#giovanni is so pretty and for what

[monsieurivoblan]

[ HSR LEAKS ]

mr giovanni of the masked fools hello sir

[sketchz]

The greatest villain of all time!!!!

[crownedinmarigolds]

Imperdonable, hijo.

Poor Joaquin, his father is a vampire with access to wraiths. There is no secret in the Hidalgo house he doesn't know.

[virtualbunny]

He looks so good in this pic omg 🤭

[lesbianboyfriend]

nobody warned me how much random italian history is necessary to contextualize like 75% of dante’s inferno

[puppetwoman17]

Magic Billy headcanon coming through!

You know all those comics where magic is taken away from its users? And most of them are really weak or get constant headaches?

Yeah, I decided to crank it up cause Billy full on dies. As in he will drop to the floor and his body becomes a husk. There’s not even a little memory twitch from his fingers. The boy is GONE.

Now, I’m thinking this could be because when someone is chosen to be the Champion, their soul is automatically turned into magic. They’re still a person, but they’re kind of like a puppet. This could be a thing before they’re born, like a destiny sort of thing, or immediately when they speak Shazam’s name the first time.

Whichever ones the case doesn’t matter tho, cause Billy knows it. He feels how different his soul is. This isn’t a commonly known thing tho. No one in the magic community knows this because the details are hush hush.

So imagine, someone(maybe Waller, maybe Luthor, cause apparently anyone can just waltz into the rock 🙄), finds a way to take magic away, whether it’s by subjugation of the rock or some kind of magic suction spell. Doctor Fate wilts in his seat, not able to talk as much. Zatanna, Giovanni, Constantine, Xanadu, Specter, what have you, they all hold their heads and do their best to keep standing up—

Billy falls to the floor. He’s not blinking. He’s not breathing. He’s not speaking. He’s not moving. The boy’s just gone.

Diana falls to the floor to cradle his head in her lap, feeling for a pulse, lightly slapping him to wake him up.

Clark is motionless standing up. He says slowly and with dreading horror:I can’t hear his heartbeat.

This jumps the heroes into a frenzy. The magic users go through the books they have on the Champion; his duties, research on the RoE, etc. There’s nothing on this. Nothing at all.

The rest of the League put him in the medbay immediately, trying to see if there’s anything normal that they can do. But without a heartbeat, their options are limited.

Some time later, they decide to split. A larger team will do what they can to bring Magic back, and the rest will stay at the Watchtower. The magic users already suspect that this has something to do with Magic anyway, so it’s a win win.

It takes a couple days, but magic is returned to its users and the worlds at large. Billy jolts awake in his bed to a bunch of hysterical heroes and his first words are: how’s the Rock?

Yeah, the JL is not happy. They want an explanation. Surprisingly, the magic users do too.

Billy tells them with hesitant eyes, about his soul, about how he is essentially nothing without magic. He is magic, as closely related to the center of it(RoE) as anything else.

Unfortunately, this only seems to aggravate his friends. Now he’s apparently convinced them that he’s a puppet for forces beyond their reach and a slave to the system, which is pretty funny cause he’s already a slave to the foster system and he is, in fact, one of those “forces behind their reach”.

Even the magic users are uneasy about this, which says a lot cause whenever Billy tells the league something hair-raising, they just nod their heads.

Billy is not left alone for the next few weeks. It’s torture.

[coelasquid]

I was so moved by all the doujinshi I saw on my trip to Japan last month I wanted to make one of my own, so I spent the next six weeks revisiting some of that Giovanni/Lt. Surge business I was on about a few years back and made a 42 page sexy gay violent pokemon fancomic about Giovanni and Lt. Surge being handsy with each other.

I just finished it so if you want to read it the whole thing is pay what you want on itchio for anyone willing to throw at least a dollar my way for the pdf. (Content warning for blood, violence, eye trauma, gore, and animal/pokemon death, but the actual romancey parts are pretty fluffy and cuddly)

I’m also posting pages one at a time on my twitter in case you don’t have a dollar but still want to read it. I’d link to it but for some reason tumblr is not letting me copy and paste links, so just keep an eye on Coelasquid @ twitter for those updates.

