#I'll leave that up to viewer interpretation

[soybean-official]

(not ship)

[dragon-cookies]

I finally watched Season 2 of the Cuphead Show. I've got a new headcanon that these two bond over being single parents.

[purplealmonds]

This is my tribute to the late Technoblade. I'm well over a week late to the anniversary of his passing, but I think it was worth the wait. I wanted to get this right.

The story I want to tell is of time's passage after his passing, and the set dressing of this space is a symbolic amalgamation of various aspects of his life depicting that concept.

I have a lot more to say about this painting - three pages just for the symbolism alone. If you're interested, please let me know and I'll share my analysis on a separate post! Edit: I caved. Aight, prepare for a massive info dump below the cut!

DISCLAIMERS:

Although I put a lot of research into this piece, my knowledge is likely flawed and incomplete. If I missed or misinterpreted a reference, it’s because I’m new to the Technoblade community. If I got a symbolism thing wrong, it’s because I relied on Google search for answers. I fact checked where I could. And with this analysis, I hope I can clear up any misinterpretations! 

—

OVERVIEW:

There’s lots of imagery to unpack so I’ll try parsing it in a structured manner. Let’s first examine it holistically. 

The story I want to tell here is of time’s passage after Technoblade’s passing. As such,the set dressing of this space is a symbolic amalgamation of that concept.

Prominently featured are the various medical equipments - a nod to the grim reality of his cancer. But let’s not linger upon that aspect of his story.

Of equal importance are the more mundane objects - his gaming setup, the couch and pillow which Floof sat upon in that one photo, the plethora of paraphernalia of branded merchandise, and references to his exploits in Minecraft. These are relics and mementos of his legacy.

All of these elements intermingle in flooded, lushly overgrown room looking out to a rose-tinted exterior. Is it dawn? Dusk? I’ll leave that interpretation up to the viewers.  

The third and final component is the plant life representing his community -us. We beautify this metaphorical space with where it was once laden with tragedy. Yet, despite these riotous blooms, we never quite encroach on the bed - the empty space left behind by him.

—

SET DRESSING:

Much care was taken in selecting the blossoms and placing them in symbolically significant locations.  And this neatly transitions us into the analysis individual details.

Foreground: 

In the foreground, ivy crawls through a lamp and white clovers thrive atop a pile of pillboxes. The lamp base, once a shining bronze-like finish, is heavily tarnished. The lampshade is overgrown with moss and ivy. Even if the greenery has yet to damage the electric wiring, the damp surely has finished the job. Even if the bulb is replaced, the body is too far gone. The light’s never coming on again. 

I was initially put out that my painstakingly 3D modeled pillboxes became entirely obscured, but I think it works in favor of the piece’s overarching theme: the beautiful wilds overtaking a space that once reeked of the desperate fight to prolong life. 

White clover blossoms meaning “thinking of you” is paired with the ivy meaning “everlasting devotion”.  It’s an apt combination. It has been over a year since his passing, and we still remember and carry on his legacy. 

Nestled amongst the foliage is Techno’s compass. It was once used to hunt him down in the Dream SMP. But now, it’s an odd comfort. Even though he’s no longer with us, he’s still somewhere far, far away– or is he? The original idea was for the needle to point heavenwards, but it is currently pointing…sideways?  I’ll get to the reasoning a bit later. 

The Flood:

Moving deeper into the space, we hit the floodwaters. These once turbulent currents are now tranquil enough to nourish this verdant place. The thriving plant life hides much of this darkness. It is beautiful, hopeful, even. But always bittersweet, because everything that grows here is laced with an old sorrow.

White lotus rise from the murky depths. That is us, overcoming our grief. Breaching the surface, we gain a new vantage point to contemplate this loss. Perhaps we can also find a more comforting perspective of it.

Submerged amongst the blossoms is a rusted oxygen machine. I wanted to decorate the machine with stickers, much like one would personalize a plaster cast for a broken limb. It is deliberate that the “Technoblade Never Dies” sticker is in shadow, while the “So Long, Nerds" is in light. 

Immediately to the right was meant to be a box of assorted Technoblade apparel.  But then I flooded the space for narrative reasons, rendering that idea unusable. I eventually converted it into a Welch’s Fruit Snacks box, because apparently Technoblade liked them? It’s one of the shallower references here but it is what it is.

And finally, there is a little cameo floating somewhere in the waters. An Easter egg, if you will. I wonder if you can find it? 

Furnishings from Home:

I found the couch and Technoblade’s gaming setup during my trawl through the Technoblade Reddit page for reference photos. Balancing this space full of impersonal medical equipment with more personalized belongings is grounding. These areas insert familiarity in this strange environment.

Gaming Setup:

The gaming setup is bare bones - just the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. There was no space to add more iconic elements like his Blue Yeti microphone or the steering wheel from that Minecraft challenge. Hanging above but heavily obscured by overgrowth are two framed pictures of Technoblade’s cabin and a potato minion. It is a blink-and-you-miss-it detail, placed in a dim space and requiring close examining to notice. Without the context of the rest of this environment, it is easily mistaken as generic set dressing. 

That’s the point, though. This was a space where he streamed and created videos much beloved by his community. This space was the means of creation, not the creations themselves. Without the creator at the helm, this setup becomes insignificant. Does one dote over the easel on which paintings were created, or the paintings themselves? So now it sits in darkness, a footnote of Technoblade’s legacy. 

Nostalgia Corner:

On the other end, we have the sold out Youtooz plushies and the Agro Pig plush from the recent merch drop sat atop the couch.  If you look closely, you’ll see a Skeppy coin leaning against one of the plushies. Behind the couch is a shelf. A generic shelf, but the important bits here are the sellout bell, Youtube plaque, and vinyl figurines. 

This corner of the room is nostalgic and soft. Everything is bathed in rosy pink light, and it is filled with things that are comfortingly familiar. All across the world, people in his community have these pieces of merch to remember him by. 

The red poppies that also grow here have multiple meanings. It represents the battle - one against sarcoma - which was fought here. It symbolizes death, but also resilience in the face of grueling conditions. It is said that they grow in former battlefields where of fallen warriors. I believe of all the flowers here, this one best represents Technoblade.

The Hanging Mobile:

Strung up above it is a rather last minute addition to the environment - a hanging mobile fabricated from totems representing each member of the Sleepy Bois Inc. friend group. First and foremost is Technoblade’s iconic MCC crown, aptly placed at the top. Although it is untouched by the greenery, the gold and jewelry are somewhat muted and tarnished by time.

This is not the case for the objects below. TommyInnit’s music disc shines iridiscent green and purple - Cat and Mellohi merged into one. To is right is a sky-blue guitar pick with the LoveJoy logo engraved onto it for Wilbur Soot. And finally, below it all is Philza’s Friendship Emerald - sparkling and refracting light - with Elytra feathers fastened at the bottom. They, suspended and isolated from everything, maintain a pristine vibrancy which strongly contrasts against everything else in this space. 

