#I don’t understand what the goal of that thing’s design was but whatever it was it failed

[eggs-love-loki]

Who on earth approved Enamorus’s design it’s so ugly 😭😭😭

[prettieinpink]

REBRANDING YOURSELF

COLLAB WITH THE HOTTIE????!!!!!!! @honeytonedhottie. LMAO NOT US PLANNING THIS IN LIKE DEC THEN RELEASING IN APRIL. I luv you so much ur my fav moot. moots who collab together, stay together. Check out her post on her page too, as usual, she makes the best points so y'all better listen.

Rebranding is a process in which you redefine who you are and how others perceive you. Each journey of rebranding yourself is personal and individual. When you rebrand yourself, you further align yourself with your higher you. This post is a guide to getting started on your journey!

UNDERSTAND YOUR CURRENT SELF.

So, take a step back and think about who you are as an individual right now. What are your values and beliefs? Does your external self reflect your inner self? Are you comfortable in your current environment?

These questions and more will help to see which aspects of your life you may need to redefine. See if there’s anything that doesn’t align with your higher self. 

After that, pick those aspects that need to be redefined. Why do you want to change this? How has this been impacting you internally/externally? Does this aspect stem from your environment or yourself? See why this aspect needs to be improved. 

DESIGNING YOUR BRAND

This is more of a fun step! So, using your aspects design how you want that specific thing to look and feel like. Avoid being vague or non-specific. Try to put in as much detail as you can for each aspect. 

If you’d prefer, you don’t have to use ‘aspects’ and instead use your life generally. This is your redesign, so do whatever is more comfortable and achievable for you.

ASPECTS

Health

Social life

Career

Hobbies

Family

Finance

Spirituality

Personal development (mindset, goals, improvement)

Self care

Culture

Well-being

Things to include

Achievable goals

How your environment looks like

How your daily life like

How you see yourself

What do you feel after

Why this is alignment within yourself? 

You can do this any way you want. The one I would recommend for redesigning your life would be a vision board, preferably a physical one. If you don’t want to do that, there are still a lot of options such as writing it down into a pretty poster, creating a playlist that will reflect your brand, creating a pretty list, or having sticky notes around your room as reminders. 

Be creative and detailed with this. You should spend at least an hour if not more trying to redesign your life/aspects.

CREATING GOALS

Goals are so important, especially when we are moving in a different direction than we were before. As we’ve got the current status of who we are and what we want to be, creating goals should be easy. 

Make your goals visible. Put a sticky note on your mirrors, put it as your laptop background, put a reminder on your phone, listen to a playlist that motivates you of your goals or anything else that will constantly remind you of your goals. 

Other than that, remember that goals have to be achievable, mindful, and flexible.

ESTABLISHING HABITS

Habits are so important to rebrand yourself. Habits make up your identity. The way you act, speak, and do daily, can subconsciously influence you to be someone who isn’t in alignment with your higher self.

 As much as it’s important to establish new habits that align with you, you have to root out the habits that are pushing you off track from achieving your goals. 

The good thing is that you can do both at the same time. Replace those old habits, with brand new ones. For example, when you open your phone first thing in the morning instead of opening up TikTok, get YouTube opened and start a 5-minute meditation to start your day.

However, just because a habit is beneficial for you, it doesn’t mean it is in alignment for you. For many people, they prefer to read books as a productive alternative for leisure, however, you may not be able to read a book and focus. In that case, you may want to watch an educational video instead. You’re still getting the benefits, but just in a different way. 

STEP FIVE: IMPLEMENTING YOUR BRAND DAILY

Think about all the little details of how this person would act, from morning until night. Embody their actions, words, aura, and vibes. This is when having a visual of your goals is good, so you can see what you need to do.

This includes no longer indulging in things your higher self wouldn’t do. Regardless of how much comfort, entertainment, or dopamine something gives you, you have to let it go if it is destroying your mind. 

I way I recommend implementing your brand daily by creating a daily routine that focuses on a different goal each day of the week. E.g:

Monday - Practicing being mindful (meditation, journaling, connecting with your religion)

Tuesday - Fitness (pilates, weightlifting, hot girl walks)

Wednesday - Socialising (going out to meet new people/connecting with old friends)

Thursday - Productivity (Schoolwork, studying, business, workplace tasks)

Friday - Self-care (taking a slow day however you’d like)

ta-daa!! thanks 4 reading. now go follow @honeytonedhottie 💕😍

[darthannie]

day twenty-two: dacryphilia with jackson rippner

pairing: Jackson Rippner x f!reader word count: 698 warnings: dubcon/noncon, degradation, name calling, Jackson is abusive, hatefuck (?), reader doesn’t cum a/n: Two in one day! Yay! Hopefully I catch up. In the meantime, enjoy mean Jackson doing terrible things. kinktober masterlist

Jackson really was an asshole sometimes. Your fights with him became more and more frequent, usually when you asked him about work. He never explicitly told you what was going on, but you could tell something was eating away at him. Anytime you mentioned it he snapped at you. This particular spat got ugly.

“Jackson, I just don’t understand why you won’t tell me what’s going on. You’re being a fucking asshole to me for no reason.”

This time he decided to make it personal. “I didn’t ask for my girlfriend to be such a fucking bitch.”

“Choose your next words wisely, or you won’t have a girlfriend to fucking abuse anymore.”

His eyes bore into you, closing up the space between you and pushing you up against the kitchen table. He grabbed your face to force you to look at him. “You make me sick, you know that? You should be fucking ashamed of the things you let me do to you. You’re a good for nothing whore. You’re worthless.”

“Jackson, you don’t mean that…” You hadn’t meant to start crying but something snapped inside you causing a torrential downpour of tears. You loved him, but he could be so ruthless. You couldn’t wrap your head around it.

To Jackson, these situations were foreplay. They were very real insults to you. To him, they were playful comments designed to get you right where he wanted you. Broken. Submissive.

“Fuck, you’re so pretty when you cry,” he said under his breath. The statement gave you whiplash. It wasn’t the first time he went from berating you to being sweet, or at least trying to be sweet. He got off on making you miserable. You could tell what his end goal was when you saw the bulge in his pants.

You couldn’t stop crying. For whatever reason, today was the day the dam broke. “I’d tell you to stop crying and suck it up if it wasn’t turning me on so much,” he gestured with his head, “Get on the table.”

You did as he said and pulled up your skirt in the process. One less thing he had to command you to do. “Good girl. You already know what to do. I have you well trained, don’t I?”

“Yes, Sir. You do.” You were on autopilot. Your responses were mechanical and your tears stopped. You were exhausted by the constant hot and cold temperament that Jackson displayed.

He unzipped his pants and pulled your panties to the side. He was lining himself up when you tried to close your legs. “Shhhhh,” he cooed as he opened them back up again, “It’s alright. You’re gonna feel so nice by the time we’re finished.”

“I hate you, Jackson.” Your tears started again as he thrust in you. He grabbed your tits through your shirt as he railed into you. His eyes never left yours. His jaw clenched as he watched the tears stream down your face. “My little crybaby is all worked up isn’t she?” He thrust faster. He went as deep as he could, feeling the way your wet hole sucked him in. You could tell this would be over quickly. Jackson wasn’t going to last long if you were crying; he made that clear when you saw how quickly he got turned on.

You tried to wipe your tears away while your body moved back and forth on the table. Jackson took your arms and pinned them above your head, getting close to your face as he said “I love it when you cry. You’re so pretty when you’re a mess.” His thrusts started to get sloppy.

He quickened his pace and came inside you, his groans filling up the room. He pulled out and watched his semen pour out of you; he liked to watch. He put your underwear back in the right position, fixed your skirt, and then put himself back in his pants. He pulled you off the table and into a big embrace. He held you tightly, hoping to keep you close for at least a moment longer.

“I love you. You’re so perfect for me,” he said. You couldn’t bring yourself to respond.

Taglist:

@devotedlyshadowytheorist, @dxnger-dxys, @tommyshelbywhore, @quinnlilias,@madnessandobsession, @mvpr-moon, @nela-cutie, @faebirdie, @charmed-asylum, @anasanthology, @ilikefictionalmen, @akanne-aka, @no-fooking-fighting,@queenofstresss, @flwrs4aust, @mrkdvidal1989, @00hsv, @laylasbunbunny

(If something is up with your tag or you would like to be added, let me know!)

[yandere-kokeshi]

Could i please request a Platonic Yandere Peter B. Parker with a reader from a different universe (maybe in their original universe, he's their biodad?)

Warnings: platonic-yandere behavior

A/N: we love Peter b. Parker. Ty for requesting! Hope you enjoy :]

He’s shocked, to say the least. He already has his daughter tangled around him as he works with Miguel and the other Spidermen. Plus, taking care of miles is another job. But when Miguel told him about a new Spider-Person, he was intrigued.

But, when he saw you appear at the quarters all sad and lit up when you saw him, though getting disappointed a second later when you saw him holding Mayday, it shattered his heart. Of course, having spider senses and the ability to be understanding, he approached you; feeling bad about your reaction. Furthermore researching and begging Miguel to see what happened in your universe, it made him sad to see you now-distant.

Regardless of what happened in your universe, he’s now always ‘bothering’ you; acting like the dad he once was in your universe. He’s taking you under his wing as he did with Miles. Whatever happened, he’s hoping he can fix it with you, wanting to get to know you better as you did with him in your universe.

You’re welcome into his home at any time, he always makes sure to make extra plates during breakfast and dinner, even if you said the day before you weren’t coming/or had plans.

Peter constantly asks if you have the designed bracelets to let you travel through universes; making you promise you’ll use them safely and appropriately.

And if you don’t? Well, he won’t be mad. Sure, he’s disappointed. But he’s proud that you did something you are also proud of. He’ll even state that he will take the blame if Miguel shows up at the front door.

