#and i think these points have already been raised by other metas before

[photomatt]

Post-acquisition, dir a proper, dedicated ad sales team ever get hired for Tumblr? Not something shared between other a8c properties but a group of people who knew Tumblr's uniquely weird culture and could work with brands to craft the kinds of ads that were highly effective on Tumblr before we got bought by Verizon.

Yes, with some great people who had worked on Tumblr before and also been part of successful teams at Twitter, Reddit, etc. I think at one point this was a 20+ person team. However it didn't work. We still have dedicated direct, but programatic drives the vast majority of the advertising revenue. My best guesses for why:

The advertising world has changed quite a bit from Tumblr's peak.

Tumblr had declining traffic for a while, which doesn't excite advertisers. (It's now growing again.)

Custom campaigns were too different for advertisers to spend a lot of time on them, they were long and expensive to implement.

Often advertisers were attacked by the user base, in targeted harassment. Really gross, horrible stuff. Terrible brand experience.

Advertising in general with ATT, cookie changes, etc has changed in a way that mostly strengthens the duopoly of Google and Meta, makes it incredibly hard for independent networks to compete.

On the bright side, self-serve advertising with Blaze has gone well, we can re-use the tooling across Tumblr, WooCommerce, and WordPress, it's faster and preserves privacy better than third-party networks, and there's a ton of demand particularly on the ecommerce side of things. So that group is actually being promoted to its own thing that will sit in parallel to Tumblr, vs being under it.

I think there could also be something that would more easily allow advertisers to duplicate campaigns they're already running elsewhere, with similar formats, that would raise the quality of ads we're able to run by making it easy for advertisers to shift a few % of their budget away from Twitter/etc to places they want to support more, more aligned with their brand and values, which Tumblr and its focus on art and artists is.

[brujahinaskirt]

Just some lil' thangs you might not notice about the level of detail RDR2 puts into Arthur's interactions with horses if you aren't personally experienced with horses:

[Sorry if this has been done! I couldn't find a post like it in recent tumblr history, and hope I can at least add some thoughts that haven't been analyzed to death already!]

(First, a note about me: I was raised on a quarter horse ranch and trained by a cadre of old-school cowboys in the Western tradition. Some of them were excellent teachers and some of them were crabby-faced bastards who thought "horsemanship" = engaging in a constant war with your horse... which gives me a little insight into positive and negative horsemanship styles on display in RDR2.)

(Second, thanks to fellow horsegirl @mangocats for helping me compile this list!)

(Third, a simple note to say that although I playfully use the term "horsegirl" in this post, the notes here apply to any gender. Same goes for the use of terms like "horsemen," which is not commonly used in the Western equestrian world to indicate a rider's real gender.)

Now, without further ado:

Press X to Calm. Arthur uses a tried-and-true low-stress, gradual escalation method of approaching and calming a spooked horse that begins with establishing physical contact with one hand and slowly increasing contact until the horse is fully calm and is once more amenable to human direction & commands. This is usually a preferable method to getting a frightened horse under control imo, but it's a "soft hand" method, and not something you always see in machismo-loaded equestrian circles. I've written about this a little in another meta post, so I won't get too deeply into it here.

Overall Horsemanship Style. You'll notice that while he does occasionally drive them hard in emergencies such as escaping the law or chasing a train, Arthur never "forces" his horses to comply with commands; in other words, he doesn't use his strength to try and bully a horse into doing something, like crossing a river, or physically punish a horse to "desensitize" it. "Forcing" horses to do things using tack designed to create discomfort or using raw bodily intimidation + fear & pain-motivated negative reinforcement is a tragically common tradition in old-school Western riding (and still advocated by some popular TV equestrians whom I think are straight-up animal abusers... if you know you know). It's dismal, but for a lot of the cowboys I know/knew, when a horse isn't obeying, you need to "show it who's boss." Arthur never approaches animals this way. By contrast, especially for the time period, he is exceedingly patient with horses and animals in general. We can even see this in his dialogue to wild horses; when they gradually calm down after the initial "breaking in" process, Arthur usually says something companionable like, "See, we're friends now."

And a sub-point on that: Horsemanship Temperament. Arthur never gets mad at or yells at his horse. Even when he gets chucked to the ground, he'll yell DAMN, THAT HURT, and then it's back to trying to calm the spooked horse. Which is exactly the right attitude to have. (Though if you've never been hurled face-first into a pile of sun-baked manure because your horse saw, idk, a twig on the road, you might not appreciate how even-tempered a character Arthur is for never succumbing to the temptation to yell, "COME ONNNN GIVE ME A BREAK IT'S A STICK YOU SILLY BITCH!")

Horse responsiveness. The horse emotional cues in this game are incredible, from their reactions to other animals and weather events to their reactions to Arthur. You can see the horse's neck muscles tense and relax when being calmed, their eyes changing in size, their head drop and raise in response to the reins, and their annoyance seeping through with stomps and pinned ears well before they start to spook. When Arthur speaks to his horses, you can even see a subtle ear flick backwards as they listen to him. When he gives certain commands (such as a mild squeeze of the knees to speed up a bit), a calm and attentive horse will often issue an affirmative snort; this is incredibly lifelike and essentially a "roger roger" between horse and rider. I was also impressed that Arthur uses his thighs and his knees to cue his horse more than his heels. Usually you just see the dramatic heel cues in in video games, but in real life, a rider gently but firmly squeezes their knees/thighs far more often than laying into their horse with boot heels, which is a fabulous way to get sent to the moon. One thing I would have liked to see is more riderless idle horse animations. Lazy or bored horses do a very classic pose where they rest their weight on one side, cock a hip out, and jauntily kick a back hoof up. It would have been right at home at the hitching posts in RDR2, and the horses are otherwise so lifelike, I find myself missing this little pose.

Historical bits. As players, we don't have much choice with this, since Rockstar matched bits to saddles rather than letting us customize them. With that disclaimer out of the way: Arthur uses a wide range of bits, some of them much harsher than others, designed to offer more control over a difficult horse's head through pressure points within the mouth. This is historically sound and far from obsolete in modern horsemanship, though I would certainly avoid using some of the harsher bits in RDR2 on my horses to avoid hurting them accidentally. That said, it's important to note that "harsh" control bits (like those wickedly straight-shanked bits you see with some of the cooler saddle styles) aren't instantly or automatically painful. While many of us modern horsegirls may frown upon the just-for-the-hell-of-it use of many styles of old-school, Wild West bit, in the hands of an experienced horseman with a good sense of appropriate rein pressure (which we can assume Arthur is), even a curb bit should not be a tool of pain. In the hands of a novice, however, some of those bits would absolutely hurt a poor horse's mouth and are typically reserved for troublesome (potentially dangerous) animals who may need to be curtailed quickly. I'm assuming Rockstar chose them for style more than characterization... but I do wince when I see those hard stops with the straight shanks, every time.

Horsetalk. We all know Arthur baby talks horses, and that his babble to his horse increases in affection with bonding level and varies a little depending on the horse's sex. But he also does something peculiar and frankly delightful with his vocal modulation on certain horse chatter lines. In those moments where he seems to go a little vibrato, warbling his voice as he talks ("waiaiaiaiaiaiaiat! come bahahahahack!" he calls after a fleeing mustang), Arthur is actually mimicking calming/positive horse sounds (usually a friendly nicker or a greeting whinny) in an attempt to communicate in horse language. While I think a TON of horsegirls have secretly nickered at our horses when no one else is around the stable, making horse noises at your horse is not a "traditional" training technique, and imo is something other gang members would definitely make fun of him for. It is also very adorable. I wanted to add that while horses are excellent at noise commands (like whistles, clucks, kisses, etc.), they usually aren't very good at identifying spoken word commands, including their own names. Therefore, the majority of the talking Arthur does to his horse is just free companionable chatter, much like we babble to our house pets. The command is in the cluck, the leg pressure, the yah, the rein slap; it's not the spoken, "Come on, girl, here we go!" That's just Arthur being a horsegirl.

Saddle checks. If you pay close attention, in cutscenes and in the map, Arthur will occasionally reach down and test various pieces of his saddle. This is particularly true with checking the cinches (those big straps that loop behind the front legs and under the belly), which good riders often do, as saddles can adjust during a ride. Straps that are too tight or too loose will cause a horse discomfort, since they change the way the saddle rests upon them and distributes the rider's weight. You can even watch the saddle shift when Arthur mounts and dismounts, reflecting the changed distribution in weight! This honestly floored me the first time I saw it. Rockstar really consulted people who know their stuff.

Bad Habits. IMO, Arthur's a little slouch-backed in the saddle. This is noticeably worse if he's hungry or sleepy, but even well-fed and rested, his shoulders drop and curve out his spine more than is ideal. This won't hurt his horse, but it will come back to bite him directly in the lower back as he ages, and I argue it's probably biting him in the ass a little now. (More on that below.) Arthur's "behind the horse" etiquette isn't particularly lifelike. In RDR2 (as in life), sometimes idling or benignly messing around behind a horse will cause them to randomly kick, and any equestrian knows not to hang out aimlessly in the kick zone. IRL, if you're about to walk close behind a horse, it's good etiquette to reach out and gently lay a hand on a horse's hip to let them know you're going to pass behind them before you step into the kick zone. I would have liked to see an animation for this, but I'd guess this would have been a real pain to animate without "locking" Arthur in place (as with the petting and brushing animations), so I can't really count this against him in good conscience. He also holds his reins in a full fist rather than between the appropriate fingers. This is a novice mistake, but I'm guessing this is an animation choice more than a characterization one, because I can't imagine getting those wobbly rein physics to rest perfectly between a model's wee little fingers. Which brings us to...

Reins. Arthur keeps a pretty tight (though not oppressive) grip on the reins when he has a horse in motion, facilitating quick communication from rider to horse and increased emotional response from the horse, and he tends to use both reins when he isn't holding something else. This increases control and often allows for clearer communication between horse and rider in comparison to the laxer "rein knot" one-handed Western style. More on that point: Arthur sometimes holds the reins in one hand. This is not lazy horsemanship, but rather a mainstay of the Western riding tradition; holding the reins in one hand allows for a rider to keep one hand free for whatever they might need... usually rope/weapons. Using two hands, one rein in each, does deliver much more refined control (especially with a nervous or inexperienced horse), which is why you often see Arthur switch between one- and two-handed riding. Rockstar also makes the clever choice to make reins “stretchy” so they move with the neck and simulate rider give and restraint, rather than having them just flop around at a static length. This makes reining feel a lot more dynamic and responsive, in my opinion.

Bareback vs. Saddle: To Rockstar's credit, riders' carriage when bareback is entirely different from the saddle carriage animations, and displays a lower center of gravity.

