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Alastor, Vox, and their Rivalry

...or the nothing it gave us

S1 Analysis

this is based on information the show's s1 gave us. this can and will most likely change once the next seasons release.

disclaimer: this is not a ship analysis. you can read it however you like, but it's not intended for ship purposes

SPOILERS AHEAD ↓

Even before Vox was introduced, it was made clear that Alastor has a... distaste for modern electronics. Even so, he seems to know how to navigate them. He's familiar with TVs and their mechanics, watching and making commercials.

So let's start with:

Radio vs. TV

By default, both represent different eras of media: the Radio and the TV.

It's a very old classical tale of old vs. new that to this day, there's debates on it. Alastor and Vox are exactly that. The debate of which is better. The old and reliable way or the new developed way. The one that doesn't appreciate the changes being made and the one who embraces it. A Radio Demon and a TV Demon.

And they are that simple old vs. new dynamic. Different but similar.

Alastor vs. Vox

Vox first gets mentioned through the title of the Vees by Sir Pentious. And even with Alastor's response, "Oh, nobody important." we're hinted at a dynamic, in this case indifference, which is mostly how Alastor tends to treat and act towards Vox. Mostly...

On the other hand, Vox is obsessed. From knowing that Alastor was gone for 7 years, the hate drawing, the 'fuck alastor' mug, the cameras, the ripped photo, you can even go as far as saying their outfits– he's not subtle about it.

As soon as Vox learns about Alastor's return, he has an overdramatic response with his nails digging into the table, voice changing, and his cameras instantly on Alastor. In general, Vox has cameras probably all over hell, but keeping an eye on Alastor is tricky when the man glitches every time he's being recorded etc, etc. This is also stated by the fact that in the 7 years Alastor had been gone, not even Vox knew where he was.

And Alastor is very aware of the fact that Vox is watching him. So aware that he even posed for the camera (you can argue all you want, he posed). Midly encouraging the behavior as such. Either by the pose or by saying that Vox needs to try harder in his endeavor.

This is where I say that Alastor is also obsessed. In a different way but not any less.

Here's a core attribute the two demons share: Attention.

They want attention, to be the center of it. And although Alastor barely, if at all, provides Vox with it... Vox certainly does provide to the fullest, and Alastor is more than happy to let it happen. With that being said, when Vox was broadcasting the tarnishing of his name, it was a different story. He went back to his tower as quickly as possible - grabbing a cup of coffee on his way - and more or less owned Vox's ass.

Speaking of the song, it's worth noting that Alastor perfectly responded to the part of the song that was never broadcasted, the beginning. It could have been for thematic purposes. It could have been that he somehow knew, the how alludes me.

Let's bring up a certain picture:

Throughout episode 2, much of their relationship was hinted and kept mostly hostile, but this picture gave a whole new meaning to it all.

Alastor, the demon that distorts devices and renders them unable to capture him on film, has a photograph taken of him without any glitches. And next to him in that photograph is none other than Vox.

Meaning:

Alastor allowed the picture to be taken.

Alastor and Vox were close.

They had formed a bond, and the closest thing we can call it, is a friendship. But between the then and the now, something broke that bond.

One thing could have been Alastor's dislike for modern technology vs. Vox's like for evolution, which could have played a role in their fallout. As such, a chain reaction of events begins to unfold.

If it was that dislike, resulting to disagreements, where it started or not, we don't know, but we do know that their relationship fell apart after Vox asked Alastor to join his team, and he refused. They became hostile towards each other, most likely beyond repair since, before Alastor disappeared, they had a fight.

We don't know how brutal the fight was, but we do have the line, "You still pissed he almost beat you that time?". Keyword: Almost. Alastor ALMOST beat Vox but decidedly did not. From Alastor's backstory, we know he's more than capable of defeating overlords without a second thought.

Here's a question: Why didn't he kill Vox?

Maybe it's for stupid reasons. Maybe it's not. Who knows, but we know that he didn't kill him and that Vox was resilient enough to not be easily beaten.

One thing is for sure, the picture re-contextualizes behaviors and actions.

Although at its core, their relationship is a rivalry, adding a possible friendship changes the initial view they gave us of them.

