#analysis with the bird

[gz-missfit]

So... I want to talk about this clip.

There's always been this joke amongst the crows that Phil's bird instincts cause him to perch a lot and in his playstyle that's something that just makes sense. It helps him be safe from threats while also getting a good view over the situation so he can come up with the best plan to deal with it.

Now why is this the time where I want to bring this up? Because Phil doesn't have a reason to perch technically. The room is small enough that he could easily see it all from the ground and he's not getting swarmed nor is there any direct threat so why did he perch as soon as forever left?

Cause he's cautious, anxious and scared. He already had a gun pointed at him mere moments ago, he's watching a good friend of him fall apart without him being able to do anything about it and he is unsure of what to do because one wrong step could be disastrous.

Perching is Phil's way to assess a situation, to analyze it and to find a good way to deal with whatever is happening at hand, this obviously doesn't work when the threat isn't necessarily physically but mentally. But it still gives him that same sense of comfort.

Perching means safety. It means analyzing. It means caution. And most importantly it's a sign of worry.

There's a reason why he instantly jumped to the ground as soon as Forever came back, Phil didn't want him to know how worried and scared Phil was. Phil knew he had to keep some type of front up, so this was the closest he got to showing how he truly felt down in forevers base

[achromaticegoist]

Something I noticed about Adam's Wings (Hazbin Hotel)

They're always folded in like a really specific away, close to the sides rested comfortably under the arms

You can compare it to the other angels and their wings like Lute and the other Seraphim. Adam has his wings out sometimes just like them but as far as I know this is another way to differentiate his character

Very noticeable next to lute, is it like a laid back/strict kind of thing?

It's just cool that there's like nobody talking about this it's like the only thing I could think about whenever he was in a scene lolll

THE CURVE? THE COMPARISON? It can't be becuase his wings are big, maybe that's a part of it but the seraphim have large wings and they posture them just like lute (and all the other angels in the background)

IS HE THE ONLY BIRD MODE? IS THAT IT? IS ADAM JUST PART BIRD

FANFICTION WRITERS GO HAM I NEED CONTENT OF THIS BIRD PLEASE

IS IT FOR AN ANGSTY REASON? IS IT BECAUSE HE SAW BIRDS DOING IT BACK THEN SO HE JUST COPIED THEM?

I'm so attached to wings as you can tell by past fanart I love wings

[effen-draws]

OKAY it's going to take a while to get to the point with this one but-- de meta time. You see I realised just now that the skua which is referenced throughout the game is a y'know a skua. Like Great Skua skua, like Stercorarius Skua.

And ALRIGHT that might be my bilingual brain that's slow on the uptake (all my bird knowledge is in Danish so forgive me) because perception literally points it out:

BUT HEY. HEY. I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW WHAT THE GREAT SKUA'S WHOLE DEAL IS BUT IT IS NOT NICE. SO LET ME TELL YOU A LITTLE ABOUT THEM BEFORE I GET INTO THE MEAT OF THIS META:

Skuas are a type of predatory bird that primarily lives off of stealing other marine bird's food. Basically they're very good at outmanouvering and bullying other birds until the unsuspecting gull or tern (for an example) drops the fish it had caught. But The Great Skua takes that a step further as the largest of its kind. Becuase it will straight up kill to rob another bird, while also consequently getting the other bird as a meal in the process. Like, killing gulls and puffins are just a regular part of its diet along with the theft.

AND IN CASE THIS ISN'T ALREADY OBVIOUS: THE GREAT SKUA IS AN INSANE BIRD TO HAVE AS A HERALDIC/SYMBOLIC BIRD.

But then I thought; well yes of course the first bird that the nations of Mundi would find as a proof of reality would be the Great Skua. Of course the colonisers would have their first proof of discovering "the New New World" be this bird. Of course the people who after seeing this skua, this living proof that there was more out there to exploit, would then go to other isolas to steal and kill to sustain themselves. Of course the people that established the Suzerain of Revachol, which was (to quote Joyce) "the greatest concentration of wealth mankind has ever seen", would be justified by a Great Skua.

Of course the future foundations of the capitalist world in Elysium would see a skua, the bird that lives of off kelptoparasitism, as their proof of a New New World and new new oppertunities.

And then it only makes sense that The Great Skua became the symbol of the discovery of Insulinde; Mundi's most "promising" steal.

[shaampoo]

OMG!?!??! I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS SONG (and AU), RIGHT NOW!!!

(By Lydia the bard

TINKERBELL VILLAIN SONG - Fall Little Wendy Bird Fall | Song by Lydia the Bard and Tony | Animatic

The title^)

First of all the cover art is AMAZING, Tink is SO pretty, the sparkle and lines on the wings, her grin, HER HAIR, HER EARS, HER DRESS,

Also, "Fall Little Wendy Bird Fall" is a great title

Now the video itself and its lyrics, i really REALLY want to just compliment every single frame of this video, its so beautiful, so well done, its like it was blessed by The Muses of greek mythology,

Okay so the lyrics at 0:45

"You dont seem to quite understand what is at stake,

This messed up little family that i had to make"

Not only is this line so beautiful with the way her voice sounds, its pretty much a nod to the fact Tink and her friends kidnapped peter pan and the lost kids to keep her and her friends alive

(0:55) \/

"If i could let them all go home please know that i would

But it'd do more harm than good"

Just Tink expressing her guilt that she and her friends kidnapped the lost boys so that they could keep existing, but like, JWHSEAJKHWED, she ofc doesn't want her or her friends to die, and since people are slowly not believing in fairies anymore, they're slowly going extinct, ALSO, Fawn and Silvermist are DEAD, so yeah, that messes with someones head