The whole family adores you. Mayday loves you just as much as her dad. She loves clinging onto you, planting herself onto your head, and playing with your hair (if you’re fine with it!) and sometimes cries whenever she doesn’t see you. MJ always welcomes you with wide and loving arms whenever you come to visit; hugging you tightly when you come through the portal.

Seeing Peter and Mayday happy to see you warms her heart, which escalates to her opening up to you - treating you like one of her own.

Peter always goes out of his way to get things you enjoy, regardless of your whining of ‘I don’t need more things’. If he sees something in a shop, even in the window, he sprints out with more gifts he was supposed to buy and gives them to you the next time he sees you - making sure to add the Mayday participated in the wrapping paper!

He’s quite a chill parent considering he’s taking care of a baby and a teenager. While he’s gonna be watching out for you, making sure you don’t overdo your strength and aren’t damaging stuff; he would hate to get yelled at Miguel for things that are broken.

Peter always makes sure you feel loved, often giving you hugs and affection that you may feel uncertain about. He always reaches out, asking if he can do anything to help you and that you know he’s here to support you.

Though, Peter is quite a touchy person and if you prefer not to be touched and rather be shown affection through gifts, acts of service, or words, he’s happier to do that as his goal is to make sure you feel comfortable and safe in his presence.

—

Masterlist || Please consider reblogging and commenting instead of liking, it helps me as a creator!! Stay well!!

© yandere-kokeshi 2023 — Do not copy, modify, edit, repost, or use my works for ASMR readings, tiktoks, or other content.

[stevelieber]

Thoughts on giving critiques to comics artists.

Seeing lots of discussion from students about sour experiences with an unhelpful art teacher, so here's a long, long post about giving critiques.

NB: I have no formal training as a teacher, but I was a student, and I've spent decades giving artists feedback on their work.

When someone brings me a portfolio, I like to establish my limitations & clarify my perspective. My work is firmly rooted in traditional US comics storytelling (i.e., not manga or art-comics.) I can give feedback on other approaches but they should know where I’m coming from.

“We've only got a little time for this, so I'm going to spend that time focusing on things to correct. That doesn't mean you're doing everything wrong, or that there’s nothing good here, but it’ll be more helpful if I identify some problems and show you how to fix them.”

Why? Because for many young artists their entire sense of self worth is wrapped up in being good at what they do. (It was for me!) In school they were probably the best artist in their peer group. But now if they're hoping to turn pro, they’re at the bottom.

Sometimes you know what’s up when you see page 1, but try to keep an open mind. Some build their portfolios by sticking new pages at the back & don’t weed out the old stuff up front, so the work gets better as you go. When it’s like that I ask: “Show me your best 8 pages.”

I ask questions: "What's the goal? Do you want to be hired to work on someone else's project, or to get the story you're showing me here published?"

If 1, I steer towards a portfolio that'll showcase hirable skills. If 2, I look for what tweaks will make that particular story more effective.

"Do you have teachers giving you regular feedback? What are they telling you?" Sometimes a student is getting bad advice. In cases like that, I'll do my best to be extra clear WHY I'm giving them advice that's 180 degrees from what they've been hearing.

“What artists are you looking at? Is there someone you admire or try to emulate?” This often helps me understand choices they're making, and I can sometimes incorporate things those artists do into my suggestions.

I ask myself questions about what I’m seeing. First: Is there a narrative? If not, I make it 100% clear I'm not speaking as any sort of expert. I'm good at critiquing storytelling, but don't have anywhere near as much to offer illustrators or designers.

Can I follow the story? Or am I confused about what's going on? Are the characters and settings drawn consistently? If not, is the artist at least making use of tags (distinctive clothing, hair etc.) to keep the characters recognizable?

Does the artist demonstrate a good command of basic academic drawing? If not, Do I think they need it? Do I focus on "how to draw" or on "what to do when you can't draw?" Is the artist putting the viewer’s eye where it needs to be to tell the story effectively?

(At this point I’m usually doing little doodles to go with my instructions. I scribble out ugly little 5 second diagrams that I hope will clarify what I’m talking about. Or they might make me seem demented. Hard to say!)

Is the artist making choices that are creating more work than necessary? Is there a particular weakness? I once spoke to an artist with a portfolio full of great work when he was drawing animals and monsters, but his humans were amateurish in comparison. I spent that critique talking about drawing people.

A crit can be a grab bag. In addition to big-picture advice, I'll point out tangencies, violations of the 180-degree rule, wonky anatomy, weird perspective, places where the artist neglected to do important research, odd choices in how they spotted black, whatever catches my eye.

I also try to make a point of defining the terms, so that jargon like “tangency,” “180-degree rule,” and “spotting black” don't go over their heads. Find simple, concrete ways to talk about these things, & clarify why it's a problem when they aren't done correctly. Draw diagrams!

Recognize that even a perfectly phrased explanation might not sink in. Some lessons can only be learned when a student is ready, and it might take a year or two of work before they can understand what you were saying. It's good to plant seeds.

Are there other artists who are particularly good at solving the problems the student is trying to solve? I steer them towards that artist's work. And I always recommend life drawing & the use of reference to give work specificity, variety, and authority.

Despite what I said earlier about focusing on what's wrong, I try at the end to find something encouraging to say. And if I’ve really piled on the criticism, I emphasize that I only spent the time and energy to do so because I take their efforts seriously.

If I've done my job right, they'll leave my table with tools to make their work better. And maybe in a few years they'll be looking at some younger artist's work, surprised to discover just how much you can learn when you're asked to teach.

[shelandsorcery]

What I've Learned About Teaching Art

I've had the privilege of teaching art in a variety of environments - from still life oil painting at the college level, to combining art with science and history in a museum setting, to guiding highschool students through creating a comics anthology. Through these very different settings, I've found a list of constants that, when I keep them in mind, help me deliver the most enjoyable and effective art education for my students. One of my core beliefs is that art is, at the heart of it all, something a student must teach themself, and that a classroom, workshop, or camp that wants to teach art is actually responsible for creating an environment and offering projects that facilitate that self-driven learning. With that on the table, here is the pantheon of truths that, if I can hold on to all of them, help me create that learning environment:

- Almost no one is inherently unable to draw. Additionally, everyone can improve at drawing. With the wealth of "traditional" media, digital tools, and thousands upon thousands of years of art history with which we can map the possibility space, it seems obvious that if someone wants to make art, then they absolutely can.  If they want to draw, then no teacher should ever, EVER tell a student that they "can't." The teacher's role is usually to take a student who already secretly believes they can't draw and help them see both the breadth of possibilities and the potential within themselves to improve whatever skills they start with. - Drawing is not always about making a beautiful image. The obsession with one kind of "good drawing" creates an artificial limit on who is allowed to draw. Sometimes being an art teacher is about expanding a student's definition of art as opposed to pushing their frustrated and dejected pencil along a path towards a narrow goal. The reality is that even within pop culture we see so many gorgeous kinds of art! Beyond that, aiming superficially as an artist for a particular surface result will almost always create lesser work than creating an understand of underlying processes and theories that helped the "good art" come into existence. - Drawing can teach new ways of seeing. Observing with the intent of drawing can transform how a person perceives the world. So much of teaching art is teaching visual literacy, the literal act of reading meaning within visual input, whether that's a still image, a film, a building or a natural landscape. When you motivate students to read visuals by providing them with new ways to understand creating visuals, you jump start their investment in visual literacy. - Drawing can help us think about things differently. Thinking can shift along with modes of seeing - what is a structural way of thought? What is a compositional way of thought? When you teach art, you must teach a student to look at things holistically and in granular elements - besides just enhancing thought processes moving between the two states, you can get much more discovery in the analytical and planning modes of appreciating and creating artwork. - Drawing from reference is as educational as reading. Learning to examine visual reference closely creates a new kind of literacy - visual literacy. Drawing from reference, especially with guided or motivated questions to be answered, can create an opportunity for modes of analysis that students don't get to otherwise use. Developing visual observation and creating a practice of looking both closely and holistically can create a layered understanding of the subject. Even students resistant to traditional still life drawing processes can find benefit in using drawing to answer self-guided questions. - Learning by making art is a valid mode of learning. Making art can be a mode of learning that both alternates between input and output and creates a sense of ownership/agency in both modes. The hands on creative process is a kind of guess and check system that can be designed carefully to allow students to make a wide variety of types of decisions, and teaches them to create goals and investigate what processes will best allow them to achieve said goals. - Competition with each other or with some imagined ideal will deflate artistic potential. An art classroom cannot have winners and losers based on "quality" of final piece. Art education will benefit more students if it is process oriented. Quality, even in straightforward skills based art education, can still be subjective, and unless it's an aggressive battle Royale for some exclusive prize, the intent of any art programming is not to find the single best but to encourage each student to improve. So don't be a dick about it. - Art is a product of restraints. Material, process, time, subject or conceptual restraints allow for a kind of focused play. Giving students free reign is in itself a huge challenge of self direction, goal setting and prioritization. Making some of those choices for them gives them a chance to focus their own learning. - Materials change the kind of engagement. Diverse materials allow for diverse engagement. Just as subject matter can affect a student's personal investment in a project, the material or method of art making can change their engagement. Changing between drawing and painting, reductive or additive sculpting, stenciling or stamping, will not only change the tactile experience of art making but will affect the modes of thought used to make creative choices. - Venue or audience transform art. Pressure to show, and to whom, can change students self imposed limitations. Defining an audience will change and add pressure to art creation. This can help students hold themselves to a higher standard, but can also frighten or overwhelm them. Audience needs can be a useful limit or influence on the direction of an art project, but audience pressure needs to be modulated to the response of each student. - Art is most interesting when it leaves the comfort zone of its creator. This can only happen in a classroom where students feel safe to take risks. Art, even when the subject matter is utterly anonymous or benign, can be a hugely risky-feeling process. Even the act of making art in a classroom environment can feel frightening; if we want students to fully engage, and to take the artistic risks that allow them to learn, we have to spend class time making the classroom into a safe space for the students. This probably needs to be it's own post so I'll leave it there for now and come back and expand upon it in detail in future. - Subject engagement transforms art. Students with something to say about their subject may push themselves farther. Caring about the subject can be a blessing or a curse for a student - deep subject investment can drive problem solving around how best to present it in the artwork, while deep subject investment can also overwhelm a student with self imposed pressure and even a large dose of imposter syndrome. Therefore it can always be useful to intersperse self selected subject matter with "boring" or at least not emotionally significant subjects, to relieve some of the pressure and allow students to instead respond to the process alone. - Ownership of a process will empower students. Whether they've designed a process, built their own materials or set their own goals, agency gives students investment. One of the most exciting things about art is that students have a lot of potential control and thus ownership - they will always be making choices, and those choices are potentially exciting because they directly affect the outcome. You can increase this sense of ownership or investment in the class by facilitating student-made materials, like sketchbooks or mark-making tools; or by facilitating student-led exercises or challenges or projects. - Demos will guide what others make and must be done carefully. Demoing can empower and at the same time overwhelm or impose limits on the viewers. Demoing must be designed to specific goals of each assignment. Eg: if you want students to use surgical techniques to explore value, or depth, or composition, whole you absolutely have to demo the technique didactically, you need to be careful not to be didactic about the results you want in relationship to the subject of exploration. Showing a wide range of potential approaches can help in classrooms where students can handle large info dumps, but often it's better to demo the technique, get them trying it out without further instruction, and then redirect then to the topic of exploration as stage 2. - Material potential can power a room. Art supplies can be motivating all on their own. Getting excited about them can make it safe for the students to get excited as well. There are many different supplies available to teach art with, and trying different ones can add a lot of excitement to the room even if your topic of instruction is narrow. Getting excited about materials can change the mood of a classroom entirely. - Criticism must engage with the student's goals or it will work against you. Setting goals, and then reflecting on them, is key to art education as so much of art is self directed. If you then ignore that setup and approach critique without listening to your students' internal direction and goals and at minimum acknowledging them, they will not find your critique constructive. This goes for young children all the way to adults - you need to be in dialogue with them. - Open discussion and open ended questions will always help. Once you've found a way to make the classroom a safe space, group discussion powered by open ended questions can open everyone's mind up to broader possibilities. One on one conversation also benefits hugely from open ended questions and encouraging students to reflect and investigate their own process and practice. - Letting students share their learning is important to help the class grow beyond your own limited experiences. Students will often still feel in competition with each other, so instituting non-competitive collaboration and sharing will be important to minimizing classroom tension. This can be demonstrated first with art games and developed into collaborative processes on more serious projects. - You can never clarify the instructions enough. Always repeat yourself, be prepared to repeat demos, have a written list of instructions and delegate helpers. Breaking projects up into stages can help with detailed instructions, but always show an overview first. Art is overwhelming and there is no process so simple everyone is automatically good at it. Accurate following of a process will often help students who are unsure of themselves prove themselves to be competent and your job as the teacher is to make sure they have everything they need to do that. - Techniques are best remembered when students use them to solve specific problems. Show how applicable to different problems a technique is during demos. Be prepared to reteach or to teach new techniques whenever students hit a wall. Encourage them to reflect over the techniques they have at hand to see if there's a new way to use one that could solve their problem. - Art is mostly learned by doing. Material literacy is gained only through material exploration. If you spend too much time talking/demoing before they get to try the materials the enthusiasm can fade. If you have a student who is frightened of doing it wrong, the most important thing is to make a safe space for them to do it wrong, because that's the only way to eventually do it right. These are all best case scenario tips - and while I've tested them all to know they work, it's still hard work to keep everything in play in every classroom. I'm hopeful that having this written list will help me, and maybe by sharing I can help others as well. Art is a privilege to teach, but I believe it is incredibly important for everyone to get to learn it, in a safe environment where the effects of an art practice can be the most beneficial. Are you teaching a creative subject? What are some techniques or core values you bring to your classroom? Read the full article

[m4rdb]

An insight into the characters based on their approach to the “Allie problem”

If good writing means that every scene has the potential to say something about a character at their core, then the girls' attitude towards the "Allie problem" is an interesting example.

Taissa

The one who comes up with the very plan. This establishes her as ambitious and extremely rational, but it’s the type of rationality that without grounded moral principles could degenerate into violence and cruelty at any time. It’s what we see with adult Misty and Walter, who are both so practical-minded that resorting to murder is nothing more than a smart option to choose to them.

Like Jackie says, Taissa has so much fight in her. The way she handles the Allie situation shows that if she has a goal, she’ll do whatever she finds necessary to obtain it.

How does that translate into their time in the wilderness?

Taissa’s the first to make the call that they should leave the plane and find water. She’s the one who sleeps in the attic when everyone else wouldn’t, she’s the only one who tries to tell Jackie she shouldn’t leave. And in season two, she’s the one who says, “We need to find a way to stay alive, and it can’t be her [: Lottie]”.

Then we see them drawing cards. We’re not shown how they get to that very decision exactly, but it’s important that we know that the two things are tied. The hunt that follows, their first conscious hunt (let’s not forget about Travis), wasn’t supposed to happen—it’s rather the consequence of the designed sacrifice refusing to take on the role.

Though there’s an obvious religious aspect to it, drawing cards isn’t just letting fate/the wilderness decide in their place so that they don’t blame themselves. It’s also the girls’ attempt to give the ritual some semblance of logic and structure—on a normal day, they would draw cards to decide who gets which task. They’re using the same mechanism, except that they’re now deciding who should die and get eaten. And it starts with Taissa’s very rational and straightforward remark about needing to survive.

Natalie

She openly and passionately goes against Taissa’s plan. Despite being presented as the outsider who doesn’t really engage with the team and disregards rules by smoking and doing drugs, she’s the one who fights to play fairly. She most likely doesn’t care about Allie personally, but she’s a teammate, and they should treat her as such.

While Tai’s ultimate goal is winning at Nationals, Natalie doesn’t want to win more than she wants to be a team (T: What’s your plan, then? / N: I dunno, play like a fucking team and win? It’s worked so far.).

It’s quite ironic—yet not that surprising—how, despite being opposites, Natalie and Jackie share a similar mindset about this.

The scene establishes Natalie as a sympathetic character with grounded and noble moral principles, no matter the adversities. In the wilderness, she’s the first and possibly the only one who acknowledges Travis’ grief and sees through his unsufferable attitude and understands that, as much as questionable his methods are, he’s trying to make sure Javi gets over their father’s death and wants to live on.

It's also meaningful that Natalie’s not there when Jackie and Shauna fight and Jackie ends up leaving the cabin. The night earlier, Natalie was the one who let her out when Lottie and the others locked her in and went to hunt Travis down. Natalie basically saves the girl who just had sex with Travis being perfectly aware that it would hurt her, and she doesn’t even know. Viewers do know, though, and we’re instinctively led to think of her as even more noble and deserving of empathy.

Jackie’s death certainly comes from an irrational choice, but the deepest reason is the others’ lack of sympathy towards her at the end of the season. It could be delusional, but I can’t see Natalie turning a blind eye on the whole thing, had she been there.

Jackie was their captain when they had a normal life. Natalie becomes their leader thanks to the constant effort she’s put into the group ever since they landed there—and possibly, as the matter with Allie shows, even before that.

Lottie

Lottie’s phrasing for her refusal is telling. She says, “It doesn’t feel right.” It’s not that she thinks it is, or that it seems like it is. She feels like they’re not meant to go through with it. A simple yet fitting choice of words foreshadows Lottie’s spiritual nature and her connection to the wilderness as well as her role of prophet/messiah.

It’s also important that she’s not shown as particularly proactive. She does express her opinion, but she’s not as passionate as Natalie about it, who instead actively tries to convince them what a terrible idea it is and interferes with Taissa’s plan on the field. This shows how Lottie never cared be a leader, but rather follows where her feelings lead her.

Van

We’re not really shown Van’s reaction until they’re in the locker room after the scrimmage. We just learn that she’s impressionable, as she almost throws up at Nat’s mention of Allie’s bone being visible, and that she’s so devoted to Tai that she won’t let Shauna talk shit about her at the party.

Laura Lee

Of course, nobody would even dream of telling Laura Lee about an act of such misconduct. She would never go along with Taissa’s plan, she wouldn’t even fathom doing something like this. She’s more clueless than Jackie, because Jackie at least did notice something was off on the field. Even at the party, Laura Lee is the only one who still has no idea there were such tensions.

Her blissful ignorance keeps her kind and pure, apart from the ruthless tendencies of the team. It doesn’t change once they’re in the wilderness—Laura Lee dies trying to help her friends, and she fortunately never gets to witness their worst moments.

Shauna

Unsurprisingly, Shauna’s a tough one. Her attitude towards the Allie situation is as ambivalent as it will be for the rest of the story towards everything else.

Shauna keeps her thoughts for herself until Nat and Lottie leave and it’s just her and Tai, and even then, the first thing she says is, “Jackie’s not gonna like it.” The moment she’s asked to make a personal decision, she talks about what Jackie would think, and it’s not because she herself doesn’t know what to think, it’s just what she chooses to say outright. If anything, Shauna isn’t against Taissa’s plan entirely, and bringing up Jackie rather sounds like an excuse so that she doesn’t dwell on her own dark thoughts.

When Taissa says, “Then we probably shouldn’t tell her,” we expect that to upset Shauna—she wouldn’t keep things from Jackie, right? They’re best friends. While it does upset her, it still doesn’t stop her. We understand why later in the episode, when we discover that she’s no stranger to keeping secrets from Jackie, between her affair with Jeff and the admission letter to Brown (it also recontextualizes their first scene together in Shauna’s car, where Jackie addressed literally both).

