#cost of being an only child

[multifandom-nerds-blog]

I'm rewatching Trollhunters in the background right now, and the disfunctional mother son relationship between Jim and his mom is making me crazy.

Like, he's taking care of the household and his mother for years as a teenager and before probably. She is sometimes giving half hearted comments about him not having to do so much, but very obviously she's not gonna make him stop do all the cooking and cleaning. Y'know. Both because they've been living like this for years, and because it's obviously also very comfortable to have someone do all the house work.

Then Strickler comes into the picture, and if we ignore the whole Troll and changeling side of the story, Barabara gets very offended cause Jim doesn't want her to meet him privately. Again, ignoring the whole magic and trolls stuff, STRICKLER IS JIMS TEACHER. If Jim hadn't figured out that Strickler was a changeling he probably wouldn't have a problem with it, but the fact that he does, no matter the reason, should be enough for Barbara to put a stop to the relationship. Her child is clearly uncomfortable with her seeing/dating that guy, for whatever reason, and even clearly vocalized it. But she doesn't care about, or rather, she tells Jim that she "wouldn't expect something like that" from him. Obviously not, cause she may see him like her child/teenager he is, BUT DOESN'T TREAT HIM LIKE ONE.

And then Jim, unknowingly to Barbara, becomes the Trollhunter, and his behavior changes. He's suddenly doing reckless stuff, sneaking out, getting bruises, landing in detention and even at the police station, barely avoiding a police report. What does she do? Asking him what's going on? If everything's alright at school? If he has any other problems? Maybe trying to lower his workload around the house, which again, he's doing most of that as a teenager and longer probably.

Nah. She doesn't do anything until he lands in the hospital. Except for again, dismissing him rather negatively at the one topic he's openly expressing any negative opinions about (Strickler). And after he lands in the hospital she now starts not asking questions, but demanding answers. Demanding answers from a teenager in a difficult situation who is also now acting much more like a teenager than he ever did before, from her point of view at least. Except she obviously doesn't know how to deal with a teenager, cause she has never had to raise or live with a teenager. She instead lived with a child pretending to be an adult for years, that was partly much more of an adult than she was, who did way to much work even before Jim became the Trollhunter. So she throws punishments at him and grounds him, but does he listen?

No. Cause why should he? Not only is he dealing with things much more important than being grounded, yknow, saving the world, he's trying to protect her from the sheer knowledge of the supernatural and physically protecting her from getting harmed. And again, for the majority of the time since his dad left he pretended to be an adult. He was and is the main adult in the household, dealing with important things she doesn't even know about.

The only one's treating Jim like a teenager are teachers, other children and Blinky and Aaargh sort of when they're not in the middle of Troll business. Strickler, in the first episodes where Jim doesn't know about his true identity, is much more of a parental figure to Jim (also after his redemption later on tbh) than his mother.

In summary: Barbara is treating her son like an adult, almost like a partner, instead of a child/teenager. And when that isn't possible anymore she doesn't know how to properly treat him. She also doesn't really care that her son is uncomfortable with her being around Strickler, or Strickler in general. And it takes Blinky telling her (when Jim is 16) that Jim might be affected by his father leaving when he was five years old.

Jim meanwhile is treating his mother more like a child/teenager instead of the adult and MOTHER that she is. Seeing her as his responsibility. Cooking for her. Cleaning for her. Telling her to rest and take breaks.

They obviously love each other other. And their relationship might not be toxic, but it's very much disfunctional. In a way that is mostly negative for Jim.

[hella1975]

what’s crazy is that in not a very long time midoriya will be 20 and he will realise how young that truly is and how scared and clueless and searching he still is at that age and the same will be true at age 21 and 22 and 23 but shigaraki is already dead

[yuridovewing]

i understand the frustration with “i made this gay pairing cis x trans so they can still have biological babies” with no thought to other methods and how ppl assume thats the case when it comes to mothpool aus where mothwing is also the mother of the three, but also…. idk i kinda dont give a shit if someone wants to do that and i dont really think its inherently transphobic as long as its handled with care and respect.

