#BECAUSE IM MISSING A CLASS

[catinasink]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[smuby]

what if spy was a drag queen and what if he had a look based on Marie Antoinette would that be cool or what

[roseworth]

i think ppl who compare alex dewitt to uncle ben are correct, and i will stand by the fact that even though alex coined the term fridging, it wasnt really her being fridged since its more complicated than that. but i feel like with that its still important to talk about how there WAS misogyny in alex's death because of the way its different than uncle ben's

their deaths were definitely the same idea-- alex & ben both died so kyle & peter respectively would understand the gravity of being a hero and would take it more seriously, and their deaths had more narrative significance than an average fridgegirl

however. i think its worth mentioning that kyle didn't need it the way peter did. when alex died, kyle WAS being a hero. the reason he wasnt with alex when she died is that he was saving people. alex's death was used to teach him that being a hero wasnt fun, which was not a lesson that she needed to die for him to learn. when ben died, it was to teach peter that people were going to get hurt if he didnt stop the bad guys. ben's death was used to teach him about great power, great responsibility, etc, and the lesson wouldnt have had the same weight if he didnt die. the reason alex had to die was so kyle could have Man Angst about it, not because her death was vital to the narrative in the way ben's was

building off that, alex was killed by someone that kyle had never met and had no way of knowing about. ben died because peter saw the man that killed him earlier that day and didnt stop him, but alex died just because kyle was busy at that moment. again, he was saving people. alex didnt need to die to teach him a lesson about being a hero since he WAS already being a hero (not to mention he gets the same lesson like 5 other times when he meets alan & hal & the other lanterns. but we can ignore that for now). as a character, peter needed uncle ben's death to define his morals & his view of himself as a hero. alex didnt die because of a mistake or a choice kyle made, her death was just to give the story flavor and to give kyle something to be upset about

also, the way they died was very different. the point gail simone was making with the term "fridging" was that alex's death was needlessly brutal. uncle ben was shot off-panel, and all the reader sees is cops at peter's house. alex was attacked and strangled on-panel, and her body was mutilated and shoved in a refrigerator for no reason. while this is partially just because one is from 1962 and the other is from 1994, the point is that the man gets the grace of a simple death while the woman gets the unnecessarily gruesome death

anyways. im not saying that alex and ben had to die in the exact same way for comparisons to matter. obviously theyre different stories and different lessons so theyre going to be different deaths. marz intended alex to be kyle's uncle ben, and she was! but the misogyny comes in when you think about how different their deaths are

[ace-with--a-mace]

they banned ap psych in florida cuz the class ap discusses sexuailty and gender which violates ron desantis' piece of shit dont say gay law so fuck you ron for that

in the college board statement they say it was banned because "teaching foundational content on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal under state law" which is bullshit because these gov leaders believe anything lgbtq is a brain disease so you'd think theyd keep the brain learning class

they banned ap african american studies because "it lacks educational value and historical accuracy" which is making it easier for them to erase black history that is so intertwined with the history of this country that most everything here is so deeply antiblack

this mf has his head so far up his ass that hes ruining our education system even more than it already was

[unordinary-diary]

Blyke and John: Parallel Characters

I’ve written multiple entries about this,

[x] [x] [x]

But I’m back to make a comprehensive analysis about the glaring similarities between these two. I’ll try not to repeat myself here.

‼️SPOILER WARNING for the whole series‼️ but this mostly focuses on the story before John’s suspension.

Firstly, this scene:

ch. 121

This conversation takes place near the beginning of the Joker arc. It’s after John targets Zeke, after he targets Juni, and the day before he goes after Seraphina’s kidnappers. The timing is important.

“If someone hit your best friend, would you let it slide?”

That question is supposed to remind us what John does to people who hurt Seraphina: hunting them down and sending them to the hospital. Blyke shooting a destructive beam really close to John was an example of a trait they share: they both blow up violently when people mistreat their friends.

John’s downward spiral carries strong themes of hypocrisy. He’s angry at the world, he’s angry at himself, and as a coping mechanism, he chooses to believe that everyone else is as bad as he is. That means that most of the traits he hates others for are the same things he hates about himself. In this scene, Blyke is unintentionally calling out this hypocrisy: “What I did is no different from what you do”.