IV Stand:

Next to the computer setup is the IV stand. It sustains life which is incapable of continuing on without intervention. The butterfly milkweed growing on it, in contrast, says “let me go.” The latter, overtaking the tangle of tubes and powered off patient monitor, is victorious. The hooks stand rusted, and the IV bag empty from disuse.

Sat atop the patient monitor but almost blending into the walls is a pig figurine featured in Dream’s latest music video. It stands on a high perch, yet is unassuming as to direct focus on Technoblade, or rather, his absence. 

Hanging from the wired basket is an air freshener tag. If you look on the official website, this is one of the only products which has what I can only call interesting flavor text. Most are merely descriptions and specs of the product. To quote it verbatim:

“Yes, this is a real product. And no, this ‘air freshener’ has no discernible fragrance. ‘Why’ you ask? Because Mr. Technodad and our team agreed this was exactly the sort of air freshener Alex would have found hilarious.”

As morbid as it sounds, I feel like this air freshener tag would not have existed before Technoblade’s passing. It is so unlike any other merchandise I’ve seen in any other branded merchandise store. It’s like an inside joke, secretly shared within the descriptions for the world to eventually discover. 

Window:

Unlit candles line the window sill - the aftermath of a candlelight vigil. It is a versatile symbol. It raises awareness of a disease or illness. It pays tribute the dead. Judging from the melted wax dribbling down the candle shafts and the wall below (the opacity was reduced so it looks less like bloodstains), this has been done many times over. But there is so much more candle to burn, representing the people still continuing this ceremony, albeit in the privacy of their own homes.

Above the candles are some broken blinds. When grieving, it would have been so easy for Mr. Technodad to hide away from the world in his grief. It’s understandable, to give into that primal urge to flee from prying eyes when he’s at his most vulnerable. He had the difficult task of reading out his son’s final farewell to us. This barrier between him and us dismantled by this gesture so we can remember Technoblade together. 

Coincidentally, the window frame itself somewhat resembles the kitchen window featured in Technoblade and Technodad's cooking videos. Completely unintentional on my end, but fitting in a way since in both those videos they're pulling back the metaphorical curtains for the audience to peer into a small aspect of their private lives.

To the right of the window is a nondescript clock, forever stopped at the 6:30 as a nod to the date when the "So Long, Nerds" video was published. The minute hand is accidentally left out removed to signify that time will no longer move forward for Technoblade. In contrast, the rest of the world - represented by this space - continues to grow and change around his absence.

A wind chime hangs just outside the window. It is said that the soothing sounds produced by them is a healing balm during tumultuous times. Where there is wind there is stirred up emotions, but it is motionless on this calm, breezeless day. A rare respite, where remembrance overrides grief. 

On a more amusing note, there is an interesting looking moth perched on the window glass. Upon closer inspection, the wing pattern may look somewhat familiar. In Chinese culture, when a huge moth visiting your home is the embodiment of your recently deceased loved one checking on you. Remember the compass in the foreground? Well, here’s why it is pointed sideways instead of upwards. This idea came up rather organically during a VC session in the R/Technoblade Discord server. My handful of viewers and myself affectionately dubbed this doofy looking moth TechnoMoff!

Venturing further beyond the windows, ferns grow with wild abandon. They represent eternal youth, and from a certain point of view, he will remain youthful forever at the age of 23. He lives on through us carrying on his legacy and spreading his story. 

Everything outside is tinged with pink. After someone dies, we start seeing them less as a person and more as a legacy. It is the natural course of things to start seeing the deceased through rose-tinted lenses - hence the artificially pink hue of the outside contrasting with the more grounded color palette of the inside. 

Bed:

And now we circle back to the centerpiece of this entire composition: the bed and the things that surround it. 

In front of the bed is an over-bed table with a single object: an incense bowl filled to the brim with burnt sticks of incense. A simple shrine for Technoblade. In Chinese culture, we light incense at the altar to honor our loved ones. We may live separate lives and not cross paths often, but we all come together to leave our marks through this ritual. It is proof that he is still very much loved and missed by us all.

The bariatric bed frame is typically seen in hospitals. It allows the patient to comfortably sit up or recline without expending valuable energy. Encased in this frame is something more personal - the mattress and cushions which Technoblade laid upon in his photo with the Youtube plaque. Their unique patterning is a foil for the impersonal receptacle it is caged in. It is spotlit by the window light, emphasizing its emptiness. Not a single blossom dares to encroach upon this space, because to do so would be to erase the space where Technoblade last resided. Like I mentioned before, this is story is about the space around him as much as it is about him. 

Cradling this bed frame are several flowers. Rosemary and forget-me-not’s for remembrance. Appropriate, given its proximity to the bed. Morning glories, for resilience. That’s us, again. For a while, we meander and spread in the upper walls of this space, avoiding the floodwaters which symbolize grief. But eventually, we gather the strength to meander down to the bed, where grief was the strongest.

—

CONCLUSION:

There is that cheesy quote from that one Marvel TV show – “What is grief, but love persevering?” While this reframes our perception of dealing with loss, grief is not some thing that should linger. The absence of grief does not equate to the lack of love. Instead, I would like you to consider this: remembrance is love persevering. And with our combined perseverance, Technoblade will never truly die. 

[redwinterroses]

The implications of the Watchers literally being the viewers get really meta and strange really fast if you actually follow through to some of the logical conclusions and then put them in lore-speak.

For example: the fact is that the Hermits spend a long time, sometimes years, creating a world for the entertainment of faceless beings whose names are incomprehensible strings of letters, numbers, and random words. These faceless beings leave messages that range from exclamations of delight and approval to unhinged demands, judging and consuming the hermits' work as fast as they can produce it.

And then, at the end of a season, Xisuma and co. package up the world and gift it to the Watchers to entertain them until the hermits can travel to a new realm and begin their work anew.

When you take the traits of viewers and paint them over the lore of Watchers, you create a creature (species? monster? being?) that's far more fay and uncanny than pretty much any of the usual interpretations. I've said it before and I'll probably say it again: embrace the Watcher within you. Become the unsettling eldritch being you want to see in the world.

