#im on ep 2 of ….uh

[blu-oo]

(Angsty-ish) Cole headcanons cuz he’s my favorite

1. When he’s overwhelmed/freaking out to the point his hands shake, the ground around him starts to shake as well without him realizing. The fastest way to stop this is if he or someone else holds his hands still.

2. He’s been trained in several “official” forms of dance (contemporary, ballet, waltz, etc.)

3. He developed a general fear of heights after The Fall, and it’s impacted him enough that things he used to enjoy, such as rock climbing, are now anxiety inducing. Because of his job as a ninja, he had to essentially Suck It Up™️, but that didn’t stop it from hindering both himself and the others/mission.

4. ^ because of this, when his thoughts/troubles got to much for him, instead of climbing mountains, he turned to food as a form of comfort. His friends/Wu do eventually help him through his fear of heights so it doesn’t affect him as much, but the fear never truly 100% goes away.

5. Post ghost form he had a habit of walking face first into walls/people. Even now when he’s tired he’ll still sometimes do it.

6. I think it’s safe to assume Cole in canon has at least some self confidence issues at this point. When the self doubt gets really bad, his powers will reflect the worst case scenario he’s envisioned (ex: he assumes his power won’t be enough for something and when he goes in for the earth punch, its like getting hit w a pillow)

7. Will fight a child for the last slice of cake at a birthday party (the ninja were invited as a surprise for the birthday boy. The child cole fought was, in fact, said birthday boy)

8. Cole’s habit of talking to himself grows to the point that he essentially rubber duckies himself when problem solving anything. He will do this in front of the other ninja and will just straight up not hear them when they try to help him with the issue. But also they have watched this mam have a full on back and forth conversation about a show he didn’t like before.

9. While caring for baby Wu, he gained the habit of going to check on him when he had trouble sleeping at night, tucking him in and sitting with him for a bit. After Wu returns to his actual age the habit never really goes away, but Cole is embarrassed about it so he tries to be extra super ninja sneaky when he pulls the covers up over Wu’s shoulders after his blanket had fallen a bit. Wu knows he does this but pretends to be asleep, after all why stop a kind gesture if it brings comfort to both involved.

10. Because of his lava arms, Cole (and Lloyd) are the only ones that don’t get easily burned by Kai’s fire. They’re usually the ones in charge of holding him back/cooling him down if physical touch is needed.

Surprise Jay headcanon jumpscare:

Since there are toys of the ninja, Jay goes out of his way to purchase all the misprint/goofy looking dolls of them all and proudly displays his growing collection much to everyone’s annoyance (especially Kai. They NEVER get his face right)

[sparring-spirals]

From like. a character analysis perspective. i LOVE Ashton's tendency to have some very good instincts when it comes to like human nature and fuckery that are also very clearly swayed by their own experiences and biases, because the combination of correct gut instincts with strong confidence makes it. Easy to buy in. Or easy to bristle.

Ashton tells F.C.G "This is what happens when you start externalizing every fucking problem that you have-" and, with affection towards F.C.G- well. Yeah. And then he starts breaking down the issue- how its about people with power fucking with others, how the end goal and the aim doesn't matter, their methods are clearly AWFUL and going to harm tons of people, and besides, if they had such a clear and proper image about what they're going to achieve they could just tell people. They're going to hurt people, they're killing, people, fuck that, fuck them.

"It's easy to make a nice world by killing everyone who disagrees with you. If you get down to five it'll be amazing. Fucking utopia."

Its- beautiful. And correct, in more ways than one, and probably what everyone needed to hear, and also has so much of their own experiences and resentment threaded into it, reductive to an almost dangerous point. Dangerous because he's right, in so many ways, and confident and righteous with it. Dangerous because of how the life lessons and the rage and the loss have left them with base tenets about human nature and motivations that are clear cut and resigned and simple. Because simplicity is powerful, and reassuring, and keeps them going, and is also not infallible.