AAAALSOOOO, i LOVE their silhouettes, the height and weight differences instead of them all having the same height and weight like in the movies, plus, i LOVE that despite not looking like how they do in the movies, you can probably still tell who is who,

ALSO

Even if it wasnt intentional, i like how in kinda faraway shots, Tink has a more cuter roundish look, while in closer shots shes more edgy and more intimidating(? if that's the right word), kinda showing how others view her (kinda?) as a cute fairy, maybe underestimated, but yknow, close up, shes plotting to kill a child

(1:15)

I love how Tink is gesturing in this scene, cause 1. It conveys to the audience what she wants from the lost boys and 2. Canonically, when fairies talk, people usually just hear jingling of bells, so shes gesturing because shes also conveying what she wants to the lost boys

1:23

"Swear its nothing personal, its a necessary evil"

I just love this line because it is a necessary evil, she needs the lost boys and peter pan in neverland to believe in fairies so that they exist, and Wendy is pretty much a threat, since she makes the lost boys want to grow up with families,

Also, the lost boys look so cute in here, i cant remember their names tho, one is holding a slingshot, aiming at wendy, one is holding rocks , and one has a stick , so Tink just told these children to assassinate Wendy, or at least attack her.

1:35

I love how the kids explain that Tink make them do it, and Peter Pan just glares at Tink, and i love that I'm pretty sure that Peter isn't mad/doesnt blame the lost boys

As seen in this scene where Pete is smiling and stuff at the Lost Boys and/or at Wendy

1:55

I love how Tink refers to Wendy as a "Nasty little spark" because, a spark can turn into a fire, damaging a lot of stuff and people, pretty much saying that Wendy has to be snuffed out before she causes a fire,

"Setting fires inside my house is just not allowed"

Pretty much referring to the fact that Wendy, the spark, is creating a fire, aka, making the lost boys want to grow up and go back to the real world, making them not believe in fairies anymore, thus, making her and her friends die, which is, not allowed.

Also. the fear in Tink's eyes is so fear, her expression is on point, the mix of concern and fear is just, so beautiful, also i love her pointed ears

2:17

First of all, this screenshot does not do justice to the actual design of the mermaid (siren?), cause they are AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, GORGEUS.

Also, the fact that Tink is persuasive enough to convince someone to kill Wendy in such a short amount of time is impressive, and the fact that the mermaids agreed so quickly is also impressive,

When it failed, the absolute horror and shock on Tink's face? Shes horrified that another plan of hers failed, and shes scared that her friends might die, like, wow

The despair on her face is just so...asdjwoaijdoiwajd

3:38

The fact that Peter Pan (i cant even give him a nickname cause Pete sounds different and P.P. is just wrong and Pan is just A Thing), first at the gust of wind that blows away the pixie dust (which keeps the ship afloat) he covered his eyes, maybe cause the dust or his hair in his eyes, then he looks at Tink in anger and shock and probably some confusion, then looks at Wendy, in concern and fear,

Theory: Pan knows that, since Tink doesnt want the lost boys to leave, and he knows that gust of wind was from the fairies, and Tink's dislike and hatred to WEndy, that Wendy was probably the only one not going to be saved, which is why he only looks at her and tries to save her (that or he's a SIMPPPPPPP /j)

3:50

The fact that you can see Wendy screaming??? Chills,

And the black screen right after, signalling Wendy's death is just amazing

Anyways, overall, what im saying is

THIS SONG IS AMAZING GO CHECK IT OUT, GO CHECK OUT THIS PERSONS CHANNEL, THEY HAVE GOOD VILLAIN SONGS, THEY EVEN HAVE ENCANTO!!!!

[shyjusticewarrior]

Cass be like: the people I love aren't allowed to die actually.

[cosmicjoke]

Okay, chapter 57 of Saezuru!

So, we're at an impasse again.

I don't want to see anyone shitting on Yashiro here, though I know inevitably there's going to be people doing that, and probably people shitting on Doumeki, too. I think what people need to constantly remind themselves of while reading this story is that, at it's heart, it's a story about trauma, and the difficulty, sometimes near impossibility, of ever fully overcoming that trauma.

I know some people are going to talk badly about Yashiro's reaction to Doumeki, regarding especially the moment when he pushes Doumeki away from him. They're going to grow frustrated and say he's sending Doumeki mixed messages, etc, etc... But Doumeki is also doing the same.

Doumeki, at this point, seems to me to be operating out of frustration, while Yashiro is still operating out of fear.

I felt like the pivotal moment of this chapter came after Doumeki turns Yashiro around and, for just a moment, lets his mask drop. When Yashiro makes his comment to him about him "making a face like (he) wants to do it really badly", I felt like Doumeki had an opportunity here that he blew. I'm not blaming Doumeki, let me just say right off, so that nobody misunderstands what I mean. But I think Doumeki still doesn't quite understand what's wrong with Yashiro. I think he thinks Yashiro is playing games, but he's not. Doumeki saw Yashiro's earlier moment of pushing him away when he started kissing and licking at his leg, when he was being gentle with Yashiro, and I think likely took Yashiro's comment about the face he was making as a mocking statement.

The awful part here is, it was a statement made in earnest.

So was Yashiro's reaction to pushing Doumeki away.

Yashiro is still triggered by gentle treatment. Look at his face when Doumeki starts licking at his leg, as he remembers four years earlier, to the first time they had sex. His expression is horrified. He's scared. He's traumatized. He's giving a trauma response to what's happening. You can tell by his reaction after pushing Doumeki away that it wasn't even a conscious thing he did. His body just reacted. He has this wide-eyed, shocked look, like he doesn't know what just happened.