[emberunderscore]

I've been deep diving into the symbolism of flowers recently so have my thoughts on what Wither Roses would symbolise in the world of Fable - and other flowers at the end (most of which already exist but I have thoughts anyway)

yeah this is really long btw

to start, wither roses are black roses so first the symbolisms of roses and black roses respectively

Roses (general): love, beauty, royalty, achievement, perfection and secrecy Black Roses: Positive - strength, a triumph over the inevitibility of death Negative - death, mourning, revenge, hatred, sorrow, mystery

Now Wither Roses, I'll do a summary of the meanings then I'll ramble a little bit

Wither Roses: Positive - Familial love, determination, triumph over the inevitability of death, a sign of "get well soon" or "even the worst sickness can be cured", the good nature of destruction, soulbonds and love unseprable by death Negative - Terminal/deadly illness, death itself, loss of a family member/loved one, doomed love

Wither Roses are associated with Soul and Athena. Despite the many negative meanings of black roses, wither roses have many more postive meanings, especially for a deadly flower. The godess Soul's previous state as the Wither is a well known one, and the story is a well told one, the story of Athena, her child, working so hard over so many years to cure her. Thus the familal love and determination meanings. The Wither curse and sickness were both diseases that would've been considered deadly and uncurable until Athena, on both fronts proved that they were not. So the triumph over death and worst sickness can be cured meanings. The get well soon meanings, come from a similar nature. Soulbonds and love unserprable by death go hand in hand as the flower is a symbol of Soul herself, the good nature of destruction as well, Netherum is dead but the story of Soul and them is still told to this day. That Soul calmed them. And with Athena being the vessel of destruction and also a ray of sunshine that meaning has multiple origins.

The meanings of terminal/deadly illnesses is pretty intuitive, the flower coming into contact with the skin can cause death or sickness, one that is very difficult to cure. Death itself, for a similar reason, this also links with it being a variant of a black rose. Loss of a loved one, because Athena lost their mother for a long time and he very nearly died from a similar sickness. Doomed love is less intuitive, but something I've found with flower symbolism is all of them have to include love in some version of the meaning (and familial love is mentioned) but I think doomed love would be a very common interpretation for this flower, since roses are such common symbols of love, and black roses ones of such sorrow, it only makes sense that a black rose with the actual capacity to kill would be a symbol of such a thing as doomed love.

Also I want to mention, despite how most flower meanings are made for when giving flowers to others, wither roses are an exception. They are not commonly given to people as gifts due to their tendancy to cause death. Most of the symbolism comes from stories, poetry, and many other forms of art. A common way to use wither roses in something like a play is to use a black rose and dip the tips of the petals in a dark grey paint and/or to paint the thorns in grey/black. Sometimes though, artists like to leave it amiguious and up to the viewer to decide if the rose is inteded to be a regular black one or a wither rose. Due to this common substitution, sometimes the symbolism of the two similar roses becomes blurred and thought of as interchangable.

To talk a little more about why i chose the meanings, i really like the fact that wither roses symbolise familial love, i've looked at so many flower meanings and almost every single one of them talks about romantic love or some form of love and so few of them talk about plantonic or familial love and its sad to me that those forms of love don't get as much appreciation. There are a few flowers that symbolise love between friends, but if you look in the right places there will be a source that lists romantic love in some way.

If you made it this far, here are the other flowers. Didn't have as many thoughts about these but still some of them

Torchflowers would be a big symbol of rebirth and change (heavily associated with Fenris)

Oxeye Daisies would be known to mean love that lasts beyond death, due to the nature of Centross and Fenris' relationship

Blue Orchids (specifically after Icarus gets back) would become associated with family (unconventional ones specifically, with half or steps siblings and divorced/unmarried/remarried parents), and forgetting/remembering a loved one

Sunflowers become a symbol of home - being lost/finding your way home. Follow the sunflowers becomes a common phrase meaning to follow your heart and you will always find home and memory/rememberance of loved ones. Or a way to say "I will never forget you"

And a bonus not related to flowers, I think Athena would be an icon for disabled people like how Hephastus is, maybe Alliums are too because of their association with her

[mkuliatruther]

MK's (and MKulia's) odds according to EP9-13 leaks. (Spoilers, obvi.)

hey all! i have too many thoughts and instead of going on a long ramble on my priv i thought i could.. y'know.. actually share my thoughts for once! i'm gonna say this right now that my thoughts may leave a rather negative tongue, so if mkulia (or mk!) is ur comfort and u don't wanna hear anything bad i suggest not reading this!! without further ado, time to ramble!

i'll talk about MK first before i talk about my thoughts on MKulia. right off the bat: she's getting eliminated EP9. this just goes without saying i think but i want to elaborate on this more. in EP8 we have: raj | wayne | julia | MK | caleb | priya | damien | zee in EP10 we see damien:

in EP12 we see caleb:

and in EP11 we see wayne and raj's clothes:

and going back to EP10's description, both julia and priya are mentioned:

AS FAR AS EP9 GOES, this leaves: raj | wayne | julia | MK | caleb | priya | damien MK is not mentioned nor seen. at all. and yes, raj is left up in the air as well but at least there is higher hopes for our silly guy. there has been the popular theory of "well, raj may have given wayne his hoodie to remember him!" but... i think the odds of that are low? raj gifting wayne something before getting eliminated is very plausible, but i see no reason as to why he'd give away his hoodie to him? i feel like if that was the case he would have given wayne something else IMO. even if we don't take it at full face value, there's still a very low chance that MK's safe from elimination (and she'd probably be safe for like another 2 episodes if she were to be safe EP9. the odds of her being a finalist are also incredibly low). after being outed as a cheater, she hasn't been doing all that well in challenges either and since EP9's challenge has to do something with breaking objects, i can only imagine how well she'd do with that. and MKulia can make their alliance not-so-obvious-and-not-so-strong for so long. people are gonna want to break them up. now let's say MK's out EP9. this leaves both priya and julia as the only female contestants remaining in the game. and assuming they're going to add a female finalist it's going to be julia. and ALSO assuming we're going to get helpers for the finale, we MAY get more mkulia content. it's not that bad! may i also add EP9's title is 'Breaking Up Is Hard To Do' while yes this is about prileb, this could also be about mkulia. with mk getting eliminated, julia has to deal with fighting on her own. and we know very well that julia cares for MK, platonic or not. So what does this mean for MKulia? people fail to realize what mk getting eliminated means. we get to see how julia deals with it (unless she just moves on and doesn't care like what priya kind of did when millie got eliminated ... i'd cry.)

plus, if MK does get eliminated next episode we'll have more MKulia content in EP9 without a doubt. there's still so many questions left unanswered and i'm sure those will be resolved before MK goes home. and honestly, i have high hopes. i think MKulia will end off on a sweet note. do i think we'll get canon MKulia? absolutely not. it'd be really nice, but i doubt it. at best, it'll probably be up to viewers interpretation whether or not julia's care for MK comes from a romantic or platonic standpoint. i think that's how far we're going to get. calling it queer bait is a little bit of an exaggeration IMO, then again i am very picky with the fandoms i am in so i don't really know what it's like to ship something that is possibly queerbait. we just gotta buckle up and endure whatever BS will get thrown at us MKulia nation. o7

and hopefully i am very wrong about this. i have extremely low expectations so i can be happy if im wrong LMFAO!!

[blairsanne]

I just finished my first rewatch of taj. This time around, I noticed more than the first time I watched. I was actually paying more attention to the storyline instead of just watching Dean in every scene and how good he looked lol.