I just feel like. Ashton is so, so fucking right, often and especially here, is confident in his stances and judgement in a way that has been tested by flame and resigned itself to pessimism. Ashton is so right, and the reasoning is often so sound and tempting, and there's also so much of them, their own losses and shortcomings that bleeds into their confident readings of the world and its overall nature, in ways they maybe don't even realize.

ashton is- full of solid instincts, and also flawed by having lived their life firsthand, and also confident in a way that is reassuring until you find yourself in a blindspot, up against an immovable rockface.

[5hrignold]

I LOVE HIM

[chaotictomtom]

😵‍💫 sick w lust this song slaps too hard

[neo-shitty]

finally catching up with bsd after one hell of a month (+ midterms) 🫠

[skrunksthatwunk]

dear brother watchthrough is progressing rather slowly but every episode does kinda poison my brain a little more. anyway just watched ep 9 and i HAD to change my pfp to kaoru no kimi (<- do. do we ever find out her real name?? we have to right) i love her so much. i love her butch failgirl malewife airplane mechanic hall monitor rizz and her sportballisms and every time her heart starts acting up again and she starts clutching her chest and stuff im like damn.. she's just like me fr (<- NOT the same but i do have like. minor complications from the chest pit) that's an experience i have every day (<- it is not every day)

[youremyboy]

NEW JA REVIEW: im literally nonbinary and i love wearing overalls. happy pride month to nb j&a canon jake

[scottapez]

wait hey also im on the finale of final space :) i was a fucking fool to think theyd bring avocato back by now apparently

[hyperionshipping]

Not. Thinking of him im doing soooo good

[dragonlordofmiddleearth]

I really tried to give rings of power a fair shot but y'all wtf was this week's episode

[gothamcityneedsme]

ok. everything ive said so far aside, season 3 of harley quinn has had three absolutely astronomically good episodes

[not-the-cheese]

one sentence(ish) summaries of every magnus archive episode PART 2

(eps 61-110) thank u for the funny comments and tags on the last part i love u guys

the rest of these may take a while as i've caught up to where i am currently in the podcast but i will finish them like in a month i promise

----

61. the thrilling sequel to man does not open coffin: man DOES open coffin.

62. surely this doctor can find an easier way to scam people out of money than putting them in a little book.

63. THE DARK ATE MY BROTHER IN LAW.

64. this is possibly the plot of laura croft tomb raider

65. mmm crumchy

66. what's the opposite of an unboxing video

67. as close to a coffeeshop au as you're going to get from this podcast

68. Doctors hate him! Man REFUSES to die from tuberculosis!

69. your college's psych department has the worst idea ever.

70. reverse death note

71. not even death will stop this woman from taking the british subway

72. man doesn't want to be low key racist in his last moments before getting eaten

73. police versus the second coming of dark jesus

74. lady is haunted by an ad for coffee

75. mike crew says "uh fuck it let's just put this guy on a skyscraper forever"

76. ryan from buzzfeed unsolved breaks into a train yard and suffers consequences

77. you're not a enough of a bitch to be my real mom

78. man gets harassed by his cousin and then exorcises him

79. you know that chase scene in scooby doo with the doors

80. stupid idiot motherfucking jurgen leitner

81. i have been personally victimized by the sequel to the hungry hungry caterpillar

82. pov: elias threatens to cancel you

83. mannequin takes matters into its own hands after people don't like its pitch for a new window display

84. a hoarder put newspaper on my friend's face :(

85. hey there's maybe a little man upon these stairs?

86. man gets got by a squiggly thing in the dark.

87. plumber is so oblivious to spooky happenings around him that it possibly saves his life.

88. guys i think this guy likes to dig

89. lesbian investment banker finds a new, less evil job: arson!

90. guy who turns people's bones starts a gym where he promises not to turn your bones! (he is lying)

91. i was stalked by lightning for 10 years and i all i got were these stupid scars

92. jonah magnus is a bad friend // another day another elias slay

93. ocd is no match for purple fuzz

94. let the bodies drop gently to the floor let the bodies drop gently to the floor

95. im so sorry my brain refuses to remember what the war ones were about but i think one guy got gently kissed on the forehead so that's pretty nice.

