#but it should be all in good fun and not because of an underlying problem left untreated

[gossippool]

so i do think it's very interesting how, at least from what i've observed, people see/depict worst logan as kind of different from the x men logan in terms of their propensity for violence, or rather how this violence is released. i think it has to do with a couple of things:

as many have pointed out, wade is the only one who has ever been able to match him in a fight. so it makes sense that people would headcanon their relationship as involving fights on the regular. but also;

most of what we see from him in the movie is him fighting, and so we assume that he has a tendency towards it, especially since the past he's trying to escape from is exactly that: him being violent towards others, including those who don't deserve it. i think this has definitely subconsciously shaped some people's perception of him in some way.

but i think it's good to remember that what we are shown isn't proportionate to who he is, because the movie necessarily can't develop his character much outside of the plot. i don't think worst logan and x-men logan are different at all in the sense of x-men logan being "gentler", because not only have we just not had the chance to see worst logan act otherwise, but x-men logan also has this same animalistic violence in him. we can see how quickly he unleashes himself in the movies when the situation calls for it, and even when he's doing it to protect, there's still that rage underneath it all.

worst logan is violent towards wade because 1. he's projecting, and 2. wade can take it. but also it's a symptom of something else that he hasn't worked through, possibly decades of trauma he hasn't worked through. i'm working on a fic that explores this rn, but my headcanon is that his post-x-men rampage was a sort of addiction for him because of the release it gave him, which he then replaced with getting shitfaced, and finding someone who could take him in a fight (wade) could be a reversion to the former addiction if he doesn't work on it. (i think that especially with superhero movies, it's so easy to brush off violence as just another normal thing, but realistically, a failure to unpack all that baggage could escalate his problems into something way worse.)

so imo i think worst logan is practically the same, if not very similar, to x-men logan, just that he's a variant that was dealt the worst card, but we interpret his character differently because all we're shown is what he became because of it. we all know logan is gentle with his lovers, and i think that unless wade shows that he enjoys it, logan would not be violent towards him just because wade can take it. just because you can doesn't mean you should, and i think he of all people would understand that

[dearlenore]

POPULAR • S.REID

SUMMARY: when college students begin to go missing at a near by campus, the Bau are immediately called to investigate, finding you at the center of it all. The problem? You were incredibly popular and insisted you were on good terms with everyone….

PAIRING: fem!bimbo!reader x spencer

tags: reader is hyper feminine, season10!spencer, reader wears makeup, reader is a little dumb but smart academically, reader is Glinda inspired

a/n: editor is busy for the foreseeable future, can you tell I’m obsessed with season 10 Spencer…not all bimbos are dumb they’re just ditzy please 😔

w/c: 1.2k

part 2. vote for bimbo reader here

THE INTERROGATION ROOM was sterile, the air heavy with the unspoken tension between you and the agents watching from behind the two-way mirror. The Bureau had questions, and you—apparently the most beloved person on campus—had answers. Or so they hoped.

“So, can you think of any reason someone might… not like you, ma’am?”

Agent Hotchner’s voice was even, professional, but you could hear the underlying exhaustion. You’d seen that look before—men in suits who thought they had you all figured out. You almost scoffed at the absurdity of the question, placing a delicate hand over your chest as if offended by the mere suggestion.

“Oh, goodness, no! Everyone likes me.”

The confidence in your voice was unwavering, your smile effortlessly charming as you tossed your hair over your shoulder without even touching it. Years of perfect posture, social graces, and careful presentation had trained you well.

Hotch barely suppressed a sigh. He had profiled people like you before—charismatic, effortlessly likable, the kind of person who floated through life with adoring fans but very few true friends. You weren’t withholding information out of malice; you simply couldn’t fathom the idea of being disliked.

“I’m sure that’s true, ma’am, but try to think.” He flipped through the case file, scanning notes on your social life, your connections to the missing students.

You pursed your lips, brow scrunching in genuine thought. Seconds passed. Then a full minute.

“Nope. Nothing comes to mind.” You shook your head with finality, hands resting neatly in your lap.

Hotch inhaled sharply through his nose before rising from his chair. “Thanks for the help, ma’am.” He exited the room without another word.

You sat there, slightly bewildered. Was that it? We’re you free to go?

The door swung open again before you could ponder further, revealing a much taller man with brown hair, sharp features, and a sweater vest that screamed I read for fun. He moved with a nervous sort of confidence, setting a folder on the table before settling across from you.

“Hello, ma’am. I’m Doctor Spencer Reid.”

Your head tilted slightly, considering him.

“Oh, I feel just fine, thank you.” You beamed, waving off his title dismissively.

He chuckled, the sound soft but genuine. “Not that kind of doctor���I have multiple doctorate degrees.”

“Ohhh, that makes sense.” You nodded as if you absolutely should have known that. “Gosh, forgive me, Doctor.”

“It’s just Spencer, actually.”

You smiled, something about him disarming you just enough to relax—only slightly, of course.

“Alright, Just Spencer. What can I do for you?”

“I think you’re looking at this all wrong,” he started, fingers absentmindedly tapping against the file. “You’re assuming that if someone doesn’t like you, it must be personal. But what if it’s not? What if someone resents what you represent rather than who you are?”

You blinked, caught off guard. “I… I don’t follow.”

He leaned forward slightly, keen eyes studying your microexpressions. “You’re popular. You’re well-liked, effortlessly charismatic. Maybe you’ve never had to worry about how people perceive you because it’s always been positive. But popularity breeds resentment. Even the nicest person in the world has enemies.”

Something in your stomach twisted, and you didn’t like it.

“That’s ridiculous,” you laughed, but it lacked the earlier ease.

Spencer tilted his head, a small smile forming. “Is it?”

Spencer sat across from you, fingers threading together in contemplation. The sterile glow of the interrogation room made everything feel much more serious than you liked, but he was different from the others. He wasn’t pressuring you. He wasn’t pushing. He was simply… waiting.

“Do you mean like people that are jealous of me?” you questioned, thinking harder now.

Spencer paused for a moment, considering his response before nodding. “Something like that, yeah.” He let out a quiet chuckle, something so natural and effortless that you almost forgot where you were.

That was his trick, wasn’t it? He made you feel comfortable. Like you weren’t being interrogated but rather having a friendly conversation.

You giggled, tapping a perfectly manicured nail against your chin. “Oh, then you’d have an easier time if I just listed the people who aren’t lime-green jello of me.”

A small, amused smile tugged at the corner of Spencer’s lips. “I assume that list is rather short?”

“Oh, tragically short. Practically microscopic.” You sighed dramatically, tossing your hair over your shoulder. “But can you blame them? Some people just have… it. And others don’t.”

Spencer let out another soft laugh, shaking his head as if he found you entirely fascinating. “That’s an interesting perspective. But don’t you think jealousy can lead to resentment? Maybe even aggression?”

You frowned slightly, mulling that over. “I suppose so… but no one’s ever really acted on it. I mean, sure, I’ve had some rumors spread about me, but that’s just part of the charm, isn’t it? A little scandal keeps things interesting.”

Spencer nodded, studying you intently. “And what about the missing students? Did any of them ever have issues with you? Even small ones?”

You sighed, finally showing a flicker of exasperation. “No, Spencer. I told you, I was on good terms with everyone. I make it my business to know people, to get along with them. It’s part of why I’m so well-liked.”

The way you said his name caught him off guard. He blinked, adjusting his seating slightly.

“You’re very confident in that,” he mused.

You smirked. “Confidence is key, darling. If you act like everyone loves you, they have no choice but to play along.”

Spencer tilted his head, considering your words. He had met people like you before—magnetic, effortlessly charming, floating through life in a bubble of admiration. But there was something deeper here, something underneath the carefully curated confidence.

You were almost convincing yourself.

He decided to change tactics.

“You know, I read a study once about social perception,” he started, leaning back slightly in his chair. “People who are widely adored often assume that admiration equates to genuine affection. But popularity and true friendship aren’t always the same thing.”

Your brows furrowed slightly. “Oh? And what’s the difference?”

Spencer smiled, slow and knowing. “Well, popularity is when people want to be around you. True friendship is when people care what happens when you’re not there.”

For the first time since sitting down, your smile faltered—just for a fraction of a second. And Spencer caught it.

You recovered quickly, rolling your eyes with a light laugh. “You really are a doctor, aren’t you? That sounded suspiciously like therapy.”

Spencer grinned. “Just an observation.”

You tapped your fingers against the table, sighing. “Fine, fine. There’s this one girl, Claire. She was always a little… bitter. But it was nothing serious.”

Spencer’s eyes lit up slightly. “Claire? Can you tell me more about her?”

“Oh, if you insist.” You smirked, feeling oddly at ease as Spencer coaxed more information from you. He made it feel natural, like it wasn’t an interrogation but rather a conversation you wanted to have.

Behind the glass, the rest of the team watched, impressed. You were laughing, joking, gossiping, talking about books.

“I gotta hand it to him,” Emily murmured. “I don’t think she’s even realized she’s being interviewed anymore.”

“That’s Reid for you,” Morgan added. “Guy could probably charm the truth out of a con artist if he wanted to.”

As the questioning wrapped up, Spencer closed the file in front of him and looked at you with a warm, genuine expression.

“Thank you for your help. You’ve been… surprisingly insightful.”

You grinned. “Well, I do love a good chat. Especially with charming company.”

Spencer hesitated for just a second before clearing his throat. “Speaking of company… would you want to get dinner sometime?”

Your eyes widened in amusement. “Doctor Reid… are you asking me out?”

He adjusted his sweater vest, suddenly looking a bit shy. “I—uh—well, I just thought, you know, since we had such an engaging conversation…”

You leaned forward, resting your chin in your hand with a slow smile. “How could I possibly say no?”

[tealvenetianmask]

Moxxie and His Weapons Grade Daddy Issues (Part 1)

I keep saying it, and now I'm going to explain what I mean. It's worse than it seems. Really. Blitz and Stolas get most of the attention for being our favorite disaster men™, but Moxxie's underlying issues are just as bad. And eventually shit is going to hit the fan.

Disclaimer: I love Moxxie and M&M, and Moxxie and Blitz as friends. I'm about to shit on how Moxxie is overly dependent on these relationships. And this is not a "they should ditch him" situation. It's more- the guy needs to understand his own worth and do some serious growing.

Prologue: Crimson is the worst, obviously.

He taught Moxxie two main lessons.

You have to be stereotypically masculine. Everything it entails. Tough, good at violence, straight. That's the only way to have value. Oh, and the reason this all doesn't come naturally to you is because you're a weakling.

2. Be loyal or be killed. Fucking literally.

Moxxie found a new life, but the lessons from his dad stuck with him.

He didn't internalize EVERYTHING his dad taught him about masculinity. He's open about being bi, and about liking musicals and baking and generally being a sweet guy. I think it's been really helpful for Millie to show time and time again that she loves him this way.

BUT I think his self-acceptance has a side that masks his serious lack of confidence. Is it great that Millie can be "the strong one" in the relationship and they can defy gender stereotypes? Yes. It's ALSO really worrying that he doesn't believe he's strong himself- he deserves to feel strong too, and not as a "tough guy-" as himself.

We see Millie and Blitz save Moxxie a bunch, and the times when he's given a chance to prove himself (see Murder Family, The Harvest Moon Festival, and Unhappy Campers), the guy completely freaks out. I'm not using a screenshot from the fucking penguin short (because I'm still salty) but there's even a moment in there where Moxxie has the chance to take the kill shot on the seal, and even though he DOES pull it off, he looks really scared beforehand . . .

Moxxie WANTS to prove that he's strong and competent, but the issue is so weighty for him that the moment he tries, his brain goes haywire. Over and over again.

2. He got himself out from under Crimson's thumb, and even learned to stand up the guy a bit. I think it's really telling that the moment he first trusted Blitz to lead him was when Blitz told him he had to get out of jail for his daughter.

Moxxie has learned that he wants something different from what he grew up with. It's also worth noting that Moxxie feels comfortable arguing with Blitz, criticizing him, and talking back, in a way couldn't have gotten away with when following Crimson.

And the "strong" woman he married, who protects him? She's a total sweetheart, and they have fun together all the time. She doesn't tell him what to do. She supports him pretty much unconditionally, as we see in Unhappy Campers.

BUT here's the problem. Moxxie's thinking is still kind of authoritarian, in that he seems most comfortable when someone else is in charge.

He calls Blitz "Sir." And yeah, it's sort of iconic at this point. It was pretty much the only thing he called Blitz, until--

I think that Moxxie really liked the idea of Blitz asking him to use his name. He wants to be on even ground and have a real friendship. But he DOES keep saying "Sir." Not exclusively anymore (people make a big deal of him saying "Blitz" in the van in Mastermind), and this isn't a full tally, but...

It's pretty obvious who else was Sir . . .

Moxxie was raised to follow, under threat of death. I think it makes sense that someone with that experience would have kind of contradictory feelings toward their boss...

Moxxie WANTS to challenge authority. He WANTS to offer input on missions. He WANTS Blitz to see him as a friend and an equal, but at the same time, whenever Blitz is unable to lead. Well.

A shallow reading of any Moxxie-centric episode has Moxxie fixing his problems. I've seen multiple reaction youtubers getting confused when he still struggles in subsequent episodes- didn't he just get over that? But the realizations he comes to really are baby steps. He practices his skills for building independence and confidence but doesn't quite get there . . . he's saved either physically or emotionally by Millie or Blitz (even Loona in Ghostfuckers, though that's more of a joke). And then the underlying problems remain.

I want to get deeper into the M&M dynamic and what this all might mean for the pregnancy plotline and their relationship going forward in another post. But for now, I guess I'll conclude by saying that there's some problem avoidance happening, which gives fans a false sense of security, and Moxxie's mental health situation might get worse before it can truly get better.

Update: Part 2 is here.

[olderthannetfic]

I'm so glad that nobody in my native language pulls the "write for yourself! don't want comments, feedback, hits, bookmarks, or interaction!" thing. In English language fandoms it's apparently a big character flaw or a sign of immaturity to want someone to read what you wrote. Meanwhile in my fandoms we're all completely honest about the fact that... yeah. If you post it, you would like someone to read it. Otherwise, you wouldn't post it in the first place. And there's never this competition to be the least interested in what other people think that USAmericans feel the need to do. Irony poisoning isn't much of a problem in our country so you can outright say, "It makes me happy when someone comments." You're allowed to be proud of your work and think it's worthy of being looked at.