[dsknsk]

I love how PM keeps playing with tropes. We've seen the tropes that they deconstruct within Limbus (in fact, it is a theory of mine that each Sinner is based on a stereotypical character from gachas), the way that they pick up the cyberpunk trope and basically throw it across the room, but another huge one is...

Carmen.

Look. I think that Carmen was and is based on the traditional 'Mary Sue'. Because...well, some traits that are said to belong to the 'Mary Sue', are turned brilliantly on their head by PM. So, for typical 'Mary Sue' traits, there's:

Pretty in the traditional sense. 'Mary Sues' always look perfect, peerless and never have to work hard to maintain their image. While, as far as I know, there hasn't really been made an in-universe compliment on Carmen's physical appearance...you'd rather stop and listen to someone who at least looks like they can be trusted wouldn't you? She's likened to the sun, as Oswald called her that, and is inside the light. (Also, out-of-universe: she is certainly pretty in my eyes. She adheres to the modern beauty standards at the very least).

Related to the above: charming. The 'Mary Sue' often has an innate charm that attracts others to her. The way that Carmen has this is through her voice, which already was powerful enough to let her traverse the dangerous Backstreets unarmed, standing out from all those other Backstreets preachers somehow and draw in the most cynical noblemen, but is even more charming after death. She doesn't even need to give a breaking speech or anything, as we've seen, she just gives you questions and comments on things. Which falls in line with...

Powerful, yet without having to break a sweat. Even before dying, she was already drawing in people without having to get physical (at least, none we know of). The only time we fight her as of yet (Kether realisation), Angela needs to use an attack that depletes all her HP to win, after five phases have already passed.

The 'Mary Sue' is often a so-called spotlight stealer. She will have a major role in the story, inexplicably, at least one other character will fall in love with her and she will overall have a large presence. So far, Carmen is the only character who has appeared in all three of the games, and if you count the Distortion and the Library, she has influenced WonderLab, Leviathan and Distortion Detective as well. She was also relevantly connected to the main cast of LobCorp and has influenced most of them in some way (i.e Ayin, Angela, Giovanni, arguably Kali, etc.). She remains to be relevant to several major story turns and has left her mark in them, in some way.

Unusual eyes. It's a stereotype that 'Mary Sues' always have unusual eyes. A common type is heterochromia (which is why I often jokingly call Hong Lu a 'Mary Sue'), but other types exist like sparkly rainbow or them changing like a mood ring or something. Carmen has red eyes, which are a common side-effect of body enhancements (Vergilius had them and the R Corp pack leaders too)...except, as we said, for as far as we know, Carmen hasn't had any. They are also a trait of Bloodfiends, but she isn't (yet) confirmed to be one. Either way, red eyes are a sign of the not-weak in the City.

Oftentimes, 'Mary Sues' are referred to as divinity, as pure grace from an utmost high all-powerful deity. They may or may not even be that deity. With Carmen, she practically had a cult of personality around her when she was alive...and she also had an analogue in another pale-skinned, red-eyed being that is also treated like this. She was described as this paeon of altruism and someone who genuinely wants the best for humanity.

Meaningful name. While not so immediately on-the-nose like 'Flowersparkle', Carmen's name can be seen as a reference to the infamous prototype of the femme fatale, once again hinting at that charming quality of hers.

Perfect. A 'Mary Sue' never fails at what she does...and that's where PM shows through that...

...Carmen is a parody on the 'Mary Sue'. A so-called 'Parody Sue'...but not played for laughs. The thing is that she is described as being all this...by those she already has enthralled. Those that aren't really involved with her - Hokma (was more loyal to Ayin), Binah (who wasn't in the picture during Carmen's life), and Roland (a stranger to LobCorp to begin with) have their say during Ruina and offer us another view at Carmen, our first, and one thing becomes clear:

A real 'Mary Sue' would be weird as fuck.