96. diversity wins! the not-quite-human delivery men who stole your identity and business are maybe gay?

97. man gets gaslighted by an entire town about a hole

98. 🎶mister sandman bring me a dream, actually don't, please stay far from me 🎶

99. another one bites the dust

100. archival assistants face off against the general public (they lose)

101. jon finally levels up high enough to unlock an eldritch horror's tragic backstory

102. LOCAL MAN MARRIES BUG

103. peppa eats a clown and they cover her in concrete instead of congratulating her.

104. pennywise stole my brother's skin

105. it's world war z baby

106. Something Big Is In Space.

107. man is interrogated about the time he saw thomas the train roasts people alive and also sans is there

108. actor is stalked by mask who liked his monologue so much that it tells its mask friends to come watch.

109. sometimes a family is just a serial killer's daughter and that guy who maybe killed some vampires

110. yeah man those spiders be eating

Part 1 |

[ranfordgallus]

Im sorry but i just love doing this sm because its fun

Here are some panels of chris and martin in each ep at the moment

Episode 1

Yeah i mean...the art here is something, but yk i made this in like 2022 so..LMAO

Episode 2

The improvement is there, though its kind of uh...i would say immature? Im still an immature artist in a way but this ones diff yfm...

Episode 3 (unfinished)

Yeah- i mean the artstyle just fucking changed, nothing else i could say

Honestly .... It kind of makes it charming in a way.. like episode 1 is more simple artstyle wise but each episode gets more detailed and...like..depressing i guess💀, i just realized that

[barblaz-arts]

HELLOOO!! Im in LOVE with all your Chaggie (and Wenclair obv-) art!! I was wondering if youd be up to share your thoughts on the other hazbin characters? Simply cuz Im very curious and youve been a favourite content creator of mine for a while whose opinions and takes on different things i value A LOT! So id love to hear your thoughts on the rest of the main cast(and more if youre up to it hahha)!

@phantoswordsman15

The main cast huh

Hmmmmm I dont particularly hate them, but I have some opinions that people might not like and I'm aware there's a lot of uh sensitive people in this fandom, so I never said them unprompted

But since you asked!

Alastor

Let's start with the infamous Alastor. I think he's a very entertaining character! His horde of simps annoy tf outta me when they're being misogynistic and homophobic towards Chaggie and Vaggie, but I quite liked him when I make myself forget certain parts of the fandom. He's funny and conniving and intriguing. The fact that he apparently sold his soul is super interesting to me. I'm on board with the people theorizing that he sold his soul to Lilith. I bet he's cozying up with Charlie so that he can use it to break his contract somehow. Feel like he also used the deal with (presumably) Lilith so that he could be strong enough to be the overlord he became.

With that being said, I'm really surprised with the direction they took with him. You'd think that with him being a favorite of the showrunner and the fandom, he would probably be portrayed as the coolest mf in hell. But I really like that it isn't really the case within the show. Certain denizens dont even know him and older overlords like Zestial seems to scare him and Carmilla just dgaf about him. Hell, Alastor's loss to Adam was a lil embarrassing ngl. Like. I know he's one of the oldest human souls and that's why he's powerful but... It's Adam.

Something about him that I noticed is that he seems to be more bark than bite. In particular in his duet with Lucifer, initially Lucifer had the upper hand because he's objectively more powerful, humiliating Alastor with his angel magic, but what Alastor used to his advantage was his words and charisma, as can be expected of a radio host. He's always taunting his enemies, but does it actually make him stronger than them? He "won" that duet with Vox but Valentino said Alastor only"almost beat" him when they had an actual fight. He ruffled Lucifer's feathers but at the end of the day Lucifer is still leagues more powerful than him. He talked big when he was fighting Adam but he almost died and had a breakdown over it.