I felt bad for Anders and how everyone treated him, even up until the last episode. Yeah there were times when he acted like a prick but hey that’s his character and I understand him putting up a wall and acting the way he does because if how others treat him. Still loved Ty. Yeah at times it was a little creepy with his approach to Dawn but I love the ending how it all turned out for them. Still cried. Mike, still can’t stand him. I think this time around I found him even more annoying. I almost got to the point where I had to wither mute when he was talking or just outright skip it lol. Axl was better this time around. First time I found him really annoying but this time he was better. Love Zeb, hilarious! Love all the goddesses still, except Gaia. Don’t even get me started on her! Especially the storyline with her and Anders. Nope hated that part, couldn’t watch it this time.

I loved it even more this time around! Since finishing it, it got me thinking about it they did go ahead with a season 4 and what would play out. I would’ve loved to see how each of them adapted to their life now without their god powers and who would embrace the new change, who would struggle the most, would they change anything about their life or try and keep it steady? Who knows!? And then what about Axl moving back in with Zeb, do you think he’d eventually start telling him everything or just leave that all in the past and build a new friendship? What are your thoughts on if they did another season and what they would tackle?

Yay, talking about TAJ is one of my favourite things!!

I fully agree re: Anders. I often feel sad for him when people who watch the show accept his brothers' opinions of him as fact, despite Anders himself repeatedly trying to tell them that he does the right thing often, that he's trying to protect them, etc. -- and the audience even being shown that effort on his part multiple times. It grinds my gears that other characters thinking Anders is a shallow jerk is taken as a statement of fact from the writers and not, y'know, the character's opinion.

Anders may not have the same set of ethics as Mike, but he clearly has his own set of ethics (which he brings up in S2 when he's uncomfortable with Helen's ideas for his powers, in S3 with Colin's ideas for his powers, etc...) and doesn't see his own actions the way his brothers interpret them, and I think it's a very uncharitable reading of his character to think of him as flat and selfish, instead of the very complex character that was actually written into the show, with flaws and good points and complicated family dynamics where mostly there's a lot of misunderstanding of each other going on. I could probably ramble on about that forever, but I'll refrain.

Mainly I wish that viewers would take Anders word for it what his own motivations are, because he does outright state them at multiple points, right from the first season where he explains that the thing that got him BANISHED FROM HIS FAMILY was done in an attempt to protect Mike.

I really disliked Mike my first viewing, because I felt like he caused a lot of strife for other characters by being inflexible and believing he knew best. As I've rewatched, I've come to better appreciate his character and the immense burden he bears. I think his attempt at controlling his family is his own way of trying to protect them, and that this was caused by the events surrounding both the toxic relationship of his parents and that he was forced to be the head of the family at age 21. (I still get annoyed with him during the S3 Odin contest stuff but I also headcanon that it was a "fate" thing to force Odin and Frigg together.) I try to remind myself that every character on the show thinks they are in the right, and why that might be.

I have a theory about Gaia, but that's a whole other essay lmao.

My answers to your questions re: S4 will be somewhat colored by the deleted scene from the final episode, which reveals what Colin was doing tossing a red gem on the ground before the Ga.

In the deleted scene (which they filmed in case they got renewed for S4), Loki comes out of the gem, and we were left with Loki and Colin standing in the woods, apparently about to cause some problems.

With that in mind, I have to assume that the Johnsons would discover Loki was in Midgard and try to do soemthing about it. I further assume that at least some of the other characters would have god spirits inhabit them again (mainly because that's more interesting than them coming back to Earth on their own and interacting with mortal Johnsons).

I think it would be REALLY interesting if they didn't necessarily get the gods they had the first time around. Maybe Odin doesn't want to leave Asgard, so Axl becomes another god. Maybe Freki, just for the lols. Maybe they find some new McGuffin that allows other mortals (liek Zeb and Dawn) to take on god spirits!

Re: Zeb and Axl living together, given how long their friendship was, I headcanon that - much like Dawn - Zeb would eventually start to remember Axl, and maybe everything. Alternatively, maybe part of the season is Axl finding a way to make Zeb remember!

Just re: the Johnsons being mortal in general, I have a bit of a hc where, since Mike's career wasn't based on his powers, he'd go back to construction (maybe rebuild the bar to sell it), and Axl would work for him. Anders (who I assume does know how to do his job, despite no longer being able to just Bragi his clients) might even do promo for the construction business. Ty could still be a courier, and as the only one to actually live as a mortal since turning 21, I think he'd have the easiest time of it, especially with Dawn remembering him and all.

I think initially there would be a lot of razzing Mike by challenging him to games and beating him, but overall I think Mike might actually feel really happy to get to be included in those games again after so long. I think losing Ullr would really help Mike chill out. Or, at least, I hope that for him.

I don't really see Michele and Anders working out long term unless Michele started to take Anders seriously. She didn't really seem to understand him very well even in S3. I did feel like Anders seemed to want a more serious relationship (not necessarily that he wanted what Ty or Mike would want, but just that he seemed to be looking for emotional connection in S3, and not only physical, perhaps because of the whole Idun plot?) so I could see with not having Bragi anymore that he might settle down a bit and get a gf. I've always sort of thought maybe mortal women didn't seem like suitable gf material to him because they couldn't know about everything going on (like he saw how being with Val was complicated for Mike) and that's why they're always little flings. We do see him treat Michele and Helen pretty well imo (not cheating on them, taking them seriously as people, etc.), so I thought maybe he would do better with a goddess gf. (See Lofn fic lmao)

Ahhh that was a lot of rambling, but I'm always happy to talk more about TAJ!! Thanks for the ask :)

[dragonsandphoenix]

The Scene from the My Stand In Novel That Should Have Stayed

I'll be honest My Stand In is increasingly losing me as a viewer, and so I went back to the novel and the audio drama to find out why. After revisiting some scenes I've come to the tentative conclusion that MSI feels like a surface level interpretation of the novel, speaking as a novel fan.

MSI spoilers in all its iterations (drama, novel & audio drama):

What confuses me about MSI is that in terms of plot and broad character arcs, it's pretty faithful to the novel itself. And while Professional Body Double isn't my favourite Shui Qian Cheng novel I liked it for what it was and even thought the audio drama adaptation elevated its source material. And to be fair, I liked the first 6 episodes of MSI a lot, like scrolling through the tag in tumblr everyday a lot. To me, MSI shines when it feels like watching a 188 novel come to life.

But for the past few weeks, that investment has waned. Something's missing. Maybe it's the way that characters being shallower versions of themselves have caught up to me, maybe it's the way the show gets bogged down in plot mechanics when the characters' inner thoughts and feelings are meant to be what drives the narrative, and I just don't feel as invested in these characters.

This scene from the audio drama is what led me to read the novel in the first place. Its absence from the drama is emblematic of my issues with MSI. It happens right after Joe (Zhou Xiang) meets Ming's (Yan Mingxiu) brother. Instead of leaving the house he goes upstairs and goes to sleep. Then Ming stumbles into the room drunk and we get this melancholic moment.

