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actually, viewing mouthwashing as a game about addiction, here are the archetypes i think each of the characters embody

swansea's is basically stated for us. he is the "recovered" or "sober" addiction - clearly laying out for the player that no matter how many years you've been sober, it is a conscious decision, and potentially a struggle each and every day to remain that way.

daisuke is the naive addict - someone who was unaware of the dangers of addiction and fell victim to them. he is the young teen who looked at the people around him and followed their footsteps into an addiction of his own. he was young, and could have been able to recover and become sober with time and support, but unfortunately, he was unable to do so before it was too late.

anya is the "functional" addict. someone who by all means seems capable and in control of her life, but secretly hides her addiction so as to maintain that image. while she recognizes that her addiction may be an inconvenient aspect of her life that she doesn't like and has no control of, she rationalizes it to herself that since it doesn't manifest in her everyday life or cause problems with her work, that it isn't really a problem.

jimmy is the addict that has not come to terms with his addiction. he overcompensates for his inability to control his own impulses when related to addiction by instead over-exerting control on things outside himself, like other people, and his job. instead of turning inward and facing the reality that the lack of control he feels in his life is due to his own inability to recognize his addiction and work towards recovery, he instead places blame on everyone else - the company he works for, his boss, the woman he raped - instead of recognizing the root of his problems. his desire for control consumes him and he is unable to take responsibility for his actions because of it.

curly, out of everyone, is the only character who does not embody a type of addiction. instead, he is meant to embody the enabler. he is the friend who doesn't see addiction as an issue, who fails to realize the signs of a loved one's descent. while initially his intentions are pure, quickly he becomes an immobile onlooker. once a loved one reaches a late stage of addiction, there's nothing he can do to help. nothing he can say, nothing he can do. he's forced to sit idly by while addiction claims the people he cares about, left alive despite feeling responsible for not helping them sooner. because he wanted to help - he just saw the signs too late.

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i'm sure someone has made a post about this before, but i can't get it out of my head so i'm going to reason it out in a post. mouthwashing, to me, is an analogy for addiction. swansea's straightforward discussion of it, i think, is a blatant indication of less obvious addiction analogies throughout the work.

mainly, i want to discuss anya here.

i feel like anya's storyline tends to be narrowed down to the single point of her assault and subsequent pregnancy. but the thing i love about mouthwashing (and neon genesis evangelion, which mouthwashing takes massive notes from) is that all of the characters are full, well-rounded people with identities that can't be narrowed down to a single plot point of aspect of identity. while anya's struggle with her assault and pregnancy are important parts of her story, and the story of the crew as a whole, i want to focus on what i believe is how she, as a character, struggles with addiction.

specifically, i think anya is meant to be addicted to pills, or the pain medication found on the ship - and potentially alcohol as well. here are a few reasons why i believe the game alludes to anya's addiction, despite never saying so out loud:

jimmy mentions, multiple times, that anya did not complete medical school, but never mentions why. he alludes to the fact that he believes she is too squeamish to feed curly his medication - but the idea that anya was unable to complete her education due to such a thing is very clearly not the case. she is the first responder who tended to curly's wounds immediately after the accident (which, we would assume, included the amputation of his limbs, potentially), and she never expressed discomfort with a much more difficult task: changing his bandages. anya's excuse to jimmy that she doesn't want to hear the noises curly makes while he's fed his medication doesn't make sense considering that changing his bandages would be far more painful for him. i think that it's far more likely that either anya wants jimmy to give curly the medication either as a way to distract jimmy, or as a way to distance herself from the pills. i think anya may have failed to complete her education for an entirely different reason: mainly, due to her dependence on opioids.

furthermore, when jimmy interacts with the pills, they are oxycodone, and the game refers to it as "the good stuff." i think that oxycodone was used in the game, specifically, to target the player's association with the opioid crisis. oxycodone was one of the first major drugs associated with the opioid crisis - at least in america - and i believe that association is intentional. furthermore, there are a wide variety of pain medications that are used more commonly than oxycodone today that don't have the same association. i am not a medical professional, but from the limited knowledge i have, i would expect something like morphine to be stocked in a ship's emergency supplies, not oxycodone. morphine is an older and often cheaper substance, and therefore would be more common, especially for a shitty company like pony express.

in addition to this, anya doesn't tell jimmy about the pills stashed in the locker until they're almost out of pills in the med bay. it's very strange that the only things in that locker were an alcohol-based disinfectant and opioids. why were they in a locker outside the medbay? who put them there? the only two options that come to mind are either that curly knew of swansea's alcoholism and anya's addition and stored the pills away, or that anya secreted them away herself. the fact that there is a separate, secret stash of medication that is not stored in the medbay also displays the habits of an addict - hiding one's addition from prying eyes so that one can maintain the semblance of normality.

lastly, i think that anya's storyline in general correlates to the mindset of an addict who was ashamed of her addiction, and desperately trying to regain control of her life so that she could recover.

