#is because humans are capable of understanding on a surface level that there are things they cannot understand

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

thinking about a house. the house is sentient but not in a way i would typically recognize. it would view me as both a part of itself (similar to how an animal is a part of its ecosystem) and also something inherently lesser (like how an owner views its pet). i can't communicate with it in any meaningful way. i can't even tell when it's paying attention to me if it doesn't try to draw my attention. it can manipulate whatever is inside of itself except me, which would give me a sort of edge if it ever viewed me as a threat, but since it doesn't it sees it in more of a "awww look at your little claws" way.

[autistic-robin]

Why “Hiding in the Light” Didn’t Work: Stranger Things’ Psychospiritual Implications

Supplementary Sources: Jungian Theory & A Wrinkle In Time

Alright, buckle in. I’m running on a year’s worth of spiritual awakening, deep dives into Jungian theory and non-dualism, and my own ego’s primary coping mechanism: immersing myself in media as escapism. The purpose of this analysis is to break down the themes of non-dualism and light/darkness in ST (and maybe predict some character arcs), and also to position the narrative of ST as a psychospiritual wake-up call.

For some context: last year, I discovered the work of psychoanalyst (or philosopher, depending on who you’re talking to) Carl Jung. He had a pretty extensive theory about the human psyche that I immediately connected to the themes throughout Stranger Things, specifically Vecna’s mind control and curse. I’m going to break Jung’s theory down as succinctly as I can, and then delve into how it plays out in our favorite gay monster show.

But before I delve into Jung’s ideas, I also think it’s important to define selfhood (you’ll understand why in a minute). For the purposes of this analysis, the experience of the “self” is an illusion created by our senses, perceptions, memories, and consciousness, all of which are impermanent. Therefore, the self is what we call “conditioned.” There is no you or me, just the ideas we have of ourselves.

Now, we can get into Jung’s theory. He posited the following:

1. Every individual has a “persona” they show the world (a constructed self) to feel like they belong. Underneath this persona, everyone has a personal “shadow,” or the part of themselves they don’t want to acknowledge. This shadow is always projected onto others— every negative thought we have about someone else is a product of our own unintegrated shadow. Note: The shadow is NOT bad, it just “is.” It’s actually there to HELP us grow and integrate all the unhealed parts of us.

2. Individuals’ shadows are usually part of their unconscious, meaning most people are not aware of their shadow side or cannot bear to delve into their trauma/darkness and begin to heal it.

3. All of human consciousness is CONNECTED. This means two things. 1: There is a “collective unconsciousness” that contains the sum of all of our unintegrated trauma, and 2: We can heal our collective unconsciousness by healing our own unconsciousness.

How do we heal our own unconsciousness? By becoming AWARE of our shadow side, accepting and forgiving the conditioning that created it, and working to encourage others to do the same.

What— or rather, who— does that remind you of?

Also— great use of lighting here.

We know Vecna has direct access to his victims’ consciousness; not just their memories, cognition, and emotions, but also their awareness itself. This is how he’s able to target and trance people. But it’s not just their consciousness Vecna has access to; it’s their unconsciousness. Their shadow. Their trauma. Yes, he has psionic abilities akin to El’s, but as far as we know, El can’t access the collective unconsciousness like Vecna can. She is only capable of “remote viewing” via the void or piggybacking into people’s minds. So why is Vecna capable of this?

If you want my take on it: the only way to access a collective shadow would be through accessing your own shadow. So is Vecna really Henry, or his unintegrated shadow? And is either really condemnable, considering the larger themes of the show?

We see this theme of non-dualism echoed in Brenner’s NINA pep talk with El:

It’s fascinating to me that they’re communicating these bigger thematic ideas through the show’s “villians”— while the above conversation could be taken at surface-level as Brenner being manipulative, it’s important to acknowledge the truth of what he’s saying. NINA is only successful because El faces “the good and the bad.” This is why “hiding in the light” is a no-go for Max.

Focusing only on happy memories is a form of emotional bypassing. Throughout the show, we’ve been told time and again that hiding doesn’t work. Neither does running away. The only way out for our characters is through their own shadows.

Now, the fun part: predictions. Looking at all of this with a Jungian lens, it doesn’t make much sense to villianize a character or to end the story by “defeating evil.” In non-dual theory, there are no evil people, only unhealed ones.

We know what worked for our characters temporarily (Will in the UD, Max in her first trance, El using her powers against Vecna) was the memory and vibration of love.

This reminded me of A Wrinkle In Time, which is a science fiction novel that’s been noted more than a few times as one of Stranger Things’ primary influences. In the book, a girl and her brother travel through time to rescue their father from an alternate dimension where all beings are controlled in a hyper-individualist suburbia by a giant, all-knowing brain. The climactic “defeat” of the brain is shockingly simple, but incredible impactful— Meg, the heroine, tells it over and over that she loves it. This love ultimately brings her father and brother out of trances they are in, and they’re able to remember her and travel back home.

(Tangent: And God. The implications of that, outside of analyzing ST, are powerful. How do we live in a capitalist hellscape that is so caught up in the mind— in acheiving, obtaining, securing, protecting the ego— that many of us have forgotten our hearts? The answer is love. Loving ourselves more deeply to love all beings more deeply, “the good and the bad.” But love does not negate accountability, and it does not excuse harm.)

Our characters are all struggling with self-acceptance and self-love in some form or another. Each is wrestling with secrets and lies, and the desire to hide parts of themselves they think others can’t accept.

Mike is clearly struggling with self-loathing, guilt surrounding what happened to El in s1, and a crippling hero complex.

Will is also on the self-loathing train, continually self-sacrifices to his own detriment, and is hiding his identity out of fear (not at all villifying that, just for the record.)

El struggled to reconcile her abilities and forced weaponization with her identity outside of the lab pre-s4.

Max was suicidal and had a lot of self-hatred after B*lly’s death.

Nancy parallels Mike in her survivor’s guilt post-s1 and exhibits the same lack of self-preservation and self-sacrificing tendencies.

You get my point. So how will these characters overcome their trauma? Not through hiding, or running, or bypassing. Not through the light alone. Through love— acknowledgement of their own darkness, compassion for the unhealed nature of others, and commitment to being honest with themselves and their loved ones. We know Will is El and Henry’s mirror/foil and will play a central role in S5, and with all of this in mind I think it’s safe to say he will break the cycle of bypassing and hiding from trauma and pain once and for all. He won’t fight it like El, hide from it like Max, or run from it like he did as a kid.

Only by integrating their shadows can our characters become truly “themselves,” or as Brenner puts it, “whole.”

I will probably have much more to say about this after my re-read of A Wrinkle in Time, but for now, that’s all I’ve got. :) Hope everyone is doing well!

[crguang]

HI HELLO SHALOM INTERRO ??? THOUGHTS ??? HOW DO WE FEEL ABOUT CHIEF BEING THE PERSON TO BREAK THE PARADEISOS LOBOTOMY

ABSOLUTELY FUCKING INSANEEEEEEEEEEE. UNBELIEVABLE. WHAT????????! they are intrinsically linked together. at once by the shackles, paradeisos, loss of self, mutual liberation and their inevitable end perceived by others. they’re literally the same. shalom pre-lobotomy is chief pre-awakening; refusing to be controlled, full of vitality, hatred and defiance (as defined by having freedom). i have so many thoughts in my head and it’s hard to concretize them all but the language shalom used to talk about how chief opened the door for doubt in her mind stroke me, it’s so violent. “rift” “corrupting” “shattering” “beast/monster” “tore me apart”… it really conveyed how shocking of a transition it must have been for her to suddenly feel those “unnecessary emotions” that had been taken from her for 8 years. even more, it must be so surreal to understand that you’ve been dissected in two, dehumanized and objectified while simultaneously being able to gaze upon that part of yourself that cries in indignation. if she was truly emotionless it wouldn’t mean a thing, but she’s not… she’s so incredibly self-aware. i think this is what makes it so sad for me, knowing you have an expiration date based on your usefulness because you were “made” for one purpose while being able to feel pleasure and have desires, etc— to understand the weight of what has been snatched from you by people who think themselves righteous when they’re really just a bunch of fear-stricken cowards would have anybody go crazy. seeing what paradeisos did to her made me so sick. the apathy with which they treat every threat to themselves is shocking but straight up mocking her will to live for herself by calling the monster they’ve made using (a part of) her Rebel made my stomach churn like that is so disgusting… shalom is aware of the severity of what paradeisos did to her and it’s sick that she has to risk everything just for less than a 1% chance of success that doesn’t even include her survival mind you. im just SICKK

