#cuz it's like the potential murder method

[smile-files]

the murder mystery i'm reading has a character whom i can instantly clock as autistic. yay! i have no reason to think he'll be the murderer but i'll be very angry if he is

[blasphemousclaw]

honestly i think the most that can be assumed from hornsent wearing the caterpillar mask is that hes okay with the jarring process, since it has such heavy connections to bonny village+the gaols, plus i think itd make an interesting parallel to marika where you have these two traumatized characters who lost everything to horrific acts of violence whod them go on to condone OTHER horrific acts of violence just because it happened to The Other Guy (hornsent losing his family to the crusade, being okay with jarring shamans cuz its an important ritual of his people and he desperately struggles to retain any last connection he can to them; marika losing her family to jarring, sending messmer to crusade against the hornsent without caring about his methods just so shed have her vengeance)

theres even something to be drawn about marika from how hornsents quest ends ("if miquellas redemption would quell the desire for revenge i feel, then i dont think i want him to redeem anything after all" <-poorly summarized dialogue lmao) wherein, combined with the shaman village lore, we can draw the parallel that marika didnt *want* her thirst for vengeance slaked, because much like how killing messmer didnt bring back any of hornsents people, becoming a god was equally disatisfying for marika. in much the same way marika tramples over corpses to become a god, hornsent metaphorically walks over messmers corpse to try and take his place as crusader, this time against the people of the erdtree.

it also paints messmer in a REALLY interesting light. hornsent is so consumed by revenge he doesnt focus on anything else beyond a nostalgic reminiscence. miquellas goal, as told to him, is to give the hornsent a chance at peace and to rebuild, and hornsent would rather sacrifice that to feed his own flames of vengeance. similarly we can assume marika never told messmer the location of bonny village or the gaols because theyre untouched by the crusade, despite definitely knowing where they are, and the gaols indicate that even after bonny village stopped sending jars, they remained in use by utilizing prisoners (potentially even prisoners of war+deserting soldiers) for at least SOME time before we find them. indicating that also, to marika, it was the death that was important. the fear, and the killing, and the slaughter. messmer by contrast sets up a clinic for the jarred shamans, is capable of being convinced against crusading and burning certain areas such as salza arguing in favor of sparing rauh, and has a library dedicated to the people hes genociding that stores information about their culture and anatomy (judging by the models he has hanging in the storeroom).

messmer, who places himself symbolically between the hornsent and marika to spare her the shame of being the face of the crusade, committing atrocities out of sympathy and love for his mother, vs hornsent who desires to commit atrocities out of an overwhelming need for revenge, vs marika who DID commit atrocities for revenge and desired them to never stop even if it meant losing the things she cared about (despite initially showering messmer with blessings and affection and special physiks, eventually she stopped saying anything at all about the war without grace or honor, and only miquellas prying reveals it all again, including the son she loved and left behind)

like UGHHHH i LOVEEE when characters have foils and you can use the patchwork of lore to help fill in the blanks about everyone theyre connected to

oh Hornsent and Marika are ABSOLUTELY meant to be parallels… both are on revenge quests where their goal is to keep killing and killing until every single person related to their enemy is dead. Marika has Messmer burn the Hornsent cities to the ground in vengeance for her murdered village, but most of these people were civilians, farmers… familes and their children who had probably never even seen a jar — their only crime was to be part of the same society.

Hornsent, though he despises Marika and Messmer for burning his family to death, does exactly the same thing that she did: he vows to kill Marika and ALL her kin, and he goes after us even if we helped him simply because we are one of Marika’s chosen. It doesn’t matter that we gave him scorpion stew and that I’m sure deep down he wants to like us, we were always marked for death in his eyes just because of who we are.

This is exactly the purpose of the caterpillar mask… feeling any guilt or regret about his actions would get in the way of Hornsent’s sworn mission. Hornsent having this mask implies that he had some knowledge of what the potentates did and sought out their attire for their violent rituals as a touchstone for his own violent quest. A lot of people act as if the jarring process was something the entire hornsent population explicitly believed in and supported, and it’s true that the practice is basically built into the society’s entire prison system, but the ritual slaughter and jar worship are implied to be esoteric practices carried out only by specific groups of people… I highly doubt this is a practice that every Hornsent knows of intimately and enthusiastically supports. And we know some did explicitly oppose the jar rituals; the greater potentate who wrote the cookbooks we find was disgusted by the practices of his village. So Hornsent finding and wearing the potentate mask is like him knowingly embracing the darkest, most violent parts of his society in order to use them against their enemies.

Messmer’s position in this story really is interesting because with Hornsent’s quest, he’s set up to be like his “final boss,” the guy who cruelly slaughtered his people and called them savages. But when we actually get to Messmer, he’s so much more subdued then we’d have thought, like an apathetic shell of his former self… he doesn’t even verbally acknowledge Hornsent’s presence, like he means nothing to him. The war against the Hornsent was never Messmer’s war, it was Marika’s. Messmer carried out this violence in vengeance for his mother and her village, but when Marika stops speaking to him altogether, the war starts to feel more and more like pointless violence, like he’s just going through the motions.

I won’t go so far as to say that Messmer had much sympathy for the Hornsent he was murdering; the specimen storehouse was more of a project said to be created by his fire knights who were uncomfortable about letting an entire society’s knowledge go up in flames (but chose to burn it anyway). but he absolutely has a different attitude than his mother… he feels more like her tool… used up and discarded

and lol no worries

[ilovereadingandstuff]

BRIDON ARC REACTION!!

Episode 6

Okay, I'll try watch it without pausing to make comments, haha

Here i go!

finally i'll catch up with the spoilers and all

---

"serve me with your body" seems understandable to Cheng Xiaoshi misinterpret that as prostitution HAHAH

but yeah, Cheng Xiaoshi modelling? GOD, YES, PLEASE!!

lskdgjsdf WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY NEEDING TO FIGHT PHYSICALLY MORE WITH LU GUANG TO GET HIM TO TALK?!?!?!

Cheng Xiaoshi, with that pose and outfit, GOD you're so gay

Lu Guang making a new friend? God, Xia Fei is so emotinal over it.

sldgjdf shiguang look like they were posing for a bl couple magazine, ONE I WOULD DEFINITELY BUY!!

Why did they look so comfortable doing so? Lu Guang lifting up Cheng Xiaoshi like a damisel??? riding together??? a bit more than friends i would say...

I knew Liu Xiao HAD to appear now or later

MOVIE JUST STARTED?? SOMETHING INTERESTING???! I'm scared...again.

lsgdsdfl Cheng Xiaoshi's text background is a photo of him and Lu Guang lskgjdldfgdgf i'm so normal about it

this was so sexy for no reason...

"murderous intent is your eyes" BECUASE YOU'RE DANGEROUS AND HE HATES YOU FOR KILLING HIS WIFE!!!

Older Toga didn't have to be this pretty, i swear

the fuck? mafia boss, 9 brothers???? tell me it's a joke TELL ME IS A FUCKING JOKE!!

Not Cheng Xiaoshi protagonist of a casual wattpad fic, sldfg

Not CXS curling his hair HAHAH

sdgdf daddy issues are strong

l LOVE THAT STORY!! wow, cute but clever, i guess

WHAT DID LU GUANG SAID?!?!? DID HE SAY THE SAME AS CHENG XIAOSHI, OR WHAT??

why Vein reacted like that???

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh

HOLY SHIT BRO, THE MAN IS ALIVE?!?!?!

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

WHY IS VEIN SMILING?? THE FUCK IS HAPPENING???

MOM!!!

WHAT!??!?!

Damn, I'm an idiot!!! haha, Qiao Ling had said Mrs. Qing!!!

HOLY SHIT MAN, CHENG XIAOSHI PARENTS ARE GODDAMN FIRE!! THEY SO HANDSOME FOR NO REASON, FUCK!!

FUCK! it's true...

sldkfj sdlf SHE CALLED HIM BY HIS FIRST NAME!! AAGH! right at my heart

WHAT THE FCU!ERKGLKSDJFG !AAAH??????

SHE TRAVELLED IN TIME?!??!?!?!

sdlgjfg, i KNEW THOSE EYES WERE TOO SIMILAR TO DIVING CXS'S

lsdjgf i'm so confused, aaahhh

HOLY SHIT BRO, WHAT???

THE DEATH OF THE PREDETERMINE TRAGECTORY?!??! AAAAHHH?????

WHAT???

is the mother trying to do the same Lu Guang is doing???

WHAT IS LU GUANG TALKING ABOUT WITH VEIN?!?!?!

AS LONG AS WE STAY IN THE SAME TIME, WE'RE BOND TO MEET UP AGAIN!!! that sounded so much as the lyrics of the song 'Break' AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

YOU'RE SON IS FUCKING DEAD, MA'M!! HIS BOYFRIEND HAS CHANGED THE TIMELINE AT LEAST 3 TIMES NOW!!

wait...IS SHE TALKING ABOUT PARALLEL TIMELINES???

So he MUST NOT go to another timeline 'cuz if he does, he will not be able to meet up with his parents again...

WHY OR HOW COULD HE DO THAT??

WHAT??

The Cheng family is so goddamn good at fighting is insane

WHY VEIN HAS TO BOTHER SO MUCH?? WHAT IS THEIR DEAL???

THE FCIKSÑDKLFJG FLU GUANG CAN CONTROL THE SPACE TIME?!?!?

"someone has complicated things further" why does it sounds like Lu Guang's doing??

Xiao Weiying WHO IS HIM??? VEIN???

HOW THE FUCK DID HE DIED?!??!?!

Missing Wang Qing...did she run away?? why?

WHY IS IT THE LAST TIME???!?!?! WHY???

Lu Guang wishes to mold a new future, and as he has the ability to go back in time and change it...something everyone wishes to do but can't...he's taking the opportunity to it's full potential because he wants a life with 'them' (which i'm asuming are Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling + Li Qiao was the police man?).

"method to kill silently" that's when the death note falls from the sky, right, Ryuk?? haha

I do really feel that Lu Guang plannes this all along...

Vein is...dead?

DON´T TELL ME THAT MODEL XIA FEI WAS FIGHTING WITH IS DEAD??!!

link click, the amount of killing is way too high...leave something for season 3!!!

OBVIOUSLY!!! Vein couldn't die, how could i fall for it?!?!

fuck...Liu Xiao is tracking back to Lu Guang...

Now Xia Fei probably will lined up in that sense too if he's so determined to find out about Vein's death...

Vein is alive and tracking Lu Guang's tail...(is his real name Xiao Weiying???)

Xiaoshi's parents are...messing with the timeline too??? Xiaoshi's parents made him the promise to meet up in the future after everything clears up for...his father? who's in problem? and the mother is trying to keep safe?? so they need cxs not to mess up or get involved...

Wang Qing is...missing? gone?

Jack is up to something??

Is Bridon's timeline the same one as the presented in season 1 & 2?

I just gotta say that i'm getting even more confused than before...

And, oh god, I enjoyed this!!

Bridon was pretty different from the usual style of drama-death-plot twist at the end of the episode...but good.

concise.