He's really a lot less "cool" than I expected the show would have him be portrayed as. Kinda pathetic honestly, how he's so insecure and angry whenever he isn't the strongest guy in the room. And i actually really like that! He reminds me a lot of Rumplestilstkin from Once Upon a Time.

Something I kinda hesitate to say tho is... I dont want him redeemed. I dont want him to actually care about the hotel crew and change his ways. I like him as the fucked up man he is and really want to see how fucked up he can be, just so that if he ends up being the huge antagonist, his downfall would be all the more satisfying. Like yunno that moment when Light/Kira was finally defeated? I wanna feel that again.

Angel Dust

I love him! We found his dialogue a lil annoying at first in ep 1 but the writers did a lot better in ep 2. He's a neat guy. His character gives interesting implications for me as to what makes a person a sinner in this show. While you have people like Alastor who obviously ended up where they did because a cannibal murderer, I get the feeling Angel ended up in hell because he was abusing his own body, which is a sad thing to think. If I remember right from my own catholic upbringing, abusing the body is considered a sin because your body is a temple. To think that Angel could be in hell for poisoning himself, not for harming others, is just sad man. I look forward to seeing more of his journey.

I'm not touching on how his SA was tackled btw. While I'm a victim of sexual assault myself, what i experienced was far from what Angel does on a REGULAR basis,so I don't feel like i have any personal or professional right to say anything about it. Not every victim's case is universal anyways. All I can say is, his line about purposefully damaging himself so he could be broken enough to no longer be Valentino's "favorite toy" hit me harder than I ever expected this show to.

Husk

Confession: I... I dont feel all that attached to Husk at all, I am so sorry Husk stans 😭

Okok that feels so mean to say I'm so sorry. I actually hesitated to say anything because I dont want to hurt people's feelings. But since you guys are asking and I dont like not being genuine, I'm telling the truth.

A lot of my feelings about Husk is heavily affected by the fandom anyways to be perfectly fair. Why? Because a lot of criticisms against Vaggie is easily applicable to Husk, maybe even more so, and yet I dont see even the same level of hate towards him that Vaggie received because his chemistry with Angel is so much better than Chaggie... Apparently...

I just dont see Husk as a character outside of being a plot device for Angel's development yunno? I get it, he isn't a main character like the main 4 are(Charlie, Vaggie, Alastor, and Angel), i just find it hard to well and truly like him because of the fandom's double standards. When we found out someone was gonna die in the finale, my brother and I actually thought it was gonna be him because he doesn't have a big enough role to play in the plot to be a HUGE loss, but has a significant enough connection to a main character to have an EFFECT. He very much just felt like the love interest for Angel and nothing else. Which isnt necessarily a bad thing, but is frustrating when i see sooo many people label Vaggie as such(when she isnt!) and hate her SO MUCH for it.

I wanna see more of him tho I really do. Like the man used to be an overlord. He said he wanted to find someone who could relate to "the gruesome ways in which he's damaged" but what does that even mean? Yes i know about the castration but aside from that what suffering is Alastor putting him thru when all he has to do is be a bartender rn? There must be more and I wanna see it and finally feel for him.

Nifty

I love her a lot. That's it. The character ever. Her gremlin energy reminded me so much of Peridot, it's great. Kimiko Glenn did a fantastic job as the comic relief character and I hope she gets her own song next season. Her basically being everyone's little sister was kinda adorable even tho she's probably the scariest person in that hotel next to Alastor. I hope she gets to stab Valentino next. Just kill that MOTHerfucker

[arandomnerd810]

personal TADC character analysis

uh warning this is long lol

autism time let’s go (/not in a negative way i have autism) stretches hands * I’ll go in order of the character episodes cause why not we have it (see below) i’ll put periods but it will just be to make it more readable not to be intimidating lolll

btw im completely open to interpretations of characters changing throughout the series this is just for fun

Gooseworx has said this series is mostly focused on characters rather than lore, and from what we know, i truly believe it. I don’t think any of the current characters will abstract because of this.