to think she was so full of life and fighting spirit and is now reduced to “resigned” looks and smiles, compared to an instrument and a doll— oh my god sev it made me so uncomfortable. i know that during the loyalty test in the consciousness observatory or whatever, she was essentially embodying paradeisos but reading her being described as “doll-like” “void” and such was so tough… for chief to get that impression of her being an empty shell, expression that shalom uses again in the end to describe herself, then for shalom wonder if she’s even human afterwards made me so sadddd 😭 i do like these two excerpts though because i feel like it describes the duality of her character well, the surface level at least. the fact that she is capable of being genuine and has mastered the art of “embodying paradeisos” so that they wouldn’t notice that flaw makes her impossible to figure her out without diving into her psyche. even chief couldn’t understand her fully, she wont be able to now that she’s forgotten her. she’s so wonderfully complex and her interrogation portrayed that concept super well.

ive talked about shalom and her smiles before but another thing that’s always struck me as odd was that she kinda laughed too much for an unfeeling robot. im not talking about her cute little chuckles either, yeah sometimes it’s only to add to her manipulation but at the end of flora unfurl, when all of her plans were coming to fruition and in the face of coquelic’s rage, she was laughing then still. her laughs and smiles are sometimes so inappropriate but her laughter especially stood out to me and i didnt really know why until this one scene… it takes more effort to fake a laugh than to fake a smile like she does all the time; from what i remember she wasn’t mocking coquelic or being unnecessarily cruel, but when she burst out laughing i was so confused exactly because it felt unnecessary and out of place, like what happened in that scene. laughter is often accompanied by emotion and during a time where rationality couldn’t explain the motive behind her action, schorl immediately scanned her for defects like that’s insane. the level of scrutiny she’s constantly under is impossibly oppressive— “try to rectify such purposeless physicalities”?! cant even laugh anymore because of woke. can’t voice her thoughts, can’t be fully genuine with the person who freed her from rationality, she literally cannot do shit omg. all of herself has to be available to paradeisos’ sterile gaze every second of every day… she’s used to that scrutiny but ughhh it’s not fair and it’s not how human beings are treated. shalom i will save you from this prison if it’s the last thing i do

despite it all, she has her small pleasures and it makes me want to scream and die. the way she “plays” with schorl by having it scan her meaninglessly, how she enjoys catching people off guard and observing their reactions, the way she’s always making fucking jokes?! so important to me. shes so unserious. shalom making jokes that fall flat because they’re in the middle of a heavy topic or issue is so important to me. “haha your garden’s better off with me than dead right? kidding, heh” and “why should i give a fuck about humanity?��� just kidding! love these people” is so 😭😭😭 i genuinely find her hilarious because she doesn’t relieve any tension at all, she is NOT meant to be comedic relief 😭

back to her and chief tho…… is it not absolutely crazy how she was acting like they were once married with three kids before chief got amnesia. mind you they met ONCE before, officially. ONE TIME. and she was like “you made a lasting impression on me” “we’re friends” “i wanted to see you/my own subtle yearning to see you again” “we held hands like this once before… i still remember the touch” “being apart from you, i cant help but worry” SLOW DOWWWWWWN. MY GOODNESS. i know chief changed her life but shalom was so intense from the get go like she wants that cookie so effing bad. they used the words “tender” “intimate” and “gently” too often for me to believe they dont want each other like. and why was the hand holding written like a fanfiction— matter of fact, this whole thing was written like a fanfiction because why am i reading about the exposed skin of shalom’s collarbone, her pushing chief onto her bed then essentially climbing into it as well to whisper in her ear WHILE encouraging her to choke her?!?!?!?! what was even happening. lesbians make me sick. what a freak. i actually dont know how many times ive called shalom a freak while playing the first 2 interro phases

wish i could add all the screenshots from the choking scene but tumblr’s a BITCH. but this whole thing was insane. LIKE INSANE. this is gayer than 000 kissing chief. this is gayer than being a housewife for the assassin that kidnapped you. reconnecting with an old “friend” you cant remember yet feel an undeniable familiarity and connection towards and allowing yourself to be vulnerable and exposed in front of her regardless of ulterior motives… soulmates across space and time and circumstance idkkk, at the end of the day the one who can understand shalom the best if given a real chance is chief idc they’re mirror images of each other. shalom was so genuine in the interrogation room despite chief being suspicious of her like im sure of it now. the fact that they freed each other is forever ingrained in my heart, that is the most precious gift they could’ve given to each other even if it was done unconsciously from chief’s part. ALSO the fact that the one moment we hear the most emotion from shalom is when she’s at chief’s bedside telling her to come back? yeah. exactly.

let me stop yapping but there are many things that are escaping me that made me go “holy fuck”, i have a hundred screenshots and recordings just from her interro like it really blew my mind. shalom’s character is a bit clearer to me now and it really does put everything into perspective aaaaaa im aching to write for her properly this time

[inbabylontheywept]

"The reaper had a scythe. I have a combine harvester."

Arlach tapped his fingers nervously. He’d have gladly given up his life for the liberation of his people. A combine harvester (even a deluxe AI driven model) was a pittance compared to that. Still, he didn’t really understand what he was hearing.

“I uh… heard you’re hooking up my strawberry picker to an air defense cannon?”

The human technician assembling the gun held up a hand, finishing up some last tweaking of the wire harness. He touched two wires together carefully and swore when a shower of sparks shot out of the contact.

Set back, but not defeated, the man paused his task to answer the farmer’s question.

“See, you’re looking at this wrong. It’s an AI harvester, and it works great for strawberries, but machines don’t really see ‘strawberries’. They rate strawberry-ness. There’s a lot of ways to manage that, but it looks for a generally pointed shape, some seeds, and that nice red color. So your run of the mill strawberry generally receives an almost perfect strawberry-ness score, but something like this-”

His hands dug through all the pockets of his work suit before they finally found their target. He fished out what had been a standard ferroslug before it was painted bright red and smattered with a handful of black dots. He took a moment to admire it himself before tossing it to the farmer and continuing.

“Well, it’s not a strawberry, but it scores as one. Well enough that the machine gets positive feedback from its alignment unit every time it puts one of these babies where it's supposed to go.”

Arlach stared at him blankly.

“So what, you’re convincing it to fill a cargo container up with painted bullets?”

The technician grinned.

“There's no a limit to how fast it's allowed to fill that container up. At no point did the alignment protocol even consider that it'd be capable of throwing a 'strawberry' at mach nine. And the cargohold is important, but the rocket its attached to is more so. You know what looks a lot like a surface to orbit rocket?"

Arlach’s brain clicked.

“The hypersonic missiles they've been throwing at us.”

The grin widened. Arlach himself felt slightly awed to have found the connection.

“Will it work?”

The human nodded.

“It’s damn near the only thing that can. To shoot down something going that fast, that low, you either need a dummy missile that can brute force outrun it, or enough computing power to hack a station. The alliance is too chickenshit to send over their actual military AI's, but these myopic-type digibrains are supposed to be safe for civilian use because the idea of convincing your tractor that a bullet is a strawberry and a WMD is a cargo loader was a little too creative for the morons over at John Deere Galactic. And if that digibrain just so happens to function near the exoflop level, they're going to have a hard time sneaking anything larger than a bee through this airspace.”

The alien’s hands went over its crest as its mind reeled.

