enough to take his word. there was no reason to not trust him, usually comes through in every date planned for the exception of the standups. staring at the ceiling of your dormitory room, the blank ceiling started to form words taunting of your own thoughts. your mind swallowing the ability to think straight about whether the feelings that developed between you both were true. you knew yours were true, barely letting many people come through. there was something about tyler that just connected with you. yet, he also connected with the one person who shows no interest in anything or anyone, for that matter. maybe, he can be some psychopath that somehow gets through two addams family members.
remembering all of the many sleepless nights as you wondered why he would be gone. maybe him being the hyde was the truth on why he skipped out on dates. you always went through your recollection of memories in your bed. you vividly remember when tyler missed a late night sneak out the first time, the cold shoulder that you had given the morning of at weathervane. no text message as to why he missed it. the reassurance that his father was still awake in the midst of the night and could not leave to avoid suspicion. you simply nodded, understanding as he slid you your favorite drink and pastry while sitting in front of you on his break. knowing that his last words from that memory was “i’ll make it up to you. tonight, i promise.”
watching from your bed, knees curled up to your chest, no clue as to why you felt so… upset. he apologized. the next was not him missing, more so just acting out of the ordinary. the usual movie date in the crackstone crypt was just a common occasion of your late-night sneak outs. his phone had starting ringing, usually it would not be an oddity for someone to call at a such late night. he paused the movie, saying that he had to answer the call. maybe it was an important call, and you did not stop him. bits and pieces were only heard about meeting at some place with an unknown female caller ending with a ‘bye, love you.’ confusion written all over your face. never once in whatever type of relationship you had, “love you” was not said at all. you never heard him say that, not even to his dad when he bid tyler a goodnight when heading off to bed during your facetime calls. confronting him about what he had said out of curiosity, and he replied with ‘you misheard, i said see you. it was one of my classmates from that group project.’ it was followed with a kiss. though with the time built together, tyler easily reads the expressions of your eyes and eyebrows. relief not settling with you after his reassurance. but he knew what to do, he knew you enjoyed the affection from him. he cradled you in his arms as he continued the movie, occasionally making jokes about the horrendous quality of the movie and giving small pecks, eventually capturing your lips into his and melting any curiosity left that ran through your mind. his last words ended with “you’re the only one i want, i promise.”
so many promises that you continued to realize, too dazed about how he made you feel. how he adored you. how he understood you. but you missed all the warnings. though there is one collection of memories that stood out from the rest since it was the beginning of your trust in hin hanging on the line. waiting restlessly as you waited for tyler at your chosen date night spot which was hanging out in the storage room of weathervane, you eyed your phone seeing that it was an hour past. you figured to go back to nevermore, seeing that he was never going to show. if he was late, he would never be late past 5 minutes. upon reaching your dormitory, thing was slowly tapping on your desk, awaiting upon your arrival. eyeing the sides of the space, taking a seat in front of him, you watched him retell what just happened; something about enid, tyler, and wednesday checking out the gates mansion. ‘thing, you know how I feel all about this.. monster hunt. if wednesday wanted me to come, she would have asked. tyler would have said something, too. don’t give me that attitude, thing. there’s nothing up with tyler. sure sure..’
you watched yourself turn towards your closet before watching thing crawl off wherever he wanted to be. thing was right, there was something untrustworthy with tyler. if there had to be one person you really could trust, it was thing. you sped through the memory, resuming the next day when tyler facetimed you, well attempted to facetime you as you found refuge in crackstone’s crypt. ignoring his countless calls, you watched the streamline of text messages flooding in from him with apologies and asking you to pick up your phone. additionally, enid was texting you about how crazy wednesday truly was and ranting about her feelings, something along the lines of what went down. thing was too busy conversating about tyler and wednesday including what may be some sort of relationship they had, only for him to stop and quickly crawled away.
engulfed into a warm embrace from behind, tyler’s head dropped into your shoulder. you watched as you tried to push away, knowing that you never wanted to and enjoyed the warmth. yet, you were disappointed. and he knew. he knew why and he knew how to fix it. he knew how you would come crawling back with knowing what to say and the endless amount of physical touch. face burning and heart racing as you raced through the memory, knowing that the scattered kisses across your neck was followed with another empty promise, ‘i promise I love you, just you.’ the words calmed you, and the wavering trust died with the curiosity, knowing that he loved you and only you. and which the memory ended with thing being scarred and ensuring to give him endless amount of his favorite hand lotion and massages.