(I put a version of this in the glitch inn discord theory thing so if you recognize it that’s why)

Pomni: we already know her deal pretty well, as we’ve already had her episode. uuuh if anyone’s going to do something important lore wise it will probably be her as she’s the main character but can’t rlly tell what that may be. to review ep 2 though she’s an outcast who has felt like she was nothing and is a logical thinker.

(Kinger and Zooble will there their focus episode but i put it in order of who was revealed to be the ep 3 focus first)

Zooble: From their design (the entire motif is it can be changed at any time) and the fact she doesn’t know his gender, we’re dealing with some pretty clear identity issues. Friends with Gangle seems cool excited for next episode to learn more about them!

Kinger: One of the most interesting characters so far. I feel like we will get to learn more about abstraction though Queenie, the X-ed out door that looks like a female version of him. If i had to guess, since Gooseworx said they were not siblings, they were a couple. (Also judging by his age and the fact he could have been married, he may have been a father yeowch imagine that) I can see the common theory of the insect collection implying he was a coder before getting trapped, but i could also see him being some random guy who just likes bugs lol. He seems like really sweet guy behind his constant anxiety and disassociating.

 Gangle: (My faveorite human rn) Her mask design can be interpreted in a lot of ways but it’s clear that the happy mask isn’t her real personality. My take on it rn is she doesn’t wana bother people with her stuff so she pretends she’s happy? She seems easily embarrassed and def has self esteem lower than the last circle of hell. What’s interesting though is she’s willing to stand up for herself from time to time, even though she’s easily shot down after.

Ragatha: Waaaay too nice for her own good. Also probably has self esteem lower than the last circle of hell and bases her self worth of others approval.  Though she’s been here the second longest, she seems a lot more normal than Kinger. Makes me question how long apart their introductions have been. Probably copes via escapism.

Jax: I can see why everyone is very interested in him cause me too. He seems like the only fourth wall breaky guy (unless you count Caine cause of his intro at the pilot)which is rlly interesting how did he figure out more than everyone else? what’s with the keys? i have no clue lmao. He’s an asshole who makes the best of his situation by torturing everyone else. At the end of the day though, he’s a human and was sad at kaufmo’s abstraction but he probably isolates himself so it would probably be the same for anyone

but waAitTt a moment

that’s 6 humans but Gooseworx said we would look into 7 (cause of the “other” part) in her twitter post talking about the character focus timeline so we know our fav character won’t be left behind ⁉️⁉️⁉️ I hear you not asking well my dear hypothetical person, who better to fill the 7th character than Caine?

Why you did not ask? Too bad i’m info dumping. First, he’s the main antagonist and alongside Pomni, the commercial face (or lack their of haha teeth and eye joke) of the series. he’s an important character and loved by many. (and hated equally if not more aside the point lmaooo)

Yes, gooseworx can lie about stuff but I think she’s smarter than to lead this heavy into Caine depth/ angst territory if there wasn’t going to be anything On top of that, the entire purpose of the timeline post was so we know our faveorite characters weren’t getting treated poorly. It’s unlike for a character based show to suddenly drop such a major character for some random other guy were introduced to later or smth. i mean cmon there’s three episodes after all the humans at least one of them has to be focused on my boy.

Caine: I believe he really does have good intentions and wants to help but just does not understand people at all. This means he’s like an anxiety disorder; it wants to help, solves some issues but creates 500 more. Judging by the Tumblr post, loneliness may play a big part in what’s to come? I’ve always had a feeling his front was extremely fake and his VA saying “breaks keyfable” (an act that pretends it’s true) supports that theory. Episode two gives some insecurity vibes when Zooble didn’t want to go on the adventure. I find that pretty interesting cause he didn’t care at all if people went on the gloink adventure or not. Maybe he puts some adventures over others and he could have been proud of the candy adventure cause more time and care was put into it and he made a new AI. Why did he blue screen? i feel like he could have some blockages on what he can say built in though im not sure why he was blocked then if he even was. one of the biggest questions i have ab him currently tbh. what’s with him grabbing his cane like that in ep 2? if i had to guess simply be nervous = that? His VA also knows some depth to him even though his focus episode is likely going to be at least one of the last 3 episodes, which they have not gotten to recording yet. You know what this means Caine angst solidarity club? Sad Caine so more fan angst appetizers before the main cannon feast let’s friccin go‼️‼️⁉️⁉️