“They're not the only ones who would never think of this. It's brilliant. I never would've considered it.”

The tech shrugged good naturedly and went back to retrieve the two ends of wire that he’d dropped earlier.

“Eh, it's not coming from nowhere. There’s something of a human tradition about using farm equipment for war. I'm just lucky to be part of the next evolution in this. The reaper himself only used a scythe. Now I get to use a combine harvester.”

[strawberrykaon]

I think autistic primarchs would present very differently than in a baseline human. Its so much easier to cover up or explain away.

Like if Mortarion goes semi- verbal, he still sounds normal. But very stilted for a primarch. Its different from when I can only maybe say three words at a time. Usually I can only go "I don't know" or "no", or "go away". For him it's still full length sentences, like "I think I just need to be alone now". That can easily be explained to be exhaustion. But in reality he can't vocalize anything more complex right now.

Guilliman has be scripting since a child but no one notices. He just has over 100 scripts memorized for any occasion. Any question or change in the conversation. He already has a script lined up. He's capable of memorizing it. Conversations happen so naturally, you can't even tell the difference.

Even the way they stim can be so different to a baseline. Probably in ways a baseline can't comprehend. Traits like increased pattern recognition are standard in a primarch. All primarchs are far more "higher functioning" than any baseline.

Being behind their brothers developmentally by a few weeks is nothing compared to a baseline. What's walking at two months when most humans are closer to a year old when they start. Sure the other primarchs were walking much sooner. Some right out of the pod. But they often reached adulthood far sooner than any human. What constitutes a development delay to a primarch. If an apothecary can't tell what's a high blood pressure level in Guilliman. How can you tell?

Exhaustion that so many autistic face is so off from a baseline. They need less sleep. They can go through periods without rest for far longer. I think in cases like Mortarion, he can just push through an autistic burnout. Sure he's a bit more irritable, among other things. But hey, the point of a shutdown won't hit him till a few decades later. So therefore he must have high energy levels then even his brothers. Despite the toll on his mental health. Plus their recovery times are far shorter. Guilliman needs just a few days to feel normal after a year long campaign after all. Doesn't matter how he was acting prior. Any strange behavior can be hand waved away.

Mental conditioning can be used to suppress sensory overload. No point in having your super solider curl up screaming because he has super hearing. And you threw him into an active warzone. Lets make sure you can't process that information in way that would harm you. (Plus I think as a rule primarchs have a tendency to be more sensory seeking than sensory avoidant.)

Hell even their positions in the imperial society could make it easier to mask. If Perturabo wants something done in a certain way, you are going to do it that way. You're just some 25 year old iron warrior or serf that needs to follow command. Plus you don't know best compared to a primarch.

Of course they mask in typical ways. Mortarion hasn't rocked when upset since he was young. Because Nacrae told him that he should avoid such weakling behavior. Or still show more obvious traits like Dorn's flatter speaking style. (IDK how true this is but everyone says this and I'm not too familiar with Dorn to say otherwise.)

Also I like to imagine that the Emperor intentionally placed Autism into some of his designer babies. Thinking he could "avoid all the negatives but only gain those traits that would benefit them greatly." Only for his patience to slowly be drained. Like Perturabo having a meltdown while Dorn is trying to get the two of them to work together. But he's lost the ability to mask what little he does. And is just going, "We are to conclude this activity in an hour. I have to calibrate the ships sensors in an hour and half. You have already wasted 10 minutes. We must refocus so we can conclude in an hour..."

The problem start when understanding what's going on under the surface. Or when you start comparing them to their brothers. But hey you're below understanding what a primarch is thinking. And all the primarchs are little off. They're demigods. What makes these one's so different. Doesn't help they themselves won't consider it themselves. Or even be insulted by the implication. I'm not an invalid. Don't be ridiculous.

(I used Perturabo, Dorn, and Guilliman here because they're the common ones head cannoned as autistic. I went with Mortarion as well because I decided to just go with it. I know him the best. Plus this is all just headcannon. Just to be clear. Reasoning being his kids tend to present with a flat personality anyways. Also heard Mortarion was always behind his brothers, so developmental delays?? Idk yet where they got that in lore yet. Trying to get through all the books is a lot. Plus his other strange behaviors. But it could just be poor socialization as a child mixed with mental illness. Could also just be all three too. But more than these four could be autistic is my point. Sorry if this post was rambling or unclear. Or if anyone has done this before. I just wanted to get my thoughts out on the subject.)

[moon932]

i think one of the more tragic parts of neuvillette’s character is the inherent inability for him to get closer to humanity by the way of his position. and i don’t mean just a dragon sovereign, we know that he is capable of empathizing and connecting with others- this is especially apparent with the melusines. ie, before he took up the mantle of the highly respected and revered iudex.

what i mean is that when focalors invited him to be chief justice, she ascribed him to a similar dilemma as furina. he’s the chief justice, and like anyone in a position of power, there is a certain distance and higher form of respect that will always be there. even when he’s not performing as the chief justice- he’s still expected to act like it and if he were to act out of character than he risks losing the respect his standing needs. and he’s very familiar with those consequences. which is more tragic when you realize that he wants to connect with his people. he wants to join in on banter and understand them in a way he wasn’t able to in the past.

i think this is especially apparent with both vautrin and later with the current fontaine gang. we’re told that neuvillette and vautrin were close when they worked together. this stands out to me more, because being told and shown neuvillette being close with people is a very big thing for his character because it’s so rare for him to form those connections. and while on the topic of vautrin, i think what happened with him and carole also made neuvillette’s resolve to stay impartial even stronger. because here is someone he trusted, and he had to exile him. i can’t even imagine how hard that was. add on to the fact that neuvillette thought vautrin hated him, and was okay with that thought? well maybe not okay with it, but was able to contend with it?

that brings me on to the next point, how many convicts hold grudges against neuvillette? how many families were torn apart because he needed to give out an impartial and apathetic verdict?

this is slightly a critique on hoyo, because they never want there to be what i call a ‘bad ending.’ any conflict we do have feels very surface level at best, and we never see anything deeper than baseline. and if there is a conflict, it’s always resolved with a neat little bow at the end. at least in the archon quests and world quests. don’t get me started on world quests.

but yeah, neuvillette is a character that is lonely by design y’know? even in his character stories, they always have an air of loneliness to them. here is this being who understand things about the world not even the gods do. and he can’t talk about it because what if the powers that be see it be to strike him down? this is purely based off of a dialouge line you get in your teapot, which is a landmine of character lore btw.

if i’m deranged enough i’ll ramble about wriolette at some point and touch on both the platonic and romantic connotations that relationship has, if you guys want. anyways, hope you enjoyed my deranged ramblings about neuvillette because i can guarantee it will happen again (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)

[the-music-maniac]

I haven't watched that much of One Piece yet, so feel free to disagree with me on this analysis, but there's one thing about people's general interpretation of Sanji as a character that drives me a little nuts. And I'm saying this because even though I'm not very far along, I got spoiled for his backstory (because I refused to stop reading fanfiction even though when I first started I was like, on episode 3).

So before you continue, there are spoilers for Sanji's past.

I think people tend to ignore that the differences between Sanji's demeanor towards men vs towards women likely partially stem from severe trauma. I don't believe his actions are entirely intrinsic, its not like he was born acting like this - nor is it an unchanging immutable fact of his character, despite what a lot of people seem to believe.

And for some context on what prompted this - I'm a sanzo/zosan shipper, so I tend to crawl through the depths of the internet looking for fun little videos and fanarts, and one consistent protest I see with this ship is "Sanji DESPISES men and WORSHIPS women, there's literally no way he could EVER be attracted to men or want to date a man he HATES them."

Which bothers me outside of any arguments about Sanji's sexuality or even about any ships - which I will get to in a second - because that interpretation of Sanji assumes his actions are just there for no reason. Sanji hates men, therefore he hates all men with no exceptions, and he will always hate men. Sanji loves all women, therefore he will always worship every single woman he meets. I dunno, I think it's just a very surface level understanding of who he is, and relies on setting a rule for no reason and just sticking to it, as if it's just a mere quirk of his character with no backing to it.

