#me pointing out a scene that is objectively so normal and nothing to even be talking about: thisi s fucking crazy

[holoska]

after debating for weeks whether to stay very far away from the deltarune soriel discourse or let myself ramble about my faves like I want to, the latter has finally won out

I've had time to properly absorb the weight of all that happens at the end of chapter 4, and obviously I do feel for both kris and susie. that is The Point of the scenes being from their perspectives; after everything they just went through and all the worry they had for toriel's safety (for the second time in 24 hours!), the scene they come home to is maybe the most uncomfortable slap in the face possible. it sticks out to me that the last thing susie talks about before the dark fountain is sealed is her wanting tomorrow to be the same as yesterday and for everything to always be able to go back to how it was, and that's what greets them - a blatant, obnoxious sign that things are changing. even though the scene has a lighthearted side, its overall tone adds to the downcast feeling the chapter ends on.

having said that, as someone who has spent the past 9 and a half years being normal about sans and toriel, I'm still very very happy that this is a canon scene we got 💜

the fandom may be largely not considering their perspectives in the slightest (or worse, only viewing their perspectives from the most bad faith angles possible), but I for one love this for them!! as other very good posts have pointed out, toriel has been sorely in need of someone who's there for her - an awful lot of people in town saw the divorce play out and have something to say about it, the holiday family are closer to asgore than toriel, kris is her child and stuck in the middle of their parents' issues, and while she's friends with alphys, them being coworkers and alphys being kris' teacher likely puts a distance of sorts between them. but sans is new in town, someone she immediately connects with, who has no pre-existing opinions about her family and has seen firsthand what toriel has to put up with from asgore. in every universe, sans is exactly the kind of person toriel needs in her life.

there's less to work with from sans' perspective given how little we know about him, and I'm not all-in on sans being from deltarune just yet (more specifically I do love the theory, I'm just giving myself room to not be too disappointed if it doesn't happen), but the new version of it's raining somewhere else being named 'the place where it rained' emotionally destroys me forever. either way it drives home just how happy toriel makes sans in both worlds and I love that so so much :']

to be clear I'm not saying they did nothing wrong, their choices negatively impacted kris and susie and they were objectively disruptive and inconsiderate after kris went to bed. but I like that they're being messy and flawed, because it means this isn't just "my faves are getting closer in the background yippee" but that their relationship is potentially an actual part of the story, and that's how you get The Good Stuff!! we wouldn't have had meaningful character moments like noelle finally standing up to queen if queen hadn't tried to control noelle and just listened to her from the start, or susie comforting ralsei with her bloodied hand if he'd told her and kris every detail of the full prophecy the moment he met them and never kept any secrets. if all the hints towards a flower shop dark world turn out to be true then it's pretty clear the story is building things up to make those future character moments hit, and considering we still don't know what happened with the dreemurr divorce at this point, chapter 5 seems like a perfect opportunity to dive into all of that.

plus, as sweet as susie's bond with toriel is, I honestly think susie seeing this side of toriel needed to happen. a lot of the fandom's complaints about toriel right now boil down to her not being the "perfect mother" they thought she was, and what bothers me about that is toriel was never meant to be that kind of character. toby has said that she's not the classic video game protagonist's mother who sees you off on your journey and you can come home and visit any time, and nothing changes and she never has any substantial character of her own. in undertale she literally handholds frisk through the tutorial, she becomes the first boss in her attempt to protect them when every other human left her care, and once they leave she won't let them come back or even call her phone because she can't face seeing them knowing they'll leave again and likely be killed. she's more than just the mother figure of the game, she's her own person with likes and dislikes, hobbies and flaws, and a past and trauma she can't overcome until the best ending.

we've only seen the tip of the iceberg of her history in deltarune, but that same principle holds true: she isn't the perfect parent you return to after each day's adventure, who gives you butterscotch pancakes every morning and never has any real part in the story because that isn't the intent behind her character. she mentioned her loneliness back in chapter 1, kris has secrets and problems they aren't letting her in on, asgore is being relentlessly inconsiderate of her boundaries, and for all susie's praise of toriel being a good mother, I think that house of cards was going to fall eventually. my hope is that, like her blowing up at ralsei ultimately bringing them closer, susie being able to see toriel as the imperfect adult she is but one who does genuinely care might help them build a stronger bond in the end too.

I think I always knew that if soriel ever inched closer to being canon there'd be discourse about it, and toriel slander is unfortunately nothing new. people are just being annoying about it currently and it sucks when I genuinely love what's being built up here!!

anyway crossing my fingers for a scene where toriel invites sans to the festival before she gets thrown in the bunker/he gets sent to undertale/the roaring happens/all of the above 🤞

[gossippool]

i still can't believe they really showed wade bringing logan back home and then introducing him to althea like he's a new boyfriend. like they showed that. they could have not showed that but they did. "it's nice to meet you, logan" "nice to meet you too" what the fuck do you mean like that's insane

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I didn't want to say that here since you love Leona now but I actually hate that lion guy😭😭 I feel like he would bully me for just existing!

Like this part in book 3 when he made us fight his dorm members so we could stay in the dorm makes me look at him like this 😒 like sir I'm magicless and homeless and physically weak and you want me to fight your muscled dorm members + they have magic!😭😭 Why?! At this rate I would have slept in one of the class rooms instead 😞I mean it was Grim do the fighting but still! But that's not the only reason I have other reasons why I hate him 😭 (I'm scared of him lol)

I have beef with that lion guy😞

I don't see myself loving him any soon but who knows maybe one day I would feel in love with him like you 🫢

Lemme tell you this right here and right now: I have learned from observation that there are no bigger L*ona haters out there than L*ona stans themselves 💀 We They will say, "Leona Kingscholar is literally the fucking worst character not just in Twisted Wonderland, but in all media that has ever and will ever be conceived. Hate that guy, what a shitty scumbag," one moment and then turn right around and kiss our their lion merch with all the tender love and care a human could possibly lavish an object with.

ANYWAY, that's beside the point. I don't like this character of which you speak of.

Early main story Leona is definitely the type to bully the crud out of others 💀 To be fair to him though, honestly any dorm (other than Heartslabyul) would have been reluctant to house a pair that they have little to no personal connection with. The students at NRC are known for their pride and reluctance to help each other out, right? Night Raven College also has a culture of "the strong obey the weak", so to have Yuu and Grim "earn their keep" by demonstrating their strength makes sense. The other dorms would have probably demanded similar things of them, regardless of how downtrodden and dreary their circumstances are. It's not like Azul or the mob students showed Yuu and Grim any mercy before. Most of the student population is not nice or welcoming, especially if there's nothing in it for them to gain. In this case, Leona would be gaining two temporary students that aren't deadweights to him. Of course, that doesn't justify what he did/said in book 3 or any of the other things he did/said. It doesn't mean you have to like the guy for what he did. It's just that I don't know if that one scene is a specific-to-Leona asshole move. I do want to point to the Episode of Octavinelle manga too; in that, Leona doesn't make Yuuta fight mobs to sleep over, he accepts Yuuta's cooking abilities as a substitute. This loops right back around to what I was saying about "earning your keep" and how most NRC students won't want to help you out unless you have something to offer them in return. For Yuuta, that was his culinary skills. For in-game Yuu and Grim, it had to be combat prowess. Is it cruel in comparison to letting them sleep over in return for nothing? Yes, absolutely. But is it in character for them to be selfish about it? Also yes, absolutely. I think it's fine to have as a characterization moment--though whether you enjoy this or not is up to the individual fan.

I get that he's not going to appeal to everyone. Leona definitely comes off as intimidating and he has plenty of other traits to loathe. Every character will have people that dislike them or even outright hate them. That's completely normal and should be expected, since everyone has different experiences, tastes, and perspectives to bring to the table--each equally as valid as the last. Feelings can change over time, feelings can stay the same. Whatever happens, it's fine! No one decent is going to hold a (water) gun to your head and force you to like L*ona. Enjoy fandom in your own way!

That being said 💦💦 I will advise that you avoid sending messages of, "I actually HATE this character that you happen to like" into people's inboxes. It's okay to have a different opinion than the fan you're expressing the opinion to, but you should keep in mind that it's not always appropriate to voice it or to press the matter. I might be generally indifferent about discussing why we like or dislike certain characters, but others might not be so happy to get a message that could be considered bashing on their favorite(s). Again, just be mindful of others and their boundaries!

