#'but that won't stop me from caring'

[buggachat]

honestly just in general it's very exhausting to try to analyze media that is literally meant to be analyzed, only for the replies to be filled with people arguing not against your analysis, but against the premise that the media can be analyzed at all.

i don't even know what to say about it without starting to really betray my frustration, so i'll just settle with— just don't engage with analysis posts? I'm serious. if you're typing a response to a media analysis post, reread what you've written and ask yourself "is this comment/response against the very concept of analyzing the media at all?" and if the answer is yes then delete it all and go sit in the shame corner. throw your curtains away if you want to so bad and stop telling me that I'm not allowed to hum and haw at the fact mine are blue

[hinamie]

congrats on your recovery n all yuuji but unfortunately for you I thought the scars were cool >:/

[yesokayiknow]

good evening chief, may i please request any clara headcanons you have bc its been too long since ive thought abt the queen 🙏

something i was wondering about the other day is exactly how many times clara goes to her own funeral. bc it's at LEAST once right? bc who else can say they've been to their own funeral? and there's so many people there who she will never get a chance to see again, like her dad, and her nan. so she goes in disguise, and the whole thing's kind of awful but it's also pretty cathartic and she gets to see her family and her friends and her colleagues and her other colleagues (kate definitely sees her. they have a full five seconds of unbroken eye contact before kate just like downs her drink and grabs another) and it's nice. it's awful and it's nice.

and then a few decades later she's having a bad day and realises that she doesn't really remember everything that happened bc it was a while ago but she remembers that it helped. and hey, who can say they've been to their own funeral twice??? right????

anyway i estimate at least 40% of the people at clara's funeral are just clara in different disguises

[shalom-iamcominghome]

People findinging out that antisemitism does, in fact, victimize people

[rmbunnie]

Red Hood Characterization

This is really long so I'm putting a cut here, I've been thinking about Jason Todd's character motivations and the question of whether or not his actions are based in a Moral Code (I don't think so, not to say he's without any morality) and I talk about that in more depth here.

I saw someone say on here that Titans: Beast World: Gotham City was some of the best Jason Todd internal writing they'd seen in a while, and I've been a Red Hood fan for 8 years or so now? pretty much since I read comics for the first time, so I went and checked out and I thought it was good! The way the person I saw talking about it as if it was rare and unusual made me wonder though, because as well-written as i thought his stances on crime were, there wasn't really anything in it that went against the way I conceptualize Jason?

This kinda plays into a larger question I've been thinking about for a while with Jason though, which is that, do people think that the killing is part of a fundamental worldview that motivates him a la batman, and that worldview is the reason he does the things he does?? Because 8 years ago i was a middle schooler engaging with fiction on the level that a middle schooler does, so I simply did not put much thought into it beyond "poor guy :(" but ever since I actually started trying to understand consistent characterization, I don't really see Jason as someone who's motivated by a moral code in his actions the way batman or superman is!

tbh my personal read is that he's a very socially-motivated guy, his actions from resurrection to his Joker-Batman ultimatum in utrh always seemed to me like every choice made leading up to his identity reveal was either a. to give him the leverage and skill necessary to pull off his identity reveal successfully, or b. to twist the knife that little bit more when he does let Bruce find out who he is. Like iirc there's a Judd Winick tweet like "yeah tldr he chose Red Hood as his identity because it's the lowest blow he could think of." And I think that's awesome, I think character motivations rooted so deeply in character's relationships and emotions are really fun to read! I also think it's where the stagnation/flatness of his character comes from in certain comics, because if his main motivation is one event in one relationship that passes, and he is not particularly attached to anything in his life or the world by the time that comes to pass, it's a little harder to come up with a direction to go with the character after that, because there isn't much of a direction that aligns with something the character would reasonably want? But I do think solving this by saying "all of the morally-off emotionally driven cruelty he did on his way to spite Batman was actually reflective of his own version of Batman's stance that's exactly the same except he thinks it's GOOD to kill people" isn't ideal. To be fully honest, it seems to me like he never particularly cared one way or the other about killing people to "clean Gotham of crime," he just did everything he could to get the power necessary to pull off his personal plans, and took out any particularly heinous people he encountered along the way (like in Lost Days.) Not to say I think the fact he killed people keeps him up at night anymore than everything else in his life events, I just never really thought he was out there wholeheartedly kneecapping some dude selling weed or random guy robbing a tv store for justice.