My absolute favourite thing about this scene is the complexity of it. We get to the heart of MingJoe's relationship, and its fundamental issue: in spite of their passionate and (imo) genuine feelings for one another, they can never be on the same page. They love each other, but they're so deeply broken to the point of being destructive to themselves and each other.

The point is this is a character and emotionally-driven story.

It is especially Joe's story, he's our main POV character and he is so clearheaded about his feelings actually. He does acknowledge that if Ming showed him an ounce of care in his past life he'd accept him. But now they're way past that. He's disillusioned, and that feeling of lost love is captured so well here that isn't often captured in BL.

I honestly feel the story becomes incoherent if we don't have a good handle on his and to a lesser extent Ming and some important side characters' inner worlds.

One my main issues with MSI is that it seems to be constantly missing the Point. Part of that is due to the differing characterizations but it also stems from the scriptwriters losing sight of the heart of the story and the need to present the plot as clearly as possible with little ambiguity. Most recently, Ming spends a significant chunk of episode 8 trying to figure out if Joe 2.0 is Joe 1.0 and then concocting different ways to test if they're the same person. In a way it's pretty faithful to the novel, these are things that happen in there too. The drama adapts these plot elements, adds obvious visual cues (the egg, the sneeze), adds additional scenes of Ming consulting the blind shaman on finding Joe and place dramatic weight to them in a way that we as the audience should be really invested on whether Ming will solve this Great Mystery.

But it doesn't matter. It matters very little to Joe, he's just trying to move on with his life and it doesn't even matter to Ming, this obsession of his is just another form of his grief and denial ("I found someone else but it isn't you", "I feel so ridiculous now"). This emphasis on what ultimately doesn't matter comes at the cost of character depth. Scenes jump from one to the next with no room for characters to reflect or even react to what just happened to them. Relationships and characters get stripped down to their bare bones (the brotherhood between Joe and Wut will always be something I cherish) and I just think this is all a shame.

I'll ultimately be happy if My Stand In succeeds and does well, as it might open up doors for more challenging BL projects. I just hope that comes with more nuanced and complex narratives as well.

[thoughtfulchaos773]

I made a post yesterday about Carmy's thoughtful menu (short summary: he stares at Sydney when he says thoughtful, and when she mentions the jacket, he looks at her again- later on giving a thoughtful gift)

His thoughts have been scrambled with Sydney for some time. She isn't a sudden thought as we see in 2x09- I think Bolgonese may be giving that hint that his mind is full of Sydney and she's always calmed him down.

The order of things that probably happened in 2x08 Bolognese when he had a panic attack:

-Carmy's had a panic attack the night before. It 'was probably the same flashes he had in 2x09 because he thought about Christmas Dinner, and Claire walked him through it, and they (or Claire) talked about it.

-Then he thought about what Sydney wanted - the chaos menu - he calmed down and started seeing the vision - when he thought of Sydney, he was inspired to draw again. He only draws when he's inspired by someone or something.

Sidebar: Can you imagine after Claire worked through that panic attack with Carmy? Then Claire watched him draw- drawings he's not sharing with her, and he was probably up all night. How much time/thought did he have to spend on those beautiful details and colors?

I keep adding the word "thought" because it's emphasized on Carmy's part in the episode, and I think it may be some importance to this word.

Script:

Carmy: Yes. Exactly. Tableside.

Sydney: That's nice.

Carmy: And then I did... I had this other thought that, um....

(Carmy shows more of his drawings)

Sydney: Why don't we need the spinach anymore?

Carmy: Well, I had a thought, if you could just, um... Thank you. I had a thought on, um... on plating. Um, I'll show you... uh, here.

Sydney: This looks kinda like a chaos menu.

Carmy: Well, no, it's like, it's a thoughtful chaos menu.

Richie when he presents the note Mikey left to Carmy.

Richie: Oh. Uh, thanks. Listen, Carmen thought this might be nice on the line, but he wanted me to run it by you in case you maybe thought it was too intense.

At the beginning of season 2, we're not in his mind like in Season 1. But in episode 2x09, we see Carmys up at night after sleeping with Claire, and the viewers wonder what he's thinking about - we can only assume because they leave it up to interpretation.

What Carmy was doing throughout season 2 was working out his thoughts about Sydney.

He wants to be positive and fun because he wants her to stay with him. He needs to learn what she means to him- since he's no longer passionate about the kitchen, he's half-heartedly working on opening The Bear because it's what Sydney wants. Does he want that, or does he only want Sydney?

[mjuuuk]

thoughts about the S3 ending!!!! a whole lot of thoughts, actually. (spoilers + analysis under the cut. i also kindly offer you a cup of tea and a seat because it got a bit long)

my take on the ending (and especially the dancing scene, my beloved) after crying and pondering about it a lot, is that it's almost a sort of semantic vacuum. did Gedeon die? yes. no. perhaps. did he even exist? it's everything but also nothing and vice versa, and completely up to the viewer.

i feel what is most important regarding that ambiguity is actually the song choice, so i'll digress a little. we know Gedeon’s favourite singer is Wolfgang Ambros, who is a 70's/80's austrian indie songwriter (having a dad who is the same all i can say is you horrible nerd. affectionately.), and a lot of scenes throughout the show were accompanied by situation-suitable songs by the artist. a lot of them are famous for being very ambiguously written, and often can be interpreted on several layers.

I drah zua / I’m closing aka the song in the scene fits this as well. On surface level the lyrics tell about the protagonist leaving a round of cards because he's made to participate but secretly doesn't want to; so he leaves, and looks forward to have his own freedom, play his own games. The song has been interpreted as being about leaving a societal structure, leaving a toxic workplace or relationship, moving towns or taking your own life because it's the only autonomy you have left. there's not one way of reading it, but what the song does convey is relief to leave something behind and anticipation for what is to come. that being said, i think if they wanted the ending to be distinctly conclusive, they'd chosen a different song (there's a few very clearly about death, like the one used during Yela's murder).

my friend, mum and i saw the same scene, but interpreted it vastly different in the end, and it's really beautiful because all of them somehow work.

personally, I have a decidedly weak heart and can/want to see it as a scenario in which Gedeon survived and they say goodbye to their destructive careers. for my friend on the other hand it was as a last goodbye of Gedeon's consciousness. my mum saw it as both Ellie and Gedeon dying, and meeting again in the afterlife. i'd argue it could also just be the entire show dissolving and bidding farewell to itself.

when I first watched it, i actually 100% expected it to be a symbolic but conclusive last meeting/afterlife scene as well - with Ellie coming in, them smiling to each other a last time and then him get up and leaving the café (or life) for good. But he… didn’t?

The café in the scene seems to fit the cinematic trope of the afterlife antechamber, as a familiar but eerily empty space fitting around the protagonist's spirits, like a place in a memory. And it does, somehow. But then again, it also doesn’t. Ellie and Gedeon the focus, but then you notice they’re not the only ones occupying the space. There’s other people, watching them dance, reading their newspaper, walking or driving by outside. It's not only their souls. As if it’s just a regular morning, and not some empty place in the afterlife.