[cassylost-inspace]

The object show community has honestly become so unsafe and toxic. I’ve only been in the community for a year and a half ,but the difference between now and then is honestly drastic. People don’t even enjoy the media anymore, all everyone does is criticise. While criticizing is fine, I don't think a community should be based on that. I have barely seen ANY positive posts about the ii movie, everyone treats it like it's meant to be God tier and I get that everyone thinks they should get what they deserve, but holy shit you guys have nothing good to say. Shipping has also become such a difficult point of discussion in the community, considering that everyone believes that their ship and their ship ONLY is good. Most of the shipping stuff wasn't relevant to me, because I'm a multi-shipper but the fandom takes ship wars to an extreme,honesty speaking. Another point is the fact that people are mad at ii for making canon ships,, again this doesn't bother me,because I have always liked all of the popular ships but it's honestly not that deep. I think I've seen like a million posts about the payjay scene from ii 18,, and people got SO mad over fan service despite the fact that it was like 3 minutes long 😭 Another thing is, I haven't talked about c2bc on here b4, but Cole getting cancelled proved how fast the fandom is willing to act immediately on a show's downfall. "I never really liked the show" that's really not the point here. I feel like people should take the situation of cole being racist more seriously instead of just taking this as a chance to bash the show. Moving on,, I remember seeing a post of someone saying "how could you even cry to object shows,, they're so unserious" why do you care? Genuinely WHO is it hurting.Moreover people saying stuff like only "12 year olds watch object shows" is dumb; because have you ever been in a fandom before??Teenagers literally keep fandoms alive, also who DO you want to be in this community. My last point is how almost everyone acts like object shows are meant to be "amazing works of art",, like they literally started off as terrible. These shows are indie and run by an even amount of people, stop treating the shows like Hollywood. Reminder that these people can do WHATEVER they want with their characters. Animationepic is one of the most listening teams out there, they sacrifice a lot for their fans and I personally think that they're allowed to do anything they want with their characters especially since they put so much effort into what the fans want. As someone who uses object shows and animation in general as a way to escape reality,, it is evident that most of you do the same. So I don't understand why there is just SO MUCH negativity coming from the community,, when os fans are so clearly talented and instead of putting effort into being hateful they can use this energy to make art, amvs, maps and animation memes and help uplift the community and it's overall impact on others.

Ik I normally don't post stuff like this, but the osc is REALLY important to me and I feel like this should be brought to more people's attention.

-Cassy

[golden-sandwing]

Some people think that Vivzipop is not misogynistic because she is a woman, but I can show that her female characters are extremely poorly written or even useless with multiple examples

Charlie

Poor thing, she was the first protagonist of the pilot that made Vivzipop famous, now she has become a supporting character and the protagonism has been passed to Lucifer and Alastor in addition to Angel and other male characters

As the PROTAGONIST we should follow her all the time, see her evolution and decisions, but she always needs someone to decide for her or save her and the ones who save her are precisely men, in her fight with Adam she lost extremely easily, it's not like Adam was an archangel he was just an angel, a human who became an angel, Charlie is LUCIFER'S DAUGHTER, and she lost very easily, soon after her father rescued her, in the pilot Charlie defended herself by returning punches without mercy, now she is "peaceful" (in quotes because they just made her stupid and incompetent) and this is very controversial if you remember that she is the protagonist of the series, she should have a development on her own and support herself on her own because she is the PRINCESS of hell, but it seems that Vivzipop cares more about Lucifer than about her own character

Stella

She divides many opinions but I'm going to tell the truth about this character, she was PURPOSELY made to be a hateful character, I'll point out the reasons, she is CLEARLY that stereotype of a rich and dumb woman, something used by the vast majority of men to justify that men are more intelligent and rational than women, she can't do something simple on her own like bring Stolas' betrayal to justice, NOTHING justifies this betrayal, "but she was abusive to him" very well, where are the abuse scenes? Please don't tell me that a SINGLE scene where she tries to slap Stolas and he defends himself is physical abuse, Stolas is an ADULT man possibly older than Stella herself, he has powers, fortune and social power to get rid of her, Paimon doesn't have a wife he had multiple children and is not married, Stolas could do this, besides, Stella ALSO suffers abuse, but in a dirty way because Vivzipop doesn't care about her own character who she sexualizes so much to gain views and likes

The scenes where Stella is supposedly abused are when she is with Andrias, please do not try to defend the incestuous content that Andrias has on Stella, besides Vivzipop's justification for that, it does not help at all, so yes, Stella suffers both in her own narrative and with her creator, another proof is that Stella has no personality, besides irritating the viewers, her objective is to provoke and irritate by placing her as a "villain", but she does not have any really good objective behind it, wanting to take revenge for a betrayal is extremely common but making it seem like she is the one in the wrong in the story and her husband is the traitor is no longer normal

Milie

Let's be honest, have you ever seen Milie alone with the series' focus solely on her, without being accompanied by Moxxie or Blitzø? I don't think so. The only time she's alone is with Luna when the boys were taken by humans, but we barely see them in action, only Milie trying to control her rage. Milie only really gains focus in a short film of her and her sister going to a party. In the series itself, we don't have any focus on her per se. Besides, now she's pregnant. Unfortunately, she'll have to deal with worse things to come. Fans have said horrible and even disgusting things about her being pregnant. I won't say why because I like Milie and I have respect for her. Vivzipop herself had commented somewhere that she had no plans for her, and suddenly she puts the character pregnant. To me, that's trying to fill something you're not interested in. As seen, the writer herself has no interest in writing a better development for her female character with more relevance in the series

I only used three examples, because otherwise I would spend the whole day talking about the others, I hope you understand why Vivzipop is misogynistic using her scripts

[satorugojjo]

I don’t think there’s a single book BookTok has promoted in the last couple years that’s turned out to be an actually good “you cannot miss this read” which now makes me and so many others I know avoid it as a whole.

A lot of BookTok books seem to be specific for very young or very new readers who haven’t cut their teeth on fanfic or haven’t been reading from a young age. The writing style is either a really profound Instagram metaphorical caption kinda overwrought and over flowery language, or it’s trying so hard to be edgy and sardonic and ends up being completely tell and almost zero show. This Is How You Lose The Time War is a PERFECT example of this - where the flowery and poetic language actually takes AWAY from a scene and distracts you from it rather than adding anything to it in the moment, and for those who do like poetic fiction this will be up their alley but if you don’t and you pick it up because of badly marketed hype when you normally wouldn’t, it’s gonna turn you off reading in general!

There’s nothing wrong with starter fiction to help get readers engaged and then find their way into actually good books, but my gripe is that it’s never ever marketed as that and as if it it’s just generically good fiction. Nothing Colleen Hoover has ever written is objectively good - the writing style is mediocre and she romanticises taboo topics which will seem spicy to the average population who doesn’t READ. And yet she takes up every bookshelf which I promise you will end up turning many readers who ARENT on booktok away from reading altogether.

YA is another genre that has declined a lot in recent years because it’s full of marketers trying to fit all the buzzword tropes into their books and getting young readers to buy it because it’s “enemies to lovers pirate cyberpunk found family” or whatever - and it feels more like focus group fiction rather than actual writing. I LOVE YA but nothing that’s been released post 2020 has had any depth, plot, character development or any style to it.

A great example is Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - i tried reading 2 chapters as a sample and it was shocking to see how illogical, overdramatic, overedgy and exceptionally “this happened then this then this then that” it was. There was absolutely zero nuance and it felt so “I’m telling you all this but I’m not gonna prove any of it”. And yet it’s rated either 5 stars or 1 star. I’m sure it’s a great starter middle grade/teen book but it is definitely not deserving to be on the same pedestal as other YA books like Hunger Games or Six of Crows. I used to think that perhaps I’ve just outgrown YA but considering I can pick up YA from 2018 that I haven’t read before with no problems, it’s so specific to BOOKTOK YA.

It’s getting to the point that if I see a book that’s being overpromoted on tiktok, I’m more likely to believe the bad reviews because there hasn’t been a SINGLE book where I’ve disagreed with them, and then go find a different book in the same genre that hasn’t been on booktok - it’s getting hilarious actually that the books that are actually incredible get zero screen time and traction on booktok because they aren’t just cheap easy airport reads. Once again - nothing wrong with an easy airport CH book or YA book, but we aren’t going around parading a Lee Child book as peak literature no matter how enjoyable they are.