Idk, I'm sure it's cultural. Pride is a sin in Christianity and the US is very Christian. But it sounds rough. I don't think I'd enjoy having to constantly tell people how much I don't care what others think and how I don't care if anyone reads my work. It sounds so insincere to me. I doubt it's much fun to constantly have to act unenthused in order to seem cool. And it's definitely an act. People who actually believe something don't have to chant it like a mantra at every opportunity.

A part of me is honestly really sad for people who get this angry backlash whenever they want interaction with their works. Fandom may not be a social hobby in the US. It's more mainstream, so it's not the same as it is here. But I love gushing about comments. I love replying to comments. I smile when I see something of mine that I worked hard on has been thoroughly bookmarked and loved. My friends feel the same. We gush at each other about comments and responses. We don't have to act indifferent and uninterested and go, "I don't care if I get comments, I write for myself" at others so they know we're indifferent and uninterested and write for the 'right' reason. I feel sorry for writers in the US. Imagine being sad no one likes what you've made and the response is that not only are your feelings wrong, your very intentions as the writer must secretly have been to seek validation and praise and fame, otherwise you wouldn't admit to liking comments.

Whenever I see a post going "I write for myself but I wish people commented" it kind of reminds me of US cosplayers. They slather their pictures over every social media platform on Earth. They clearly would like recognition for their work. But they have to start any complaints with the disclaimer, "I cosplay because I love the character, but-" so everyone knows their intentions are pure and so are their actions. There's a level of nervousness, of 'what will people think that I think if I don't use a disclaimer?' that looks miserable to live with.

--

You know, I'm getting awfully tired of you puling infants repeatedly misinterpreting "write for yourself".

As I said here quite recently, it's standard writing advice from outside of fandom. It means that you should make aesthetic decisions based on what you like rather than on a hypothetical audience.

The observation underlying this stock advice is that writers who write what they themselves think is good produce art that is more likely to hook an audience. Writers who are chasing after some audience whose taste they don't even share usually produce limp, uninspiring work.

Yes, there are some wackadoos who are like "I have no feelings! Community is a lie!" and think that makes them sound grown up. This isn't an American problem but an edgy (wish-they-still-were-a) teenager problem.

I dislike stats-chasing nonsense because it's a hallmark of the people who want to turn fandom into influencer garbage. I suggest people obsess less over stats because caring too much about the numbers tends to make people sad when they look at some juggernaut ship from the first peak in some fandom and then have unrealistic expectations. But finding community through fandom and liking to know other people enjoyed your work is commonplace everywhere.

[ilikekidsshows]

After watching the latest seasons, I'll be honest: I don't think Marinette is that different from one of Adrien's crazy fans. I know the show wants us to believe she truly loves him for him, but they never really show this. Five seasons later, she still puts him high on her pedestal as the most perfect person ever, only gives reasons like he's nice and pretty for why she likes him, is openly annoyed with his other personality as Chat Noir, and doesn't think he's capable enough to make his own choices about his life and has to be coddled.

---

Yeah, like, the show insists they're made for each other and soulmates but, rather than give them fun chemistry like they had in the original seasons, they just have characters say Marinette's love for Adrien is totally different and more pure. The show, due to how badly its main romance is written, implying things like “Marinette objectifies Adrien but she does it out of love so that makes it okay!” are exactly why I’ve started viewing Adrinette as the “are the straights okay?” ship. The people defending what this ship has become say some absolutely bonkers stuff is what I'm saying.

A big underlying problem that causes this, even before the retool exacerbated it, is that Miraculous is both a love story and a wacky comedy. The Miraculous writers feel the need to focus on Marinette’s crush a lot, but also to include wacky comedy hijinks. Because of this, Marinette's love for Adrien gets played for wacky comedy hijinks more than it gets depicted actually seriously, so we can't take it seriously. When something can't be taken seriously, it comes across as really shallow.

Miraculous has a tone problem that’s only gotten worse the longer it's gone on. The same things get treated as sources of comedy that are also supposed to be the emotional core of the story, sometimes within the same episode. The series almost simultaneously expects the audience to laugh at the things that are also supposed to be the reason to even care about what happens. I’m surprised it isn't causing people emotional whiplash.

But, like, that's the problem with the writing being consistent about the wrong things. The elements that are supposed to be comedic are also present in scenes we’re supposed to take seriously. That’s how we get Marinette trying to defend Adrien against her grandmother simplifying him as just “pretty”, but Marinette can't come up with anything else about him she's attracted to. Is this supposed to be a hilarious joke? Like, are we supposed to laugh that Marinette can't tell her grandmother why she loves her boyfriend, the endgame romantic partner of this series?

Miraculous' idea of comedy and humor ruins its romance, and, when it's not the comedy, it's the cheap drama that makes Marinette look like a terrible human being when she's supposed to be an aspirational hero. It makes it hard to get invested in its main couple or sympathize with its main hero, the two things that are necessary to enjoy the story the writers want to tell. The fans have to be willing to do all the work and go “I can tell what the writers are trying to do, so I’ll do my best to view the story the way they want me to”, but, like, we can only tell what the writers are trying to do because we've seen better shows than Miraculous that do these things well. Why should Miraculous' writers get credit for not only being subpar, but failing so utterly they depict the opposite of what they intended? What good things have they actually given us that warrants this much leeway?

Especially when the small kids watching won't have a deeper understanding of genre conventions to tell them “the writers are trying to break conventions and aren't replacing them with sensical story decisions and that makes the story fail so much”, they can just see the bad morals and either reject or internalize what Abuse Apologia the Show is teaching them. And, like, considering how much abuse apologia this show’s and it's hero’s most insistent defenders are spouting, I’m not sure even all of the older kids or the adults in the audience can tell that this show's morals are rancid and should be rejected.

[lilaposting]

hilarious. both arguments are awful. i hate this website. we have reason to care about the underlying economic data because in questions of distributive justice we should care a lot more about the actual resources getting distributed than people's hot takes about how many resources there are.

a fun example of the problem: a huge issue with distributing medical supplies well globally is that people in different cultural contexts experience pain differently because our expectations of what kind of pain matters influences how it is we feel that pain. the "rub dirt on it" thing works when toddlers scrape their knees because giving them the indication that they're Really Hurt by freaking out will literally make it hurt more for them. in places with ample medical resources, people (often) estimate their happiness very low and their levels of pain very high, and vice versa in countries with fewer medical resources. if we were to figure out a just distribution of medical resources based on people's vibes, we'd have reason to not give medical resources to poor countries because people there are already better adapted to adverse conditions and are usually more resilient than people in rich countries. obviously distributing resources that way would be insane. we need to care about how actual things are getting distributed, not just how people feel about it, which tbh for better and worse is mostly just shaped by propaganda and cultural assumptions rather than economic data. obviously the economy is "bad" in the sense of distributional justice, like it is and has always been awful in that sense, but it's "good" compared to other ways the economy has been recently. we need to be able to say both of those things in order to make useful cross-time and cross-country comparisons.

and ofc the AI argument at the start is hilarious. a lot of the writing produced by high schoolers and undergrads is not very good, such that chat-gpt can honestly write as well as or better than ~40% of students in my experience (and im teaching at a fancy university). the only way you learn how to write well is by writing poorly a lot. regardless of what we think about "jobs" — indeed, that's not what education should be for, it should be for bettering peoples lives — it is important that people learn to write. it is bad that chatgpt can do well on these assignments inasmuch as it stops people from getting useful writing practice. assignments aren't just to test people's skills, but to provide structure for people to practice the relevant skills. that's the value of assignments, the assessment thing is really secondary, but the assessment thing is part of how you get students to do the assignments at all in the first place lol.

[wren-dy-flowergarden]

TWST (Mafia!AU + Bodyguard!AU)

If you realize the characters have no relatability to each other (other than the twins), you are correct. Because I just used a "spin the wheel" to pick characters to write lollllll.

Since I am trying to get back into writing, requests are OPEN. No limit. Pls fill it with what you like, no promises I will write everything though :D

I also wanted to write something more dark...pls read tags just in case!

TW: !yandere content, possessive behavior, mentions of slight blood, dark underlying themes, reader is a jewelry heiress, not be'tad

Mafia!AU Floyd Leech

Mafia!Floyd Is a little too good at his job. Frankly, his boss gets quite frustrated with the amount of bodies brought home. It says dead or alive doesn’t it? Why should it matter what happens to these small frys. 

So when he sees your pretty face on the next hit, he licks his lips in delight. What a treat. Though, the boss did say to keep this one fresh. Little blood is not bad, too much, and it causes some problems. 

So when Floyd sees you on a park bench across the street. You’re…normal compared to the others. They are greasy, bastards flaunting around their beer bellies with women cradled in their arms compared to the pen in your hand tapping against white paper. 

Floyd wants to see where this will go. His boss said to handle you with ‘care’. The moment you see him, you freeze almost like a fish out of water, or maybe like those small shrimps he sees in the fish tank run for cover as a predator approaches. Nothing like those pompous asses who wanted all fight, no talk.

You are so much fun! As Floyd smiles, holding out an eraser. 

“You dropped this little shrimpy.”

Mafia!AU Idia Shroud

Mafia!Idia never, ever, ever works in front of the house! No! Never! He rather stayed in the operating room filled with the comfort of blue light from his multiple monitors. Never missing an angle, never missing a moment, eyes glued onto the screen, because that is what he is good at.

Not when he has to escort you into their headquarters. Also, why the hell are you here? You are just the rich, tiny, heiress of a multi billion xx company; couldn’t you be placed with someone more- energetic (not chronically online person who never sees the sun). 

How the hell is he supposed to start a conversation with you? Boss said to be an excellent host–why is he the one hosting the hostage!? You walk with more poise than him, your heels clicking on the floor as he shuffles. 

You are pretty though… Small lips, big doe eyes with furrowed eyebrows taking in your surroundings. Even your bare shoulders, exposed thin collar bone with dazzling gems draped across your neck, are shivering whether because of the cold?

Be a good host…be a decent host, Idia repeats in his head. The next thing he knows he is throwing his long jacket at your head where you make a noise similar to an ‘ump’. 

“W-w-wear that till we m-meet the boss! Hostages can’t get s-s–sick.”

Bodyguard!AU Jade Leech

Bodyguard!Jade where his smile leaves goosebumps on your skin. It's the way his eyes glimmer, his teeth a bit too sharp to be normal, the way his body lurks over you like a second shadow waiting to swallow you whole. 

But…he is good at his job– ridiculously good for a man your father found off the street on a whim. The way he is diligent in his motions, gently offering his hand as you exit the limo his gaze piercing through every paparazzi, a gloved hand guides you by the small of your back through the entrance.

Your bodyguard Jade who lowers himself to the ground before you to place designer heels on your feet. It would be a lovely gesture if it weren’t for the small red marks underneath the sole…

Jade is good at his job. He keeps you protected, prudent of your lifestyle and satisfied; but, there is this feeling where you feel almost…smothered? No–submerged by his attentiveness as if you are barely keeping your head above water before a predator pulls you down.

He is right in front of your face as you wake up from your daze. His off set eyes shine in amusement as he offers his gloved hand which you take in habit. It feels damp.

“It’s almost time for your debut. Shall we?”

Bodyguard!AU Silver

Bodyguard!Silver makes you realize you are more of a bodyguard than him. At least you can stay awake. When you find him huddled against a corner of your workplace for the nth time in the last week, you break down and buy a blanket. His porcelain face makes no change as you carefully drape the plush wool over his back. Long eyelashes and smooth snow hair cradles his features. 

You're about to brush a stray hair from his cheek but before even a finger graces him, your back hits the concrete floor. Wrists tightly pinned over your head. Your heart is beating in your chest, maybe from the surprise, maybe from the way silver eyes pierce into yours as he asses you with sleep in his eyes. It’s over in an instance as your bodyguard's face filled with shock and embarrassment as he releases you, apologies spilling out of his mouth. 

You rub your wrists. Usually that will be an immediate fire for you. Hurting clients, sleeping on the job; but, Silver is unusually fast. Faster than any of the previous bodyguards your father had hired for you. And his eyes…iridescent opal, it is as beautiful as the jewels you collect. 

Your hand to cradle his face, there would be some bruises forming across your wrists but nothing a pair oIn a soft voice y lace gloves could fix. You tell him it's alright, accidents happen, that one miniscule mistake isn’t enough for you to eget rid of him. He breaths out, anxiety still shakesungs as he gulps, nodding his head pure opals staring right at you,

“I’m sorry, it will never happen again my lady” 

[dragontamer05]

These recent chapters for Iruma are amazing but I think it also really raises up a sort of underlying problem that I really think Asmodeus needs to face which is,

Words Hurt. A lot. And that no matter how frustrated something she does makes him feel that does not make it right for him to keep calling her names Every Time.

Yes Clara is clearly very sensitive (tbh strong RSD energy coming off this girl) and I won't say some of this isn't something she needs to work on as well and not allowing her emotions and feelings to consume and overwhelm her. Not letting those negative thoughts take a hold.

But at the same time I can't help but feel that it does say something to an extent about Asmodeus' treatment toward her and how she views his friendship with Iruma to how he interacts with her.

Because she's not wrong in talking about how different they are and had it not been for Iruma they wouldn't be friends now so while an emotional response it's not totally illogical to conclude that should something happen to cause Iruma to disappear from their lives why would she ever believe he'd still want to hangout and befriends with her. And is so afraid he'd drop her like a rock first chance he got because of it.

And I mean if Iruma messes up or does something silly sure Azz might make a comment but compared to Clara when she gets hyper active or makes a mistake or whatever his first response is to call her things like Dummy, Idiot, Fool ect.

Girl has younger brother's so it's not like she probably can't handle some friendly teasing but I'd imagine there comes a point when hearing it from someone you call a Friend so frequently and constantly it might get you- especially if say she doesn't already find it funny or situation

So while the ending to it was good and sweet I do think it also has opened a door for what could be at some point an interesting exploration of Azz coming to learn BOUNDARIES / maybe that he shouldn't just berate her on every little thing. That his words can and do HURT and maybe learn to pull back and lay off a bit.

100 % I can see them being the kind of friends who can playfully banter back and forth, tease each other in good fun but Azz Azz got some of his own issues to work through since lets be real just like Clara Azz never really had any friends/ other demons his age to spend time with although instead of Being bullied it was more like everyone was to nervous and afraid cause of his status and also he did have a bit of a stand off-ish nature and I don't think ever really tried interacting with other kids anyway.

