#manipulater

[mindmotives01]

KIYOTAKA AYANOKOJI - Control your mind

[pastadoughie]

this is also true of meowing, if you are very smartly speaking but also sometimes do a casual "miao miao". they will also often meow because they are trying to fit in w/ you.

if you type ! excitedly ! to buisness emails <3 they often will also do so :D and you can get scedualers to :3 !!

[bullseyelover]

i’ve been thinking about dex’s story in born again.

how, in universe, the world saw dex after the events of josies, and after his trial. how quick everyone was to believe he just snapped and went on a revenge fueled rampage at josies. and the sad thing is, that makes sense in the worst possible way. because the world is always going to be more comfortable writing someone like dex off as just another mentally ill guy who lost control. that’s the story people are used to. it’s easier, simpler, and it doesn’t require any deep thought or empathy. it doesn’t ask them to look at who failed him, who used him, who broke him down. it doesn’t ask them to understand the difference between someone being dangerous and someone being made into a weapon. and most people just don’t care enough to look closer.

and what gets me is how many people refuse to hold both truths about dex at the same time. that he’s a victim and a perpetrator. that he did horrific things and was still deeply, painfully used. i hate how often people online will reduce it to “oh you just like him because he’s hot” when you try to talk about him with nuance. like no. dex is complex. he’s the wound and the knife. he is someone who’s suffered, been manipulated, abandoned, used like a tool, but that doesn’t erase what he’s done. it doesn’t mean people weren’t hurt, or that his violence didn’t matter. you can see his pain and still hold him accountable. you can understand where it came from and still be horrified by the outcome. none of that is contradictory. it’s just real. he’s a character full of contradictions, and that’s part of what makes him so compelling. reducing him to one thing, victim, villain, psycho, it just flattens him into a version of himself that isn’t true.

and even in the show, it’s like no one really wants to see the whole truth of who dex is. it’s easier for them to believe “crazy guy goes violent” than to admit that someone vulnerable was groomed and turned into a weapon by someone with more power. for example in episode 8 where matt slams dex’s head into the table, and when the guard walks in, matt lies and says dex did it to himself. and the guard doesn’t even hesitate to believe it. he just immediately goes, “you crazy asshole.” he doesn’t even question it. because that’s already the version of dex they’ve decided is true. they don’t need proof, they don’t need context. they hear “he hurt himself” and go “of course he did.” and that’s what’s so brutal about it. even matt bought into that narrative at first. even though he knew dex had worked for fisk after the events of season three. and he listened to dex’s tapes. he believed that dex was a man who woke up one day on impulse and decided to kill foggy eight years after the events of season three. because he believed dex to be a violent and disturbed psychopath. because that’s the story society already believes. many people believe that mentally ill people are inherently dangerous. quiet violence is scarier than loud chaos. so people don’t ask questions. they just assume the worst. so dex being quiet and restrained in his rage in the trial scene just confirmed what they already thought about him. and that kind of widespread erasure makes dex’s story even more tragic. not just what happened to him, but how no one really sees it. not fully.

and that invisibility messes with him too. dex already struggles with identity. he barely knows who he is when no one’s giving him a script to follow. so when the whole world reduces him to nothing but a monster, a rampage shooter, it probably confirms the worst things he already fears about himself. even if he knows deep down it’s not the whole truth, it gets in his head. like maybe they’re right. maybe he really is just broken and dangerous and beyond saving. that he is an animal and nothing more. and that’s what hurts him. because he tried. he tried to be good. he tried to follow the rules. for so many years because he genuinely wanted to be a better version of himself. he tried to be useful, to matter, to be someone. and in the end, none of it mattered. no one remembers that he tried. they only see the end result. they only see the damage.

and that weight, the failure, the guilt, the grief of never being seen clearly, that’s something he has to carry alone. it’s what makes his story so heavy to sit with. and none of this is to say that dex isn’t still responsible for what he’s done. evidently he knew what he was doing. even if he was manipulated into it. he made choices, and those choices hurt people. he’s not innocent. he’s not good. he’s a villain. that’s who he is, that’s who he’s becoming, and he’s also someone with borderline personality disorder. someone who was manipulated, used, pushed to the edge, and weaponized. those things can all exist at once. he’s not either a tragic victim or an evil monster. he’s both. and when people act like empathizing with him or understanding where he came from is the same as excusing what he did, it’s just dishonest. like no one’s out here saying “my poor baby” and pretending he didn’t kill people. it’s just acknowledging that there’s more to him than what most are willing to see. that doesn’t absolve him. it just complicates him. and if that makes people uncomfortable, maybe they should ask why it’s so much easier to believe someone like dex is just a psycho killer than to accept that he’s human. flawed, dangerous, and human.

if people are saying that about comic bullseye, then yeah, it makes sense. that version of him is literally written to be an unstable psychopath who kills people for fun. he’s meant to be scary and empty and cruel, and that’s it. that’s what makes his character so fun to read. the needless violence, the grin on his face while he commits it. but dex isn’t only that. dex is bullseye, but he’s a version with so much more nuance and humanity. he is capable of everything that comic bullseye is capable of. but he has more contradictions, more depth. he’s not just evil for the sake of it. he’s broken and angry and used and spiraling, and all of that is still his responsibility, but it’s layered. he’s not just a killer. he’s a person. comic bullseye is the foundation, but dex was built on top of that. same character, same legacy, just finally given complexity. he has all the traits of his comic self, but there’s pain behind it now. there’s grief, there’s loneliness, there’s a desperate want to be seen and loved. he’s bullseye in every way, but now he’s also human and real.