But Blyke’s just trying to connect with John here, he has no idea what John’s been doing. And John, of course, doesn’t give a shit about what Blyke has to say. This line was here for the audience to notice.

They’re both so similar, but their similarity immediately causes tension between them because, well, John was on the wrong end of Blyke’s protectiveness.

I really love the way this was written— there are so many flashbacks to this scene, but they remember it differently. John remembers the part that hurt him— he’d describe it as “the time that jackass shot a beam at me”. Blyke remembers the part that hurt him, or rather, hurt Remi: “the time that jackass hit Remi for no reason”.

Blyke and John are both hotheaded characters with strong ideals. They’re similar enough that Seraphina points it out:

(ch. 80)

As Blyke grows as a character, he becomes more like John: sticking up for low tiers and speaking out against the injustice in the world. But while Blyke is doing that more, John is going in the opposite direction, until they are fully opposed to each other.

Speaking of Blyke’s character arc, it took me a few rereads to actually understand what part of him changed. His kindness, selflessness, bravery— all of those things were there from the start. Blyke’s character arc was about becoming more aware of his surroundings, and how his carelessness can harm others. Blyke was never malicious, but after X-Rei and integrating more with the school, he becomes aware of people suffering around him and how he unintentionally contributes to it. He becomes less reckless, privy to the flaws in the system he grew up not questioning, and uses his power more responsibly. He even comes up with a more controlled way to wield his ability. The part of Blyke that changes is his maturity.

Part of John’s character arc is also about being careful. It’s not as close of a parallel as other things are, but one of the things that John works on during his redemption arc is holding back. Both of them learn self-control throughout the series, and for John, that means acting early before his emotions spiral out of hand.

Adding onto my first point about the two of them wanting to protect their friends— the fact that they can’t do that makes them both angry and desperate. For most of the story, the “block” that prevents John from protecting Seraphina is in his head. It’s his own trauma that holds him back. The block that prevents Blyke from protecting his friends is, guess what? Also John’s trauma! Parallels abound.

Another thing I noticed in Episode 80 is this:

Notice that when Seraphina says “I’d take that over strength any day,” John is looking at the camera. He’s avoiding Sera’s gaze. Seraphina is saying she prefers honesty over strength. John is very strong, and very dishonest, but Seraphina thinks the opposite because John is so dishonest. John appears to be reflecting on this disconnect.

In relation to this analysis, Seraphina is actually pointing out a major difference between Blyke and John. Beyond that, she’s praising Blyke’s traits, (less strong but very open) above John’s traits, (strong as fuck but a liar with his pants on fire). Furthermore, John really cares what Seraphina thinks of him. Knowing that she would think less of him is the main reason why he spent so much time and effort preventing her from catching his lies.

This leads into my main point here: Blyke is the “goody-two-shoes” version of John. Or, more accurately, the person that John wants to be. Blyke has a clean track record and doesn’t really get into trouble. He is respected and left alone by the school without being hated and feared, he de-escalates conflicts without taking things too far, he doesn’t lose control, he’s someone Seraphina thinks highly of, hell, even his grades are better! Blyke represents everything that John wants to be, and the person that he could have been if he’d gone down a different path.

But, crucially, John is also what Blyke wants to be. Well, not wholly, but his ability? His strength? It’s one of the things John hates about himself, but Blyke wants that strength so desperately that he risks his life for it over and over again.

They’re both desperate to be like each other, even when they hate each other the most. Neither of them have any idea how alike they already are.

I don’t know what Season 3 holds in store for us, but I do hope that John realizes that Blyke embodies who he wants to be, because mutual jealousy would be a very interesting dynamic to explore in my opinion. I also hope that it ends up being something they can bond over, by helping each other accomplish their personal goals. (Blyke being another helper in John’s character arc, and John helping Blyke train.)

A side note: John beat up Blyke four separate times. That’s more than any other character, which is interesting because John’s main rival is supposed to be Arlo. For reference, John has beaten Arlo twice, three times if you count the time when Seraphina intervened, and he only beat him unconscious once. But John beat Blyke to the point of passing out all four times, the worst of which being a shot clean through his chest. (shoulder? Unclear. S1 finale).