Plus also maybe Azz Azz being forced to kinda remove those blinders that often lead him to having a rather one track mind and focus on ONLY Iruma. His devotion to him is sweet and all but kid you gotta learn to start broadening that view/attention (Even Kalego has called out how his single minded focus on Iruma is a bit a of a problem and he could probably grow and improve so much more if he could like look beyond or whatever)

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

(tw for alcohol use, feel free to ignore if it might be a trigger for you)

I think I might have an alcohol problem. I don't drink daily, but usually 2-3 times a week and it's heavy enough to make me stumble a little most of the time. I can never just have one drink. It was once just for fun but now it's also helping me cope with shit going on in my day to day life, and to pop open a few beverages at the end of a long day is something I look forward to immensely, so much so that I find myself drinking more than I originally intended, or I'll have some days with repeated thoughts of just popping open a cold one and getting very drunk. I'm trying to limit my consumption so I don't become an alcoholic, but it's hard when life is cruel and alcohol makes me feel so light and carefree. I don't know what to do, and I'm not asking for advice so much as a listening ear. I have a family history of substance abuse on both sides and I'm kinda scared right now. But when I can drink at the end of the day I feel like for a while everything's good and I love that respite in my life, when I don't have to deal with all the shit people throw at me. I wish I at least had a friend to drink with and socialize, but Im always drinking alone in the middle of the night and hoping to feel floaty and numb. It's hard to deal with. I'm going to hold out hope for the future though and know that life will go on. Trying to remember that I'll get out of this (and the sooner the better so I don't become dependent, if I'll listen to my own conscience) fortunately it hasn't impacted my life (yet) other than just spending a little too much on drinks or drinking one more than I should.

Sorry for the long ramble but thanks for reading if you have <3

I struggle with addiction myself (though not to alcohol) and here's a couple things I've learned along the way:

Even considering that you might be an addict is a really important and hard first step to take. I'm proud of you!

Addiction isn't limited to having a physical dependency which requires daily upkeep. There is also the concept of psychological addiction, which is more about how and why you engage with a certain substance than whether you're physically dependent on it yet. And refusing to face the question of addiction because you don't drink/do drugs daily will only escalate the issue.

It's easy to end up thinking that if you could just learn to drink/do drugs in a less unhealthy way, you can keep drinking/doing drugs. But once you've started using a substance as a coping method, it is very hard and often impossible to successfully go back to only using it recreationally.

Addiction is a coping method in most cases. This means that your challenge isn't just to drink less, it's to figure out why you're drinking and how to face and resolve the underlying issues that alchohol currently helps you cope with. It usally isn't as simple as just not drinking anymore when you aren't drinking for fun.

Addiction isn't a moral failure and it doesn't reflect badly on you as a person. It's a coping method that you have a genetic predisposition towards, not a sign that you're an unusually bad, weak, immoral person. And regardless of whether you're in active addiction, trying to recover or managing sobriety, your value and worth as a person is the same.

[another-goblin]

How Aventurine would process their relationship. Just some fun options to explore. I do ship them, but it will work with them being just friends. (I wrote "just friends" and realized that it would probably be the first time for both of them to have an actual friend, so there is no "just" here.)

1. I can see him possessing enough emotional intelligence to realize what's going on and allow himself to accept Ratio's care and reciprocate his feelings. It's quite a nice and comforting option to explore. It can happen immediately after 2.1 or slowly, with them continuing to work together or hanging out from time to time. It's nice to see that like 95% of all the post-2.1 arts of them are examples of this (it doesn't mean that I don't love the remaining 5% btw).

He might also see it as a giant gamble. ("For the first time in my adult life I allow myself to be so emotionally vulnerable, opening myself to get really hurt, but the risk is worth it.")

2. He said something about only seeing friends as tools. I think he often uses his charm and wits to win people over, to make them act in his interests, to make them think that they actually like him. As a kind of subconscious self-defense mechanism, he would convince himself that Ratio only acts this way according to his own cunning manipulations and should be discarded after he'd outlived his usefulness. (cue angst)

3. Psychological problems. There is a whole sad collection to choose from, all deep-seated and subconcious. Mistaking Ratio's care for pity and getting offended by it. Feeling like he's not worthy of love. "I suffered alone my whole life, where have you been all this time, now it's too late, I don't need you anymore". And countless others. There's no way he's ever going to therapy, so they'll have to sort it out by themselves.

4. The most delicious option (and by that I mean SUFFERING *looks at two previous options* that is, MORE SUFFERING). A big part of his survivor's guilt is the supersticious idea that he owes his luck to his family's death. The only people he ever cared about and who ever cared about him died because of it. Being close to somebody means danger to them.

He knows that Ratio wouldn't accept his superstition based concerns. So the only way to save him is to hurt him emotionally to drive him away. 

But. What if Aventurine overcomes it and discards all these supersticious concerns (as he should). They get closer. And then Ratio does get hurt. It's serious, like, he's in the hospital, he lost an arm, something like that.

Imagine Aventurine's panic: "I brought it on him, I couldn't protect him, the only way to save him from worse is to leave him forever, immediately." And Ratio, recovering from a devastating injury, the first time in his life when he needs (and expects) support - he's abandoned.

It would probably crush his underlying philosophy of doing big good things for humanity (the way he cured that terrible disease, resolved the universal energy crisis, and is currently spreading education because he thinks that humanity is worthy of it). I mean, it's easy to care about humanity from afar, detached from it. It's much harder when your first attempt at a personal relationship ends in devatating pain.

[rosiesdisneydrama]

GF X SKY: Ford's Notes on Stan

AN: Felt like writing something where Stanley was, somehow, an incarnate of a spirit from the game Sky. Because I wanted to play with crossovers and see how some of the characters would/could have grown over time. Plus, I just like Sky and the spirits from it.

Stan is, rather specifically, the Cackling Cannoneer from the Season of Abyss and I tried to hint at that with his appearance in this. He’s styled himself and his clothing to match how he sees himself, but he’s also still Stan as his core. It’s fun to consider what details, big and small, Stan being a Sky spirit would have changed. And even the things he himself would have done differently with those underlying character traits and notes that get added in.

Ford doesn’t know about Stan being the Cackling Cannoneer at this part in the story. It’ll come out eventually, and there'll be a lot of good family bonding from that. (Probably. It might take a bit for things to get sorted out.)

I also wanted to try rewriting Ford’s journal entries about his return with those details affecting how/what happened to bring him back. I leaned into how the entries were written in Journal 3 when I first started writing this, but then I split off from it since it looked odd without the accompanying art that Ford would put into the journal.

Against all odds, I’m Back.

I never thought, in a thousand years, that I would be holding this book again. The weight of it in my hands and the smell of the parchment whisks my mind back to the tragic accident that forever changed my life.

Though I was not present to record it when it first happened, 30 years ago I got into a fight with my brother and was knocked through my own interdimensional portal into a universe beyond my imagination.

The last three decades have been frightening, exciting, cruel, and strange, and as I find myself back in my old study, writing in my old journal, it is hard to shake the feeling that I have awoken from a bizarre 30-year dream…

How is it that I am back? It turns out that despite my warnings and the possibility of global catastrophe, Stanley managed to re-activate the portal and bring me back to my home dimension. While his intentions may have been pure, he was just as careless in bringing me back as he’d been knocking me through in the first place. He destroyed the portal in the process and nearly risked endangering the entire fabric of reality!

It is only by the barest chances that he’s avoided people outside of the house from realizing what he was doing. His lack of forethought is just the kind of thing I should have known to expect from him.

But I should not dwell on the past for long. There will be time enough to ruminate on my years spent traveling through the dimensional rifts and the strange things I saw there.

First, I must focus on the present and the problems created by the man who is responsible for my latest twist of fate…

My Brother Stanley Hero or Idiot?

When I first saw him, I had assumed I had once again found myself in an alternate, parallel dimension. Gone was the stubborn messy-haired, frostbitten vagabond who had pushed me into the portal many years earlier, replaced by a wrinkled old mariner with my father’s face, a patched-up set of overalls, and more tattoos than a man his age should have.

I’d spent years contemplating what I might do if I saw Stanley again. Would I even be able to look him in the eye after what he did? Would I apologize for shutting him out of my life?

As it turned out, instinct took over and I punched him in the face.

I feel kind of bad about that…

1 Face- Inherited Dad’s nose and Mom’s untrustworthy tongue. For some reason, he’s tattooed his FACE! A few simple, blue triangles over his right brow, but it’s the PRINCIPLE of the thing! (We are both well into our 50s, we’re too old for such sharp-lined tattoos.)

2 Build- I have kept an extensive exercise and diet regime over the past 30 years. Stanley hasn’t been as rigorous but seems to be somewhat in shape.

3 Clothes- Stanley dresses as though he’s a fisherman on their day off. An old jumpsuit tucked into thick boots and worn over an aged-looking shirt. While all sensible dress, it’s not what one should wear in a lab environment! However, the strange symbol on the front of his jumpsuit looks familiar…

4 Hair- Despite his years and wrinkles, Stanley has chosen to keep the right half of his head SHAVEN with even more tattoos there. The left half of his head, by contrast, is unshaven and reveals that his hair has gone fully white in the years since I had seen him last. He keeps it all wrapped up in three long, thick braids that he’s tied off with dark brown cords rather than normal hair ties. They may even be leather cords, but I haven’t examined them closely enough to tell.

5 Machinery- Stanley’s work on the portal is sloppy, at best. And that is if I’m being kind about it. Some parts were properly welded in place, but others were messily attached with bolts and screws that didn’t belong or anchored with metal cables. Some parts were even attached with DUCK TAPE of all things!

I have no idea what the purpose of the strange paintings, symbols, and plants that had been in the basement as well, buried beneath the rubble of the destroyed portal.

Yes, despite the years and wrinkles, Stanley seems to be the same irresponsible miscreant I remember from our shared childhood. Most unbelievable: his first thought upon seeing me again was to expect a thank you- a THANK YOU- after destroying my life!

He’s apparently spent the past 30 years impersonating me (likely to escape the law or some band of criminals he’s made enemies of) and he’s completely changed the nature of my labs and what the town thinks of them.

Once a haven for my work, the secluded cabin I built with my grant money has been transformed by Stanley into a fake cryptozoology museum. My brother re-dubbed my labs as the “Mystery Shack” and has filled it with fantastical, completely fabricated creatures for tourists and locals alike to come and gawk at.

My inventing room? Now a hall of false taxidermies of made-up creatures. Why on earth would he decide to call a strange, stone creature with juts of red crystal sticking out of it a “Shattering Crab”? It makes no sense!

My thinking parlor? Now little more than a tacky “man cave” for lazing in front of the television when the “Shack” was closed. Stanley has been using my T. Rex skull as a coffee table. A coffee table!

Not even my storage room was spared from Stanley’s absurdity, having been turned into a “gift shop” more cluttered than Pines Pawns had ever been. Many of the items relate back to the creatures of the museum, a few even appearing as soft toys for children.

Though, with great reluctance, I must applaud my brother’s handy work on these creatures. Despite the subpar materials he’d used to craft them, Stanley seems to have put genuine effort into creating each one. Many of them have small placards and posters near them depicting cleverly conceived speculative biology and behavior. If I did not know better, I would potentially mistake them for REAL creatures and not simply flights of fancy.

His elaborate tales of the creatures only add to the air of plausibility behind them, in addition to highlighting his skills at spinning a yarn for gullible tourists.

I had always known that Stanley loved the ocean when we were children, but he seems to have taken many of the animals of the seas and created a fantastical version of them to put on display. At least there are SOME things he’s willing to put in the work and research for. They are surprisingly grounded for what I would normally expect of him.

It would be impressive, entertaining even, if it weren’t for the fact that he’s taken over MY labs to do it.

I feel like a ghost wandering through a parody of their own home. I can see enough of what used to be to know where I am, but it has all been CHANGED.

I intended to make it clear to Stanley that I WOULD be taking my home back, but he shut down the conversation the moment I started to speak about it. And, as much as I detest it, he did have a good reason for not having the conversation at that time.

It seems the children staying at the house are here because of marital in-fighting between their parents. In-fighting that has been growing increasingly toxic between our nephew and niece-in-law and has started to affect the twins as well. Things have been said when they should not have and the children have overheard it. He wants the two to believe that the house is both safe AND stable for as long as they’re here.

We’re both prone to losing our tempers with each other and it’s very likely our argument will get very loud and harsh once we start. As such, Stanley doesn’t want to have a conversation about what will happen now that I’ve returned unless he is SURE the children won’t overhear us speaking. A noble intention that I find myself willing to go along with for now.

It is frustrating to be forced to hold my tongue but he has made his stance clear. So I am not being left much choice in the matter anyway.

Stanley has asked his employees to take the children to town tomorrow so that we will have the building to ourselves. An ideal opportunity for us to have a private conversation about what is going to change now.

It should be a simple matter. Nothing for me to worry about.

AN: Ford is showing his age/upbringing with his opinions on tattoos even if he doesn’t know it. In the 70s and 80s, tattoos on the face or hands were usually associated with criminals. So he’s seeing the ones Stan has and assuming he has them for his own criminal activities or as some kind of Subversive movement he’s part of.

He’s wrong, but he doesn’t know that yet. Because he’s only JUST come back and hasn’t actually sat down to talk with Stan yet about what’s happened while he was gone. He does, subtly, bring up the crispness of the edges and deepness of the colors in this journal entry, though.

IRL tattoos fade as the person with them gets older and it takes active maintenance to keep tattoo lines sharp and to prevent them from fading. After all, human skin sheds/changes over time so tattoos lose their clean lines and their colors will fade and become harder to see. Because of that, tattoos need to be retouched and maintained over time to keep them in good condition.

(I know this because, despite not having any myself, my childhood babysitter DID have some. He explained it to me when I mentioned how faded one of his had gotten and that he planned to get it touched up soon.)

Ford’s own tattoos are almost gone by this point in the story because he REFUSED to care for them after Bill had gotten them. No going out to get them retouched or making them more prominent/defined. The fact that Stan’s have such neat lines and vibrant colors means he’s taken time to ensure that they have them and Ford thinks that means they’re either A) Proud of whatever he did that they symbolize or B) Still being Rebellious despite no longer being a teenager.

AKA He’s either a Criminal or refusing to Grow Up and be an Adult and that’s coloring Ford’s opinions on his brother. The half-shaved head also plays into his idea that Stanley is “immature” since men their age Don’t Do That.

