#snowball analysis

[howtobecomeadragon]

Mike feels abandoned by Will for a girl so Mike turns around and does the same thing to Will

2x09 and 3x01, just one episode later

the party is having fun together, Mike and Will are stuck to each other's sides

But then a girl takes them away from the group. Will says yes hesitantly, with Mike's urging despite his devastated face here. Mike goes willingly.

Mike watches Will and complicated feelings about it.

Will watches Mike and has complicated feelings about it.

Both feeling sad!

I think there's something to be said about Mike learning about how things are going to go as they grow up at the Snowball. Lucas left them first to go with Max, and then Will went off with some girl, which hit him even harder for some reason he may or may not get yet. Dustin walked away to find any girl to dance with, which left Mike alone until El showed up.

He was hit hardest by that feeling of abandonment at the Snowball bc he was the only one left alone. He decides to roll with the lesson he learned and make sure to always be the first to bail after that. He runs off with El, thinking that's how he can make sure not to be the one left standing once everyone's run off with a girl. This is made stronger by his fear that he doesn't like girls.

El is there so he clings to her as the girl he can run off with so he's not left alone once Lucas and Will and Dustin find girls to be with instead of being with him.

This also goes along with his projection during the rain fight.

Mike is projecting his own feelings here, and I think a lot of this came from the Snowball. He saw how Lucas left the group easily with Max, he saw how Will (who he was probably hoping to hang out with all night) leave with some random girl, and Dustin, instead of staying with Mike, left to spend time with a girl, any girl. Mike wasn't about to ask any girl to dance, he didn't want to, plus El was there in the background, she'd tried to kiss him again before closing the gate, even though he hadn't really wanted to (he didn't close his eyes or lean in). He had an excuse to not seem like he wanted to dance at the Snowball, but he hadn't expected everyone else to leave to dance. He's the one that wasn't expecting everyone to suddenly need to get girlfriends, and he was the one left sitting at that table alone, wondering when everyone had grown up without him and why he wasn't feeling that same way towards girls.

And Mike is surprised and devastated when he throws that hypothetical future that he wanted but felt like he couldn't have in Will's face and Will says he wanted that too. Even though Will went to go dance with a girl, he's saying now that he thought they'd never have to get girlfriends and they could hang out together forever. But Mike is too far into his facade at this point to backpedal.

I can imagine that a lot of this is stirred up again when reading that Will has a crush on a girl in Lenora too. Mike is right back at that table, watching Will walk away for some girl he doesn't even know.

[rlyehtaxidermist]

vote in your primaries.

Americans: Check your state's primary date here.

Pro-Palestinian activist groups are already calling for an "uncommitted" vote in the Democratic primary in Michigan specifically as a protest against the atrocities in Gaza and more broadly the lack of any real challenge to Biden's candidacy.

This is something that every data analyst in the parties will see and have to deal with. If "Uncommitted" gets enough votes, party delegates can even officially be listed as "uncommitted", which is very visible.

"But Orange Man-" This isn't the "if you don't support us you support them" of FPTP general elections. This is the Democratic Primaries. Harm reduction rhetoric is irrelevant here; Biden has no serious primary opponents.

1500 voters in New Hampshire voted in "Ceasefire", which was enough that the Biden campaign had to acknowledge it - even though their response was "see, only 1500 people cared?" And for one primary - yeah, that would be the response. Let's not make it one primary.

let's make number get bigger people

[byler-alarmist]

Mike tried to rip off the Band-Aid after he watched Will dance with a girl at the Snow Ball, which is why he dated El and kept his distance from Will for most of S3. But it didn't work.

[arcane-strangeness]

whats your is one thing that you feel strongly about a fandom/media you like that no one else gets?

Aloy, from the Horizon video game series (Zero Dawn, Forbidden West) is a rat, in the way that she's constantly weaseling her way into spaces she isn't supposed to be in and causing problems on purpose. whether that's clambering around the vents in the GAIA base, climbing absurdly high buildings with zero regard for safety (much to Alva's concern, in the Leviathan quest), or brute forcing her way through social interactions (so many questions, she needs to know everything always all of the time), the outcast lifestyle definitely had a lasting impact on her lmao

she is not the voice of reason among her friends, she is the voice of "i'll do it till it's done even if it kills me" much to the concern of EVERYONE around her. someone make this girl take a break because giving her one is not gonna be enough for her to take it. she fought what was essentially a god to her, fell 30-50 feet into water below, swam a decent ways away while being shot at by essentially alien laser guns, was sucked underwater by a current, bashed into several things, thrown off a cliff face in a waterfall, bashed around some more, knocked unconscious, and still tried to get up walk around and keep going a day after the fact. the only reason she seems like a somewhat rational person is because everyone else on the goddamn planet has lost their minds. i love her <3

[sisterdivinium]

Warrior Nun truly is the most fucked up fucking show in the whole fucking world isn't it

Thecla (Ancient Greek: Θέκλα, Thékla; Greek: Θέκλα; Turkish: Tekla) was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul the Apostle. The earliest record of her life comes from the ancient apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla.