It’s odd, isn’t it? Out of everyone, Blyke is the one who John physically hurt the most. John’s only grudge against him is an old memory from episode 33, of an event that didn’t actually harm him. John’s grudge against Arlo is much more serious and again— that’s his main rival. So why is it that he’s so much more violent towards Blyke?

The problem here is that I’ve been thinking about these fights as “John picking on Blyke”. And that’s… kind of true? But while Blyke didn’t start any of these fights, they were all consensual in a way. He didn’t seek to fight John, nor was he ever happy about fighting John, but he was always a willing participant.

(138, 153, 206, & 211)

In three out of these four fights, John didn’t even expect to be fighting Blyke going into it. This is significant because while Arlo is John’s main rival, John absolutely fills that role for Blyke. Blyke’s own agency is what leads to most of these events. The reason, narratively speaking, why they fight so much is not for John’s character, but for Blyke.

For John, his reason for fighting Blyke so much is not narrative but moreso symbolic. John is angry at everyone and everything, but ultimately the person he hates the most is himself. It’s only fitting that the character most like him would bear the brunt of his wrath.

As John is having his positive character arc (suspension and post-suspension), he is becoming more like Blyke, and the two of them reach a point where they’re even more similar than they were at the start of the series.

In the Rowden amusement park, John does start to realize how similar they are:

(249)

Additionally, I want to draw your attention to the parallels between this scene:

Blyke and John’s argument in chapter 249

(which the image limit won’t let me add, scroll until you see red hair.)

And this scene:

Argument in ch. 121 (it’s at the beginning)

Two sides of the same coin.

Furthermore, in the S2 finale, Blyke is shown being taken to Keon. There is an implication that by Season 3, Blyke and John will share Keon-related trauma as well. Despite my pessimistic predictions, I do hope that this is a similarity that can bring them together rather than tear them apart.

[sunshinem0ths]

im gonna be sick over the fact that riz is established to never sleep because he's constantly up worrying over the next case to be solved, but also takes naps in the bad kids' backpacks, because with them he doesn't have to worry all the time, and he can just relax.

[nabaath-areng]

Half assed screens, but some of the glamours I might will use for Ieeha throughout the journey of Dawntrail!

[ra-vio]

the minish cap turned 19 years old on Nov 4

[spite-of-the-grifter]

This podcast has been sad and all but the first time I actually teared up was 26: the Bedrock because holy shit the writing of this episode is absolutely perfect. Just, in every single aspect.

-Arthur's loss of humanity showing through the development with Yellow, and how because he was so unsympathetic and cold, that's why yellow was so stubborn and heartless. He can't see it, but his loss of humanity throughout the series bled into John and is starkly contrasted from the beginning of the series when he had more empathy, something that is GLOWINGLY obvious when John returns and highlighted with Faust.

-His miscommunication with John about the real reason he wanted to kill Larson. That if he'd just told him about the sacrifice at first, they wouldn't have been fighting the whole time and John wouldn't have had to play moral compass. He could've reassured him before everything went down and maybe even convinced him to help those people when they were still in the mines.

-Arthur's monologue about Peter. Up until now, we barely knew anything about him, aside from the fact that he was his best friend. The revelation that he came into Arthur's life after Faroe's death somehow makes their friendship that more impactful. Sure, John killed him, he acknowledges and is remorseful for it, but he has also BECOME him. John didn't push him for answers about his past, just like Peter didn't! When Peter came along, he was at a VERY vulnerable place in life and from experience, prying that sorta personal thing from someone only makes them reluctant and resent you for it. Instead, he subtly manipulated Arthur into telling him. Now, John did sorta the same thing, but instead of manipulating it out of him - even though he's this all-powerful being that ABSOLUTELY could have - he waited. He waited until Arthur trusted him enough with that part of him. John has become a reflection of Peter. But Arthur can't stand that because he still, in a way, deeply resents John for his death and he can't stand the thought of someone who took that from him changing to be better. And who can even blame him for that?! He is absolutely justified in his perspective, but that doesn't change the fact that he cared for John as a friend - so much so he KILLED himself just to save him.

-the scene with Uncle where he was literally just sitting there with Faroe's music box. Uncle - as far as I've interpreted - isn't conscious about what Larson's doing. It's naive. It's curious. It's just as innocent as Addison was when Larson was using her. It's just as innocent as Faroe and using the music box to trigger that feeling of guilt and anger with Arthur is so. damn. haunting.