what really concerns me about this debate is how some people are adamant that you cannot portray trans people having biological children in media or youre being disrespectful. and im gonna say as a nonbinary person who doesnt want children for themself- thats kinda fucking weird? like i understand that for some people, theyre trans themselves and theyre speaking from a place of dysphoria, and i absolutely get that, which is why i think the topic should be handled with nuance and diversity in trans characters, but like…. guys. pregnant trans men exist irl. trans women get people pregnant irl. trans ppl’s ability and right to parent and have biological children are being debated irl. we get denied the opportunity to adopt as well.

in a climate like this, are we SURE we want the stance on rewrites and headcanons in the silly cat books to be “if you portray trans characters having children, especially with a gay couple, youre a transphobic freak no matter what!” does it really matter? especially if its being done by a trans person handling the topic with nuance who has a lot of trans characters with varying perspectives?

obviously yes, remember that thats not the only way certain gay couples can have kids, remember that not every trans person is fully comfortable with it and keep that in mind, remember that surrogacy and adoption are also perfectly valid ways to give fan babies- but remember that there are OPTIONS. not that you need to condemn the idea of transgender parents in the first place unless they fit the very specific criteria of “proper transgender representation” and anything that dares deviate from that is proof the op is a transphobic monster (bonus points if theyre a trans creator bc i mostly see trans people getting shit for this and it kinda pisses me off. although idm if cis people do it either as long as theyre handling it with respect)

[freckledbastard]

kaeya hangout was literally everything i could have wanted and more

[shiningneedlecastle]

So like. Maybe it's an ironic joking thing, but sometimes the tags on your posts/reblogs make me feel concerned, so like. Are you doing ok? Do you wanna talk about it?

yeah it's not really ironic joking, not gonna lie i'm doing quite badly irl what with how badly the american education system is structured (especially medical education and how particularly hellish it can get). i don't wanna burden you with the sheer weight of all this horrible shit and i don't spend much time on here anymore. but thank you for the offer though, sincerely

[usermoon]

character/story/oc inspiration tag

rules: write up a blurb or make a visual collage of the people or characters (from books, TV shows, movies, etc.) that inspired your story and/or OC, either visually, personality wise, or just a general vibe

i just had to do it again for my girl terri

[unproduciblesmackdown]

another billions analysis thing is like so yeah while it's like "hmm let's think about power" but then doesn't really do that, what's there to offset that is "but let's think about what these people with billions(tm) are doing because of their like personal feelings & lives & whatever" and the personal feelings are the thrilling journey of s1 men following the compass of their ego & the way their personal lives matter at all beyond this is about their Relationships. except the relationships are also actually about the power billions isn't really thinking about because the ones billions focuses on involve this Fealty where one person does whatever and the other is just stuck with it. sure they might air some unhappiness sometimes, but if it's not punished or ignored from the start anyway, it'll still end up so inconsequential that it's as though it never happened. and what's left to offset the way that can't mean anything if you again take it for granted that of course people are just locked into such relationships & best they can do is fix it from the inside or embrace it as is? is "do you think this character is a winner among losers & you want to see them pwn everyone & do whatever they want forever" & if you like all the media the creators do like

[fabdante]

Any headcanons for reboot Dante and medical trauma?

Side note: Considering Vergil got adopted by a rich family and presumably had regular doctor's visits and such, presumably Nephilim blood + DNA and such doesn't look any different than regular human DNA. Which... feels like it should be wrong, since Nephilim aren't human, so there's gotta be some differences there somewhere, right? Maybe it just looked normal because of whatever spell Sparda (and maybe Eva?) put on the twins?

I always figured based on that one line from Vergil about meningitis being a human sickness and thus, Dante can't catch it, that both of the twins just don't really get sick or have any medical issues. So due to that and Dante's slew of bad foster homes, that he probably just like...never went to the doctor.

I do however think that once he got in the Order, the medical division there probably ran some tests on him at Vergils behest. I'm sure the details they were given were slim and they'd probably run the same tests on Vergil before, but Vergil probably wanted something to compare to. Dante is cooperative, but talks and moves too much which is annoying when you're trying to draw blood (he talks with his hands and likes to touch things).