[pruneunfair]

Remember when ppl thought maid slapping was cool and a girlboss move? Yeah it was shitty AF when you think about it

Your Throne gives us a fresh look on servants in general, they don't do slapping but something worse objectively, cuz Medea, one of the Protags, sent some of her disloyal servants who wanted to leave her Estate when huge trouble first appeared to Houses who are hostile towards her and her House, very knowing they'll be on the receiving end of terrible treatments that can go to a level of murder, then basically methodically convinced them all to return to her after she conveniently swooped in to save them like a savior, they played right into her hands and became loyal to her tenfold

To be fair, this strategic move of Medea does make her terrifying and terrible cuz she sent ppl who just wanted to live should big trouble come to them to a den of danger, yeah I know it's a dick move if the servants even understand her schemes, but then again both Medea and the servants are only humans, they all had legit reasons for their actions: The servants wanted to leave to avoid danger, Medea wanted to teach them a hardcore lesson and a long term way to secure loyal pawns, her reason made sense is that she was exhausted of being abandoned by everyone who are closest to her, the servants were the closest to her, they saw her everyday yet they chose to believe rumours over therefore, she wanted to give them a taste of her medicine and well it went just like I mentioned, her plan works even though some servants died unjustly in the process, this particular event is interesting (There's that argument that they shouldn't have any obligation towards Medea but that just basically ruin any kind of work relationships/dynamics, that at least there should be a small amount of trust, not just work and pay)

I think it shows Medea's character the best cuz she can be cruel when she needs to, despite it all, she still feels responsible for everyone on her side even though her actions can cause them their lives, I suppose Medea is just used to it so she can't feel sad over one life lost when she got so many lives in her hand. It also shows how morally grey the entire situation is

Not to mention, Psyche's servants, most of them are her supervisors and aren't loyal to her in the slightest as that's not their obligation, their obligation lies with Eros who's basically their real master, Psyche was literally a precious pet they monitor, not someone they're obliged to be loyal to, they don't care about her at all, so yes though they seem normally fine and pleased to serve her externally, they don't feel the same internally, just a bunch of potential backstabbers, but some of them did become her biggest allies among a sea of enemies who ignores Psyche's wellbeing altogether

Overall Your Throne is a cold harsh realistic story of the historical fantasy manhwhas and definitely my cult classic cuz it doesn't shy away from anything

It was a little boring to read at first for me but I've been slowly getting to see why it's so popular. I just haven't had time to finish it since I got a lot on my plate when it comes to my homelife.

[imagineitdearies]

Ooh you watched it too! For some reason, the two seconds of Vincent we got reminded me of Tystar, but flipped.

Re: the venom potency thing, I was actually wondering. Am I remembering right that there’s a bit of a semantic distinction between a true vampire and a vampire master? Like, courtesy of Cazador and the Rite of Perfect Slaughter, we don’t have a ton of variation in the vampiric ecosystem of Baldur’s Gate, but aren’t there covens of vampires elsewhere, like in Amn or Athkatla or something? Where there are multiple true vampires with their own spawn, but a single vampire lord? Because presumably Amanita Szarr, when she was being pressured into partaking in the “family rites,” wasn’t expected to usurp Donnella or whomever, or Cazador or anything like that. So maybe Vincent was a true vampire from a different sire, but because Cazador is the vampire lord of Baldur’s Gate, Vincent is still “a servant of [that] dread master.” Hence the second cousin twice removed brother. And why a certain murder-happy vampire lord might have potentially benefited from sending him on an errand where he was a tad less likely to return (don’t trust Cazador, don’t trust him AT ALL, I suspect foul play and I’ll blame him even if it isn’t his fault)

Or there’s always the chance it’s due to whatever is keeping a vampire’s head even slightly animated, given that IIRC decapitation is one of the tried-and-true methods for vampiric permadeath. And whatever is keeping it generating any amount of blood. Cuz while head wounds bleed a lot, the head is mostly bones and brains and muscles and juices. Not a lot in the way of large blood vessels. So something’s squidgy either way. (Honestly, wouldn’t be surprised if Araj wasn’t involved in some of the alchemical nonsense. In wider FR lore, her family has a history of mucking about with illithid blood via having their daughters go and boink with them, and they kept vampire illithids as pets/livestock, so. Add in her creepy biting fetish, and this is firmly in her wheelhouse, I’d say.)

Does anyone have a copy of the new DMG/MM/whatever manual has vampire details in it? Cuz I think I remember part of the promo for this event was that they’d be playing around with new features from 2024 5e. Maybe there’s new info? Who knows! Not I.

Also also, upon hearing Vincent say “darling,” I am firmly and irrevocably convinced that he’s where Astarion picked up the affect. Cuz shamelessly gratuitous flirt seems like an odd match for a 39 year old magistrate, questionable morality or not, at least for something that makes up such a huge part of his outward personality. So I’m imagining Vincent helping him build a mask to draw people in. I’m also imagining them as like an ace/qp relationship, cuz Astarion deserves more platonic cuddles in his life.

In conclusion, I’ve had Vincent for less than a day and if anything else happens to him, etc etc and so on.

Hi there! Yes, I most definitely saw the one-shot as I am a huge D&D nerd haha (just ran a Western-inspired game last Saturday for a friend's birthday), so I love to see the BG3 companions being played in this format. I didn't know that they were trying out 2024/One-D&D mechanics though! That may explain some of the vampire lore discrepancies, though I would be surprised 😂

It's interesting, Cazador Szarr is called both a vampire lord (basically leader of all types of lesser undead) and a master vampire (specifically can lead large gangs of spawn) in bg3, but descriptions of both seem pretty scarce via my minimal FR Wiki dives. While Vincent being a true vampire could explain his venom potency, it would seriously lower my opinion of him, because we would have no reason to believe either via lore or d&d mechanics that he'd have to follow Cazador unwillingly. Regardless, you do bring up an interesting point about Amanita Szarr and their family rites--one could argue she was made into a true vampire, not a spawn, which would certainly complicate her story (though I'd say, even though people complain about Astarion not turning his romanced Tav/Durge immediately into a true vampire, that does seem kinda risky given just how much power you'd get on top of suddenly dealing with sanguine hunger, so I've always assumed she was made a spawn).

I don't have a copy of the new 2024 d&d rules myself! Others feel free to weigh in if you know whether they might explain anything new about d&d vampires 😊 though tbh my best guess is that Jeremy Crawford, as big of a lore geek as he must be, just didn't think too hard about the implications before deciding on a dice roll that Astarion would know the decapitated vampire they found 😂 it made for some amazing roleplay, so it was worth it!!

And as someone who friendzoned him my first run, I wholeheartedly agree Astarion deserves all the platonic cuddles 🥰

[jeweled-blue-eyes]

How dark do you think would be the au where everyone in wmmap comes to know of their past or lp life and openly start hating Claude. Like what if that include even Diana's present living form which she mentions exists somewhere in the continent. Will everyone wanna do Claude harms like Felix, lily, ezekiel(even if he isn't yandere)? How dark would you imagine that au to be? And what do you think Claude's reaction would be if he too gains his memory? How dark can it get? Murder attempt, self-harm, emotional torture from Felix and the rest since they can't physically harm Claude? Diana's spirit should still be lingering in lp timeline after Athy's death, and Athy's spirit reincarnated in Korea so Diana after suffering through helpless torture of watching her kid's suffering couldn't find her spirit even after death? So would she run back to obelia in the present timeline to let's say exact revenge?Do you think felix, lily and maybe even Jeanette go through self harm sessions cuz the memories of their past life would've been too painful to cope with? They couldn't save her and also contributed to her death in a way? Athy and lucas suddenly finding everyone around them very changed as in they can't look at athy or get ptsd by the sight of her after having knowledge of her horrible death? Will lp timeline come to haunt everybody? Would that have potential to be really really dark? And as much as I love yandere kiel, I really really really wanna know more about human or non yandere kiel rage, pain, and methods of coping.

tw mentions of self harm

The entire cast is too nice and they are almost all Claude simps. I don't think they would want to harm him...physically. Felix would be the last person on earth to want to harm him. He was just following orders and even in the canon timeline he stood by as Claude threatened her. Where was he when Claude attempted to kill her? He is his guard, shouldn't he be always at his master's side?

I think he counts as a lawful neutral. He will stand by watching someone get executed or kill the person himself if his ruler orders him to do so.

"Lawful neutral beings believe in a strong, well-ordered government, whether that government is a tyranny or benevolent democracy. The benefits of organization and regimentation outweigh any moral questions raised by their actions. Lawful neutral beings will uphold the law regardless of whether it is considered just or not. If the majority of the population disagrees with the practices of the government, then they must use legal means of getting those laws changed. [...] In their day-to-day affairs, lawful neutrals will adhere to the laws of the area they are in, and will also maintain their own sense of honor. "

Of course he'd feel guilty that Athy was wrongly convicted, but he'd tell himself that he was only following orders and they were all victims of Rosalia's scheme. He'd blame Claude's behaviour on dark magic or he'd just separate LP Claude from wmmap Claude in his mind.

Realistically the closest thing to him punishing Claude is him stopping acting like his friend. He just follows orders like a robot, he is bright and cheerful around others but when Claude appears his smile falls off his face in an instant and he acts distant. He doesn't talk to Claude until prompted and his answers are short, his voice without life. Alternatively: he quits his job but I bet Claude would know how to prevent him from leaving.

He might support Athy just by neglecting his duties and feeding her information. Claude is too op to be harmed by anyone other than Lucas, Jen/Aety and Athy. It might be worth the try to harm him during sparring practice or a duel just like good old times where Claude might deactivate his protection spells but I wouldn’t bet on that working. Felix would need a really good reason for going against his master (like being Diana’s ex lover or Athy being his daughter). He barely knew LP Athy. Would he feel regretful about her death? Sure. Would he go commit regicide for her ehh no. Reminder this is the man who stood by as Claude slaughtered an entire castle of innocent women. Mentally he’s the strongest. He commited atrocities and witnessed Claude commit atrocities. Self harm is off the table, I think.

Jennette Margarita:

yeah I can see Jennette doing mild forms of self-harm (refusing to eat because she lost appetite, biting her lips nervously, scratching her arm) and isolating herself from her loved ones out of fear that she could hurt them. She'd try to avoid Claude as much as she could and act incredibly protective of Athy. She'd be just very very nice and considerate, blaming herself for the slightest drop in Athy's mood and anything bad that befalls her. Probably has insomnia triggered by nightmares about the lp verse where she would wake up with tears in her eyes and have troubles to fall asleep again. She’d wear long sleeved dresses to hide her wounds and puts makeup on her face that cover her swollen red eyes. At first Jennette would be in denial about the memories from her past life but when once she has realized that some events from her dreams are coming true, she would get nervous and would be really pushy in her friendship with Athy. After Claude’s first murder attempt happened and Athy sought refuge, (as much as it pains her) she might resort to lock up Athy in the Alpheus mansion for her own good.

I guess novel Jennette would just kill him. She already blamed him for the death of her parents. If she'd cared about Athy, she'd make him suffer. Since Jennette acts as a toxic painkiller and being without Jennette makes Claude feel pain, she'd try to be around Claude alot and then suddenly disappear (vocation, friends, a trip) and let him suffer for a week or two before she appears again. Basically she would switch between giving him the equivalent of a drug overdose and a drug withdrawl aiming for his maximum suffering until he is dead. She'd try to rub salt into his wound too by saying it's what he deserves. And in the last moments before his death she would reveal that she had been Anastacius’ daughter all along.

Maybe she'd feel a bit guilty about the things her past self had done but I have the feeling novel Jennette tends to shift the blame onto others and wallows in self-pity.

Before she kills Claude she would stir up the nobles and commoners against him. She would polish her reputation too. For example she would donate money to the temples and orphanages to make herself look like a saintess while spreading bad rumors about Claude (or just reminding the public of the crimes he is guilty of) until the people wished she or Athy were empress and then she would rush to their aid, slay the evil tyrant and play their savior.