[l-in-the-light]

Chapter 1136 & 1137 commentary (and analysis)

New chapter, let's go :D time to analyze all the tiniest and obscure details probably most fans wouldn't even spend a second on lol. Lots of conversations this time, so there will be quite a lot of focus on context reading, something I should actually suck at by definition ;)

Last choice is basically "show me the results", just made it an actual option haha. Come on, betting is fun, so what if we end up being wrong :D

Wait, is that Who's who base? Even the guys inside wear the characteristic cat ears of his crew. Will we finally learn what's up with him?? But this is just a cover story, so any answers we will discover won't really be that clear, I guess (because no actual dialogues). But it's still interesting. It's like we're Momotaro again venturing into the den of Oni haha. And we have lion-dog, a centaur lady and little ninja girl for trusty companions instead of dog, monkey and a pheasant. Also Yamato's face when they peek inside the base is priceless :D

But wait, isn't Yamato the oni? So it's actually reversed Momotaro tale, we're cheering for oni and defeating the hero?? damn, now I got myself confused LOL.

I love how Luffy says his thanks not only to Hajrudin, but Stansen as well! He cares about everyone, not just the leaders of groups. And now that he got to know Stansen a bit better and got to interact with him, he's already treating him as a friend.

It's wholesome that it's Luffy thanking Stansen while not even taking credit himself for releasing him in Sabaody (last chapter Luffy just said it's awesome Stansen managed to get away, but never said anything even close in meaning to "you're welcome". If anything, he gives the credit back to Stansen in a way, underlying the fact that it was Stansen's own initiative that allowed him to get away in the end). It's like he only accepts half the credit and who does it remind me of? Trafalgar "give half of your thanks to Strawhat-ya" Law when he released Jean Bart, heh. It's of course all implied not said directly, but I even like it better this way.

Also hi Colon (doing a Nika pose as he runs and grins), aren't you too young for those drunken feasts? XD

No offense, Jarul, but that comment is sort of ignorant? Why is he glossing over this fact? I mean, it's clear to him *why* humans can't make their way up to "true Elbaf" (he points it out by himself!). It just shows that despite knowing the reason and about the obstacles, he doesn't ultimately care whether humans will make it up here or not, or die in the realm below. He claims humans will just flee, but we saw the underworld and many humans seemed to have stayed behind, despite being terrified and ending up relying on Loki for the lack of better options. Many humans must have also died there, eaten by the beasts or because of other circumenstances. We also saw what happens when pirates make it below, Giants have no problems attacking them. I don't think Giants in general like humans all that much, it's the level of "tolerance", at best.

I think what Jarul is not saying is that sure, they *might* don't mind humans, as long as they're somehow associated with some Giants (Shanks and his fleet, Luffy and the Strawhats). Which means if Kid never attacked anyone and instead bragged about defeating Big Mom, he could have been allowed to "actual Elbaf" as well. I will leave this food for thought here if anyone's hungry ;)

So, why is Jarul downplaying the reality like that? Is he trying to appeal to Luffy this way, perhaps because everyone in Elbaf seemed to have heard already that Luffy looks like a sun god?

Look who's bragging about defeating Oars and delivering the final blow, lol. Well, to be fair, all Strawhats delivered the final blow together, so technically he's not lying, he's just not mentioning this tiny fact.

So the Giants heard about "legendary warrior" Oars, interesting. We wanted to know if there's any sort of connection between Oars and the Giants for a while already and seems there is, indeed! We just don't know exactly what it is though XD if I were gonna guess, he was probably described in the infamous ancient text of Harley as well (he was born more than 500 years ago, so it's a possibility)! Or perhaps, once upon a time, Ancient Giants were considered to be the most "pure blooded" Giants and Elbaf used to be their home. Then they went extinct and the worship sort-of-ended, but not really, because ancient giant blood survived in some of the current giants, as we can see with the example of King Harold. Maybe he was even chosen to be king *thanks* to his horns/ancient giant blood. Him ripping off his horns would bring a new meaning then: to part with the old ways and to show his dedication to treat all Giants as equals. But isn't it Hajrudin's wish as well? It could point towards them sharing the same dream and King Harold influencing his son, hm. King Harold was at the very least not opposed to having a child with non-Elbaf Giants, and that's sort of a fact. But then Harold is also a father of Loki who proudly declares himself a god of destruction. Yeah, there's certainly some odd duality going on here with the king.

I'm still wondering whether Elbaf was once a different place, unrelated to any Giants, before they took over the New World.

I need to say Jimbei is taking those comments in good faith, I'm proud of him. Comments about skin color can be triggering, even if they're not meant in bad way. It's worth noting though that his first reaction is "!" which means it did alert him. If it was only neutral realization, the visual indication (on the far right, I marked it with a red frame) would be enough to communicate it to us. And I'm going to tackle this issue seriously and I don't care if most people would just brush it off as whatever. Giving this interaction some weight honestly makes reading this scene much more interesting than just seeing it as simple smalltalk, lol.

Jimbei laughs this comment off, as we can see the typical "laughter" visual cue next to Jimbei (also marked with red frame by me). But is it an honest reaction? I would say it's likely he's probably a bit divided inside about this. This is Jimbei, after all, the very same guy who declared in Marineford that he only follows those he personally acknowledges. He loved Whitebeard, he even wanted to die alongside him in the war, but he wouldn't even travel on his ship with him, instead swim beneath it, like he didn't want to be considered part of them. I think we can safely assume Jimbei wasn't very fond of humans or at least really wary of them, and that's likely something he kinda inherited from his beloved Fisher Tiger. His opinion about humans must be kinda bad as the result (but he would never admit it outloud, he's a very "keep everything to yourself" kind of guy), which can also explain his hesitation in joining Luffy's crew (yes, responsibilities were likely only part of the reason, but an important one!). But here he can see that not only humans but Giants can be untactful as well. This could be a small eye-opening moment for him, perhaps? I don't think he had many opportunities to interact with other races than humans and fishmen before, so this could be widening his horizons. You can't know things like that unless you travel the world yourself (or someone really open-minded who did that shares the stories with you). In his flashback, he also says fishmen and other races just need to understand each other, so here he is, experiencing it first hand.

This scene reminds me of some interesting details I read about before in anthropological books. Not only we as outsiders but native people themselves are almost always curious about body differences, any outstanding physical differences can bring out some curiosity. I saw similar remarks in books about Japanese culture. In one book a woman from overases joins a closed world of geishas and trains to become one herself. The others help her with applying the characteristic white make up, but realize their usual method doesn't work because of the longer nose of the woman, which of course results in a comment about it and a joke about their physical differences. Many Japanese caricatures of foreigners often emphasize their bigger or longer noses too, it's not always done tactfully, but it is a fact that differences tend to attract attention from both sides. We can see it reflected perfectly here with fascination about fishmen coming from the Giants from one side, and Sanji's fascination with the Giant women from the other.

Does it mean One Piece is untactful here? I actually wouldn't say so. Why? Because One Piece is full of characters with many different noses and body shapes, and yes, occassionaly even skin colors (despite all the controversies about whitewashing Usopp). My point is: when both sides are curious about each other and don't use their differences in judgemental way, it's just normal human curiosity. Here are some examples as to when it's not okay to point out a physical difference: when drawing harmful conclusions (like this: all asians have pretty and cute small noses while foreigners have ugly big ones), using them in completely unrelated contexts (why bring it up if it's not related to anything that's being talked atm?) or to underline the differences to point out their "otherness" (then it becomes an indirect message of "you don't belong, because you look different than us"). But I will allow everyone to draw their own conclusions, this is just my opinion on this particular scene, not on the topic in general (which is a much more complex and sensitive issue).

But back to the scene. Of course the topic quickly turns to fantasies about mermaids lol. I wonder if Sanji might have derailed the topic there slightly on purpose? Like yes, he would use probably any occassion to talk about his fantasies, but it's worth noting that he also stayed around Jimbei. Maybe he wanted to keep an eye on what people talk about to him or around him, you know? And we know Sanji is a very considerate and caring guy for everyone in his crew (but not only limited to his crew), so I wouldn't put it past him that he sticked around Jimbei on purpose just so he can tactfully control the topic of conversation, so it doesn't become offensive. But also just because staying around Jimbei means he might inevitably be able to brag about mermaids lol. Still, he quickly changes the topic of mermaids to the topic of Giant women, which makes me believe even more in my idea of Sanji just being mindful and supportive friend here. It's maybe not really obvious, but that's even better that it's so subtle, Jimbei doesn't have to express openly his gratitude which could be awkward and make him simply feel bad, because he's trying so hard himself not to take things the bad way. I don't think Jimbei would be ready to admit his fears so openly, he's tbh a rather private type of guy who doesn't talk about his feelings or opinions much.

Lol, Brook's utter dismissal to the question. Unlike Jimbei though, he doesn't even care and can take it on, no problem. Still, I sometimes do feel for Brook in some situations. For example, in One Piece World Seeker game, where this issue is addressed in one of the side quests. I think it was one of the rare times when I realized Brook can feel really alienated just because he is a walking skeleton and doesn't expect common people to think it's not a big deal. He can be quite sensitive sometimes too, even if he often plays it off as a joke material.

But, Zoro is lowkey doing him the same favour Sanji was doing for Jimbei. He's implying with his comment "I'm surprised so many Giants have never gone out to sea" that Brook isn't so outstanding as Giants think he is (even though we know he actually is!). Of course it's also Zoro so maybe he didn't even realize he's kinda siding up with Brook. But I want to have a bit of faith here in Zoro. He might not be the best in it, but he tries to be there for his crew and has more empathy than we assume he has.

Also, same here, Nami. But considering the case of Dorry and Brogy it's becoming kinda clear that Giants have only one major Pirate Giants group at a time. They like never mention any multiple ones, you know? And now with the Hajrudin taking over the tradition it seems Giant pirates are only a chosen few. Not quite like in the viking times when it was said many men went to sea and women had to often take over the villages in their absence. Or at least that's what I remember reading about vikings.

Ahaha, Rodo and Gerd are finally in same place, so I can see more of their dynamics when they're actually together. And I kinda love them, they're so silly. Seems Rodo is apologizing because Gerd made him do that. But it's worth noticing how shocked Rodo is at her words and the strict scolding. This suggests it is NOT a common occurance between them. In fact, seems like this is the first time it ever happened! I did share my guess in previous commentaries that Gerd wasn't openly hostile to Rodo before the Strawhats incident, but now she feels the extra need to be this way to show a clear difference between herself and him (she doesn't want her lovely human friends to think of her as a freak! And yes, it's just about the fact that she doesn't want to be considered a geek or a freak. She's like this type of fan who secretly spends all her free time on her hobby, but at school or work declares she just likes it a little bit, you know, like a normal person. Pffff).

Rodo though likes Gerd so much that nothing she would say could possibly make him dislike her lol. Which is why he's ready to embrace submissiveness as his new kink, which is the extreme 180 degrees turn in his character from the "I'm a god, listen to me peasants" roleplay. He loves Gerd that much, huh. It's kinda endearing really. Besides it being just, you know, a silly gag.

And that means Rodo is already on Strawhat's side lol. That was quick 😂 not only that, he even became Nami's slave number 3 pfff. He's also very good at it. Just look at how fast he adjusted there: "My vision is awful, I wouldn't even notice any treasure missing". Omg he's so funny. And he's enjoying every second of his newly found passion of s&m play haha. I'm afraid I have already forgiven him locking down the Strawhats at the beginning of the arc. And for no other reason than him being just himself LOL.

Now all that's left is for Hajrudin to forgive him too. Honestly, one good word from any Strawhat about Rodo would be enough at this rate, to make this happen :)

Funny how Rodo is trying to shorten the distance by pointing out something that is actually true, as we learn from the next chapter. Rodo and Nami do share some things in common, like, both of them wanted to draw maps since they were kids ❤ but Nami doesn't open her heart to people easily, making Rodo her personal slave is already big enough leap of faith from her. It's a bond she accepted but on her terms, heh. No matter what, Rodo respects her boundaries (maybe because he can indeed relate to her in more ways than one) and doesn't try to overstep them anymore. Actually, he finds pleasure in simply being useful to her (probably the same way he feels happy to be useful to Hajrudin too) and speaks with the Strawhats as earnestly as he can, which is probably also not something that comes easy to him! After he is scolded here he starts to refer to himself as "sessha" which is the humble, old way of speaking Okiku used in Wano (roughtly translated as "this unworthy one"). This means that Rodo actually takes extra step back to assure Nami he won't overstep. It feels a bit silly and again very roleplay-like, but also actually surprisingly genuine.

A moment of appreciation for Zoro acting like a true, intimidating pirate, hehe. Love moments like these in my pirate manga :D

Also bonus for scaring the heck out of Rodo. He indeed realized he didn't take the threat seriously lol. And yet he must have seen their bounties before, after all he knew all of their names when he found them.

More sun god lore dropped :D seems there are different depictions of sun god. He's a god of laughter, a god of destruction, a god of liberation, and... a ruler of the world? One of these is not quite the same as the others, hm. One sounds less godly and more, you know, mortal. Okay, so it's time to bring this question to the table: were they all four different Nikas? You know what I'm thinking about, right?

Except here there are even five, not four :) one is an unexpected double, despite all of them being quintuplets. Many people have said it before and I think this is the time to say it again: this is most likely a foreshadowing of some kind. Which kind exactly? I'm not sure. Will there be a point in current timeline of events where there will be as many as 5 nikas? (we're slowly getting here, let's count it together: Sun God Rodo, Sun God Loki, Sun God Nika aka Luffy, Sun God Nika aka Bonney... hey, we're at four already! Of course I don't think this is the end game situation so to speak lol. Just the same parallel used again!) But of course this can also simply mean there were 5 Nikas already in the past, including Luffy in the present.

Maybe each time a Nika appeared in history he brought about big changes with him, just like Jarul said it, but those changes were once seen as good (liberation) and other times as bad (destruction), depending on the perspective of a winner's interest, ofc. If the winner wanted to be seen as good he would label Nika as something bad, like destruction. If the winner was the same side as Nika, then he would portray the events as liberation then, something positive that helped him win. Honestly if that's the case then no wonder the rulers always fear Nika, it's always in their interest to preserve the order the way it is, which is in their favour ofc. You never know when Nika would pop up and on which side it will end up being.

But you know what? Knowing Oda, it's all three references I mentioned used at once (remember, the rule of three, Oda likes it a lot): the playful parallel at Elbaf, the Nikas through history and foreshadowing the end game Nika situation. LOL. Can't wait.