As for Vergil, I similarly don't think he ever got sick so only ever really went to the doctor for check ups. I guess I maybe based this on my own experiences but I never really got blood draws as a kid until they started testing me for anemia and thalassemia (anemia but worse if you have the major strain and Mediterranean). Which maybe was a result of my deathly fear of needles up until I started getting like frequent blood tests? But idk regardless it sort of led me to assume that Vergil, being the picture of health to his pediatrician, never got his blood drawn asdfghjk

The idea though that he's just got his former pediatrician out there wondering what the fuck was up with that kids blood is very funny to me. Like, I just figured all Sparda did was wipe the kids memories so any difference in their blood would be noticeable still for medical professionals. So this guy can see somethings up but is not equipped to figure out what and the kid seems fine so asdfghj let him be.

That said, and regardless of how aware he is that he is immune to human germs, I also headcanon Vergil to be a germaphobe and a hypochondriac (he has a vibe also as a fandom we all seemed to have taken in the fanon that he just never takes off the gloves and this all just rolled with it dfghjkl). He's probably always hated doctors offices and made a fuss about being there and did not trust the needles for his booster shots. Once he figured out he didn't need to go, he definitely stopped going asdfghjk. The idea of someone who is immune to all illness and disease who is incredibly afraid of it anyway is very silly and fun to me, love that about him.

[ecto-stone]

Everything is actually a big Chess Pieces refrence ? Alway have been.

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

I’ve destroyed it all. The circumstances are not my fault; nevertheless, I am the straw that broke the camel’s back. I am the thousandth paper cut needed to end a life. I am innocent on my own; but with everything behind me I will be the one to bring destruction. I don’t want to be the cause. I never wanted this. I saw it coming miles away and I did it anyway; the worst part is that I see exactly where it’s going. Please let my intuition be wrong for once. This doesn’t feel real.

[rahabs]

I have given up entirely on my birthday this year after today.

[providencehq]

With the reveal of the Black Pawns actually being robots, what did you think that said of BK's leadership style vs WK's leadership style? Also, do you think she incorporated some aspects of herself into them? Like, fighting styles and personality traits; watching "Assault on Abysus" had me hyperfixated on that one Black Pawn with a speaking role. That one, at least, made me think of a younger BK, more easily frustrated and with the need to succeed without additional help.

Man, your brain. Thinking things I would have never esp in regards to Black Knight. You seemed to have nailed on the head of my personal headcanon when it comes to her: her leadership style is vastly different from White Knight but it seems more so from an internal force rather than external and it radically shapes their ideals and how it plays out into their leadership styles and let me explain. (Edit as I finish writing this, very rambly, I think I repeat points many times)

Black Knight is seen constantly as a need to control, something, anything whether it is as openly as Providence or as lowkey (more so indirectly but still having her hand in the pie as the saying goes) in regards to the initial Nanite research group. This need to have control and in essence power can stem from who knows where. We as viewers never get that chance to actually dwell into her past like we were able to in a degree with White Knight. I personally make the assumption due to what we do see of her of being a fairly rash, quick tempered, and take/make an opening to get the smallest step ahead as a result not having power in her life to some degree when she was younger. Black Knight has to make opportunities to get power rather than what seems to be willingly handed with White Knight in comparison. (I can and would talk about my headcanons about young BK here but that is long and lengthy and I feel like little evidence to support from the show but know my ideas about her and her relationship with whatever happened to young her is basically rivalry based and feeling lesser.) She kills a member of the Consortium who more or less challenged her and made it seemed like she was a means to an end (for the Consortium) because she wasn't viewed as an equal. Questioning of her role, her power, her knowledge is a threat to her and the ability to control herself.

But here's the thing! She's a really, really shit leader for Providence. We know she's rash, manipulative (yay! go gaslight, gatekeep girlbosscore for her). She can't lead like White Knight does. Here's the thing, White Knight, questionable at times with his leadership skills but he's commanding a massive, multibase operation over many years and he makes tough calls. He commands forces, he gets information, he's actively working on trying to better the world whether the cure is feasible or not. He was forced into a position of power by happenstance but he takes in stride and understands that his leadership hinges on the survival of humanity, cure or not. WK has a tough job he has good reigns on the whole of Providence.