Ijekiel Alpheus:

recognizes that Claude and wmmap Claude are different people, but would be ill at ease around him. Viewing this life as a second chance he'd be way more forward in his affections. The confession would occur earlier, because he never got to confess before. It's his hesitance he curses. This Kiel would be much more proactive. During their childhood he would remind Athy that she will always have people who care about her even if his majesty would stop loving her. He'd tell her she has a place to stay even if everyone turns their back on her. When the amnesia arc happens he gives Claude up entirely and supports the anti-Emperor faction. It's the best for her if Claude dies or gets imprisoned. He'd try to make her understand how unhealthy her attachment to her father is.

Should Athy even hint that she prefers Lucas over him, he would stop wooing her immediately. He'd accept his unrequited feelings as punishment for his past self's actions and suffer in silence. Standing in the shadows, supporting her to the best of his abilities, and admiring her from afar is the only thing he allows himself to do. This is his punishment. He would lay down his life for her in exchange for the life his family took from her.

Lilian York: Believe me if she had the ability to kill him she would. The only things she can do is 1. glare at him 2. remind the servants what a shitty emperor Claude is 3. raise Athy with survival skills and a healthy dose of hatred for her neglectful parent 4. stage a kidnapping and let Athy be raised in the York villa until she’s old enough to claim the throne if she wants to. Lily would prefer to live a quiet and peaceful life with Athy and never see Claude again but if Athy really wants to raise a rebellion she would support her after her attempts to change her mind would find strong opposition.

Diana:

I have the feeling she would only be very sad. When she reincarnates and gets her memories back she would seek out Claude immediately. Perhaps during a national holiday where he has to appear in public. She would cry and hit his chest and just ask "Why why why? Why did you kill our child?". The guards would drag her away but Claude would never forget the sight of that woman again.

Dark! Diana would seduce Claude and then kill him as revenge (this is so ooc but I'd love to see it happen in a fanfic.

[notquiteaghost]

there's so much to unpack in The Jason Problem that it is kinda unfair to expect every fanwork to bother but, yknow. is the unpacking not what's fun???

like ok. jason is murdered, he gets better, he wants the guy who murdered him dead. i honestly think that's reasonable. it being the joker makes it possibly the most cut-and-dry it could get, morally, cuz the joker's sole motivation is causing pain. there's the potential for a really good story abt privileged white men who are violent n dangerous very intentionally because they think they have the right who cry insanity after, in the joker. do not at all trust dc to tell it. anyway,

oh this got long. ok a lot more yelling that is actually abt jason under the cut

the joker should die, but bruce can't kill him, because unfortunately jason u are not the only horribly traumatised person here. it's conflicting access needs. they need to talk this out with an objective third party, they never will, having A Thing you should definitely talk out with bruce and will avoid talking out with bruce as long as you live is like a requirement for batfam membership, that isn't the problem

The Jason Problem is. murder IS wrong. people should not be killed. but, also, we do not live in a vacuum, and our society currently churns out a small but significant number of people who are actively dangerous and will only stop being actively dangerous when they are dead. that sucks! we shld do smth abt that! but nothing anyone can do now will fix everyone overnight. that's the core tension jason creates by existing in a story, because batman is not a long-term solution, batman is a stopgap. and jason is, by some metrics, a better stopgap

the problem with jason's methods isn't actually how moral they are, the problem is it's very difficult to kill someone without it affecting someone else you've never even heard of. any time jason kills someone without first researching them right down to how they organise their underwear, he cld be leaving dependents without a caregiver or households without a primary earner or anyone without medical insurance or etc etc. even people doing terrible things can be keeping other people alive. and of course if he's mostly killing goons well then he's mostly killing poor people who probably don't have many other options isn't he, and it is in fact a disservice to his character to have him not target rich people. as if a kid who grew up in poverty n then lived with the All Of Gotham's Problems Are My Problems To Fix Personally guy wouldn't have a very specific hit list. nvm organised crime jason shld kill republicans.

anyway (...two!), THEN there's the aspect ive yet to see addressed in a way that doesnt make me twitch: the lazarus pit. the ableism inherent in every canon interpretation. that to kill anyone you need to be insane, that Lazarus Pit Madness is somehow a separate unique phenomenon from the inherent trauma of dying and then being resurrected, that jason doesnt have ptsd even before he died. the perennial batman media problem of criminals not deserving adequate care. how jason went to arkham, how arkham still exists.

it is my instinct whenever media makes a character ~crazy as a lazy excuse for being a villain to say okay, yeah, they're mentally ill now, no takebacks. and like you cannot tell me jason doesnt have cptsd, but i think post-lazarus pit jason shld be on anti psychotics and mood stabilizers. i think if ur gonna tell me the pit madness '''got better''' then it is because jason is on psychiatric medication. it is very Yikes! to have the only or primary symptom of mental illness be murder, which is why the murder shld not be a thing he is doing because he's crazy. he has lost the things previously stopping him murdering (need for bruce's approval / being fifteen), and also he's horrendously traumatised.

i think red hood stuff is the one part of his life he's reliably capable of thinking rationally about, because compartmentalising your personal shit in order to work a case is absolutely in robin training 101. he'll make a ten-step plan that involves running surveillance, breaking n entering, multiple fake identities, and execute it all perfectly, then go home and have to remove all the mirrors from his apartment cuz [redacted for being potentially delusion-triggering].

by which i do not mean that mental illness is smth u can train urself out of, but that pushing yourself to an unreasonable degree is a cornerstone of being a bat. he absolutely makes his shit worse by trying to act like he can just turn it on n off. they all do this, what differs is simply the symptoms n problems.

and! speaking of bats! obviously bruce is going to continue to have a problem abt the murder literally forever, holding everyone else to the torturous standards he holds himself to is a fundamental fatal flaw of his. but that does not have to be true of anyone else, and i think it makes for much more of an interesting dynamic if everyone else is on a sliding scale of 'Murder Is Wrong but he is family' to 'moral objectivity is a scam' to 'if bruce won't let me kill anyone then someone shld get to'.

like, yes this is objectively very fucked up. batman media is objectively very fucked up things the whole way down, that's why im here, let's explore the implications of your dead brother coming back to life n becoming a serial killer. i guess u can just have him not kill people but is that not boring? why not have everyone else have to reckon with what unconditional love truly means

uhhhh i forgot if i actually had an overarching point. in summary let jason kill people in actual positions of power because hey you never know maybe if half the oil barons die that might motivate the rest!

[amachaheadcanons]

Do you think the cast of Danganronpa v3 is chilling and vibin' in heaven? What happens to Rantaro and Tenko in the afterlife. Do they form a ghost relationship?

˚ᆺ˚

I've...actually never considered-- Um-- OMG YES!!!! AMACHA GHOST/AFTERLIFE AU FTW!!!!!

Or- OR. Instead of waking up the cast asap and shocking their system immediately, Team DR instigated level "limbo" as a way to ease the participants back into their real bodies. Slowly.

OKOKOK

Tenko would definitely be salty at first and seek out vengeance, however, I feel like Kiyo would be in hell due to his crimes but instead let's just say the kids are in limbo whilst the killing game is going on. . . yeah. Like a period of time to ease the deceased back into reality without simply awakening them and rendering them mentally and physically paralysed from the cruel reality they imposed on themselves!

She shakes and throws Kiyo to teach him a lesson whenever she gets close enough. Kaede and Kirumi stop her as much as they can but eventually stop trying due to her incredible persistence and the fact that it doesn't hurt him it's just time-consuming.

She pays no mind to Rantaro and Ryoma, considering they were victims. Excluding the odd degenerate comment here and there. Still harbouring some lingering hostility towards Angie.

She spies on Himiko and is happy to see her loosen up and begin her character arc. But is painfully aware of the fact they might never see each other ever again. She's rooting for her from the bottom of her heart so it's a bittersweet realisation.

Kaede still tries to help Tenko get over her bias, following around Shuichi and dragging Tenko along so she can witness his goodness. Eventually, Kaede gets tired of Tenko tarnishing his name so she turns to Rantaro as a live example. Often catching him being charismatic or really focused on something with that cute expression.

Considering they're probably going to spend eternity together, Rantaro's keen to form a bond. She throws him for being so casual about it. He doesn't mind cuz it's kinda fun. He just floats in a circle and back in front of her. Gravity in limbo is similar to on the moon only they can float. And the windy feeling when her hands brush against his limbs is really cool.

He apologises for not taking her more seriously and reintroduces himself adding, "C'mon, shake my hand, my soul's as transparent as ever," and "I'm not going anywhere Chabashira-san, no point holding a grudge into the afterlife,"

She's very stubborn at first, but considering how peaceful the living cast are, Tenko slowly realises this may potentially be the only people she'll be able to make amends with before passing into...hopefully, heaven.

Angie gets tired of the hostility and says the only way to enter heaven is to make amends. Kaede lies with good intentions, hoping her agreeance will push Tenko in the right direction.

It's a slow process until Miu is found dead. Tenko attempts to cling to the inventor, lacking protective malice as she learns there was no way to harm the searching soul. Miu acts normally and demands some alone time, complaining about Tenko's clingy nature and slips a, "Don't you get it Chabashitstain?! This is why Yusmello ran off with Yonorganism!"

Tenko starts distancing herself after that. Miu is mildly excluded until she makes it up to Tenko. Tenko verbally insists she forgives Miu. Deep down she can't hate a girl, though Angie & Miu were tempting that moral of hers.

Kaede attempts to console Tenko, followed by Kirumi, Angie, Miu, Hoshi then Gonta. But to no anvil. Gonta's pretty good at consoling too but it didn't sway her. She's startled by Gonta so much so, she throws him, along with assumptions of his murderous intent. The girl's groan in unison at her lack of hearing and self-centred nature before filling her in on how Kokichi manipulated the situation.

Tenko began to feel more and more alone despite the growing number of interactivity.

Rantaro grows concerned and bold, attempting a method unused thus far. "Chabashira-san, when you fell off a tree for the first time, did it scare you into trying again?"

"When your Sensei defeated you in a match time and time again, did you falter in challenging him again?" "How does Amami know th--" "Tenko, when you failed to throw your opponent over your shoulder, would you stop there and let the aggressor roam free?" "Of course not! Don't insult Ten--" "Then what's making you give up now??"

Cue Rantaro and his amazing words of conflicting. Being able to gently corner people with what they needed to face. "Don't run away from your emotions. Take your own advice and be honest with yourself. What else is there left for us?"

He reached her when everybody else lacked the knowledge and experience to touch her weeping heart. She starts reinviting herself into open discussions. Progress.

Tenko observes and attempts to understand the boys for the first time ever. She finds herself following Rantaro around the massive campus. Considering he's still trying to piece together the mastermind of such a grand scheme. They bond over their search. She gets to know him. And the other boys due to Rantaro being so friendly and charismatic.

By the time Kokichi joins them she's instinctively distant but Rantaro again has a soft spot for the misunderstood ones. Rantaro's kindness is so large it makes Tenko weak and frustrated. Suddenly, she worries he'll fall into Kokichi's trap. She starts worrying and watching his back silently.

Angie "gets a hint from the Gods" and starts shipping them. After a few funny comments from Angie, Kaede and Kirumi are on board. It's entertaining watching the almighty Aikido master blush, stutter, trip over nothing and float aimlessly despite her persistent walking and attempt to perfect her form.