(try to guess my fav impossible /j)

[skrunksthatwunk]

a reflection on emotional validation derived from watching horror-protagonist children Go Through It

tl;dr if you bottled up your emotions as a child and dealt with everything alone there's something comforting about watching a fictional adult swoop in to comfort their fictional child, and something else comforting about watching that child crack and bleed and suffer under the pressure alone. because hey. you've been there. that acknowledgement of their hardship, big or small, aided by adults or not, is an acknowledgement of the hardship you went through growing up, and it can be really cathartic to watch someone express that strife openly when you never did/weren't able to.

there's a pattern i've been tracking for a long time. since i was in elementary school i have found myself repeatedly drawn to stories where children are hurting. whether it's the little prince and his sunsets and his rattlesnake or simpler things, like picture book plots featuring missing stuffed animals or ruined birthday parties. children in these works often express their emotions rather directly, and their sorrow is generally uncomplicated. regardless of the actual weight of the event, they are sad, and that is something the authors felt worthwhile to depict. it may be frivolous, or brief, or easily solved. it may be deeply rooted and existential. its tone may, given the big picture, appear hopeless or hopeful, but in the moment, it is an all-consuming, gargantuan obstacle. it is despair through the eyes of a child.

when i was young and upset about something, my parents would ask me if i thought the subject of my distress was a little thing or a big thing. i believe they intended this to be an exercise in critical thinking. however, young children have limited understandings of the world. when your life has been so short, and your problems (presumably) so small, everything that goes wrong feels far worse than it is. a scraped knee or a rainy day or a cancelled field trip could be the worst thing that happened to that child for a very long time. their priorities are also different, because the way they process events is different. their perspective is both limited by their lack of experience and genuinely just different from adults.

my point in explaining this is that there is something raw, unrefined, and deeply touching about stories where children cry, at least to me. and whether they are comforted and helped through the problem by an adult (encouragingly, without complaint, and without regard to how silly the problem may seem to them), left to fend for themselves, or a combination of the two (wherein the child struggles for some time, before an adult realizes the issue, generally apologizes for not being there or not realizing what was going on, then helps them work through the issue), there is a kind of achy catharsis to it all that soothes me. i realize now that part of why this is the case is that my parents were not particularly good at or proactive about comfort, and seeing kids have their distress gently worn away by a safe, attentive, gentle, and capable force was a sort of fantasy to me. even now, i'm sometimes shocked at others' experiences with their parents, because i thought that kind of teary-eyed sentiment was something reserved for movies. i did not realize this absence, because i was like. five. and without any way to discuss or address it, without even knowing there was a problem there to begin with, i sought out comfort in fiction, through second-hand parenting.

for most of my childhood, i dealt with my emotions on my own. if i was scared of something, i usually handled it through (uh.) compulsive rituals. if i was sad, i withdrew. if i needed advice, i would seek my parents out, but never for anything beyond the practical. if i wanted reassurance, their game plan would have to do. (they were and are very solution-oriented, and i am far more emotion-oriented, in times of duress. but it's not like i knew that or could communicate that when i was 9). i played by myself, battled my fears by myself, celebrated the things i loved by myself... it took me (many, many) years to realize that people told their parents about their feelings and problems, even if they didn't really need guidance. like, genuinely, i was around 14 when i figured out that was an option and that people chose it. it had never occurred to me, like many very basic things about being alive (including highlights like "you can ask for things" and "you can say no to group activities" and "you don't have to buy clothes from this store, as there are many clothing stores, something you are quite aware of").