And then Doumeki lets his frustration and probably some anger dictate his response, which is to manhandle Yashiro onto his stomach and take him from behind. Again, it's really important to watch Yashiro's reactions here to understand what's going on with him, I think.

Once again, his face is stricken. You can tell he doesn't want this at all. He even looks frightened for a moment, and then in pain as Doumeki pushes into him.

The thing is, Doumeki doesn't want this either, but like I said before, I think he's operating out of a place of frustration and anger. He lets his frustration with Yashiro's seemingly contradictory behavior push him to be forceful with Yashiro. But it doesn't last long. Doumeki then turns him again onto his back, and that's the moment he lets his mask drop, and Yashiro makes his comment about his expression.

Again, I think it's vital to understanding what's going on with Yashiro to also pay attention to his own expressions. He reaches for Doumeki's face, and smiles at him, and the look in his eyes is very soft. You can tell he means it, what he says to Doumeki, and you can tell he genuinely longs for it, for Doumeki to look at him the way he once did, with that gentle kindness and genuine desire.

If Doumeki understood what was really at the heart of Yashiro's issues, I don't think he would have reacted the way he did. He makes a mistake here when he pulls Yashiro's hand away, and even squeezes down painfully on it. Yashiro's reaction is one of confusion. He doesn't understand why Doumeki is suddenly back to being cold. He says "Huh?", when Doumeki tells him "What a nostalgic thing to say.", before once again forcefully pinning him down. Again, I think Doumeki thinks Yashiro is playing games, but he's seriously not. His response to Doumeki's gentility is a trauma response. He's still triggered by that kind of treatment, while simultaneously longing for it. He doesn't mean to be sending Doumeki mixed messages. This is what I mean when I say people need to keep in mind that this story is, at its core, about trauma and the ways it manifests. His responses to Doumeki aren't a conscious thing on Yashiro's part. He can look back at them retrospectively and think about them, like he does at the end of this chapter, but in the moment, I don't think it's voluntary at all. I think if Doumeki had taken that opportunity to just be honest with Yashiro, to tell him how he really feels, it would have been met with honesty from Yashiro in turn, because I don't think Yashiro is being dishonest at this point. I think his responses to Doumeki are all real. He says at the end of the chapter "I'm full of contradictions", a direct callback to when Yashiro was a teenager and he thought the same about himself. He's both genuinely triggered by Doumeki's gentility, and at the same time, wants it desperately.

The heartbreaking thing here is, Yashiro is blaming himself for fucking it all up again. He compares himself to livestock that can't change, and says he's completely incapable of growth. Yashiro's self-loathing is on full display. He really believes he'll never be able to move past the seeming contradictions inside him, contradictions he's felt since he was a boy. The longing for love, the deep desire to be loved, and yet, because of the severe abuse he suffered, his inability to receive that love without succumbing to a terrified, panicked response. It's Yashiro's trauma, rooted in what his stepfather did to him for years, that's preventing him from fully embracing Doumeki's love. He wants to, but he can't.

And that's the thing, too. Yashiro has always been aware of the contradictions in himself. He spoke about it as a teenager, about how he wanted to hurt Kage, but how he knew he would be hurt if Kage rejected him. That's where Yashiro misunderstood himself, though. He never wanted to hurt Kage. That was Yashiro's warped perception of himself, the part of him that thinks he wants to destroy beautiful things. It's not that. He's always just been afraid because affection triggers him, and so he convinced himself he wants to be abused, that it's his fault he's been abused because of that, as a means of coping with the way that abuse has destroyed him.

Exacerbating all of it is Doumeki's refusal to drop his mask of indifference. Again, I'm not blaming Doumeki. He's understandably frustrated, and I think starting to become angry, because he thinks it's simply a situation in which Yashiro is refusing to be honest with him about his feelings. He thinks Yashiro is messing with him, so he responds by pretending like he feels nothing for Yashiro. I don't think he realizes that he's only affirming for Yashiro his own fears that he's managed to turn Doumeki against him, that he lost Doumeki's love for him by pushing him away before, which only makes it all the harder for Yashiro to, essentially, ask for help. And Yashiro needs help. He can't do this on his own. He can't process his trauma and explain what's happening to him, explain what he's feeling, without understanding.

I don't think Doumeki understands Yashiro right now. I don't think he understands what's wrong with him.

Yashiro thinks about Doumeki with Izumi, and thinks about himself as a teenager, alone, and correlates his seeming inability to change with that aloneness. Doumeki has moved on from him, he believes, he's found an emotional connection and partner in Izumi, while Yashiro remains stuck in the same place, forever destined to be cut off and isolated from all, human affection.

He needs help. He needs someone to help him work through this, to cope with the fact that he both longs for kindness, gentility and love, while those things also terrify and repulse him and trigger a flight response in him. Yashiro isn't doing this on purpose. He's not lying. His natural inclination and desire for love and kindness is coming into direct conflict with his trauma, with the way those things, as a consequence of the abuse he's endured, have rendered love and kindness triggering to him.

I don't think Doumeki can help him until he figures out that Yashiro isn't being dishonest, but that he's trapped by his own trauma. Until he figures that out, until he realizes just how damaged Yashiro is, he's going to keep pretending he doesn't care about him, either as a punishment, or in some crude attempt to force him into acknowledging his feelings, which ultimately is having the opposite effect. It's only pushing Yashiro into a deeper hole of self-loathing and fear, only reaffirming for him every negative thought and feelings he's ever had about himself.

[barbietoiles]

You know what i like about phil ships. He is just soooooo obsessed with the other person.