-just the parallels of everything that happened with Yellow is repeated with John, but instead of the bickering reflected in season one, it's just John being concerned about Arthur while he goes mad and blind with rage trying to kill this guy. And also maybe himself. ESPECIALLY on the ledge.

-"I've come so far.." when contextualized with Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, something that's already been thematically important in past arcs.

-The voice acting while he killed Larson ALONE was just so incredible. Let alone his self reflection and guilt over Faroe's death that he projected onto Larson as he kills him. Fully believing he deserves the same.

-This series is so good with exposition. The way he was so vague with John about it - only showing subtle hints through his dialogue until the very last second when all has been said and done and his emotions have come to a head.

-The way he genuinely sees himself - someone flawed who made an honest, tragic mistake - in Larson - someone who made the conscious decision to sacrifice his own daughter - and believes he deserves the same date as him. His guilt that flows into Larson's death like the blood that spills from his eye sockets onto his hands.

-How could they have won when we're not even finished? When we're not yet done fighting? AND THEN THE POEM. THE POEM. PROMISES. THEIR JOURNEY. THEIR PROMISES AND FRIENDSHIP AND THEIR RESPECTIVE JOURNEYS TOWARD HUMANITY/SELF FORGIVENESS.

-It's not a CLEAN slate.

-"We can't escape these things we've done."

"I'd rather greet a new day like an OLD FRIEND. With fondness and appreciation. My friend." I WILL DIE.

-Just the joy of him eating. The joy. The joy of eating with John. Fantasizing about dancing and dinner and drinking. He's slowly starting to forgive himself and let himself deserve the simple joys and he wants to enjoy them with John. With his friend.

"Sounds like we have plans, let's make sure we keep them" He has promises to keep!!

This podcast is amazing and this episode was the PINNACLE of the emotions that led up to it. I love it so much.

[lesbianralzarek]

i got 99% on an exam i was dreading and i was sooo brave and i only threw up a little bit :) unfortunately i had to take 2 tabs of adderall at 4pm and subsequently i will not be escaping my dogshit sleep schedule tonight :( but i got 99% :)

[hand-face-chan]

I'm only halfway though Hbomberguy's new video and I dont know if this is a universal experience but my main horrified takeaway from hbomb's plagiarism video so far is that one of my highschools TAUGHT AN ENTIRE CLASS OF 13 YEAR OLDS TO PLAGIARISE. LIKE, ON PURPOSE.

I ended up moving to a much better highschool, but my first highschool essentially taught us to "write" essays by reading what someone else had written and then write what they said again but putting it "into your own words". Which in practice was teaching us to change, for example, "the works of Shakespeare were regarded by many as the first popular art form" to "Shakespeare's plays have been said by some to be the first example of popular media". One teacher actually told us that the process of writing an essay was "saying what the people you've researched have said, in a way where it sounds like you said it".

Like. The tactics that actual plagiarists use to hide the fact that they were stealing. An actual teacher tried to teach me to do that.

[sieglinde-freud]

thinking about them and banging my head against the wall again whats new. they are making me so emo. god. what the fuck

[hellcatchvalley]

the way that if any bh member died now it wouldnt even be a "oh no im gonna miss them :(" feeling but more so a "man they didnt even really get a chance to finish anything" feeling is.

[savage-rhi]

Fuschia/Magenta?

[rustyelias]

results day tomorrow chat I’m so scared… I put so much work into those exams…

[wasabikitcat]

community college is so funny because half of the teachers are like "For this class you need to use lockdown browser for all quizzes and tests. You need to buy this 70 dollar textbook, and all papers turned in must be in APA format with a title page even if they're only 500 words long. I will not accept late assignments. Also you have a minimum of 4 assignments a week." and the other half are like "you don't need proctoring for the final exam I trust you. here's a download link to a pirated copy of the textbook. as long as your writing is coherent and demonstrates an understanding of the material I literally could not care less what format you use. I can't figure out how canvas works so I'm not giving you due dates, just make sure it's turned in before the grading period ends. your only weekly assignment is a forum post with a minimum of 100 words."