all this is to say that watching children process those emotions, either through an internal monologue or an external, open expression, made me feel seen. it meant it was something that mattered to those authors. treating emotion itself as something normal and upset kids as ones deserving of loving, gentle reassurance, was something novel and captivating, and something i clung to. and i know i'm not alone in that, considering how many adult bluey fans there are who claim it's healing their inner child. seeing good parenting and children being cared for properly and kids working through difficult and often relatable emotions can be a very powerful experience. my point is i'm rooting for all the little guys discussed in this essay.

now, in regards to tragedy and horror, those comforts are generally denied, leaving the child-characters alone, confused, terrified, vulnerable, and sometimes very very dead. i think it's a fairly common impulse to feel more afraid for a child in a given situation than an adult in that same situation. you could chock it up to biology or experience, but whatever it is, many people have a strong instinct to protect and care for children. so when something bad happens to a fictional child, it can feel particularly painful. it may be a strange example, but i saw a local production of les miserables around the same time i pieced together that you can talk about your feelings, and i expected to bawl my eyes out (or come closest to it) at the finale. but the most choked up i got was when little gavroche was shot. some of this is because the gunshot was very loud and it startled me, but a lot of it was because he was so young. and he believed in their cause and he died bravely and stupidly. that kind of thing really gets to me. more psychological tragedy involving young characters can also be particularly heart-wrenching. for a completely different example, see the events of hunter x hunter's chimera ant arc, and the incredible strain placed on gon and killua's friendship. neither of them are strangers to violence or physical danger, but the emotional strife is something rather new between them. they'd been close from day one, and their fights were never all that serious. they're ride or die best friends. and due to their newness to real, deep friendships (particularly on killua's part), you really feel every crack in their relationship, and how gon doesn't care even if he manages to see it, and how killua cares so much (i'm being vague because i want you (yes, you) to watch it. iykyk). the suffering of fictional children, when unresolved, when it breaks them, when it hurts and hurts and hurts and changes them, is, in a horrible, frightening way, beautiful.

more tragic/horror-inclined stories tend to focus on a loss of innocence structure, the coming of age story's evil twin. the little prince jumps (primarily) between the narrator-pilot + the eponymous prince's interactions in the desert and stories of the prince's travels. in short, he leaves his boring, small, largely safe home due to ennui and travels to a number of tiny planets inhabited by figures representing types of adulthood. kings, businessmen, lamplighters, and so on, each of whom confuse and dismay the prince more. is that what lies in wait for him outside of his home? endless, desperate, ego-driven nonsense? he makes his way to earth as well, and despite befriending his fox and the pilot, it seems his sense of dread and homesickness is only increasing. [actually i'm gonna start spoiling it now so watch out ig] in the end, the prince chooses to go home, back to his bubble with his rose and his baobabs and his sunsets, and he accomplishes this through. ah. lethal snake venom. the pilot chooses to believe he returned, as part of his renewed sense of wonder and imagination the prince inspired. he chooses to believe that the prince made it home because he and the prince were both sick of the drab realism of their lives. whether or not you believe he returned or simply died is up to you. there's a very interesting discussion to be had in a different post. either way, the prince wishes to return to his imperfect, but ultimately safe, nursery. he escapes to childhood, too soft-hearted for the world of adults. but he'll always know what he saw. it won't be the same, without the longing to know. [spoilers over get back in here]. in some cases, like gavroche's, his innocence and hope in the little people is what led to his death. he died in innocence, without coming of age. gon's loss of innocence is in his grief, and the hatred and violence with which he seeks to resolve it, which strikes the people closest to him. it's in his inability to even consider forgiveness or mercy, something he struggled with for certain figures (i.e. illumi, the phantom troupe (specifically nobunaga)), but generally let go with time, space, or a shift in perspective. others, like hanzo and genthru, escape without even a brief lingering grudge.