This note is a bummer, but it is, I feel, an important one to know. Arthur is WAY TOO BIG to ride a significant number of horses in the game. Horses are not bikes or cars. In real life, it's extremely important to consider a rider's weight and height and general carriage when matching them with a horse, especially for long-distance rides... and unfortunately, Arthur is prohibitively huge. If I saw a man Arthur's size astride that teeny little Morgan, boots tips damn near dragging, I'd give him a piece of my damn mind. That said, it's just a video game, so if you love that white Arabian or that sweet little Morgan, ride without shame; you are not hurting a pixel horse! But if you're into max realism or a horse an experienced rider like Arthur might conceivably choose for himself, go for something larger, leggier, and stronger. Though Rockstar fictionalized their breeds a little bit, I think one of their taller well-balanced styles like the Dutch warmblood, standardbred, Hungarian, Andalusian, or even one of those svelte Americanized Belgians suits Arthur much more comfortably. Online's Kladruber would also be an excellent choice for Arthur. (Ain't nobody saying SHIT to Arthur Morgan on a heavy breed like a Shire, though they aren't well suited for everyday long-distance all-terrain riding, and I feel sympathy pains about that leg spread just thinking about it. Speaking of...)

Real talk about Arthur's "swagger": Though I'm 100% sure it's a dominance thing for some crusty ol' cowboys, most equestrians don't saunter around Like That TM because they are listening to Rod Stewart croon If You Want My Body And You Think I'm Sexy at all times. That "swagger" is just... well... to be blunt, it's sort of what happens to your gait after you spend all day with your legs straddling a big animal moving on rough terrain. Hang out with some adults who have ridden horses daily since they were wee beans and they'll tell you allllll about what it can do to your posture. Contrary to cowboy jokes, it's not so much about being bowlegged (which is massively exaggerated as it pertains to horseback riding) as it is about lowering one's center of gravity to compensate for things like muscle strain, spinal compression, and lower back pain. Due to the high impact nature of riding, many career horsepeople develop chronic back problems and "swaggers," and for some it's eventually more comfortable to ride than to walk. Not saying you can't hc an Arthur who struts his stuff, of course! Just saying that, for those of you who might struggle to reconcile Arthur's blisteringly low self-esteem in his physical appearance with his "swagger," here's a horse world answer.

Knights Templar'ing it. This is another bummer for a ton of cute fanfic scenes, but riding two-to-a saddle is really not good for a horse. It's not just about raw weight, but about the distribution of that weight and where the pressure rests on a horse's back/organs. A bean like Little Jack sitting right in Arthur's lap isn't going to add too much stress to a horse big enough to carry a tanky dude like Arthur comfortably, but a whole second adult sitting behind a saddle is a very different story. Imagine the difference between carrying someone piggyback versus having someone stand on your spine! It's all about the position. Larger breeds can tolerate riding double for a while, but it should not be done for long distances, and it definitely should not be done if a rider expects to need heavy exertion from the horse. Adults riding double doesn't happen too often in RDR2 (usually just during an emergency), so this isn't a critique of Rockstar or Arthur; it's more so a helpful realism note for fanworks. An experienced horsegirl like Arthur is sure not to ride double casually. Pro-tip: If you want someone to teach your (non-bean-sized) OC how to ride a horse, consider having the teacher controlling the horse from the ground via a lead/lunge line while your OC sits in the saddle.

Oof, that smarts... When Arthur picks up hay bales with short sleeves on/bare hands, he makes a soundless "OOF OOOH EEEE OUCH" face. The first time I saw this, I absolutely lost it with glee. Anyone who has moved hay (or straw; they're different!) with bare arms knows how prickly and scratchy and itchy it is, and it's loving little touches like this that make RDR2's horses feel so darn real.

That's all I can think of for now! I hope this list was at least somewhat helpful, even if it's far from an all-encompassing resource on horsey stuff in RDR2. Happy riding, meatverse horsegirls & virtual horsegirls, and remember to always thank your horse :)

[timeoutsoup]

Dig You A Grave

Part 5

This is the next day.

___________________________________________

Klarion wakes from his well deserved sleep, to see his beloved feline resting on her cushion, next to him. Sitting up, a malicious grin spreads across his face. He is ready to plan his revenge on the Light.

Teekl stretches, then follows her witch boy as he begins to move around their dwelling.

“First things first Teekl, we plan.” A malicious grin split Klarion’s face as he got to work. Books, papers, and magical items began to fly around, summoned and judged on how useful it may be. Everything slowed to a stop as Klarion plucked a small electronic device out of the air. “oh, this will be fun.”

__________________

Back in amity Danny, Sam and Tucker were at Sam’s house finishing up their homework, when Tucker’s PDA begins to ding. Grabbing it to check the notification, he is surprised. “ Nothing!”

“What’s nothing?” Danny asks as he and Sam raise their heads, trying to figure out what their friend is going on about.

“So guys, I decided to do a background check on Danny’s new boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend, Tucker.” Danny pipes up, flustered.

“Wait, I want to hear this. What did you find?” Sam asks as she waves her hand at Danny.

“Anyway, as I was saying, I decided to run a background check when I got home yesterday, and nothing came up for him.”

“What do you mean nothing came up for him? There has to be something.” Sam states confused, tapping her pencil against her notebook.

“Or maybe Tucker’s skills aren’t as good as he says.” Danny says getting a jab in at his friend.

“Ha ha very funny, but no it’s more like he doesn’t exist or more likely someone is trying to hide him from being found.” The tech genius fires back, glaring at his best friend.

“Or maybe he just doesn’t use social media.” Sam ponders.

“Come on Sam. What teen doesn’t use social media?”

“Maybe Klarion is Amish?” Danny thinks out loud.

All three friends stop and think. What if Klarion was Amish. It would explain his lack of internet presence, his clothes and why he has never tried tamales before.

“They do send out teenagers to experience the modern world. He could be doing that.” Sam points out

“But aren’t they super religious and stuff?” Danny asks.

Sam looks at him before replying. “I mean they can be. Why?”

“Well I asked him out on a date, he has styled his hair into horns and he broke into the Fruitloop’s mansion to steal a book.And he put his contact as ‘Klarion the Witch Boy. Are there Amish Witches?”

Both of the halfa’s friends stared at him in disbelief.

“Ugh, now it makes so much more since.” Sam groaned. “If he does witchcraft and he is currently doing Rumspringa, that’s what it’s called by the way; I looked it up. Klarion is probably trying to find a way to not go back.”

“Why wouldn’t he want to go back?” Tucker inquired.

“Do you remember reading The Crucible last year?” Sam responded.

“Oh Ancients, that is as bad as me having ghost hunters for parents, maybe even worse. We need to help him.” The ghost boy says frantically jumping up.

“Well we yeah, but rushing in won’t do us any good. Now sit down.” Sam grabs Danny’s wrist, pulling him back down to the floor.

_________________

“Achoo!” Klarion sneezed in the middle of The Light Meeting, receiving glares from the other members.

“Now as I was saying, for the next phase …” Vandal Savage continues to drone on about their plans (read his plans). Klarion hates it but just a little bit longer and he would have what he needs. He had already switched out the book for an identical fake, duplicated many files, placed transportation sigils on many important pieces of equipment, and most importantly using the Young Justice comm he stole a while ago to not only record but transmit everything he was hearing. Oh his revenge will be a grand affair.

A little over an hour later, the meeting finally ended. Klarion had been assigned to kidnap metas and other beings for their new ally, the Reach. How dare The Light think, he a Lord of Chaos would willingly work for a species who just conquer and want to rule. Meaning everyone follows their laws and rules. How droll and orderly.

Klarion had other plans, and yes he might have to work with the justice losers but the chaos and calamity that will arise from it will be worth it. Now all he has to do is make his leave and watch the show.

With a snap of his fingers Klarion and Teekl disappeared from his former allies hideout, and appeared in Tim Drake’s penthouse, in dreary Gotham.

“Now Teekl, for the fun to begin.” Klarion smirks as files appear from nothing, covering the Kitchen island. He jotted down a quick note, then deliberately set off one of the bat alarms. The Witch Boy needed his friend to find these files sooner rather than later.

“Now to deal with the Reach.” And with another snap Klarion and Teekl were gone.

___________________

Sam and Tucker were able to calm down Danny before he went ghost and searched the world for Klarion. How they did it was simple. They called Jazz. With her help, they now had a plan. Make sure he is safe, then show him all of the great things the modern world has to offer.

That evening when Danny went home he texted Klarion. Seeing what he was up to and how Teekl was doing.

It took a while for a reply but he did respond. Danny’s obsession with protecting was soothed with the reply of being well and the picture of Teekl sleeping on a mound of pillows. They chatted for a while about various topics until Danny fell asleep mid text.

_________

______________

Klarion had had a great day. Destroying that blowhard Savage’s plan had made so much chaos and now he gets to relax and watch everything unfold. Now Danny was texting him, seeing how he was and asking about his amazing familiar.

Teekl had just settled onto a mound of pillows, being extra cute, practically begging for him to send Danny a picture of her. He did of course. Sharing the wonder that is Teekl, is second to spreading chaos. Their conversation carries on for a while, well into the night. By the time Danny stops replying Klarion is half asleep. Figuring Danny is also asleep he turns in for the night.

Tag List

@naluforever3 @seraphichana @starmee-lodurrson @rhode13 @fisticuffsatapplebees @kyrianclawraith @lehana37 @akikoyuii @undead-essence @crystaldrops20 @quirky-gardener @learning-to-fly-on-my-own @Kaindraws @luffyrose @beelze-the-bubkiss @aro-in-danyl @agaponislovely @enderglace @plant5318008 @jotaroslooseeyebrowhair @moonlightheart11 @dontfightmecauseillcry @asrielstars @jaytriesstuff @arend000-blog @mnemovoid @thegatorgoose @do3y @wisp-ghost @youracearocroatneighbour @akikoyuii @omgnectarina @phoenixdemonqueen @iamheretoconsumeandsharethatisit @cottomscrambles @satoshy12 @alice-hazelwood @benrey-the-late-ace @felicityroth @confusionchaos @mysticalcomputerdetective @yjfk

[fefifofoggy]

The Marauders as The Soldier, Poet, King Meta

So, I don't know if anyone's ever thought about this song with the Marauders specifically. But as a sidenote I like listening to music on my way to classes and I ran across one of those 'and you were a fairy' playlists with the first song being The Soldier, Poet, King by The Oh Hellos.

Anyways it made me think of MWPP and which lyrics would represent who.

The King

I don't think that this comes as a surprise to anyone, but I feel James has this spot claimed. The ruler is the most important, he is the king. Everything he says or does can have either a negative or positive impact on the people and his subjects. It was a positive impact for his friends. They remember him in a good light, he can essentially do no wrong and if he does then it can always be explained away for this or that reason. He was the shining sun and the warmth that all the Marauders felt cocooned in. Prongs was their King.

“No, I think you’re like James,” said Lupin, “who would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends.”

James was protective and loved deeply those that were his. He was honorable, he had a very black and white view of the world from what we know of. The king who found nothing more dishonorable than not trusting his closest friends--the ones he became illegal animagi with, the ones he created a secret map with and the same ones that he went gallivanting through the woods under a full moon with.