One last observation about the previous screenshot. Giants said "We all look up to Nika! We all share the same dream!" But if you pay attention to what they said, it's actually not true. Like yes, they all aspire to be Nika, but for each of them that means a different thing! Some of them want to be rulers because they believe in the interpretation of Nika being a ruler of the world. Others believe in Nika as the liberator instead so they want to liberate people. There are also those who wants destruction of the world, like Loki himself. And finally we have those that just associate Nika with laughter so all they ever aspire to be is to make other people laugh or apply a lifestyle in which they laugh and are joyous no matter what, despite the hardships and pain they might experience. I think it might end up being important that same people can share same dream, but that dream might mean something different to them. Like Luffy and Roger having "same dream" in this context, for example!

(btw I saw the memes already that original Nika warrior was black, because the shadowy figure appears to look like it, lol. Tbh I would find it absolutely fantastic if it turned out to be true! 💖)

Speaking of different interpretations of history and Nika lore, we know it all thanks to the ancient text Harley that Giants preserved, even though no one apparently can read it correctly anymore. Oh boy, I hope this is NOT a reference to poneglyphs, because that will throw everything into pure chaos. Imagine multiple interpretations of the poneglyphs... it's probably not the case, since unlike Nika's parallel, this is the first time we hear about this. But it's worth remembering that Enel couldn't read the poneglyphs despite them using Birka's writing. Let's also not forget that poneglyphs can be heard, like in Roger's case (is it possible to hear the message engraved on them without the need to read the signs? And is it the same message as the written one?).

As for the Harley text itself in Japanese it's ハーレイ (haarei) and is classified as shintei (holy scripture, like in religious context). This might be a reference to things like Edda (the original source of Norse mythology) or Codex Regius ("Royal Book" or "King's Book" that starts with a prophecy) which in Japanese is called: monogatari uta (narrative poems, except uta can be also taken more literally as songs. Slight hint towards Binks Sake song, perhaps :D sound was also very important theme in Skypiea, arguably one of the oldest civilisations we found in OP world). We also had a prophecy about Loki in this arc. If anything, those could have been Oda's inspirations here.

This is also the first time we heard that world has been destroyed twice already! This means the current world of One Piece is actually the third world! Rule of three, here, yet again!! Yes, we're totally going to destroy the world by the end, to make it go full circle. Okay, so we can safely assume the previous time it happened it caused a Void Century, right? No confirmation of that but it's the most likely option, even if not the only possibility.

In theory, Void Century could have been "end of the world" prevention or delay measure. Why? We actually have no evidence that the world ended. Imu is still around and many different places with a history spanning over thousands of years, like Alabasta. If the world ended shouldn't Alabasta get erased as well? And also it's been mentioned before that Void Century was the history of a war between two fractions that left "scars on the world". Again, if world ended back then, there wouldn't be anything left. Also, do you remember the clever trick Vegapunk did in Egghead arc? Erasure of memories. And what is Void Century if not a bigass erasure of memories of the whole planet? (even the title of the chapter in which Vegapunk's trick is explained, the Void Fortnight, is playing with this idea). As the result, Egghead wasn't really destroyed, but instead severed into two parts, one got sent to the sky, the other ended up in hands of the Government. I admit I always like to imagine Void Century as the history of the Biggest Foil Trick in History lol. Everyone thinks Joyboy lost, but he never actually failed in what he tried to achieve :)

But putting that theory aside, let's consider that Void Century was actually a successful destruction of the world instead, because many will consider this to be the most obvious answer. That means something like a Void Century happened before already as well. And we have evidence of that! Lunarians were once on the Red Line, right? But that doesn't seem to fit the timeline of Void Century we know of, at all. It was the conflict between Joyboy, the first pirate, fighting against an alliance of 20 kingdoms instead. There was no battle against certain rulers like Lunarians occupying the Red Line mentioned anywhere. Which means that must have happened way earlier than that and it just makes more sense this way. Perhaps the Ancient Kingdom was the one who brought down Lunarians and made them go extinct eventually, and ruled the world as the result. History likes to repeat itself so Ancient Kingdom got defeated by people who then took over which place? The top of the Red Line again. And now we know them as Celestial Dragons, a mere shadows of their past selves.

There's one problem though, I still can't decide where to put the sky people in this scenario. Shandorians, Skypieans, Birkans. Were they connected to the first end of the world instead? I guess we need Urouge plotline to gather more hints, because whatever I try to guess now feels like a shot in the dark, at best. My current best shot would be Egghead's top stratum shotting up to the sky and maybe that's how original Skypieans ended up there too. That though supports my idea that Void Century wasn't destruction of the world but a scam instead. Unless Skypieans were in the sky even longer than we can imagine. We actually have no clue when did the moon people go down to earth, at all. Maybe it was at the beginning of times, lol. Like a parallel to our world's belief that UFO build the pyramids in Egypt, you know. Maybe first place Moon People visited was Alabasta and they build the pyramids there as well XD

Also, it all kinda points out to the idea that devil fruits existed even before Void Century. Which makes more sense than their sudden creation only in the span of 100 years, at least to me.

Another thing worthy to mention is the whole idea of world destruction. It can mean anything, from literally destroying a planet (remember the missing "moons" on Clover's solar system setup?), to something more symbolic like shifting of poles (equator and north/south poles changing places) which could result in current islands getting submerged in water and the reveal of the previously sunken Ancient Kingdom, together with the All Blue. It could by all means also just be a figure of speech, meaning current power systems would get destroyed and new system will arise, for example: common folk will become the rulers, kinda like Drum Island situation. Ruler will now be one of the common people, living among them, sharing their happiness and sadness of daily lives. But I don't think all of the mentioned "end of the world" or "destruction of the world" can happen at the same time in the plot, even if we have sort-of foreshadowing for all of those outcomes (maybe shifting of poles gone wrong can result in destruction of the planet?). Maybe destruction of the world is also a choice between options, and not a foreordained outcome. If you have your own ideas about this please share :D

Jarul was there when this happened, right? He admitted as much this chapter. He saw Loki killing King Harold, and he's the only person in the room who doesn't actually judge him for it. This reminds me of that situation from Little Garden, Dorry and Brogy said if you don't die then it means that's the will of the Elbaf's god. And if you die, you were in the wrong, and the winner was in the right. Jarul thinking Loki isn't wrong is not because he didn't like King Harold. It's just the old belief of Elbaf that he still has faith in: Loki didn't die despite everything so he might be in the right and it can be a proof he has "divine protection", while King Harold died so he was wrong. That's all there is to it. God of Elbaf decides outcomes of all conflicts.

But new generation of Giants seemed to have forgotten this belief already and judge Loki very harshly, unlike Jarul. And why did they forgot their old ways? Because of King Harold changing whole politics in Elbaf; from being a warrior country to centering on education and avoidance of violence and fighting. This could make Giants easy targets to eliminate, keep that in mind, Government considered Giants to be dangerous enemies for a long time, it would be extremely handy for them if Giants became weak, were easy to control (like use them for the upcoming war so they're on the side of the Government) or to erase them easily (in case they refuse, duh, to prevent them from joining the enemy's side).

In other words, King Harold indeed might have been in the wrong and Loki was right. Consider it. In which arc of One Piece the situation as we're told turns out to be correct? Dressrosa? People just live happily with the toys and toys are not slaves for fake saviours who kicked out a good king? Wano in which Orochi painted Oden as the bad guy and himself as the good ruler? Why would Elbaf be any different? The surface story we're told is ought to turn to be a lie as well, the only question that remains is: in which way exactly? There are still many possible answers to that and all are still likely.

Seems Luffy has already decided that Loki is a good guy, lol. I never doubt Luffy :D

Loki's terrible reputation is even more terrible than we thought. Not only he has been born cursed (according to the prophecy, ha, what did I tell you all, I knew it had be a prophecy :D) and fated to kill his father. Seems his birth was accompanied by bad omens (the horse dying. ain't no way a toddler killed a horse, come on. and also same year Linlin caused a death of a giant. year later a queen died... you get the drill).

He was apparently also a mischief (many people pointed it out and I also agree: that part sounds like Oden's story) and an arsonist. But if we remember Oden's case, he was still beloved despite being a menace stomping over the social rules. He also at least once took the blame for someone else (Kinemon and the mountain god incident. Only Kin and Denjiro, and Oden himself, knew the truth). Perhaps Loki also took the blames for the fires on himself or, you know, people might have blamed all calamities on Loki. "Unknown fire? Someone said they saw Loki nearby!". Yeah, sounds plausible to me. It's easy to put the blame on the guy everyone supposedly hates. Let's not forget we learned that Loki spend the time in Underworld Elbaf ever since he was a child. What was a prince of Elbaf doing there instead of sitting in the castle? yeah, I still think he was an outcast.

"Caused mischief whenever the King wasn't looking" part is curious though. the same with the insinuation that Loki could do whatever the heck he wanted as soon as the King was away (why was the King away anyway? We learned already there's only one dedicated Giants Pirates crew at a time). This is something worth keeping in mind. Perhaps Giants ought to run havoc (like in that proverb with mice partying when cats aren't around) and again, blamed it on the cursed Prince. Or maybe there's something more to all of this... seems King Harold had to leave Elbaf quite often, he did end up meeting Hajrudin's mother somewhere away from Elbaf, I guess, and brought both of them with him. Despite Harold being so loved, Hajrudin's mom wasn't even allowed inside the castle, because people of Elbaf didn't acknowledge her and even bullied her :/ all things considered, did King Harold really love his people after all of this...?

Interesting, we learn that the "land of warriors" wanted to connect with the world outside. Seeing their change in education, maybe they even attempted to join the countries united under the World Governement. But why would they do such a thing? Perhaps it was to overthrow the prophecy or to unite with others? If Elbaf is no longer a land of warriors but instead a land of peace, then no prince will kill the king. In one of his theories Joyboy even suggested that King Harold decided to shower his son with love to make sure he won't hate him. That's a nice thought, unusual, but would fit the guy's image. After all he did have a child with Giants outside Elbaf and brought that kid to Elbaf as well (Hajrudin). I guess it shows he wasn't a barbarian but instead a kind monarch who was personally against prejudice. Sadly, seems he couldn't really make the folks change their minds and they still ostracized both Hajrudin (because of impure blood) AND Loki (because he's cursed) as the result. Though who knows, maybe Elbaf at first loved the prophecy. A true warrior kills others in battle, it's a honour, right? Perhaps the view on Loki changed only after the Elbaf's big change occured and at first he had god-like status instead and was indeed seen as a true god of destruction! Which would explain why he thinks everyone should still see him this way.

But then we also have Hajrudin, who wants to unite all the Giants races and become a king. I can't help but wonder why didn't Loki become a king after killing Harold? Perhaps he never wanted to be a king himself, unlike Hajrudin? After all he could think of himself as god of destruction but not as a ruler, as those are two opposing views on Nika, their ideal. Btw, worth noticing, on the arsonist panel Loki is presented in Nika's pose (which I would personally call god of laughter, heh).

So Shanks captured Loki on the seas 6 years ago. What was Loki doing rampaging on seas? It again supports the idea that he didn't want to become the next ruler. Especially since we also learn it was 14 years since King Harold was dead. 8 years is a long time, in which Loki didn't attempt to rule Elbaf at all. And finally he ditched it all and went to sea, huh.

Zoro's reaction is worth noting. Perhaps he realized he should keep Luffy in check. We see them talking shortly after outside and Zoro immediately catches on to Luffy's plan for freeing Loki and he is against it. Which is funny, considering he usually enables Luffy's chaotic energy, even in this arc, it's not like him to pause and question, instead of following Luffy's lead no matter what. This is like 180 degrees from his fuck up in Wano, when he let Luffy cause a rebellion (would freeing Loki cause a rebellion or turn Giants against Strawhats? Seems likely from their big reactions!). Back then Law trusted Zoro to keep Luffy in check, but Zoro didn't truly even try and that led to horrible consquences (Luffy landed in Udon, Zoro was a fugititve the whole arc and basically useless to their plans, wandering on his own instead). In the raid he tried to control Luffy a little, but instead caused as much havoc himself as well. I would say Zoro learned his lesson and tries to act smarter than this. Back in Wano his pal Law trusted Zoro to be able to keep Luffy in check when needed, but Zoro failed, despite being with Luffy since the very beginning, being his first trusted crewmate and friend. My guess is he thinks Law was right in general and Zoro himself should do better.

At first, Zoro is pushing the "reputation is just a reputation" and "I never met Loki" approach, but quickly shuts up. He probably got reminded of his own past. Zoro has really good intuition (even if he doesn't always know how to act on it) and I would say this is one of those moments. He wants to keep Luffy in check, but realizes Luffy never relies on reputation about someone. And he's usually right not to do that indeed. So even though he expects Loki might be lying to Luffy, he decides to give it a small leap of faith, while keeping an eye on the situation. Good old Zoro :)

Interestingly we learn that Government sent informants to Elbaf before, but they all mysteriously vanished thanks to a giant crow. We saw that crow before, it's definitely the same one that carried Strawhats to Rodo. Which means all those CP agents? Landed in Rodo's lego diorama! LOL. Now who's a chad without even knowing it? That's right, our pal Rodo :D Those skeletons probably belong to some of the more obnoxious agents too, so you don't have to feel too bad about them, lol.

While we don't really have it confirmed that it was Cipher Pol, they're called 諜報部員達 Chōhō Buin-tachi "Intelligence agents." Very similar to how CP is called. It's not the exact same kanjis, but we have a similiar situation in Egghead with the kidnapped agents. Chōhō kikan was how CP agents were referenced to in Egghead arc. Only first kanjis are the exact match, but the meaning in both cases is overall still almost the same: (ちょうほう) means "intelligence" or "espionage," and "部員" (ぶいん) means "member." The term refers to forces specializing in gathering secret information. At this point it would be weird if it was anyone else than CP, especially after we learned that CP0 is Celestial Dragon's shield (God Knights are said to also hold the same power or even be Celestial Dragons themselves).

Funny how Loki calls Knights "noble" in same sentence he calls Celestial Dragons scum. Does it mean that at one point in history those fractions weren't the same thing or even linked in any way? Let's remember Giants have a long standing history and preservere knowledge about the world that might be lost to other nations and races already.

This also confirms God Knights is actually some sort of knight order. Not every God Knight seems to hold the "saint" title like Celestial Dragons though (we need to keep an eye on it for confirmation).