Kaito quickly jumps on the bandwagon and suddenly their relationship is the most interesting thing that can link the kids to some form of normalcy. It was a good distraction from the pressing matters of the killing game.

Rantaro is none the wiser. However, when Kaede pushes Tenko to befriend Kaito and he notices her genuinely trying to find interest in conversing with the space-enthused boy...he's conflicted. He's proud of watching her progress unfold and honoured he took part in it, yet, feels a pang of tightness when seeing everyone boast about their blossoming friendship.

Considering Rantaro doesn't hear the teasing and gossip about Tenko's potential struggle. And upon noticing Tenko avoiding him oftentimes, he grows jealous. However, this makes the time she spends with him alone willingly, appear all the more special. He appreciates their friendship and confesses one night during training... "You've come a long way in the past month Tenko, I'm very impressed. Be proud of yourself. I know I am."

Somehow, his words make her chest tight. "I'm honoured to call you a friend."

Kokichi "boo"s him, the little eavesdropper. Angie slaps his mouth shut, Kaede scolds him, while Miu continues to embarrass the couple attempting to join their living comrades in their nightly training.

This however starts the tradition of the dead training alongside the living. Being with them in spirit and whatnot.

Tenko's bias dies down a lot in the span of 4 chapters. And when the truth is revealed to the deceased cast in the grand finale. The deceased cast is forced to awaken after Kiibo's blinding sacrifice. Tenko awakens with hasty breaths, demanding to see her friends. All of them. Boys included. Not allowing anything to take them away from her.

If Kirumi's the mum of the group, Tenko's definitely the overprotective big sister once she reaches her character arc.

I like this idea, it brings a little more hope to the despair. Plus I like the idea of them all being friends in the afterlife cuz there's no more threats or stress.

[apex-academy]

Chapter 5 Trial: What You Are in the Dark (#26)

“The only people who would have been that close were me, Kaichi, and Yuki.”

The others start getting out their electroIDs to check.

“Hmmmmmm, but Aidan’s just straight across from you, right?”

“Across from me is still farther from the door.” 

“And we’ve already covered how Aidan really isn’t a suspect this time.”

Kanagi squints at her screen and drags a finger across it too slowly to be swiping through images.

“Like, Iggy’s dorm is just past you guys, too.”

“I wasn’t in my room, as I was the one triggering the trap at the time?”

“...Oh. Right.”

“Then Kaichi...”

“Would have been the most likely to hear it, just based on location.”

“Except he’s not exactly a suspect in his own murder. Unless you really, honestly believe he could have stabbed himself oh-so-many times and proceeded to alter the scene.”

“Yeah, not likely.”

“Then our suspects are down tooo...”

“Kakumi and Yuki! Right?”

“And Kanagi and Tsunyasha and Mahavir... technically. Hummmmm...”

“I don’t think Mahavir did it, though...”

“I certainly wouldn’t expect him to target Miss Tsunyasha if he’d already killed someone...”

“...nor does it seem... particularly likely he would target someone else right after sparing her.”

“...........”

“...”

“Okey-dokie! So...”

“Kakumiiiii~! What’s your excuse?”

“For starters, I wouldn’t bring up something that makes me a suspect. You all didn’t seem to be coming up with it.”

“Tru.”

“Yuki?”

“Huh...?”

“Why isn’t it you?”

“Oh...”

“Hummm... I wouldn’t use my own knife...”

“So kind of the same thing as Kakumi...?”

Ichiriki double-points at the next person in the lineup.

“Tsunyasha!”

“............”

I don’t know what he was expecting.

“Okay, uhhhh—Kanagi, then!”

“Why’s it not me, you mean?”

“Uh-huh!”

“Uh... ‘Cuz it’s not?”

“She also said she wouldn’t target Kaichi. They did always get along pretty well, so I’m inclined to believe her.”

“Guess it’s some kinda jock thing, huh?”

“......”

I genuinely don’t know whether to be exasperated or concerned at this point. Please wake up.

“Er... The target.”

It takes him a minute to remember where he was going with that.

“I do have to wonder, why choose Mister Riseiin?”

“Gotta be ‘cuz of his memory thing, right?”

“If the killer was bound and determined to use the pill murder method, then yes. But I should think there are plenty of other ways to kill someone.”

“And frankly—and I’m not complaining!—I should be the easiest target here by a long shot.”

“So then...”

“Then why not go for the easiest kill? Hmm.”

“They could've figured you’d be too cautious to fall for anything?”

“They wouldn’t have assumed the same for Riseiin, you mean?”

“Like, he was pretty chill, though.”

“Yes, but he had those rules explicitly written up for his reference. And we all would have known it.”

“Hey hey, don’t his rules make things kinda weird, too?”

“Because he shouldn’t have opened his door?”

“Well, if he knew he was in Super Duper Murder Town whether he was looking at his notebook or his door...”

“...Then why would he take weird pills from strangers?”

“I... That’s a fair point, actually.”

“I guess you’d have to give him the pills... outside his room? Then there’s only his notebook to keep him from...”

“Keep him from checking his notebook?”

“You mean they, like, broke his hand?!”

“I thought you didn’t find any hand injuries.”

“...Oh.”

“But he shouldn’t have left his room in the first place, because of the rules.”

“But a lot of other people did...”

“...”

“Well.”

“Kaichi was being cautious when I asked him to open his door for the game demonstration. I don’t see why he wouldn’t have been any other time.”

“Then that just leaves, like, Sports Day and stuff, right?”

“With all of us as potential witnesses, someone should have noticed anything that suspicious.”

“Especially people popping pills, of all things.”

“So if we wanna get logicky with all that...”

“...Then he must not have taken the pills after all!”

“Whether or not he took them, they made their way into his possession somehow.”

“They made it to his room, at least...” 

“But Mister Riseiin isn’t the only one who’s been there lately.”

“We’ve all been in there now, I guess...”

“You think another person set the pills there themselves?”

“I don’t think anybody did while we were in there!”

“But the killer had free access to Kaichi’s room after the murder, right?”

“Hold up. If they put those there after everything, then how did Kaich take them before everything?”

“Dude, we’ve already had psychics—if we start getting into, like, time travel junk here, too, I’m totally gonna lose it.”

“I thiiiink what we’re trying to say is...”

“He never actually took any of the pills. The killer just put them in his room to confuse us!”

“Well, consider me confused.”

“Yeah...” 

It makes much more sense than a medical talent taking unlabeled pills from strangers... But “making sense” and “actually being true” are two very different things.

Especially with this lot.

[NEXT]

[akechicrimes]

I'm a brand new goroboy and have questions if you don't mind answering any of them 1. Was everything that Akechi said about the PTs being unjust a part of his detective act or did he really believe that changing hearts was bad prior to the engine room? 2. When did he first suspect the PTs? Did he figure them out immediately at the TV station or did he just become interested in Joker cuz he's gay and figured it out afterwards lol. Basically who sussed who out first? (1/2)

hello welcome!!!!!! we are happy to have u!!!!!!!! 

unfortunately we dont have concrete answers to a lot of these, but i will do my best!!!! these are some really excellent questions so i want to do them justice. and by do them justice, i mean theyre under a cut because it got really long lmfao.

thanks for the ask–this was really fun to write, instead of doing literally any of the work that i was supposed to.

1. Was everything that Akechi said about the PTs being unjust a part of his detective act or did he really believe that changing hearts was bad prior to the engine room?

SHORT ANSWER: we don’t know.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: we can’t say for sure but there’s strong evidence that he was probably telling the truth, actually.

VERY LONG ANSWER: there’s strong evidence he both is and isn’t telling the truth in the TV studio scene, but with the qualifiers that (1) he never necessarily says theyre unjust, he says they’re dangerous. (2) he probably thinks the phantom thieves change hearts in the same way that he makes people go psychotic. (3) his sense of justice is basically entirely based on righting wrongs that have been committed against individuals, not what the law says. (also, when i say “individuals,” i mean himself.)

to the extent that he’s lying–he does say that they’re operating outside the law, and that they have unknown and apparently very effective power that cannot be stopped by traditional law enforcement. traditional justice says that if you operate outside the law, that makes you automatically bad. akechi is playing the part of someone who’s lawful good, so when he says, “they’re dangerous and operating outside the law,” he has to say, “that makes them unjust.”

to the extent that he’s telling the truth, that’s basically everything else he says. i do think those viewpoints are his own for a lot of reasons.

when he talks about the changes of heart, he makes it sound like it’s a thing that could just happen to anyone–even people who’ve done no wrong. when akira voices support for the PT, akechi argues back against akira to say “If [Ryuji’s] heart suddenly changed, wouldn’t you think it was the work of the Phantom Thieves?” like it could just happen to any random joe schmoe. he’s acting like someone could just one day change their entire attitude–possibly for the worse–resulting in terror amongst the population.

we have to keep in mind that at this point in time, akechi has no idea that you can steal treasure to change a person’s heart. he doesn’t even know treasure is a thing, let alone that you have to send a calling card to make it manifest. morgana is the person who knew all that stuff, and akechi definitely didnt have access to morgana when he started his hitman career.

so with the way that he’s talking about the changes of heart, i dont think he assumes that changes of heart always change the person for the better. he has no idea that it’s literally removing a person’s distorted desires. i’m like NINETY-FIVE PERCENT SURE that he thinks changes of heart operate in the same way that his psychotic abilities work: you cast a persona spell, and a person goes apeshit.

from his point of view, that’s kind of what’s happening. when akechi casts call of chaos, a person starts behaving in a way they never would under ordinary circumstances in the real world. the changes of heart really look exactly the same way to an outsider’s POV. and to akechi’s understanding, call of chaos can be cast on even good people. from the phantom thieves’ POV, only people who’re mega-dicks can have their hearts changed in the first place, because the requisite to have a palace is a certain level of distortion. (futaba, of course, proving that you don’t have to be a mega-dick to have a distortion, but the TV studio scene happens before futaba.)

akechi’s argument is that leaving that sort of power in just anyone’s hands is dangerous. because that’s a LOT of power for one person to have. akechi would know, considering that he’s in the same position. he’s wary of the fact that there’s no guarantee that that person will use it for good.

that, of course, brings us to the question of “well, what does akechi think ‘using power for good’ is in the first place?” does he think that the phantom thieves are using their powers for good? does he think he’s using his powers for good?

when asked why he seeks justice, akechi says: “Because of sickening human beings… Yes, my contempt for such people drives my sense of justice. It isn’t some grand reason like society’s sake or some lofty ideal. It’s simply an absurd grudge… and extremely personal.” 

the traditional, lawful-good way of thinking about justice is that if you operate outside the law, you’re automatically bad. but akechi’s sense of justice seems to be driven primarily from the hurts he’s suffered, the grudges he still bears, and his conviction that wrongs personally done against individuals should be righted. it’s an end-goal oriented sense of justice.

if wrong-doers are punished and the grudges are appeased, then justice is delivered. how that happens does not necessarily constitute justice. my best guess at this time is that he’d qualify a lot as “the ends justify the means,” since his concept of justice is end-goal oriented. 

of course, i think akechi definitely shows throughout the game that he knows that how you achieve those ends is… not irrelevant. i think his black mask outfit (and a bunch of other things he says) implies that he feels like he is a “villain” of sorts. he demonstrates feeling a type of way about killing okumura. he definitely knows that his actions are morally wrong under particular lenses. take a look at this section:

Akechi: Who cares? My targets were all doing the same damn thing in this eat or be eaten world. [referencing that all his victims were dicks who kind of deserved to get glocked]

Akechi: How is that any different from the Phantom Thieves?