I don’t even have a conclusion to this entire rant - I’m sick of books like Babel getting steamrolled because it was “too sad or too hard” in favour of the latest SJM book, and getting even more sick of the decline of media literacy due to books getting easier and more spoonfeedy. When they aren’t? They mistake flowery metaphors for complexity and depth.

[dragoncookies]

The Unlocked Healing Center Scene

There are many, MANY scenes in which you could pick apart the ever-loving shit out of Fitz's dialogue and his actions, or just look at how his character is treated from the POV the scene is being told from and compare that to what objectively might be happening.

But one of my favorite's has got to be the Unlocked healing center scene from Keefe's POV, because GOLLY was Fitz just bagged on in that scene, in an almost undetectable way.

(This also isn't meant to be hate on Keefe btw. He's a fine character, not my absolute favorite, but there's no reason to hate on him. It just so happens that Keefe's POV of Fitz is especially patronizing in this scene).

First of all, Shannon starts the scene with presenting us with how lonely and sad he was, just straight up:

”sadness

Nervousness

Regret

Loneliness

Plus a hefty dash of anger.

Coming straight from Fitz” (-Unlocked, idk what page lmao).

I mean, the man was grieving. He just broke up with his maybe girlfriend AND lost the only chance he had to finding his terrorist older brother (who might or might not want to end him and who has caused him and his family immense stress/trauma for the past 4 books if not their entire lives to a degree) in one fell swoop (because of the maybe girlfriend he trusted a lot, not to mention Fitz values trust almost more than he does love so you could basically say the girl he loved).

Me personally? I would just cease to exist after that, but here we have sad, nervous, regretful, lonely and angry Fitz in the healing center waiting for his maybe-bro to wake up. 

Once Keefe DID wake up, Fitz was nothing if not worried for Keefe and trying to comfort Keefe. Fitz was obviously GENUINELY worried for Keefe. Look at this:

”Fitz tore a hand through his boringly perfect hair. ‘I get why your mad. But I’m only trying to help. I know what you’re going through-‘

’Right-you totally know what it’s like to have you mom do deadly experiments on you,’ Keefe muttered. ‘I must’ve forgotten that part of the Vacker history.”

’Maybe not,’ Fitz conceded, ‘but I know what it’s like to have a traitor in the family. And I also remember how scary it is to wake up in one of these cots after being brutally attacked-just like I know how hard it is to talk about what’s wrong, because it feels like you’re admitting the Neverseen beat you. But they only win if you keep pretending everything’s normal, because you end up making the damage permanent.’

’I’m not damaged-‘

‘You’re right. That’s the wrong word.’ Fitz blew out a breath. ‘Look, all I’m trying to say is that I wouldn’t be walking right now if I hadn’t let Elwin help me. I probably wouldn’t even be alive. So I want to make sure you get the help you need-and you do need it, Keefe. No matter what you believe. But accepting help doesn’t make you weak. It just means you’re taking care of yourself.’”

Such an underrated Fitz moment, imo.

First and foremost, lets just take a second to point out the "boringly perfect" hair comment. I don't know why this stuck out to me, but it shows how differently these two characters think. While Fitz has his hair styled "perfectly" because its been his lifestyle to maintain a perfect façade, here we can see that Keefe STILL doesn't understand just what goes beyond this perfect façade of Fitz's. Keefe values freedom, loves rebellion, and his hairstyle reflects that. Keefe makes it messy, but a masterpiece. To Keefe, Fitz's hair is just generic and standard. Perfect, well presenting, but it follows the standard of whatever is considered "perfect" to elves, so we can see that it is repulsive to Keefe's nature.

This is much the same as how much Keefe sees the scale of what Alvar's disappearance has done to the Vacker Family. Keefe continues to reject the idea that the Vackers aren't as perfect as he once believed. As soon as Fitz even mentioned the idea of empathy for Keefe, the idea of relating to him, Keefe immediately rejects it, and rejects the idea that Fitz could have gone through any mental/emotional turbulence as a result of the horrendous situations Alvar has put him and his family through. I mean, for crying out loud, Fitz had literally tried to kill his brother in an emotional mess of conflicting feelings and guilt just two books ago, and unheard of crime for the elves. Fitz had to spend weeks and WEEKS in the healing center. Keefe was there when Alvar, on his deathbed, described how the "Vacker Legacy" was what drove him to a life of crime.

Yes, Keefe was having a rough time to put it lightly, but taking it out on others isn't justified (if you want to be mad at Fitz for taking his anger out on others, now you have to be mad at Keefe for taking his emotional distress out on his friend). We can certainly understand it, but we can't justify it, and because the POV is from a likable character, we're more willing to trust what the character says. Since Keefe presents Fitz's actions in a way that makes them seem appalling and jerk-y, and if Keefe presents this idea in his POV that Fitz is always Mr. Perfect and never has trouble in his family, then the readers are more likely to believe that. Objectively, based on what Fitz is saying and doing, we can see he's struggled and is struggling a lot. Fitz had to have worked on learning to receive help himself (asking for help is a SKILL, believe it or not) in order to truly explain how important it is to Keefe in the way he did.

Who just says "Accepting help doesn't make you weak, it just means you're taking care of yourself" and doesn't mean it in the kindest, most sincerest way ever?

Not just Keefe can take this advice, anyone should.

Side note: I also feel like he gave himself bad flashbacks to when he called Sophie damaged in book two when he accidentally used the word here. Ouch.

At another point in this scene, Keefe also shows how irrational he can be, as Fitz is simply trying to do the right thing and get Keefe the help he needs, and Keefe is ABSOLUTELY DEMONIZING Fitz for it. Keefe's health was Fitz's priority, and Fitz didn't necessarily care if he stepped on Keefe's toes to get him the help that he couldn't see he needed (Sophie was in the room as this point):

Unlocked page 561:

“‘Uh, you should probably step back, Sophie,’ Fitz warned. ‘I think your emotions are too strong for him.’

’No, they’re not!’ Keefe argued-and wow,did his voice sound strained. He cleared his throat and tried again. ‘Nothings wrong. I swear, I’m fine.’

’He keeps saying that,’ Fitz told her-because he was begging for a face-punch. And if the world hadn’t gotten so spinny, Keefe might’ve given it to him when Fitz added, ‘But Keefe’s been picking up all our emotions without even trying. And he’s always been able to do that with you, so I think you’re overwhelming him right now.’

’Okay, I’m done liking Captain Perfectpants,’ Ro announced.

‘Keefe was right there with her-which was probably why he blurted out, ‘Uh, for the record, most of the emotions are coming from you, Fitzy. You wouldn’t happen to have some unresolved feelings for anyone in this room, would you?’”

I'm not gonna lie, if somebody read my emotions and called me out on something that I was VERY touchy about, and was a relatively new blow, I would just leave the room. That was an A class jerk move right there.

Not saying Keefe IS a jerk, because all the characters have acted jerk-y in the series and everyone has their moments, but it was still pretty rude of Keefe to make that comment. What’s annoying is that nobody in the books seemed to react as though it is rude when Keefe makes these kinds of comments. If it was anybody else who had said that, there would be an apology required in order for that character to be redeemed. 

Keefe also literally wanted to PUNCH Fitz, because Fitz was...making sure Keefe stayed alive? Because Fitz cared enough about Keefe's health to make sure the details were pressed out and make sure the facts of the situation were clear? So Elwin could actually do his job??

Keefe hated Fitz in this moment because Fitz was being a practical, helpful guy, but from Keefe's perspective it just makes Fitz look like an asshole.

Ro’s unsolicited opinions are also very unhelpful, since Ro is written to be in support of what Keefe wants (or just in support of whatever will make Sokeefe happen…she’s kind of creepy about her Sokeefe obsession ngl), it makes her more likable and therefore the readers are more likely to trust what she says or take her opinion as their own. 

But Ro saying things like “I’m done liking Captain Perfect Pants” is rude, because it 1), insinuates she will only like someone based on how much they please her, and 2) denotes him to his perfect facade, which undermines his brilliant and complex character. 

Eventually, Keefe tried to apologize to Sophie in a telepathic conversation. He didn’t remotely consider apologizing to Fitz. 