And I'll end it by saying that Alastor calls Vox 'old pal'. If that means something or absolutely nothing, I don't know.

BTW! Calling Alastor obsessed isn't in the same context as Vox. Alastor is obsessed with the never-ending attention while Vox is obsessed with Alastor himself. Just a clarification. Though I wonder how many people stuck this long to read, it's not like I'm saying something new here. I can't wait for all of this to be trashed and debunked somehow in the future.

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StaticMoth Abuse

Featuring mentions of Angel Dust's relationship with Val

TW: ABUSE, SA

SPOILERS AHEAD ↓

Here's a fact. Vox is not being abused by Valentino.

This fandom is so deep in fanon content that it heavily intertwines with canon. But let's try to understand where Val abusing Vox came from, why it's not true and how it correlates to Angel Dust's relationship with Val.

Let's begin:

In the, now archived, posts on Instagram (or voxtagram), it was revealed that Vox and Val were in a situation-ship, and canon officially confirmed it.

Now, Val as a character is heavily hated and for good reasons while Vox is not. Many people adore Vox and for that, his relationship with Val can be conflicting, adding a bit of difficulty in justifying their like for him.

Here's where Valentino's relationship with Angel Dust comes in.

Val has been shown to be abusive and to SA Angel Dust. First example of that being the Addict music video.

This has created the need for people to give a reason behind Vox's relationship with Val and make excuses for him so they can validate their favoritism.

"Val is so awful! He must be abusing Vox! Breaking his screen and whatnot!"

What people don't take into consideration is the difference in their power imbalance or lack thereof.

One of the core factors in Angel Dust's relationship with Val is the power difference between them.

Val is an overlord while Angel is a sinner.

A sinner that signed a contract with Val and gave his soul. That alone makes their dynamic vastly different. Val feels it's within his right to abuse Angel, to test his limits until he breaks. And up until episode 4, Angel believed he deserved it because whatever Val did to have him sign the contract must have been his fault. Although that's not true, Angel felt so. Heck, he wanted to break himself so that Val would let him go.

Vox and Val, on the other hand, don't have that. Both of them are overlords.

They are on equal footing. There is no power imbalance. In fact, the Vees could have not existed and both Vox and Val, including Velvette, would be completely fine without each other and continue to have their respective overlord status.

The reason it exists is exploitation.

All three can and do use each other so they can have a more powerful front. A mutual alliance of exploitation. Within this, they have created their own fucked up bond. As a result of that, Val and Vox have an on-again, off-again relationship. It's far from healthy, but it's not an abusive one.

Vox knows of Valentino's behavior but as long as it's not effecting their shared partnership, he will not interfere nor will he care about it.

Or maybe the next seasons will give me the middle finger and I'm completely wrong. Who knows? I just read a fic and saw posts about Vox being abused by Val and wanted to give my two cents on the topic.

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Important!

Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)

An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:

(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)

I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:

IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.

You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:

HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:

First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.

Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.

Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.

In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.

In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:

I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.

In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.

Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.

Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!

NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!

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BSD Magazines Archive

After *checks* six months of working on this, I've finally completed the bsd magazines archive!! The photos above are only meant as table of contents: this is the folder with all the images included above in original quality and more, for a total of 360 pictures with multiple scans to display the best quality available on the internet. Here you can find the spreadsheet with the issues details, including magazine name, date, name of the illustration artist and translation when available, and most importantly source credits for every picture I included. In hope that anyone can find this useful or interesting, please enjoy!

Special thanks to @amythedemisimp, who shared with me so much useful material, and without whom I wouldn't have started this project to begin with.

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the worst thing that could possibly happen to ao3 is it being put on the app store so please stop asking for it because you don't understand what would happen if that went through. ao3's whole deal is it archives EVERYTHING, while the apple app store's whole deal is keeping everything clean and safe. so if ao3 were to have an app all of the 'bad' stuff, including nsfw in general, would have to be censored at best or would be purged at worse. the google play store is more lax but who fucking knows what GOOGLE would police if they got their hands on the archive. do not ask for an app. do not use third party apps. it's on mobile browser functioning perfectly, just fucking use that before you ruin everything for everyone please.