though, you really should have listened to thing, perhaps you would not have had caught the two at crackstone crypt in what would have been your own date with tyler, giving her the same picnic with a movie date night idea, designed with the fairy lights and the old cinema. though, your timing was impeccable as you hid around the corner, seeing that his dad and few of his police coworkers got there first. that was the first time you had truly started avoiding tyler, but you also avoided wednesday, then again, it was a rare occasion of seeing her unless she needed your help with something such as rushing over when thing was heavily injured.
you have avoided them both until wednesday banged on your door, explaining what her vision about tyler had entailed. you listened and agreed to help her out, but it was just to see if she was correct. she also did not leave the details out that she had kissed him since it was what sent her into her vision. you did as she asked, and you knew what she was going to do. just as stubborn as she is, you knew you could not prevent whatever she was going to be doing. chaining him to the chair, you wanted to stay and see if this was the truth. but you couldn’t.
“whatever you do with him, don’t kill him,” and you left, heading to your dormitory. your thoughts were running as fast as your heart was the entire way back. dreadfully entering your room, you could not lay on your bed. pacing around the room, you wanted to yank your cousin’s hair out. why couldn’t you stop her? feeling anxious, the vibration of your phone alerted you. quickly reaching into your pocket, you read the messages from bianca,
wednesday is getting expelled i heard. tyler’s dad didn’t press charges.
since the previous night and bianca’s texts somewhat calming you down, you were pacing in the morning in your favorite spot within the woods, seeing that wednesday has been expelled. principal weems forbade you the night before to communicate with your cousin, preventing any plans that potentially follow through since you did help wednesday chain him up. you were in the nicer part with a random bench you found with tyler, you usually sat down and read a few books until you needed to head to class or your extracurriculars, but for now you could not. a branch snapped and you turned around, seeing tyler. you halted in your paces, not knowing whether to hug him or scream at him. so, you stood there, waiting for him to say something.
but he didn’t. he came closer and you knew what he was going to do and took a step back.
he scoffed, “you believe her, don’t you?”
you didn’t, but what about the times he missed, the mystery person, what about all of the unanswered questions. there was nothing rather questionable about tyler. what you perceived, he was a normie or so, you thought. wednesday presented his mother’s files to you, which pointed that there was a possibility that he was not as normal as he made himself seem to be. he was sweet. caring. observant. attentive. all he wanted was the best for you, just as you would want for him. you know you were safe in his hands.
he stepped much closer than before, closing the gap between you both. tyler enlaced his left hand with yours, using the other to tilt your face to look at him. you wanted to use your power, look through his memories to settle it all, but that breaks all the trust that you would have with yourself. you looked at him, face full of adoration mixed with concern.
“but i know you kissed her. you took her on our picnic night at the crypt. i saw your dad, letting you both go. plus, you left me several times and gave me empty promises. what about those? and.. and that phone call during that night in the crypt.” you tried to not meet his eyes, but his grip was strong, making sure you maintained eye contact with him.
“that was nothing. the kiss, she’s crazy. sure, i saw her at weatherhaven, but she’ll make anything up. just as she tried to pin the monster on me. and i assure you this is not an empty promise,” he cradled your face with both of his hands. “i just wanted to show her a good birthday, you know how she reacted during the surprise one we did with everyone else. you are mine and i promise that i am yours.”
he gives your forehead a kiss, sealing the promise. just as it usually happens, relief washes through your body, finally being able to settle. and as every time he will always hug you, knowing that he is there and will be there.
the overthinking dies down. tyler was and is perfect. he understands you and loves you just as you are. everyone messes up, and that is okay. he holds you, caresses your back, just as he does when you are having a session when you question him and his undying love for you. a monster cannot love. but tyler can. and he can never do wrong.
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So—- Do you think Missa and Philza will ever get out of the you are very special to me and I talk to you in a romantic way nothing to dissect here. Or would pissa be like how it until end of Qsmp. (Feel free to say things you think needs to happen to break pissa out of will they won’t they situation they been in since the start of the egg event.)