I mean, Keefe was crazy terrified and hurting but...I don’t get how when Fitz was hurt and acted out he was suddenly “toxic and trash”, but when Keefe did the exact same thing nobody said anything.

And nobody even knows Fitz is hurt because nobody asks him. Nobody talks to him about how hard the Alvar situation is for him because they’re scared he’ll just get mad and yell at them, or they just assume he’s just mad about it and wanted to kill Alvar. 

Is nobody going to see that there’s some deep emotional/mental trauma to unpack here? Is he always just going to have to help himself all the time?

At least Keefe has people who understand him, who are willing to talk to him about what’s wrong and help him through it. He had a seriously traumatic childhood, and I’m not comparing their trauma or anything, that’s not what I’m trying to do. What I am trying to say is, Keefe’s got a whole crew of people helping him, people who want to make sure he’s okay, people who care for him, and he rejects it, deems them annoying in Fitz’s case, and just discounts the effort and energy they spend on him.

There is a lot more to unpack from this scene, but it’s mostly all along a similar vein of what I talked about here (this is long enough haha). There are also tons of little details about the Vackers in Unlocked that just emphasize how pressured Fitz is into the Vacker mold, and how the Alvar drama just makes it worse. 

For example: reading Fitz’s registry file, it says that it is “highly suggested that he choose someone on his match list” because of how dragged the Vacker name already is. So when people want to get upset with him for choosing "his reputation over Sophie", we have text evidence that its more complicated than that. Fitz isn't just choosing between being liked by the world and the person he likes, he's choosing whether or not to maintain a level of peace within his family at his own sacrifice. SPOILERS! (if you haven't read stellarlune don't read the rest of this paragraph). Eventually it was his sacrifice, because as of stellar lune, Sokeefe is official. Fitz couldn't repair things with Sophie quick enough, so she moved on.

It also mentions in Keefe’s detention slip write ups about how people actually hassle Biana and Fitz at Foxfire for Alvar being apart of the Neverseen. Because of their family, because of the Alvar drama, Fitz and Biana can't go to school without people bullying them.

Theres also this sad note in Fitz’s Base Quest instructions where Fitz writes about how you can use you special abilities while playing base quest, but included a little side note that said “but it's no fun when you turn invisible the whole time and hide Alvar!” Which just insinuates that Alvar would turn invisible and leave to go do whatever else he wanted while Fitz still thought they were playing. :( 

Depressing. 

[kenshimybeloved]

Hi!! Here’s a probably-too-long analysis of Kenshi and Johnny’s first scene together that’s probably just part 1 of a series where I over analyze every scene of these two!

In previous scenes, it’s made clear that Johnny is disappointed with the current trajectory of his life- his career is going downhill, he’s losing money, his wife is leaving him, and we see him drinking despite it being implied multiple times throughout the game that Johnny has had some kind of issue with alcohol/possibly substances of some kind. The nail in the coffin for his marriage is an argument not over just Johnnys spending in general, but the fact that he spent $3M on a sword that he refuses to get rid of. It’s not super clear initially why it is he feels so strongly about this particular sword- sure he doesn’t wanna get rid of anything Chris lists, but the sword seems to strike a nerve when she suggests reselling it. Why is it he’s so fascinated with its deep history? Are we to assume Johnny is a history nerd in this timeline? That’s what it seems to imply when you’re first playing this part of the game, but as it goes on we learn this is all Liu Kangs doing. Liu Kang admits to using Sento as a means to introduce Johnny and Kenshi to each other (this is confirmed through a fight intro with him and Kenshi), but since he also does his best not to interfere too much with free will, he leaves the meeting up to them.

[side note: I find it interesting that it’s confirmed Liu Kang had Johnny buy Sento so that Kenshi would eventually come looking for it, considering that Liu Kang also likely new this would be the demise of Johnnys marriage. Him meeting Kenshi this way was more important than his literal wife. Not that the marriage wouldn’t likely end eventually anyways- just interesting that he felt the need to speed up the process]

Immediately we see he’s extremely disappointed in them for fighting, but what honestly did he expect? And I don’t mean that sarcastically- legitimately, why would he expect anything different? To Kenshi, Sento is the key to freeing and leading his family out of the Yakuzas grasp- nothing else matters to him at this point. To Johnny, Sento is a prized possession- one so important he let it get in the way of his marriage. He very clearly isn’t ready to let go of his old life (as evident through him attempting to pitch movie ideas to uninterested producers and flirt with a wife who’s been emotionally detached for quite some time), and he’s not letting go of Sento either. Sento means far too much to the both of them for either of them to let it go without a fight. However, while normally this would cause a significant rift in the relationship between the two people fighting over an object, this time the object seems to be the very thing forcing them together. But more on that later when I eventually analyze the scenes of them at the Wu Shi Academy! Lastly, I’d like to point out that even this early on in their relationship, Johnny is very clearly infatuated with Kenshi as a person. I mean imagine spending $3M on a sword because you find the history of one of the first families in Japan incredibly fascinating, just so that one day a supposed member of that presumably dead family breaks into your home demanding the sword. But Kenshi is cold, closed off, and (seemingly) completely uninterested in Johnny. And to me, this is what really reels Johnny in. Kenshi being Taira clan was already enough to get Johnny hooked- but add onto that that Kenshi doesn’t give a flying fuck about him? That just leaves room for gay pining baby!

[tophatpatriot]

Do you have any sort of headcanons for Hellsing characters? <3

That’s actually a very good question. To be honest, I don’t really have any headcanons for the Hellsing characters—except for the Major. As I’ve mentioned many times before, I’m a huge Major fan (maybe even a bit of a crazy simping poster, haha).

If you ask a lot of people why they’re drawn to that chubby little marshmallow of a man, most of their answers will probably be things like: “Oh, he’s so good-looking,” or “He’s just such a badass villain.” And sure, those things might be true. But for me, it’s more than just his physical presence. His quotations and speeches are genuinely fascinating and—dare I say—inspiring.

Now, I know what most people would say: “He’s a Nazi—how can he be inspiring?!” or “Dude, he literally enjoyed killing people, whether they were his enemies or even his own soldiers.” And yes, that’s all true. The Major is evil, without a doubt.

But there’s a saying I really believe in: “Take what’s good from a person, and leave whats Bad.” And that’s exactly what I do with the Major.

Ever since I watched the Hellsing series, I’ve noticed that most of the Major’s sayings actually have deep meaning—especially his iconic war speech. I’ve been spending time examining them and looking into their deeper interpretations.

There’s just something about the Major that makes him so intriguing. He’s not the type of person who speaks at face value. His words carry weight. They’re layered, symbolic, and often philosophical in a twisted way. That’s what really draws me in—he’s not just shouting nonsense or being evil for the sake of it. There’s intent, there’s purpose, and most of all, there’s conviction behind everything he says.

Here’s an example: In episode 3 or 4—during the roundtable meeting between the Hellsing Organization and the Vatican—the Major introduces himself. In the scene where Maxwell says to him, “You’re insane, all of you!”, the Major responds with, “Did I just hear someone from Iscariot questioning my sanity?! Then let me ask you: if your God would allow my madness to flourish across the globe, then wouldn’t any God like that be just as mad as I am?”

I’ve seen a lot of people interpret this as proof that the Major is an atheist and that he completely lacks belief in God.

However, I believe that in this dialogue, the Major is essentially saying to Maxwell: "Look, let’s assume your God is truly on your side. If that’s the case—if your God is so righteous and I am so wicked—then why hasn’t He destroyed me yet, hmm?"

This interpretation is further supported by his next line: "We are the finest of the Third Reich! Do you have any idea how many people we’ve killed?!"

As we know, the Major holds a high-ranking position in the SS (Schutzstaffel), specifically the rank of Sturmbannführer, which translates to "Major" in German. The SS was an elite paramilitary organization under the Nazi regime—infamous for its brutality, fanaticism, and unwavering loyalty to  the Nazi ideology.

So when the Major says that, he’s basically throwing it back at Maxwell: "Yeah, we’re evil—like, the worst of the worst. And yet, your God has done nothing to stop us."

Then comes another interesting line: "I’m insane?! You didn’t have any objections 50 years ago! But never mind that—try to stop me, then, you self-proclaimed normal people!"