Pissa = old man crying over seeing skull. Old man sobbing over missa mention. Old man excitedly running towards husband when he shows up, then proceeds to declare his love at the end of every sentence. "kiss me right now, on the lips" 👈 LOVESICK WET BIRD

Codebreakers = have you seen how much he brings etoiles up. Every chance he gets hes babbling on about how cool and capable etoiles is. When they meet, ANY chance he gets to interact with him he WILL. Spots a pixel of etoiles in a crowd must approach must call him the goat. Theyre both so enthuasiastic about praise, they simply keep stacking compliments. Phil just wants to play around and have a praise battle in a loop forever

Fitza = to be fair fit is instigating things more but they just keep piling weird and genuine compliments higher and higher. Every chance at praising fit he gets, he takes it. Every chance at showing off to fit, he takes it. Fit showing off to him he loves and vocalises this love in peculiar ways. Whatever fit says phil is nodding along to. So true bestie.

Philhalo = Another guy he talks about often when capable and cool people are brought up in conversation. Phil respects badboy but he also wants to antagonise him sooooo bad. He sees badboy he NEEDS to punch him. One manditory swear word drop per interaction BUT after that he will respect the language policy (as best he can, he is very bad at it). I need them together more i need phil trying so hard not to swear and also praising badboy and also being a bastard about it.

[tarucore]

screenshotting this one bc I can acknowledge that I’ve got shipper goggles on and op isn’t about that life which is fair but

I feel like batfam fans misunderstand the term parentification a lot and conflate it with Dick filling a parental role for his siblings, which might be part of the “oldest daughter syndrome” that’s so often pinned on him but that isn’t what parentification actually means

If I say that Dick Grayson was parentified, then that isn’t referring to him taking care of his siblings, it refers to the way Bruce treated him. As someone capable of taking care of his emotional needs and not as the child in need of care in the relationship

Parentification is a term that’s been around for decades, and while having to care for younger siblings might be a part of the definition, it focuses mostly on the role reversal of the parent-child dynamic. I’m not going to get into the psychology of it but being parentified has very little to do with if he actually acted as a parent for his siblings and everything to do with if he acted as a parent for Bruce

This is honestly why I prefer the term spouseification, which is less ambiguous than the term parentification and I feel accurately describes their “equal” relationship and the type of emotional abuse that Dick went through

Also from what I’ve read, Dick doesn’t act as a parental figure for any of his siblings except for Damian. While he might have given extra emotional support to Tim due to Bruce being Bruce, Dick still fits solidly into an older brother role. I’m not even going to touch on Dick’s relationship with Jason which is too weak to even be considered fraternal never mind parental

[danmeibrainrot]

❗SAEZURU CH 55 SPOILERS❗

Doumeki returning to confiscate Yashiro's cigarette while admitting he doesn't 'like it' marks a significant progression. From the previous panels it seems evident that Doumeki has realized Yashiro's emotional vulnerability, realizing that Yashiro is only emotionally intimate with him. Despite previously attributing his presence to orders, the latest chapter shows a shift. With Tsunakawa's directive to stop observing Yashiro, Doumeki lacks that excuse.

After the time skip, Doumeki's connection with Yashiro seemed tethered to a sense of duty (or so he purposely made everyone around him including Yashiro believe), as he often cited orders as the reason for maintaining proximity. However, when Tsunakawa intervenes in this chapter and instructs Doumeki to discontinue his surveillance of Yashiro, it erases the impersonal justification he once clung to. In the absence of external directives, the logical course for post time skip Doumeki would have been to withdraw, and silently figure out another excuse to stay either by his side or 'observe' him from a distance without Yashiro knowing (like he has all these years gathering current information about him from informers).

Surprisingly, Doumeki doesn't follow the expected path after Tsunakawa's directive. He does leave after informing Yashiro, but then he comes back without the usual excuse of orders or duty, opening the door for a more personal understanding. His comment about disliking Yashiro's cigarette habit adds to this, especially when it comes to Yashiro who is prone to taking things at face value (especially now that he is sure that Doumeki holds no love for him), would perceive Doumeki's return and candid comment as genuine. The shift from a duty-bound presence to a more personal and emotionally invested one challenges Yashiro's understanding of their dynamic, introducing a layer of complexity and depth to their evolving relationship.

But then again, just like Yashiro took Doumeki's comment about him not liking Yashiro having sex with anyone else as a way of Doumeki disliking him and his sexual promiscuity, so he might take this as something Doumeki dislikes about him as well.

This is still a huge step for both time skip Doumeki and their relationship and I cannot wait to see how this unfolds in ch 56!

Ahh the cliffhanger 😭

[alphashley14]

Professor Pericles isn’t in the Sitting Room.

Just a liiiittle something I noticed that I would like to point out and discuss.

His “better half” wasn’t shown to be trapped there with the others. So did he never separate from his? Or did he never have one at all?

Makes you wonder just how affected Professor Pericles was by the curse, because also consider:

He recounts hearing the “soothing” screams of Krampus’ victims as a hatchling in his homeland of Germany. (The gif above is him talking about it) Which would have been before he had ever set a talon in Crystal Cove. Soooo…

Was he really corrupted by the curse like everyone else? Or was he a manipulative red flag waving psychopath at birth? And if that’s the case, then what does that say about the reset timeline? Is he reeeeally as innocent as he appears as Creationex Corp’s mascot? Or is he still a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Just saying. This makes for EXCELLENT fanfic material. 👀

(Also PLEASE comment and reblog with your own thoughts! I want to talk about this because it gave me an idea for another fic!)

[adarkrainbow]

Given I have made two posts already about "Hansel and Gretel", or variations of the story, I'll make this fairytale the Grimm fairytale of this season. And since everybody knows Hansel and Gretel, and I already spoke somehow about it, I'll just leave below several notes, trivia and facts.

