adamurray1988

[adamurray1988]

Amanda the Adventurer: Wooly and escapism

“There’s nothing you can do but Dream. Hopeless you think of a Better place to be. One where you’re free.

One with triumphant tales And dangerous lairs And a happy ending that’s fair

A happy ending in your head A happy ending you can grasp A happy ending you’ll never have

A happy ending you can only dream”

(Disclaimer I am not a professional or in anyway someone with credentials, I’m simply someone who Knows a lot about trauma and psychology and has an interest in it, do not take my words especially my exact wording as anything)

Do any of you guys think about just how much it’s implied that Wooly is typically off in his own head and thinking of different stories to help him cope? that he possibly and most likely maladaptive day dreams?

two specific incidents come to mind:

There’s a version of the very first tape of the second game, Let’s Plan a Trip, where Wooly appears at the end. When Amanda goes over to give the coins to the doll Gretchen, Wooly shows up and asks what Amanda is doing. When Amanda answers that she’s going on a trip Wooly says “Oooo! it’s fun to pretend to go places” with a clear vocal emphasis on pretend

In the tape When You’re Feeling Bad, at the beginning Wooly says “well… I’m going to go on an adventure in my mind. You can come along with me if you like. Telling a story is like going on an adventure!”

all of this implies a level of escapism that Wooly is trying to achieve or note. When he first appears he mentions how it’s fun to specifically pretend to do something, how it’s fun to pretend to be on a trip. His tone emphasizes the pretend bit but it wasn’t condescending, in fact it was more happy if anything. He expressed a level of excitement with his “Ooo!” And seemed genuinely happy and okay at the prospect of pretending. His wording shows this, “It’s” implies that he’s done it before, “It is fun to do that” as opposed to “it would be fun to do that” or “It’d”. “It’s” is more past tense and in this context implies that it’s been done before and therefore a conclusion can be drawn from said experience, and this case, the conclusion that is drawn is that it’s “fun”. the second time he mentions anything, especially demonstrates his need for escapism. He mentions specifically going on an “Adventure” in his “mind” and the certainty in his tone along with the “you can come along if you like” implies that this wouldn’t be the first time that he’s done this. What even led up to him doing this shows this. When Amanda expresses not knowing or caring about what to do because she feels “weird” Wooly thinks for a bit and then suggests going on an adventure, to which Amanda immediately shuts down. But instead of being unsure or nervous after Amanda yells at him, he continues forward with a confidence to suggest that he was either already going to talk about stories or that regardless of what Amanda did he was going to go on an adventure in his mind. The fact that he had the idea in the first place, and his confidence to share it and do it, implies a level of consistency on how often he does it.

this entire Tape in general show’s his need for escapism. If you don’t follow along with his story and instead follow along with Amanda’s he gets incredibly worked up. And I think a part of this is because it breaks and messes with the reason people even escape into their heads in the first place. Escapism can occur because the person who’s doing it want’s to escape from their current situation and off into a place that is better, more accepting and in general easier to control. If you continually interrupt that clear more perfect and happy world with a tragedy much like the one they’re trapped in. Of course the person trying to escape would show a level of annoyance by it. Especially in this kind of situation where Wooly is actively trying to get away from the awful place he’s trapped in, get away from all of the dread, and get away from all of the trauma, of course he especially would get incredibly worked up.

and that’s not to say that he’s doing all of this to cheer only himself up, quite the opposite actually. It’s clear that he wants to help Amanda, but he simply just can not understand why having a story like that of your own, would help in any capacity. he probably genuinely thinks that it’s nothing but harmful if anything, and that it would do nothing but remind you of how awful your situation is then help it. He’s doing what he genuinely thinks is best for Amanda.

it’s clear that overall Wooly exhibits the flight and fawn trauma responses the most. We see him constantly try to appease, obey and follow Hameln with little amount of boundaries and poor advocacy for his own discomforts and himself overall. All of these are signs of the Fawn response but he also clearly exhibits flight as well. The way he quickly changes topics, refuses to talk about certain things and in general his attitude of shaking things off is the flight response, with that being said forms of escapism *can also be categorized as the flight response. Your flying away from your problems and into a world where everything’s okay. (*That is to say, this particular kind of maladaptive daydreaming- or more rather this form of intense escapism- would generally be described as dissociative. Which to my understanding typically falls under the “flop” response.)

Wooly is constantly shown to have discomfort in dark topics and often seems afraid and scared, because on one hand it’s going off script, it’s going against the precedent of the TV show and by extension what Hameln wants them to do. He doesn’t want to go against Hameln, he doesn’t want to go off script because neither of that would appease the people who are hurting them (Hameln) nor would it typically appease the viewer. And if they don’t try to appease them if they don’t try to comply, one of them would most likely get hurt! And on the other hand Wooly simply doesn’t want to be reminded that he’s trapped, that he isn’t in a good place. Because all of that is hard to cope with! All of this is hard to understand! It’s so clear that he’s simply trying to please Hameln and then pretend that everything okay, since that’s simply what he thinks is the only way they can stay safe.