In this line, the Major is actually implying that Maxwell and the Iscariot Organization had collaborated with him during the Nazi regime. He’s calling out Maxwell’s hypocrisy, essentially saying:

"You are the truly wicked ones. You claim to be righteous, to have God on your side—but in reality, you're just as evil. The difference is that I show my true face. I don't lie to people. I don’t pretend to be just or claim to guide them toward salvation. You, on the other hand, hide behind faith while feeding off the people's wealth and strength."

He's also pointing out, "Oh, now that I’ve grown powerful, you’ve suddenly turned against me, hmm?"

And when he says “But never mind that,” he’s not dismissing the accusation—he’s taunting them. It’s his way of saying, “Fifty years is a long time. Maybe you’ve changed

Maxwell remains Silent Unable to debate back or prove hes innocent

And this is just one of the Major’s dialogues I’m currently working on—all of his speeches, including his war speech, which has such deep interpretations. I’ll be posting my interpretations of each saying/quotes soon. Let me know what you think! :D

[yellowocaballero]

ncau supernanny?

That would be the rewrite of the Padme & Ahsoka & Rex fic! It's actually where I stalled out on the new no chip stuff: although Rex had been changed a lot to be more congruent with this version of him, Ahsoka ended up changing a lot and I needed to re-approach her. The completely rewritten Rex story also brought up some plot threads that needed to be resolved in it. So it got complicated and I took a break to write other things. I also really wanted to do justice to the Padme & Ahsoka & Rex dynamic, because it became extremely funny to me. You see a lot of their dynamic in these two scenes and it is incredibly weird and incredibly funny, they are all at rock bottom and making it each other's problem.

There's not too much of it, but here's two scenes that had alterations.

Rex had been against it from the start.

Not that his opinion mattered. Padme kept on trying to make his opinion matter, citing garbage decision making systems and theories of governance. She even played on his level, citing how any good leader accounted for the feedback of her respected clan members into account when making decisions. Objectively true, like most of the things Padme said. Practically useless, like most of the things Padme said. But she really wanted him to feel respected, so just tell me what you think about betraying the Empire. Yes? No? Maybe so?

“I think that it’s my duty as a clone to exterminate threats to the Empire,” Rex had said aggressively. About as aggressive as he had to be. “I think I’m shaming my people by not killing the dissenter and the Jedi now. So stop asking me what I think.”

“Hm,” Padme had said. She had turned to Tano. “I think we’re making real progress. He said Jedi instead of vermin.”

“He’s gonna kill us all,” Tano said. 

Unfortunately, they still needed a babysitter. Ergo, Rex.

The sedition was none of his business. He didn’t have an opinion on it. This was for the sake of his sanity and his ability to sleep at night. But if he was to weigh in on terrorism plots anyway - and Tano said that he had an excellent way of making his thoughts known regardless - he’d say that it was just too soon. 

The babies were too young. Padme was still nursing every three hours. They were all insanely sleep deprived - Padme and Rex from the babies, Tano from the babies and throwing up three times a night. They were whittled away by their three different flavors of insanity, and they were hanging on by a frayed thread of mania and democratic righteousness. Say what you will about terrorism - it gave Padme a hobby.

But Tano wanted to begin building their network, the sooner the better, and Padme wanted Organa to be their first contact. There was nobody she trusted more, supposedly. Rex politely did not point out Padme’s bad track record with trust. But Tano knew and trusted him too, so through a complex series of bounced signals and covert missives Organa was officially invited to their hiding place on the nothing little planet of Lothal. It was all grain farms. Very boring. 

It was a bad idea. Apparently Rex had made that very clear through judicious eyebrow usage. Tano deemed him relentlessly passive-aggressive. Rex deemed her a bitch. As demanded, Padme pretended not to take Rex’s opinion into account and Tano actively decided that something was a good idea if Rex thought it was a bad one. 

“Do whatever you want,” Rex had said. “Just leave me and the babies out of it. And stop telling me shit that makes me want to kill you. Hurts my head.”

Tano had crossed her arms, chronically unimpressed with him. “Your head, which is perfectly sane and normal and quite unbrainwashed. The head dunked in powerful Dark energy. That head.”

“At least my head has something in it, you damn -”

“Rex, I respect your right to free speech, but you have to stop -”

“Just tell him to stop cursing at me!” Tano snapped. “Make him cut this shit out!”

“What, and have him get more passive aggressive?”

In a compromise against Rex’s relentless passive aggression, Organa wasn’t to know anything more than absolutely necessary. Quite a bit was necessary, but Rex and the babies were not. Rex had meant to take the kids to the park when he was scheduled to arrive, and to stay there until long after Padme commed to let him know they were gone. The baby toys were quarantined in the nursery and the nursery was to be firmly locked. Nobody had to know about the babies, and nobody had to know about Rex.

That had been the plan. The plan had also been for Organa to meet them tomorrow. Apparently he had his own concerns about a trap. Rex didn’t blame him, but it screwed things up so royally that he wanted to murder him a bit anyway.

__________________________________________

Organa stopped and stared at Rex and the babies, who cooly stared at him back. He opened his mouth to say something, but Padme beat him to it.

“Rex, did you torture my friend?”

Rex snorted. “You call that torture?” Judging by Padme’s withering look she did, indeed, call it torture. “Wanted to see if he would snitch. He didn’t. Babies are hungry.”

Padme sighed and leaned back in the chair, and Tano helpfully stood up and went upstairs to fetch the nursing pillow and blanket. Organa watched with ill-hidden interest as Rex carefully deposited the babies on her lap, and when Tano came back with the pillow and blanket they set her up. 

For the first time, Padme looked a little self-conscious feeding her kids in front of Organa, but Rex watched her force herself to get over it. She focused on, seemingly, the important things instead, as she draped the blanket over them and helped them nurse. 

“I told you I trusted him. Are you going to harass everybody we ask to help us?”

“Depends,” Rex said blandly, “how many more of your book club are you going to pull into this?”

“Don’t pull that on Mon,” Tano said, smile half-tugging at her lips. “She’ll taze you before you could blink.”

“As if I can’t take a politician?” Rex was downright offended. “Any clone could have killed any senator in a blink.”

“It’s alright,” Organa cut in. He had finally gotten a handle on forcing his composure, and he stopped staring at Padme in favor of looking intently at Rex. “There’s no such thing as too careful. I’m sure Captain Rex, of all people, knows that.” Rex smiled faux-brightly at him. “Why didn’t you introduce yourself?”

“Just Rex, now. And my name would make you think the 501st was around the corner.” Rex unabashedly checked underneath the blanket to make sure the babies were feeding correctly. Padme gave him an eye for micromanaging. “Should I start dinner, ma’am?”

Organa looked at Padme, still obviously turned around in a circle by the relentless addition of bizarre circumstances. “Did Anakin ask Rex to look after you before he…?”

The most awkward silence of all time descended upon the room. Organa flinched, sensing that he had stepped in it somehow. Padme brought the nursing babies closer to her chest. Tano looked away sharply. Rex had a lot of comments he wanted to make, but for once in his life he didn’t actually want to make things worse. He just looked at Padme, wondering what she would say. 

“Let’s not talk about Anakin,” Padme said quietly. 

“Oh. Yes, I’m sorry.” Organa looked down at his clasped hands, letting his shoulders sag with the weight of another dead friend. “Did Obi-Wan…?”

Padme put a hand over her face. Tano’s face darkened in anger. Rex knew that he couldn’t look much better. 

“I see.” Organa had aged ten years in a second. But he still nodded at Rex anyway, somehow dredging up sympathy for the captain of traitors. Rex had to agree. “My condolences, Rex. I know you two were close.”

Rex could not fucking stand natborns. “Don’t talk about shit you know nothing about.”

That didn’t go over well. Organa just looked a little sad, but Tano straightened from the wall and bared her teeth in pure anger. It was impossible to remember that this lady had ever been a Jedi. “How dare you act entitled to our grief? It was your damn battalion that shot him down!”

They had to feel so awful about that. Rex felt so much pity for the clone who had done it. Living with having accidentally killed Obi-Wan - how could any of the 501st do it? “How dare a natborn act entitled to Obi-Wan?” Rex snapped back. “You’re all pretending to give a shit now that he’s dead and you don’t have to deal with him. We’re the ones who raised the -”

Calmly, yet with the unmistakable durasteel that Rex wanted so badly, Padme said, “Rex, don’t speak unless you’re spoken to for a little while.” 