I have spoken before about the "original" version of the Brothers Grimm fairytale - aka the first edition of the text, and how it changed and evolved up to the story we know today. Many of these changes are well-known by the public - for example how the wicked stepmother was originally a wicked MOTHER (but the Grimm changed it because they had a mother-worship thing going on) ; or how the whole "duck scene" where the kids are helped crossing the river by birds was added later and not present in the original text. Some are less known, such as the fact that the "heavenly wind" rhyme was not part of the original text, or how Hansel's prison was originally not some sort of stable like in the final text but a tiny hicken coop.

In terms of "sibling stories" when we look at the great patches of historical fairytales and older literary works, you will find a lot of people pointing out to the Italian fairytale "Ninnillo and Nennella" by Basile - but I have to strongly disagree with this claim, because while Basile's fairytale does contain the motif of "boy/girl sblings abandoned several times in the woods, using various objects to find their way back, until it fails and they are lost forever", beyond that the fairytale has little to no relationship with Hansel and Gretel. A more direct ancestry and relationship has to be found in the French fairytale. More precisely in Perrault's Little Thumbling, Le Petit Poucet, which is also a story about children abandoned in the woods due to a lack of food, that found their way back several times before the birds eat the bread, and that end up in the house of a man-eater, an ogre trying to kill them. But we are still quite away from the German tale - and it is another French literary fairytale that forms the "missing link" in this chain. Madame d'Aulnoy's "Cunning Cinders" (Finette Cendron). This story doesn't involve children, but four young women - however it still follows the Hansel and Gretel formula very closely. Abandoned by their parents in the wilderness, manage to get back several times before it fails, end up trapped in the house of man-eaters, and the titular character defeats the ogre by pushing hm into a fiery oven... Of course, beyond that d'Aulnoy has a ton of additional content - such as the ogre having a wife that must be beheaded ; the lost girls being helped by a fairy godmother ; and the second part of the story being an alternate Cinderella.

But all in all it shows a point I made previously, and talked about in my ogre posts: the structure and type of the "Hansel and Gretel" story is originally an ogre tale. All older versions of the story involve ogres, not witches - but since the German do not have "ogres" in their folklore, the ogress was replaced by a witch. And despite this replacement, the witch of the story keeps several ogre traits - such as a motif of "the elderly devours youth", the idea of the witch having a poor eyesight but a keen sense of smell, or the entire "maternal perversion" motif. Which is my next point.

"Hansel and Gretel" is a familial tragedy, like many other fairytales. But the family of Hansel and Gretel is an actually extremely bizarre one. You can see, once you know your folklore and fairytale lore, that despite it being considered a "classic" and a "foundation", this tale is actually a fragmented and pieced-together story that leaves numerous gaps and is much more muddled and confused than its equivalents and predecessors. What I mean by that is that, when you look at the familial relationships in this story, you will discover several remnants of an older and more commonspread familial structure that was erased, and only leaves bizarre analogies in the new set of characters the tale offers.

To be clearer. We know that Hansel and Gretel are siblings, and that they have two parents - the father and the stepmother, formerly mother. The witch is an unrelated character acting as an outside element - or so it seems. The fairytale actually establishes a parallel and a connection between the wicked stepmother and the witch. They are parallel characters, two wicked women that want the death of children, but whereas one wants to throw the kids out of the house to leave them to starve or be devoured by beats, so she can have more food herself, the other imprisons the children in her house and overfeeds them to devour them later. A more direct link is established whenn the children return home, at the end of the tale, and discover that their step-mother is dead.

Some dark and edgy adaptations will have things such as the stepmother being killed by her husband, or killing herself, stuff like that - but by the tale alone, on just reading the words, and the first impression it leaves on a child, is that the stepmother mysteriously dies in unexplained ways right after the children burned the witch in her oven. The fact that the two wicked women end up deceased for the tale to end happily, the fact the stepmother's death is left unexplained while the witch's death is graphic and fully presented, the fact the stepmother's death is announced after the witch was killed... It all leaves the impression that the two were connected, and that by some sort of "parallel magic", killing the witch triggered the stepmother's death.

This is something many adaptations picked up upon, and you find versons where the witch and the mother look a lot alike, or are played by the same person, or are the same being. (One can compare it to Russian variations of the stories of Baba-Yaga, where wicked stepmothers sometimes send their nice stepdaughters a la Vasilisa the Fair, to the Yaga's house claiming the Yaga is their "sister"). All in all this continues the idea that the witch is a perverse take on the mother figure - nourishing and protecting children only to gulp them down into her stomach. Which, by the way, is the very symbolism and essence of ogres: fathers that kill, mothers that eat.

But while this is the most famous of the "perverse family connections" in the tale, there is another people tend to forget: the connection between Gretel and the witch. I talked heavily of the difference of treatment the witch has between Hansel and Gretel in a previous post ("Why was Hansel the meal of the witch?"). People have noted the strange discrepancy of Hansel being the one locked up and fattened up to be eaten, while Gretel became an abused slave. Many modern adaptations played on this element by having the witch planning on not eating Gretel, but making her an apprentice in witchcraft, an heir to her house, and treating her like a daughter/witch in training. After all, she does malnourish her, so she seems not keen on the idea of eating her at first...

But these modern adaptations actually picked up on something deeper and more fascinating. You see, the witch not locking up Gretel and treating her as her slave seems to be a leftover from older variants of the tale, because there is a widespread archetype in fairytales known as "the witch's daughter" or "the ogress' daughter". In many ogress or man-eating witches tales, the antagonist has a daughter that assists her in her chores. Sometimes the daughter will secretely help the protagonist escape and be an ally - but these are quite rare, and most of the time the daughter is the one the witch/ogress charges of killing-cooking the protagonist. Then the protagonist tricks the daughter, kills and cooks her instead of themselves, and serve her to their monstrous mother, who believes she is eating the protagonist, when in fact she devours her own daughter. It is a very typical structure in those tales, found from the Baba Yaga legends to the Kabyle tales of the teryel.