Looping wayyy back to my question, Is this (^) contradictory to the way he's written/the overall average perception of the character? Because like I enjoyed his writing in Beast World i have zero significant issue with anything there, I just didn't believe it would be a hot take, like yeah, that is Jason. It's been a while since I've read utrh and lost days, but I don't think my takeaway directly contradicts either of those too bad iirc. Idk all this to say I think Jason killing and being alright with killing is an obvious and objective fact, but i guess i've always seen it as more of a practical tactic than a moral belief, and I think taking the actions made during the lowest points of a character's life where he is obsessively focused on this ONEEEE thing and trying to apply it as a Motivating Stance to everything he's done after that, doesn't really follow logically for me.

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID: a coloured and shaded digital sketch of Luz and Lilith from the owl house. They're depicted with their designs from For the Future. Luz is tackle-hugging Lilith, ugly crying and exclaiming "I missed you so much". Lilith braces for the hug and smiles with tears also in her eyes. The background is a pale yellow colour and previous versions of the sketch can be seen at low opacity behind the full drawing. End ID]

When you see your cool aunt (actually a loser but you love her) for the first time in months and she has a badass apocalypse makeover but still somehow looks like a librarian

[brionnnne]

note that i will only ever call mithrun "stupid" jokingly. by "stupid", i only mean "frustrating behavior that i am immensely familar with". seeing him do something that makes me groan aloud, closing my eyes, sighing "stupid (affectionate, mournful)". like when he fucking... his dumbass "i don't want to [use the bathroom] right now, so it's fine." oughh. i know you! i know you! that's not how that works!!! and he's smart!!! he's so smart... but god, god... he's kind of an absent professor. he's kind of a cloudcuckoolander. i love him dearly. he gets called a dummy, a little idiot, and i flick his forehead, a little bonk of hard-heads, like "try again, idiot. that's not how bodies work." and "ooh, 'that's not going to work'. yes it is. shut up, stoopid. stubborn little man, my god." rolling my eyes forever.

[longagoitwastuesday]

I have learnt things about Geto that I wish I could unlearn

[cuteniarose]

The consequences of my poor financial decisions are here!!

[trashlie]

Continued dumb things that rattle around in my noggin at like, all times.

This is nothing new, of course; we have talked to DEATH how significant that moment of surprise is in the context of quimchee revealing that Nol likes a nice smile. But the additional context I enjoy is that we know by this stage the friendships Nol meant to be pretend were so real. We already can glean that Nol was very drawn to Shinae in a genuine way - both as a person he wanted to help but also as a friend he earnestly wanted to be friends with.

But, correct me if I'm wrong, this is the first time he sees her smile like that - at a time when she's clearly uncomfortable and miserable on the spot in front of so many people, without her comfort jacket, at an event he knows she's being forced to attend. And it's because of him.

Nol's whole thing is helping people, putting good back into the universe, trying to improve situations for other people. He's surely made Dieter and Soushi smile and laugh.

But here it feels SO loaded and significant. Shinae with her tall, dense walls. Shinae who has been so difficult to reach. Shinae whose friendship he genuinely wants, genuinely enjoys, despite how she tried to stay safe in her shell, in this uncomfortable moment laughing and smiling in such a bright radiant way.

He's a sucker for a good smile.

And he brought her that comfort.

I don't think it's necessarily an attraction thing as much as it's one of those very important bricks laid in their foundation. Nol doesn't in that moment consciously realize he likes Shinae. I think something just strikes him in that moment. That smile, that radiant joy, makes him feel something he can't identify.