Ann: We’re not murderers!

Akechi: (now looking kind of pissed) So what?! [launches into speil about how it’ll all be worth it when he exacts revenge on Shido]

obviously he knows that murder is morally indefensible. but i think he’s justified it to himself as either not so bad because he killed primarily corrupt people, and/or that it’d be worth it if he achieves revenge on shido. he’s doing some kind of weird karma cosmic-scale balancing of “how much can i get away with and still be able to call it justifiable and justice,” and it looks like his answer is “quite a fucking lot.”

ironically, this makes his views on justice fairly practical. rather than idealistically committed to some platonic edition of justice, he’s more of a “what do i need to do to get the goals i want achieved? what needs to happen to make sure that asshole abusers get what’s coming to them? what needs to happen to make sure that i get emotional closure?” the biggest issue with that is the danger of a Pyrrhic victory–the moment where the means so go far that the ends no longer justify them.

all of this is to say: when akechi is talking about the phantom thieves as potentially unjust, i dont think he has a problem with their methods. “methods” are like a knife–it’s about how you use it, and for what.

i think he knows that changing hearts, and turning people psychotic, is morally skeevy if your sense of justice is very puritanical, but his sense of justice isn’t puritanical. i think he’s wary of what they might be using their methods for. again: his big argument in the studio scene isnt necessarily that theyre unjust, only that they’re dangerous.

seriously, though–changing hearts is potentially a recipe for societal collapse if used the wrong way. imagine if the PT were more self-centered and they went the light yagami route with their new supernatural powers, maintaining peace and order through authoritarian fear. that is, actually, the entire premise of the P5 Vanilla Bad End, in which the PT enforce peace through relentlessly changing hearts and making people too terrified to keep committing crime. 

since his views on justice seem to be defined by what the end goal is, he’d have to know what those goals are before understanding if they’re “just” or “unjust”–which is probably why he keeps hounding akira for akira’s viewpoints on justice, tbh. the phantom thieves are only unjust if their end goal is unjust, not necessarily because of their methods. (see answer to question 2 for related/continued discussion.)

2. When did he first suspect the PTs? Did he figure them out immediately at the TV station or did he just become interested in Joker cuz he’s gay and figured it out afterwards lol. Basically who sussed who out first?

SHORT ANSWER: i pretty sure atlus expects us to believe that he figured it from even before the TV showing–he figured it out when he overheard ryuji saying “It’s not easy being phantom thieves” when they were in the hallway. it’s the same time and place where akechi did his famous pancake fuck-up.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: the idea that akechi was just super horny for the guy who gave him shit on live TV and then realized that akira was a phantom thief later as a neat bonus is fuckign SENDING me.

VERY LONG ANSWER: because of the scene with ryuji, i’m pretty sure he knew that akira was a phantom thief, and also i’m half-convinced that he somehow got the TV host to specifically choose akira during the “ask the audience” portion of the show. it’s really too much of a coincidence. 

because of that, i think the other implication of the scene is that he wanted to see what akira was made of when he invited akira for a debate on live television, and was pleasantly surprised when akira had something very interesting to say on the topic of grey morality and achieving justice outside the law.

what’s interesting about that scene is that akechi becomes interested in akira regardless of what akira says about the phantom thieves. akira’s options are “They’re justice itself,” “They’re necessary,” and “They do more than the cops”–so it’s not like akira ever says that he dislikes the phantom thieves, but the level of support ranges and two of these imply a justification/reasoning for it. and then akechi fucking argues back on live television like this is some kind of debate, instead of a daytime talk show meant to distract bored housewives. 

like. akechi gets INTO it. justice is his THING. and here’s akira, who seems to be not only a metaverse user operating outside the law like akechi himself, but also has some pretty grey morality thoughts on what justice is and could be, also like akechi himself.

taking it as a given that he knows for a fact that akira is a phantom thief from the get-go, from even before the TV scene ever even happened, then akechi probably keeps hounding him because akechi’s interested in hearing akira’s reasons. he’s not fishing for evidence, since he already knows. this is very speculative, now, but my best guess is that he keeps hounding akira ever after this scene because he wants to compare notes, one vigilante to another, to hear how akira rationalizes his vigilante work as a type of justice. very possibly, he’s seeking reassurance to himself that his own actions are justifiable. (he certainly seems that way in P5R, especially when he wonders about if a “justice nobody wants” is really a true justice at all, or just someone being self-centered.)

so re: “did akechi figure him out or was he just gay,” the answer is. yes. akechi did figure him out, and also akira made him so intellectually horny on live television that he hounded the man down in public for follow-up dates. 

what a king.

3. Does Akechi have a Velvet Room? Does he experience rank ups with Joker and the game over stuff too? 

SHORT ANSWER: we don’t know. no, seriously, we have no idea.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: i’ve seen compelling takes on him having his own velvet room, and i think it’s thematically very fascinating if akechi is quite literally akira’s counterpart in terms of cosmic chess pieces, but i would be surprised if he did. but again, seriously, since there’s no confirmation on the matter, i say akechi’s potential velvet room is fair game.

VERY LONG ANSWER: lore-wise, i’m betting no. akechi was yaldabaoth’s piece, while akira was philemon’s (if i’m remembering my lore correctly). philemon provides the velvet room to aid the people he chooses–yaldabaoth has no such deal. the only reason why yaldo was in the velvet room in the first place was because he wanted to fuck over philemon’s chosen trickster.

it’s the same logic for why someone like adachi wouldn’t have a velvet room: while souji/yu, namatame, and adachi were all given the power to go into the tv world by izanami, only souji/yu was selected by philemon to save the world from ruin, and was accordingly given the resources and aid to do so.

secondary bonus: the psychotic ability/call of chaos just removes a person’s bonds in their heart, which makes them behave as if they were crazy. it’s the exact opposite of joker’s ability to create bonds. yaldabaoth’s one gift to his chosen chess piece was to essentially undo the very social links that make akira strong. so again, i’d be shocked if akechi experiences things like ranking up, or any sort of velvet room/persona fusing mechanic.

personally i think the loki/robin hood divide just happened because he awoke to a persona twice. awakening to your persona just happens at moments of rebellion and strong resolve, and canonically even other persona-users “awaken” (sorta) twice when you max their social link. i’m betting that he just had two moments of resolve: one in which he wanted to be a hero of justice, and one in which he decided he was going to tear shido to the ground no matter how far into villainy he had to go.

but as always, it’s not like there’s a hard consensus on the matter. 

4. How did he kill the shadows of people who don’t have a palace? Does *everyone* have a shadow in mementos?

SHORT ANSWER: he probably kills them in mementos, and also i think we’re expected to believe that literally everyone has a shadow in mementos.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: i’m almost certain that the mementos depths section of the game confirms that basically everyone’s shadows are in there somewhere, even if they’re just your average joe with no significant distortions. the palace ruler for that section is “the public,” and also we do see the shadows of palace rulers who’ve had their hearts changed in the mementos depths. so even if you’ve had your heart changed and are supposedly a perfectly good human being now, this evidently doesnt disqualify you for having a shadow in mementos.

VERY LONG ANSWER: morgana says that mementos is the collective distortion of everyone in the area, but not a lot more concretely than that. morgana also says that reality is fairly plastic and that reality is somewhat determined by how we perceive the world, so i think that we’re expected to believe that everyone has, to some degree, some level of distortion.

i could say that jungian theory, which is the theory that the persona series is based off of, says that everyone without exception has a shadow. but this seems a little bit of a doylist explanation. instead i’ll point to persona 3, in which people without shadows literally become comatose and apathetic husks of themselves. this is because having a shadow is actually a fairly important part of a person’s psyche, and not having one doesnt make you a good and perfect person, it makes you a nonfunctional vegetable incapable of cognitive thought.

so yeah, i’m pretty sure EVERYONE is in mementos. with the exception of the phantom thieves, because… i think we’re expected to believe that their personas are in some ways their shadows? but also their personas are like, real-life kinning mythological/fictional characters so hard that you bind them to your soul? frankly i’ve been confused about how shadows work ever since persona 5 had people’s eyes turn yellow when they go through their awakenings, since perosna 4 used to use that as a sign that the person was a shadow, so… maybe i have no idea what the fuck im talking about. LMFAO.

[sillyguyhotline]

cuz like,, ofc with joe we SAW him die. we literally. saw it. we know next to NOTHING about midori's "death," and we know alice's memories were altered with so even that's not completely trustworthy! i think itd be hilarious slap in the face to shin too if he was alive or some shit haha -h

yeah exactly!! i’ve been curious as to why the details around midori’s death have been so vague, so hopefully we’ll get a scene addressing that like we did with keiji’s murder. i can see a connection between the two in that they’re both crucial moments in character development kept purposefully vague throughout the story; the one disparity that i could see between the two is that keiji’s reveal, in and of itself, ties into his character development a lot more. a key portion of his character up until that point was how secretive he was and the conflict between our trust in him and his trust in us. in fact, a few scenes before this, he willingly disclosed some information about his childhood! his trauma being wrenched out him and twisted horribly was an ironic way to further his character arc, but one that fit very well with how we know midori treats people. alice and reko’s character arcs haven’t been very linear ones, but they’ve been primarily intertwined with each other, so revisiting the situation that caused the initial rift between them would, i think, be a good method of continuing with their characters. and yeah, it would also hurt shin a lot too!! there’s so much mystery going on and so much potential for characters’ relations to midori to be developed through this, much more than the joe mastermind theory! idk i think it’s feasible :)

[violetosprey]

BTD/TDDUP:  Who’s the most dangerous human character?

There is a counterpart post to this for the supernatural BTD characters already posted here if you want to check that out :P

I love the human characters in the BTD/TDDUP series.  Probably a little more than the supernatural characters to be honest.  When it comes to who I think is the most dangerous in regards to the public/humanity, I had to put quite a bit of thought into this.  I don’t really have a ranking system for these, but the main things I thought about were body count, level of sadism, and physique/intellect.

 I’m also going to be thinking about the difference here between who is actively the most dangerous vs. others who are potentially more dangerous.  But the real rating will be based on who’s “actively” more dangerous.

*major spoilers below*

I’m going to do this post from LEAST dangerous to MOST dangerous (opposite of my supernatural post because while the winner there was obvious, there is more to debate here I think).  Remember that these are only my personal opinion.  All decisions are up for debate.

7) Chris

I think it’s easy to explain why I have Chris at the bottom of the list.  He’s a sweet guy.  Unlike any other the other characters in these games, he was never looking to actively harm anyone.  He only snapped and seriously beat up one person.  And said person was HIS abuser so…yeah it’s even a little justified here (he just takes it a little too far).  There’s no indication either that Chris is quick to snap like this.  It’s implied that the MC and he were married for quite some time.  So he’s a rather gentle and timid guy who endured the abuse for a while.  If we’re talking “actively” most dangerous, Chris is the weakest here. If we were considering his potential to be a danger to society, he doesn’t really display any strong/consistent sadistic tendencies, or a high intellect to make him a common criminal or a mastermind of any kind.  I’ll give him this; he’s probably one of the physically strongest of the humans on this list.  I’d say the strongest physically here are probably Chris, Lawrence (if you still count him as human), and Marcus.  I don’t think his physique alone is enough to say he’d be a severe menace to society though.

6) Aria?