There will come a ruler Whose brow is laid in thorn Smeared with oil like David's boy

(Yes, this is a reference to Christianity, to Jesus and his brow laid in thorns while put on the cross to die.)

But, I also like to think of it and how this would apply to James. There will come a ruler -- he and Lily are a part of a Prophecy; those who have thrice defied Voldemort, with a summer born child. A Prophecy that they go into hiding for, a Prophecy that could kill them. Yet, it wasn't the Prophecy that killed them, but a betrayal of trust.

The Poet

Sirius Black, the poet.

I feel that this might be contested--maybe a lot of people would think this is the role that Remus would slide into, since he already fits into dark academic aesthetic and fandom portrays him as a voracious reader. (Not to mention the way he talks and how he will weaponize his words)

But I think the Poet is Sirius Black.

There will come a poet Whose weapon is His word He will slay you with His tongue

Born and raised a pureblood to the House of Black, likely slotted to become the next head of his house after his father or grandfather. We see from Walburga's portrait during OoTP that she had a virulent tongue, a trait that Sirius inherited from her. We see it in the train car during their first meeting.

“Where’re you hoping to go, seeing as you’re neither?” interjected Sirius.

Between MWPP, Sirius has always been the one to use his words to cut people the most.

“There’s enough filth on my robes without you touching them,” said Black.

Picking at people's hygiene, cleanliness, looks, abilities, or intellect--nothing is/was too far for Sirius.

“Before Wormtail wets himself from excitement.”

That's how he talks to a friend once he's gotten annoyed? What about his enemies? Or those he considers beneath him? (Which are typically those he doesn't find to be intellectually stimulating to him, as we've seen and a few other people on here have pointed out.)

More than half the time, Sirius' chosen weapon is his words. He is the type of character to point out flaws, weaknesses, things that he knows will hurt the most because he wants to make you bleed.

(And to think, these quotes aren't even some of the worst things he's said, I just couldn't find the quotes that I wanted and didn't want to leaf through my bookshelf.)

The Soldier

I know this will most definitely be an unpopular opinion, but I couldn't decide between Peter or Remus as the soldier. So, I put them both in this section, but I am more partial to Peter.

Remus as the soldier because of his status as a werewolf.

There will come a soldier Who carries a mighty sword

His lycanthropy is his sword, and he is one of Dumbledore's soldiers because of his ability to enter werewolf rings as a spy. It's a heavy burden but one that (as Lupin says) only he can bear.

But that is two of three lines, and he doesn't quite fit the soldier role to me.

Peter does, however.

Sure, he's not a brave soldier, the one that movies are made about--and he doesn't have a strong sense of wanting to fight for the little guy.

But he is still a soldier. The soldier who joined because his friends signed up for a war and he didn't want to be alone. The soldier who thought that maybe, just maybe, he could cruise on throughout the war because he's not particularly useful or strong or politically important in any way. He's just another foot soldier.

Until he is important, and he realizes that he doesn't want to die. He's fresh out of school, he followed his friends into a war because maybe they convinced him (or he convinced himself) that this would be a summer thing or a couple years at most and it'll make for a decent story for his future kids or grandkids when he can say, "Yeah, I fought in the war--on the winning side."

But then he is faced with a choice: living as a turncoat or dying.

Nobody wants to die. Certainly not Peter who is barely in his twenties at this point. He hasn't lived. Didn't have a girlfriend, wasn't married like James was. Did he even want to get married? What if he wanted to travel the world?

We don't know.

So, spying? On his friends, on his comrades, on people who look him in the eye and think they can trust him. And it turns out that Peter is kind of good at it. He's remained undetected for a while. Hell, Sirius thinks its Remus and Remus thinks its Sirius. Nobody ever suspects Peter.

After all, why would they? It's not like he's ever been anything more than a coward, right? James and Sirius' tagalong. Peter couldn't hurt a fly, not when he was the fly.

There will come a soldier Who carries a mighty sword He will tear your city down

First his sword was his secret as a spy.

Then he becomes a Secret Keeper. The Secret Keeper.

A Fidelius Charm was advanced magic. Voldemort could make out with the Potter's living room window and still not know they were on the other side, unless--

Unless someone with the key to the city let him in.

Tearing a city down had never been easier.

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

The thing that really gets me about the camping trip (on top of everything else I mentioned), is that Max was going to leave regardless.

It didn't matter what Bart did. Max had already made up his mind. He just needed an excuse.

Play through the scenario with me for a second. Imagine Bart had passed Max's tests with flying colors. What then?

Well, if Bart had passed then Max would've been thrilled! Max's job would've been done. Bart would have been done his training and Max would have left.

You have to remember that Max wasn't there to raise a child. He wasn't there to be a father and watch Bart grow up and go off to university.

Max was there to train the next Flash. That was it. The second that job was done, Max was gone.

If Bart failed Max's tests then Max would've written Bart off as untrainable and left. If Bart passed Max's tests then Max would've given him his stamp of approval and left.

Max was so frustrated because Bart was so close to passing. Max wanted it to be done then and there, he didn't want to stick around to push Bart that extra little bit. And then Max had the big realization (I explain that in the previous post) and Max left.

But there was no situation in which he would have stayed.

Max didn't want to be a mentor. He didn't train speedsters out of love or because he enjoyed teaching. Max did it out of necessity.

See, Max knew that Savitar would return one day. Max needed fully trained and capable speedsters ready for when he did. Max is very clear about that.

When Max felt Savitar gearing up to escape the speedforce the first time, he immediately went out to find the speedsters of the time. Max trained a young Johnny Quick and a young Jay Garrick so that Max would have backup.

But Johnny was too bull-headed to listen to Max, too caught up in science to believe what Max was saying about the speedforce. And Jay had the skill and the drive but he didn't have enough power to face Savitar.

There's a reason why Max was so invested in Johnny and Jay in their 20's (when Savitar was returning), and then fucked off for literal decades (when Savitar wasn't a concern), and then was suddenly all over training Wally, Jesse and Bart (when Savitar was returning again).

I'm sorry to be blunt about it because I know it really hurts to think about it but Max wasn't doing this out of the kindness of his heart. He wanted an army.

Max was training Wally and Jesse but he was running into the same problems as before. Wally 'I was raised by science loving Barry Allen and I don't believe in magic' West had the raw power but wouldn't listen to Max at all about the speedforce. Jesse was more than willing to listen but she didn't have enough power to be a contender.

So suddenly Max is in the same position as before. He has a Flash and Quick, one too stubborn and one with too weak of a connection.

He couldn't go back to Johnny and Jay because they were senior citizens, so he just had to keep at it with Wally and Jesse and hope that they'd be able to do it.

Enter Bart stage left.

Suddenly there's a speedster with enough sheer raw power to take on Savitar. One with zero preconceptions about magic (or anything, really). A speedster that Max could train and mold into the perfect warrior. A weapon of mass destruction to take down Savitar once and for all.

So Max started really focusing on Bart. Bart was his plan B for if Wally and Jesse failed.

And you know what? Savitar came back. Wally actually managed to pull his head out of his ass and he had managed to figure out some speedforce tricks. Jesse's speedforce connection was a moot point because she didn't need her speed at all, Jesse kicked ass with her other meta powers. Jay became the epitome of 'an old dog can learn new tricks' and he was able to hold his own. Johnny actually listened to Max for once in his life and ran without his formula, relying on the speedforce instead. Also, Jenni showed up and was their surprise wild card.

And Bart? Bart wasn't plan B. Bart was center stage. Bart was there, Bart was capable and Bart was ready.

Max had been categorically wrong about everything. People could change with love and support, people could grow and learn and thrive. This was a family of people who cared about each other. They would move heaven and earth for each other. They made the impossible possible. And Max just wasn't used to that. He was used to holding people at a distance and not getting attached.

It should be noted that the camping trip happened after the fight with Savitar.

Max was really only there for his daughter. And once Helen wasn't interested? Max was gone.

He didn't really need to train Bart anymore. He certainly wasn't his father. In Max's mind Bart was better off with someone else entirely.

I really do think that Max had to leave though. Narratively speaking. Because when he came back? He came back for Bart. He came back to parent Bart.

From then on Bart's wellbeing always came first. Bart wanted to quit being a hero? If that made him happy then Max supported him. Dogs were good for children's development? Max got Bart a dog.

Max made the decision to stay for Bart. Max kept making the decision to stay for Bart. His desire to run didn't just disappear after that, but he stayed. Because from that point on Bart came first. From that point on Max was a dad.

[ametrictonofaudacity]

Hey! I love your writing, you have quickly become one of my favorite blogs on this site! I was wondering if you could do more yandere Superman stuff. There isn't alot of it on tumblr and your other ones have been awesome! As for ideas maybe one about the reader having powers or a mental illness similar to gaps? No matter what you decide to write I look forward to it reading it though! 🤗

Thank you so much 💕💕💕! You have no idea how flattered I am, agshshd.

Since you didn’t specify, I’ll do a platonic yandere, since I am much better at writing those 😅. Enjoy!

The standard warnings in all my works (really only implications of stalking in this case) apply here! Reader is a meta, with a teleporting ability!

One would think that being able to teleport at a moments notice made life easier. You would be able to go to work, go to school, save money on gas money, all at the drop of a hat whenever you decided to use your ability.

It did not. In fact, it made your life actively harder with all the criminals that routinely tried to extort, blackmail, or manipulate you into using their powers for them.

“Listen, if we’re going to do the whole song and dance of you threatening me, can you at least be creative about it?” You drawl, absolutely exhausted. The man in front of you is dangerous, sure, but no more dangerous than a common criminal and you were already late for work. “I have dealt with this more times than I can count, can you maybe just like, not?”

“Listen, I don’t know what kind of death wish you have to be talking to me like that, but I’d keep my mouth shut if I were you.” He threatens, brandishing the gun in your direction. You huff. He was hardly as threatening as he liked to think he was.

“You’re holding the gun wrong.” You point out, and he blinks, adjusting his flimsy grip on the gun. He was still holding it wrong.

“Shut up! Listen, just come with me, and no one gets hurt.”

“That’s not going to happen.” A strong voice echoes from the alley way, and you tilt your head, recognizing it. Your attacker does to, and he pales, turning his gun toward the speaker frantically before dropping it. You hiss out a curse. He was lucky the thing didn’t cook off when he dropped it.

“Superman! I was just- we were just-!”

“You were just going down to the police station to turn yourself in. Unless of course you’d like me to help you get there?” A raised brow, challenging the man, who shakes his head frantically. Given that the police station wasn’t very far, you were curious as to which option Superman would go with.

“I’m not sure I believe you.” There’s not even a blur, and he is behind the man, lifting him up by the back of his jacket.

He turns to you, and his eyes soften.

“Why don’t you head on to work? And stay out of any dark alleys, yeah?” He jokes gently, and you snort, nodding. “Once I have this guy sorted out, I’ll join you.”