Completely forgot I was gonna answer this I got distracted by pocket love
I think like all rp events it's something the actors need to go hey so are we doing this or can I do something else. I think both of them are pretty aware that they're playing a typically romance-leaning couple, so average hopes on it. Definitely don't think it'll be like this forever things are amping up to be more serious and have more consequences I could definitely see a heat-of-the-moment or a while-i-still-can reveal, or even some new plotline around missa that forces qphil to confront some feelings about it
First of all Missa needs to log on. With or without Phil also Not just during events please I want to see you just hanging with people outside of your husband or even make up your own convoluted storyline to add to the rest Nothing is going to happen unless we actually fucking SEE HIM!!!!!!
and i've said this before but Missa needs to somehow break free of the idea that Phil is infallible, is unfailingly good, is out of reach, is always going to be there or be stable enough to handle anything that comes their way. It's like hero worship how he sees Phil, and it's clouding other memories he has with the others ("Phil was the only one who protected me, who gave me a home" said to Roier. To ROIER.) and his own capabilities as a player, he was doing completely fine from before Phil to the early days of their marriage, and there's a good chance it really is just the difficulty spike of the server catching up to him, or ccMissa could absolutely be playing it up deliberately, but with qMissa's already dwindling self-esteem, it's very easy to look at your ever-capable husband and grossly underestimate your own skillset, what's the point he knows better anyway I don't want to hinder him I'll let him lead, and it's going. To affect his perception of Phil as a flawed, hurting, scared person and completely miss that his husband might actually need his help
Phil also needs to start actually trusting Missa to handle himself, because at this point it feels a bit like Missa is more of a favored family pet than a partner. Kind of helpless so he has to take care of it, easier to put affection into without romantic payoff, loves unconditionally, it's funny to distress him. Part of this is on Missa but it also doesn't particularly help when the first idea you have of your partner is how poor and helpless he is and that you have to go help him out and save him from himself like it's an egg task you need to complete. The closest they've had to actually treating each other like real partners was the first day taking care of their new egg, building the house and doing their tasks together, playing off each other's strengths and needs, and while wet cat missa with strong cool protector is funny and cute and very ship dynamic-able I don't think it's enough to move their relationship forwards.
That and actually acknowledging the fact that Missa has more than friendly feelings towards him Phil is pretty notably missing (ignoring?) Missa's sometimes outright declarations of love the Most we've had is the LoudAsHell "that's the love of my life!" at the introductions for the frozen people, where we got punched backwards Sit The Fuck Down!! and nothing yet so far. Every romantic implication has yet to be addressed but He Still Won't Bite The Bullet And Turn Him Down. come on man get it together yes or no bitch
Also. They haven't. Really spent enough time with each other to really know each other. The lack of trust the barely any conversation, most of their interactions centering around keeping Missa alive and getting him geared up or updated (and for maybe 4-ish hours at most fur every stream <- spans months in between) is not a relationship to get into even in Minecraft roleplay it's not going to let them have any real romantic connection they simply don't spend enough time with each other. It's very cute that whenever they do get together they barely spend any time away from each other but they need to do more with that time
If this continues on the same path I genuinely think they're just going to drift apart. Ultimately Phil is most attached to his kids and if he can't find them here he's going to look elsewhere and he's not going to ask Missa to leave hhs friends and family for him and Missa's going to be too much of a coward to actually tell him how he feels before he leaves and we'll crumble and explode. Arguably worse ending, we're going to watch pissa fester and stagnate until it's not as fun for anyone and we'll all move on from what could've been.
Very few ways I can think of to actually get them together*
¹eeeeeeeehhhhhhhh "together"
1) Divorce. It's not working out with your government-issued spouse? He hasn't been on in months you're leaving anyway and the kids are gone so there's nothing tying you together anymore? Take him down to the courthouse, shake his hand, ignore the conflicted look in his eyes as he thanks you for everything and the empty feeling of looking around your house and parading your new single status around and greeting him as neighbors now and feeling like your bed just keeps getting bigger
2) Desertion. Hundreds of thousands of blocks away living on nothing but avocado toast and the occasional messages from your friends wishing you well looking if he's talking to you yet why are you looking for his name anyway.