Carmen shows us how weird a 'Mary Sue' would actually be in a world that isn't sunshine and rainbows - an extremely uncanny, severely misguided being who nonetheless draws people to herself, who show a creepy amount of belief and devotion to her. Carmen thinks that the 'be yourself' message - so omnipresent in media - should prevail...in a world where the majority of people are either pieces of shit or are living such a dreary, miserable life that they just give up all hope.

But all of this is only revealed in the second game and pulls the player out of the dream. And so, Carmen does end up failing to convince some people like Dongbaek and Dongrang who manage to develop E.G.O instead.

Because despite what she was painted as in the past, in reality, Carmen is not a 'Mary Sue'. And she is not perfect.

That's why she's such a great PM character.

[realpokemon]

Since we're all confessing our crimes I accidentally joined Team Rocket for like a month when I was 18 because I had a crush on a guy and he was in Team Rocket and I didn't realize, I just thought the R on the shirt stood for his name (coincidentally also Rodney) and I thought it looked pretty cool so I asked where he got it and ended up going to their HQ and signing up and I stole like three pokemon before I decided to run away and faked my high school transcripts and got into ranger school and now I'm a pokemon ranger but I'm technically still legally a member of Team Rocket bc of the contract I signed and I still get the weekly newsletter in my email and they don't proofread it so it's always full of misspellings and I feel like the world's shittiest double agent

what the fuck do they talk about in the team rocket weekly newsletter. "robberies are up 70% this week (yay!), grunt 14 broke up with grunt 2, and giovanni's new leather sofa is looking stellar"

[majorbaby]

it takes a conscious effort to break your patterns of consumption and unlearn the notion beauty, interiority, diverse ways of existence aren't exclusive to whiteness or maleness. part of that isn't your fault. certain music is played on the radio, certain shows survive cancellation no matter what, certain people seem to be able to commit the worst possible acts against other human beings and are excused on account of their creative genius. others are selectively punished, with good reason sure, but still, selectively.

now more than ever it's easier to immerse yourself in art made by people outside of the mainstream. reading lists, free resources, playlists... all this stuff is more accessible than ever, but you've got to make an effort to give it a try. it's black history month, the recs are pouring in, go have a look. or take a chance on something absolutely no one has recommended anywhere and if you find something you like, rec it to someone else because the likelihood is they haven't heard of it.

tracy chapman's "fast car" is one of eleven songs that appears on her self-titled debut album. can you name the second hit single from it? if you're american and you fell anywhere left of center as of the 2016 election, it should be on the tip of your tongue if you were engaged in your country's politics at the time, regardless of your level of actual investment in the system. if not, the next time you're doing a task you need both hands with, washing the dishes, having dinner, doing your makeup, put that album on.

there's a post with over 100K notes on here that i see all the time of bruce springsteen and clarence clemons kissing. there's a part of that that is immediately meaningful to many if you're lgbtq, and a part that is harder for non-black lgbtq people to feel the weight of. but it is worth trying to do and was part of the reason why they kissed so often in the first place. clarence clemons was from norfolk, virginia. he released multiple albums outside of his work with the e street band. they may not be for you, but give them a try.

give enough music, or movies, or books that aren't a part of the approved canon a try, and there's no way you won't find something you don't feel as passionate about as you do about springsteen, siken, the beatles, what have you.

james baldwin was a prolific artist. see if you can't find something of his you like more than giovanni's room.

immerse yourself in ringo sheena, who mitski cites as one of her influences.

if you have difficulty paying attention to music you don't recognize, (i get it) make a playlist that alternates tracks you know and love with brand new tracks. start small. 5 faves of all time, 5 you're going to try out. you won't like everything, but you might find yourself looking forward to 6 songs instead of 5 eventually.

for movies, pick an actor whose performance you loved in something and explore their work. last year i picked whoopi goldberg, also a prolific artist, with a vast body of work that's pretty accessible as a result of her constant, intentional effort.