THINK ABOUT IT. He's just come back from meeting Alyssa who immediately took off after Meg even though they haven't met in so long. Standing here watching Shinae endure an awkward, uncomfortable dance in front of strangers, everyone recognizes Kousuke - but not Nol. He's a stranger to his family's world, even to his girlfriend. He's just another guy in the crowd.

But there's Shinae, who sees him. The same Shinae who has taken notice of his scuffed knuckles. The same Shinae who, after the dance, immediately goes to him and asks about him.

It's no wonder he says this.

I think seeing Shinae at the formal, clearly against her will, is the moment Nol remembers what happens to people he cares about. He got invested, he sought her friendship, and even though he doesn't know why she's there, he's certain it's her proximity to him. Even before Sangchul, before the pool, Nol remembered the danger.

It's after this he gives Kousuke his word that he'll avoid Shinae, and I think that's why. He already had the intention of distancing himself. It was supposed to be fake and he knew it wasn't and that he doesn't deserve her friendship he put her in danger by showing interest. She had drawn boundaries, she didn't even really want his friendship it'd be fine.

But then he made her laugh. But then she spotted him when no one else did. Then she burst into that bright, radiant laughter because of him and he probably knew: it was too late. He screwed up and yet....

Nothing is okay everything is messed up but he puts on that mask anyway. For friendship. Because he needs to. For her comfort. So he can convince himself he can actually pull away. So he can convince himself it doesn't mean anything else.

So he can convince himself someone cares about him, that maybe something is real even if real means danger.

(But he can't and we know it and we watch it over and over. It's too late and he just can't stay away.)

[kurooscopy]

stars do u like dem ⋆｡°✩

on a quiet summer's evening (a midsummer night's dream, if you will...)

[anglerflsh]

top five family interactions that felt like a fever dream

[hinamie]

ik i've done like 5 panel redraws from 265 alone but this is the last one promise

[talentforlying]

something something the way he's always self-aware enough to recognize when he's been a prat and regret it later = the way he's always revolted and creeped out by people who are "fans" of his or find him cool or otherwise try to follow in his footsteps. y'all get it.

[oh-meow-swirls]

it's kind of weird to me that they didn't bother releasing sushi and tempura internationally at all but at the same time i'm kinda glad they didn't cuz like. yo-kai watch was financially failing in the west by the time 3 released. i feel like if they had released sushi and tempura the franchise would've completely tanked before we got sukiyaki which would've sucked. honestly if anything i feel like it's more surprising that we got all three versions of 2 instead of them just releasing psychic specters but tbf i think yo-kai watch was doing well in the west when 2 released. 2 is just inexplicably what killed the franchise despite being a masterpiece-

[abronzeagegod]

Eldritch Tech Support 5

more eldritch tech support stories

[Brought to you by a kofi donation. Someone liked this series enough to buy me a kofi and even though they didn't ask for another one, I wrote this in thanks. Please enjoy!]

It was the first time you'd been back to work after the whole calling the Exterminators thing. Your boss gave you an appropriate talk about your mental health and well-being but honestly sitting in your apartment or in Lytha's hospital room was starting to get real boring and wasn't doing you any favors.

"I'm good, really," you say.

"Well I've got something for you, should be pretty easy, but there are some time constraints," you boss' second head says as one of their three arms hands you the job file. "Gotta get it done by sundown so it's a bit of a rush job."

"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem."

"You're fine with werewolves and vampires?"

"Yeah, my sister and uncle are lycanthropes."

"Cool. Now go work, be safe, and whatever other platitudes," your boss says as they turn both heads back to their tasks at hand.

You gather you work kit for home visits and take one of the company cars to the address. You grab some of the gear you'll think you'll need and ring the buzzer for the apartment. There's always this weird nervous sinking feeling in your gut whenever you ring a bell. For some reason you're always worried that you're ringing the wrong bell.

"Who is it?"

You give your name and tell them you're with tech support.