It's as if they took certain tropes but twisted them just enough to allow some final ambiguity. We see Gedeon being revived, but not if it worked. We see Ellie at the pond, considering to throw the dice, but not if she does. We see Polt being freed, but still don't know if his whole folktale is true.

tl;dr: i think however one took the ending, it's probably not wrong at all

[hold-on-a-little-longer-whump]

If you're still accepting asks about whump tropes...

What about Parting Words Regret trope? That's when two characters get into an argument, one leaves, only for something terrible happen to them (did they get killed? Kidnapped? Disappeared without a trace???) and the other character feels guilty over their last words. If only they hadn't said such harsh things to their friend... then they would still be here.

Makes me cry every time. Such a good trope.

-- @whumperofworlds

Ahh @whumperofworlds the emotional whump. You've gotta love it. A whump story simply isn't complete without it! I can personally relate to this trope, and maybe that's why I like it?? As with all tropes, there's so many different ways it could go. Normally, I'd refer to the characters as Victim and Survivor, but the characters could really be interpreted either way.

Were the words the result of an explosive argument? Were they muttered in complete seriousness, cold eyes locked with surprised, glassy ones? Was it over something petty or mundane that could have been an easy fix?

This is only punctuated further when we see the other character's reaction because oh - oh, that cut deep. When one leaves, is it a quiet, defeated retreat? All slumped shoulders and biting a quivering lip? Are the both of them still yelling as they depart? Does one person snatch up their coat and slam the door? Is one of them frozen, stunned silent by the harsh words, and the other just leaves them there? Do they have family, allies, or friends that witness this exchange? Are sides taken? Is one character completely abandoned as everyone else sides with the other?

Maybe they go for a walk to soothe their frayed nerves. Maybe they immediately try calling their phone, sending texts, leaving voicemails, only to be ignored. Then... then it really sinks in. Was it the Survivor that ignored the calls, or was it the Victim? Either way, it hurts. See, this part is important to me. We, as readers/viewers, need to see how profoundly this exchange affected the Victim before the Event takes place. The deeper the wound, the more agonized the Survivor's regret and guilt is. The readers/viewers can shake their heads in disappointment and can still feel sympathy for the Survivor.

And then it happens. Poof. The Victim is gone. Kidnapped, killed, missing - whatever it was, it happened. Where was the Survivor when they found out? What were they doing? Were they eating (they can't stand the taste of that specific food now) or were they in the middle of an important conversation/task? Were they safely tucked away, sleeping in a comfortable bed, only to be ripped from sleep by someone alerting them to the news? Do they leap into action, all arguments forgotten? Do they freeze up? Do they demand answers?

Give me a normally calm, level-headed Survivor turning into a terrifyingly silent, angry Survivor that launches into a personal mission to avenge/rescue the Victim by any means necessary.

Give me a confident, hothead Survivor turned into a useless, crumpled mess of tears and cries of anguish.

Let's not forget the biggest part though; that part you referred to. The regret. The guilt. The constant stream of whywhywhy's and what if's and if only's in their mind. It's crippling. It nearly breaks them. Maybe it does break them. Unspoken apologies haunt them. Maybe their allies/friends lay blame on them for what happened, or maybe they try to convince the Survivor that it wasn't their fault, that there's nothing anyone could have done - but that doesn't matter because they still said those horrible, horrible things. The last impression they left on the Victim was negative and demeaning and hate-filled and so so so not true. The last memory they have of the Victim is a flushed face and clenched fists and hitched breaths and it's not fair!

Maybe this guilt is the only thing that drives them onward, because they can't let this happen again. They refuse. Never again. No more Victims. They won't make the same mistake twice.

Because it's their fault. Their words drove off the Victim. Words really do hold the most profound power in the world. It's just a pity how easy it is to use them the wrong way.

Also, have this quote that this made me think of. I couldn't find the author's name, but here's a link to the source material :)

"Sometimes, when people leave, I'm seized by a sudden fear that they'll die while they're out, and I'll never forget the last thing I said to them."

[the-power-of-stuff]

bestie whats your opinion on this vid? it got me Angry. ANGRY! https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=64wpVnM6dlE4b9kc&v=cglBnKGWlP4&feature=youtu.be

Ahhhh yes, this video! I've seen it floating around in the tags but hadn't watched it until now.

I guess my opinion on this overall is that it's a little...unimaginative? I mean, it makes valid points about how the writers hadn't originally planned for Suki to be in the show beyond "The Warriors of Kyoshi," and how she doesn't interact much with the other members of the Gaang. But to me, that's where the fun of playing in the fandom sandbox comes in! Reading between the lines, over-analyzing little details, and finding space for our own interpretation of the events to thrive.

For instance, how many days did the group spend together on Ember Island? Do we really think Suki wasn't hanging out and bonding with anyone else that entire time? What about all the time they spent running around looking for Aang and Iroh right before the comet? Like, they went all the way from Ember Island to Ba Sing Se! That's basically a trans-continental road trip! Road trips are prime bonding opportunities! There's no way Suki wasn't making new BFFs while they were stuck in Appa's saddle all night.

What's the point of trying to prove that Suki didn't actually earn a place in the Gaang when instead you could imagine Suki and Katara connecting over the similarities in their fighting styles? Or Suki and Toph playing pranks on Sokka together? Or Suki and Aang getting emotional with one another while discussing Appa's rescue?

Same with the assertion that Sokka and Suki break up for good... First of all, I don't put much stock in "proof" that relies on material that's auxiliary to the show, the consumption of which isn't necessary to understand and fully enjoy the original source material. This stuff is basically professionally-published fanfiction. But even if it did hold the same "canon" weight as the original show, again, there are still a multitude of ways to interpret what's in the book. And what's not in the book.

Let's say that when they're both ~40, Sokka is back in the Southern Water Tribe and Suki is on Kyoshi Island. So what? From this one scenario, I can still spawn a million different universes in my head wherein Sokka and Suki end up together. I guess I just don't really see the point in claiming that there is an ultimate truth to Sokka and Suki's relationship in this fictional universe, when instead you could write thousands upon thousands of words finding different ways for them to fall in love with each other over and over again. *whistles innocently*

So, yeah... Is Suki part of the Gaang? She is if we let her in! (yes) Where is Suki? Wherever we want her to be! (in Sokka's arms)

I'll leave off with one counterpoint to something said in the video. There was a claim that Sokka only thinks about Suki when she's right in front of him. Otherwise, she's not on his mind at all. To argue this, I would like to present exhibit A: "The Swamp." Sokka has his vision of Yue, and afterwards he tells Aang and Katara, "I think about her all the time." Do we have any evidence of this? No. He hasn't mentioned Yue since his brief conversation with Arnook at the end of the season 1 finale. Does that mean he was lying when he said, "I think about her all the time"? Of course not. Something we know about Sokka is that he tends to keep his emotional cards pretty close to the vest. He's demonstrated that he is capable of thinking about Yue constantly without Aang, Katara, or we the viewers being aware of it. Therefore, it stands to reason that the same could be said of Suki. And I would go so far as to say the fact that Sokka immediately starts crying when Azula mentions Suki while taunting them on the day of the eclipse? Means she's been weighing on his mind an awful lot. Cuz that boy doesn't cry so easy. Not even when Yue died.