if you're an artist yourself, you can only stand to improve by getting to know your fellow artists better. so expand your notion of what art is. you can do it for free in lots of cases, and you're spending that time listening to music or reading or watching movies or series anyway, what have you got to lose?

anti-racism sometimes means engaging in real-world narratives of pain endured by brown and black people. that pain permeates much of our art, but we're just as three-dimensional as everybody else, and every aspect of our experiences come through in our work. you know that already, because what else is happening when you indulge in various genres. for everything you love or enjoy, there's a brown or black person who's doing something along those lines, in many cases, those genres wouldn't exist in their current form without the influence of our communities, some more than others, depending on where you're from. you can actually keep one foot inside your comfort zone and dip your toe into something else. that choice is both a joy and a luxury.

[faithandfairies]

So, I'm re-watching Rizzoli & Isles and here's what I got. Maura is bisexual, Jane is a repressed lesbian and Maura fully realized that she was in love with Jane when Jane got shot in season 1. She's been treating Jane completely like her wife since then.

I also genuinely believe Maura only stayed with the surgeon as long as she did to make sure Jane got the best medical care possible. Especially after what happened with Frankie. There is no way I think she would have been able to tolerate that insufferable man that long otherwise. She literally left him the moment she realized Jane would be just fine and whatever pain Jane was still experiencing was psychosomatic.

Maura also likes sex. And the only reason she's going after Giovanni is for sex as she's said because as she said herself she loves Italians. The truth is she loves Jane and the only thing she's not getting from their relationship is sex.

It's very interesting because in season 1 Maura was looking for meaningful connections with men. For a man to have it all. Now she either only really pursues superficial connections with men or if they're more meaningful the guy is a male version of Jane.

And something else is hitting me now. I wondered before why they didn't have Jane just get with Dean because I thought they were believable as a couple. With the compulsive heterosexuality Jane was at least somewhat into him.

But they had her get with the soldier and get pregnant by him instead. They had no chemistry and I thought that was the reason. To drive home that she was a lesbian. But she liked him and was pretty comfortable in his presence and I realized just now that he looked like a male version of Maura.

And that now makes me think that the only reason she was with him as long as she was was because of the long distance thing, as in it's easier to maintain a romantic relationship you're not that into from a distance, and because he looked like a male version of Maura.

It's also interesting that he gets introduced in an episode where nothing is what it seems. The homicide victim gets linked to that one guy in the military. There's photographic evidence of their relationship just lying around. And it isn't until the end of the episode that we find out the victim was actually in love with another soldier and the only evidence of it is that they were wearing each other's dog tags. Literally, that's how they deduced those two were in a romantic relationship and they were right. And we don't even get their story from them because by the time the relationship comes to light both parties are dead.

Jane is also very into Maura, truly loves her. She allows from Maura what she doesn't from anyone else, including that Maura bosses her around. She has very butch mannerisms even with her completely feminine physique. And with that she's jealous and protective when it comes to Maura in the way guys often are when they believe a woman is theirs. But she's just completely in denial. Which given what we learn about her upbringing and what her mom is like makes complete sense.

[vintagerpg]

Hey! HEY! This is my book, Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, coming to a bookstore near you on October 10, 2023 thanks to MIT Press. Pre-orders are live now pretty much everywhere, though I recommend using Bookshop.org, as I have been impressed at their packaging skillz. I have a real live copy of the book in my possession and I gotta say, it’s pretty neat.

What is the book? It’s a look at the history and development of tabletop RPGs, one product at a time, arranged in chronological order across five decades. It’s sort of like this Instagram feed, actually, but way more polished, and, you know, on paper. I covered the classics, but this is also very much an exercise in expanding horizons — I hope there is at least one game featured for every reader that they never heard of. To that end, there are lots of lesser known games, weird games, silly games, even a couple board games. All pulled from my collection, all illustrated with something like 350 photographs.