So we don’t learn a WHOLE lot about Aria.  She doesn’t look all that intimidating.  She doesn’t give me the impression that she sure works out enough to be able to take some of the guys on this list either.  But between her and Chris, Aria I’d say is capable of being a lot nastier. Chris has a right to be mad when he’s beating you down, but Aria seems SO much more vile when she tortures you. Yes, she has a right to be mad as well, but I always felt more uncomfortable with Aria torturing the MC. I found myself wondering if she took it too far.  I wrote a post long ago on Aria and my thoughts on her. There I go into more detail on why she makes me feel so uncomfortable (she’s actually the one character in the ENTIRE BTD/TDDUP series that made me have to take a break from the game for a bit).  But while she scares ME a whole lot, I have to put her lower on this list realistically.  Other than her sour relationship with the MC, I don’t really think she’s constantly tormenting other human beings in her spare time.  At least not as far as I’m concerned.  She’s an attorney for her main occupation, and very intelligent. So she’s definitely someone you don’t want to be on the opposing side at least.  So her “active” danger level is more that she’s likely cutthroat in the judicial system, but not really offing people on the side.  She does have a higher “potential” danger level though because not only COULD she possibly screw you over in the court of law to land you in jail…but apparently she has connections to HUMAN TRAFFICKERS. That.is.terrifying.  

5) Marcus?

Those who have wandered around my blog tumblr for a bit know I ADORE Marcus.  I think he makes a fantastic villain and a complete jerk :P He is INCREDIBLY intimidating.  He’s got a strong build and police training under his belt, so good luck overtaking him.  My money is actually on him being the physically strongest on this list.  He IS the tallest, and has the muscle to fill out the space.  I think his training could beat out Lawrence’s build (which just comes from manual labor). Chris is the only one I think who could give Marcus a run for his money (depends on Chris’s boxing skills and how well Chris keeps in shape honestly).  And intellect?  He’s both a good actor out in public, and calculating enough to plan a kidnapping and permanent captivity situation for his ex.  Yikes!  While I don’t think Marcus is a complete sadist (compared to some other BTD/TDDUP characters), he DOES show some enjoyment in tormenting the MC too.  So then, why don’t I have him higher on this list? Well if this was a list for “potentially” most dangerous, Marcus would win.  Can you imagine if Marcus was a full blown serial killer while working as a cop?  He could cover his tracks REALLY well.  He probably does cover his tracks after kidnapping the MC (AND he killed John to avoid witnesses).  But the thing to remember here is that Marcus ISN’T usually an active murderer.  He’s got one murder and one kidnapping under his belt, but as far as we know that’s pretty much it.  He’s a good cop most of the time.  He spends most of his time putting criminals away, not being one himself. The MC just makes him crazy.  So “actively,” he’s not usually as dangerous as some of the other human characters.  He could be more dangerous I think if people try to intervene and take the MC away from him. Otherwise, he’s on the public’s side most of the time.  Like with Aria, probably will leave you alone unless you cross him.

4) Ellen?

So Ellen doesn’t have a strong build to make her impossible to fend off, and she doesn’t have any scary connections like Aria does.  Plus, she’s only a college student.  So why should I place her higher than people like Marcus or Aria? One word: Unstable.  Oh she’s an intelligent young woman who carries on a conversation just fine.  She has a lot of insight as well.  But she also: Is interested in getting closer to a person she KNOWS is a serial killer AND necrophiliac, experiences catharsis by seeing others in pain, kidnaps Jack’s spouse and treats them like her pet dog, and has quite a bit of interesting ways to kill you both accidentally and intentionally.  This type of behavior indicates she’s more likely to cause harm to others.  The only problem is I don’t know is she’s really…done a whole lot of damage to other people at this point in time.  She may be too young yet (her potential victim count simply hasn’t had a chance to climb yet).  If she was willing to help Jack with his work though, something tells me she’s on the wrong track.  Still, since I don’t know how often she’s gone out of her way to hurt others in her daily life, she could move up or down on this list in regards to “actively” dangerous.

3) Lawrence

So if you want to disregard the bit about Lawrence being rotted by the river and turning into a lich, Lawrence was indeed born a human.  You can take him out of this list otherwise (I have him also in the supernatural post to cover my bases).  Similar to Ellen, I’m placing Lawrence higher on this list because of how unstable he is. And unlike Ellen, we actually ARE given hints that the MC in BTD2 is not Lawrence’s first victim.  If you’ve read my supernatural post counterpart to this, you know what I have to say about Lawrence.  I’ll just cheat a little and grab from that post :P

“ He might freak out/snap at people more frequently that we realize.  When he is upset too, unfortunately it’s not just that he’s letting his frustration out on whoever is standing next to him.  Remember at the beginning of BTD2, how Lawrence got upset when Ren left?  MC left the bar first, and Lawrence followed them OUT with the intention of beating them up.  He’s dangerous.  And when he kidnaps you (cuz he freaked out that he’d get in trouble for hurting you)…it’s kind of implied this isn’t the first time he’s done this.  He’s not as big a sadist as the others, but sometimes he does take a little more enjoyment in cutting you up than he should if you’ve managed to send him over the edge.  Not an intellectual himself, and he’s a little difficult to reason with. His physique also makes it hard to overtake him (you have to kill him when he’s sleeping).”

So yes, unstable, physical threat, small hints of sadism, and bigger body count makes Lawrence a greater danger to society.

The REAL Debate:  Strade vs. Jack

If we’re talking “who’s the most dangerous to society”…of course the ones most ACTIVELY dangerous would be the serial killers.  The only question is, which one is MORE dangerous? This can be a little tricky to answer. The problem is we have one serial killer who’s very straightforward and we know EXACTLY how he operates (Strade), while we have another who we hardly know anything about his methods of killing (Jack).  Strade is openly charming and cheery, but takes extreme pleasure in tormenting and killing individuals he usually tricks/kidnaps from local bars.  Jack is more of an enigma:  You don’t know where he finds his victims, how he interacts with them, his method of killing them, and  how often he kills them.  We know that young Jack is pretty sadistic, but older Jack doesn’t appear to share that same level of sadism.  Jack’s a big mystery overall.  Both Strade and Jack seem to show no remorse in regards to what they do either. Physique, they’re…probably not too different strength wise to be honest.  I don’t know their exercise routines to be able to choose one properly over the other.  I’d say Jack is probably more intelligent (he at least shows his education more than Strade does).  But since we don’t know how Jack operates when he’s killing, I don’t know to what extent he utilizes his intellect as a serial killer.  For all we know, he could be a little more primal with his killings, and just uses his wits to cover his tracks.  Who has more kills by the way either?  Strade kills for a living, so he probably has a large body count considering that’s how he makes his money.  Jack on the other hand lets the corpses rot away for quite a while, so I don’t know how frequently he feels the need to replace them.  So how do I choose between the two of these killers then?  Well there’s something I almost forgot about: longevity.  We actually have CANON timelines for these guys.  Strade is age 34 in BTD, and in BTD2 Ren is 2 years old than in BTD.  I apologize if you haven’t played BTD2 yet but…Strade’s dead in BTD2.  Gato confirmed that eventually one of his victims became too much to handle (in fact I think even one of the death endings in BTD can be taken as the canon ending that leads to BTD2- MC dies, but they’re able to take Strade out with them). So the oldest Strade ever lived to be would have been 36 at most.  Jack in TDDUP is 50 years old.  Young Jack in the extra scene is 25 years old.  Electricpuke DID confirm that by that time at least, Jack had already killed. So he’s been a killer for a bare minimum of 25 years.  Strade, I don’t know when he started killing, but let’s say maybe age 18 at the youngest (is it 18 or 19 you can go drink in bars in Canada?)  So killing for 18 years possibly.  Maybe he started younger, who knows.  Even then, the numbers look pretty close.  Just no way to really know the body count comparison between the two. Now in TDDUP, depending on your head-canon preference, Jack either gets away (I always consider the “You are alone” ending the canon one myself), or MC does successfully kill Jack.  And really the only reason I think Jack gets killed is because the MC is his weakness.  Strade bit off more than he could chew with his chosen victim, and Jack got caught by the one person he lets his guard down with.

Overall, I think this is a very close race, and maybe should be judged by who YOU think is the kind of person you’d hate to come across more, and who you think has killed more.  For me, I think I’ll go…

2) Strade

1) Jack

Personally, I’d hate to be caught by Strade more I think, but I don’t know if Jack does any torture either.  I decided to base this more off of Jack’s ability to get away with what he does for so long.

This was fun!  Please do feel free to disagree though and even add your own thoughts.

[vicsep7250]

hello i would like to share your sentiments in that atlus did a piss poor job keeping up anns and ryujis character development as the game went on. It Makes Me So Angry.

I thought I turned Anons off, no offense strangah.

Thank you strangah, also excuse me as I take this as an opportunity to share grievances with P5 and ATLUS.

Also, gunna hafta put this in a long post on pc...

OKAY

So, the problem ATLUS has is keeping up with new and incredible ideas and sticking with them. They also have a problem with sticking to tried and true methods they've used before in other works, so they usual stick with what they've done befor and just go "if it a'in't broke" with everything. Also they're cowards by lampshading it all as "we don't think/feel we have to change/add anything", which is an oxymoron but I digress.

In the case of Ann,

Takamaki is immediately shown to be in a shady/skeevy deal that she doesn't want to be a part of, or at the very least feels bad vibes from a supposed teacher to the school you're headed to. That's literally the first moment you see/have with her. Eventually soon after you're shown moments of her with her bff, Suzui Shiho to the one percent that forgot her, and immediately you're shown that they very much care for one another. The following cutscenes then go into her character and her situation, how she cares so much for Suzui, well being, and her future, to the point that she would sacrifice her own safety and well being for her best friend.

Everything with Kamoshida, the two girls, and the first Palace escalates so rapidly fast ( which is an incredibly bold and honestly well written up to the end ) and it shows Ann's true ideals and beliefs. How she'll march on forward in her life against the scum of the world just like Kamoshida, to the point where her own brutal ideology of "fates worse than death" come up with her near murder of Kamoshida's Shadow and her little speech during said bastard's public confession/demand for death.

Then it just all loses steam over the course of the game, and you can immediately tell that it was never planned for Ann to have her moment or character arc from literally minutes ago. Instead she immediately falls into the same troupe of "eye candy" - again, minutes after the first Palace - and is often focused upon with the sole joke or idea of sex appeal. That is literally her character through most cutscenes and stroybeats in the main story.

In the case with Ryuji,

It was changing from their norm of having the "Best Friend" role be changed from the cliches "pervy punching bag" and "haha blonde jerk dumb and hit hard". The Magicians of the last two games followed this archetype to a near T in their own ways, 3 especially so with Iori and 4 with Hanamura's clear heterosexuality ( I'm not saying that they aren't good characters or can be good characters, ATLUS just did a bad job doing so ), and more often than not it's done in the worse of ways.

Sakamoto was supposed to break the norm in those regards, as you can clearly see with his interactions with Kamoshida and everything with the first Palace of the game. But they character is lost when you have scenes and moments where this decent human being is tossed aside and replaced with "MAn We'd bE SmAShiNG MaD PUSs iF WE sAId wE'RE tHe PT" and the cliche horndog that gets smacked for comedy. HELL, he doesn't even need to be written as a perv for the writers to shit on him, look at the Ark and that horrible ending!