3) Noble Self-Sacrifice. What if only one of us was in the Spanish dub
Yeah that's all I can think of it's really not likely at the moment and I think they'd know how to conclude whatever they've got going on better than I can
#augustanswers#pissa#qsmp missa#qsmp philza#qsmpshipping#course this is all very opinionated. im too tired to articulate anything properly
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A couple of years ago, when The Magnus Archives was at the height of its popularity, somebody on here made what I thought at the time was a very cogent observation; namely, that Jurgen Leitner, and our collective undying hatred of him, is what you get if you take Welcome to Night Vale’s running gag about Cecil’s interns constantly dying on the job, and then actually took the horrific moral implications of that dynamic seriously and really held the Cecil figure accountable in the narrative lens. Everyone, in-universe and out, rightfully hates and despises Leitner for a pattern of behavior that, in the context of Night Vale, would have come across as a kooky quirk, no worse than anything else in that town. We know this because Cecil is the beneficiary of exactly this.
This isn’t really intended as a criticism of Night Vale, which has to be graded on a different curve because the intent, first and foremost, is to make people laugh, and to occasionally to express heartfelt sentiments. It’s not a pointed worldbuilding project working towards a definitive, thematically resonant end. But one of my big friction points with it, as a long-time fan, is that I do have to elide like 4/5ths of what the town is objectively stated to be like from my mental model in order for a lot of those heartfelt sentiments to land.
I personally can’t take arcs about the community coming together in the face of a larger threat seriously if I’m simultaneously entertaining all the one-off jokes about how everyone in Night Vale is a craven amoral maniac who would sell everyone else up the river for a corn chip. I’d be rolling my eyes at the situations where the narrative does decide to take human loss of life seriously if I were also giving any sort of weight to the fact that the town is described as having like eight different Shirley-Jackson style death lotteries. And, in the same way that it’s generally agreed that all SCP articles can’t be set in the same continuity because the world would be immediately annihilated, all the one-off gags about Stuff That Kills You can’t be granted equal weight or there’d be nobody left alive in the town at all.
I recognize when I’m expected to elide these things, or weigh them selectively, and meet the story where it’s at; the problem is that since I’ve migrated out of my teenaged JK-Lol-so-random phase of my sense of humor, I’ve gotten progressively worse at extending that good will and doing that selective weighing, at least when there’s stuff in the story that I’m also supposed to take seriously. I still can, but it’s less of an organic process. This shift on my end has happened hand in hand with the narrative of Night Vale starting to revisit and unpack some of its old one-off gags; examples of this include the Frank Chen resurrection subplot, and the entirety of The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home Novel, which recontextualized her bit as actually always having been something deeply fucked up, and not in a way they’ll ever be able to successfully make a joke about again. But there is still this tension that, structurally, it won’t ever be able to shake, because it’s still out to be funny.
So. Taking this full circle. I’ve got my gripes with The Magnus Archives. In aggregate I’d probably say that I enjoyed it less than I enjoyed (continue to enjoy!) Night Vale. But it never suffered from that tension. Other tensions, sure, but I never felt like it was annoyingly cavalier with the prospect of a loss of human life. Some of the ways people died are ridiculous on the face of it, sure, like that pig eating that clown, but there’s weight to the fact that they died. It’s allowed to reflect on the person or persons involved, to stick to their character like a burr as they trudge towards the tragic vortex of MAG200. There is a point. There is an ending. And rather than being comically passive reporters, the viewpoint characters are always, always, shown to be personally living with the consequences of how their world is shown to work for the people they observe.
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The Prisoners (All the characters who label themselves as prisoners in their "Thank You" messages.)
The People they're imprisoned with (All the characters who don't label themselves as prisoners in their "Thank You" messages)-
I highlighted where they say prisoners under the cut with a few more fun facts-
Haruka, Futa, Mu, and Kotoko all don't put their names on their thank you messages. Mu only puts her song title on hers in Japanese but she has English lyrics from the song highlighted on their as well. Shidou states that this is Milgram Season 2 before putting the title of his song/contribution then signing his full name like an actor would.