"Oh! Great! Uh... Let me buzz you in, might take me a second, hold on."

You wait longer than you thought you'd have to for the door to open. When the door buzzer does finally sound you push in and climb the stairs to the apartment.

You get to the door to the apartment to find it still closed but there's some clawing sounds at the door. The job notes didn't mention anything about any pets, but that generally doesn't concern you. Eventually the door opens and you see a very dishelved man standing before you. His hair looks like he hasn't combed it in more than a decade, he hasn't slept in days, and his beard (which he shouldn't be growing) is very patchy in the worst way.

"Sorry about that, full moon is tonight, and I've been having a stressful day," he says with an awkward wave showing off a partially transformed hand-paw hybrid that would make it very hard to open doors. "My name's Vincent by the way."

You nod in understanding. Your sister had this happen a few times when the full moon landed right around her college finals. The stress made her partially transform before the sun set, which in turn made her more stressed. It was a vicious cycle.

"How can I help you today?" you ask.

Vincent leads you into his apartment that isn't the cleanest but it is a far cry from the worst apartment you've ever been in.

"I have a friend coming over to help me with the transformation. She's a vampire so I wanted to surprise her with the camera-mirror thing, whatever, and it only got delivered today, so I was trying to install it but it comes with all this dumb stuff that I didn't ask for, and the helpline wasn't very helpful, and it stressed me out and this happened," Vincent says as he holds up his hands, "which made it all very hard so I called you."

"I see," you say as you look over his purchase. Pretty standard stuff, also decently pricey. Actually Vincent got one of the highest end things. "What did you not want to get?"

"Well there's this artificial intelligence or something that is apparently always watching or listening, and if I'm putting this in my bathroom, I don't need that."

"I understand. You have two units though, is there somewhere else you wanted to install one? And did you want that one with all of the features or not?"

"No, no, no, I was going to put that one in the bedroom, but uh.... later. And again, not really up on the spying and constantly watching thing."

You nod in understanding. That's not really what this company is known for. They manufacture mirror replacements for vampires and others that might be cursed by mirror-dimension beings or are otherwise reflection compromised. Since the overlap between those beings and the very powerful, spying and keeping data on them would be a fast track to a terrible end, Arctine Industries makes lots of promises to not keep any data on their costumers from their products. But you can tell that Vincent isn't one to debate those points, he doesn't want the camera tracking and automatic features then you won't install those, simple enough.

"I can install these for you, no problem. It will take me a little bit. We can even put in a refund for you with Arctine for the pieces you don't want, but honestly it's mildly annoying and takes a while, so what I can do is have my company buy the tech from you at a reasonable price and you can have the money as early as tomorrow," you explain.

"Oh yeah, I think that would be better."

"Where should I start?"

"Oh... right... bathroom," Vincent says as he leads you to the bathroom. "Let me know if you need anything. I'm going to go... clean up the bedroom real quick."

You grab the equipment and move to the mirror. The tech seems complicated and a lot to people who might not be familiar with the stuff, and from the quick survey of Vincent's place he doesn't seem to be extremely tech savvy. (Funny how that works with werewolves who seem to always have some aversion to modern technology. You can't help but wonder if that's something in their nature. Maybe the moon just hates computers.)

It's simple to mount the few small cameras around the mirror, almost invisible. The hard part is wiring the cameras to the projector and screen that sits behind the mirror. It's very specific and a little technical if you want the projected image to sit on top of the mirror to simulate the reflection properly and everything.

By the time you're done Vincent has come back, possibly from cleaning up his bedroom. You're just testing out the cameras to make sure that they are working.

"Did I get some good stuff?" Vincent asks.

"You got the top of the line tech," you say as your reflection looks back at you.

"Oh good, I was worried I got some stuff that wasn't going to work," he says with a nervous little smile.

"Your friend will thank you," you tell him. "Here, you push here on the mirror to turn on the cameras or turn them off."

"Ok, good to know."

"Now, I can get started on the other mirror, and I should be done before sundown."