But nah, is fuckin' fine for the pervy jock to be concussed and knocked unconscious by his comrades for surviving an explosion cuz that's all he's ever been the entire game ye??? He's not some actually good kid who would risk his own life to save his friends ( Ann, even it was years apart ) and strangers ( the player ) and even people who've kinda threatened him ( Niijima, ya know, the blackmail!? ). He's not a kid that's survived and endured abusive and toxic relationships from people he's supposed to trust in, and grown to be a better person despite it all!!!

Nah, of course not. Besides, you wouldn't remember or acknowledge it unless you cared about him. Which ya don't, cuz ATLUS dropped the ball on him and fell into what they knew "best".

So yeah, those are my takes on why ATLUS sucks and their entire should stop being cowards nd be replace with better staff because of the potential and characters they threw away.

[stargleeksil-blog]

Criminal Minds s02e06 The Boogeyman review - or more aptly named, what the fuck are they doing to my emotions?

Episode 06 – The Boogeyman

Hey guys! So last time was super hard for me, because it’s rape and it’s gross and it’s degrading to women and I really hate that. This episode’s title suggests either kids are the victims, which I’m desperately hoping isn’t true, or it’s related to Hallowe’en. Which cannot be good, either.

Fuck. They’re just escalating in seriousness.

Alright, let’s see what happens. I’ve got my Pink Lemonade Schweppes on hand, I’m good.

Oh snap. So we’re still dealing with Elle’s issues. Good. I’m so happy with this season. I love you so much, Criminal Minds.

So Hotch is seriously worried about you, Elle, so fucking what? I’m seriously worried about you, too. And you should be taking a time off because you’re definitely off.

Why are those two terrifying those little kids? Why the fuck are they getting off on it? It’s seriously disturbing.

Fuck. That’s a dead kid. Damn it, why does it have to be like that? Fuck fuck fuck.

Wait. What? Elle had an evaluation, and she didn’t show up? Uh oh.

Plato: “We can easily forgive a child who’s afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life, is when men are afraid of the light.” Damn, Plato.

Haha, oh my god, Gideon acting like the parent of the BAU team. Like, everyone is whispering about why Elle and Hotch aren’t there if everything seems to be all right, and he’s like,heads down, do your homework. I love this dynamic.

What? He’s killing boys and girls? Damn. Fuck.

Aw, JJ is afraid of the woods? So sweet. And Morgan is scared of the dark, well was, according to him. And Reid still is. Aww I love finding out about them.

Can I just say that I love Texan accents? Makes me all tingly.

So he’s both methodical and full of rage? Damn.

Fuck, he hit her even after she died? Oh my goodness.

So it’s a sick local. Yeesh.

The Buddy System. Sounds smart.

Oh my god, JJ and Morgan talking to the kids is just the cutest thing ever.

Wait a freaking second. Is that Elle Fanning? Damn! I love her.

Aw, she’s looking for her kid’s hat. Just a little reminder of him. So sad.

Wait what? They’re now daring that kid to ring a stranger’s doorbell and run, especially now? Oh god. I really hate the big kid.

Great. They abandoned him. Assholes.

Fuck!

Elle’s on the run. Lovely. Poor thing.

Wait. So another kid is missing. Damn. And the mom is already pregnant with a third son. Damn.

Aw, Gideon trying to talk to kids is the cutest thing ever.

Oh god. Thank you, little boy. I love you.

Seriously? Abandonment issues when they didn’t have no fucking clue about her? So she’s lashing out?  Oh my god. The poor thing.

Right. So they’re actually surprised that a ‘haunted house’ is dark, abandoned, and has no electricity? Where the fuck do they think those rumors stem from?

Oh shit! Poor Reid, that’s just a stuffed reindeer’s head.

Oh, he is there? He’s just not there at the moment? The paper is from today. Okay.

Oh my god, they found the kid! Thank god.

“Only that Finnegan’s house on the hill is like the Bates Motel of Ozona, Texas … Reid, seriously, people that go into that house supposedly never come out. Spooky!” “Garcia, could you at least pretend not to enjoy that rumor so much, since I’ve actually entered the house?” “Sensitive. Sorry.” Oh my god, Garcia, I love you so much! You are such a little tease, leave poor Spencer alone, wouldja?

Wait. What? His wife is missing? Oh my god, I love Kirsten’s spooky voice. That is amazing.

“I got two words for you, my friend: ‘rear window’. That guy probably chopped that lady into delicious little pieces. Think about it. She may have never left the premises. She may still be in the house …” “Garcia, I’m sitting here in the dark alone, thanks.” “While you’re waiting for a potential murderer to come home? It’s kind of dangerous! It’s kind of sexy!” what the fuck is wrong with you, Garcia?

“You’re having creepy fun, I wish I was there!” oh my lord, I needed that ice breaker, oh my god I love this, and I’m typing this half blind cuz I’m closing my eyes in laughter. Oh my god.

Whoa! Morgan, that wasn’t nice! Stop scaring my honey bunny, you hear me? Or I may never give you cuddles again!

There’s still evidence in the house? That sounds kind of stupid. Maybe it isn’t Finnegan?

“When this is all said and done, I’d like to hang his head on my wall.” You do that, Morgan, and then try to stare the guy in the face every time you take a piss. Gross.

A bear trap? Fuck. That’s dangerous, dude.

Oh shit. That’s Finnegan!!!! He’s dead!!! Fuck.

Wait. So he died right after the first murder? Damn.

“If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound if there’s nobody there?” and Morgan is all like, “What the hell are you reading over there?” and it turns out it’s only Spencer’s brilliant mind. I love you.

Wait what? Instead of disappearing she cheated on Finnegan? Damn.

He shut himself off and everybody thought he was a predator? Fuck.

Cream spinach? Gross.

“So we’re looking for a guy who really, really hates spinach.” “Who doesn’t?” oh Spencer, I love you so fucking much.

Hahahaha oh JJ you little bitch! I love you so much! She just spun this whole totally believable story about why she fears the woods, only for it to be a made-up fable? Oh my god, I just found myself falling in love all over again.

“Because of the inherent absence of light!” Reid, that is so abstract, even I don’t buy it.

“JJ, that was pretty good, just know that paybacks are a bitch.” “I’m shaking.” Lol, I wouldn’t want to get on the other end of the payback from Derek … or maybe I would, depends … XD

“I love our relationship, we hardly need words.” Oh my god, Penelope, you just freaking made me day, you gorgeous beauty.

“Oh, baby, that’s so yesterday. I already have the minions working on it. In the meantime, your intrepid hacker found you a match to the other set in the database.” You amazing tech kitten.

What the fuck? It’s the counselor? Shit.

Damn, the wife left.

Fuck! You see the FBI and you run? Guilty!

Oh damn! I love watching Derek tackling men to the ground. Hot.

Wait what! That’s the hat of the dead kid! What the fuck is he doing with it in his bag? What the fuck is going on here? I thought the dude had a kid?

Oh shit. I love Derek so much. He’s just trying to provoke him into confession like a boss! Fuck! Getting under his skin, trying to wheedle the truth out of him with questions, then playing on his insecurities, damn man.

Oh my god! He just broke him! And oh my god, Shemar is fucking amazing! I just can’t with this interview, damn!

Oh shit, Derek is intimidating and hot all at the same time and I love it and it’s not good for me.

What’s up with James’s kid? Why isn’t he at school?

Wait, he’s trying to goad him into confessing by implicating killing his son? Damn.

EpiPen? What’s that?

Why are all of the dairy products sealed with ductape? What the fuck is going on here?

Wait. The kid is the killer now? Oh shit.

Wait what? Oh my god.

Shit. The kid is killing other kids? Oh my goodness.

So the kid who’s supposed to walk with her home in the ‘buddy system’ just abandoned her. And Jeffrey just popped up to ‘help her’ and he has a fucking baseball bat. Shit.

Why did he just throw her book bag? That’s not nice.

Oh I love you, Tracey! You are amazing! What the fuck is wrong with you, Jeff? What the fuck is wrong with you?

God I hate that kid. I mean the character, the kid is probably amazing.

Oh my god, the poor little thing! Jeez.

Ugh, just leave her alone!

Find her! Find her!

Oh thank goodness. Fuck. Oh my god.

His dad is in such a bad place, I totally get him. Poor thing. Damn.

Wait, Spencer is blaming himself for not telling everyone that Elle was off? Oh babycakes. I love you Morgan, I love you for being so amazing to him. I love you.

Whoa! There’s Elle!

What! Elle is leaving? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely. Fucking. NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why are you doing this?

Oh my god.

Of course you’re not, you nearly died! Of course you’re not the same person. God.

I can’t believe Elle is just going away. Oh my god.

 Okay, so this episode again was super hard for me cuz it involved kids dying, and it’s super hard for me. Also, the killer ending up being a kid himself? Talk about psychotherapy in major doses. Yikes. And Elle leaving the show? What? That’s not right at all! No. Absolutely not. I will not accept that. You have not just done that, fuck you assholes. I’m kidding of course, I love you guys, your show is amazing, I just get emotionally attached to characters and that is my own personal flaw. Keep doing an amazing job for the next 10 and a half seasons I still have to watch. <3

Alrighty guys, let’s see what they do with Elle’s departure next episode, kay? Laters!

[codegayass]

also just saw a long post sayin this better (but its got v/egan discourse all over it so ill stay away) like i do think the message of the movie is more anti capitalist and anti industrial farming than anti meat as a whole which i think is a much more effective message for most people. like it was more about the methods and cruelty than about the dietary argument and i think thats a message people are more open to which makes it a better activist film if u wanna put it in that category imo 

like the whole discussion in my class the past semester was largely about making an effective activist film wrt animals and making it in a way that doesnt put people off and actually causes change (blackfish is a popular recent example) and i think itll be interesting to see if this film achieves that? cuz it seems like it has potential 

anyway having only seen memories of murder, snowpiercer, and okja, bong joon-ho is quickly rising to become one of my fav directors and ill have to watch more of his stuff 

[unproduciblesmackdown]

if you were around for the pre-end-of-mh days you might remember times i like to talk to myself extensively, pointlessly, and dumbassedly about my own thoughts, which go nowhere and solve nothing. literally ignore me, talking about bring me the spider cup, i wanna prank crimmins natcho. my proclivity towards trying to figure out mysteries is matched only by my total inability to do so.

firstly i was like ok, this doesn’t necessarily mean eno knows who this guy is, which i think is true but unlikely. he’s probably met him before and while i think it would be funny if this is all some roundabout unnecessary revenge scheme by someone who considers eno his rival, i’d think it was more likely eno was kind of in a position like wallace where maybe they just worked in the same place. (sidenote: he is so clearly evil how do people share an office with him. please fix this mess jerry)

becoz the thing is it was a bit strange eno said he couldnt take a client via a social workers request with the reasoning that he’d left that life behind him? because he is a therapist now after all. but it would make more sense if he used to maybe be associated with / work for a company like that. i dont even know anything about privatised versions of social work but maybe it could work like that. and maybe he worked with crimcrom because sure, maybe crimmins just murdered his way into head of a company or other unsavory methods, and/or maybe also he has actual experience in the field. because maybe he was working at the same place as eno?