The witch's daughter archetype also exists in fairytales where the witch is not a man-eater, but rather an antagonist that imprisons people, or that imposes impossible tasks - and here, the daughter will be a more benevolent figure that will secretly help the protagonist escape the witch and/or overcome the trials and tasks the mother imposes. In fact, in several of those stories, the protagonist fights for the right to love and marry the witch's daughter.

All in all, the fact that Gretel is treated as a slave and assistant to the witch, that she is to help feeding and fattening her brother, etc, etc, implies that her character in the story of the Grimm is a leftover of the "ogress' daughter" or "witch's daughter" of older stories. As a result it makes even more sense for adaptations to have the witch treat Gretel as some sort of surrogate daughter, and it makes the whole family picture of the German story very messed up. The witch who tries to eat the children might be their mother/step-mother, and Gretel might be the witch's daughter.

Another motif that has been picked up by various adaptatons is the motif of birds. I remember long ago I stumbled upon a fascinating art series depicting the witch as a half-bird half-human creature - unfortunately the pictures are now lost in the vast pit of the Internet. More recently, another artist posted an image of Hansel in his cage, with the witch appearing a large, black bird above the cage, wearing a witch's hat.

All those art pieces reflected a true fact: "Hansel and Gretel" is a bird story. You have the birds that devour the bread crumbs, but also the pretty bird that leads the children to the witch's house, and the ducks that helps them cross the stream in the added ending of the Grimm. Some variations also have Hansel claim, when he keeps looking back at the house, that he is seeing a "pretty bird" instead of a "pretty cat" like in the Grimm's final text. As a result, some people did identify the birds that eat the breadcrumbs and/or the bird that leads the children to the house with the witch. The anime "Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics" notably depicted the pretty bird luring the children to the house as the witch's familiar.

A last note: The idea that the witch's house is made of tons of various candies and sweets was popularized by various modern adaptations and retellings of the story. In the Grimm tale, the house isn't made of candy. It isn't even made of gingerbread as so many people believe! While it is common for people to think of this tale as "the one with the gingerbread house", I don't know where that comes from. In the text of the Grimm, the house is merely made of bread, plain old bread, with sugar for the windows. There are however cakes that are said to cover the house, as ornaments. Maybe people in retellings decided to mix together the "cake"and the "bread" and decided to make it "gingerbread"? I don't know.

[crayonkant]

Saezuru Chapter Titles

Well, my archival obsession with the chapter covers continues. Here are all titles to date as of October 2023.

Legend, based on the illustration:

Yashiro - italics Doumeki - bold font Yashiro and Doumeki - blue font

[1] Defiant, or twisted, there's nothing else to do... but continue living.

[2] Unconsciously, love is born.

[3] Sentimental, irritating, suffocating.

[4] Quietly, secretly... passionately.

[5] Just staying by your side...

[6] So close, yet our hearts are afar.

[7] There are things I want to tell you, but I have no words to convey them...

[8] You don't know how important someone is to you until you're about to loose them...

[9] It's so cold, it gives people a lancinating kind of pain, yet, there is an unspeakable sense of comfort. (note: unusual color cover with Misumi and Yashiro's naked legs)

[10] Back then, when he was still a nobody...

[11] Those unseen wounds, hurting little by little.

[12] Something is about to change...

[13] Downtrodden, life continues -

[14] The past... begins to stir - (note: unusual color cover with a bird's pov and tiny unrecognizable figures)

[15] (no text)

[16] I want to protect... I want to be protected... this contradiction is - (note: unusual cover with story panel of Hirata on the ground and speech bubbles. One bubble could be read as continuation of the title : "[this contradiction is - ] ... pretty dangerous".)

[17] I don't want to vanish from your gaze. (note: unusual cover with story panel and speech bubbles. D: "You could say I'm no match for the force of this person." Y: "I don't want to vanish from your gaze".)

[18] Everyone goes on living with the weight of the past on their shoulders. (note: unusual Nanahara? cover)

[19] Even the smallest things can alter fate.

[20] Someone's hatred towards someone Someone's feelings towards someone - (note: unusual car chase cover)

[21] no cover

[22] The time for everything to change has come -

[23] Even though all I want is to love him it will only hurt him...

[24] I can't allow myself to be touched by those hands

[25] What is this The way this is Is not the way that I know (note: crazy double page cover that will get its own post)

[26] nothing

[27] When it's too late I always think... "Why..?"

[28] A past that can never be erased Memories that won't be forgotten

[29] The feelings that ensnare and the feelings that are real... In the end, will they be revealed as love, or...

[30] Little by little... Things start to go crazy.

[31] So many thoughts, So much anticipation, All blending together...

[32] There's something I've always wanted to know.

[33] I've never needed Anyone Or any thing

[34] nothing

[35] Endings and beginnings Beginnings and endings (note: could also be read "Beginnings and endings Endings and beginnings")

[36] nothing

[37] 4 years have passed... and time flew by in parallel lines

[38] Living under the same sky

[39] Finally, things are moving

[40] There is something in the memory that can't be erased.

[41] I never planned on meeting him again

[42] Feelings are aching

[43] Things that changed Things that haven't And some things that cannot be changed.

[44] Yashiro and Doumeki's On equal footing New relationship Begins! (note: strangest title, so different in style than all others)

[45] After being separated for 4 years, The thing Doumeki saw was...

[46] I thought I fully understood that guy...

[47] What is it you desire?