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Saw someone ask why Dazai doesn't seem stressed when Chuuya was flung into a building whereas Chuuya was panicked when Dazai was flung into a tree.

See, Dazai is basically an average person. His ability is a non ability. He is the squishy little wizard guy. Meat and bones with no defense. He can tank his ex partner who may just have been holding back anyway because he knows how to fight. But guy is just a normal dude physically.

Chuuya on the other hand is a wrecking ball on cocain that can basically turn invulnerable at will.

Dazai will die if he smacks into something hard enough. Chuuya will most likely walk away with maybe a scratch at best cause his hat chain flicked him in the face as he was sent through a concrete wall.

Not to mention Chuuya is shockingly resilient already. Man walks off stab wounds and electrocution like they are mosquito bites.

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If you're considering when Dazai noticed Chuuya wasn't a vampire, keep in mind that if Chuuya were a vampire, he wouldn't have killed the guards in Meursault. He would have turned them into more vampires.

Also, if you think that it cheapens the scene in which Dazai drowns Fyodor and Chuuya for Dazai to have known Chuuya was human: it doesn't. Regardless of whether Dazai knew Chuuya would survive (he did; see his explanation of how he would kill Chuuya in Fifteen, the light novel, and further how he approached Verlaine in Storm Bringer):

Imagine how fucking miserable it must have been to do that to someone he loves and trusts. Imagine how difficult for Dazai to lean into and trust Chuuya to be okay, not only after Dazai drowned him, but in such close proximity to Fyodor, whose ability is touch-based. Imagine Dazai recalling that when he was 16, his botched timing meant that Chuuya was tortured. Imagine Dazai reminding himself that Chuuya suffered then because Dazai didn't trust him, didn't let him in on what he was doing, thought only he could pull the strings up until he was too late— and yet Chuuya remained okay anyway. Imagine Dazai considering how time and time again he's received Chuuya's unadulterated trust and choosing to reciprocate with unequivocal faith. Imagine Dazai being unable to express any of this to Chuuya typically, except for in moments when the demands of the circumstances and Chuuya's inability to respond together loosen his inhibitions and his tongue.

Further, usually when Dazai's batshit machinations are exposed, his eyes flatten, his voice slickens into condescension, and he palpably slips into a version of himself that even unnerved Mori. But, in Twilight Goodbye/ep 61, Dazai's eyes were honeyed and light, his voice playful, and his mannerisms bright and animated. Those were not his typical machinations, because rather than attempt to control the variables, which he admitted he couldn't, he responded to what happened as it unfolded, and trusted those he loved to do the same.

He trusted Chuuya, Chuuya trusted him. Because of that, everything was okay. It's not cheap that Chuuya was never a vampire, nor would it be cheap if Dazai knew as soon as Chuuya tore through Meursault that he wasn't really a vampire. Angst is not the source of Bungou Stray Dogs' intensity; hope, faith, and love are, and they're just as heady.

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well Chuuya??? was it????

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Listen, I am trying to be critical but knowing skk and how they barely ever have conflict and how op Chuuya is and how unhinged Dazai is and how insanely smart Chuuya is and how much and how often they troll enemies it is very in character for this to be the meursault finale.

No, the stakes were just as high, this is skk, they love their high stakes pranks and death game foreplay shit. They love keeping each other on their toes and leaving clues for each other without ever telling them to look for said clues.

They are clowns. They are the entire circus. They are stupid and they will drag everyone down to their level in their dick measuring contest of a partnership.

Somehow this ending makes so much more sense than them suddenly having a deeply angsty ending.

Would it have been more interesting had Chuuya been a vampire? Yea sure.

Is it ridiculously in character for them to be trolling everyone and potentially Chuuya trolling Dazai even? Yes.

And its way funnier.

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WHO SAID SOUKOKUOVER? WHO SAID IT? CAUSE LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING—

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Don't think about the fact that Twice only really died now that Toga is safely taken care of and loved by someone else (Ochako).

Don't even think of how Ochako recognized that Toga was loved by the League of Villains and how Twice only really disappeared now that someone else is there to tell Toga she is the cutest and her smile is pretty.