[damien-devil-art]

[dropdeadgorgeos]

I did something....

I was just thinking about all these MC's meeting so why not there friends? Than I thought about these three meeting and thought for a straight moment that they would just stare at each other.

[thefishywizard]

If he’s evil why is he soooo babygirl???

[spookygibberish]

I've sort of developed a strange relationship with the concept of "realism" in the things I make.

Something I was very into as like, an eleven year old (im not implying this was immature to be into, just that it was formative for me), was speculative biology specifically for dragons, and now, specifically in the case of dragons I find a lot of attempts to make them biologically plausible fully missing the appeal of dragons at all.

Thinking specifically about the supernatural elements of JoM and where the line is drawn. The dagnyds are made from the remains of godlike entities, and are not entirely earthly animals. They have a supernatural origin. It would be fully justified in giving them magic abilities or making magic an aspect of the setting, but have absolutely zero interest in doing so. It doesn't interest me. I think about shit like healing powers or glowy energy attacks and my reaction is just "what does this even add? Why do I need this? Does this make things more interesting?" And it simply doesn't. Healing is more interesting as a prolonged process, combat is more interesting with teeth and claws and metal and blood. These are options which are more realistic, closer to real life, but the realism isn't what makes them interesting: it's physicality.

When I design a creature for this world, I am not thinking about making it biologically plausible, and yet, I try to design things which look like they could 'move under their own power'. There is a sense of heft and mechanical "soundness" which I value more than realism, but often also aligns with looking 'realistic'.

I would say that it's better to serve a narrative than strive for absolute realism, but I don't actually write stories, although I do have ideas for them occasionally. I guess a version of this which is more relevant and applicable is that i prefer to strive for a particular vibe.

[theology101]

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!

which old witch? THE WICKED WITCH!

Honestly, the fact that this completely SCREWED them over and it wasn’t an ability, a skill or anything - it was just timing and intelligence

[entering--hyperspace]

Mr. THE Emperor

[fymo-blogs]

Mapleshade's a groome-

Blocked. Absolutely fucking blocked.

[daemon-is-perfectly-unhinged]

Otto, about Rhaegar: If you want to know the truth, he kind of scares me.

Viserys: He’s an eight-year-old boy.

Otto: With a 65 year old mind!

[r0ttinginmyr00m]

༘ ⊹ ࣪ ˖𐙚 need to be held by mads mikkelsen biblically

[willosword]

ok..... maybe i have a feeling or two about cecil weirdly sorta stepping into a dad-adjacent role at times in s2.........

[finniestoncrane]

May I vent a bit? I wish there wasn’t such a double standard about older women/younger men vs older men/younger women (older here being relative and just meaning older than their partner).

Older male celebrities and characters are hot but sometimes (sometimes!) so are ones in their early-mid 20s but then I feel so guilty for thinking that because I’m almost 30. But then I feel guilty for feeling guilty cause no one would blink at a 30 year old guy finding a 20 year old female celebrity attractive. Idk I just wish adults could find other adults hot without being judged by others or judging themselves and ughhhhh.

Idk you’re always just so kind and accepting when people struggle with their thoughts and so I hope it’s okay to vent to you.

goooooooood bug i feel you on this!! i don't think you (an adult) need to feel guilty at all about finding someone (an adult) attractive!! at 21 you're allowed to do most things in the world that have an age limit and like i get predatory relationships etc. but there's not a general rule of thumb and all people are different blah blah blah but that's not even what this is about!! you are ALLOWED to appreciate someone's looks!!

anyone who judges people about that should really take a little look at themselves... like, there are people who are jujst attractive, they are attractive adults. it's not like you're sniffing around trying to make them into your under-the-thumb house-partner with no say of their own, you are appreciating their obvious beauty u-u

i think everyone needs to stop being so harsh on themselves about genuinely fine and legal and morally unquestionable things and remember that there's a lot worse people doing a lot worse things out there!!

and i do completely agree with you about it being a one-sided argument most of the time. women will still clamour to be with a man who dates consistently younger, but a woman who dates a younger man or younger woman is mocked relentlessly, even when that younger woman is like middle-aged (cough cough holland taylor)

[fingons-rad-harp]

as much as i love to shit on that old man for being a grade a cunt i do get it. i’m also incapable of being normal about jesse pinkman

[sulldriti-art]

More fantroll shenanigans. I can’t stop winning!!