Sanji's first interaction with any people, was in the form of his biological family, as is the case with most of us. Specifically, his father and brothers, who abused him and didn't even treat him like a person, and his mother and sister, who were the only people that treated him with kindness and saw his humanity. Tbh, he reminds me of the way women who have experienced trauma from men act - a general dislike/disdain and distrust for them (for good reason). And I don't doubt Sanji's overall elevation of women was only hammered home by the fact that his first ever father figure - arguably the first man who's treated him with kindness - teaching him the lesson to always respect women. His very illogical need to never fight women probably partially comes from the events in his life, and because it's not just a two dimensional arbitrary rule established for his character - there can be exceptions and growth.

We already know this, because despite Sanji's general disdain of men as a whole, he is capable of caring/loving men that he personally knows. He loves Zeff, and he loves his nakama - some of whom are MEN. Like, it's right there??? In the same way a woman who has experienced violence at the hands of a man probably still has family and friends or even a significant other that they love and care about that are men.

Like if you're using his demeanor towards the different genders as an "aha got you" argument for why Sanji couldn't possibly be queer, its not as strong of an argument as you think it is.

And if we're operating under the assumption that Sanji partially acts like this because of trauma, it brings up quite a few interesting arguments about his sexuality and potential romantic partners.

Which segways into sanzo/zosan, since admittedly I got into this entire debacle because I was looking into fanart (non-shippers feel free to click away now if you wish, I get that not everyone likes the ship, which is valid).

I don't think Sanji's actions means he couldn't be bisexual. Cause I'm bisexual, and you know what would make me very very keen to ignore all my attraction to one specific gender? If I had multiple instances of that gender hurt me severely. In fact I'm not so certain I don't experience that, because while I haven't had anything super bad happen to me, I hear about things in the news, about friends and family who have been harmed, interacted with men who have talked down to me, and I definitely went through a phase in my younger years where i just refused to consider men as a possibility for a romantic partner, because I was just so so angry. And I'm not saying Sanji doesn't like women in truth, because he absolutely does. He's both attracted to them and likes them. But that doesn't eliminate the possibility that he might also be attracted to men, or other non-binary genders. In fact the more he doth protest, and puts on a show when he sees a pretty woman, the more I'm sure he's in denial. Internalized homophobia can also be a bitch. Contrary to making me think Sanji is absolutely straight, the way he acts in the show actually puts me the opposite way.

I've heard Sanji also has an interesting relationship with gender and may be genderqueer but I don't know as many details about that yet, so I'll skip it for now. But regardless, I look at Sanji and go "I don't think this is a traditionally cishet character."

Of course, this is by far not the only interpretation you can have of Sanji. It could be that he's traumatized and also heterosexual. That's absolutely fine. But my overall point here is that I don't think what we see in canon negates the possibility that Sanji can be queer.

As to why I like Zosan in relation to this:

1. First, a relatively minor thing, I enjoy the sheer amount of bickering/fighting. People hold that up as a reason to not like the ship and I'm like, my dude that's one of the only reasons why I'm here. My love language is annoying the people you love and occasionally having homoerotic battles. duh.

2. Zoro is one of the aforementioned men that Sanji cares about, one of the exceptions to his "men are horrible" thing. Like they argue and fight a lot, sure, but you're not convincing me that they don't love each other. In whatever capacity - platonic or romantic - is up to your interpretation. Sanji loves all of his nakama, that's not really something I see as up for debate.

3. I honestly believe that until Sanji gets a less extreme viewpoint of the different genders - he won't be able to be in a healthy romantic relationship with a woman. For one thing, I know Sanji has self worth issues for days. For another thing, his hero worship for women as a whole - his refusal to fight women, even when they're actively trying to harm him - I don't see that translating well to a relationship. Moreover, I can see it being exhausting for the woman he ends up with, to always be treated like she's made of glass or agreed with, regardless of what she says.

Essentially, he wouldn't really treat that relationship as a partnership between equals, and I think when that happens, you run the risk of the individuals hurting each other, even on accident. Of course, we can also see this as a facet of his character with exceptions and possibility for personal growth. Maybe if he gets with a girl he'll grow and learn and still end up in a good relationship. You could also just interpret his demeanor as over the top flirting that he'll reign back in for an actual serious relationship. Sky's the limit when it comes to fandom interpretations.

But because of this, regardless, I just don't see any potential between the female characters I've met and Sanji. What I do see potential in, is Zoro. Here is actually a character Sanji not only trusts to watch his back, is on equal footing with, but is also unafraid to speak his mind and fight with. He doesn't walk on eggshells or worship the ground Zoro walks on, he has no qualms about defending himself if Zoro crosses a line. That is what a relationship can be built on.

4. Zoro has a contrasting way of interacting with women that I find super interesting. He comes off as the kind of character that doesn't actually care about the gender of the person he's fighting or interacting with - he cares about their ability. Which kinda explains his reactions when he hears Kuina's thoughts about being a girl - and I think Tashigi as well if I'm remembering correctly. There could be a clash of beliefs there that might be quite interesting. I know Zoro and Sanji do fight about how they talk to women, but I meant like something not just played off for laughs. Maybe there is something like that later in the show, who knows, I'm still early on.

5. Again the entire reason why I like enemies to lovers is the need for personal growth. I heard someone say that Zoro would be fine with being in love with a boy if it wasn't Sanji, and Sanji would be fine with being in love with Zoro if he wasn't a boy, and man do I think that's accurate. And here's the crux of the matter - in order for them to get together, they need to get over their hang-ups. Sanji needs to unpack the ten million tons of trauma he keeps repressed under his curly noggin, and Zoro needs to figure out why Sanji rubs him the wrong way. That shit is INTERESTING. People forget that the reason why this trope is so popular is BECAUSE it's a fixer upper - there's work to do. Nothing is perfect. It may even be a little toxic. That's the appeal.

Anyways this is getting TOO LONG. Thanks for reading!

[rosinkreutz]

as the #1 Asuka scholar, how exactly would you describe his relationship/how he interacts with i-no? im specifically thinking pre-xrd but am curious in general

Honestly, I'm not really sure how to make sense of their relationship. There isn't a lot to go off of. I think from Asuka's side, it makes sense. Pre-Xrd is mostly him just being exasperated by her antics and he does trap her in crystal time prison that one XX ending, but I think he genuinely does like her. You could definitely look at the story from an "he was just keeping her around because she was dangerous and occasionally useful", but I feel like it's sort of a surface level understanding of things. We never really see how they interact when I-no is not actively causing problems for him, and we do know that we was actively trying to save her from her miserable existence. One that, might I add, he could definitely relate to. They both have a sort of guardian-ownership complex about the world. What confuses me is I-no's side. I feel like there's a discrepancy between Xrd and pre-Xrd. Not anything to do with the magical foci thing she finds out, just in general she seems different. As in, much more independent in her actions, clearly making choices and changing the past by herself without Asuka's input. Whereas previously, she was very much just focused on doing things for him and his plans. Maybe by Xrd she's experienced so many timelines that she's just jaded about everything, but I'm not sure if anything like that is made clear. It seems like the most likely answer, though. Still, I-no, who thinks all humans without exception are beneath her, hates having decisions made for her, hates people who don't let her have fun, was willing to call Asuka "Makes Decisions for People and Doesn't Like it When I-No Kills Random People" Kreutz her master? You can say that maybe she was just doing it just because she had to in order to progress the future, but why would that be the case? It doesn't line up with her aforementioned character change because she is actively destroying the world in the Side Black Drama CD before she meets Asuka (whom she is so impressed by that she swears herself to). Is she even capable of swallowing her pride in that way? I'm not sure of anything. At the very least she seems to have a great respect for him, more than she affords to anyone else. Even if he is just a human (more or less). Perhaps she relates to his suffering in the same way he may relate to hers. If anyone has a little clearer of a vision on whats going on with her, please share and/or correct me.