He’s gone. You leave the alley, leaving the gun on the dirty floor. He would come back to collect it, you knew, and you had no desire to touch a firearm that had been pointed at your face.

It takes him less than five minutes to catch up to you. You know by then he had already gotten the gun to the police, talked to the officers, and dropped off your would be kidnapper.

“That’s the second time this week you showed up, you know.” You comment. He flies alongside you, the cape rustling with the wind. “You’re starting to make a habit of it.”

“This is also the second time this week you’ve been held at gun point, and it’s not even Friday.” He points out, and there’s a concerned frown on his face. “Why didn’t you teleport away?”

“He would have gone to my house instead. Better to keep him occupied until I could come up with a plan.” You shrug, and he only frowns more, eyebrows furrowing. You sigh, pushing your hair back from your forehead. Your hands were shaking, now, from the excess adrenaline.

“I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have to deal with criminals constantly hunting you for your ability.” A warm hand on your shoulder, and you smile, a little bitter, a little sad.

“Not much that can be done about it. People see a power, and they want it, and a lot of the times they don’t care about whether that power is attached to a person or not. It’s how the world works.”

You had been dealing with this since you were a child, when your powers first manifested, and sure it didn’t exactly make for a stable childhood or a well-adjusted adult, but you knew how to handle it. You knew what to do.

“It doesn’t have to be. You know that, right?” He looks… so hopeful. Earnest. You wonder how he can keep that up when he sees and fights the worst things humanity has to offer. When humanity doesn’t even like him because he was strange and other, even though he had saved the world so many times you had lost count.

Maybe it was different for you. You had been young when the Justice League formed, had been even younger when Superman became a known hero, maybe you just grew up with it.

“I do.” The relieved smile he sends you lights up his entire face, and your stomach swoops low with a strange sort of anxiety. You weren’t used to this level of… transparency. Everything he did seemed written on his face like a book, and it was new and strange.

“I’m glad. I, uh, wanted to give you something. Here.” He holds up a small item, and you take it, curiously.

It was a watch. Silver, and blue, your favorite colors although he couldn’t have known that. A strap made of some undetermined fabric, the wrong texture to be leather but to thick to be anything else.

“It’s basically a panic button.” He explains, rubbing at the back of his neck with a sheepish smile. “Press the dial used to adjust the time and it will emit a frequency only I can hear, so I can come and help.”

He takes it gently, affixing the strap to your wrist with gentle hands. It was strange to think those same hands could bend steel, that you had seen them bend steel.

“I… thank you. I really appreciate it.”

It was a strange level of care, your new watch, but it makes your chest warm. You had never had anyone show this much concern over you before.

“Well, with everything that’s happened, I figured you could use a direct line just in case, you know? I don’t want you to get hurt. And since I tend to only give them to civilians who are my friend..”

You laugh, grinning.

“Is this you asking to be my friend? I would think we were a bit past that after the fourth rescue.”

“I didn’t want to assume.” He defends, hands up in mock surrender, laughing. You both stop. You’re at the door to your work, and he smiles.

By now, it’s almost routine to wish him goodbye, and while the warm and quick hug surprises you just a bit, it’s pleasant enough that you don’t simply teleport out of his grasp in surprise.

There’s a faint smile on your face the whole day as you work. It was nice to have a friend after having been alone for so long.

[findmeinthefallair]

Retraumatization vs. Self-Soothing (Part 2)

Part 1 is here.

As is expected when I talk in depth about this skrunkly, the usual warnings apply i.e. heavy discussion surrounding how trauma works, mentions of self-harm, suicidal ideation, death, effects of abuse and discussions about therapy from my perspective as a practicing therapist.

The lengthy meta I have pinned on my blog (link) is the general overview of Hunter's pre-epilogue recovery, whereas this meta will have more observations I hadn't yet made when writing any previous metas, and importantly, using other characters - especially King - as a comparison: because King has been raised by Eda with secure attachment - to better handle traumatic incidents, at only half of Hunter's (supposed) age. Lilith was in the Emperor's Coven for a long time, and while I'm in no way discounting her own deep wounds, her proximity to Belos was not the same as that of Hunter's.

Thanks to the Youtube channel Cinema Therapy, there will be one brief reference of other media: a scene from the movie Big Hero 6, to better highlight a couple of points in this meta. So, spoiler warning for that movie too~

Here we go with Part 2, the second and final piece of this particular series!

Retraumatization:

Belos was such an abusive control freak that he would've wanted to leave a mark on every area in Hunter's life. And he would have left many marks.

Before Hunter would've been able to learn how to carve palismen under Dell's mentorship, it's highly likely that it was problematic for him to even think about or interact with palismen. We already see signs of that in this short scene:

For all you know, after everyone leaves The Collector's Palace, Stringbean (or the other palismen) being their silly playful selves and flying in front of his face or jumping on his shoulder or lap...would be enough to jolt him into a flashback. Not unlike this:

or he might accidentally step on Ghost's tail while carrying heavy loads helping the CaTTs move into new makeshift offices, and Ghost would hiss at him, and he might have a short fuse like in FtF. With this kind of physical risk, it'd be too early for him to begin the carving lessons.

So I think quite a few little bouts of being retraumatized - like aftershocks of an earthquake - await the poor kiddo.

During the course of the show, we have seen him in a state of what's called "hyperarousal" multiple times: e.g. flinching, panic attacks, sweating, shaking, even widening his eyes in rage. This involves the body's sympathetic nervous system to fire up, preparing him to either flee or attack. But in the offscreen pre-timeskip period, he would have swung to the other end - "hypoarousal" - which involved shutting down, numbing out, being lethargic and bored, dissociating from being present, and slowing down to sleep more. It involves the parasympathetic nervous system which prepares a person to shut down: if physically fleeing or attacking is only going to be futile. There would be a new enemies for him to face such as survivor's guilt, moral injury, and loss of meaning and identity at a more serious level than what he faced in Hollow Mind or King's Tide.

It's heartbreaking that by killing Flapjack, Belos inflicted enough pain upon Hunter to sort of send him back to square one. To explain, Belos prevented Hunter from connecting with the outside world and trusting in it: doing this in order to keep Hunter as compliant as possible. The themes of connection vs. isolation seem to be visually represented by 1. palismen and 2. the Golden Guard uniform, especially the helmet covering the face and gloves covering the hands. On a wider scale in the show's lore, you could say that there's a clash between the themes of freedom and captivity, represented by wild magic, and the coven system with the Emperor's Coven at its helm.

Once Belos knew that Hunter was willing to rebel against him by leaving the Emperor's Coven, snatching the boy's palisman as well as his bodily autonomy away, made Hunter believe that he himself could only do harm. It's the same damage that he inflicted upon Luz, and by removing Flapjack from Hunter's life, arguably that would impact Hunter in a way that he had gloves on all over again. Invisible gloves this time, preventing the sense of connection with the world, that would eventually come off once again - like the visual symbolism of him removing his signature gloves when he arrives in the human realm. I go off on this specific tangent (the motif of hands in his arc) in this post: (x)

Evading capture and fighting off a physical threat? Hunter has had much preparation for that, via military training. But that is still more familiar territory compared to the battleground he would've faced pre-epilogue, which involved having to utilize new skills such as emotional regulation, distress tolerance, radical acceptance, and reframing in the context of trauma: to combat the pervading state of hypoarousal. He hasn't been equipped with these in the years of his upbringing.

With his needs and desires being discarded by Belos and the castle's residents for most of his life, he has been primed to believe that any of his true feelings deserve no space. Even in the finale, this old habit dies hard.

He was a parentified kid, conditioned to make sure that he was not inconveniencing his family (and god...his family, only consisted of one cruel deceptive person, before he fled the coven). Yet, he pushed and compartmentalized to survive.

But he would've had to pick those new skills up while navigating a whole new world that had no more Belos and Flapjack in it. In the right environment, he could be himself.

Comparing the three different smiles he has above is just, arghhh. C-PTSD is a roller coaster ride which makes one's world topsy turvy. Healing from that is grueling work, after you realize that what you thought was safe/normal is in fact insidious and dangerous,

while the actually good and actually healthy stuff will initially be scary and painful: before you trust that it will do the opposite of killing you.

In Labyrinth Runners, we saw more of a flight response from him, while in For the Future it was largely a fight response. Both of which were comfort zones at those times, compared to the much scarier act of quietly and mindfully sitting with the pain of bereavement, holding it front and center in his mind, trusting that it wouldn't destroy him to sit with such pain.

What then, after Belos's death?

His physicality would be affected. The gravitational centre of his body would have changed,

since he is without any staff and magical bond now. This vital piece of info comes from reading two metas about his fight scenes in Eclipse Lake, which feature some shared firsthand experience in martial arts and in using a staff to fight: - Meta by @ashanimus (x) - Meta by @polyhexian (x)

In Flapjack's absence,

he will not get back to regularly using a staff until Waffles comes to life...my guess is he takes around 2 years till he completes her carving process. And this is after years of using the artificial staff, even before Flapjack came along.

After being manipulated like putty in Belos's hands through intimidation for years, leading up to being directly and physically controlled via possession...his relationship with his body, not just his emotions, would be altered. And we can't ignore the mind-body link either; there is an overlap here.

He has deep abandonment wounds from Hollow Mind, compounded by being on the receiving end of active harm in Thanks to Them.

When it comes to his treatment plan as a client in therapy, there are frameworks to consider. Risk factors (whatever can aggravate his condition) vs. protective factors (whatever can help to improve his condition), the values that he as a unique person would like to believe in, taking note of his unique strengths, and assessing the rules he grew up with that were extreme, inflexible, and no longer serving him now that he is free from the Emperor's Coven.

There will be the overarching conflict of his temptation towards isolation vs. needing to connect with emotion to carve palismen. I suppose this is the clearest theme because the proof is in Belos isolating him to remove his personhood vs. the Bat Queen's explanation that palismen bond through emotion, and bonding therefore requires connection: not isolation.

In the throes of depression after Belos's death, the danger is that Hunter would want to give up, and he'd find it easier to fall into the antitheses of what he stood up for in his Thanks to Them speech.

Feeling like he can never truly be free of the Emperor's Coven's hold on him.

Feeling like he'd never (emotionally) leave that throne room.

Being tempted towards the belief that...in his pursuits of studying wild magic, learning to carve palismen, learning at Hexside, spending time with his friends, and in erasing Belos's harmful influence on the world.....that all his efforts would be futile, and that he can only bring harm and not good. Just like how during Luz's own depression, she told Stringbean, while the palisman was still unhatched, "Maybe you'll never hatch, and I messed up your life too."

This belief that he can only bring harm and that he didn't deserve the gift of being brought back to life, would be fused with what is obviously his worst darkest memory:

and for a very long time, he'll feel that he could've changed something to prevent this. If only he had been smarter, more vigilant...if only he were not having so much fun being engrossed in creating things in the human realm. This is Belos's hold on him, as he relives that night many times over the years. Even after Belos dies.