There’s original art, too. Kyle Patterson did the amazing cover, somehow transforming my deeply silly post-it sketch (last slide) into a canny encapsulation of the RPG experience. He did a two-page spread introducing each decade, and effortlessly capturing its essence. He also did a handful of gorgeous spot illustrations. All of Kyle’s art makes me low-key angry. How dare he be so talented? I’ll share more of it, and some sketches, later on. You’ll be annoyed by his talent, too, I guarantee.

We (that’s myself and Derek Kinsman, who did the layout) also filled some empty spots with rights-free art from Amanda Lee Franck, evlynmoreau and natetreme, which is pretty rad - Amanda did the wizard van in the next to last slide - and also some Giovanni Battista Piranesi, cuz that dude had aesthetic for days.

And there you go, a first taste of 450-something pages of full-color RPG goodness. Go snag a copy now, yea? (Worth noting, this is the Standard edition. I’ll show you the Deluxe edition tomorrow.)

[kitzatara]

TODAY IS ZATANNA’S 60th DEBUT ANNIVERSARY!!!

Exactly 60 years ago today, Zatanna came onto the comic book pages of Hawkman #4, and has continued to thrill and delight!

So to celebrate here on tumblr, this will be a post about fun facts and information about the one and only, Princess of Prestidigitation, Sorceress Supreme, and Mistress of Magic!

Zatanna is a human and Homo Magi hybrid born to Giovanni “John” Zatara and Sindella. Through Zatara she is of Italian descent, and related to Leonardo Da Vinci, Nostradamus, Cagliostro, and Nicholas Flammel. On her mother’s side she is of Atlantean descent and distantly related to Arion the sorcerer king and demi-god of Atlantis.

Zatanna primarily casts spells by speaking backwards, originally due to her connection to Da Vinci who wrote his journals in reverse. Later it was revealed to be a way to keep the Otherkind from the dark multiverse from finding and feeding on her. And while it is her go to spellcasting method she can cast spells without speaking, through rhymes, runes, song, and even psychically!

Since she can pretty much make anything happen by speaking it backwards she has a laundry list of magical capabilities and is considered one of the most powerful Justice Leaguers, and magic users in the DC universe. Having used her powers to stop many threats over the years and save countless lives.

Despite having near limitless powers Zatanna often suffers from being sidelined in stories, or nerfed to make her more palatable to the narrative. Usually due to a combination of sexism, being not as popular as other characters, or so that the other characters can have the spotlight. But when Zatanna gets to shine, it’s brighter than the sun.

Like many of her peers Zatanna has a no kill rule, and has actually never killed anyone in the main continuity/universe. She has also never died in main canon, a somewhat rare quality among comic characters.

Despite having a no kill rule Zatanna does have a bit of temper, as well as an over reliance on her magic powers. She is a self proclaimed “spellaholic” often using magic for mundane tasks and to get even with people who vex her. And when her father, loved ones, and children are threatened she has been known to lash out. But she always sets things right, and does the right thing in the end.

Despite her temper Zatanna is a very kind and loving character, she considers many of the League members to be like family, and is much beloved among the superheroes and magic users of the world. Her fierce determination to do good and put a smile on people’s faces even when she’s feeling low is a stand out character trait. She has even gone out of her way to protect her enemies, the people who caused her mother’s death, and civilians of people who have harmed her. Because at the end of the day she is a hero, and damn good one.

Zatanna is a complex and fascinating character with so much wonderful history to explore. And it’s so fortunate that she has her first ever Black Label solo called Zatanna: Bring Down The House. What better way to celebrate her 60 years than by checking it out? Issue #3 releases next week! And tomorrow (August 21st) Superman #17 releases featuring a rare team up between the Magic Maid and the Man of Steel. And below are some of my personal comic reading recs!

May you come to love her as I do

Yojne! 🎩🪄

[jadeazora]

Pokemon's main moral across games in regards to its villains seems to be "do not trust the rich." Like, just think about how many of the main villains have probably been totally loaded.

Giovanni runs the mafia/yakuza, and says outright Team Rocket's main goal is to make money. No fancy ideals or higher goals, just plainly out for profit.