because honestly if i was going to take a very vague guess of where the social work is involved here, its that if youre going to do terrible dangerous medical experiments on people, you take people who have connections without the wealth/time/stability to investigate or else just people who wont be missed at all. people whose debilitating struggles and unstable situations you actually have documentation of. and it does seem like everyone with someone missing was relying on kent and co. to find them, because they couldnt themselves, because their sibling/whomever had been targeted for that exact reason, that their family/friends wouldnt have the means to find them. probably this has been going on for a while and most people are just killed and those who arent are kinda just chucked out somewhere to be found by whoever

anyways, the thing with eno, the idea he was working with/for a company earlier is a bit confusing too because its confusing that kent and yumi were killed but eno wasnt? theres the chance that the attempt simply failed, but i had thought that maybe because eno wasnt the semi-public face of the effort like kent was or an official worker like yumi, maybe nobody who put the hit out knew he was even involved. but since im guessing we’re guessing crimmins was directly/indirectly involved in the Day Of Murder and he knows about eno, thats not true……but then its a bit fuzzier why eno wasnt killed if he wasnt just helping out as a friend but sort of associated with his work, like yumi was. maybe it was part of a longer con, like as might be made clearer soonish. because unfortunately i really doubt crim would show his hand like this if he wasnt secure in everything favoring his schemes currently

it also makes sense that eno had been in a position like yumi’s because im also assuming eno thinks its his own files that someone had got hold of. cuz if yumi and kent had the same papers, surely eno did too. and if he was just keeping them to himself it would be one thing but if he was using them with his work like yumi was, then maybe it happened like he said it did only with his file/company in place of yumi’s. which makes sense coz of why he is so uncomfortable and why he was so surprised about it. probably he didnt suppose it had happened until kip said it did, and he suspects it was on his end that it happened but doesnt want to say it because its unpleasant and because he doesnt want to say it to kip.

i was hoping that gayness would be the wrench in the gears aka kip wasnt supposed to learn of the link between kents files and wallaces, but maybe he actually absolutely was? it would make sense why crimmins was so keen to make sure wallace got kip to work with him. because unless it is remarkably nuanced i doubt part of his plan involves trying to get wallace to directly harm anyone, cuz obvs he wouldnt, he is just motivated to not get fired and hopefully do good work. but it seems like a safe guess that kip would see wallaces papers even though kip really should be getting paid for this, and maybe crimmins was assuming that kip had already seen kents file? because if he had worked with eno and gotten his files, he would basically know what must be in kents files. and it apparently wasnt a secret that the files had made it out of the fire with kip

but its a hell of a con because its like, it seemed like a bonus that kip realized the coincidence, because why would crimmins want kip to suspect that wallace is somehow connected with the scheme that kent was investigating / his family and yumi were killed for? but apparently he could guess that kip would meet with eno about it, because i guess he’s tracking one or both of them. speaking of, im hoping that kip hasnt just gotten jumped. im sure its a concern on the best of days that eno told him to be safe, but it seems ominous

just like it seemed ominous when kip told wallace he trusts eno more than anyone. wallace sure learned a lot in those couple of days, namely: he already knows where kip lives exactly and who with and that they are good friends (not sure how coincidental it is that they live in the exact same building, maybe its just convenient), who kip’s ex-boyfriend is and where he works and who he works with and that he and kip have Strong Feelings for each other, who kip’s therapist is and that he sees him once a week and is a old and close friend whom kip trusts above all others, and i’m sure wallace has been able to pick up that kip has a dead brother and theres a story behind it and its a touchy subject. i mean, that’s mostly completely irrelevant info to put into a report, but maybe not if it was relevant to mention that he was working with kip since after all his boss had told him to. but probably crimmins was guessing that if wallace was making headway at all, he had got hold of kip. and since apparently he has eyes on people, that helps too. fix it jerry

im not thinking that its ominous that kip trusts eno so much because he shouldnt or because eno has been lying all along or something—like, if eno suspects himself for being involved in something now, im supposing he hadnt thought so before or hadnt considered it mattered because everything about how everything happened was moot because nobody was going to be continuing the matter and everyone was leading totally different lives. and as for currently, its not like i think eno is like, having the past catch up with him aka he’s betrayed kip or anyones trust before. i mean maybe eno has some totally unrelated dark secret that can be held over him, but even then i doubt that it would be anything where he would be forced to do something to endanger kip to protect himself. rather, i’d guess he might be given more of a non-choice in which he has to do something that will endanger kip because the threat is of causing kip immediate harm. what seems worst is that crimmins is really showing his hand early here maybe, or anyways, he thinks that theres no possible way for eno to prevent whatever crim wants to have happen. which is like, bad

and if he knows how much kip trusts eno, which he probably does, thats bad too…

if wallaces only purpose though was to show kip the files he had, that also has to mean rousing kip’s suspicion…..also, if kip had known about kents files before he’d seen wallace’s, wouldnt he potentially be immediately suspicious enough of wallace to cut off ties with him? maybe that doesn’t matter idk. b/c tbh it seems like theres only so much you can do w/ wallace while preserving his “unwitting involvement in an evil scheme” status, you cant ask him to do anything non-job related. unless his reports are doubling as surveillance or something. but he wouldnt do anything he thought was harmful or over his bounds. even asking him to get kip involved was weird, but at least crim seemed to accurately count on wallace caring too much abt his job to object with stuff rather than simply doing what he had to to keep it

like, clearly something about kip is important to crim’s schemes but how could i guess what. because im guessing we dont have enough information yet, but even if you gave me the info we have now and told me to fill in the blanks however i wanted, i couldnt come up with anything. im really really dumb as hell and not creative enough to take the ventures required to come up with accurate theories. but ok, medical experiments, it could just be anti-monster, but it could also be pro-human which happens to be anti-monster aka more exploitative. cuz it doesnt seem like theyre “Kill All Monsters” as much as “its fine if monsters die but if theyre alive we’ll just dump them somewhere because we just literally assign them no value unless somehow they’re useful towards whatever’s going on here.”

coz kip has two powers: 1) he’s a beloved semipublic figure, and 2) ice and he’s cold

and he has one majorly exploitable weakness in that he’s very afraid for his surrogate family, generally more scared than the average person of being murdered horribly, and knows he has good reasons for that and also trauma

but it seems like if crim wanted to get hold of kip by threatening his loved ones, he could do that at any time? why would wallace need to be involved at all; he wouldnt. why does he need to tip kip off about his own schemes. why did he need to wait five years? why has there been this five year gap? simply development of the mystery scheme? or is it because kip has moved back to c and/or because kip is a semi-public figure again

coz reading between the lines but im supposing that kip had earnestly and strongly intended to follow in kent’s footsteps but was presumably discouraged from this when his family was murdered. but even tho he only told wallace about moving back to c because roy and molly missed it, in the intervention that gets sprung on him and other hints, it sounds like kip still considers himself dedicated to helping people like kent did, which is what his sjw blog is, but he’s majorly aware of the danger of that and unwilling to get anyone killed this time, which is a major limitation, seeing as that happened to him before and everyone is disappeared all the time w/o repercussion. except the repercussion of one tiny group of people who look into it and get murdered, except for eno

but also kip must not have been doing any Helping The Public stuff before he moved to C, because when he says he has to help wallace to justify having thrown so much away, and considering how he’d lost so much in the fire, presumably what he’s thrown away is his life with pascal. im guessing he couldnt have made roy and molly split from him even if he tried, but pascal apparently could be parted from. for like a week, but whatever. he’d been dating pascal before the fire, but if he hadnt been involved in any position of openly helping monsters before the fire and hadnt before moving back to C, that explains why he tried to convince pascal not to go with them.

anyways, uh, see ive lost track of what i was saying. that, while kip is so afraid for the safety of those too close to him, he can also be pressured into a riskier position. but thats by his friends and himself. but maybe if he’s going to be given false information he thinks is from eno, he could do other risky things too. cuz i doubt theres any real protection, as if kent and yumi and eno werent trying to be safe. im guessing kip’s just trying to keep his head down and his cards close to his chest. its frustrating because technically he was right to be immediately suspicious of wallace to the point of associating him with the death of his family and being afraid of helping wallace, but not because wallace’s personal intentions arent good. but still its going to be really awkward if kip gets an idea of what wallace is associated with. cuz its an extremely delicate process that would allow wallace to figure out what was going on and break the news to kip and have kip trust him, so delicate that i doubt it exists and anyways the odds are not in its favor. but its frustrating because i want people to not be friends and not feel betrayed by their bosses and each other and even better, to be friends working together to resolve murders and an evil scheme

anyways. what does crim need from kip. stuff he knows? i doubt he’s trying to corrupt kip’s blog, or otherwise exploit the fact that kip’s probably a trusted community figure. for starters, crim’s already been getting away completely with abduction, murder, arson, etc, for years. unless theres some new Phase of the plan that requires something new. but again, it seems like a big ol coincidence that kip and co moved to C five months before wallace was moved into their exact building with the goal of getting involved with kip, tho wallace obviously doesnt know about all that stuff yet. why does it matter that kips in C. did crim not know where he was prior? did he need kip to be involved in the public sphere so that he could catch hold of him by sending out a social worker too naive and earnest to focus on the suspicious evilness of his new boss? did he just not need kip yet???

it seems strange to consider that crim could like, blackmail or threaten either kip or eno longterm. like, is he about to make a move here. because yeah they both have reasons to be extremely protective of people, which can be leveraged. but like wallace, i dunno how far they could be pushed with doing anything obviously harmful, or doing anything for anyone so obviously evilly motivated. or how long such a chokehold could be maintained. eno being threatened with kip’s wellbeing and being pressured into manipulating kip in one way or another is one thing, and even then how could he be threatened more than once. how could he be expected not to do something to warn someone if the pressing is let up for even a moment? is the point to abduct eno maybe and make kip feel even more afraid, because that would probably admittedly be super effective, but i imagine kip would just withdraw completely from things like being involved with wallace, blogging, etc. but to try to coerce kip into doing something by threatening multiple people is trickier, and what could kip do?

the thing is that i could see kip as being targeted for the ice thing, because thats another coincidence, that he has a really strong ability that seems pretty unusual even for monsters. like, freezing freshly brewed hot tea in a few seconds is really something. and i’m supposing he survived the fire by freezing himself / ice protection, which is really really something. and maybe the fact that he’s also an sjw who’s always scared that someones going to get hurt or killed is just a way to get to him. coz maybe, even probably, kip wasnt supposed to survive the fire, but just be another casualty because crim and co do not give a shit about bothering to spare any monsters life. but the fact that he did, using ice, and that he had his brothers files, all probably wasnt a secret. i mean, the surviving and the files part definitely wasnt, but just knowing the place was on fire and he survived ok probs implies that he had the ability to protect himself somehow, and thats a really impressive ability

so like maybe whatever traits theyre looking for makes kip the ideal target. maybe for once they felt like they couldnt just steal him away normally, but idk why they wouldnt. for example if crim just wanted to kidnap kip, maybe he just has. but that seems like wallace wouldnt need to be involved and eno wouldnt need to be involved and why wait til he’s in C? he doesnt need flushing out to be stolen off the street; he travels to B at least once a week on a schedule and he walks to work.

again, probably theres necessary info we dont even have that will fill in a missing piece here, but even now im too stupid to expand on the stuff we know to imagine up something that would fill in that blank. im too horrible at reading/understanding peoples motivations to even fully Get basic interactions sometimes, and im too uncreative to even come up with stuff like say, guess what crim’s trying to develop over there. maybe theres something about moving from development to initiation that needs kip’s particular involvement (??how??). but why has there been five years of them having been left alone in D, maybe, although how do we even know that

idk all i know is im stupid and i dont like that everyone is going to be even more miserable and endangered and mysteries are a trial for me because i want to die and dont want to have to deal with dying on a cliffhanger, i’ll be an angry ghost. ive probably forgotten a tangent or two i wanted to touch on and that makes me an angry pre-ghost. w/e