On the field, when Taissa plays aggressive and forces Allie to play under pressure, Shauna tells her, “It’s not helping,” and once Allie’s on the ground, she’s one of the girls who runs to her first and tries to comfort her. Even though she didn’t openly disagree with Taissa’s plan, she didn’t want or expect things to escalate the way they did. She’ll make the same mistake when Jackie leaves the cabin, Taissa tells her to go talk to her, and Shauna just goes to sleep, underestimating the consequences of it.

Her ambivalence—if not hypocrisy—is shown later that night at the party, when she tries to pick a fight with Taissa while drunk. I think some part of her felt guilty to an extent, so she tries to fight with Tai out of remorse and because she wants to make her look like the only culprit, since she hates that she was so close to being complicit in it. Who calls her out when she defends Nat from Taissa’s slut-shaming at the party? Natalie herself slams in Shauna’s face that she is complicit.

If Shauna had told Jackie, she would’ve put a stop to it for sure. In the 2019 script for the pilot, Jackie says, “You should have told me about Taissa and Allie.” Shauna’s choice to keep the secret directly anticipates their falling out towards the end of the season. Shauna’s continuous lying drives Jackie mad until she explodes and they have that fatal fight.

Shauna’s the one who tries to act as a person who has it together but really doesn’t. She has the potential to be a good person, friend and mother, but she ends up flunking everything and she barely understands why.

Finally, she tells Tai that she’s “a fucking sociopath”, which, considering everything that happens later in the series, is sort of rich.

Jackie

Like Laura Lee, Jackie has no clue the whole “freeze Allie out” strategy is even happening. Shauna didn’t tell her, she was left out, and she doesn’t find out until Allie’s already hurt and there’s nothing she can do about it.

She watches the others as they rush to help and comfort her and handle the situation, but she doesn’t partake in it because she’s too shocked to move. After the scrimmage, she tries very hard to do as Coach Martinez told her—as captain, she’s meant to glue them together (“When it gets tough out there, these girls are going to be looking for someone to guide them. Can you handle that?”). It’s more than that, though—the way Coach put it, if Jackie can’t do that, then she isn’t really anything special. She’s not as fast as Shauna and her footwork isn’t as good as Lottie’s, and there’s something else that Taissa’s better at, too, though Jackie stops Coach before he can tell her that bit. But nobody seems to care about what she’s saying, and Natalie storms off.

Jackie’s inability to handle the Allie situation and lift the others’ spirits foreshadows her incompetence as well as her progressive loss of influence in the wilderness—in Lottie’s words, “You don’t matter anymore.”

Allie’s accident marks the beginning of Jackie’s downfall even before the plane crashes.

[veryrichbitchh]

Let’s chat.. i am a black woman and I recently found out about ‘divesting’ from YouTube and that was the nail that broke the camels back for me. I’ve been getting so many signs saying leave SW FULLY from God.. I was fighting too hard to be handed a luxury life (that is not actually luxury) and not working for it for myself, righteously. Honestly… why are so much of us trying to sell p*ssy instead of getting ahead in life by doing the hard work that won’t leave our soul feeling rotten…?

So, I’ve accepted SW as a phase in my life. My Holy Spirit has been wanting me to stop but my body/flesh did not want to let go of it. I need to believe that God can solve my problems and have the highest faith in Him only, and serve no other gods.

Be careful who you bring around you also, friends can lead you into that lifestyle and it happens quickly. Around age 21 when I let superficial friends that only care about designers, men, etc… get around me and essentially corrupt my mind. Be careful because you can easily get sucked into that life of shallowness and do things you should not to keep up with the shallowness. It happened to me, led me to spend above my income and in turn, it led me to thinking money, rich men,luxury trips and dates, drinks, etc… can validate me. Then came me turning to older white men since I live in a city where the men with money are generally white. Even if marriage wasn’t the goal for me most times with them , it is truly embarrassing to be so strung out/in the sunken place (lol) that I thought being with a 70,60,50+ year old white man (especially in public) is okay. (I’m in my 20s!!!) I even at one point thought marriage was in the picture with them… lol. I was about to allow myself to enter that mindset when I know that’s not what I want. I know for a fact that I deserve better.

The lifestyle of the sugar baby, sw'er, whatever, I've been invested in for so long and I am just tired of faking that it is .. idk the word . Tired of faking that it is “all that”. Idk the word .. but you get my point (maybe). And I’m not saying it was an entirely horrible experience… but at the end of it all you don’t gain much. (What is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul.) and I feel God never let me get fully invested (face out) either like He kept me protected. My Holy Spirit had me understand through the whole journey that this is not forever and to not let my mistakes linger for life that I actually start to embrace the mistakes.

But thinking back to it all, what was it for? Because I could have put all that time into a more l*gal and profitable business that I am actually proud of , but I chose not to… I chose the “easy” way out which was not so easy especially when the income is sporadic. Maybe it was the thrill. It was like a high. A drug almost. This is a lot to unpack babes.. The devil wanted me to give even more than I gave to that lifestyle and I gave a lot… but nothing God cannot return.

Anyway, babes, I have so much on my mind but I am choosing to work on businesses, study/figure out how to pass my exams, take trips, learn the righteous way I can live my life, travel, lean on God always and just being at peace. I am so at peace right now it's amazing. I am okay with my past because without it i would not come to this realization and I am thankful for the Grace of God that his kindness led me here. So, ladies, the summary is, work for what you want that is beneficial for your Holy Spirit. I am no longer in sw and will continue to write updates here and there! <3

And yes I still very much am a Very Rich B*tchh😘

-VRB

[that-ari-blogger]

Ascension (Whatever It Takes)

Let’s talk about active and reactive characters, and what that tells us about a given story.

Whatever It Takes sets up Vaggie and Carmilla as… foils? Parallels? Opposites? The series is open ended in this field, it gives us archetypes, and invites us to draw our own conclusions.

As such, these two are protectors, but the way they go about it is both similar and wildly different. It’s complicated.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD (Hazbin Hotel, Castaway)

The difference between an active and a reactive character is in the name. An active character takes actions and pushes the plot forward to further their own goals, while a reactive character responds to others and acts in accordance with that.

For example, Zestial is a fundamentally reactive character. He responds to the floor shifting underneath him in the previous song with damage control.

He watched the person who is ostensibly closest to him get undermined, so he tries to pick her up. In that way, he’s a pretty decent friend. He offers aid when she’s feeling low, and whatever he gets out of it, the man’s primary goal here is to help.

“What weighs on your soul, old friend? I explore you to share the load.”

At this point, I feel the need to explain my bias towards this character. Zestial is one of my favourite individuals presented in Hazbin Hotel, and it’s not because he’s benevolent, or powerful, or composed. It’s not because of his design, or his writing. It’s because I am weak, and his voice is smoother than the ocean at night. I don’t have to explain myself further.

Zestial is also reacting to the power dynamic being presented by the Vees. They didn’t do any damage, but Velvette felt comfortable making threats, and was utterly unintimidated by Carmilla, so Zestial feels like he needs to start moving his pieces to counteract that.

“If it was thou who slew the angel, why not let your fear be known?”

Essentially, Zestial needs to get himself and his friend back on top, and back to being untouchable. He wants to go back to not having to act at all.

But a side note here, notice how the rhyming scheme in this section is slanted, that’s because rhyming wasn’t always a thing in English poetry. It was ported over from other languages as previous poetry conventions were focused on the musicality and other elements of the words.

It doesn’t map out exactly, rhyming grew to popularity during the medieval times, and judging by Zestial’s dialect, that’s where I’d put him historically. But it does convey a sense of age to his words that adds gravitas to what he is saying.

When Carmilla starts singing, the music itself backs off to a quet guitar. She’s being vulnerable, rather than all powerful, and that contrasts with Zestial to exacerbate their differences. Zestial’s oomph makes Carmilla seem smaller, and Carmilla’s pensiveness amplifies Zestial in return.

As an example of an active character, Charlie and Velvette are fundamentally active characters whose actions make up the majority of the plot. Charlie pursues her dream, makes bargains, offers forgiveness, and Velvette… well she has one song, but Carmilla and Zestial’s actions are in direct response to that song’s ambition.

However, here’s the kicker. In my opinion, there is no such thing as active and passive characters. It’s a gradient.

The classification exists for a reason, it helps audiences understand, but in practice, nobody exists only on one side of the equation. Being reactive is a biproduct of existing in relation to other stuff. Chuck Noland, from Castaway, despite being the only character on screen for most of the movie, reacts to his environment and to his situation like a human being. Even if a character chooses to ignore their surroundings, that’s still a reaction to something. The decision to do nothing is still a decision

On the other end of the spectrum, all characters are active, because otherwise they aren’t characters. Being active is simply the practice of doing things. In the first Ranger’s Apprentice book, Baron Arald and Sir Rodney are generally pretty reactive characters, but their choice to challenge the Kalkara is an active decision.

In that sense, Zestial is a character who leans towards reactivity, but is still motivated to take action when threatened.

For the sake of visualisation. I have a graph.

We can start by putting Zestial and Charlie on opposite ends and filling in from there. I would say Husk is pretty reactive as a character, usually acting in response to Angel or Alastor, while Velvette is active in terms of antagonism, but she reacts to the death of the angel. Vox responds to Alastor by taking action, Adam responds to the death of the angel with violence, etc. Eventually, our graph looks a bit like this:

Now, you may notice that there is a gap in the middle. Despite all appearances, I am analysing Whatever it Takes, so guess which two characters go there.

This was actually a pretty difficult choice, and it comes down to my grievances with this episode, and my critique of the show as a whole.

I laid this out in more detail in the previous post but suffice to say that Hazbin Hotel is too short, and that hinders episode three because the series doesn’t have enough time to capitalize on anything that is set up here.