The foundation and main driving force of Hunter's therapy sessions will be the rapport built up between him and the therapist. This is a parallel to the trust he has already built up in his non-therapy relationships, and having both of those together would have a wonderful effectiveness.

And the therapy sessions would gently help him to defuse and untangle himself from that very unhelpful belief.

It's also about him thawing out from a childhood of very repressed emotional expression. As his arc progresses, he grows more into expressing his feelings, needs and desires. We start to see him express what feels like such a natural excitement for his personality, once he's in the human realm. And it's crucial for him to believe that he can voice out his needs without the worry of negative repercussions...Repercussions that he's been conditioned to believe are 'healthy'/'normal', and that it's him who is the issue (ewww...). As he has been unlearning that in the course of his arc, he is discovering that it is a basic right for him to have ownership over whatever he thinks and feels.

A major obstacle would be the guilt about leaving Flapjack behind: the worry that the more new things he tries out, the more morally wrong it would feel...because he is not commemorating Flapjack. There would be that fear that Flapjack is taking up less and less space in his thoughts. This is very common when it comes to bereavement. Luz's own version of this, playing out effectively onscreen, was the wave of fear and sadness she felt as she let go of the glyph sheet in the finale and let the wind carry it away. In the moments right after that, as Stringbean gave her the Azura hat to put back on, I'm sure she still had the fear of the unknown ahead. But she could also trust in herself to be able to brave that unchartered territory: together with her sweet palisman and her found family.

We don't know whether Hunter used the same method as Luz and carved an egg that would hatch on its own, or whether he really did make Waffles from scratch. Either way, he could still have Flapjack in his life in a new way: the Hexsquad's new tattoos, the palisman shop sign, Flapjack's gravestone.

But before he could enter that place in his heart and soul, he would first have to agree in both mind and heart that he wouldn't hear the happy chirps of his best friend ever again.

We see him still talking to Flap here:

whereby in his logical mind he can definitely see that Flapjack is gone...but emotionally (subconsciously) he is frozen, not yet able to feel in his heart that his best friend is gone.

And something to note is how quickly he interjected here:

when Gus was about to spell it outright that "Flapjack is gone"/similar sentence.

And Hunter himself couldn't directly name it. He has to skirt around it with "I already know", because it would hurt too much and be too frightening to directly describe what just happened.

I suspect this would sort of repeat over time: he may come across reminders in the human realm, as he tries to attend school, etc. For some time, he wouldn't want to hear it directly said that his best friend faded away. Because Flapjack was after all...slain by Hunter's own right hand. Hearing it would mean being retraumatized, potentially feeling as though the incident were repeating vividly, all over again.

Sometimes in grief, especially sudden loss via bereavement, it will be a long time before the grieving person can fully state, let alone see, that the one they lost isn't coming back.

The movie Big Hero 6 shows what it's like for its protagonist, a bereaved character, to hear himself verbally expressing the words that he can't avoid anymore: "[Name of the person I lost] is gone."

Plus sitting with the effects of doing so, without avoidance. Choosing to sit with the pain that has come to the surface, since it has been heard, since he has acknowledged that it's time to try something new instead of avoiding it or pushing it away.

Hiro hears himself telling Baymax (and also himself) that "Tadashi is gone", months after he has felt a deep sense of unrest from the loss of his brother. It's a beautiful scene because just a moment later, by accident, Baymax then plays a video log of Tadashi being himself and leading a meaningful life by working hard to help others. And Hiro is able to reach this new emotional place, seeing that beauty of the life his brother lived:

and Hunter will need time to reach this new mental space.

For some months, he'll have frustration, irritability and numbness - i.e. both hyperarousal and hypoarousal - shielding him. That is, until his heart is ready to allow whatever Hiro felt above, to enter and transform him. His own grief walk would have a different rhythm, since every loss in this world has the uniqueness of a fingerprint. But he would be hitting very similar story beats as Hiro's example above, in his recovery process.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Self-soothing:

Becoming familiar with this is going to help him ride the waves of emotions in a smoother way, as he alternates between hyperarousal and hypoarousal.

And when he feels loved or connects with his own personhood, he has visible nervous tendencies. You can see it when he twiddles his fingers while Luz gives him her attention in Hunting Palismen, and he touches his opposite shoulder and grins shyly in Any Sport in A Storm after Willow snaps the team photo, and you see him rub the left side of his face in Hollow Mind when he fondly looks back on inheriting his staff.

But the later example I wanted to show is him gripping at his left sleeve with his right hand here:

which happens just after Luz affirms him with "Can't blame you for being paranoid after everything we've been through".

C-PTSD flips your world upside down, as I mentioned earlier. The stuff that is good for him - in this case, having his emotions being affirmed - feels awkward and not natural yet. Feeling loved feels uncomfortable, instead of being naturally expected. So in fact, he tugs at his sleeve like this to self-soothe: because being listened to like this (Titan bless you, Luz!) is just that foreign to him. Over time, he'll discover more ways of self-soothing and can have a sort of toolkit ready to pull out whenever self-care is needed. And being actually loved won't be such a foreign experience for him anymore T___T

Below is an outline of C-PTSD from Medical News Today shows possible options for his treatment plan. The first is therapy itself, which I have touched on in quite a few of my metas:

Next, EMDR which is a focused and specific intervention technique: If he had his own version of Eda's scenes where she accepts the Owl Beast in Knock Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door, that would be a great way of having this particular intervention playing out in an animated show with fantasy elements. The difference would be that a therapist would be present to guide him towards that powerful breakthrough.

And exposure therapy: This is a gradual exposure to any sensations that are similar to the horrible feeling of injuring his own palismen - so that Hunter can form new positive associations with those physical feelings in his hands.

He could help Camila in her vet as a good start, since many of those animals seem larger than palismen:

He can then try interacting with smaller-sized creatures. He could eventually play more often with his friends' palismen, and that would be a cute positive way to associate touching them and connecting with them with new memories beyond his one worst memory. After all, it's canon that they have tried reaching out to him i.e. Clover and Emmi following him around outside Eda's house.

Him borrowing Stringbean for flyer derby would be fantastic. When he starts carving lessons, Dell and Eda could be there as company to supervise him and give small demonstrations bit by bit. Even better, he could start out by just holding the wood with one hand while the other person performs the carving strokes with their hand. If Hunter is comfortable, his friends/family could sometimes hang out, watch with interest, and provide small but vital encouragements. He shouldn't be carving all alone, if there is the chance that he'd be retraumatized by spooky phantom feelings that feel like being possessed all over again.

He shouldn't be in the workshop alone until he has built up some new associations and is getting familiar with the strokes. But once he can, it's beautiful to imagine him making that space truly his own. By then, his self-soothing skills would be more polished.

In Part 1 of this little series, I talked about skills like containment and distress tolerance. He needs an environment where he is offered a balance of having his own autonomy and also a sense of safety. Sometimes, the line between those two things may become blurry e.g. me mentioning in this meta related to the grimwalker graveyard (link) that Camila and Darius may have to allow some room for him to "fall", and they'd fall together with him so he doesn't feel alone.

And as he forms closer bonds with new parental figures, his attachment style can change from disorganized attachment (which results from having a very unpredictable caregiver growing up...god, the stress in being a young kid in that environment) to secure attachment. This in turn will give his self-soothing skills a further boost.

This is where King comes in as a comparison:

He is a kid who is securely attached to their caregiver, and he has natural emotional responses to things that upset him or cross the boundaries he has put up. Instead of what Hunter has done for a long time i.e. repressing feelings to minimize harm done to him and to literally survive, along with the tendency to rationalize and intellectualize whatever upsets him, to create so much distance from the hurt that he can keep going.

King also has a good sense of personal autonomy and safety, thanks to the environment Eda raised him in. Eda's parenting style involves offering him choices, laying out the consequences for whatever choices he makes, yet unconditionally being there to protect and support him no matter how bad any past conflicts have been.

This screenshot above, showing him hugging her leg, is a foundational building block of good parenting and a healthy home. I hope Hunter gets to experience this at some level with Camila and Darius. Let him be a kid in his last few years prior to turning 18 T___T

And well...we have seen the impact that physical and emotional neglect has had on the Bad But Sad Boy: to the point that he has to reframe it as either a fun experience, or blame himself, in order to keep going. Because he wouldn't have been able to carry on if he was aware that his 'parent' had 100% bad intentions.

Perhaps the most jarring comparison between King and Hunter would be the non-verbal signs here:

King can be assertive, having his non-verbal body language be congruent with his choice of words: that he's firmly asserting himself and voicing his opinions, and I doubt he worries that Eda will cause him physical harm. His posture is tall and leaning forward. While Hunter...has to gather up immense courage to just say the words (the verbal element) while his non-verbal body language is telling us so much about the effort he's putting in to be assertive. He is shrinking into himself even as he utters those words.

King could flare up in anger and fight back, asserting himself, upon being traumatized in his Collector nightmare:

but it's not going to be this way when Hunter learns about the grimwalker graveyard...

The good news is: Hunter can still build up secure attachments with the adults in his found family whom he'll be spending the most time with. He needs it more than ever.

If Lilith - a kid who was emotionally neglected - began to feel worse after she left the Emperor's Coven:

with her long repressed painful emotions resurfacing and leaving her frightened, Hunter will go through similar as the memories of his past actions come flooding in.

The meadow where we saw Hunter carving a palisman in the finale...and any location which Dell works at, seem like they would be pleasant quiet places where anyone would feel soothed. In addition to getting more comfortable with the peaceful hopeful atmosphere of Dell's workshop, Hunter could bring his works in progress or any non-palismen creations to therapy, if he is willing to entrust the therapist with updates on how he's doing. That would be good because he'd have an additional safe space like that to share and bounce off his thoughts and ideas. Not just the space of friends/family, to do the same thing. All this is needed after years of Belos denying and dismissing any open sharing.

Last but not least, in the real world: grief and bereavement is being viewed less and less as a problematic condition to be gotten rid of, the more time passes. Which is a good sign! Because we shouldn't be expected to view mourning and remembering as a form of pathology.

Here is a tool that grief therapist and expert Dr. Joanne Cacciatore (author of a book called Bearing the Unbearable) came up with, for her clients:

It is a grief number line that doesn't pressure a client to even reduce how much they are grieving, and she lets any client have as many sessions as they want with her, to honour lost loved ones. Even if they keep coming to see her for many years. She focuses on honouring losses instead of viewing them as inconveniences or hurdles, and she doesn't even rely on the normal kind of healthcare model of setting up treatment plans. By doing this, no expectations are set for any sort of linear recovery from the pain of loss. Ultimately, she is trying to show that grief is natural, however painful it is.

The Owl House is a show with a central theme of remembering those whom we have lost, and the variety of ways in which the characters process those experiences. One of the last few scenes were 1) Luz's grief changing into a different form - I wouldn't say her grief was "reduced" - as she bid the Titan farewell and lost her use of the glyphs, and 2) around four years later, finding a new glyph from a whole new system, as King's own magical glyph system has recently awoken.