Rex bowed. Tano sneered, rolling her eyes. “Yes, my lady.”

Padme had to stop and breathe. Everybody was looking at her, but being the center of attention was her natural state. She was a lot like Anakin that way: they both navigated the world as if they were constantly being watched. Padme expected your attention, Anakin demanded it. He always liked it best when he felt like he had Rex’s undivided attention. Rex should be giving Padme undivided attention too, but - his attention was basically perpetually 80% on the babies. That was the job. 

Then Padme straightened, adjusting Leia a little and helping her latch. She watched Leia for a second, expression inscrutable, before she finally looked up and made eye contact with Bail. 

“There’s some things I haven’t told you yet. About Anakin.”

Organa’s expression fell - undoubtedly imagining that Anakin met some gruesome and tragic end. Well, he did, but not in the way he thought. “You don’t have to talk about it if you aren’t ready, Padme.”

“I’ll never be ready,” Padme said. “Let’s just get this out of the way.”

Padme told Organa everything. Organa’s face grew paler and paler. She told him a very curious version of the story: one where Anakin was just having A Pretty Bad Week and then decided to go evil about it. Her story about Anakin had some pretty huge Anakin shaped holes in it. Some Rex shaped holes. But Padme had told him not to speak. 

Silence fell after she finished. Organa was leaning forward, elbows on his knees, his razor-sharp mind processing the information. Of the life cycle of Darth Vader: born, murdered, died. An ignoble life for what should have been a great man. 

Finally, after laborious thought, Organa said, “This is insane.”

“It’s the truth,” Padme said dully. “I feel insane for believing it was any different.”

“You should hear some of the things they’re saying at the Senate. Obvious lie after obvious lie that we’re all pretending to believe. There was no way that the Jedi tried to coup the Republic, that the clones had saved us. But that Palpatine’s a Sith, that - that there had been this galactic conspiracy for ten years with the clones as double agents…Padme, I know Palpatine said Anakin died defending him from the traitor Jedi, and I knew that wasn’t true, but I just can’t…”

“You have to,” Tano said curtly. “We can’t afford to stick our heads in the ground anymore. We don’t have the luxury of ignorance. You’ve known this day was coming for years, Bail.” Tano must have noticed Rex’s surprise and confusion - Rex hadn’t even known she was paying attention to him at all. “Bail didn’t spend three years protesting the war for his health, Rex. He knew that Palpatine was taking advantage of the war and eroding democracy. He just went further than any of us thought possible.” 

“Palpatine taught me everything I know about being a politician. I didn’t want to believe it.” Padme hoisted Luke carefully, helping him re-latch. “It took Bail hours to convince me that the man was a fascist. But it was already far too late.” Rex squinted at Padme, and she looked surprised. “Do you not know what a fascist is?”

Bitterly, Tano said, “It’s a very strong leader.” 

Rex relaxed, but some part of him tensed up too. “Why would being a strong leader be a bad thing?”

Padme opened her mouth. Then she speedran the five stages of grief, and closed it. “Let’s put that on the list of ethics lessons to teach you later.” Fuck, Rex never should have opened his mouth. He couldn’t get five seconds without a lecture on morality.

[sylver-drawer]

So tired of people claiming LP Jennette was some evil and cruel mastermind.

The only person she was ‘hurting’ was Claude, because he was the object of her ‘revenge’ for her parents who, at that point, had found out/received the knowledge of being killed by him. Was it true? No, but she didn’t know that. In her point of view, her uncle after killing her parents became emperor through usurping the throne and even claimed he vanquished evil, that being her parents. How insulting is that? How dare he? In LP Jennette’s perspective, this act of pretending to be his daughter is her revenge. Other than that, she was a normal girl. She was noted as the only other person other than Lily who cared about LP Athy, by SBAPOD Athy’s own words. She’s also repetitively supported Athy in LP even though we only saw a small sliver of their life.

When Claude falls ill, and the officials beg her to oversee his matters, she obviously presents Athy as a better candidate. People kept saying it’s because she’s selfish and immature, but have they even read or dissected the scene correctly? She is Claude’s favored daughter which is why the officials ask of her. If her response was purely emotional and irritated, I would’ve understood the ‘selfish and immature’ sentiment. But she isn’t. Instead, she offers Athy instead by listing out Athy’s skills and knowledge that exceeds her own. Even though Jennette is officially the crown princess and successor, Athy has lived in the palace for eighteen years while Jennette arrived merely four years prior. Even if they received the same official education, Athy most definitely knows internal matters more than she does. It was also known by SBAPOD Athy herself that LP Athy studied tremendously to gain Claude’s favor before Jennette arrived on her own accord. Of course there’s no official record of it, why would there be an official statement of the abandoned princess’ tutelage? But Jennette knew this. Jennette knew Athy’s experience and intelligence, and presents this knowledge of Athy. It isn’t her being spoiled and a brat if she’s presenting true facts! There was some talk about her being cruel because she wished Claude would stay sick and unconscious, but isn’t this??? Exactly what SBAPOD Athy thinks when she sees a sleeping Claude during her runaway arc????? That if Claude is just going to kill her when he wakes up, that she wished he’d stay asleep then??? Like these are direct parallels to each other and it makes me insane that one is called cruel while the other is praised as a saint.

We have no idea what LP was about other than this sliver into their lives, but if it was anything like how the novel of SBAPOD was, it was full of people jealous of her sudden status and noble support. And this was even with Claude’s support, meaning she had to handle this predominantly on her own. If you think about it, despite how favored Jennette was, this is nothing like how SBAPOD Athy was treated. Athy was favored, just like LP Jen was. Enough to have tea party dates, happily spending time with each other day by day. But Athy isn’t surprised when Jennette gets targeted by other noble girls’ gossip and underhanded words in the main story. Rather, she treats it as something Jennette has to handle on her own. If Jennette was supposed to be a lovable character with a carefree journey, does that nonchalant behavior make sense? This can only mean that Athy knew Jen would face these kinds of situations from reading LP. And if we read between the lines, this means that LP Jennette’s experience is completely different from SBAPOD Athy’s experience. Athy had her own troubles, but when it came to socializing with other nobles, she was popular and loved. But even while favored by Claude, LP Jennette had to combat the nobles and their underhanded praises and snide remarks.

Seeing that this is the case, I just can’t see at all how LP Jennette is spoiled and immature, or some evil mastermind. LP Jennette still struggled despite being favored, and she knew the differences in her skills vs Athy’s skills appropriately. She has some darker emotions, but like her main story counterpart, she never showed it nor lashed out upon it in regard to others. I don’t see it at all, how she can be any more ‘evil’ than SBAPOD Athy, when LP Jen had way too many parallels to her as well.

[blue-thief]

Ok. Thoughts on the Itoshi Sibs / their parallels with Isagi?

HELLO this took forever for me to answer because summer school and the sadness. as you know.

also i went too crazy with tying blue lock into my fixation with japanese nationalism so it got way too complex and i got scared but now i'm just gonna make that its own post (<- said the same thing about bsd. that analysis about bsd's connection with japanese nationalism has been sitting in my docs for a year now i think)

(smh this is what happens when the japanese imperial army almost wipes out your entire bloodline /gen /srs)

anyway. all that waiting to say that rin is... just some guy to me

usually a fw anime boys named rin. esp if they're the sworn rival of the plain protagonist. not necessarily this one though

i have no clue why he doesn't scratch my brain properly. he just doesn't. i need to spend a good three hours staring at the ceiling at night to figure that out

when you first sent me this i didn't really care for sae much either. now i do

that's how long this has been sitting in my drafts 😃😃

(i've written and scrapped thousands of words for this ask sob sob)

(this answer wasn't even formatted this way originally)

i've probably told you the story of how sae grew on me before but like

i don't plan out my fics right

i do play out random scenes in my head to test out if i like them or not

(shivers because updating my fic is another thing that is taking forever.......)

and i was just fucking around with random jokes kaiser and sae could say to each other

then i imagined sae smiling

and i was like "what the fuck... why is that so endearing........"

that was the turning point but it really was a lot of sitting and contemplating sae's character honestly

to really understand him and why he'd be friends with kaiser

and sae is kinda just like me frfr

that guy can't do anything other than soccer/football. he has nothing going on beyond that

and yeah. yeah... i get that.......

it's the reason why i like a bunch of other bllk characters but it's most pronounced with sae yk

(SORRY MR. SNUFFY)

and like. just his inability to be a normal fucking person 😭😭 too real

anyway those are my general itoshi brothers thoughts

now for the parallels part.