[nyx-aira]

I know many people here love the idea of Agatha and Rio having had a nice and loving relationship, well as nice and loving as it can be with Death and The Witch Killer as a couple, but I am much more intrigued in Rio being feral and not having and understanding human emotions

Hear me out:

(more under the cut because it gets long)

I love good fluffy agathario like the next person but what I really love is the idea of Rio trying to mimic human emotions and behaviour because she can't understand it

Rio is Death (with a capital D), she is a primordial being, a personified concept, a godlike entity. Rio doesn't feel emotions. She only feels the need to consume (yes I could make another post on how that mirrors Agatha's magical syphoning ability but it would probably be longee than this lol).

But over time she has learned to mimic things. Of course she has. She has had eternity to watch and learn because time doesn't matter to her, hey that's probably how she came up with the name Rio Vidal. She overheard people making jokes and in her own twisted way of wanting to be part of something as well, named herself "River of Life".

And that's where Agatha comes into play. Because Rio is obsessed with Agatha. She's different, which makes her interesting to Rio, so she observes. Kinda like a little kid catching a butterfly in a jar and observing it. Rio is fascinated. Wants to get closer to Agatha, learn more, keep her to herself. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she came up with the name shortly after she met Agatha, just to see her reaction, to poke at her experiment, her obsession.

Rio is enamoured with Agatha, fascinated, and when Agatha returns that fascination, gives her attention, Rio is sold. She wants this one to herself, no matter which way. And the more time she spends with Agatha she tries to understand her. Now we have to remember, Rio doesn't get emotions. She can observe them and draw her conclusions (Rio did something, Agatha acted out, cried maybe, that's not a good thing so she files that information away) Rio can make sense of emotions on a surface level, she observes and she draws conclusions but she can't feel those things herself.

And in the way she is capable of, in the lack of her emotions, she does "love" Agatha. In her own way. She can't feel love but she can feel possession, wanting something to herself. So in her way she loves Agatha. Protects her from her mother, comforts her when she realises that she needs someone. And Rio has become quite good at it with all the time they have spent together. She knows Agatha, in and out, all her secrets, all her thoughts she doesn't want anyone to know. Not because she emphasises, she's incapable of that, but because she's been observing for so long and is able to draw logical conclusions.

And that makes such an interesting foundation of their relationship. Agatha, cast out by her peers and mother, finds solace in the only being that doesn't reject her for who she is. Death. And Death becomes enamoured with her, obsessed even, it's a twisted obsession. But it works in a way, because Death only wants more death and Agatha can give that to her, so they work out. Rio is on top of her game when Agatha is acting as her murderous self because that she can relate to the most. But when she isn't, when she's having "feelings", then Rio has to put on her detective hat and start figuring things out. And that makes it so interesting. Because if she interprets wrong and Agatha becomes cross with her, she might not want to spend time with Rio anymore, but Rio doesn't want to loose her favourite toy. So she has to figure things out she is incapable of understanding.

And yes, I wrote all this just because I love the idea of socially inept Rio just trying to figure out emotions, which do not make the slightest bit of sense to her. Because feral and unhinged Rio is my favourite and I just want to see Rio being put in situations that require human emotions and she turns into the shocked pikachu meme because she doesn't have a clue on how to act

[emin-folly]

@fezwearingjellybananas 💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character? I've already talked about Barry, so it's Eobard's turn this time!

Okay so like....the whole deal with Eobard and the thing that a lot people seem to kind of?? Not get?? Is the fact that he's a pathological lair.

He's SO GOOD at this, he straight up got his own ass fooled into thinking he actually hates Barry. He'll say he "hates" Barry, and that he wants nothing more to than to be rid of him forever (nevermind in the next breath, he says he wants them to be equals??? Make up your mind, bro) BUT THEN he goes and tracks Barry through the timeline and proceeds to build a massive lightning rod which turns himself into the Negative Speed Force JUST to drag Barry out from the afterlife. Keyword there--Drag. Bringing Barry back to life wasn't some freak accident, Eobard deliberately dragged him out, kicking and screaming (<-- His exact words) Like...sacrificing your humanity, literally making yourself into your archnemesis's universal half to resurrect your most "hated" enemy is uuuhhhhh??? PRETTY GAY NGL And that's not the only instance either. There's lots of little things that Eobard does that shows he is surprisingly capable of being kind (like, the person who fixed Irey and Jai's whole speed aging thing? Yeah, that was Eobard), though it can be very easy to miss because he uses malicious pretense to distort them

"Oh, that's just writers inconsistency/rectonning things!" While true, there were things about Eobard that were changed/rectonned over the years, there still seems to be this same, underlying thread that ties all of Eobard's actions together, even going back as far as the Silver Age and that's love

When you rip away all the layers and get at his very core, you'll find that underneath all of that, he just wants to be loved.

That's it, and that's why he's so ruthless and unstoppable. He's willing to tear the whole universe apart just for a brief moment of happiness Eobard is a person who on some level, realizes how unlovable he is and is vehemently rebelling against that. He doesn't know how to love nor how to ask for it. All he's familiar with is his own obsessive and erratic love for Barry. This is why he's so, SO hellbent on making Barry as obsessed with him as he is with him, because that's the only form of love he knows As for him being petty, I've also gone a bit indepth in another post but I'll go over it briefly here why this is also VERY incorrect:

Yes, Eobard pushing Barry down the stairs or erasing his friends looks very random and ridiculously childish on the surface, but the second you look deeper, you'll see in actuality it's all part of a elaborate and sinister plan which he executes with terrifying precision

Eobard pushing Barry down the stairs isn't him being childish, it's to make Barry paranoid.

Eobard opening the door to let Barry's dog out isn't him being evil for the "lulz", it's to rip away all the things that Barry loves which love him back systematically until he's so lonely and desperate, like Eobard is

Every single little thing Eobard does to Barry has VERY meticulously thought out reasons behind them, most of which are known to only him. He's is SCARILY patient and extremely proficient in getting the results he wants and honestly, we don't talk about that nearly enough TLDR, Eobard wants to mold Barry into someone who would love and accept him. To make him into someone who could understand him and love him (the tragedy here being Barry already was that but it wasn't enough for Eo)

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think? Batman. But that's too easy. So instead I'll say: Wally West.

Now, now. Hear me out.

Yes, Wally IS kind (though he had to learn that the hard way) and he does absolutely care about people, and he is compassionate (unless they're in his way....well, we'll get to that) but he also has this undeniable nasty streak.

He grew out a lot of it but he still has his moments where he's uhhh, really kind of horrible? He's judgmental, he's quick to jump to conclusions, he's selfish and he has a bad temper. He also struggles with empathy sometimes, too caught up about himself and what he's feeling to get the bigger picture. Wally definitely has good intentions, I'm definitely not doubting that, but when push comes to shove, he does has a tendency to do what he thinks is right vs what actually is right

Like, listen I'm sorry, Wally/Birdflash fans, but Wally's more than just the sunshine quippy, flirty guy. He's an asshole with some dark tendencies (remember when he turned Thad into a living statue? Y e a h) A good example of this is his relationship with Barry. Their relationship has so many layers to it and uhh, noooot all of it is positive.