Don't think about Toga knowing Jin's blood was about to run out but letting it go because now she trusts Ochako and feels seen and supported, how Toga's transitioning for something that felt good after all the abuse but wasn't ideal of healthy but someone she will miss anyway to a healthy and good environment for her to heal her trauma and correct her ways, even if she knows it's be hard.

Don't think Twice being proud of Toga and letting her go too and being happy that she's happy and accepted. About Ochako and Twice both reaching for Toga even if they are on the brink of dead and even if they are in the middle of a war. Don't think that the kindness Toga showed to Twice is now returning to her in the form of Ochako.

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Everytime Asagiri drops more skk backstory you realise they were not even remotely toxic, Chuuya made Dazai want to give living a chance at 15, Dazai whole convoluted plan during SB while shitty for Chuuya was ultimately to find the data on Chuuya, Dazai put the world saving plan on hold and was ready to discard it for him, he not only put an end to the dragon jead conflict he even started caring about another man's death because it upset Chuuya, and in some universe they would have ditched the mafia together. Chuuya makes Dazai do good things because Dazai cares for him and his opinions. Dude. DUDE!!

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What do you mean this isn't what's going on in bsd right now..

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Can someone explain—

—ALL OF THIS?!

Thank you.💜

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15!Chuuya: *kicks and steps on Dazai*

15!Dazai: *gay panic*

...

16!Chuuya: *activates corruption for the first time by will*

16!Dazai: *gay panic* OH COME ON! HE'S NOT EVEN DOING IT ON ME!

People talk about Dazai gay panicking when they first met but what about when Chuuya fights? Whether he's in corruption or not... that man is whipped in those moments.

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So, theory time. This focuses a lot on events that have been animated, a.k.a season 1, if more information for it, either to confirm or deny it, appear I might expand it but honestly, it's not that big of a theory and most likely not accurate but it has been occupying my mind. Plus, I don't think it'll ever get touched upon. Also, if someone has said this, I have not seen it anywhere.

So, let me start!

A Yugi twins plus Minamoto family theory, I call it "Trapped". And it's based on three panels.

Chapter 3 in the manga, when Kou was first introduced...

Chapter 17 in the manga, right after Tsukasa was introduced...

How do these two fit? Well, it's what they say in these panels that made me think.

You see, when Kou was introduced and said his grandma trapped Hanako. At first I thought "oh, so like trapped him to the toilet?" But then this little extra panel exists...

Yes, Yashiro asks why he's called 'Hanako-san' but it's still referring to him being to the girl's bathrooms. So, with this, he's not trapped to the toilet, maybe he is by the rumors but he was not trapped by the Minamoto grandma.

But where does Tsukasa fit? Well, he said, after being introduced, for the first time on the roof, "I can't move too well".

Why can't he move well? Was he, perhaps, trapped? Trapped by the Minamoto grandma? But then, Kou described Hanako, so why would it be Tsukasa?

They look extremely alike. Except for the sticker (and maybe the teeth), they look the same. You can say the clothes are different but it's not like Tsukasa hasn't dressed like his brother before. Literally was introduced with Hanako's clothing.

So, what if, somehow, he learned that Hanako was being "hunted" and took his place? He wouldn't even need to do much, just dress like him, maybe have a kitchen knife with him, though not necessary, and pretend to be him.

The Minamoto family could have just heard of Hanako-san rumors or bc of who they are, they did their research, bases like name, weapon, maybe abilities. Since the wonders are supposed to be murders, it would be assumed, right off the bat that they have killed.

Everything could be said and be accurate about Hanako and yet the one that got trapped could have been Tsukasa.

Another and final panel would be this...

Chapter 20 in the manga, second time Tsukasa and Hanako see each other...

Hanako could have very well avoided Tsukasa for 10, 20, maybe even 30 years. Meaning, it could be 100% possible that Tsukasa was the one trapped but of course, it's not like he would say it.

Or Hanako was simply trapped for a bit and that was it. I don't know. My brain likes to think things that might not make any sense or be true.

I'll take my leave...

Bye! 🙈

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One thing Zenki Soukoku, Soukoku, Shin Soukoku pairings have in common is:

Right person, wrong time.