and, for the example that led me to write this, loss of innocence is particularly prominent in the promised neverland. as a note, i've only seen the first season of the anime, and not since i was in middle school, so. grain of salt/be patient with me here. but anyone who went into that first episode blind is going to know exactly what i'm talking about. [spoilers ahead]

tpn's s1 opening situation is, essentially, that there is a beautiful orphanage with green meadows and forests and happy, well-loved children, whose ages range from around 1-11. the children want for nothing and receive incredible educations, utilizing futuristic tools while preserving a mostly pastoral feel. the children play together, learn together, and care for each other very deeply. every once in a while, a child gets adopted. they say their goodbyes, the lucky child promises to write, and they are driven away. on one such adoption day, two of the oldest children realize the child forgot her beloved stuffed rabbit, and set out to take it to her.

they find their young friend half-eaten and their sweet, strict, encouraging, and incredibly competent caretaker discussing future shipments of this kind. they are being raised so their brains can be harvested and eaten by strange, demonic figures. and, as it turns out, they won't take brains older than twelve, an age they are quickly approaching.

(idk maybe it's cliche to YOU guys but it blew MY mind so. yeah)

what followed is some of the most tense fiction i've ever full-body clenched my way through. the elements mentioned up until now are all here in full. the children are still nurtured by isabella, their "mom", and because they can't let her know they know they're livestock, they have to pretend as if everything's normal, all while trying to find some way to free themselves and their family of ~40 younger children from their walled enclosure, without knowing anything of the outside world for certain. and, of course, they can't let the younger children know, either. their resources are all extremely limited, intensely monitored, and completely controlled by isabella. there are no contacts on the outside, no adults who can help them, just the most scared tweens i've ever seen in my life. isabella's unnatural strength and intelligence allow her to outmaneuver our main three (they rope in another one), and that's before another adult gets called in to help her, playing a big sister role. every victory feels like it could be a trap, and is still extremely fragile. every setback feels agonizing. the moments where the adults show their dominance and cruelty are just. guhhhh. bone shattering. it's a hard watch but it's a damn good watch, assuming 13 y/o me was right about it (which is a bold take but whatever). if you ever wanted a bunch of very scared very competent very endearing children plot the logistics of a jailbreak from the garden of eden baby livestock farm then like. that's what this is.

and the emotion is, to me, what makes it so compelling. these children have just had their entire world shattered, and have been immediately dumped into a worst-case scenario that they have to pretend not to know about, and are responsible for about a dozen kids each, all younger than them, and many of them actual babies and toddlers. they are bottling up and repressing as much of their fear as possible, but sometimes it inevitably slips out when they're alone, and it's just SUCH a gut punch. you get the cathartic breakdowns AND the (false) comfort AND the fear AND the repression of that emotion. they're too young to be dealing with this on their own (idk if anyone'd ever be old enough to deal with the orphan meat farm but still), and they're not allowed to be kids because every second they aren't planning their escape could be the second wasted that gets them killed. it's all there babeyy that's the shit i'm here for. and, as much as any adult bluey fan has felt bittersweetly comforted by watching parents be, like, nice to their kids or whatever (<- has not watched bluey), i feel bittersweetly comforted by watching these children undergo mental torture because i'm like damn. that's exactly how i feel all the time (<- guy whose only problems are having to fill out like 3 forms) ouhhh im so scared im right with you guys. it's emma norman ray and ME. just scared little guys against the world. but one of us is a college student who is not even close to an orphan meat farm.

anyway i stole the conclusion for the tl;dr so. i'll just put that here again. sorry it's like 6am im tired

tl;dr if you bottled up your emotions as a child and dealt with everything alone there's something comforting about watching a fictional adult swoop in to comfort their fictional child, and something else comforting about watching that child crack and bleed and suffer under the pressure alone. because hey. you've been there. that acknowledgement of their hardship, big or small, aided by adults or not, is an acknowledgement of the hardship you went through growing up, and it can be really cathartic to watch someone express that strife openly when you never did/weren't able to.