Let's examine Shamrock's behaviour a bit closer. He seems to be rather levelheaded and would want to avoid uneccessary bloodshed. If an objective or goal can be achieved without killing anyone (even a wolf), he would definitely prioritize that option. He also stops Gunko from being too hasty/hot tempered, which shows 1. he's higher than her in hierarchy (duh, we know that already, but it's really neatly reflected in this dialogue) 2. despite the fact he is letting her execute the orders without doing much himself, I don't think the order actually came from Shamrock, but instead someone higher up (like Garling?).

Seems Shamrock isn't even allowed to make his own decisions without consulting it with anyone first. And that despite being the leader of the Knights! I gotta say, so far, Shamrock actually doesn't score any bastard points yet, lol. Despite fandom expecting him to be "the evil twin" ;) as for me? I'm just observing him. and observing. lol.

I know many people think Loki is really coldblooded here, but I disagree. Here, he's not actually talking to the God Knights. What he's saying is meant for his wolf friend. He tells him to die in peace and accept his fate, while Loki will avenge him (TCB translation directs Loki's speech to third person for the wolf, like Loki is talking to God Knights about him instead of to him, but he's not. He's talking directly to the wolf, which is emphasized by the "tomo yo" - my dear friend, end of his speech). He also tells him to die like a warrior, without opposing his own fate, scowling or complaining. And the wolf is listening, it literally stops howling in pain when he hears that. This is the multitude of their bond, it's genuine. Those beasts don't follow Loki because they have to, they follow him because of the warrior code. Loki is the true leader of their horde!

His words might seem harsh, but they're mostly assertive, he wants to assure his friend that nothing can break him and things will end up in their favour in the end. It's to appease his spirit. He's not apologetic for not choosing to spare him, but he assures he will never forget about this sacrifice. This is indeed probably the best thing he could have done in this situation. To the people who blame Loki for not choosing a better option: you know what, you should direct your rage instead on the God Knights that toy with the lifes of other creatures like it's nothing. Know who your actual enemy is. Loki is a victim who is faced with an unfair choice from the very beginning. Shamrock and Gunko know it, that's why they try to play with his emotions. They somehow know Loki is more compassionate than he seems.

This is probably how Loki himself also thinks about fate. Don't oppose it, just accept it like a true warrior should. Might explain why, despite being rather kindhearted, he embraced his role as the god of destruction and prophesized cursed prince. Perhaps.

In next line he declares: Kono Ikari o Kuratte Ore wa!!! (I will receive this rage for you, or literally "this rage, I will receive!"), which is the exact same wording style as the famous line Luffy always says: Kaizoku ou ni ore wa naru! (the reversed order of words, The Pirate King, I will become!) And I didn't see it pointed out before, but for me it's a clear sign we're talking about inherited will here. Loki will take the wolf's will on himself, he will inherit it, and that will is rage. Sometimes the will can be a dream, love or care (Saul's case?), protection and many other things too, apparently, Which means the moment Luffy declared his dream as becoming king of the pirates, which he shared with Roger, he at the same time inherited his will, even if he isn't exactly aware of it. Now that's a thought!

This is a tiny little scene, with Zoro being attentive. This detail brought back warm memories. Zoro was definitely not acting like this in Zou, which were similar circumenstances! In both scenarios the crew discovers a ransacked place. In Zou, Zoro thinks the gate is simply open, not paying attention. Law corrects him, pointing out stuff, and Zoro soon catches on, trying to do the same ("something wrong with the road too!"), a bit like he wants a praise, haha. Anyway, Zoro inspecting this door to the castle (it was broken from the inside, you can tell by the damage it left, and it's something that happened recently too!) is the Zoro who is smarter after spending some time with his pal Law :) that's Law's influence on him, right there. God I miss Law.

Cute moment with Rodo being a big chicken and Nami reassuring him. Her intention here isn't dictated by kindness. She commented just a moment ago that "this is too vast to be walkable". She was nice because she wanted Rodo to carry her, so she doesn't have to walk so much. But for that to happen, she needed to convince Rodo to be brave and walk inside together with them, lol. Zoro of course joins in for the ride, because he's a lazyass like that (he did the same thing in Punk Hazard, lol. always riding on Brownbeard's tail). It's worth noting he's resting his swords, is that a small bit of trust?

It's cute how Luffy remembers Rodo's name. I guess it's because Rodo is part of the Hajrudin's crew. Seems Luffy took it to heart to remember the members of his own fleet, which is admirable for someone who has such poor memory like Luffy, lol. So he remembers Hajrudin, Stansen and Rodo now. I think Rodo is actually really appreciating it. Not only did Rodo capture Strawhats, Luffy doesn't even hold it against him. In fact, he had quite a blast in his lego town, was a bit sad to leave it so soon and regretted they had to destroy some of the stuff. In other words, Luffy actually likes Rodo. Luffy usually likes good people and doesn't believe anyone is unworthy of living, keep that in mind.

The interior of the Aurust castle is quite interesting. Some speculate the name comes from english word for owl (who knows, who knows). What are those catacombs down there (they remind me of catacombs in Alabasta that we could explore in One Piece Odyssey, they were also destroyed, and it wasn't because of Crocodile)? Why did everything overgrow like this in mere 14 years? And why was this place out of access, to the point that no one even buried the Giants that got killed in the battle? Things are really suspicious.

We also learn about ancient giant blood which often shows as the presence of horns. Ain't that interesitng?

And we finally learn how King Harold looked like. I swear he reminds me of Kratos, lol. Minus the moustache. Some people pointed out he also looks a bit like Kaido, and since we know that Kaido also had horns (as well as Yamato) and was always kinda huge (though not Giant sized), it would make sense. But I'm not sure he's another illegitimate child of Harold, I think Kaido's blood is more dilluted, that's why he's not big like a Giant himself, unlike Hajrudin!

This brings up a question though. Hajrudin doesn't seem to have horns, and we have no idea if Loki's ones are real or just a helmet (though one of his horns on his helmet was glued back on, if you look closely). Does it mean there's no guarantee to have the horns as a child of someone who has them?

Apparently King Harold ripped his horns off as the declaration of changing his ways and seeking peace, which I think makes sense, since he was known as Great Warrior, he wasn't born a pacifist. Do you think Loki, his son, did a similar thing? is it possible Loki at some point blinded himself, as a sign of his conviction? Perhaps, like Fujitora, he couldn't stand the sight of the world and all the atrocities he saw in it. Yeah, I don't think all that rampage in the palace was caused by Loki. But I could believe Loki saw it all with his own eyes and blinded himself afterwards, having enough of seeing so much cruelty. That could be why the gentle and kindhearted Loki we heard about from Lola's flashback turned into bitter destroyer of the worlds he thinks he is today. Yeah, there's still so many possible explanations and none is truly dismissed yet.

But there's one more possibility here I wanna mention. Loki might have been framed, but instead of trying to tell people the truth, he decided to push that lie and took the blame on himself. Maybe he knew people would blame him anyway, because of that stupid prophecy, and Loki doesn't really believe in opposing his fate. But that would mean Jarul knows what actually happened and lied to us (he did avert his eyes when he talked about Loki). That sword he has in his helmet seems to belong to King Harold, btw. We don't have a proper close-up of it in the portait, but the handle has the exact same, unusual shape. I think it's more likely King Harold attacked Jarul with it rather than Loki stole his sword and tried to kill his father with it. It just makes more sense, you know. Maybe Harold was manipulated (Mingo's strings?) or maybe he was never the nice ruler everyone thought he is, or maybe he went insane. My bet personally is still on Government turning against Giants. That circle in the throne room must have been there before, I wouldn't be surprised if God Knights entered through it before and caused all that massacre we saw remnants of, and blamed it all on Loki. Government always lies and discards the pieces it doesn't need anymore. After all, everyone are just insects to them.

But why would God Knights want Loki? Okay, hear me out. Not only Loki didn't deny the blame they put on him (which put him ironically in their favour, heh), he also ate his father's devil fruit. It's likely to assume most if not all God Knights wield powerful devil fruits. Maybe that's why they killed Harold, to get his fruit (it is said to be one of the most powerful fruits after all!). But before they could do it, Loki ate it and ran off or chased them away. I'm still not sure what is Jarul's role in all of this though. Why is he not telling the truth, if that's the case? Did Loki asked him not to? Or was Jarul's life spared on the condition he never shares the truth of the event, and as the result he was the one who commanded the castle to be abandoned and sealed away, so that no one knows the truth. I hope we will get more leads, this honestly feels like an investigation of a crime scene, haha.

Jarul seems to know more than he seems to. 1. Gerd and Goldberg want to report to him after they check on Rodo, because they witnessed a giant crow carrying a ship. Goldberg also mentions "they're supposed to arrest intruders" back then (chapter 1130). Compare that to what Jarul said to Luffy: "not many humans make it here and mistake Underworld for actual Elbaf". Still think he didn't downplay that comment on purpose? Let me spell it out again so it sinks in: they arrest intruders who make it all the way up to Elbaf. They're not welcoming strangers in their land in general, period. Jarul sold Luffy the "nice version" instead of the truth. 2. Someone put those guards to keep an eye on the abandoned castle. That someone was most likely Jarul as well, because he's the only one besides Loki who knows what actually happened on that fateful day. Who are those guards protecting the castle from? Possible intruders from the summoning circle? Definitely not, the guards were clearly dumbfounded by their appearance. They guard this castle so that no unauthorized folk comes inside. Just like Rodo said it - no commoners, himself included, are allowed inside. Jarul doesn't want most people to know what's exactly in the castle.

Few thoughts here. First of all, Rodo is a great exposition device AND an excellent nerd guide. He shares all those trivias and bits of history, god bless him that he's accompanying the Strawhats. Too bad other Giants do not appreciate him much.

Second thought: when he says that Hajrudin holds the grudge against Loki, he adds "sadly" (in Japanese the way he says it emphasized the "sad" part even more, suggesting Hajrudin was "the most sad out of all people" about Loki's betrayal). That sentiment there suggests Hajrudin and Loki weren't on bad terms in the past, but King Harold's death sadly changed that. That could explain why Loki was never seemingly interested in becoming a ruler himself, he probably knew Hajrudin wanted to become one (it was his dream since he was a child, as we learn thanks to the tiny flashback of Rodo) and he was gentle and kind himself so he supported his own brother in his dream. Even after whatever shit happened in the castle, Loki never changed his mind about it... if that's the case, that's some true brotherly love right there. Hajrudin on the other hand probably wants to defeat Loki now, but thinks he can't (perhaps because of that devil fruit). We met Hajrudin in Dressrosa, he was trying to win the flame flame fruit back then, probably hoping it would make him stronger to take down Loki.

Luffy realizes he's butting into a conflict between brothers, oh boy.

Third thought: I absolutely adore how Rodo points out humans also kill each other and they're not any better from Giants having infights. Though just afterwards his pride takes over and he declares other races of Giants are inferior, but seeing his answer to Nami's comment he's not ignorant, he's really self-aware of his shortcomings here. Perhaps he wished he could change himself. Not surprising, considering he is serious when he declares he wants Hajrudin to become king of the giants and unite all the giant races. He's struggling, but he does strive to become better!

Rodo in the flashback is absolutely adorable and kinda a crybaby. Didn't I speculate in one of my chapter commentaries that Rodo seemed to me like a bullied nerd since he was a child? well, bingo. He indeed was. But it wasn't Gerd who saved him but Hajrudin instead. Which is why he considers him his friend and supports his dream, despite having tainted thoughts about pure bloodlines and other prejudice. I can't really blame him, seems he was always bullied and still is, to some extent. No one really cared when Rodo was carried all tied up to the tavern, for example. And I don't think Giants are so dedicated to humans in general, like Gerd or Dorry and Brogy.

There might be a reason why Rodo is roleplaying a sun god in his lego dioramas, he's fantasizing about a world in which he won't be bullied and has some agency instead. Power fantasies yep. But like we can see, he also has a submissive side to him. All in all, I think he would just want to live in a place where he isn't bullied and everyone are accepted, even if he has hard time believing it could be possible. No wonder, if you're bullied your whole life it's hard to imagine a better world. But Hajrudin could and Hajrudin wanted to be friends with him, and that was enough for Rodo to have restored just a tiny bit of faith back in "humanity", or rather, "giantity".

Rodo also has a good heart and is shy, he doesn't want to admit to the Strawhats that Hajrudin was his saviour. Instead he focuses on how awesome Hajrudin is: "straightforward, earnest, endured a lot but doesn't give up". He has a lot of gratitude and compassion for his friend, and would rather speak about him than his own struggles. We know how good of an intuition Zoro has, he probably sensed Rodo is hiding something (just like he did before with Robin or Okiku), he just doesn't know what or why, which is why he's prying Rodo with so many questions here. It's actually a huge step forward from his judging attitude with Robin, he would rather inquire now than show full distrust. But after hearing Rodo's answer about Hajrudin Zoro recognized they're similar to each other, him and Rodo, both were saved by their respective captains and want to repay them with loyalty and support, but are too shy to admit the real reason for it. This is the moment Zoro decided Rodo is alright, actually. He got Zoro's seal of approval and perhaps a bit of disappointment (seems Zoro won't be cutting him today lol).

I find the way Zoro phrased it very funny and dishonest though: "You're an understanding guy, how boring". Yeah, he for sure doesn't think it's boring, he's just too shy to admit he's not that much different himself, pfff. Always trying to act so cool. It's even more underlined by the "nanda wataseba" comment at the beginning, suggesting Rodo's dream is a hand-over (he's trying to make someone else's dream come true and it became his own dream). Nami saw right through him there though which is why she laughed btw.

Speaking of Rodo, I dunno why so many people still can't find him likable and instead would show sympathy towards Gunko of all people. Her personality sucks! And she is a God Knight, what happened to the idea of "you're a bad person if you're truly supporting the Government"? She's the embodiment of exactly that! Doesn't apply anymore because she is pretty and flashed her panties and has a cool devil fruit? Geez. I'm just saying, it's less embarrassing to like Rodo than Gunko, he's a better person than she is. Gunko is so high and mighty, fully embracing superiority complex of a celestial dragon. I somehow get a sentiment that she was one of those recruits who always wanted "a better life" and considered becoming a God Knight as a chance to change her fate. Or perhaps she is trying to rationalize her own choice, heh.

Seems to me like Loki's threats are a bit hollow though. But I like his unyielding spirit! Though if he gave in now he would have let down his beasts friends that sacrificed themselves for him, so it's not like he had a choice, he had to act tough. I wonder if he's really so strong or is he just benefitting from the lies told about him...