anya possesses both incredible self-control while at the same time having little to no bodily autonomy. she is constantly issuing suggestions to jimmy of ways to correct the path they've been set on - either to keep him occupied and avoid the potential consequences of leaving him unoccupied, or to actually assist in the recovery of their ship. she's the only one who remains level-headed enough to not only issue those commands and keep the most volatile member of their crew on his feet and distracted, but at the same time, she's able to save a horribly wounded burn victim with what few supplies they have - including amputating his hands and feet, as well as bandaging his entire body. anya is an extraordinarily capable and levelheaded woman.

and yet, she is still addicted. even while she performs these amazing feats, she is acutely aware that while she may be able to control things outside of her body, her own autonomy is compromised by her addiction. she wants to regain control of her life and finally remove herself from the addiction in the wake of this tragedy. i think that anya is meant to be the personification of what's called a "functional" addict - someone who is able to perform their duties accurately and effectively, but still struggles behind the scenes. and here, in the wake of this tragedy, anya is faced with a horrible reality: she can't do both. she can't feed her addiction and perform her duties as a doctor effectively. she can't pop pills she should be giving to curly.

and it is here that i believe her personification as a addict aligns with her identity as a survivor of rape. neither her assault nor her addiction were anya's fault, and yet they both leave her feeling like she has no control over her own body. while many players view anya not drinking the mouthwash as her trying to protect her pregnancy, i actually think that it was instead her trying desperately to wrench back some semblance of control - over both the situation and her own addiction. she compensated by depriving herself of substances that could fuel her addiction, trying desperately to regain some sense of self-worth as a doctor, and autonomy even under the control of her abuser.

i think the mouthwash in and of itself is a good analogy for her. it kills 99.9% of germs - it has health benefits. it should be a good thing, medically speaking. however, like anya says in the game - its sugar content makes it functionally useless as an antiseptic. under normal circumstances, anya is a good doctor, even if she isn't functioning at 100% because of her addiction. she's still functional. but in an emergency situation, like this - that aspect of her , the sugar, the little bit that doesn't actually help medically, but just makes the experience that much more tolerable - poisons the whole.

when thinking of anya in this way, it makes sense that she would have taken her own life, especially in the way that she did. anya likely thought that taking her own life in such a horrible situation was the only way she could have any control over her own body - but the way she did so was cruelly ironic. if anya was addicted to pain medication, and attempting to wean herself off of them in order for curly to withstand his own pain - then her using those same pills to take her life is also, in a way, succumbing to her lack of autonomy.

regardless of whether or not mouthwashing is meant to be read this way, i think viewing anya as an addict is an interesting concept and provides an extra layer regarding the conversation the game presents regarding addiction, control, autonomy, and mortality. and i hope that anyone who reads this, even if you don't agree with my analysis, at least looks at the game in a different light when considering it.

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???⚡️

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Thinking about Eobard telling Barry that they're the only two constants in the universe and feeling really normal about it.

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Reverse Flash’s self insert fanfiction

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Aftertaste (I have about 3040506 more fanarts to post bear with me)

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Have we talked about the Miguel Burger yet?

I just wanna know if it was his idea, if he authorized it, or do the other spiders just think it’s rlly fucking funny and do it to annoy the guy?

I need to know WHY

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but what if they were friends

[id: 4 sketches of miles and spot. in the first, they’re both wearing civilian clothes; miles in his hoodie and jacket, and spot in a hoodie, glasses, mask, and hat. miles is gesturing to him, saying “this is my friend, …..patrick. he’s normal.” spot adds, “mhm. yep. just a normal, regular guy,” while doing the thumbs up. the second image is a comic, where miguel in full costume is running towards miles and spot. spot has his hands up defensively and is saying “uhhhh”. in the second panel, miles jumps into one of the spots and emerges above miguel to punch him in the face. spot hunches over defensively, screaming. the third drawing is also a comic, with miles going up to spot and saying “hey, man, we make a pretty good team!” spot responds, “heck yeah we do! high five!” but when miles high fives him, his hand goes through a spot, jabbing spot in the back of the head. he says “OW” as miles says “oooh, sorry.” the final drawing is of miles and spot sitting together, eating hot dogs and chatting. end id]

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hobie: kill yourself

pav: IM SO SORRY WHAT DID I DO

original format from @ha-youwish in this post!

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Spiderpunk's color and texture changes are used to indicate his emotions. He often turns pink near Miles. The color pink is symbolic for honesty, compassion, and playfulness.

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (2023) dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K.

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BANNED for posting hole on main

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the fact miguel’s suit is a hologram that he is completely naked in sheds some light on his little panic attack when miles was sucking that shit up to charge his sting on the tram like miguel really thought he was about to be balls out 400ft in the air with every spiderman ever staring up at his taint

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I'm dying 😭

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MIGUEL O’HARA aka SPIDER-MAN 2099 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

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Across the spider verse 

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nooo don’t kill me your so sexy aha

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Hobie Brown expression sheet Ami Thompson made for Across the Spiderverse