Wooly being an escapist and constantly in his own head makes sense for who he is as a character and how he handles traumatizing situations. I feel like at some point it would be more then just escapism, but it would turn into maladaptive daydreaming as well.

Maladaptive daydreaming is an excessive amount of “day dreaming” that can span for hours on end and make you ignore some of your basic needs. “Maladaptive” refers to the unhealthy nature of quickly adapting to something. It’s caused by multiple factors but can be caused by

Trauma especially childhood trauma. The need to be away from the stressful situation your in, and a way to cope with everything that’s happened.

Boredom and poor enrichment. Unable to do anything to pass the time or stimulate yourself in a meaningful way. the first one clearly applies for Wooly but the second one applies too. In any of kind of content outside of the original games, where we see Amanda and Wooly simply sitting around, we see an immense amount of boredom and in general a kind of understimulation. The animators and creators deliberately chose to portray them in such a way, and it make sense too. What purpose does the two have when there isn’t a viewer watching? Nothing. They don‘t have much of a purpose when no one is out right watching, and it clear that they are often alone, looking at Amanda’s many mentions of having to do stuff “alone”.

With all of this I definitely feel as though Wooly does Maladaptive Daydream or at the very least has the likely possibility to start doing it.

In generally he’s desperately trying to get out of the world he’s trapped in without physically doing anything about it, since he’s simply hopeless and resigned to what he’s trapped in, and refuses to go against Hameln out of fear.

so I drew this do capture that.

this is my design for him in the TV show, it’s a whole lot more simple and round. The shading is meant to look empty, lifeless and odd, the textures and colors not being right. I was trying to emulate the poor shading in a old 3D program but in a 2D format because that especially would look odd and off putting. In general I wanted this piece to look and feel empty but also chaotic and fearful.

[adamurray1988]

I've seen a few different people talk about how they're disappointed in how Odysseus and Athena's reunion went, saying that they don't like how they didn't reconnect and left the bridge burnt because he is now a "monster". I didn't interpret this part this way. I think Athena is still looking for her warrior to train and needed to be told that it couldn't be Odysseus anymore.

I feel like a lot of the epic fandom forgets how old Odysseus is suppose to be at this point because Jorge still looks and sounds like a young man but Odysseus is likely somewhere in his early forties or even getting close to fifty. He has spent the last 20 years of his life fighting and all he wants now is to stay home and grow old with his family. Athena was offering him a chance to help her change the world and help people be better. He isn't telling her no because he's angry at her or the world, he's just tired. He's fought too hard to get home to turn around and go start another fight. She needs to find someone younger, who still has faith that people can be good and has the energy to fight for that belief. (Someone like Telemachus who in the animatic shows every sign of being willing to be that warrior and help Athena). Odysseus even brings up that she's immortal and will have the all the time in the world to make a better place for people to live in but he reminds her that it isn't something his mortal lifespan will allow him to pursue.

He wants her to make the world she believes in and wishes her the best but he cannot be her warrior anymore and I think she accepts that and lets him rest.

[adamurray1988]

ATA analysis WIP

here’s an ATA analysis so far, I’ve been working on it for a few days, mostly because I have poor motivation, but it’s turning out to be pretty long 😭

it was in response to someone, I was agreeing with them and expanding on their talking points

this is just a small part of it so far.

Don’t mind errors I’m literally in the middle of writing this

[adamurray1988]

As a birthday present to yourself can you get your act together and stop being a blonde man

“Huh?

What does this even mean??”

~~He folded his arms and turned his head away. An annoyed distance creeping into his voice, as he leaned against a wall of his room~~

“Look I’m just blonde. I’m not going to dye my hair for you.”

(OOC- not terribly in character but it’ll do- welcome back to Adam being confused chat)

[adamurray1988]

happy birthday

!!!!!!

“Thanks..”

~~He seems indifferent to his birthday~~

[adamurray1988]

(ooc)

Guys it’s Adam’s Birthday

Maybe I should try to get this blog up and running again tomorrow to honor this fucked up creature!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM

IM SORRY I COULDNT DRAW ANYTHING TODAY

( I really really miss this blog tbh)

[adamurray1988]

Epic the musical catifed: Grandpa Hermes

Very shitty comic thing I made because I got mad at the EPIC fandom. All of these are very bad and very quick doodles btw!

[adamurray1988]

NEW BANNER BY @thepowerofyes (permission to share the full image??)