Cyrus, Rose, and Lysandre all run some kinda technological or alternative energy company. (With Galactic, it's mostly a front, but it's stated Cyrus is quite the philanthropist in the anime, responsible for many libraries being built.)

Flare also has a $5 MILLION admissions fee (Was reminded the PokeDollar is supposed to be a yen tho so that would translate out to about $32k. But still, my point stands, if you're poor, you're not getting in), with some girl in the Lysandre Cafe swooning over him and mentioning how she'll have her money saved up soon.

Lusamine inherited the Aether Foundation from her father, but it's implied they're a multi-region organization, and developing the technology needed to break open gateways to other worlds or create THREE chimeras must cost a fortune. (Plus having dozens of cryotanks running too.)

Ghetsis, Lysandre, Sordward, and Shielbert are all descended from or are royalty.

So, if you're a loaded dude, I'm looking at you like you're the most suspicious person in the region. (Sometimes tho, that does misfire, like it did for me in Paldea with suspecting Clavell until we learned he only became headmaster pretty recently and the school's actually about 800yrs old, or with Cyrano who's actually a pretty nice guy/not an important character at all.)

I feel like the only ones that really aren't are Archie and Maxie (since they mostly just steal what they need, but it is notable they did have the tech to develop the Magma/Aqua suit tho, which is resistant to extreme heat and serves as a functional spacesuit), Yell and Skull (who are stated to be pretty poor, and who are secondary threats to begin with--and by a far margin to the problems caused by the real big bad.), and Volo (a merchant who constantly skips work and despite referring to you as his favorite customer, you're only ever capable of buying from him once.)

Sada/Turo too are kinda a grey area, since they had the outside funding for their Area Zero research. That said, I don't think those investing quite knew what they were doing down there, and a good amount of what they were able to do was accomplished by what they had on-hand with the power of the Terastal crystals.

[vincentbriggs]

Good sir, I am hoping to pick your brain. I’m making an 18-century (“pirate”) shirt as a gift to my friend. He wants tie closures on the neck and cuffs instead of buttons. Might you have any insight or resources for this? I’ve seen the ties in at least one of the extant shirts I’ve viewed online. I’m still pretty new to the sewing gig and I’d like to minimize inventing metaphorical wheel as much as possible. Thanks in advance!

It's very unusual, but do know of one example! (Not that extant one though)

But first - Link to my most thorough shirt construction blog post. (It's a few years old and I've improved a few little things in my technique since then, and I mean to finish writing a new and better one before the year is over.)

Ok, ties on shirts! I'm assuming this is the extant one you're talking about? Tbh I'd discount this one entirely if you're looking for information on 18th century men's shirts because I don't think it is one.

Besides the attached ties, the sleeves are extremely weird. They're cut off and have no wristbands!! This would make it quite impossible to wear under a coat, the wristbands are an absolutely essential part of an 18th century shirt. I also don't see any reason to believe this is actually 18th century when it could just as easily be 19th century, and considering how short the slit is I think that more likely.

(Lots of auction sellers like to say "late 18th century" about things that are like... yeahh maaaaybe that's plausibly from a very fashion forward guy in the late 1790's but it's much more likely early 19th century. And with court dress they sometimes just straight up date it several decades too early. Look at lots of examples and always question everything, because museums don't always date things correctly either.)

I think I remember seeing someone mention once that it was a 19th century workman's garment of some sort, but I can't remember where, and all we've got to go on are a few pictures and a brief caption from a seller who doesn't know what they're talking about. It does look like it could have been worn over another layer though, and the fabric is very coarse. It could also have been altered at a later date for theatrical costume, which is something the Victorians did to A LOT of 18th century garments.

So just ignore that shirt!

The vast majority of 18th century mens shirts close with 2 or 3 buttons on the collar, but there is a style that uses ribbons. It appears to have been fairly common in the late 17th and early 18th century, and then slowly dwindles as the century goes on. I have a section for it on my shirts pinterest board with 64 examples. Ooh, wait, 65, just found a new one.