Something when coupled with Jackalopes statement in the second trial commencement notice-
Along with Shidou blatantly stating,
"Please listen to me, Es. I've killed people. Lots of them as well. It was for such a selfish reason too. I'm a fine specimen of what a genuine murderer ought to be."
It's really suspicious and funny to think of the implications behind how he signed his thank you message. Especially since in the same interrogation Es notes,
"In comparison to all the interrogations thus far, this one has been progressing far too smoothly. It feels somewhat unsettling."
All of that is a really interesting thing to think about when put all together. At least I think so.
(Star here though Gunsli assisted me with sorting this out some- I find the idea of Shidou being a mole very amusing. It would recontextualize the fact that he's a doctor within Milgram.
Giving the impression that Shidou's inclusion was more of a failsafe, in the event that something like Kotoko jumping her fellow prisoners occurred. It's incredibly convenient that Milgram happened to incarcerate not just one but two people who seem to understand first aid.
Considering Shidou's statements about Amane,
22/10/24 (Shidou’s Birthday)
Amane: ……Kirisaki Shidou. How long do you plan on continuing this foolish behaviour?
Shidou: I wonder what you might be referring to there. I’m just doing what I need to do. If anything, I’d be happy if you would lend me a hand.
Amane: I warned you. I can no longer turn a blind eye to this wickedness taking place right in front of us. You’re bringing ruin unto yourself. Do you understand?
Shidou: No, I don’t understand. It’s my job as an adult to teach you that throwing a temper tantrum isn’t going to make everything go your way. If it’s a test of endurance you want, I’m happy to oblige, Amane.
This idea would also recontextualize his immediate response to the events between trial one and two being to tell Es,
"I think we should put an end to Milgram as a whole. Both for our sake and for yours."
Along with his confusion when Es responds with,
That's impossible.
"Why?!"
I can't think of any method of stopping it... or any way to get out.
"...!"
Milgram won't end just because I want it to. That's all I know. It won't end until your judgment has been completed. That's the crux of it.
"Your...the same as us, aren't you?"
Ultimately Shidou recognizes that Es is pretty much in the same position as they are. However, under this framing Shidou would be aware that Milgram is an experiment that can be stopped at any time but not aware of who could stop it or how to himself.
This would give more context to him proposition Es in trial one as well,
During the first trial's proposition being asking for the death sentence off the bat:
"That’s just my personality. I just simply don’t think bad of it—this place, I mean."
You mean, Milgram?
"Yeah, this place will put me to death."
What?
"I might not get a golden opportunity like this again, so I’ll get straight to the point. Es… You decide how the prisoners will be dealt with, right?"
Yeah. That’s right.
"The death penalty is what I’m hoping for. Thank you in advance."
I won’t have that. The lot of you can’t decide what your own treatment will be. Only I as the prison guard have the authority to do so.
"Exactly. You as the prison guard have the right to do such a thing, Es, so that’s why I’m asking you for this favour."
The "unflappable" attitude that Shidou has here can be read as opportunistic complacency with the idea of him being a mole in mind. This mindset is also alluded to within his MVs, a prime example being where he sits down smiling to himself in Throw Down.
Furthermore, this highlights the progression of his view of Es and how much power they wield within Milgram as a whole. Going from the first presumption of Es having the ability to decide the prisoners' treatment to outright asking them to stop Milgram in trial two. Though, he is swiftly corrected about how much administrative power Es has, as pointed out earlier.
On top of that Shidou is the first of the prisoners to bring up the concept of someone dying due to Milgram and the death penalty at all.
Even going as far as to state,
"Hm… But, this place does smell of the dead though. I’m sure that some sort of death will lie at the end of Milgram."
If Shidou is a mole put into the experiment by Milgram then him asking Es for this could be framed as him raising the stakes. It could even be something management told him to do so the audience would know there was a chance of their actions leading to someone's death. Along with why he's genuinely perturbed when someone else almost dies despite stating he knew some sort of death lied at the end of Milgram from the start.
It's definitely an odd change going from kill to we have to make this violence stop before someone actually dies. Yet, it would make a bit more sense if he thought he was in on the lie but began to find out this was more out of control then he thought. He could still very much be a murderer and they just let him be in on it because he wanted to die anyway so didn't see the harm in using him in this way before he does.