[48] Pretending as if nothing happened

[49] Even if our positions changed, The feelings are...

[50] Wanting to destroy everything (note: unusual cover, portrait of Yashiro with only Doumeki's gloved hand in the picture...)

[51] I didn't know. Was this what I wished for? (note: unusual cover showing only legs, assuming it's the both of them)

[52] nothing

[53] What I really wished for was...

[54] For us both, There are things we don't know

[orcelito]

in the Wolfwood side story of trimax volume 8 chapter 6, we see this visual metaphor:

[ID: Three pages from Trigun Maximum. The first pages shows Wolfwood staring up at a flying bird and carving it in wood. He thinks to himself, "Us humans... We look up at them... and feel longin'. But they may look down at us... and envy how we have earth and shade to escape the pain of endlessly flappin' yer wings to survive." The second page shows a new scene where he is talking to Maylene. She looks up at a bird in the sky and tells him, "I... used to be an orphan. I've always depended on others for survival. Mr. Priest... How does the world look when you are able to choose your own path?" As she talks, Wolfwood is shown with a resigned look to his eyes. In the third page, Wolfwood replies, "Knock it off. Look over there." The bird lands, and we see that its feathers are mangled. Wolfwood continues, "That bird... It's in terrible shape. If you could look into its heart, you'd know all it wants is a safe place to sleep, a few scraps of food, and a life of peace. You'd know just how much it would envy yer luxurious cage." End ID]

(all pages from @trigun-manga-overhaul)

even at the time of first reading this, I wondered if it was a metaphor for Vash. at this point in the story, it's just after Wolfwood broke Vash out of the ark. we've seen the horrible truths of Vash's life over and over again... & the fact that at the end of the day, he just wants to live a quiet life of peace.

this suspicion turned into certainty with these pages in volume 10 chapter 4

[ID: Four pages of Trigun Maximum. The first is a single panel of Vash passing by a bloodied Wolfwood with a hand on his shoulder, telling him, "Crush him." In the second page, Vash walks off, leaving Wolfwood to his fight. Wolfwood preps his gun and says to himself, "I'm sorry... Needle-Noggin..." The third page is a wide shot of the sky, followed by a flying bird just like the ones seen in the prior pages. The fourth page is a shot of Vash staring up at the bird. His face is partially obscured in darkness with his eyes out of shot, but he is not smiling and his posture is hunched. The final panel is blank white. End ID]

... yeah. with the same imagery of the bird, we see Vash looking up at it with a hard to read expression. partially obscured, so we don't even see his eyes, but in his posture and the lack of a smile... you can see his pain. he's only just learned that Wolfwood is dying, and he wants so badly to be able to save him... but he can't. he's forced to accept that this is Wolfwood's fight, so he leaves him to it even as it agonizes him.

looking up at the bird that's forced to keep flying to survive... Vash is that bird. for the first time since he was a child, he allowed himself to grow truly close to someone. he found himself wanting to share a future with him, to share their Tomorrows...

[ID: A panel progression of Vash listening to Wolfwood fight. His face is partially obscured until it's revealed that he is weeping in agony. End ID]

but it wasn't meant to be. Vash isn't a being that can settle down like that.

he's cursed to forever fly.

[artist-issues]

Snow White and the Bluebird

Everyone sees Snow and the bluebird, the bird is on like every Hallmark statuette and Disney Princess sticker of Snow White. But I just want to point out that the bird in the movie is SO WELL-DONE.

I don't mean well-animated. Even though it is. I mean, what the bluebird brings out in the story besides Snow White's kind, loving attitude toward it.

When she first sees the bluebird its when she's about to be stabbed by the Huntsman. The blue bird is lost, and can't find its mother and father, and is crying.

And Snow White responds, "come on. Perk up. Your mama and papa can't be far. Won't you smile for me?"

What's that ladies and gentlemen? She comforts the bird by saying "the ones who love you can't be far?!" So then there's no reason to despair, even if you're a defenseless, fragile creature lost in a bleak and dangerous world?

Then there's the sound of a whistle--a short little melody--and there they are. The bird's parents. And it can fly to them happily.

Snow White was right. The baby bird's parents were never far; they were looking for their loved chick. So there was never any real reason to give up hope or cry. And this whole scene happens right before she has to flee for her life through the Dark Forest.

She despairs for a moment too. Everything seems dangerous and cruel in the Dark Forest, and she collapses in fear...but then the animals find her. And she's "ashamed of the fuss she made, all because she was afraid."

Then she says, "what do you do when things go wrong?" And out of all the hand-drawn animals in the clearing, the filmmakers have the bluebird family answer her. They sing the exact same melody that they sang when the parents found the lost baby. "Oh! You sing a song!" And then Snow White sings the same Lost But Found melody, too.

Why be ashamed of momentary fear? Well, because there was never any real danger. Why believe that things will turn out all right, when the ruler of the whole land and the only person who was ever supposed to take care of you wants you dead? Well, because she knows there's someone else out there who loves her and will find her--The Prince.

He promised her his heart. He's going to find her to fulfill that promise, no matter what else happens. That's why she can sing and smile and serve others even though to the outside eye it may seem like her life is in shambles. But she has faith that the one who loves her will come deliver her.

That's the point of the movie. That's the point of the bluebirds. Faith trumps fear. Focusing on the good truth rather than the darkness of circumstances is the whole superpower of Snow White's innocent, pure character. She's pure love, and she believes in pure love, and that's what makes her Fairest of All.

"Love is patient, love is kind, is not jealous, does not brag, is not puffed up; it does not act unbecomingly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered; it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things..." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

[blueseraphim]

I cannot stop thinking about Cloud and Sephiroth jian bird symbolism.