What does Black Knight do? Clearly struggle through keeping Providence under any semblance of control in comparison. She has lost it's more or less elite force when Rex went a little MIA there for a few months and clearly she can't keep things in Providence under control unless every aspect it seemingly controlled by her. The Black Rooks, her elite guards (I don't think all of them are androids just... most. I like to think she managed to have a few actual human elite running around) ARE FUCKING ANDROIDS! SHE CONTROLS THEM FULLY! Programmed to obey (and clearly be more prone to violence and generally extreme tactics which uh, wonder who programmed them to be like that!?) But to get onto that point of her ask, I see it's a very reasonable jump to make that she included aspects in herself in the androids. She needs something that she can rely on, that she can understand what move they'll make next, that understand the objective. Time after time we see she can't rely on anyone but herself to get after her true goal of just control (over Providence, Rex, EVOs, nanites, Consortium, the human body, life and death itself) why would she program her elite to not have a similar mindset to herself? Basically disposable extensions of herself. But I like the idea of her incorporating her fighting style with them, I will be crafting ideas in my head for that for a bit. Gonna let that idea simmer in the brain pot of headcanons.

Also back onto the whole internal verses external forces causes her leadership to be super wonky and insightful in comparison to White Knight. White Knight is more or less driven, yes to an extent the Consortium, but mostly by to be in power. A goal that all of humanity can overcome or bare with the nanites. Dude is pessimistic, makes choices that could easily in the blink of an eye end millions of lives (like bleaching a city), and manipulates/misleads people to get closer to a cure. But it's all for that chance for a cure, for Providence to come out on top, for humanity to survive fully! He has the support of Providence, large portions of the population, Rex and Six and Holiday, to make the hard decisions for humanity. To make decisions with that kind of gravity can't be done lightly and there's trust in his leadership and decisions even if they suck from Providence on multiple levels.

Black Knight doesn't have this trust. We as the audience are missing a lot of information from those six months Rex was gone but Black Knight is in charge now and things are weird and bad. The lack of trust with Black Knight being in charge can come from so many angles: new leadership, discontent from the public and Providence workers as a whole, the loss of many of their assets without an effective replacement. But I lean towards she won't trust down the ranks in Providence. She sees herself as higher than everyone else in Providence and won't let anyone be an equal. Research? She knows best. EVO containment and control? She knows best. The direction of Providence? Don't worry, she knows what to do. Her need of control is her downfall for leadership, her suspected inability to have Providence soldiers/rooks be completely under her thumb with her decisions led her to make her androids that would follow her orders instead. (Which brings into question, what was something she asked them to do that they wouldn't cross the line of? WK was going to bleach a city, costing countless lives, what could be worse than that? Providence before WK was pretty casual about child vivisection so who knows! Maybe refusal to accept a new leader simply, esp head of Providence.) Black Knight's leadership is stemming from her need to control, a pressing internal force is seemingly every choice she makes. She's selfish and it shows how she heads towards goals with Providence as the vessel and man! is it shit! It's just a massive shitshow barely holding together!!!

Black Knight is ahhhhh! She's so focus driven on herself and her goal of control in whatever means and it's so clear she's basically a kid who wants power but doesn't actually know how to handle it. She's nothing like White Knight no matter how she tries to emulate him when she's running Providence. She wants power but she doesn't know how to handle it. She fumbles through the steps of being a leader and yes, members of Providence question her, but she's still there, leading it! It isn't until placing her directly up and against White Knight do you really see it! Their fight is such a great analogy for how they run Providence. White Knight prepares, plants ahead, has backup plans, and knows what he's up against verses Black Knight who lashes out, has to pull a plan out her ass, and thinks she knows what she's up against by personal history but not through technical knowledge and it fucks her in the end.

Ahhhhh! the parallels! THE PARALLELS!!!!!!!!!!

[navramanan]

A glimpse of hope: laptop turned on by being plugged in after my brother removed the battery. He suspects the battery might be the issue or any other component associated with it. He's being very careful and everything with what steps we should take next, but he's going to clone my disk just to be safe

[lanayrutower]

i'm about to throw hands with this yt poll.

this is the zelda version of that twitter butch post to me.

[lilgynt]

i think it’s real big of me to have a whole paranoia surrounding the number 23 bc of superstition final destination and delusions and then having the worst year of my life in 2023 while ALSO turning 23 and my only take is away is wow 23 was impactful age for me. also 17 year old me would not take any of this news well at all

[ahbutimavillain]

Honesty who tf gave the green light for s6 when s5 was that fucking awful