IT WAS A DRAWING THE FELT DESCRIBED HOW THEY FELT TOWARDS OR OTHERWISE FIT ME

I LOVE HIM SO MUCHH

[adamurray1988]

i found a cool tag game on twitter and i really wanna import it (o^ ^o)

this picrew + the last song you listened to :]

no pressure tags: @blood-loving-leech @overtaken-boredom @lesbianthatyaps @kameonerd566 @hexedvampire @laczki @anonymous-shxtposter @fleurafae @flovqy + anyone who wants to do it <3

[adamurray1988]

I have so many ideas and no idea how to execute them

(Designs by @thequasarwinds @seasonalmoss but I recolored them for a MAP idea !)

[adamurray1988]

(OOC) NAH EVEN TUMBLR (or google??) IS NOT A FAN OF THOSE TWO WTH😭😭

Ya’ll sorry about not answering the asks in these ask blogs but genuinely something happened to my Evelin and Sarah account, and I can’t find a way to get it back 😭😭😭😭😭💀💀💀 I’m still trouble shooting but damn what the fuck???

@thatcherdavis92mcpd @sarahheathcliff-evelinmiller90

[adamurray1988]

tickle tickle.

TICKLE TICKLE- (/j)

“!!”

~~Swatting at your hands, Adam pulled away. Scrunching his nose and brows in annoyance and slight contempt.~~

“What is your fucking problem??”

~~Adam didn’t seem to be a fan of tickling~~

(OOC: I kind of need more angry Adam sprites- ALSO SORRY FOR THE EXTREMELY LATE REPLY)

[adamurray1988]

“. . . What??”

“What do you want me to say?? Genetics I guess…”

(OOC: HELL YEAH SLOWLY DRAGGING MYSELF OUT OF THE DIRT AND BECOMING ACTIVE ONCE MORE)

[adamurray1988]

(Ooc)

oh! I answered this on my main blog! ( @thequasarwinds )

It was primarily so I can interact with different fandom content!

(ALSO SUPER SUPEE SORRY FOR INACTIVITY- I’ve been REALLY busy and I’ve been struggling with low motivation)

(DW THE ADAM MURRAY ASK BLOG ISNT DEAD IM JUST A MENTALLY ILL AND BUSY TEEN)

i wanna start a tag game >:3

why did you decide to join tumblr?

i’ll start!!^^

i wanted to join so i could post x reader fics cause fanfiction.net would get upsetti spaghetti when i tried to post them there :D

tagging: @hotelcaliforniaenbydancer @nothingtoseehere1-2-3 @rosalinastan1 @ayunakatsukiwolfhashira @pinkwisteria @kimetsu-chan @shycroissanti @slayfics @night-mince10000000000000000001 @zenitsustherapist @frostburn-shoto @floofgryph @aceofstars0 @pulim-v @muichirolover14 @muichirosboba @kiyokatokito

[adamurray1988]

reblog to give the person you reblogged this from a fucking break

[adamurray1988]

Epic the musical catified: Vengeance Saga doodle

ODYSSEUSS!!! GDJDBDJDHDH AAGHH I LOVED THIS SAGA SO MUCH IT WAS SO INSANE AND ADRENALINE INDUCING BUT BEAUTIFUL AS WELL FJDJFJFBDNJDHRJ

Anyways here’s a doodle I made! I was simply bored :]

I made his eye’s blue instead of red like in the scene simply because it created a good contrast, as the rest of the piece was a lot of warm colors, also in my design his eyes are blue so it sorta just made sense!

Anyways I feel like not enough people show just how utterly not okay Odysseus was in that scene. Its more then him winning a fight. Its a culmination of his trauma, after years and years of pure torture after years of being helpless he finally has some control in the situation. He is a broken man.

I just want people to draw his pure rage and agony as he stabs Poseidon repeatedly, tears streaming down his face as he cries and screams at him, yelling “look what I am now” “look what you made me” “look how you hurt me” I want more tears and more signs of a complete mental breakdown in art of this scene

[adamurray1988]

i just saw a tiktok (<- cursed cursed site) that started out good, talking about how "show don't tell" is something you should keep in mind. It used the example of "instead of saying 'she opened the door', try 'her shaking hand twisted the doorknob, letting out a loud creak'".

And, yeah, if you're trying to convey the hesitance, fear, and eventual sucking-it-up that seems to be going on in the scene, that's great.

But.

The tiktok ended with, "see? Showing is ALWAYS better." And I just...

Friends & enemies, that's how you end up with that insufferable always-showing always-active YA writing style that does not know when to just shut up and say "she opened the door".

Because, yeah, I'll say it. Sometimes "she opened the door" IS better. Sometimes, the act of opening the door is literally just announcing a setting change, and you don't need to focus on it.

Show don't tell is about conveying important or relevant information, not about literally everything you're writing. You're allowed to say "she opened the door" & similar, and in fact, I encourage it in many scenarios.