They do truly love each other so, SO much. They tore through reality and time for each other. Nothing can separate them and yet...despite all of that, Wally has just...so many issues regarding Barry and how he sometimes treats Barry (honestly, you could extend this to the rest of the Flashfam. Yes, they are more emotionally adjusted and healthier compared to some, ahem other families coughtheBatfamcough but still, the way they seem to treat Barry a lot of the times is really?? Kind of rancid) Let's look at Flash War. Yes, Wally yelling at Barry was also influenced by Eobard, but I can't help but think Eobard's hypnosis wouldn't have worked as well as it did if Wally wasn't already harboring some deep-seated resentment, ya know? It's not really feasible to think Eobard created all of that anger there, but rather, he just nudged it to the surface, all of Wally's jealousy and fear regarding Barry (to be fair, he did get accidently 'eaten' by his uncle a couple times and reduced to a non-corporeal existence where no one remembered him, sooo yeah the fear is definitely justified lol) Barry for his part spent that whole arc trying to desperately reason with Wally and telling him to slow down and think things through. And how did Wally respond? By insulting him and threatening to cripple him beyond repair

"That was all just Eobard!" Mmm was it tho? I don't think so. I'm sorry, but I think to call everything Wally did in Flash War Eobard's fault seems very reductive and as well as the fact that Wally lashing out at Barry is something that seems to repeat itself a lot in the comics history.

The first time being at Barry's trial when he was being convicted of killing Eobard. Wally, who up to this point in time idolized Barry and wa his biggest fan, was now accusing him in a court of law of being incompetent and responsible for Iris's death (as bad as this was, I do give Wally a lot of slack here, he was very angry and hurt and needed someone--anyone--to use as a outlet)

Second time was during his solo run when he hallucinated Barry and Wally was attacking him, calling him a monster....yeahhh, I don't think I need to elaborate

Like...I absolutely get it, Wally was blinded by grief, he was hurting so bad, he wasn't thinking straight, I understand that. But he still threatened to hurt Barry to get his family back and if that doesn't speak volumes about his relationship to Barry, then I don't know. Because Wally is definitely possessive of the Flash mantle (which is also a whole thing in itself) and he doesn't know when Barry would suddenly re-absorb him back into the Speed Force again, Barry will always be a threat to him whether Wally likes it or not

Wally doesn't like confronting his issues either, and Barry will never call him out on it (that's his precious son boy after all) so it'll most likely just keep happening, sadly. And it's not just Barry, you can pick a lot of other characters, like Roy or Bart, who Wally also lashed out at Now, I'm not saying all of this to prove that Wally's a "bad character" or that Barry is flawless and perfect--far from it! Wally's complex, he has grey areas/layers which isn't the same as being horribly written

This doesn't negate his good traits nor vice versa. Wally's a very messy and also very human and that's perfectly fine! And I wish more people would internalize that

Disclaimer: I really do like and enjoy Wally and I LOVE his relationship with Barry <33 I adore them, BUT I also understand that it's not completely wholesome at all times and there is underlying problems here~

[queen0fm0nsterz]

Hey. I knew you're mad at Otto for hurting Noone and Noone deciding to join Nowhere, but have you ever considered hating the Ferryman for being the main reason why all of this started?

Like this man took away Otto's sister, Cici (Sisi? Cece?? or whatever the hell you spell her name as) away from him and making him obsess for answers, then later in Otto's life he met Noone and realize she is going through the same thing his sister did and became insane and thanks to that, Noone distrusts him and became an easy target for the Ferryman to take her away too and making Otto the bait to catch more children.

Blame can be on both sides. In this case, blame definitely is on both sides.

I understand your point of view, and you are right to say that the Ferryman was the one who started all this. But was it right of Otto to push Noone so far into the Nowhere that she "decided" that it'd be better to leave with the Ferryman than to stay with Otto? Who, mind you, deceived her multiple times, repeatedly breached her boundaries over and over again, used her and admitted that he was using her (when he said "I still need her" to the Ferryman taking Noone away) AND who did not show a single ounce of remorse for what he had done?

No. Of course it was not.

The Ferryman is the cause of the trauma. Otto's obsession with him is understandable, frighteningly human. So much so that I find myself disliking him because I have met people like Otto in my life. People who are nice on a surface level only to reveal later on that they capable of being manipulative and cruel, all under the pretense of past trauma causing them to act the way that they do. Trauma is not a justification for one to act like a piece of shit - an explanation, yes, but never a justifier. Which is exactly what Otto does.

You know who else in TSON has trauma and doesn't act like a dickhead? Noone. Noone, the victim in all of this, stuck between a kidnapper who will bring her to her doom and a man who is pushing her into the kidnapper's arms only to cry wolf when she calls him out on it.

I also find myself more upset with Otto rather than the Ferryman for another variety of reasons.

Firstly, I was not expecting anything from the Ferryman. We know how he operates, we know he's not a force of good; he's a liar and a kidnapper, literally a monster, taking children to their doom when they are at their most vulnerable. He was a bad omen from the very beginning and I never expected him to be anything more. Of course I hate him as a person and what he stands for, but considering where he started, I was not surprised to see him do what he did.

But Otto was different. Otto could have been different. He could have been an example of someone who manages to, if not overcoming, at least face their trauma with a positive outcome for both his own sake and Noone's. But no. He let himself go down a road so atrocious that he is now no different from the monsters we see in the Nowhere while not even being there.

Otto is a regular guy. He's not insane and he did not become insane. He, like everyone, has his own set of bad traits. He can be impatient, harsh, dismissive, insistent and immature. At the same time, he also has his good traits: he used to have a morale, kind, understanding, intelligent and friendly. All these things make up him as a person. As he said to Noone: once you are with someone long enough, you let out who you really are. And he did just that. He let his bad traits get the best of him. And as sorry as I feel for his circumstances, I really cannot bring myself to forgive him.

I suppose Otto let us down, like he let down Noone. And the Ferryman is the guy in the white van with its doors open, but Otto is the guy who threw Noone inside and watched it drive away.

He's a wonderfully written villain. My disliking of him as a person does not stop me from really enjoying his character! I do think he's the second best written LN antagonist.

[jotun-philosopher]

Brother Aziraphale: some interesting parallels

I got a bit into the Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters and their mid-90s TV adaptation a couple of months ago, and my GO-saturated brain being what it is, I started picking out some fun coincidental parallels :D

On with the rambling!

Some background: the Cadfael stories are historical mysteries set during the Anarchy, a civil war waged between 1138 and 1153 by King Stephen and his cousin Empress Maud (aka Matilda), King Henry I's only legitimate son having died in the White Ship disaster of 1120. It's a fascinating period in English history that's criminally under-represented in popular culture. The books are extremely well-researched in their historical detail and are worth reading for that alone even if mysteries aren't quite your thing; the TV series is a tad variable in its level of faithfulness to the books, but it's good solid television with some excellent performances (see below for my favourite).

Cadfael himself, a Welshman by birth, is a former soldier and sea captain, having taken part in the First Crusade and travelled extensively in the Middle East and other places, learning medicine and generally gaining a great deal of worldly experience, before returning to England in his forties and taking the cowl, becoming the apothecary at the Abbey of St Peter and St Paul. His greater experience of the world and particular views on justice and fair play (which seem anachronistic but are actually neo-Aristotelian; perfectly accurate for the time period and character backstory) tend to clash with the other monks, who took their Benedictine vows much earlier in life and so tend to be less wordly and more doctrinaire. Cadfael is fiercely intelligent and compassionate, and if presented with a choice will always go for doing the good thing as opposed to the lawful thing, as he understands them. Luckily for him, though, he doesn't have to contend with Metatron-esque arseholes overmuch; the two abbots he serves under in the stories, Heribert and Radulfus, are very firmly reasonable authorities.

So now to those parallels I mentioned!