This would also play on this line in Undercover well,
"Even with accusations full of faults and mistakes. You will for sure, with a smile for sure- Be pleased and satisfied."
Because regardless of how this plays out he'd still get what he wanted at the end of the day.
Along with fit the line referring to Shidou too,
"“UNDER” Which way will you throw down your weight? To be the deceived, or the deceiver."
This would also explain why Kazui would refer to Milgram as a prison game in his second voice drama,
"If that happens this prison game would probably come to an end as well." - "So this is unpleasant, hurling slurs of “hostage game”, you do know that it’s up to me?"
I asked @doctorbunny about Kazui's wording here and he said,
He says 監獄ごっこ
kangoku gokko
kangoku meaning prison and gokko meaning pretend/make believe
The one person known to talk to Shidou the most out of the prisoners and work alongside him. Now what would give him the impression this was all pretend.
Like some sort of a-
20/05/25
Mikoto: ……I’ve really got caught up in some trouble, huh. What even is this place? It’s probably a TV reality show or something. …but to think someone in this day and age would try to do a project that could land them in so much trouble. Uh……
Mahiru: Ah…… I’m Shina Mahiru! You can just call me Mahiru. And you are……?
Mikoto: Kayano Mikoto. I’m fine with just Mikoto too. Ahh, I’m glad there’s someone here who’s easy to talk to…… It’s nice to meet you, Mappy.
Mahiru: ………… ……Mappy???
20/05/31
Mu: Hey, Mikoto-kun, aren’t you scared of this place……?
You can’t think of any reason you ended up here, right……?
Mikoto: Ahh, yeah. Of course, it’s not like I’m not scared at all.
But just between you and me…… I still haven’t dropped the thought that this could all just be a TV show. I mean, I really haven’t ever murdered anyone. ……and if that is the case, we’re definitely being monitored. For like a prank setup or something. Wouldn’t it be super uncool and embarrassing to get angry or lash and have it shown on prime time?
Mu: Is that what you think……? A prank, huh…… I hope that’s all it is……
Mikoto: Ah! If that is the case, then you’ll probably be super popular since you’re so cute, Mucchan! There’s a lot of girls out there who make their big break coming off reality shows like that!
20/06/15
Mikoto: Hey, it’s kinda a bother having you be so angry and tense all the time. You should stop trying get everyone to pay attention to you.
You’re a uni student, right? You can’t act like that once you start working properly.
Futa: Huh!? Shut up. Not like I care what you say. Even though we’re in this shitty situation, you’re just chatting away, it’s stupid.
Aren’t you the one who’s acting out of place here? ……also the fact you give everyone nicknames is just gross.
Mikoto: *sigh* It’s more stupid to be taking this all so seriously.
I mean, it’s definitely just a reality TV program. There’s no way a real prison exists that’s this lax. Also, I don’t give nicknames to everyone.
I don’t give them to young kids like Amane, or to the hard-to-approach types like Shidou-san. I mean, I’m not giving you one, right?
Futa: ……oi, which group are you trying to say I am?
Television show or something.)
This was definitely not supposed to be this long but it was interesting going over all of this with Star and I think it's a fun thing to highlight overall.
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Pregnant Midge, the collective human consciousness, and the implications of Barbieland
When the Barbie movie was first announced I was excited, and more so as every teaser came out. And then there she was, Midge. Anyone with remote Barbie knowledge, collectors, and other ilk knows Midge as the pregnant Barbie doll. I was surprised that Mattel allowed the joke and assumed it was just going to result in one scene and then I saw Alan and my curiosity was piqued.
Because I'm old enough to remember the Midge controversy.
Midge was not as popular in the 90s and 00s, but she still showed up. And as we all know, Barbie and Ken have been together for ages (Except that one time she dated another guy) but they never marry...
But Alan and Midge do.
In fact, Alan is the father of Midge's kids!
Yes, kids. Midge was pregnant more than once. The thing is, she came in a box without her husband. This led critics (and mostly weird moms) to call her a bad influence and accuse her of promoting teen pregnancy (??? idk how she's literally a doll)
Which resulted in a new boxset including Alan. As a cut-out.
But mind you, both Alan and Midge had sets with a child. In fact, the Happy Family line continued for a while after pregnant Midge.