Carmilla suffers enormously because of this, because the dynamic with Vaggie doesn’t go anywhere (other than Out For Love, but we will get there when we get there), and she doesn’t have much screen time beyond this, so we don’t really know where she sits on the scale.

The song that I have been dancing around sets up a place in the centre of the graph and makes them parallels because they fit in the same slot here, but then Carmilla isn’t in the rest of the series much, so she ends up falling further towards the reactive end of the scale.

The reactiveness itself isn't what I have an issue with, its the inconsistency.

Once again, I blame this on management not understanding their own product, but it’s important to understand how that has affected the end result.

So, the key metaphor established in this song is that of the keeper and armour. The protector and the guardian, and that is what sets up their place on the scale.

Armour isn’t a character, and even in terms of what it does, it’s not a particularly proactive item. You can’t hit someone with a helmet unless you really want to, and even then, it's going to be less effective than most of your other options. But what armour does do, is get in the way.

Armour interposes itself between you and danger, sacrificing its own wellbeing for yours. It’s a guardian, a protector.

Vaggie is positioning herself as a someone who will do whatever it takes to save those she cares about. She is the knight who will stand in the darkness and ward it off to protect the light. She is not a disgrace. She is vengeance. She is the night. She is... Batman!

I’m humanising an inanimate object here, because Vaggie is doing the complete opposite. For Vaggie, love is putting her partner above herself, to the point of self-sacrifice. It means that she is willing to let go of her will to live to get in the way of any danger coming towards Charlie. She is dehumanising herself and saying that her desires are forfeit for Charlie’s dream.

“I’ll be your armour, Do whatever it takes, I’ll make the mistakes I’ll spend my life being your partner”.

Now, Charlie has done absolutely nothing to persuade Vaggie of this. She has been supportive, if a little headstrong. Vaggie has reacted to Charlie putting herself in danger and decided that was how she was needed.

There is one scene that I’ve seen pointed to as Charlie re-enforcing Vaggie’s attempt at self-sacrifice, that being the training scene. But that’s just asking for help, that’s not manipulation, that’s shared responsibilities on a task. That’s teamwork.

Yes, Charlie is oblivious to this side of Vaggie’s motivation, but that’s because Vaggie hasn’t told her about it. Vaggie vents on an abandoned boat, alone, singing to herself. Charlie doesn't know that because Vaggie is convinced that if she is vulnerable, she won't be useful.

So, if it isn’t Charlie who told Vaggie that her individuality is worth sacrificing, I wonder who did. Maybe a military leader of some kind who values subservience above all else. Maybe someone who surrounds themselves with masks so that they don’t have to realise that people are individuals. I wonder who that points to.

Carmilla, meanwhile, positions herself as a keeper of secrets, a profession and a type of action she can take. She sets herself up as responding to news and stamping it out, taking action to hide things.

“I always thought that I would keep blood off my face, But when that thing attacked, I had to act To cross that line and keep them safe.”

I want to restate that Carmilla is a hypocrite. She makes weapons and is convinced that her wealth will protect her from the consequences. Or rather, she was a hypocrite.

It took an angel rocking up out of the blue and nearly killing one of Carmilla’s children to jumpstart her character development. Just like Zestial, she was bulletproof, except that she had people she cared about.

The angel made Carmilla think. Her wealth didn’t protect her, the weapons did nothing to stop the assailant, and the violent response to a violent problem only brought about more issues. There might be a war on the horizon within hell, and both sides will have weaponry given to them by Carmilla. If the war starts, both she and her daughter will be killed, and it doesn't matter which side by, they will die at the hands of weapons she made.

As a response, Carmilla takes action, trying to recover her safety by keeping the secret of her vulnerability. She’s still not a good character, but she’s had her security compromised, and that’s a start.

Which brings me to the parallel between Carmilla and Vaggie, and I think that it is limited, but important to note. Both are protector characters; both respond to danger and take action. But that serves to show their differences even more. Vaggie is self-sacrificial and openly vulnerable so that her ward doesn’t have to be, and Carmilla is closed off and defensive all the time.

This is reflected in their music. One of my favourite parts of Hazbin Hotel is the fact that whenever they sing duets or even chorus pieces, its never everyone singing the same set of notes in their own register. In this case Vaggie’s music is more floaty, and according to Musescore, in a different key to Carmilla, who is dynamic, but grounded.

Zestial's design strength comes back here. He has too many eyes and a mouth that's a weird shape. What expression is this? What emotion? Is he confused? Disappointed? What's going on? Having a manipulator character have a mask is good, but making their entire face an unreadable blank slate is even better.

But the difference is also conveyed by their actions. Carmilla is static while she explains herself to Zestial. She is focused on the people she is protecting and the person whom asking for help from.

Vaggie’s section doesn’t really show Charlie at all, except through the geography. Vaggie is constantly climbing when she sings, constantly rising, as if her love lifts her and brings her up from rock bottom. Even though she’s not dancing, the choreography is telling a story.

When the camera shows her face, she is always looking upwards. Charlie has given her hope.

Final Thoughts

Episode three’s problems aren’t its own fault. The episode is setting up elements that never arrived, and that causes it to feel bloated.

I actually like this song, although for a while I couldn’t articulate why. I like to listen to it, but as far as analysis went, I was at a loss. This post has taken me the longest that any has in a while. But I ended up with something, so I’m happy.

But, from the series’ weakest episode, to its strongest. Next week we start episode four, talking about Poison, and… oh boy that one’s going to be a lot.

Previous - Next

[mimastuff]

Hello! I'm having a bit of a rough time so I thought I'd send this ask. What would the turtles be like with a S/O that has anxiety, depression and PTSD? How would they help them if their depression is bad enough that on some days they can't get out of bed, forget to eat, etc? Bonus if S/O is plus-sized/kinda chubby and insecure about it.

I love this request !! I totally relate to this one so there was a lot of writing <3

TW: mentions of ptsd , swearing, pet names, depression, eating disorder , anxiety, physical touch

——————————————————————————

Raph

- he would i understand completely abut how you feel

- Especially after the krang

- He would wake up after horrible nightmares

- To this day he still has them

- But , that being said if he were to like touch you on your waist and your flinching due to PTSD

- Or he does something that triggers it

- If you guys are in the lair , he would pull you aside and talk about it.

- If your bad at communicating how you feel he will most likely comfort you till you eventually have the right head space to talk

- He will sit you in his lap and hold you until the feeling passes over

- But if you’re not to good with physical affection he will sit you down on his bed while he makes you breath properly

- His main goal is to make sure that you know that your safe

- He is always here for you

- And he will make that known.

- If you guys are in your living space then he will guide you to the kitchen where he will most likely make you your favourite hot beverage.

- He knows that I can be hard to speak so he will send you to your room to calm down

- Once you have calmed he will ask what’s wrong but if you don’t want to talk about it he is totally cool with that

- If you do however he is all ears on you

- He will say whatever you need.

- When he starts noticing your depression and not getting out of bed he will come to you and lay with you till you’re ready to get up.

- He stars motivating you

- If all else fails he would much rather you did this at his place

- It’s easier in his eyes to take care of you

- His brothers also help with the depression

- You and doctor feelings have designated days where you can have a talking session

- It doesn’t even need to be about the problem, he will always listen to a friend.

- Raph does not care for your size

- Like at all.

- He loves and I mean LOVES your thighs and tummy

- He goes feral

- Also cuddles are heavenly to him

- Like he loves you so much

- Your just so squishy

- He thinks you look hot in anything so don’t be alarmed if he stares at you randomly

- He just loves you and your body

- He said this to you, and I quote “you’re a little bit chubby. So fuckin’ what.”

- Oh. And he meant it as well

- And he sure as heck will make it known that he thinks your cute

- Compliments you allll dayyyy longggg

- With the food situation, he ain’t gonna shove it down ya throat

- That’s not who he is

- He loves you and wants to take things slow

- He asks mikey to make you food which be will gladly do

- Seeing your drooling mouth over his dishes is always a win for both him and raph.

Donnie

- ok , let’s get this straight , he could not care less about your size

- The fact is that you love him . A TURTLE

- So why couldn’t he love someone as soft as you!!!

- That man goes more feral than raph

- Like all Donnie wants is too lay his head on your lap while talking about his inventions and science

- He really loves your cheeks

- NOT YOUR BUTT

- Welll…

- Any ways , he loves grazing his fingers on your face and his cheeks on yours

- He just thinks that they are tooo cuteee

- He knew about your depression and anxiety before you even did

- He saw the signs before anyone did

- And that’s why you love him

- He would stop by yours to make sure you ok

- Blaming it on ‘I just wanted to show you my invention and ooo is that a tv I see In your room ?? You wanna watch something’

- Let him win.

- Please.

- He thinks he is being smooth

- We all know he is not

- Let him be , pleaseeee

- With the PTSD he completely understands your situation

- He however might be a little ummm

- Let’s say , controlling when it comes to being around people

- Like he would want only you to come to him for advice

- But he would do it like raph

- Pull you aside you so two can deal with it together

- He has good intentions, he just wants to help you

- But he can’t help it if he wants to also spend time with you

- In his eyes it’s a win win

- When he sees you anxious

- I head cannon him to have a build in anxiety detector in his goggles just for you Lmaooo

- But it’s cute , all he wants to do is look out for you

- But he will pull you aside and not let you do anything you don’t want to

- He is trying so hard

- He loves you so so much

- He just has a hard time expressing it

- With the eating , he may result into threatening to feed you

- He isn’t serious

- Take no notice of him , he’s just a silly guy

- He would make you meals tho

- That guys can follow instructions like there is no tomorrow

Mikey

- soo he is like so good at comforting due to him being the youngest child

- The thing is that when you have anxiety he will pick up on it before it happens like Donnie

- He is more than likely gonna calm you down before he escorts you out

- He feels it’s best as it means you two can talk through how you feel after it happens

- He is so good when you over think things

- If your anything like me , you tend to make things bigger than they acctually are

- Doctor delicate touch will handle that one easy

- “baby , with all do respect . STOP MAKING THINGS BIGGER THAN THEY NEED TO BE. Okay my love ?🥺🥺”

- He will be the one to plan all the fun dates that you would actually enjoy just to kick your depression in the ass so you can get up

- He would remind you to eat throughout the day and would take care of you when needed

- He would also make sure that you would brush your teeth , do your laundry etc

- If you find it cringey , or tell him to stop worrying

- GOOD it’s working

- His little devilish plan is taking over

- See in his eyes , if he was to check up on you so much , you would do it before he said it so that you would get praise from him

- Simple!