A Jian bird is a mythical bird that possesses only one eye and one wing. We already see this in both Cloud and Sephiroth's Kingdom Hearts designs.

Another thing about Jian birds are that they are two halves of a whole, dark and light, yin and yang.

"These creatures are born imperfect, and they need to lean against each other and act as one in order to be able to fly. Their mutual dependence is eternal, lasting through death and rebirth."

This symbolism just SCREAMS Sefikura to me, like imagine the possibilities this has in store for the FF7R Trilogy.

And you know what they say, without their other half, someone is left feeling empty or should I say...hollow 👀

[cosmicjoke]

Yashiro never owed it to Doumeki to Stay

I know I'm probably gonna' draw the ire of a lot of people by making this post, but fuck it. I'm too exhausted at some of the same, ridiculous rhetoric I see in this fandom, over and over, again and again, and I think it needs to be addressed.

A big part of my problem with the way people talk about what happened between Yashiro and Doumeki pre-time skip, and in particular, the harsh criticism I see lobbed at Yashiro specifically for what happened is that, underlying it, is this presumption that Yashiro ever owed Doumeki anything. The way Yashiro's rejection of Doumeki so often gets framed makes it seem as if Yashiro somehow owed himself to Doumeki, body and soul, and how dare he push Doumeki away. How dare he refuse his advances. As if Yashiro was some sort of possession that Doumeki alone had a claim to.

Because, see, no, Yashiro isn't an object to be attained. He isn't, to quote Jasmine from "Aladdin", a prize to be won. He's a human being, and his previous relationship with Doumeki was that of employer and employee. Yashiro never promised himself to Doumeki. He never made any sort of vow of faithfulness or assurances to him that he alone would be his only partner. He never even hinted at or implied that he wanted to be with Doumeki in any sort of romantic capacity.

And yet, we see so many people raging against Yashiro for rejecting Doumeki's advances, straight up accusing Yashiro of causing Doumeki "trauma" by pushing him away, as if Yashiro was somehow obligated to accept and receive those advances for the sake of Doumeki's own, mental health.

What the hell is Yashiro to these people, I wonder. Do they view him as the catalyst for Doumeki's journey toward mental health? Is he meant only to serve Doumeki in his journey toward self-discovery and self-affirmation?

The reasons for why Yashiro pushed Doumeki away rarely, if ever, get discussed. All we hear about is how Yashiro hurt Doumeki, and how he's now supposed to make it up to him by being magically cured of all his own mental illnesses and embrace Doumeki's sudden reappearance in his life with open arms, confessing his unwavering love and faithfulness to Doumeki alone.

Again, no. Yashiro never owed anything to Doumeki. He didn't owe him a relationship. He didn't owe him his faithfulness. He didn't owe him an acceptance of his advances.

Yashiro pushed Doumeki away because he was trying to protect both of them. He resorted to more and more extreme tactics as the story went on because Doumeki wouldn't stop pursuing him. Doumeki wouldn't take no for an answer, and that made Yashiro more and more desperate. That doesn't make the way Yashiro treated Doumeki right, but it also is important to understanding why Yashiro acted as he did. It wasn't out of malice. It wasn't out of an intent to harm Doumeki. It was out of fear for Doumeki's safety and out of an attempt to protect himself. Yashrio felt threatened by Doumeki's pursuit of him. Not physically, but from an emotional and mental standpoint. Doumeki's presence in his life at that particular time, and his particular way of treating Yashiro, caused Yashiro immense mental and emotional anguish and also undermined his very sense of self-identity. It was devastating to him. He told Doumeki no, and Doumeki didn't listen.

I don't think people want to acknowledge this reality, or take into account that it was wrong of Doumeki to keep pursuing Yashiro when Yashiro told him he didn't want him to. He had no claim on Yashiro. He had no right to intrude on his life without being invited in. Yashiro didn't owe himself to Doumeki in any way, even as a means of healing Doumeki's negative self-image.

And so you see, the way it still gets talked about post-time skip, as if Doumeki's cold-facade is entirely Yashiro's fault and, thus, the onus is on Yashiro to assuage Doumeki's fears of him running away again by confessing his feelings, continues to make the presumption that Yashiro ever owed it to Doumeki to stay in the first place.

He didn't.

I understand Doumeki's fear. I understand why he continues to act indifferent to Yashiro. I understand he's attempting to prevent Yashiro from running away again because he wants to be in a relationship with him. The problem with all of this is, Yashiro staying or leaving is entirely up to Yashiro himself. It's his body, and his life, and whether he wants to stay with Doumeki or not isn't up to Doumeki at all. And so Doumeki attempting to manipulate him into staying isn't the right way to approach the situation. It isn't right to try and trick Yashiro into staying with him.

Obviously, Yashiro wants to be with Doumeki. Obviously he's in love with him. But what I think a lot of people don't want to accept, or admit is that, ultimately, the choice needs to be Yashiro's alone, without any sort of manipulative tactic from Doumeki calculated to keep Yashiro at his side. Yashiro staying at Doumeki's side needs to be consensual on Yashiro's part, and right now, it's not. Right now, Doumeki is lying to Yashiro to keep him frozen in place, because Doumeki wants it. Because Doumeki wants Yashiro. Doumeki is going to have to come to understand, at some point, that the choice isn't his to make. It's Yashiro's.

I think, if he does realize that, and accepts it, that Yashiro should be the one who gets to decide whether he stays or leaves, he can then let go of his fear of Yashiro running away. And if he can let that fear go, then he can start being honest with Yashiro again. And I think Doumeki will be pleasantly surprised at the results if he does. Because Yashiro very obviously DOES want to stay with him. But he needs to be allowed by Doumeki to choose that for himself.