So why is Midge only remembered as mysteriously pregnant?
Let's talk about the Barbie movie. And some things shown to us:
-The Barbies are aware of people playing with them in the real world.
-There is a Mount Rushmore style monument featuring Barbies with older face sculpts, but we don't meet any of those Barbies
-Alan and Midge both exist but do not directly interact
-Alan tries to leave Barbieland but does not mention Midge or any children he would be leaving behind
-The one Alan left resembles the original Alan
-Weird Barbie is um...weird.
Based on this I present this theory: The physical appearance of the Barbies in Barbieland are based on the collective consciousness of the humans.
Alan and Midge have both lost a lot of popularity since their debut. Initially Alan was Ken's buddy, while Midge was Barbie's best friend. They did not become a couple until later. However, Alan is still relevant among collectors and fans. Whereas Midge is remembered by two groups:
People who watched Life in the dreamhouse
People who remember the pregnant Midge scandal
I love dreamhouse Midge but I think the thing here is that more people remember the scandal.
So Midge's representation in Babrieland is based off the public's opinion of her. She is doomed to be forever pregnant because the majority of people remember her that way
Until we free her!
Remember Midge! Not for that removable belly, but for all she has been, all she has done and all those funny moment she had in the tv series!
Or something idk the movie isn't real. Let's just look at dolls now
#the barbie movie#Barbie 2023#Midge#Margaret “Midge” Hadley Sherwood#Barbie#Alan#He's just Alan#Dollblr#Barbie dolls#blogpiece#thoughts#barbie tingz#blogpost
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ZoSan Actor Au
-This is a secret between Zoro and Sanji. He and Sanji actually met and knew each other since they were teens. Everyone knows about that since there was an old photo of the two of them hanging out at an award show when they were both 18. What most people do not know however (which is the secret part), is that the two of them had a one night stand that day. They snuck off to Zoro's limo and had sex. Till this day, Sanji considers that the best sex he had ever had. The fact that they would meet years later as adults and start dating becomes funny
-What makes this implication even more scandalous is that this happened around the time Sanji and Sukuna were apparently dating.Yup Sanji cheated on his boyfriend who was already cheating on him loads of times prior to this.
- Sukuna found out about it years later and confronted the couple only for Zoro to kick his ass and humiliate him
-The day he and Sukuna officially broke up which was months after that one night stand, Zoro actually called him and they resumed their secret love affair again
-When they first saw each other on set, they pretended to be friends who missed each other
-Nico Robin was already suspicious of their relationship as she saw them at that party years ago and saw how the both of them were secretly flirting and called them both out on it
-What led to Sanji's sexy image? Blame Zoro for that shit.
-Most people thought Sanji was dating Nami at the time when in reality Nami was dating Luffy
-What made the media to finally get wind of their relationship was the paparazzi catching both of them on a cruise yatcht. They made their red carpet debut shortly after that and that left a lot of jaws dropping
-The rest of Aogiri tease Sanji about his relationship with Zoro
-Sanji purposely starts fights to force Zoro to fuck him and that shit always works
- Around this time, the sex tape scandal happened. Sanji was not aware that Pudding had secretly filmed him whilst they had sex as he was drunk at the time.
- Zoro did not judge Sanji once but and became more protective of Sanji after that.
- Zoro loves watching Sanji perform and shake his ass
- Sanji has privately serenaded his daddy a couple times
- Sanji recently moved in with Zoro
- Some of Sanji’s sexy songs are about Zoro
-Do not let them do interviews together. Zoro might drop a dirty joke or accidental sexual innuendo that will make Sanji laugh
-They both go on vacations together a lot
- Sanji often wears Zoro’s shirts and sweaters
- Zoro has been slowly teaching Sanji to be a lot more confident and comfortable with his body. Considering the amount of sex they have been having, his plan is working
- These two collaborate with each other like a lot
- Sexy photo shoots ahoy
- There is an iconic music video of theirs that showed them dancing together (Troublemaker vibes). There was a part in the video that showed Sanji grinding his ass into Zoro’s crotch and another part that showed Sanji rubbing Zoro’s crotch with his hand. The rest of the One Piece cast blushed when they saw that
- They engage in prank wars on set which often get out of hand
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