[starstrvckfool]

You have so many amazing fics

Do you think you'll finish any of them anytime soon? They're all so amazing like. (My Fave is the cursed by the heavens au)

How do you write so well? (Any writing tips?)

So with a lot of my fics I don't think I'll finish them any time soon- reason being because uh I have ADHD and whenever I made fics it's out of a complete impulse

And because I make them outta impulse I never finish them unfortunately, not only that but my hyper fixation on LMK slowly dwindled away due to the lack of content and ect (it might come back when s5 comes out but no promises)

Honestly? In my opinion if you wanna know the ending to my fics I think you as the viewer can leave it up to interpretation! There are so many vast possibilities with my cursed by the heavens fic! Hypothetically they could get to guanyin and she can't help them or maybe she can help them! Who knows I'll leave it up to you as the viewer to use your imagination :3

How do i write so well? Hmm.. My love language is words of affirmation so Its very easy for my to be very descriptive especially when writing, I love words, not only that but i straight up look at how other writers write and take inspiration off of that

It's also helpful to use the "show dont tell" rule

For example instead of saying:

"she looked at the flower"

You could write:

"Her eyes shifted as her gaze focused on the white Daisy's in the flower pot."

Not only is is descriptive but it makes the writing less boring, that's the only way I can explain how I write ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[grimrester]

made the mistake of reading too much hazbin hotel discourse regarding angel dust and the depiction of abuse and sexual assault in the most recent episode, and basically all of it is extreme in either direction in a way that makes me powerfully sad.

ive seen survivors say the episode and the musical numbers in particular made them feel horrible, and others say it made them feel seen and comforted. and genuinely i can see both sides.

it's clear that hazbin got a lot of things right about the effects of long term sexual assault. many survivors do become hypersexual as a response, or lean hard into pleasing their abuser. angel flipping between afraid, disgusted, and flirtatious from moment to moment is realistic. and the fact that angel is working in porn while this is happening is true to life - the porn industry is rampant with sex crimes, rape, and abuse. i've seen a lot of people praising the poison musical number for not shying away from some pretty rough depictions of assault, and in principle i agree that sometimes a tepid fade to black isn't the right approach. there is also absolutely power in the depiction of a survivor who is not a perfect, sad, or sex repulsed victim.

but i also find it really hard to disagree with survivors who found the episode really tasteless. i frankly don't think it would be under as much scrutiny as it is if vivzie and some of her team didnt have a history of uncritically romanticizing abuse and sexualizing assault. but they do, so it is.

it is genuinely really hard to tell when angel is putting on a performance for an audience in the story and when he's doing it for the titilation of the real-life viewer (or both). the poison number literally smash cuts scenes of his abuse with scenes of him dancing sexily and looking directly at the viewer.

and i get what they're going for here - angel has to perform to survive, so he's performing. if they had animated it differently maybe it would be easier to tell who his performance is for. if they showed the cameras filming him, for example. instead, all the shots are up close and focused on angel and his body. they show val or the other porn "actors" occasionally, but not much.

part of the issue is that they set these scenes in a music video format at all. i'm not the kind of person who thinks you can't make fun, poppy music about dark subjects, but usually the music videos for those kinds of songs don't show the acts in graphic detail, and there's a reason for that. it is very, very offputting to see gif sets or aesthetic edits of angel dancing knowing the context of the dance is that he was just violently assaulted multiple times. people are going to be doing sexy dance covers of this song on tiktok. and i hate calling it sexy given what the scene is about, but viv and her team designed some scenes in this musical number pretty explicitly with the goal of looking cool and sexy. and, sorry, but that leaves a pretty yucky taste in my mouth.

to be clear, there's nothing wrong with sexualizing angel in general. if the admittedly cool choreography was an entirely separate scene from the depictions of assault instead all part of the same musical number, i don't think the negative reaction would have been nearly as strong. i haven't heard one peep about the scene shortly before the musical number where val hits angel, because it just didn't have the tonal dissonance that the poison scene has.

this is a long ass post no one is going to read so i'll just sum it up with this: my problem with viv's work in general is that while sometimes she hits on topics that strike a meaningful chord with her audience, she doesn't seem to actually be thoughtful about her storytelling and the various ways it might be interpreted. this is just another example of that.

[beardedmrbean]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvFfjb2wGc0 This was uploaded on April Fool's day but nothing in the video or the description appears to be a prank. If the description is accurate, the reason he stopped making new episodes of Code MENT was because his sister passed away, and she was pregnant at the time so he lost both his sister and his unborn nephew/niece.

I don't know what these are normally like so I couldn't guess by the video, but from the video description

Given the impact these friendships and experiences have as influences, it is incumbent upon this parody to be unyielding in the very design philosophy and principals which was captured its creation (one example of a principle would be the necessity for parody and satire to have access to the full suite of human language, in tandem with discussion for categorical considerations (i.e. maturity, how many current farts are in the ecosystem, etc.) but always with the presumption of innocence on the side of parody, satire and comedy).

Says parody a lot, but that may be their normal MO, I don't know so I'll leave that up to people that do.