Cadfael:

Former soldier, still fully capable of defending himself or others in a fight

Considerable worldly experience and very well-travelled; consequently well-acquainted with human nature in all its facets and frailty

Has much to do with a literal garden, used for medicinal plants

Part of a religious order/organisation that is, all things considered, fairly healthy

Intelligent, compassionate and open-minded, which sometimes puts him mildly at odds with the other monks

Prefers to do what is good rather than simply following the rules

Welshman, played on TV by an English actor

Aziraphale:

Likewise a former soldier and fully capable of physically defending himself or others should it become necessary (see here for some of my analysis/speculation on this)

Considerable experience of the world through having been living there since the literal start, and is accordingly well-travelled; very familiar with humans and human nature

Is connected to both a literal garden and more metaphorical ones; the 'medicinal herbs' he grows in the latter are likewise metaphorical ( @vidavalor has a great deal of very good meta on gardens in GO; this post is a good recent example)

Teeeeeeeeeeeeeechnically part of a religious organisation, but one that's so ghastly that 'unhealthy' barely scratches the surface

Intelligent, compassionate and open-minded; the ways this puts Azzy at odds with Heaven are literally the whole dang plot! XD

Prefers doing true and genuine good, and [bleep] Heavenly Rules -- though Az seems fairly law-abiding wrt human laws that aren't complete [excrement]

Technically English, portrayed on TV by a Welsh actor

And one final thing -- the scene in 'One Corpse Too Many' (the first episode of the Cadfael TV show) that establishes Cadfael's character for the audience is one that I particularly like because it's awesome in its own right, and also because the first time I saw it, my whole brain went, "Yep, that's what Aziraphale would do!" In the scene in question, Cadfael intervenes to protect a vagrant who's being hassled by a jerkass soldier of King Stephen, then calmly, politely, wordlessly, and with great economy of action disarms said soldier with his bare hands -- see the gifs below:

And if you're thinking, "Hang on a mo'! That guy looks familiar!", then yes, you are absolutely correct! The first time I saw the cover of my grandmother's Cadfael DVD boxset, I actually had a bit of a knee-jerk fear reaction -- as in, reflexively yeeted myself halfway across the living room backwards -- simply because Derek Jacobi's performance in The Final Fifteen was just that effective! (Nothing was bruised except my dignity, and the only witnesses were a cat or two, who've so far kept quiet about it) He is just as skilled at playing good/heroic characters as he is at portraying terrifyingly evil villains :D

It's impossible to say, now, whether or not Terry Pratchett was consciously influenced by the Cadfael Chronicles when working up Aziraphale's character, but given that he was a voracious reader and Brother Cadfael made his print debut in 1977, it's reasonable to assume that he was at the very least aware of them. Certainly, they were a part of the referential sea in which he was swimming while writing Good Omens -- and I bet you anything the Ineffable Husbands like the books as well! (I'm less certain about whether they'd watch the TV series, though, given the lead actor's uncomfortable resemblance to the Metatron)

Thanks for reading!

[hyba]

I tried AI for the first time...

Hm.

I tried AI today for the first time, and gave it a prompt to outline an article, and then to draft the article. I've never generated any writing with AI before, other than a few bits of AI art back when it was a sparkly new thing, and even then it felt... odd. I've had very definite thoughts about it, and since someone wanted me to use it for a job-related task, I decided to try it out and see what everyone was so addicted to.

First thoughts:

It's surprisingly good at understanding complex prompts. I actually didn't expect it to pick up on a few things I put in the prompt, but it managed to touch upon every single point. I thought I might confuse it, but apparently not.

It provides a clear and concise draft, which I also didn't expect. It reads smoothly, and there's a logic to the way the information is presented.

I'm not really liking the final results, though, because they still feel a bit bare, and that's probably a good thing because at least it means that it could still benefit from the human touch.

It's painfully reminiscent of every single article I come across online these days, making me wonder just how many bloggers, magazines, and websites are using AI to generate their content.

Not only does it feel a bit bare-bones, it's also very surface-level in the content provided. I wonder if that's just the limitations of my prompt in the works, of if it's a legitimate concern with content generated by AI. Both would explain the dismal quality of some of the traffic-sucking AI-generated content out there in the web: people not knowing how to prompt the AI software well enough, and people just taking whatever it spouts out and copy-pasting it without any additional effort added.

The single most worrying thing for me, though, is that it used 3 sources. One of them was a book on Amazon; I still don't know if the AI had access to that whole book or if it just grabbed something from the summary. Another one was legit, as far as I could tell, and the author was an expert in his field. Unfortunately, his expertise wasn't in the subject area I was looking for. And the last one was interesting, because the author wasn't an expert, but the article anyway was more of an opinion piece. I don't know how I feel about this selection of sources; I don't think any teacher would have passed me if I wrote a paper using only these three sources in high school, let alone college.

All of that being said, I understand now the addiction of it. How quickly it wrote a whole article for me, and not a bad one, either - with a little more tweaking and a little more depth and analysis here and there, and some new sources, the article could be very good. I suppose that's essentially a rewrite... So you get a backbone/skeleton, generated in a matter of seconds, and I think the ideal approach is then to fix it up and add a lot more content, since it doesn't look like it really goes in much depth? I wonder if this is what the workflow looks like for someone who uses AI for their copywriting. Or if they just copy paste and call it a job well done. (That can't possibly work though, right? Like, people can tell, I think?)

I know my standpoint on this, but outside right/wrong, I'm afraid this isn't going to go away anytime soon, with capabilities like this. Which means... Well, I'm a little worried and a little unsure what this means. Already I'm seeing job posts for jobs that never included the term AI before, now placing it as a requirement. I think we're definitely entering a time where it won't be about whether or not you like or support it; it'll be something imposed upon you by your employers, so that you can churn out more, and be more productive, and positively impact their bottom line.

So, those were my immediate thoughts after using AI to generate a whole article.

...And then I asked it to write a story.

Specifically, I asked it to write Apartment as a short story.

Check it out.

[spoiledblogif]

I was thinking about how you mentioned how you were sometimes a bit… i dont know the right word to use for it, so I’m going to use concerned, about the amount of similarities that are between R and K in regards to their individuality.

And honestly the more I think about it, the more I feel like, R is actually more distinct from K than I think they probably get credit for. I feel like a lot of R’s similarities come from defensive measures, that they emulate a certain amount of detachedness to protect themselves, but they aren’t really a cold person. I don’t think that they could be, not entirely, not at their core. How can you be when you’re constantly besieged by the joy and pain and fear and tranquility of other people? They are constantly reminded of people’s humanity, whether they’re terrible or kind. K doesn’t give a fuck, why would they? Humans are just a part of the landscape, and whether they decide to take more notice to them is determined by how interesting they are. Like noticing one rock over another because it looks like the head of a snake, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a rock.

R and K show I think similar responses to certain things, have a similarity in certain fears that stem from vulnerability and closeness but they’re from such intrinsically different things. K probably feels betrayed by their body, it probably feels like finding out you have lung cancer despite having no family history and never smoking. They’ve never needed to be close, to feel these things, to change is probably terrifying for something that has never been capable of change before. Change is probably interesting to them in an almost academic way, the most true sense of chaos that order has no hold on. Like how a movie enthusiast might find how a horror movie portrays fear to be interesting, but wouldn’t volunteer to be slaughtered by a real life Michael Myers.

It isn’t academic for R, they’ve probably gotten close to people, felt in real time as people lost interest in them, grew resentment for them, or how they were greedy for them in a way that nothing to do with love. Of knowing how little they matter to others if they can’t be of use. They’ve probably spent most of their life being a paper doll to people, and knowing it, feeling it.

Experiencing it.

They’re themself, but they’re that paper doll now too.

But they’re still a person, they’re still a human in every way that counts. They desire connection and affection and understanding. And MC can understand them, probably more than anyone else. Knows what it feels like to be standing on the outside of everyone else. And mc may want them now, might find them interesting now, while they can help, while they’re a stranger and palatable and mysterious and charming. But what about later when they’ve helped as much as they can? Later, when the mc sees more of them, and despite understanding more than anyone else, what if mc decides they’re that paper doll? What if R is stuck loving someone again, who decides they aren’t anything or anyone important?

Anyways, sorry for the very unorganized essay lmao, I was just kind of struck by this and had to share that I like that surface level they seem to have a lot in common, but underneath it all, they couldn’t be more different. That underneath it all, Z probably has more in common with K than R does. I find it poetic and I’m kinda obsessed with it

So, um, this is now required reading for everyone on this blog. Like, this will be on the exam. You're going to read this really beautiful analysis and you're going to like it because wow did anon nail it.