The collar is made with little to no overlap and one buttonhole on each end, and a ribbon is threaded through them.

Portrait of Carl Gustaf Tessin, 1728.

Sir Charles Howard, 1738.

I actually made one of these last year!

The collar doesn't sit as well with the ribbon as it does with 2 buttons, but once you put a stock over it it's fine.

Nearly every single depiction of an 18th century shirt I've ever seen (and I've spent a LOT of time looking) uses sleeve links on the wristbands. (Which I have a tutorial for! They're really easy to make!) I do sleeve links on most of my everyday shirts because I like them better than sewn on buttons. When the wristband is this narrow, sewn on buttons don't sit very nicely.

But! If your friend wants ties on the wrist in a historical way, I do know of one single example, and it's this guy!

Giovanni Maria delle Piane, Portrait of a nobleman. No date given, but if I had to guess I'd say 1680's or 90's. Very late 17th century looking fellow.

We can't see his collar closure, but I think it's very possible that he has a matching red ribbon holding that closed.

Personally I wouldn't want to try these, because they look like an absolute nightmare to tie by yourself one handed. But the good news is that you could make just regular wristband that take sleeve links and they'd work for this too, since both just have a buttonhole at each end! I aim for a finished wristband length that's 10-14mm longer than my wrist measurement, with the buttonhole being about 4 or 5mm in from the edge, which gives me enough ease to wear them comfortably with sleeve links, so if you do that then he'll be able to wear them both ways.

[a-cloud-of-dust-and-gas]

“Hot Take” on Prison of Plastic

(!! Spoilers !!)

This isn’t actually a hot take, more so something I don’t think many people have noticed — but I understand if people don’t really understand/agree with what I’m saying at first.

There are many issues in Lorelai and Molly’s relationship that makes them unable to find common ground. One of them is Lori’s cruel demeanor, but not in the way most of the community thinks.

A character detail that I think changed from the webseries is Molly’s pushover mindset. She seems to accept her family’s neglect because she is too afraid to fight back at all (key word: “at all”). But after Giovanni’s influence, she makes multiple attempts to get her family to help, Lorelai specifically.

(I believe the reason why nobody tries to ‘fix’ Martin is because everyone knows he’s a lost cause — and Molly seeking support from Lori is her subconsciously thinking the opposite; there’s still hope for her sister. That also applies to her outburst in chapter 7, it was her last shot at trying to alter Lori or else she’d view her the same way she sees Martin; beyond help)

But of course, Molly’s anxiety didn’t cure overnight. She’s stepping in the right direction, but still can’t find the courage to act stern, which is pretty much what Lorelai needs (it isn’t as simple as it sounds, but we do know that Martin’s lack of care and Molly’s lack of emotional power only fuels her).

As a result of not wanting to comply, Lorelai acts very spiteful to put up a wall that most people can’t break down. This wall seems to derive from many things; grief, fear, immaturity, isolation, Martin’s neglect, and likely more. In other words, there isn’t a concrete reason as to why she chooses this persona. However, what’s even more interesting is how Molly reacts to it throughout the book.

Molly doesn’t take Lorelai’s words personally. Her breakdown/monologue in chapter 7 didn’t start because Lori was being too mean, it was because Molly realized she truly couldn’t get through to her. Lori’s wall doesn’t hurt Molly, it’s just very hard to enter the other side. As long as her sister keeps it up, Molly can’t do much.

Unless she stops looking for secret entries and takes a wrecking ball to knock it down.

But she can’t guarantee Lorelai won’t get hurt if so.

(I needed to get this off my chest idk why)

Last thing! I know Molly got really sad in the beginning of the book when Lorelai said Martin didn’t like her, but I can’t help but view that as a rare occurrence when Lori crosses a line. She was very rude to her sis throughout the rest of the book but Molly was clearly not upset over what Lorelai was saying, rather how she wasn’t willing to stop.