"Thanks! I really hope she likes this. Do you think she'll like it?" Vincent asks as he shows you to the bedroom.

"I think so," you say. You can kind of tell where this is going but you hope it stops before it gets there.

"I've never really tried to make any moves on a vampire or woman really," Vincent says as you start unboxing all the stuff for the mirror in the bedroom. Your face is starting to get flush. Is he really going to be divulging his sex life to you? "Sorry, this is probably too much, but I'm nervous and a little stressed as you can tell. And my last partner tried to use my wolf to kill people so I'm a little worried. Also my last two partners have been men so I'm a little out of practice when it comes to women."

Wow. He's just going right for it. Giving you all of his information and trauma. You've been in his apartment for an hour.

"I'm afraid I can't help you with relationships in general," you say. You feel like you have to share a little bit since he's standing there, watching you work (you hate it when people watch you work), with his sad wolf paws and sad demeanor. "My last relationship kind of fizzled out when they faked their death. They said it was to commit insurance fraud but I have a feeling like they mostly wanted to get away from me." Oh crap, now that you've started you can't stop yourself. "And there's someone that I like at work but it's all complicated and stuff."

"Oh, that's terrible. I feel your pain," Vincent says.

"But I think the trick to dating women is to not really think of them as any different than anyone else you want to date."

Vincent covers his face for a moment. "Yes, obviously. You're right, I'm being very dumb."

"You clearly care for them a great deal, and they are coming here to help you through the full moon so that has to mean something," you offer as you try to remount the mirror on the wall.

"Yeah, Ivory is something special. But she's only coming over because she doesn't have any clients." Vincent helps you lift the mirror.

You almost drop your side when he says the name. You know Lady Ivory, well know of her. She's one of the most influential vampires in the city. Her campaign to get elected to the Night Shore was something else, and that election was extremely bitter. You couldn't even vote in it (since you're not a vampire or are in any affiliated with the Night Shore) but you know the candidates and their ads. And Lady Ivory was a commanding, intimidating, powerful figure which is all before you take into account her vampire abilities.

And your sister had to stay with Lady Ivory for her Flensing Moon. You saw the vampire being calm, collected, and utterly in control after hosting a borderline feral werewolf during the height of their lycanthrope ritual. If he's trying to date that Lady Ivory then... well... you've got nothing.

"Well... uh... if Lady Ivory is coming here, for you, then I think... uh... not to presume too much but... she must like you enough to come here and help out," you say.

Vincent, after a few seconds to listen to what you had to say, visibly relaxes. "You're right. Thanks!"

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" you ask. You now really want to get out of here before Lady Ivory shows up to her almost-boyfriend's house. While it would make a great story around the water cooler, somehow you fear the Night Shore Vampire more than some of the old gods you've done jobs for. Lady Ivory is more... immediate.

"No, you've been a great help, thank you!"

You hastily gather your things. "We'll issue you a rebate soon, and we'll email you a survey if you could fill it out when you have a moment to let us know how our service was it would really help."

Vincent nodded as he followed you to the door. "Might not have time until after the full moon."

"Of course," you say as you let yourself out to save Vincent the struggle with the doorknob.

"And hey, these relationship problems are only as complicated as you make them."

You nod, thank Vincent, and leave the apartment.

As you leave the building a pale woman in jean shorts a tank top and a massive sun hat and sunglasses walks by. You feel a cold shiver as the Vampire Lady walked by you straight to Vincent's door. You can't believe you saw Lady Ivory dressed down. Holy shit.

You pack up the car and start heading back to the office when you get a phone call.

It was Lytha.

"Hey, I need you to come get me out of this stupid hospital bed," she says. Even though you saw her yesterday it's so nice to hear her voice. "It's been a week, I'm fine, and if I don't get a patty melt soon I'm going to jump out a window."

You promise to rescue her soon. Hopefully it won't be too complicated.

More of Vincent and Lady Ivory as side characters

if you liked this maybe consider buying me a kofi?