After Belos was gone for good, Hunter's life was no longer a big test in which he had his worth and survival determined by someone who had power over him. He has inherent worth, has always been good enough, and he can rest easy. Like what Luz experienced with her dad and Papa Titan, his relationship with Flapjack is changed and not lost. While remembering and honouring someone we lost can hurt, in and of itself those actions aren't "wrong".

[fiddlefordisms]

Canon Details and Analysis of Fiddleford McGucket Part 1

I'm writing a series of meta posts centering around everything we know about Fiddleford McGucket as well as what can be gleaned from those details and some theories of mine. At the very end of this series, I will also do a detailed look, analysis, and theorizing about Fiddauthor (a ship which I love) - however, this series of posts will be focusing mainly on what's actual canon (and thus written in terms of Fiddleford's friendship with Ford) and will be mainly focused on Fiddleford's character even as it stands outside of his relationship with Ford. Because he deserves to be his own character outside the context of a romantic relationship, and he deserves it in general.

Fiddleford was raised on his father's hog farm in Tennessee. We've received very few details about his family life other than that the hog farm belongs to his father, Fiddleford has a cousin named Thistlebert who believes in aliens, and Fiddleford's grandmother who does not approve of "coffee" (whatever that is). What we can glean from this is that Fiddleford is pretty familiar with his extended family. We also know he grew up "dirt-poor."

In Journal 3, Ford mentions that Fiddleford crosses himself while stepping over graves and chastises him for saying "what the devil." Tennessee is also located deep in the Bible Belt. This tells me Fiddleford was likely raised Christian and because of the "crosses himself" thing - likely Catholic. He's the first McGucket to ever go to college.

Fiddleford has anxiety issues, possibly an untreated disorder - a fact commented on by Ford in Journal 3 (knee-bouncing, a tendency towards pulling at his hair, his superstitious nature might lend to this as well, and the "SORRY" photograph mentions that he's "mighty nervous" about his first day, he also mentions having the hiccups that day - probably due to how nervous he is). Given how these things go, it's probably been with him since childhood, and he was probably belittled for it. Especially given the stigma around mental health issues, it would not surprise me if Fiddleford has been told multiple times "to get over his anxiety."

Before meeting Ford, Fiddleford had a low sense of self-confidence (and even after meeting Ford, it might still not have been the greatest). His very first day of college, after being laughed out of class, he's already arranging for a tractor (the joke is he's Southern and from a farm) to pick him up. He was going to drop out of college on his first day had it not been for Ford. This tells us that he was led to believe that he was "not right" or "not smart enough" for college. Because it's only his first day at college, he probably didn't get these ideas ingrained in him from the campus itself. Theories? A few. One: His father probably wanted him to stay and help out on the farm - maybe even take over the hog farm one day. Two: Fiddleford easily leaps to the idea that he "got his math wrong" and that his theory must be incorrect because everyone else thinks so. This tells us he does not consider himself "brilliant" despite the fact that he is HIGHLY intelligent. He's also at Backupsmore instead of a first-rate school. Because Fiddleford has a lot of anxiety, I think it's highly possible something that could have led him to believe this is test anxiety. Schools put so much importance on testing, and because of his anxiety, Fiddleford might not have been able to perform very well on tests. He probably really excelled at doing his homework, though, and probably already had a bit of an inventing streak. He might have been persuaded by a teacher to give college a try and probably had an interest in it due to his affinity for machines and likely a love of mathematics and physics (and possibly chemistry given that Old Man McGucket mixes up a voice-changing serum at one point). Fiddleford mentions in the "SORRY" photograph that he thought making a friend was more impossible than solving relativity. This is extremely sad and points to Fiddleford having been lonely through his childhood and school years up until college. It's not hard to imagine that he might have been bullied for being a "nerd" as well. People tend to look down on those who display Southern mannerisms and interests (Fiddleford plays the banjo, has a strong Southern accent, and was probably raised to take pride in his Southern upbringing) as "dumb hicks" - and this might be a cause for even more bullying while he's in Backupsmore and continued confidence difficulties.

[darling-wendy]

episode 10 had to happen

(i.e. Kazuki and Rei had to lose Miri so they could properly choose her)

In my last meta post I said this: [I could write a whole screed about how ep 10 was a necessary--at least a highly valuable--story beat, but this post is already very long. Some other time, perhaps. ]

It's time!

Misaki coming back for Miri in episode 10 is a plot point that I've seen get a lot of dislike—and even hate—from fans of the series. Emotionally, I get it. The sweet, chaotic order of the family we'd come to know and love ends up abruptly upended and all for a character that was already disliked. But I've always maintained that it was necessary, for multiple reasons. The obvious one is the in-universe rationale: the organisation—Suwa Shigeki specifically—has taken note of Miri and the fact that she's apparently been adopted by Rei.

(One thing that took me a couple watches to realise was that Shigeki had to have pre-arranged for someone to go tail Kazuki and Miri at the supermarket before he messaged for Rei to return. After Ogino splits off from Rei near the end of episode 8, we see him go to Yadogiri and give Kyu the above photo. That was from earlier in the episode.)

This is an active, looming threat to her life. In order to get ahead of it, Kyu contacts Misaki so she can take Miri away. The fact that Shigeki was already interested enough to have a dossier created is precisely why it doesn't work—it's too paltry an offering for such a ruthless and single-minded individual. We already saw him have the romantic partner of one of his men, Kaji Satoru, be brutally killed as collateral damage. But something had to be attempted and it wasn't a terrible idea.

The other reason is displayed at the very end of episode 11. Narratively, for the Kurusuwa family to be real, they have to choose each other and fight to keep each other.

In episode 1, the three of them cross paths of the first time in the form of Miri running into the special lift and getting herself right in the middle of their hit, making it chaotic and messy and nearly getting killed in the process. Kazuki uses her as an excuse to get out of the building before the police arrive, and he takes her back tot heir place because there's no other choice for them in the moment. At home, they find out that their mark was her bio dad.

In episode 2, they find out that Miri's mother sent her away because she doesn't want to raise her anymore. They try to get info out of Miri about her mother so they can send her back, but she's too little to be of help. They then resort to "slyly" asking Kyu (drawing his suspicions in the process lol). While they're there, they end up accepting a job that they ultimately end up taking Miri along with. It's a terrible decision and a whole shit show. The job implodes, Miri and Kazuki are almost killed, Kyu is pissed at them. But they get the info they need about Misaki's whereabouts.

In episode 3, they set out to send Miri back to her mother they way they have been scheming to do since she stumbled into their path. Despite their previous stance on Miri, Rei surprisingly (?) shows reluctance to send her back and Kazuki clearly isn't ecstatic to be doing it either. But it's the "right" thing to do, so off they go. While Rei is embracing the idea of being a parental figure to Miri for the first time, Misaki is— quite predictably—rejecting Miri when Kazuki shows up. So, Miri is effectively abandoned and orphaned by her two legal parents, leaving her in the care of the two guys who killed her father. And, like a lot of things, Rei and Kazuki don't really talk about it.

"For three?" Rei asks.

"For three," Kazuki confirms.

"Got it."

And that's it. This child falls into their laps, they make a single failed attempt to give her to a relative, and then for the next six episodes, we watch them try to shape themselves into becoming her parents. It's easy to get sucked into the story and forget (or at least not actively think about) the fact that they didn't deliberately adopt this child (or birth her, the way Kazuki's mind has gone the extra mile to implant lol) and that they ostensibly didn't want her at the start. Then episode 10 happens and the reality check comes.

By this point, they want to keep Miri and they initially argue with Misaki about her motives and her timing. But there really is nothing else to be done except capitulate and give Miri up. They have to let her go. It hurts, but it also gives weight and meaning to when they ultimately resolve to be a family for good. The second time around, it involves actually getting out of hitman work, which was something they hadn't felt moved to do when Miri simply ended up with them the first time.

I know another part of the reason some people don't like this plot point is the pacing, that they get her back one episode after giving her up, but that's never bothered me 🤷🏽‍♀️ Shigeki was always going to escalate the situation into triple homicide and I personally think that a whole episode of 'Miri hangs out with Misaki, oblivious to her change in living arrangements, while Rei and Kazuki sulk and pine' would be dragging the separation out for the sake of it. Their depression and misery and regression, down to Rei finally giving up and deciding to head back to Shigeki, is more than enough for me.

I'm aware that some people also don't like it because it bring Misaki back just to kill her off in the next episode and, controversially (??) I'm fine with that too. Not in a vindictive 'I hate Misaki' kind of way, just purely in a 'it raises the stakes and also permanently ties up a loose end' kind of way.

[le-trash-prince]

(I'm just want to make it clear that I'm not pressuring you to write anything I just want to share my thoughts) I don't know how to put it on words but I really need to see a meta(?) or a fanfic about how differently Kenta was treated and raised in comparison to other Tony's kids. Like, I need to deepen in it. Maybe a fic about young!Pete realizing that Kenta had too many restrictions and had to actually work despite being a teenager... like, I don't know how explain it

Oh I NEED THIS TOO!! This weighs on my mind SO MUCH ACTUALLY!! I’m grateful that we got even a little bit of baby Kenta, but I’m SO curious about how he was raised. I would watch a 20 hour flashback scene 😭

Like we know the other kids grew up in relative isolation and had limited contact with each other, to the point that they didn’t know everyone who grew up in the house. It feels like Kenta is the only one who knows all of them. I do think he was acting as a bodyguard for Tony even as a minor—given his behavior in the flashback with Babe. So he likely would have interacted with everyone as a teenager, under the guise of that role.

But I also think the isolation was a way for Tony to control the powered children and prevent them from working together against him. And in that aspect, I wonder if Kenta, who he never viewed as a threat (fatal mistake), could have been used as a playmate for more than just Pete—Pete was just the one he connected to the most. So while Kenta had less rights overall, that was one restriction he didn’t have.

Have I also thought about Kenta sleeping in a storage closet or other such space as a kid and only receiving a bedroom as a reward for “good behavior” yes I have and it makes me unwell.

I am also curious about the switch from child Kenta in blue to teenage Kenta in black. Beyond working as a guard—had he already made his first kill by the time Pete left? And did Pete know he’d done it? Did they fight about it? Did Pete hold Kenta when he’d come home shaking and nauseous after the job was done? Their last conversation, before Pete left, spoke to me of the end of an argument that they’d been having for a long time, and I think there’s so much to explore there.

Anyways yes I need all the young Kenta backstory too, thank you for your message anon

[weepylucifer]

Hmmm okay. I think we can theorize why, on a characterization level, Kid Kevin wants to kill Adult Kevin until the cows come home, but as someone who has witnessed these things, I reckon we should also maybe consider what's going on at the meta level

I'll explain through a little retrospective, for those who haven't invested any thought in Kevinology. From Triptych onward (at the latest) Kevin has been a widely beloved character, subject of many fanfics. When the Mudstone Abyss dropped, it was highly controversial to the crowd who had become very attached to various fanons: A) one where Kevin already had an OC boyfriend (Diego, or similar) and B) one where Cecil and Carlos take pity on Kevin, take him into Night Vale, unbrainwash and "adopt" him. A) is not important right now. It is to B) that we shall turn our attention.