And here we have him, the face and name reveal. Figarland Shamrock, son of Garling and captain of God's Knights, as well as a Celestial Dragon. Now, who is Shanks? Is he his twin? They sure are hauntingly look alike. Or perhaps is Shanks the clone? I guess we still don't have a definitive answer, but we know one thing for sure now: Shanks and Shamrock are two seperate people. I guess he's kinda handsome. I prefer more Shanks bratty attitude though. I wonder if the two ever met before... I would assume they did. Elbaf is Shanks territory and he said "he stayed a bit too long" and met Loki who called him a coward (perhaps for not releasing him or standing up to Shamrock?). Suspiciously enough we never saw the beginning of the conversation between God Knights and Loki, perhaps because Loki was already expecting them. I know people are already burying the "Shanks is the rat" theory, but I think it's a bit too soon to do that, lol. There's always a possibility the brothers are somewhat working together. Would I like it personally though? Meh, depends if there's a good reason for it.

For now I don't have any particular sympathy or antipathy towards Shamrock. I'm not opposed to the "twins" or "clones" idea here either. It all depends how it will be exected and I will keep my eye on this development. Still, I'm kinda glad it wasn't Shanks who had that secret meeting with Gorosei, just because it never truly fit Shanks to be there.

New piece of lore at the end of the chapter! In the past, Elbaf Giants dominated the whole sea of the New World, which is an interesting trivia to remember. It kinda makes sense, now after we know how strong they used to be!

A note about God Knights. They're called kishidan in Japanese which means something akin to "knights' order," suggesting a warrior group that hold values of honor and valor in high regard. Reminds me of those statues of warriors at the entry to the Red Line above, you know which one:

I wonder if there's some connection. Maybe a new incarnation of the old tradition. After all, who is the God the God Knights are named after? Imu? If so, what title does he hold? Another Sun God perhaps?

Yes, I'm insane like that, heh. But honestly, why not. Luffy is a Sun God, Bonney is a Sun God, Loki is a Sun God, Imu can be one too, lol.

More links on analysis of the last chapters:

Luffy says again he's not the hero and Nika has got nothing to do with him (standalone post of mine)

A video from Japanese translator dedicated to the Shamrock reveal, talking a lot about linguistics. We learn from it that Shamrock is probably not holding the same title his father did (Supreme Commander) but instead a lower rank captain, which checks out in my analysis of his behaviour too. There's some interesting trivia included about the ranks Dragon and Drake hold, suggesting that Drake is just a captain and there are probably higher ranked people in Sword above him :) interesting. I'm pretty certain this will turn out to be true.

Analysis of Gunko's Arrow-Arrow Fruit done by Tekking. Pretty good one. Everything besides his point about it perhaps being a logia I agree with. I probably won't pay too much attention to Gunko, because so far I'm not fond of her at all, but other people got you covered. She has a lot of fans already 😅

Elbaf's lore and investigation on King Harold and Loki done by Joyboy. He has actually two videos about that. His interpretations are kinda different from mine, so if you want to collect opinions and speculations to form your own theories, this is definitely something you shouldn't miss :)

[frankingsteinery]

been sitting on this for awhile because its a bit controversial, but its one of the main reasons i was pushed into the frankenstein fandom space so i figured it was high time to talk about it

ive noticed that theres this general opinion, both among scholars and present in more fandom-y spaces, that victor is somehow effeminate for what are ultimately symptoms of disability (fainting spells, being bedridden, hysteria, etc) as if being physically or mentally ill is something that is inherently feminine. i have read articles published by academics that victor’s sickness is proof of his “femininity,” which is why he wants to take on the traditional part of a woman, that is, childbirth (via creature)

even in general, and not on an academic level, it emerges in jokes or memes all over the place — people poking at victor for being weak, or sick, or a gay little UWU bean sub, because aw hes fainting all the time XD and he’s sooo dramatic! as if these things were somehow both his choice, and somehow innately feminine

so, not only is there this weird link people are attempting to draw between disability and femininity, but also queerness (particularly, ive noticed, being a “bottom” or “sub” — but thats a whole separate can of worms) and femininity. as if being either of these things is inherently girly or cutesy and thus worthy of being made fun of

there comes a point (particularly when these interpretations leak into broader understandings of something via pop culture), where, for lack of a better word, it comes off as fetishizing or romanticizing queerness and/or queer relationships

and while this may seem relatively harmless on the surface and comes off as just thoughtless jokes made in bad taste, it IS serious. not just within the context of frankenstein, but the general premise of the severity that even subconscious reinforcement of detrimental and stereotypical ideas should be treated with. its a slippery slope from jokes to notions that affect you and how you see the world

this is obviously part of a broader problem with the way disability, gender, identity and etc is thought about and taught, which results in people harboring all sorts of these types of underlying prejudices. its just that victor happens to be a particularly good example, wherein he is a feminized man that is ascribed as “weak,” and the attribute “weak” is ascribed to someone who has been historically analyzed as both disabled and queer. this has been reinforced for decades, and i feel like this treatment of his character in this way is so blatantly obvious and runs rampant while it goes nearly entirely unchecked — and also in the case of frankenstein discourse, its often a quadruple whammy (ableism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia)

and the worst part is that it is so often completely unintentional, and the bulk of this sort of content are well-meaning jokes. i genuinely don’t think people do this in bad faith or out of malice, but spreading these concepts even in formats that appear to be harmless (jokes, memes) just contribute to and continue to spread these ideas and stereotypes. its frustrating because its hard to point out and bring attention to without coming off as nitpicky or overly sensitive because this sort of thing is just so SUBTLE, and these beliefs are so gradually learned and then reinforced on a subconscious level

i could go on but for risk of sounding redundant ill digress, however to be clear this is not me saying you cant view victor as transfem, or disabled, or queer (i do!), or to view him as feminine, or etc, but that you should look at the reasons for WHY you think so, and how you or others treat the subject when talking about it.

[callipraxia]

It’s pretty clear Stan is closer to Mabel than Dipper. They have more tender moments, he teases her less, and they have more in common. Stan definitely loves them both dearly, it might just be a case of finding it harder to relate to Dipper. Because while Stan and Dipper share a stubbornness and a commitment to their twin, they share relatively little else. But I wonder if you thought there might be more to that?

If it’s not just because Mabel is more like him, but that Dipper is more like Ford and there’s some lingering thoughts and feelings under the surface that make it harder for him to connect to him. Perhaps some underlying issues that Dipper might end up like Ford, or a subconscious frustration towards his brother.

It could simply be he finds it harder to connect to Dipper because Stan’s now much older, might have an old man’s opinions about how boys should act because his own childhood was a lifetime ago and he’s forgotten what it used to be like.

Or maybe it’s because Stan’s doing his best to keep his family out of danger but Dipper is the inquisitive adventurer, and actively seeks out the mysterious that put them at risk.

This touches on one of the reasons why I briefly considered doing a take on the Relativity Falls concept: I haven't read many fics, but all the art I've seen for it seems to substitute the characters without accounting for the fact that Mabel is a girl whereas both of the 'original' first set of twins were boys. There are very few historical absolutes, of course (you get powerful, educated women even in history's most misogynistic eras), but if Mabel had been born in the early 1950s instead of Stan, the odds are excellent that the world would have treated her very, very differently than it did Stan, and that she'd have had a very different set of problems to contend with.

From what we see of Stan's childhood, he was under pressure, from an early age, to tone down the softer aspects of his personality: to be tougher, to be more stoic, etc., and that if he simply had to express emotion, he should do so through aggression. It's pretty striking to contrast the short in Lost Legends to the scenes leading up to the falling out in ATOTS: Little Stan could admit that what bothered him was his perception that Filbrick just didn't like him and how he wished he could get Filbrick to act as though he did for once, but by the time they're teenagers...During the first scene where they discuss the prospect of Ford going to college, Stan cannot admit any of the complicated feelings (fear of abandonment, how what the principal said would have to hurt even if you were used to it, maybe even anger that Ford seemingly had no problem with the idea of walking away from him whereas he was freaking out over the mere suggestion, etc.) he's having, so he just makes fun of Ford for sounding like a nerd robot. Ford seems to be at least dimly aware of what Stan might really be thinking, but the best he can do is say that Stan had better visit him in California. To Ford, that was probably a reassurance: don't worry about it, it's all good, I still want you in my life even if I'm not doing the same thing you're doing - because we already do some different things, right? To Stan, however, it was nowhere near enough. To him, the word visit just means: you don't need me; I am unnecessary, just like Dad always said. But he can't admit he needs to feel needed and doesn't even know who he is in a world where Ford is a completely separate person from him and they aren't just the collective "Pines twins." He can talk to inanimate objects, but not people - something mirrored by his behavior in the show proper, where he has no problem talking to Ford's super-secret nerd diaries during season 2, but cannot communicate at all with the real deal, who is a stranger who happens to look exactly like him but who doesn't act like he expected Ford to act. And in the finale, it's right after Ford apologizes to and accepts a hug from McGucket (ie, did the exact things Stan wanted him to do when they first saw each other again) that Stan snaps that it's good to see him, too, and only a very little bit later that Stan flips his lid without a care in the world for the bigger picture. From his point of view, people just stuck legs on his house/business just so they could all sally off and risk their lives - in his case, again - to rescue Ford...and Ford appreciates Dipper and Mabel, and he appreciates Old Man McGucket, who looks like the personification of bad grammar, but the only time Ford even acknowledges Stan's presence voluntarily, it's to criticize him. And by this point, Stan has internalized the Filbrick Code to some degree, as shown by his treatment of Dipper in "Dreamscaperers" and how he snapped that he no longer considered Ford family at the end of ATOTS: you toughen up, because if someone hurts you, the only way to handle that situation is to hurt them back, preferably more than they hurt you. This wouldn't have been exactly the moment to discuss his real feelings about the issue anyway, what with the whole active threat to the fabric of reality problem they had going on, but Stan isn't that great at repressing strong emotions until it's a more appropriate time to deal with them in general, and the only emotions Filbrick seems to have felt comfortable expressing were anger and contempt, and while Stan does have a slightly broader emotional range than Filbrick, Stan has also learned to channel a lot of every and anything else he has going on into one of those two emotions, too. Then you add in Stan's difficulty with emotional regulation, how he cannot just put it aside and deal with it later, and you get a sudden explosion.

Contrast Mabel. It's never really pointed out, but while Dipper’s having all these issues with whether or not he is manly enough all summer, his sister’s arguably already closer to the standard than he is. Mabel is loud to the point of dominating the room; Mabel is assertive and confident; Mabel even may have a bit more of a natural inclination toward violence than Dipper does. A Mabel born in the fifties would have probably been something like Stan in the looking-glass house: put under intense pressure from an early age to stop acting like herself in several key ways, but from the opposite direction. The world would have told Mabel to shut up, to not just see what she wants and boldly stride forward to get it, and to want very different things than she really does. It’s also unlikely she would have still really expected to stick with Dipper forever the way Stan seems to have really expected to do with Ford, because while she might run an out-of-home business for some extra money like Caryn did, the expectation would have been that Dipper would go Do Something With His Life while she stayed in Glass Shard Beach and got married; if they were still joined at the hip as teenagers, their parents would probably have been Concerned about that and trying to discourage it well before scholarships became an issue. All of this, of course, could have led to the same emotionally repressed pressure-cooker kind of situation that the Stans eventually found themselves in, but even if Mabel had broken Dipper’s science fair project, the outcome would have probably been different. It would’ve been less likely for her to get kicked out, and more likely for home life to just become far, far worse until she married the first person who’d have her in order to escape, or at least ran away of (mostly) her own free will instead of because the family had disowned her. If she had still gotten kicked out, though, it might well have been harder for her to find workable options than it was for Stan – which is definitely saying something - unless, of course, it was easier for her to do so, because Mabel's not naturally inclined to scammery and thus could have ended up tied down working in a sewing plant for ten years instead of roaming the country at all. And, of course, the only way she could have used Dipper's reputation as "that mysterious science guy who lives in the woods" to her advantage after his disappearance would have involved dressing in drag for thirty years – or longer, even, since unless she was already dressing as a man, she wouldn’t have been mistaken for Dipper by chance, which meant she’d have had to think up the idea of stealing his identity and creating the Shack on her own instead of just running with it when the opportunity presented itself. Either way, very different dynamic with Dipper once he got back, I imagine, and that's before we get into all the ways Dipper isn't exactly like Ford and how that could have affected the story.

There also would have been a lot of differences in how the Stans were parented, too, most likely…but I’m drifting a bit from my point, which (I think) was that I think part of the reason Stan is able to get along better with Mabel might be in part because of the ways in which he doesn’t relate to her experience and does remember what his childhood was like. He sees a lot of Ford in Dipper, which I do think caused some subconscious Issues with resentment that even he couldn’t have articulated but which doubtless impacted their relationship, but also a lot of his younger self, as he tells Soos in the porch memory. Stan probably shares Ford’s offhand confidence that Mabel can fend for herself in the world, but he sees the potential for Dipper to end up beaten up by the world like he was, and possibly going mad because of it like he might have thought Ford did – of course, we don’t know that Stan ever thought of that, but based on the state of everything Ford left behind and his behavior on the night of their reunion, I find it…unlikely that the thought of “oh, God, not only did I go off on my brother and make him literally disappear into thin air, but this happened because I went off on him when the reason he was acting so weird was because he’d had a mental breakdown” never crossed Stan’s mind over all those years. Which…I’ll just quote myself from the Ford Essay:

The matter is more complex than [previous paragraph, not relevant here] in this case, however, due to the show's setting and the 'rules' which dictate how that setting 'works'. Bill and Ford’s relationship exists in the context of Gravity Falls, which takes place in a world where complex and especially disturbing ideas are often partially diluted through the filters of symbolism and substitution, as is done with the show's recurring theme of substance abuse metaphors. The portrayal of the relationship between Bill and Ford is mostly devoid of humor anyway, but if Bill was truly another man, or even much closer to humanoid, then what little there is due to his status as an over-the-top, magic-wielding triangle-thing would vanish. Since he is a magical, over-the-top triangle-thing, though, the only time that Bill is, for instance, visibly physically abusive toward Ford in something like the normal sense of the term is during the torture session in “Weirdmageddon III: Take Back the Falls," and even then, the fact that humans can’t electrocute each other simply by willing it takes at least some of the realism, and therefore at least some of the horror, off the edge of the situation. Before Weirdmageddon, though, Bill only appears in his own person as an incorporeal dream demon. Before that, he could only inflict physical harm on others by gaining control of the victim's body, all while his eyes appear in that person’s face to simultaneously remind the audience that the victim is not actually the one inflicting the damage. We find ourselves, therefore, in an ambivalent situation: clearly, Bill is engaging in physical abuse, but should we regard Bill another entity in the usual sense, as one independent actor who is choosing to abuse another independent actor, or is he better understood as a symbolic representation of some mental illness that might inspire Ford and Dipper both to self-harm? The answer is more or less ‘both,’ which means it can be passed off as ‘neither’ well enough to – just, and probably only in combination with Bill’s cartoonish, neon-sign appearance – avoid the censors.