- And it actually works for a while

- With your Weight

- He actually is in love

- Like I see him going for a bigger person

- Like he is smooth as all heck so how could you not resist his impeccable charm !!

- He loves da booty and the tummy

- Favourite cuddling position is spooning

- This is so he feels every squishy part of you

- It’s his fav to also bury is face in your neck

- He finds it comfortable

- He also loves lying on your chest

- He is in love with the feeling

- With the PTSD he would swoop you up from the situation

- And take you two a more sensory comfortable space

- You would not force you to do anything you didn’t want

- He would also care for you like no tomorrow

- Want food ? Here is a three coarse meal !

- Want a drink ? He is your favourite that I have stacks of in the refrigerator that I don’t even like all too well

- He is just a sweetheart when it comes to his lover <33

Leo

- He is going to use his one-liners to the fullest

- If you are not crying , you are now

- Only with laughter of course !!

- He would be the partner that would hold you while you cry your eyes out

- I can imagine him rocking back and fourth

- If you are not comfortable with that then he is totally going to respect your boundaries

- But he will tuck you in his bed while you rest up from the anxiety

- He knows what it can do to and he always wakes you up with your favourite meal and drink <3

- He really loves movie nights so if the depression gets bad to the point where getting up is a struggle

- BAM ! Your favourite movie is on in HD , surround sound and in a volume of your choice !

- He always knows what’s best for you

- But he always knows your habits so that nail Biting habit and hair pulling is out of the door while he is in the room

- He is constantly trying to change your attention to something else

- Please just stop

- Just for him 🥺

- He needs to know trying works

- It will help you and him.

- He loves to help you through the PTSD because you two can relate to so much stuff

- (In my opinion) he had one of the worst experiences during the krang

- So you two will trauma bond

- Mark my words.

- That man is a very good sweet talker

- Trust me he will have you up in the mornings , teeth brushed , full with food in no time.

- With the weight situation

- He literally could not believe his ears when you told him that you were insecure

- Bro was flabbergasted 😮

- He just sat there

- Comprehending it all.

- How can someone like you not love well , you !

- Your too perfect in his eyes

- He definitely loves to lay on your stomach and just stare at you

- With sparkles in his eyes

- As you vent out to him.

- He really loves you for who you are

- And nothin will change that.

——————————————————————————

Omg I love this one ! It took me a while to do it but that because there was sooo much to add !! I hope you all have a good day or night !! :D ❤️❤️

[butchcody]

Hi Enby Lesbian here (They/She), I don’t want to be rude or assume the wrong thing about you. I’m genuinely curious, I’ve been trying to understand how Full on Binary Trans Men can be Lesbians. The way I understand Lesbianism, is that it’s Women and Sapphic Aligned Non-Men attracted to Women and Sapphic Aligned Non-Men. As an Enby Lesbian I understand They/Them Lesbians, They/He Lesbians, and to some extent He/They Lesbians. I really don’t want to invalidate you. I’ve done so much research and I’m still confused. Sorry in advance.

I really don’t want to become a source to answer questions like these because I have a very limited perspective and I am not the expert on lesbianism or gender identity or the intersection between the two. But what seems to be throwing you here is that I am a he/him lesbian, which you are assuming to mean that I am a man. So what you should understand first is that pronouns do not equal gender. There are gay men that go by she/her exclusively. There are lesbian women that go by he/him. I’m not a woman, and I’m not a man, but I am most comfortable with he/him pronouns, particularly in this space. There doesn’t have to be a ‘they’ thrown into someone’s pronouns for there to be nuance in their gender. Using exclusively gendered pronouns does not mean that a person is binary.

That said, regarding the question of can trans men be lesbians or align themselves with lesbians, my stance is firmly that - barring real-life, physical harm enacted on another person - people can do whatever they want forever. Policing the identity of other queer people is far more dangerous than any queer person blurring the lines of their own identity because they feel that they fit into multiple spaces. I am taking your question in good faith, but just be careful not to fall into the trap of “I don’t understand you, therefore you owe me an explanation as to why you deserve to live the way you do.” The longer I live, the more I see that rigid boxes and lines of identity definitions are designed to hurt us as queer people and to keep us from community with each other. The goal of queerness is to outgrow the western colonial ideals of “qualifying” for an identity.

Like I said, I don’t want to become a source for queer identity education. Not only am I not qualified, but that’s also just not what this space is for. I might answer a question here or there but I don’t feel comfortable fielding this type of question on a regular basis. Do more research. Read actual books written by actual queer people about the history of queerness, don’t just google or get the opinions of randoms online. And above all, for the love of god, kill the cop in your head.

[skwpr]

7 Terrible Study Habits To Quit Immediately

Not Making To-Do Lists

If you’re going into a study session without a plan or to-do list regarding what you’re going to study, you’re not properly maximizing your time. 

I usually start working on homework assignments as soon as school is over; but before I actually start, I review the day’s classes and make a list of the assignments I have to do.

It’s also helpful to prioritize so you can efficiently finish your homework. I usually do this on my laptop with digital sticky notes (like the image below), but you can also use a physical planner and to-do lists.

Making lists and setting goals doesn’t just apply to homework, though. Whenever you’re having a study session or attending a lecture, come prepared! Always preview the work beforehand and make a to-do list of important things you’ll learn or will go over.

Writing to-do lists will help you organize your tasks while studying, and is a great study habit to build to effectively tackle your busy study life. 

Not Prioritizing

Prioritizing comes hand in hand with making to-do lists, and it’s key to studying productively without feeling burnt out. 

Once you’ve got your to-do list written out, analyze each task and determined which are the most important and urgent. These could be based on a variety of factors, like:

Due date

Time it will take to complete

Percentage of your grade

Difficulty

Whether you’ll be collaborating with someone

Once you’ve ranked each task on your to-do list (don’t worry, it will become easier as you do this more often), you can get to work with a sense of purpose and structure.

Having structure has always been one of my top study habits and has helped me stay productive, and I hope you’ll try it as well!

Having Your Phone Near

Your phone is likely your biggest distraction while studying. It just holds so many interesting things, especially social media and entertainment. These will distract you and cause you to procrastinate or multitask while studying, both terrible study habits.

It’s not easy to break your phone addiction completely, but physically keeping your phone away can definitely help. When your phone is in another room, you won’t be exposed to constant notifications and will then stay focused and productive while studying.

However, if you find extreme difficulty in separating from your phone, you can begin by turning off social media notifications. Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. can be hard to quit once you open them, so avoid doing so in the first place by turning off notifications.

Looking & Not Seeing

I used to take notes by reading the textbook and copying down whatever I thought was important. I highlighted terms, underlined names, drew some pictures… but the entire time, I didn’t really understand what was going on.

Whenever you’re taking notes, annotating a document, reading an essay, or learning something new in general, actively see and understand, not just look and accept.

This means that you should think about what you’re learning, pose questions to yourself and/or the teacher, make connections with your previous knowledge, and overall put thought into what you’re learning.

Just looking and not seeing is a study habit you should quit immediately, as it is a complete waste of time and effort on your part. Only when you actively use your brain to understand and form connections will the information stick.

Studying In Bed

Your bed is where your body associates with rest and play, and your mind will not be focused enough for you to study productively and effectively. Therefore, what you should do is to study in a designated study space like your desk.

However, it’s important to note that you should only study at your desk as well, and not watch movies, go on your phone, etc. Only when you clearly separate spaces for work/rest will your body and mind make the same associations.

So get up and off your bed and move to a desk or table the next time you’re studying, then jump back when you want to rest; be sure to make this a habit!

Procrastinating

Procrastination is one of the most common bad study habits students have. When you get intimidated by your work or distracted by something fun, you often end up procrastinating for more than you intended.

But it’s not impossible to beat procrastination! One of the best tips I have is to plan ahead and break things down. Similar to making to-do lists, doing these 2 things will give you structure and actionable steps, which will make everything seem easier.

Relying On The Textbook

The last bad study habit that many students don’t realize is their complete dependence on the textbook. No textbook is perfectly exhaustive and comprehensible, so it’s important to utilize outside resources as well.

Though reading the textbook can be of great help, you sometimes need more information (or simply more opinions) to fully comprehend something. Therefore, a good habit to build would be to search around more.

Here are some resources you can use other than the textbook to learn about a certain topic:

Your teacher or classmates

Wikipedia (great for people and historical events)

Britannica (great for people, concepts/ideas, and events)

YouTube (best for math and science concepts)

Quora (best for abstract/opinion-based ideas)

Once you break these 7 bad study habits, you’ll be ready to become a better student and tackle your studies with no trouble.

[rogue-of-heart-classpecting]

Hellooooo you seem like someone who understands things well, I’m stuck between thief of time and sylph of space for classpecting myself and I was wondering if you could explain those a bit?? No worries if not!! 💖💖

Sure!