And you are totally correct, anon. Actually all of them share some traits, but I've come to the conclusion that that's inevitable when it comes to people and characters. A lot of people have the same coping mechanisms. It's just the reasons that are different.

And the Kestrel admiring new things from a detached, academic perspective but being unprepared to actually experience that newness is just so on point. Like wow you nailed it.

[cosmicjoke]

At what point do we have to accept that Isayama could’ve done a better job at portraying what Eren did was wrong when more than half the fandom think Eren was right and that he did everything for his country and friends? Isayama said he wanted people to sympathize with Eren. But by doing so, he created this whole issue where people dismiss what he did and say he is a hero for committing genocide all because he did it to free his country. It’s not a small group of people either. In fandom spaces the minority has come to be the people who think what he had done was wrong. The majority of the community on tiktok, twitter, instagram all think he was a selfless freedom fighting hero. Every AoT fan I meet think Eren was correct and justified and if you argue against that you get dogpiled.

It's not Isayama's fault that there are so many morons in the world. It's not Isayama's fault that the education system in this country is so horrible that people's media literacy is all but non-existent. Isayama did all he could to impress upon the audience that what Eren did was wrong, down to Eren himself admitting it was unjustified and horrible, admitting himself that he didn't do it for his friends or the island, but for his own, selfish desire. If people still don't get it after that, then that's on them, not on Isayama. At all. There's always going to be idiots who twist art to fit their own agenda, too, that use it to represent something which it was never intended to represent.

Eren is a sympathetic character for numerous reasons, most of all because there's a deep tragedy inherent in his own nature and his inability to escape it. Turning him into a heartless monster with no redeeming qualities, who cared for nobody and nothing, would defeat the entire premise of the story, which is that people are capable of monstrous acts, and understanding the danger in labeling people as monsters, of dehumanizing people, when human nature itself is inclined toward horror and violence. Eren is a character who was born with a monstrous nature, but he's still a person, and it was the monstrosity of others that allowed Eren to grow into a monster bigger than them.

If you're looking for a cartoon villain who does evil for evil's sake, and there's no more complex, motivating factor, then maybe you should go watch a Disney movie or something. AoT is a complex story with complex characters, all of whom have complex motivations. If people aren't willing to engage it with a more than surface-level effort, if they aren't willing to actually use their brains and think, then they don't deserve anyone's consideration, least of all Isayama's. If they can't understand what the story was about without someone holding their little hand and explaining every, single thing to them like one would a two year old child, then, again, they aren't worth anyone's time. They're just idiots and that's all there is to it.

And no matter how many people you see online, you have to understand, the vast majority of any fandom isn't represented by online communities. Most people don't spend their day scrolling around on message boards or social media apps. What you see in online spaces is rarely, if ever, reflective of the general consensus, on anything. Not understanding that is why you see so many people, for example, surprised by the outcome of the latest election in this country. But that's another issue altogether. I promise you, most people understand that what Eren did was wrong and that AoT was advocating against genocide and persecution, not for it. You'd have to be mentally deranged or mentally disabled to think otherwise.

[chaapanya]

Talking Circles: A Human!Cole Study

I've been thinking lately about the way the fandom at large tends to view Cole-- often this infantile version of a young man that, due in part to being neurodivergent coded, is flattened and shaped to fit in these little boxes labeled "innocent", "sweet", "child-like", and "pure", and I cannot for the life of me disagree more.

As a neurodivergent person myself now entering my 30s, I have a more stable standing point to look back at the years of my life spent growing and realize that my autism effected me in ways I thought at the time it wasn't, yet very few of these correlate to how other people perceive autism to work. Especially when it comes to sex and love.

First of all, let me be clear when I say I'm not discrediting anyone else's headcanons. There are multiple versions of Cole, even within both diverging paths, and I'm not here to tell anyone what is "right" or "wrong". What I AM trying to convey is perhaps the changing of viewed angle people often take when trying to understand Cole that may add more depth and perspective to his character.

Though I didn't view Cole as autistic coded at first (I'm not typically one to view anyone with additional tags outside of "human/person" and pronouns), it's a perspective I can respect. That said, Cole is no child. He is a fully grown man unsure how to react in the world he's been placed in (this is a canon description taken straight from Dragon Age: Asunder btw) and due to such, I have taken to comparing him more close to how a robot would learn human emotion rather than how a child would.

He has a sharp mind and as he grows, he even develops his own unique sense of humor. He is absolutely not innocent, sex and love are not foreign concepts to him on a surface level. Why, then, is it so difficult for the fandom to believe that he could grow to learn both of these things on a deeper level?

Neurodivergency, especially autism, is constantly compressed into this immature, child-like outlook even by those within it's own community, and this is something commonly projected onto characters. Cole is no exception despite never being portrayed in any of the media he stars in as being a "sweet baby cinnamon roll that can do no wrong". He can be cruel in his kindness, he can be razor sharp, he can wield himself as a weapon outside of the blade he carries-- it's not so much of a stretch to consider he is capable of true love and lust.

Something common in autistic spectrum individuals is their hyper fixation on sex when first experiencing it. This isn't always the case, but it does happen and is often disregarded because "well of course that's normal in kids with hormones at that time, it has nothing to do with autism." or some other excuse to separate sex from neurodivergency as far as possible for the comfortability of neurotypicals.

I very much believe this would occur in Cole as well. We know Cole is capable of very deep feelings, even if he knows not how to label them with words, and we know from both Asunder and Inquisition that he is capable of having these feelings for other people. Love is not so far outside his emotional capacity scope. He had no interest in sex at that time because he had no one that he loved-- many people on the spectrum also tend to be demisexual, which brings me to my next point.

Asexuality (the common sexuality applied to Cole and other autistic coded characters) is a very broad spectrum, an umbrella term even. Asexuality should absolutely not be flattened into just "ew sex is gross and makes me uncomfortable". Does that exist? Yes, but that is only one type. Demisexuality is huge and often ignored, yet not as much as Greysexuality-- people that feel sexual attraction yet at a much less consistency with varying levels of intensity.

I firmly believe Cole is demisexual if not entirely greysexual. He held no attraction to women, yet was fully capable of acknowledging when someone was pretty or lovely. It seems very, very likely that should he fall in love with one specific person, *that* is when he would experience his first urges of desire-- because there is then connection. His first experience would open doors and sensations to him that he never would have dreamed of. It's not very difficult to merge from there into his hyper fixation on it with the very first ever love of his life.

And who else would Cole find attachment to than his Inquisitor-- someone who constantly looked out for him, constantly asked if he was doing alright, went out of their way to help him, and clearly cared very deeply not just for his life but also his happiness (providing your Inquisitor was kind to him as mine was).

People would argue "But what about Varric and Solas?" and my answer to that would be Cole is already well aware that Varric is in love with another woman and Solas is adamant about not allowing himself the luxury of love (for himself, baggage of his love for the other party). This COULD be applied as well to an Inquisitor that pursued another of the inner circle as well, leading to him and Maryden. Again, Cole is not a child and is hyper aware of other's sensitivities. He would not pursue someone that did not have an open door for him in their heart.

This is also why I dislike Cole x Maryden so much, they simply have no chemistry and were dropped in the story almost as if a knee-jerk after thought. Even Sera and Dagna had more relevance. The entirety of Trespasser, Cole was dappling concern and care over his Inquisitor even with his lover standing right next to him-- Cole and the Inquisitor have a LOT of chemistry and connection, even if its one sided and unrequited.

Regardless, there is probably more I could say on this, but this is all to say that I believe the constant infantilization and flat asexuality of Cole despite his constant growth through Asunder and Inquisition is a loud injustice. He should be given more autonomy to be the grown man that he is and experience all the aspects, both tidy and messy, that life has to offer (provided he was made more human. Spirit Cole is a whole different discussion). It is a deep shame to see very Spirit!Cole coded traits repeatedly pushed onto a Human!Cole that very obviously desires to grow like one.

To quote Varric, he made himself human, and humans change. They get hurt and they heal. We need to let him.