(this is the part that killed me and i wanna go more in-depth. but i'm saving that for another post. because holy shit my original idea was so fucking ambitious)

i had other thoughts and god i wish i wrote that stuff down

but the major thing i want to get into here is dependence

isagi is independent. soo independent it's kinda crazy

this was outlined most during the second selection with bachira where he had to learn to play by himself

meanwhile there's rin who seems independent on the surface

however, rin has always been dependent on sae in one way or another

when they were younger, rin was dependent on sae to take care of and guide him

rin also depended heavily on sae on the field

now that they are older, sae's attempt to shake rin off has just made rin's dependence on sae even more intense, just in a different way

rin's only motivation to play soccer/football had been to "crush" sae

...but now he's met isagi

and his obsession has found a new object

with the recent chapters, now we know he places isagi and sae on a similar level in his personal hierarchy, and his desire to destroy sae has bled into rin's feelings toward isagi

while rin has only one rival, the same can't be said for isagi

isagi gains rivals like pokemon, and while they have all played a significant roll in isagi's development as a person and a character, his obsession doesn't consume him. in the PXG vs BM match, he's doesn't fully comprehend the effect he's had on kaiser and rin

and mannn i wish i could find this analysis, but it's gone now

but someone compared isagi's desire to "devour" to rin and nagi's desire to "kill"

I WISH I COULD REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT THEY SAID

but from what i remember, "devouring" someone is temporarily defeating them, but both parties ultimately improve so there's room for them to meet again and help each other improve even more

however, "killing" someone is defeating them completely so they're never able to play/improve ever again

which outlines the fact that while isagi can be a little bitch on the field, he wants his rivals to improve alongside him, and in the end, he wants the best for people (in terms of soccer/football)

which is why he never became overly-dependent on bachira and why he treats midfielders as actual human beings 😭😭

isagi is independent, but he pushes for the people around him to be just as independent

the itoshi brothers are different though

rin is codependent on sae, and you could say his hatred/obsession with isagi is a different type of codependency

but that thing about treating midfielders as human beings...

uh. that doesn't really apply to rin

sae is somewhat similar with how he "tamed" shidou but it's not THAT imbalanced lmao

there's also how the three of them are on different places of the striker-midfielder spectrum

in-universe and within the fandom, rin is perceived as japan's ultimate striker. his raw shooting power + metavision makes him perfect for this position.

however sae, another metavision user, is the perfect midfielder

then there's isagi who's tried emulating rin's play style at first but is ultimately most similar to sae, leading people to say that isagi is better suited to be a midfielder rather than a striker

while rin represents what the ultimate japanese striker is, something isagi is trying to reach, sae's path is one that isagi could easily fall down instead

many people have theorized that sae became a midfielder to improve rin's chances at becoming a better striker. sae may be considered to have a strong ego, but if this turns out to be true, that might not be the case lmao

errm. idk how to end this off. sorry for the wait sob sob

[scoobydoodean]

Ah.. opening scene to establish that Dean is being bossy and dragging Sam everywhere and not respecting his input... right?

Let's dig a little deeper.

Dean suggested maybe they could ice the Devil in 5.01 (then after admitted to Sam that he said that for Bobby's benefit, though he isn't giving up, he's skeptical). Sam (5.01) and Castiel (5.04) said The Colt is the way to do it. So Sam and Dean have spent an entire three weeks chasing dead ends on The Colt since they met back up. I think it's likely they spent most of that time holed up in motel rooms looking at their computers, conferring with Bobby and Cas over the phone, and physically chasing down leads, cramped up in the car for hours at a time. In other words, no privacy, no space, and a type of research grind that's much more Sam's speed than Dean's.

Based on how Sam talks here... doing those tasks for that long with no break was his idea. This is a thing Sam is very prone to do also. He gets a path in his head and he NEEDS to follow it and keep the momentum going. When Sam gets like this, he doesn't care if they have nothing but dead ends over and over, and he historically becomes extremely critical of Dean wanting to take a breath and do something else for a while instead of continuing to chase their own tails (1.03, 1.10, 1.11, 1.20, 2.10, 2.18, 3.14, 4.11). So while this episode opens with Dean putting his foot down, it seems like it's actually because Sam, someone Dean doesn’t feel great around at this point in time (5.01, 5.02, 5.03, 5.04), has spent the last three weeks having his interests catered to, and everything he wants to do leaves Dean trapped with him almost perpetually in tight quarters when Dean isn't actually ready to be spending this much time with him again.

After three weeks, Dean simply finds a run-of-the-mill case and says "Let's go," and Sam apparently doesn't object until they're almost there, and in the car. Dean saying they need training wheels is telling in terms of how he feels about how the last three weeks have gone, and Sam twisting Dean's words to be about HIM needing training wheels and not their relationship tells you exactly how unproductive any discussion on this will ever be (as does the rest of the episode).

What really cinches the fact that Dean wants a break from Sam for me though is the way that Dean chooses to make his escape attempt and finally get some space. After insisting on going under the car to look at the engine number even though it's making him nervous, Dean uses the fact that he put his life at risk to do it to justify taking a break, and tells Sam to hit the books in a way that's clearly bossy:

DEAN Find out who owned it. Not just the last owner, you gotta take it all the way back to nineteen-fifty-five. SAM That's a lot of research. DEAN Well, I guess I just made your afternoon.

Where does Dean go? To a bar, to sit alone by himself, nursing a beer. After Sam complains, Dean doesn't do this again.

The next time Dean is implied to have ordered Sam to do something (check and load the weapons into the car—I already wrote about why that specific task interests me, and about Sam ordering Dean to do things through season 4) Sam walks in to find Dean bitching to Bobby about him on the phone. Once again, Dean taking an opportunity for a tiny window of space.

Is Dean nice about it? Nope. But that's what's going on imo.

Dean wants some space from Sam and some goddamn privacy and a normal case to escape from the stress (something Sam has rarely understood or treated as anything but selfishness and a waste of time when it was Dean's idea) where he feels like he can breathe without being repeatedly confronted by his and Sam’s destinies and how they whirl around each other and how it all goes to shit because (in Zachariah’s world) Dean isn't able to successfully reconnect with Sam and the world ends. So Dean HAS to reconnect with Sam, but he wasn’t actually ready to do that when they met back up, and the last three weeks have not helped. Dean is clawing for air.

[mercury-lattice]

The Phoenix's Fortune--My Feeding Method as a Web/Desolation Avatar

I have a casino in-system, in the headspace. It's based on the one I had in my life before. I'm noncanon, but sourced from The Magnus Archives. TL;DR for those who are unfamiliar with the source itself, there's eldritch entities tied to certain fears, that influence and bind parts of themselves to people (who are called avatars). I'm an avatar of The Desolation (fears of fire, destruction of potential, loss) and The Web (fears of arachnophobia, manipulation/being controlled, addiction). Avatars feed themselves and their attached entities off of that fear they generate.

So, I was a weird case, being tied to two entities at once. I had to find my own ways to feed, if I wanted to be productive and feed both at once--which seemed to be the best course of action. And what kills two birds with one stone so-to-speak? Life-destroying addiction, of course! So, after deciding I didn't fit in with the other avatars of my home in the UK, I moved to somewhere in the USA and made myself a casino. I named it The Phoenix's Fortune--kind of a normal casino-y name and whatnot. But, the point of the name itself was that I was technically the phoenix gaining from everyone elses downfall. Bit of a nod to the phoenix rising from its own ashes thing--I just gain from everyone elses instead. That play on words being unknown to most people who frequented the casino fed The Web, subtly.

I don't remember where in the US it was, in all honesty. In life it also had a bar area and all that, but other than that it kind of… Looked like a casino if it were run by a volcano-phoenix worshipping cult. Mostly actual fire as lighting--oil lanterns lining the walls, big, ornate metal fire pits on the ground. I loved the phoenix imagery, so there was plenty of that around. Things like carvings on the walls, statues, and other miscellanious decor. I loved my lanterns--but I also loved fire pits. Huge, metal or concrete bowls that stand on the ground with fire in them. Mine were metal, of course. Concrete wouldn't heat up and burn if you were to accidentally touch it, and that's no fun. Any "accidents" fuelled The Desolation, at least a little.