THIEF OF TIME

Now the thief… I have been reading the homestuck book 4 with andrews notes in it and vriska’s entire life since day 1 was spent in pursuit of attention. And she’ll get it from anyone she can. A thief of time would be trying to steal as much leisure time for their own purposes as possible from anyone around them. “Can you do my chore for me? Thanks!” “Cover me?” Or they would be stealing with time. And stealing can really mean anything. Sending someone on a goose chase to ransack their house, or monopolizing someone’s time to get information out of them. Just whatever the thief needs at the moment. Later in the game, they would be able to suck years off of others’ lives. And keep those years for themselves. They might be able to freeze people in place and speed themselves up by stealing the person’s normal passage of time and adding it to their own. Thinking up powers is fun because if you can think it and justify it it is yours. A lot of players got their powers by just wondering if they could do it, whether that’s in the parameters of their classpect, and trying it out. And then they can just do that and continue using it forever. This part is particular to the individual. I don’t know what you would want out of time or your powers, but you could think of a way of stealing something that would get you to that goal. The thief is manipulative maybe on a sliding scale, like meenah to vriska. Meenah encourages or prods others into doing her bidding. Vriska manipul8s people by controlling their fucking brain and makes them jump off cliffs or kill their girlfriends etc. This class is well suited to leadership in a boss-like way. Dictatorially (literally, in case of meenah). They are also girlboss. You know what I mean? They’re like… I don’t want to say sassy bc meenah is such a racist depiction already… but you know, they’re charismatic and con man-esque. They’re persuasive. And good orators.

SYLPH OF SPACE

We have a represented classpect here! Let’s take a look at kanaya and then we can talk about universal traits and possible differences. As you know, I share my classpect with nepeta, and I do have a core connection with her behavior and outlook, but I am. Very different from her. But she does help demonstrate what the classpect Can look like. Sylphs are generally backstage of the show. Ignore aranea. She spent like 1000 years being a side character before flipping out. Kanaya usually pulls the strings on more “important” characters, those who act more. She is constantly called meddlesome. However she isn’t really an orchestrator of anything the way a puppet master might be. She’s more like everyone’s conscience. “Are you sure you should be doing this?” “It’s okay to turn back.” That sort of thing. As she progresses through the story she starts taking more and more action. Out of nowhere she comes back from the dead to be the plot point that kills eridan. She gets more serious about her relationship with rose. She eventually makes rose stop drinking when before she could be considered an enabler (not encouraging bad behavior, but allowing it or not stopping it). Sylphs are calm controlled people who encourage growth and healing of their aspect or through their aspect. Now about space. Kanaya designs her own clothes and fashion, but she has a much stronger connection to the idea of a virgin mother. I kind of hate the christ metaphors in homestuck, not because I am Christian, but because I hate Christianity. But she literally has a virgin mother grub as her mother. And her chastity modus… and porrim her ancestor raised the signless like a mother. And he’s. The Jesus guy. Anyway kanaya needs to get the matriorb so she can hatch a new mother grub so trolls can keep being born. And jade bloods are supposed to tend to the mother grub in this parental sort of role with the baby grubs. Like an oldest sister. Kanaya also has this intense desire to auspitice other people to keep them from killing each other, also like an oldest sister. She has this extremely caretaker role in everything she does. And she ends up breeding the frog. Space players don’t necessarily have to be parental or feminine; jade wasn’t really like that, nor calliope. Those are some examples of other space things. Jade actual space and calliope storytelling and creativity. If you are laid back and accepting and likely a passive player (oh god, this is a big concept so ask in the notes if you don’t understand.) and you care about the journey more than the destination, that is what a space player is like.

It sounds like you have the right theme idea with the aspect since you picked out a dichotomy! The important part is asking yourself how you interact with that aspect and which one is more important to you or dictates your life more. Is your life spent in pursuit of “time” or are you someone who cultivates “space”? Are you nurturing or abrasive? Are you goal-oriented or meditative? And most importantly which one do you just straight up like more.

[jkuniverz]

Ok, first long MSM post, let’s see how this goes.

Do you ever think about how all the Rare Core Seasonals follow a specific design principle? While the Commons are basic embodiments of whatever holiday they’re meant to represent, the Rares tend to take a negative aspect of that holiday and incorporate it into their design.

For example, let’s look at Punkleton for a second:

Pumpkin head, skeletal body, autumnal leaves decorating the neck and arms- yup, this sure is a Halloween Monster all right!

So what about Rare Punkleton then?

Well, since the poor guys’s head decomposes faster than usual, it dresses up in a paper bag to help hide itself from other Monsters. It’s taking the Halloween aspect of costumes and dressing up and using it to cover up this Monster’s insecurity, especially since it uses a brown paper bag to cover its head, which often in media represents embarrassment or shame at oneself.

I’m not sure if I did the *best* job at describing that, but looking at the other Rare Core Seasonals will hopefully better convey what I mean.

So, we’ve got:

-Rare Yool: based off of the Grinch and social outcasts

-Rare Schmoochle: have had conflicts and quarrels with one another

-Rare Blabbit: inversely steals Monster Eggs and covers its tracks well

-Rare Hoola: uses their extra hoop to distract Monsters while tricking them

…Ok, so the theme between them is a little loose, but hopefully you’re able to understand what I’m getting at. There’s some negative aspect to its respective holidays that the Rare Seasonals incorporate into its design and lore.

…but that’s just the Rare Core Seasonals. What about the Rare Auxiliary Seasonals? Do they follow this design principle as well?

Let’s take a look at the current 3 Rare Auxiliary Seasonals:

Rare Gobbleygourds have an indomitable will to try and fly- it’s all they really do. How this is supposed to be a negative aspect of Thanksgiving is… beyond me. Maybe it’s that it mirrors Gobbleygourd’s intense desire to feed everyone during Feast-Ember, but all Rare Gobbleygourd does it hurt itself? I don’t know.

All that we know about Rare Jam Boree is that it’s made of chocolate (or rather, chokkolit), and it may have something to do with poems, as it’s ingame Bio reads like one. Maybe Rare Jam Boree likes to write poems in celebration of events? It’s definitely a more deep and meaningful way to celebrate, by writing it down in contrast to plain partying, so there’s that.

Finally, there’s Rare Clavavera. I’m not too familiar with the Day of the Dead holiday, so I don’t really feel confident about pointing out any sort of reference it may have to its real life holiday equivalent. Though, it’s Bio does state that, “Unique to the Rare… is a special interest in writing of short, witty verses that poke light-hearted fun at those same ancestors”, so that may be the aspect of the Monster that fits with the Rare Seasonal theme?… though, I can’t say for sure.

It doesn’t look like the old Rare Seasonal design philosophy is being followed necessarily anymore, at least not with my analysis. Maybe it is, and I’m just not realizing it. Maybe there’s no such thing as a design theme with Rare Seasonals and I’m just a crazy man on the internet rambling about something that doesn’t matter. Regardless of that, I’m going to make small predictions for the next two Rare Aux Seasonals anyways that follow this probably made-up theme, and no one’s going to stop me.

The next Rare Seasonal to be released will be Rare Carillong, coming sometime soon. For it, I predict it to be based off of/poke fun at New Year Resolutions, and more specifically, how no one can ever follow them. The design would be more rugged and unkempt compared to the Common Carillong’s, maybe with frizzled hair, wear showing on the Chimekeeper, and so on. It’d be funny to imagine Rare Carillong as a hypocrite, preaching about turning over a new leaf and setting goals at the start of the year that it itself clearly doesn’t follow.

After that, we’ve got Rare Ffidyll, which I think would be cool if it were the unluckies Monster in the Monster World. Its nose can only sniff out disaster instead of money, it would look slightly beaten from all sorts of comical trouble it’s gotten in, and to show how unlucky it is, its clover hat would only have three petals.

Will these be accurate predictions for the next two Rare Aux Seasonals, following this theme I may have made up? Probably not. But it would be funny!

[maryelizagreg]

I’m really good at golf and phlebotomy and surgical precision, radiology, topography. Design, architecture. Music.

I like the beach. Collecting sea shells and songs. I’m a walking juke box with a rolladex in my head. I think vintage stuff is cool. I used to love traveling, still do- just have anxiety about it for no known reason. But I’m trying to get over it.

I get sick kind of easily, my health isn’t 100% what it could be.

I like stupid things that don’t matter to other people, like soap, the sound of an instrument- or someone’s voice. The smell of a certain flower. A perfectly blank canvas. Small insignificant details that to me really make everything what it is. Again, I have no idea why.

I like to sit outside and float around, and just look at things. For hours.

I wanted to have my own shop, to show people the things I like to look at, and to showcase the beautiful vision I had for these things.

I like to inspire or lift people off their feet, I really value authenticity and, truth. Resonating with people in perfect solitude.

I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and have made a lot of mistakes. But I’ve also done right by people who really, needed someone. Just anyone, you know. And I’m… glad that whatever I am, could be something or someone. I love children in particular, and have a very patient understanding and caring relationship for them, I think it is… so important to be that caring, despite how difficult it can be.

I’ve been told I have a glow.

I like to write music, I feel a flow state sometimes when I do. I want people to, feel happy, jump and dance, and resonate to things I created.

I struggle with things that if I didn’t telll you were there you’d likely never know about, but I’m learning my best to deal with and live a life for myself despite how difficult it can be.

Peace is important to me, more so than most other things. Any goal or dream, or desire. I just like peace, but sometimes I wonder if my addiction to this kind of solitude is almost unhealthy for me.

I am too good at being invisible, but this doesn’t mean that I can’t be seen.

I struggle to communicate or represent myself in a way that… makes sense to others. So I don’t try to explain anymore… I don’t know if this is a mistake.

I’m probably somewhere on the spectrum, though I really wouldn’t like to be. There’s nothing I can do about this and what I am, and the ways in which I am “different.”

High functioning doesn’t always mean high functioning, and sometimes the things I do or say won’t make a lot of sense.

I have other issues too, and so this is… everyone’s got their own crosses to bear… such is life, and we are all human and imperfect, and our lives, are too. Life is.

I don’t know, what to do. Sometimes… but I know things I like to do. Even if they don’t make sense, to me they do. So … a lot of the time it’s about listening to intuition and letting it be. For me…

If others don’t, want to understand or can’t understand like… I can’t, I’ve tried. But.