I think Finknor noticed, since obviously they're on social media, that the Mudstone Abyss was unpopular at the time for not giving Kevin an unbrainwashing arc where he becomes nice, soft, sad, adorable and childlike and/or turns back into Pre-Strex Kevin. Instead, they portrayed Kevin as a complex adult man who is trying to reckon with a traumatic past but frequently does so in unhealthy and harmful (to himself and others, especially others) ways, and who is struggling to consolidate said harmful coping mechanisms with new adult responsibilities (a partner and step-son). People did not know what to do with this. They had existed in a fanon where trauma survivors are expected to turn back into their Before Selves at the snap of a finger, where trauma makes you sad, and soft, and uwu, and unambiguously better, for years at that point. I think that's why we didn't get any new Kevin episodes for a long, very long time. (Charles and Donnie have gained a handful of fans since. But I cannot overstate how hated they were initially.) I think now, with The Boy, the writers have decided it is time to address the issue.

Things can go several ways now:

Kid Kevin kills Adult Kevin and "make[s] a fresh start". The people finally get what they wanted: Kevin as a cute little kiddo who gets raised in Night Vale and gets doted on by Cecil and Carlos (and bonus Tamika!). The unpopular adult version from Mudstone Abyss onward is erased. Charles and Donovan, idk, are never heard from again. We have set right what once went wrong.

Kid Kevin and Adult Kevin reach some sort of agreement and part ways without a fight. The outcome can be the same: Kid Kevin returns to Night Vale, Adult Kevin is just never really relevant again. The fandom can forget all about him. We have set right what once went wrong.

Adult Kevin kills Kid Kevin. Unlikely, also a bit anticlimactic.

They manage to resolve the conflict in a poignant way that doesn't pander to thee most annoying subsection of the Desert Bluffs fans, showing that they stick to how they chose to develop Kevin in Mudstone Abyss and that he has a right to exist even though Cecil and parts of the fandom do not really like him. Holding out hope for that one personally, but who knows 😬

[azzie-tangerine]

📚

OKAY I was really looking forward to doing something with this prompt.

I have a lot, and I mean, A LOT of fic ideas that I just don't ever write. Same applies to drawing. I have a very short attention span and my motivation is like a balance scale. One tip and an idea is likely to be gone for good.

However, I don't wanna pick one that I may end up writing in the future. It's happened before. So I'm gonna talk about a Kirby fic idea I've had since 2020. An idea I really wanted to write at the time, and even hinted towards it in my old One More Week fic. And a fic idea I know I will never NEVER end up writing in the state this idea was in at the time (I will explain why later!)

So, let's talk about my fantasy, Super Kirby Clash-inspired kirfluff au.

It started out as a just insert Prince Fluff into the story au. I did this a lot in 2020. I had a Smash brothers ultimate au with it, a Star Allies one. You get the point. And with Kirby Clash, there's a blue puffball right there. Very easy to just pretend that's Prince Fluff! But slowly I developed it to just be mildly inspired by Clash.

It stars Prince Fluff, who runs away from his kingdom after receiving a prophecy he just can't make out. It's vague, all he knows is that he sees four figures in it. But he can never make out what they look like.

He uses a disguise as a mage to stay on the low, and travels endlessly to figure out what exactly the message means. He hears the Dream Kingdom is well familiar with magic, so he heads there. And runs into Kirby.

Kirby had been raised in the Dream Kingdom all his life, and has been, quite literally, dreaming for an adventure he can experience. So when he hears of Fluff's predicament, he decides to help him! They're later joined by two other characters to fill in the Hammer Lord and Doctor Healmore roles, who I was thinking should be Ribbon and Marx respectively. I love Ribbon as a character and I thought Marx being forced into a healer role when he is very violence driven would be funne.

Bandana Dee and Meta Knight were also big characters! Bandana Dee was actually searching for Fluff, while Meta Knight is the titular mentor character for Kirby and Fluff.

I kinda stopped developing it from there, so I imagine the story just kinda falls back into the clash story. I did imagine a lot of scenarios with Fluff vs King D Mind so it makes sense.

And like I said, I later lost my motivation to continue the story further than the ideas I came up with. I had concepts (that I can't find right now hh), had a whole animatic idea, but I moved on. It happens a lot. I later stopped thinking about a majority of my aus from that time, mostly cause I wanted to be more creative I guess?

But here's where I pull the rug from your guys' feat. Because this story wasn't completely, COMPLETELY forgotten. It was changed heavily, it barley looks like the same idea by now, but I did later use the grounds of this story idea that i was most attached to, and threw it at a different story.

If you know my characters enough, you may have put it together already.

Because I ended up using some bits of this idea to change into my Mirror Prince Fluff character! The mage aesthetic, the runaway plot. A couple of other things. I won't go into complete detail here, mostly because the story I have with Mirror Fluff and Skirby in my head is still very much in the works. I'm hoping to share bits of it some day, if enough people are interested in it.

So uhhh. Moral of the story? Some old ideas can later be used to make something a lot better! I'm a lot more happy with this Mirror Fluff idea than I ever was with the original. While some things had to be dropped (like Ribbon with the massive hammer sadly. And chaotic doctor Marx), I have had a lot more fun developing this one. Story ideas can always be forgotten, but it's okay to look back at those older ideas for inspiration sometimes.

Sorry for the long post anon, I was just really excited to talk about some older fic ideas I've had. Maybe I'll talk about some other ones in the future.

[ariapmdeol]

do seodore coe :3

How I feel about this character:

🫶 I like that guy!!! I like seodore!! I get so excited when characters have plans and by god does seodore have plans. I love the different ways that characters think about Gods Love and the different plans revolving around it, and I really really like that Seodore has his own feelings about it. I’m a big fan of metafiction and the dynamics surrounding different levels of meta-awareness! I really like his message to YoUser at the end of DLC and I love his purple text guiding us towards the Empyrean point!! The character is aware of the narrative and that’s so much fun!!!

A lot of seodore stuff is so fun because he implies so much shit. So much of my theory brainrot is because he just Says So Much and Implies Lore Things and it’s so fun!!

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Theodore Riddle (pre-shipwreck) vs Seodore Riddle (post-shipwreck)… we know nothing abt Theodore but I have thoughts either way.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Woah hey guys I wonder what ships I’ll li—

Sanemitsu!!! This is peak yaoi to me. I’ve spoken on them extensively before but there’s something so compelling about those two!!! Their different POVs on how to handle the narrative, on what to do with Gods Love… it makes me so crazy because they understand each other, and understand why the other makes the decisions that they do. It’s about all the things left unspoken but they both know already. Killing Seodore for the chance to try to save Reiji. Dying together and killing those versions of themselves for the chance at a better ending. The way Seodore opens his eyes for one frame when Snmt kills him. The Holding hands. I like those guys a lot. I already wrote an essay on this but they live in my head rent free. They should hold hands again.

Rumeld! Ok this is also an obvious one but they’re cute!!! I like how comfortable they are with each other. Their chapter in Interlude is SO adorable and I think it’s sweet that Seo is still so in love with Rumeld, after all this time. Date day is soon, too… I’ll need to draw something for them.

This isn’t quite a ship but I think Dreyseo is neat in a “just sex” way. It implies that Seo has A Type which is REALLY funny.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

I’m not picking just one so we get a whole bunch of groups here

Ok this is more of a grouping but I really like the group dynamics at play between System.NH + Seodore + Mutei! They all have different ideas on what to do with Gods Love and the world that they live in, and it’s really compelling to me!

LDL as a group is also really good!!! Really really good!!! I just really like that they all know that the others have their own goals in all of this, and choose to work together. I like the coordination. I also really like Seo and Reiji’s dynamic.. everyone working together to raise Reiji and through the power of teamwork, they manage to be good parents LAHDDKHJF. I love how Seodore is great with anyone not related to him (you see this with Reiji and Noa) but then with Hatsutori, he’s not great KAGEKRHRJRH

Connected to this: FRAGMENTS! I think httr+seo are so good! Bird parent and child! Fucked up!!!! Seo was not the parental figure that httr needed and their complicated feelings for each other makes me crazy. The animosity is so so good!!!

My unpopular opinion about this character:

im gonna be honest. i think a lot of people dont understand him. i disagree with the idea that he's aggressive? we see him bicker with httr, yeah, but httr is fighting just as hard. the only time we see him actually lose his temper is in record 5, and hajime had already been pushing deiberately to antagonize him. i dont think we can use "had his emotional weak spots targeted until he snapped" as "typical seodore reactions". those are special circumstances all around.

i think there are have been many times where I've read takes on seodore and i've disagreed... I think because he’s not really there until late DLC, people get really confused about him. I don’t know if this is a popular or unpopular opinion, though.

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon:

PLEASE ryu-seo conversation… i want ryu to meet his mom… it would be funny…

i also would love a seo-izu-snmt conversation.. izu is technically the seosane lovechild if you think about i—- *i am removed from tumblr dot com*

[violivs]

NMTDaily: Introducing Leo AND Rebuttal AND tiny bonus video

These episodes are so intrinsically linked that I’m covering them together in one post. Starting with…

Introducing Leo

- Aww, Leo’s so uncomfy on camera. And Bea and Hero are so cute with Bea making the Nothing Much to Do joke and Hero pushing her over. I love these three.

- The sunshine framing them makes this video so pretty, too!

- I love the line “I’m not related to these two.” It’s meta, because in-world it’s a tongue-in-cheek ‘you’re embarrassing’, but out-of-world, it’s the truth. These are three actors who are not related to each other. I don’t know why that tickles me, but it does.

- “You know what I can’t stand about guys?” “Uh, everything?” Perfect.

- Interesting that this is Bea’s chosen topic for a random chatty video that’s supposed to be about introducing Leo to the viewers. For being so anti-boys, she sure has them on the brain.

- This is an incredible modernization of the beard/no beard line from the play, I love it. It does also handily rule out all boys across the board from dating Bea, which is a useful rhetorical strategy when you don’t actually want a boyfriend!

- “I understand me.” “You’re the only one.” This moment is gonna be paralleled later, and I’m already screaming about it. I think people are avoiding spoilers in their liveblogs, so I’ll just omit the context, but I cannot wait for “I’m glad that you understand me.”

- Ben is walking alone, a safe distance behind the group of other kids walking by. Socially anxious behavior. Just saying.

- “See you in Hell, Beatrice.” I adore that they already have inside jokes, that they already gravitate towards each other in class enough for that to happen.

- Leo wanting to defend Bea when nothing is actually wrong: foreshadowing for failing to defend someone else when something IS wrong?