Full Video description under the cut

To the 6 viewers who read descriptions, At this very moment you may be asking yourself: but why? Well, sit back as the rambling commences; I applaud all those who might read it to the end. A significant portion of this series’ ethos is based on real world people trying to navigate this world in which we live. Elements of the characters are based off real-world friendships… nay, kinships! In that hopes that this may help understand the ethos of this channel, we want to share a bit of background here (limited time only, I’ll delete this when I remember how silly it is but until then do what you want with this info). The person that heavily influences characters seen on this channel experienced his first and second times of whompa-stompa times by two INDIVIDUAL (we promise to NEVER blow the lessons learned out to the category at large, in fact I’m starting to think it doesn’t really help in proper courtship) old globin women during his 12th and 14th year of age respectively (don’t pity him, you should have seen what he was wearing). On a more serious note, that same person lost his sister along with her amazing and wonderful yet-to-be-birthed human being in a horrific, terrible incident. Given the impact these friendships and experiences have as influences, it is incumbent upon this parody to be unyielding in the very design philosophy and principals which was captured its creation (one example of a principle would be the necessity for parody and satire to have access to the full suite of human language, in tandem with discussion for categorical considerations (i.e. maturity, how many current farts are in the ecosystem, etc.) but always with the presumption of innocence on the side of parody, satire and comedy). While most who use it are well-intentioned, DEI turns out to mostly result in Diversion (diverting people into unidimensional groups), Incursion (including a pre-set, one-sided, linguistically locked moral interpretation based on those groups into the workplace/school), and a contemporary Evil (prioritizing and rewarding loyalty to fully collectivist behaviors). The people in these DEI organizations are NOT themselves evil. Please, we extend this plea to you who are in these orgs: if you have the ability, help us get this out of acceptable society. It should be removed with minimal repercussions, as it was not fully understood by most. We’ve seen the ‘organizational redistribution/Harrison Bergeron equity apples’ too many times to ignore (I dunno what you guys are doing but its scariest to see these policies adopted by the New York State School Boards Association and subsequent grade schools, we are NOT having that). We have seen our own ethos’ accomplish better outcomes than DEI on the ground level and therefore will continue do what we are able to continue to champion it! Love, Nick Lizzo P.S. I miss Chappelle's Show. Comedy works. DEI doesn’t. I’m not entirely sure yet about the undefined gloss coming from these algorithms. To any YouTube employee who might happen to stumble upon this, Is Journalism covered in EDSA? It could fall under E or D but it’s a little confusing for me, just your average reader. Just trying to be helpful! Regards, Professionalism P.S. I think there might be a glitch, I wasn’t able to counter claim two videos on this channel. Is there any way to allow that? To my fellow abridgers/parody/comedy/artist peoples, I’m sorry for not saying this enough but you are some of the most talented and capable people I’ve ever met. From what I’ve seen you were able to tap into something we need now more than ever, ideas that transcend a sometimes-stifled paradigm. Keep that up and I believe humanity will never end up in a zero-sum game! Love, Purps To Insider, I don’t know if I ever said this formally but thank you. It was extremely gratifying to have gotten your acknowledgment. It feels good even all these years later to reflect on that achievement. I sincerely can’t thank you enough! From your supporter, Nick

[swordfright]

please write that essay

I assume based on your timing that this ask is in reference to this post, in which case I'm sorry it took me a couple days to get around to answering! This is not gonna be super well-organized but here are my thoughts:

The lore tidbit about c!Quackity actually having WON the bet with Glatt is literally the best possible way that whole situation could have gone. It’s such a solid storytelling move and I respect cc!Q to the moon and back for confirming it, both because I think c!Q's actions after having won the bet are very in-character for him and also because this option is, simply put, more narratively satisfying than the alternative. I'll explain why I think that.

c!Quackity's whole character arc is about belonging and agency and, importantly, how the pursuit of those things can go wrong. When he first joins the server he struggles to find somewhere to belong and gets used by others. His later attempts to exercise agency in order to foster his idea of a safe and stable community (yes, I'm including Butcher Army here) largely end in disaster. So eventually, Q establishes his own country, his own place where he can control every potential element and risk factor, but arguably he does so at the cost of love and friendship and community, the things he wanted to foster and maintain and protect in the first place. His defining fears about community safety eventually become reduced to fears about personal safety. To me, it’s a very clear negative character arc. When Q makes the bet with Schlatt’s ghost and ends up torturing c!Dream for the revival book, the audience are led to assume it’s because he lost the bet and is still beholden to Glatt in this one final way.

The exact nature of his and Schlatt's relationship prior to Schlatt's death carries some degree of ambiguity, but it's pretty widely interpreted as an abusive romantic relationship, and I'd argue that canon supports this interpretation. They were engaged following the Manberg coalition, and we know their relationship was increasingly rocky during this period. If you subscribe to this particular interpretation of their relationship (which I do because again, I believe canon supports it), then this adds a certain weight and gravity to Q's bet with Schlatt's ghost. The bet becomes a horrible postmortem extension of this toxic relationship that has deeply left its mark on c!Quackity, and Q losing the bet puts him in a vulnerable position both psychologically and literally. He is still beholden to his shitty ex, despite having put him in the fucking ground. That's a powerful motivation to get the book and be done with Glatt forever --- so it makes sense that when Q started torturing Dream for the book, many viewers automatically assumed it was because Q lost that bet.

Personally, I never really liked that assumption, because I feel it lets Q off too easy. It's too convenient an excuse. It dismisses the horror and cruelty of Q's deal with Sam by allowing Q the plausible deniability of desperation, characterizing the torture as his final desperate attempt to escape Schlatt's legacy, i.e. “My abuser made me do it, I’m still being threatened and coerced, I’m not culpable for my own actions!” (Which isn't even a justification that c!Quackity himself would ever use, so it's frustrating to see viewers fall back on it. The c!Quackity woobification in this fandom is much worse than the c!Dream woobification but let's leave that discussion for another day.)

But then (BUT THEN!!!) we find out that no, c!Quackity didn't lose the bet, he actually WON. He didn't want that book for Glatt, he wanted it for himself. He tortured Dream for this reason and because he enjoyed torturing Dream, and it’s an amazing anti-reveal because it pulls the rug out from under you but it also makes perfect sense given the sort of person we’ve watched Q becoming over the course of the past year’s worth of lore content. It’s about cycles of violence! In a story that has been about cyclical violence from the beginning, this is a natural conclusion for Q's character arc. DSMP is a story about building as an escape, and escaping what you've built. And ironically, this reveal makes c!Quackity a perfect foil to c!Tommy because Tommy is an abuse victim who, in a lot of ways, strives to be better than his abuser (hello I realize this is a controversial opinion but whatever this is my post) and Quackity is an abuse victim who intentionally strives to out-do his abuser.

Finally, Q winning the bet with Glatt is like, the only option that carries any kind of narrative catharsis. Because if he’d lost the bet, it means that despite Q's tireless efforts to gain agency, he never truly succeeded and is still being used as a pawn. Which is boring imo! It’s literally “area man ends up exactly where he started," which can be a compelling arc but it's not the most compelling possible arc for this particular character in my incredibly biased opinion. Whereas Quackity having won the bet gives his character arc direction. The arc then becomes “area man strives against all odds to achieve agency, succeeds, forfeits humanity in the process.” Area man escapes cycle of abuse only to perpetuate it. Which I personally like because I think it's interesting!

It may not be an uplifting arc, but it’s an arc! It starts in one place and ends up somewhere else. It has momentum! Even though this reveal technically reflects “poorly” on Quackity’s character (idc lol he will be my forever babygirl no matter how many times he violates the Geneva Convention), it’s a plot twist that respects his character so much more than the alternative. There's only so far you can take a story about a guy being powerless. It's much more fun to tell a story where the powerless guy finally attains the agency he always wanted, but at a great personal cost.

(Coincidentally, this is also the reason I wish c!Wilbur's finale stream had ended not with him leaving c!Tommy but with him asking Tommy to accompany him to Utah and Tommy rejecting his offer. But I digress lmfao I'll be bitter about that storytelling decision on my own time)

Anyway, I think @elmhat phrased it really well when they said "We care about Quackity because of his choices." Not just what happens to him, but how he decides to react.