Anyway. I over think some things, probably to a fairly normal extent however.

I want to hug (name redacted),

And… water the plants. And let my dogs be at peace.

I live a silent and peaceful life. This is on purpose, my choice… whether it’s right or not I don’t know.

[wibble-wobbegong]

Mike Hostage Theory (Rewritten)

I went back recently and realized my original theory was very based on narrative evidence and concepts, so I wanted to make a refined post that included evidence from the show as well as more effectively explaining the narrative evidence I gave originally.

Normally I’d write a thesis highlighting my main talking points, but I’m just gonna write some bullet points because this post is gonna be really long

Show Evidence

Mike being watched by Henry

DND games

Set design

Narrative Evidence

Mike’s POV

Mike/Will role reversal

Henry’s advantage

Show Evidence

Mike Being Watched

So, for starters, I want to show the fact that Henry has been watching Mike specifically.

@strangersynth has some fantastic videos highlighting the cinematographic choices that show him being watched!

The thing that really hammers this idea home is the timing of the Chrissy’s death and Mike leaving for California. That was no coincidence. If we consider the fact that Mike has impeded every single attack that’s happened in the show, Henry has to be aware that Mike is an issue. Even if he wasn’t directly involved in the MF’s attacks, the memories of the MF would have been given to Henry just like they were given to Will because he’s a part of the hivemind.

Henry is well aware of the likely consequences that come with attacking while Mike is around. I talk about Mike’s impact on the supernatural storyline here, but Henry generally has a lot of motivation for waiting until Mike leaves to attack.

How does this play into Mike being held hostage? Well, since we know that Henry specifically doesn’t want Mike around to prevent his interference, we don’t have any reason to believe that has gone away. Mike managed to worm his way back into trying to stop Henry even though he was halfway across the country and spent most of the season in the back of a pizza van. Now that he’s in Hawkins and can be more directly involved, he will become a problem again. Henry can’t have that happen. He needs to be able to achieve his goals now that he’s finally made progress and opened the gates. He can’t afford the risk of having Mike around.

Given the fact that he’s watched Mike before, and that Mike is likely to isolate himself again as a result of Eddie’s death, he’ll probably be watching him again and waiting for another opportunity to get him out of the picture. All he needs to do is wait for Mike to be alone, which is a situation I’m betting will be occurring in S5.

Henry watching Mike, waiting for him to leave, is hinting towards Henry removing Mike from the situation again.

DND Games

Moving onto the DND games, I want to emphasize that they are our most reliable source of information in the show. DND consistently predicts future events without fault, so taking information from the games is vital in understanding potentials for S5. With that in mind, let’s talk about the Hellfire game.

In the game played at the end of 4x01, something I find to be a huge sign of Mike having a fake death is this moment:

Mike’s role leads to him supposedly dying, but the character Eddie knocks over instead is the wizard he’s facing.

That could be interpreted in many ways, but what kills him is his dice roll failing. We never actually see what number Mike rolls.

I wouldn’t question it as much if he didn’t use the red-on-black dice. The other Hellfire members roll with the black-on-red dice, except for Dustin and Erica. They also roll with the red-on-black dice, and that’s important because when their rolls get focused in on in the same way Mike’s is here, the numbers they land on are important; 11 and 20.

I’m sure you guys are familiar with it, but just for recaps sake, Dustin rolling an 11 is a prediction of El not being able to kill Henry. Erica’s roll suggests that Henry will be killed, but by something more than just El.

So, Mike’s roll not being shown is on purpose. Whatever he rolled was indicative of a future event. The number he rolled had to be hidden, which makes me think that the number would’ve been far too obvious and would reveal something the Duffers don’t want us to know yet. The number also had to be low enough to lead to Mike being killed by a lower-classes enemy. Combining all that, what number applies to each of those categories?

1. Mike rolled a 1, and it led to his “death.”

But, a fake death doesn’t guarantee that he’s being held hostage. That’s where I want to jump all the way back to the ending of S1 and reference the final game the Party plays.

At the end of the campaign, there are three flaws the boys point out; the weird flowers in the cave, the proud princess, and the lost knight.

There are small hints in S2 that suggest Mike being the knight and Max being the princess. For example, we get confirmation that Mike plays as a Paladin when he isn’t being the DM, and nobody else plays a knightly role. We also see Lucas and Dustin fight over Princess Daphne from the Dragon’s Lair, and Lucas says, “Princess Daphne is still mine,” which predicts Lucas winning Max’s heart.

I point this out to show that this line is applicable to these characters in ways we don’t have exclusive evidence of yet. I have some thoughts about what ‘proud’ means for Max, but I wanna talk about Mike being ‘lost’.

There are a lot of possibilities when it comes to having a fake death, but a majority of them don’t involve being lost. Except, we have seen one before. When Will went missing, it was suggested that he got lost in the woods when we learned later that he was being held in the UD.

For Mike to go through with both being the lost knight, being ‘killed’ by Henry (One), and having a fake death, I believe we’ll be getting a situation that heavily parallels the events of S1. The Duffers have also confirmed that we’ll be going back to some S1 dynamics, which further cements this possibility for me.

Set Design

I’m not very great at noticing set design tidbits, but @causeineedu made notice of this set choice back in S2.

Yes, El is being referenced as the key in S2, but in her post she also points out the colors of the key and the lock. The keys are yellow and white;

The lock is blue;

Both Max and Mike are represented by blue in S4, and the lock being blue could be hinting at both of them. They’re often parallels, and Max’s mind being locked away at the end of the season could also be an indication of something similar happening to Mike later on, like this color-coding suggests.

If Henry were to hold Mike as a hostage, he would be physically locked away. I don’t think he’d lock away Mike’s mind, because he needs Mike to be found at some point and by doing that it would become much more difficult to lure out El and Will.

Narrative Evidence

Mike’s POV

Mike’s POV, or the severe lack of it, is something that has to be addressed in S5. For multiple seasons, we’ve been almost completely deprived of Mike’s perspective until the very end (which often involves his feelings for Will). Now that we’ve reached the final season, the things that have been hidden from us by blocking Mike’s perspective need to come to light to give us answers.

We need to understand why Mike’s behavior seems to change so drastically between S2 and S3, we need to know if Mike reciprocates Will’s feelings, and we need to explore how Mike has been impacted by the things he’s been experiencing both emotionally and supernaturally.

Henry’s ability to reach into people’s mind and expose them for their truest, most hidden thoughts is the perfect device for giving us the missing pieces of Mike’s POV. Narratively, it makes the most sense for Mike’s POV to be revealed through an already established creature which can reveal such things. It also gives an opportunity for us to understand Mike without his perspective being revealed to other characters, which is necessary because Mike needs to be making progress in many of his relationships himself, rather than by force of his feelings being directly revealed.

If Henry were to take Mike and put him under a trance in the UD, it would take time to find him. There would be plenty of time for Mike to go through an emotional confrontation if he’s kept under a trance for longer than any of the other characters we’ve seen; more so with the fact that Henry wouldn’t be doing this to kill Mike, but rather make it impossible for him to get directly involved in the situation.

Mike/Will Role Reversal

For S5, there have been a ton of hints that Will and Mike are gonna be switching their roles at some point. Will has already been confirmed to be a central character to S5, and he’s had a hero arc built up since S2. Those are both traits of Mike in S1. Since the Duffers have confirmed we’re returning to S1 dynamics in S5 and Will’s story likely won’t be paralleling his journey in S1, the dynamic Mike and Will fighting for each other will most likely be the aspect that stays the same.

There’s also the thing about Mike being the heart, and that without heart the Party would fall apart. In S1, the Party starts to fall apart without Will as they search for him. When Will moves away, the Party falls apart completely. If what Will says is true about Mike, then we’ll likely see the Party fall apart again in S5 because even if Mike isn’t the Party’s heart, he is most definitely Will’s;

“…and that’s what gives her the courage to fight on.”

I mention something back in the section about DND games, about how Mike’s kidnapping would be a direct parallel to Will’s kidnapping if this theory comes true. That possibility only adds onto the idea that Mike and Will are going to have reversed roles in S5.

If we put together Mike’s kidnapping with the Party falling apart, we’d get an exact parallel to S1. Will gets kidnapped and the Party starts to fall apart because of Mike’s insistence on finding Will. If Mike gets kidnapped, Will is not going to stop looking for him despite the danger, which might divide the party once again. As much as the other members would want to find Mike, all three of them have also witnessed the consequences of this stuff first hand through Max and Eddie’s deaths and are going to be much more reluctant in accepting going into the UD. It’s possible that we’ll get the same divide that we got in S1.

Narratively, that fulfills the dynamic match of S1, puts Will’s hero arc into motion, and incorporates what DND suggests about what could happen to Mike in S5.

Henry’s Advantage

How is Henry kidnapping Mike and holding him hostage more beneficial than just killing him? If he truly just wants Mike out of the way, why not make it impossible for him to come back?

Henry needs Mike in order to give himself the upper hand. He needs Mike because once Will knows where he is, it’ll draw him to him. What Henry wants is to get Will to join him in order to accomplish Henry’s ultimate goal (link). Will would never simply accept Henry’s offer, and he can’t take Will by force (Will was able to resist the MF, and Henry is not nearly as strong as it). To simply reach out to Will and cross over into the Rightside Up is something Henry isn’t stupid enough to do. The UD is Henry’s home turf and it gives him the advantage, so he has to lure Will into the UD.

If Henry holds Mike hostage, he acts as a lure and a bargaining tool; if Will works with Henry, then he’d spare Mike’s life and let him go. Killing Mike eliminates that possibility and gives Will even less of a reason to join him, but using Mike in an exchange would be much more up Henry’s alley. It’s the smarter choice to make, strategically. It gives him the advantage.