I’ve previously written another mini-essay about how the first time I read the Journal, I assumed “coffee” was a euphemism for “meth, cocaine, or both,” not least because of how similar Ford’s behavior was to someone whose stimulant addiction had careened into at least temporary psychosis. Stan had some inkling of Weird Stuff being real even before he came to GF if we accept Lost Legends as canon, and he learned a great deal more pretty quickly, but given the kind of life he’d been leading before he got to town…I imagine the question had to cross his mind at some point. If it did, then that probably made him feel ten times worse than he already did about the situation, and probably about as much more worried about what would happen if Dipper didn’t learn that the only way for a man to make it through in the world was to be tougher than everyone else, to always be the person in the room who could hit the hardest and sublimate other emotions into aggression the most easily.

Another thing about his relationship with Dipper that I…think I might have first thought of in a long-ago comment thread with Theory. One of my very favorite episodes of the show is “Little Gift Shop of Horrors,” because it’s basically a twenty-one minute powerpoint on Stan’s psychology. On the surface of it, it looks like “Abaconings” is supposed to star Mabel as a stand-in for Stan himself and Dipper as a stand-in for Ford…but in the story, the character who actually abandons Mabel to pursue genius is Waddles, not Dipper. Dipper is the person who takes her place in Waddles’ life, not the person who leaves her life. What’s the closest thing anyone ever got to taking Stan’s place in Ford’s life? McGucket. Of course, at that point, Stan probably didn’t know that the person he’d have felt discarded in favor of was McGucket, but since the layout of the episodes means the showrunners had probably already decided that the Journal included references to Ford having a friend outside the family, then this means Stan had already read about it after copying J3 while Waddles was in the room. If he put together that the mysterious “F” was McGucket at some point, then he’s even more jealous of Fiddleford in the Weirdmageddon scene than my ramble about that scene already has him being. So…well, this is highly conjectural, since the Journal wasn’t published until after the episode had aired, but if Stan was on some level equating Dipper with “F”, then yikes, does he ever have messy feelings he doesn’t know how to deal with about the boy.

Then we go back to Mabel. Mabel is a girl, so it’s okay to be somewhat affectionate with her – the expectations for her are totally different, showing affection to women is permissible, and what does he know about how to teach someone how to be a woman? Zilch, nada, nothing. This means he can just interact with her without much of an agenda other than “make child like me so I am less lonely” while with Dipper, he’s still got the agenda of “make child like me so I am less lonely,” but it’s also muddled up with “turn child who reminds me of both me and my brother in ways that scare me into a Proper Man so the world doesn’t hurt him, because after I toughened up, it certainly never hurt me again, nope, I’m a very psychologically well-adjusted person” and also his feelings about smart people and how they screw everything up. And then, on top of all that, Dipper is, as you point out, the adventurer, the one who usually leads them into the trouble Stan’s constantly worried about them walking into. Last time someone he loved knew how weird this place was, look how that ended; definitely not something that would dispose him kindly toward Dipper’s refusal to ignore how weird the town was. He’s also a constant threat to Stan’s ongoing Project, sticking his nose into things at every occasion, even being willing to talk to a fed! Mabel is straightforward, Mabel is uncomplicated: Mabel acts like a child who poses no threat to him and brings back no ghosts he’d rather forget, like the kind of child Stan was, more or less, when his relationship with Ford worked, and is perfectly happy to engage in entirely harmless childish pursuits like making bad art, watching the television, and playing with water balloons with him. Dipper does some of this as well, but also has all that other baggage attached. This could put him on a constant emotional see-saw where Dipper is concerned, generally much to Dipper’s detriment. This also makes Dipper a constant challenge to his ‘need to be needed’ – as he says in “Stanchurian Candidate,” he wanted the twins to regard him as a hero even more than he wanted everyone else to do so, and Dipper is both highly independent already and then immediately latches onto Ford, which from Stan’s point of view might have been akin to them both announcing that Stan just wasn’t a necessary person and that they might be better off without him. To quote myself again, from a comment reply to user underground_lurker:

Just to survive as a young adult, Stan also had to pretty much develop a moral code that allowed for harming (identity theft isn't violent, but it's still definitely a form of harm) basically everyone he came into contact with - except for the tiny group he defined as "my family," which served as a motivator to do whatever else he needed to do, no matter how difficult or distasteful he might find it. He couldn't believe in or care enough about himself to push himself when the going got tough...but the Ford in his head, the one I think he was addressing when he talked to Journal One in "Scaryoke" and probably for a long time before it, that guy was worth doing something for. Then, when Real Ford epically disappointed him after his return, Dipper and Mabel - both them and his ideas of them - were still worth doing something for. That's why I think he was able to so casually dismiss the impending death of his own personality during the finale as "eh, not like I was doing much with this space anyway." Mental Ford had been replaced by Real Ford, who didn't even want rescuing and who talked back and thought of things to say that Stan never could have predicted, and either the summer or the world was about to end, which meant the twins didn't/soon wouldn't need him anymore, either. Aside, of course, from the extent to which Dipper had already established that he no longer needed Stan anyway, what with Stan realizing he'd badly mishandled Dipper after "Dreamscaperers" and Dipper being the town mystery solver after "Society of the Blind Eye" and Real Ford being in the picture after "Not What He Seems" and all. So why would he care that his mind was on fire? There was no one left who mattered to him to do anything for, which, for him, meant his existence was at best pointless and at worst actually detrimental to the world ("Dad was right about me, I really am a screw-up").

There’s nothing straightforward and uncomplicated at all in the relationship with Dipper, and thus, Stan repeatedly bungles said relationship, which leads to half the events of “Dreamscaperers” and the massive buildup of tension until almost the very last moment of NWHS and creates several layers of the show’s emotional complexity, I think. Also, note to self, add MBB to the list of people to copiously thank in the acknowledgments when/if I ever get the Stan Essay done.

[secret-bug-pain-blog]

The fun part about stress is that when you're under a particularly large amount of stress from a single source, it's really hard to actually buckle under that One Thing. Even if it's a really, really big thing, that is threatening to ruin your entire life in one fell swoop, it's hard to fully get yourself to wrap your head around it. Big Things, in our experience, almost always take a good chunk of time to chew on and fully digest. You don't give way under the weight, you simply have to chew on it. Work through it. Maybe not directly work on it, but you don't really shatter from it. It just sort of hangs over your head, like a single massive weight.

The thing about these sorts of weights, of course, is that this adds to the stress from other things. You don't break down about the Big Things directly. When it happens, it won't be the Big Weight of, say, that cloying medical problem. It'll be the little things. That big weight is too big to really wrap your head around, too heavy to comprehend in one piece - so what gets you is, instead, the little things. The stuff that reminds you of it, in a way that's ever so more tangible.

Because you don't just think about, say, your future potential inability to financially support yourself. You go on with your life. You keep acting as normal. You work as you are, for as long as you can. And then that straw comes along.

You go out to a club with your friends. You think of buying drinks together. All of a sudden, you remember your bank account. Every penny spent on gin feels like a risk, a waste. You're irresponsible. You're wasting your savings away. How long can you sustain this? Everything you buy, and everything your friends buy, feels like abrasions on an invisible plane. Thinking about it makes you feel sick, and the more you stay, the worse you feel.

It's not spending two dollars on a beer, realistically, that's causing you the stress. It's the looming spectre behind it. The problem, showing itself in symptoms, so much more easily grasped. Your phone slips from your hands, and you think of the nerve problems that will only compound, and all of a sudden the mere idea of picking it up and dropping it again makes you feel sick. Your friend texts you something just north of warm, and all of a sudden you're spiralling worrying if your continuing problems have finally alienated them.

It's easier to grasp the smaller things, you see. It's easier to have one little thing happen and realize that you'll have to grapple with that for the rest of your life than it is to go through the symptoms list, because it's simple and immediate. Thinking of your future is too big to wrap your head around, but thinking of having to rely on someone to hold your hand just to walk you to the bathroom, over and over for the rest of your life - that thought scares you, more than any thought of the underlying cause ever would. It's not she's dead, it's how will i water the roses without her? or what will i do on tuesday now that she's gone? or how do i ever care for her pets?

Small is easy to grasp. Easy to think about. Easy to worry about. Easy to have happen, and have the horrible, bleeding spectre of its underlying cause crash into you, and leave you shaking and struggling to pull yourself together on the floor. A forced windows update might not scare you, but the looming fear of forced obsolescence will, the horror of not even being able to choose to opt out on a should-be-optional update.

Which is to say: it's not being forcibly turned into a werebeast that really gets you. Not the blades at your heels, or the blood on the floor, or the immediate knot of emotions when you realize your teammate's just seen you behead someone without even meaning to do it. It's not the injury, or the inability to walk, or the burning like boiling oil trickling down your muscles hours afterwards. What really gets you, once everything's over and done with, is sitting down and realizing that your only pair of shoes has been slashed to ribbons because of your own cursed body's spur blades.

Because it might not be the boots, on their own, causing the problem. But that, in and of itself, makes it worse. Because even if it's not the core of the problem, it's still the part that you'll fixate on, because it's faster, because it's simpler, because it's so much easier to grasp than wrapping your head around all that's been done to you, and crying over something as horribly, horribly trivial as boots makes you sound - well, it makes you sound like an immature fool, doesn't it?

A cruelty, perhaps, that the emotional state at which you'll cry over boots isn't one where you can put the source of the problem together. But really, knowing that it's the werebeast thing doesn't make you feel any less stupid. Because now you're the kind of person who cries over boots, and stupid, material possessions, when you have so many more problems, when a slip of your sleeve could get you arrested. And that, more than anything, makes you feel a tiny bit more helpless than before.

They were good boots, too.

[possessionisamyth]

Okay, time to list out all my problems with DMC:Devil May Cry.

What sucks about it, is that it probably would've been very well loved by a specific audience if they just didn't make it a DMC game. Change all the names, and you'd have a probable cult classic, but we're looking at this as a DMC game so here's my problems with it.

-Very 2012-2013 start with the whole Dante is a Cool Guy who goes to Strip Clubs and Drinks and Has Sex

-Immediate insult to gamers/fans who like Dante's OG look by having a white wig land on him and him check his reflection to say "Not in a million years."

-Kat being the first woman character introduced with powers who isn't kicking ass and taking names. From everything we know about several minutes into the game, the fact she's aware of demons means she should be packing a glock at minimum. Not a good sign for what they will do with her.

-Vergil is introduced with 0 drip.

-Retconning of Dante and Vergil being half HUMAN half demon, by making them half ANGEL half demon. As if this doesn't just sort of spit in the face of every single devil may cry game before it. The entire point of DMC3 alone was Vergil doing all he can to abandon his humanity. The underlying point of every single game DMC1, 2, 3, and 4 is Dante clocking the humanity in others, resonating with it, and finding it worth the effort to save or protect. And they just toss all of this out for them to be...half angels which still doesn't even add anything to their abilities because their demonic abilities from being half demon alone with what's always been utilized. It's just a stupid and unnecessary plot change that does more harm than good.

-Too much cussing. Cussing isn't a bad thing, but there's so much there's absolutely no space for clever wordplay because "fuck, shit, piss, slut, etc" are in constant rotation.

-Kat's entire dialogue with Dante where she explains she's always had these special abilities, and they tried to make it go away and control her via giving her medication. I don't think I have to elaborate on how poorly the messaging around this aged.

-Dante's hair turning white being his devil trigger form is such a lazy character design move when we get cool monster form, again, in every other game before this one.They don't even utilize visual story telling for this one. They could've made it where when we meet Vergil, who has white hair, we then see the flashback of them as kids where their hair is both brown. But since Vergil has white hair as a child, it can't even be used as a "Vergil is always in devil trigger" sort of storytelling. Like, had kid Vergil been shown with brown hair like Dante, that would've been a nice little warning to the audience that something was up with him. Yet. Nothing.

-The voice actor for Dante should've had his lines redone for his fight sounds. It was very bland to listen to, especially when doing repetitive moves.

-Dante is not having fun at all during this game. Like, he's not. There's not a single boss fight, even after he's done, where he looks like or acts as though he's having a remotely good time. He's annoyed or pissed off 90% of the time which is just...that's not Dante.

-The way the two main women are framed and treated in this game is so misogynistic I think I'd need a separate paper to examine everything, but I'll summarize it as a dudebro's mantra of "There's only 2 types of women. Dedicated housewives and ugly sluts."

-More poorly aged jokes centering around people being fat or ugly.

-Vergil's literally a pussy who's ass you gotta cover for until you have to fight him in the last boss fight.

-Severe lack of stupid bullshit. Every DMC game needs stupid bullshit to be entertaining, and this game is taking itself way too seriously.

-Enemy design had the same issues I had in Bayonetta 3 where all of them look the same except for one small change because someone on the crew didn't want to get creative.

-Normally in DMC games you only get the "here's the plot and what's going to happen" dialogue from the bad guys, but in this game it's every single person every time they open their mouths.

-The environment moving around to stop your way forward was cool in concept, but since the game is so linear it doesn't really encourage creativity with finding alternative ways around. On top of that, the concept of purgatory seemed like an unnecessary barrier because it supposedly keeps Dante and the demons from accidentally or on purpose harming random human bystanders. Yet, their actions have an effect on the environment so shit around the humans are getting destroyed regardless??? People are getting hurt and killed from the collateral damage so why make purgatory a thing at all? The removal or purgatory would've made it more effective by showing how strong Mundus' control was that he could have demons running around chasing Dante, get his little newscaster guy to placate the people, and nothing be done about it.

So yeah. It's a game very much of it's time, especially with having Ninja being the dev team. Had this been any other franchise, almost all of my complaints wouldn't even exist. It being an attempt at being a DMC game, a reboot nonetheless, is what's holding this thing back.

I think the only good thing they managed was explaining why RedGrave looks Like That at the start of DMC3, but that's all.