Being tied to The Desolation, it of course was uncomfortably hot to be in the building at all. All the fire pits certianly helped with that. But of course, addiction doesn't care about that sort of thing... Uncomfortability is mild compared to eldrith-entity fuelled drive to gamble. People came and stayed despite the heat and thick smell of smoke. The slot machines and other things I had in there for people to waste their money away on were also warm to the touch. When you'd first start gambling, it was mainly a sense of discomfort. The deeper people fell into the trap of addiction, though, the hotter the equipment got, until their hands weren't necessarily recogniseable as hands, or some even fused into the objects themselves from the melting heat--trapping them there physically. That definitely fuelled my own fire.

The Web needed more than just wordplay, though. So, I decided to prolong the addiction, wrap people up in more threads of fate, and open the opportunity for more burning later down the line. I had plenty of people come to me, having spent their life savings on those damn machines, begging me to help them--people in desperate situations try desparate things. So, I gave out loans--money meant nothing to me in the end, and I had plenty. Of course, some would just spend it right away and that was a nice chance to melt some people for taking advantage of my "generosity".

Others would try to actually pick their life back up! But rarely did the money make its way back to me. So, a bit of waiting, watching them pick up the pieces, unknowing of anything I'm pulling behind the scenes. And eventually, there would be more burning. Either they made mistakes on their own with a little bit of twisting behind the scenes, or I got fed up and there had to be a bit of a "freak accident", which usually involved anything they had gained getting melted--houses, families, other material belongings, whatever. I loved the more drawn-out ones, where people went quite a while without falling into it, and they even felt safe, not knowing I was still pulling strings.

It's mostly the same imagery innerworld, I wanted close to a replica because really, I did live in that place and it was also literally my lifeforce. It honestly was almost like an extension of me in a way. It wasn't literally me, like The Distortion's door being itself, it was just like... If I were to carry a bag with me and felt lost or naked without it, the building would have an equivalent feeling to that. Something that isn't me, but needs to be with me. Like a comfort item integral to my identity.

Of course, I can't burn people in-system--there's rules against that. But having that reminder and that security of before helps all the same.

[lululuzzz08]

Tw, i talk about: Pedophilia, dead dove shit, me complaining (i think), snarry (adultxteen),

Summarization: I’m basically complaining about the fact that a kinky fetish fic has too good lore and backstory and ideas😭(bare with me i had to get this out of my system)

Fic link will be at the end (NOT MINE)

DO NOT SEND HATE TO THE AUTHOR!!! ITS JUST A SILLY FIC AND IM THE ONE THAT GOT A BIT ATTACHED TO THE IDEA…. (Atyd all over again lmaooo)

I’m the weird person who will literally read ANYTHING at 10pm. So yesterday i was reading (if that is even what i did, i practically skimmed through the first chapter) this Snarry fic that takes place in a “if Voldemort won” universe. Harry is a girl and Severus is her guardian. The problem with this fic starts with the mischaracterization of Severus. Its the classic “daddy dom” fanon version of him that has no emotions and sees Lily as nothing more than an object😭 this is obviously done to make the ship between Harry and Severus more appealing, but it just gives me the ick because Severus would N E V E R. AND ITS NOT LIKE THEY MISCHARACTERIZE EVERYONE, DRACO IS VERY CANON..Harry is lowkey BAMF and i love her, but her crush on Severus is not very realistic unless shes fucking batcrazy. Like- SILAS IS RIGHT THERE???? A HEALTHY DECENT GUY THAT IS AMBITIOUS AND SHARES A BUNCH OF TRAITS WITH YOU?????????? Raw, next question. But nooo shes too loyal to Severus, her step father and the person she wants to have inside her 😇😇😊😊😊!!!!! So she gets mad whenever he flirts with her??? Hun you literally blushed.

This is the same feeling as reading a one shot with a crazy good idea and backstory but its literally just there for a single scene 🙂‍↕️ Its such good writing and the idea is amazing and i wanna see more of it but why pedophilic Snarry…. What did we gain from this???? As a person who sees Snarry as lowkey a crack ship i cant take this amazing fic seriously 😭 ALSO HARRY HAS A TOUNGE PIERCING????? WE NEED MORE?????????? B-b-but nooo its a fetishy fic that will never have redemption arcs and will stay evil and Harry will prob never save her mother or father or the rest of the surviving order.

I love the fact that Ron was raised by the Lestranges?? Thats so interesting? We see during the duel that he is a bit crazyyy, Harry points it out and says that its the traces of growing up with the Lestranges. YO???? AND ALSO RON LITERALLY CREATES A SPELL??? He lowkey reminds me of Wyborne in a weird way. But what happened to the rest of the Weasleys? Did they get killed?

DO YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND WHY THIS FIC MAKES ME WANNA RAGE?????? IT HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL TO BE ALMOST BOOK QUALITY BUT ITS LITERALLY JUST A DARK FETISHY SMUT FIC.🥹 i sound horrible im sorryyyy but ykkk????????

I might talk about an au like this in the future but with more depth (but with normal Severitus and good Severus)!! Thank you for listening to me ramble.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/61940323/chapters/158386447

[ladydeath-vanserra]

I feel like Rhys would be more interesting for me if SJM made up her mind on what kind of character he is supposed to be. If he's the "ideal man" then why write him performing textbook acts of abuse. the "ideal man" who is the pinnacle of Healthy Relationship Material cannot really mesh well with grey morality

part of being a morally grey character is,, the fucked up morality that "normal" characters would be like "dude wtf" which you can see with characters like Kaz Brekker and to an extent Damon Salvatore. Their grey morality is tied to their actual personhood and their actual sense of morality. they're not haunted by their actions. it is *within their morality* in their own ideals of what they consider right and wrong

Rhys' "grey morality" is tied to that of his "mask" and then he gets so tortured by how he just has to hurt all these people for the "greater good" my good dude that's not morally grey. a morally grey character is going to see it as worth it and not blink an eye bec it was what needed to be done- see Kaz literally ripping out that dudes eye and not blinking about it while everyone else was like what the fuck

Rhys is written closer to a character similar to Stefan who is just so tortured and the narrative and the people around him (and by extension many of his Stans™️) will go out of their way to completely forgive all the problematic shit he did bec he "has a pure heart" or "hes an addict tho" or whatever and it's easier to excuse when he's standing next to Damon, who is outwardly fucked up and problematic in such an obvious way (Rhys next to Tamlin or even Nesta)

she Wants him to be a morally grey bad boy but he's not *written* like one. he's not allowed to be problematic the way morally grey characters are problematic. Morally Grey characters are inherently toxic and problematic and often to the point where they can be/are abusive

but also, it's the fact that he just,,, doesn't have any real character growth outside of MAF. he becomes stagnant. his characterization doesn't really change. he keeps lying to Feyre. His actions don't really change bec the narrative doesn't challenge him to bec he's "the ideal man"

Hell Rhys taunting Tamlin in TAR was interesting and entertaining for me to read but when we get that in later books from his POV with Tamlin literally just beaten down and having had given up there is nothing to gleam from that. it's beating a dead horse, it's kicking someone while they're down. it's not taunting, it's not entertaining where someone can snap back, it's just demeaning and cruel at that point like fuck just leave him alone and maybe stop trespassing

I'd probably view Nesta and Rhys' beef differently if he didn't abuse political and magical power over her- if the narrative itself didn't immediately side with Rhys as objectively in the right despite lying and abusing his power over her. and maybe to an extent I'd forgive it if we had more scenes with them where they, more or less, buried the hatchet and let their relationship actually develop and build nuance

he gets boring. no one pushed back against him in a way that actually challenges the plot or Rhys, outside of Maybe Nesta when she told Feyre about the pregnancy but even then that went out of its way to vilify Nesta and not Rhysand for putting the gag order in place in the first place

like maybe if SJM committed to a Side with Rhys or actually got the plot to challenge him and give him actual growth I'd be more interested in his character. Right now he's just boring. and he's a dick. and not in the way I find very entertaining in characters