- How is it a pop quiz if the kids know about it in advance? I thought a pop quiz always referred to a surprise quiz?

- I love that Ben is meddling in Claudio’s love life at the same time as Bea is offering to meddle in Hero’s love life. Parallels!

- Beatrice the awesome old cat lady! I love all the cat doodles onscreen.

- Leo is struggling here. What is he, 23? He didn’t sign up to raise teens and it shows, lol. Trying and failing to give Hero the be careful about boys talk.

- Eternally obsessed with Beatrice going on the internet and telling everyone her type is lanky dark-haired British guys, and then STILL spending months in denial about liking Ben after this. I love her.

- I did not know who JJ Field was when I first saw this episode. I still don’t think I’ve ever seen a single thing he’s been in.

- Hero calling Bea the heck out! “A thing for British guys? Hmm, who do we know who’s British?”

- “No one, we don’t know anyone!” *all fall over adorably*

- It’s been pointed out by Donalduke shippers before that these girls know two lanky dark-haired British guys: Ben Hobbes and John Donaldson. I still think that’s an interesting pickup. Some of the things that on Ben make him Beatrice’s ideal guy, become things that are different and weird about John.

- “please don’t call me Crotchety Old Emu” another all-timer when it comes to NMTD lines.

- It honestly feels like the whole Emu Time bit could have been completely improvised. They feel like real siblings/cousins making fun of each other, I love it.

- We also know from later context clues exactly how serious a threat “I’ll call my mum” is coming from Bea. You don’t mess with Hermione Duke!

REBUTTAL

- It’s a line from the trailer! “Beatrice is a stupid little so-and-so who doesn’t know anything about anything!” Classic.

- I love how he actually could have been way harsher but said “so-and-so” instead of a swear word. Because he already doesn’t hate her as much as he wants to?

- “There’s no one on Earth who’s ever gonna fill her grand criteria, no one!” And then her actual boyfriend criteria list is one item long: ‘must be Benedick Hobbes’.

- And of course, he’s only upset because he thinks he doesn’t fit her criteria, even though he doesn’t fully realize that yet.

- He’s relieved that he can talk about her without her watching the videos AND annoyed that she stopped watching at the same time. He’s obsessed with her, I’m sorry.

- Not to mention that he watches all HER videos the second they drop and frequently makes video responses to them. Babydoll, honestly. I am zero percent fooled. You love her.

- He also links to her Tweet about her latest video in the video description, so he probably follows her on Twitter (even though he didn’t have a transmedia twitter account shhh)

- PARRADAWKS, a classic moment (we love you Jake, we call out this little Scottish slip in only good fun!)

- Honestly I’m just obsessed that he was deadass like “did you just say I’m exactly your type but because I don’t have a beard I’m too young for you?! I am deeply offended and here’s a bulleted list as to why you’re wrong. Also I definitely don’t want to date you. Promise. No really. I don’t!”

- “I make jokes, I crack wise!” Don’t make me go off about Ben’s court jester complex where he thinks he’s only worth being around as long as he’s entertaining and no one actually likes him as a person beyond the performance. I’ll do it. I will!

- I love this bit so much. “You’re a mean-spirited old dragon!” *flaps hands like dragon wings*

- “I’ve seen deep into your heart and you feel nothing!” WHOA, big-time dip into the tragic backstory of how she stopped being his friend and broke his heart on this line!

- Oh good, his eyes look dark blue in this video. I’ve worried before that I described them as blue in fanfic but I’ve seen other people describe them as brown in fanfic so I might’ve been wrong. Pretty certain they’re blue though. Nothing wrong with any eye color, I just like to get my details right.

- BONUS secret lost video of Ben asking for Q&A questions! I forgot all about this, but it was definitely still on the channel when I first started watching the series.

- I would have kept this on the story playlist solely because every one of the limited moments I have of Benedick Hobbes on my screen is a treasure and I want them all thank you. Even if they are bad quality.

- Ben stole the idea of doing a Q&A from Bea and Hero.

- And the keysmash of letters that is this video’s title includes the letters GF, which is definitely a coincidence but also Ben is very soon to have a realization about the concept of GFs, so it makes me laugh.

- He mentions being on the way home from Claudio’s house. I am very sad that Ben is in a good place in his friendship with Claudio, goes over to his house and has him to his own house all the time, STILL feels constantly afraid of losing him as a friend to the point of being overbearing, and then… The Eventuality will happen. :(

- Ends it with every single NewWho catchphrase up to 12. I love him. What a nerd.

💖🦩🥭

[quirkwizard]

So why exactly is edgeshot saving bakugo at the cost of his life? I get out of universe that it’s better to save a main character/ fan favorite than a background character but in universe I feel as if it’s a tactical error given that foldebody is a more useful quirk to take down tomura. If Hori wanted to take both out of the fight, he could have made it to where edgeshot manages to push bakugo in time to avoid the lethal blow but both get knocked unconscious since it would still serve the purpose of getting deku enraged

While I do have many problems with this entire set up, I'm going to be focusing more what Hori may have been thinking with all this. It's going to be more about the why this all happens rather then the what.

Let me start by saying I disagree with a lot of this. I don't think that Edgeshot was contributing that much, at least not more so than anyone else, and wasn't a particularly major force in the fight. And I can't really see how his Quirk would be any more useful either. We also have confirmation by Tomura that Bakugou actually managed to hurt him with his Cluster bombs. Sure, Edgeshot doesn't know when he is saving Bakugou, but I still think it's worth mentioning given the points you put forward. Most importantly, I think all this means more than simply getting these two characters out of the fight. Because you are right in that regard. If that's all Hori wanted, he could have easily done this many other ways, but he didn't. There must have been a reason he decided to write things the way he did.

Now I could look at this from a meta perspective and what Hori may have planned with all of this. Maybe Hori wanted to put Bakugou in this position to up the ante, both for Izuku and the audience, after his near-death experience during the PLF War. Losing your heart tends to raise the stakes more than simply getting knocked out and would clearly have a much greater emotional response in Izuku and the audience. It's why Tomura decided to kill Bakugou specifically, and why Izuku's moment of self-control is all the more meaningful. This could be a set-up for something else, it could result in some power-up for Bakugou or some fundamental change in character after coming back from the dead. But since that remains to be seen, I will try to talk about how this affects the story as we know it.

First and foremost, Bakugou's death and Edgeshot's attempt to save him have an effect on Tomura. Before this, Tomura completely demolished Bakugou, talking about how he was totally worthless outside of his connection to Izuku and how perfect it would be for him to antagonize Deku with Bakugou's corpse. In spite of all of that, Edgeshot still tried to save him, even though the chances were slim that it would work and it could very well kill him. It's this event that really brings Tenko out of Tomura and opens all those old wounds. If someone is so willing to give up their life for another, especially someone as "worthless" as Bakugou, why wasn't there someone like that for him? Of course, this sets up a lot more of what is going forward and leads to Tomura eventually breaking free of All For One's control. So in terms of the plot so far, it has a pretty big effect.

Then there is all of the setup up to this point. Within the context of the chapter, this moment is supposed to punctuate the idea of what heroes are supposed to mean to children. Ultimately, Edgeshot trying to save Bakugou wasn't a tactical choice, it was a moral one. To let Bakugou die, knowing it is potentially within your power to save them, would go against everything it means to be a hero. Especially if that person is a young kid forced into an awful situation like this. And if Edgeshot is already one foot in the grave, since he seems pretty exhausted and heavily injured given the wounds we see around him, he might as well give what little is left of his life trying to save another person. It's why everything in the chapter leading up to this, namely Chapter 364, spent so much of its time talking about the role adults had in helping and protecting the next generation to make sure they can grow.

[gofancyninjaworld]

OPM Manga Update 217: New Home

Summary

So yup, Saitama’s back to his new home with a talking weird monkey and a six eyed dog in tow. He’s blissfully oblivious to the fact that these are dangerous monsters that have just fallen on hard times and he causes a lot of damage to Metal Knight’s prized robot defences, just as they were being talked up as superior to heroes. He gets in a spot of bother but is bailed out by King claiming to have seen the robots randomly blow up.

As Forte and co goggle at Saitama talking to King, we get Saitama’s new position.

This is probably the last tame chapter we’ll get for a while, heh heh.

Meta: Man vs. Machine... Or Pride Goes Before A Fall

Metal Knight isn’t as clever as he thinks he is.

Cast your mind way back to Metal Knight reconstructing the Hero Association. From beginning to end, he had it entirely designed, material procured by, and built by robots.

He did it in seven days, three days ahead of his own deadline.

Now, we’re beginning to see the results of the excess speed. The road Saitama is on is just a poured-on strip of asphalt. Not only poured on, but the surface was barely graded so you can see the texture of the substrate. The craters he left unfilled and unsecured might serve as a chilling warning to the HA executives but they’re also serious focal points for erosion and subsidence in the near future.

More seriously, his anti-monster defences really suck. Drive Knight might have imputed malice to Metal Knight when he tried to persuade Sekingar to view Bofoi as an enemy but all malice aside, there are some serious problems. Such as the doors: so overconfident is Bofoi in his robots’ ability to stop anything that he’s only designed one set of doors... and they fail *open* rather than *closed*.  People have been building castles and fortifications for millenia -- the idea of a portcullis, i.e. a door that falls shut by default and needs effort to raise is standard. As is having more than one door so that if something happens to the guards, the place isn’t left open. No, no, no, Bofoi’s far too smart for any of that.

Apparently too, there isn’t a second line of monster defences, if the monster that smuggled itself into HQ in the body of a worker is anything to judge by.  Now that Black Sperm and Overgrown Rover have been let in, there doesn’t seem to be a way to find them. Pure hubris -- and Metal Knight can’t say that he wasn’t warned.

Why am I going on about this when there’s cute, shrunken-down monsters, outraged heroes, and the ever-otherworldly Saitama to talk about? Two reasons. The less important reason is that others have covered it elsewhere. I’ve already talked about the way the support heroes appear to have been screwed over here and the differences between the manga and webcomic despite the superficial similarity here.

The more important one is that with monster attacks becoming both more common and more serious, something IS going to have to give. In all seriousness, hoping that a small group of well-meaning, terminally-brave people is going to be able to guarantee the safety of the civilized world is beginning to look somewhere between naive and delusional. So far we haven’t seen public criticism of the Hero Association but that’s sure to come soon.  Something is going to have to be done to supplement and complement the pro-heroes’ efforts if it isn’t all to be for naught: no matter how strong, no one can be everywhere at once.

Metal Knight’s idea of mechanising the problem away is not the best one at present -- were a person at the gates in control of the robots, this debacle would never have happened as they’d have been able to use their judgement to sort out the issue with the monsters there and then -- but it’s going to become an increasingly compelling one.

Now I know what this all has been reminding me of: a house of cards. Complete with the requisite chaotic element that’ll send it all crashing down.

Been feeling gentle disquiet? Don’t worry, things will be on fire soon enough!