In one scene, female beasts, particularly lionesses, protected her against her male aggressors.

It is also said that Thecla spent the rest of her life in Maaloula, a village in Syria. There, she became a healer and performed many miracles...

...but remained constantly persecuted.

In one instance, as her persecutors were about to get to her, she called out to God, a new passage was opened in the cave she was in, and the stones closed behind her.

Around AD 280, Thecla features as one of the characters in Methodius of Olympus' Symposium, in which she displays considerable knowledge of profane philosophy, various branches of literature, and eloquent yet modest discourse. Methodius states that she received her instruction in divine and evangelical knowledge from Paul, and was eminent for her skill in sacred science ("Logos 8").

According to some scholars, Thecla's story inspired many later stories of women saints who dressed as men

All of these women were empowered by Thecla, a woman who did things that not many women would ever dare to do

In Spanish-speaking countries, she is also facetiously counted as the patron saint of computers and Internet, from the homophony with the Spanish and Catalan word tecla ("key").[citation needed]

(text on Thecla of Iconium taken from Wikipedia)

[deadrocks]

Something something the CR fandom up to this point seems to have looked at Pelor and seen Amaunator, so Ayden's Lathander-y vibes are coming across as more of a shock than they should, something something more coherent that I'll surely write in the morning.

[givehimthemedicine]

El and Lucas the Max Protectors™

a lot of people seem to hc Max as really protective, and I get it because that comes standard with the type of character that Max almost is. but Max is not protective. she's emotionally protective, she's physically supportive, but she's not physically protective. in a moment of danger you never see Max stepping out in front - you see her at the back of the group. and she never has a bruised ego about it. she never insists she doesn't need stupid boys to protect her and she never does the "ohh thank u kind sir lmaooo" thing with Lucas after the danger has passed.

I'm here to tell you that while Max might not readily admit to it, she likes to be protected. loves to be protected. not in a damsel way; we've seen her get out of some horrible situations on her own. she never really expects or seeks it out, but her friends just do protect her without her having to ask, and it means so much to her. because Max has felt unprotected all her life, and she craves it. can she even remember a time when she felt totally safe in her own home? she lives with two abusers and I can't imagine Max seeing her mother as any kind of of protector, after putting her in that situation. Max hasn't had anyone make her feel safe in a long time.

so I love that while Max is capable of taking care of herself, when something scary happens, you can find her unapologetically peeking out from behind that nerd boy and his little slingshot, the one who she made fun of for screaming like a little girl. I love that it seems like Max's character would be the one protective of her abused ingenue bff, but she's the one always standing back with awe while El bodily shields her from monster after monster. I think being protected like that makes Max feel very loved.

Bonus: El's protection means so much to Max that the literal last act of her life is to try to reciprocate and try to protect El when she needs it. i'm done, do not speak to me

[aemiron-main]

current analysis out of context again. there’s definitely something about how it’s not just that Mike only smiles in pictures with Will: it’s actually more that he doesn’t smile in pictures taken by Karen/only smiles in pictures that aren’t taken by Karen.

[tangledbea]

Thinking about Eugene in “Snowball” and how, at the end, he’s clearly spent a lot of time outside playing in the snow. He’s built two snowmen - one of which is Rapunzel, and he added tons of snowball hair to - an igloo, and made a few snow angels, not to mention had a snowball lying in wait to throw at Rapunzel when she got back.

While Eugene famously hates the snow and cold, this makes me think that it’s 100% to do with no really living anywhere for most of his life, and being exposed to the elements. I’m not a huge fan of snow and cold, either, but when it snows in the local mountains, I like to drive up and see it and play in it, because I can then leave it behind me and go back to where it’s warmer.

I think Eugene is learning the joy of having a comfortable, warm home to hide from the snow in, when he doesn’t want to deal with it. He’s starting to enjoy playing in it, because he knows the cold is temporary, and can be discarded any time he’s tired of it.

Growth.

[lil-miss-brainrot]

alright i need y’all to settle something for me

[raayllum]

also not gonna be long bc writing posts about theories i think / how things may happen is more interesting and intellectually stimulating to me than debunking theories (and would not be debunking it if it wasn't my own lmao) but

a short list of why CHET (+ general variants of rayla being hurt/captured and callum helping to free/elevate aaravos' power bc of it with the cube) may not happen

it opens up too big an arc for callum to conceivably be wrapped up effectively in 1-1.5 seasons

it's too similar in a lot of ways to everything that happened in 5x08 and they're not gonna repeat that closely

the cube is tethered loosely to aaravos, but aaravos has no interest, need, or desire for it

callum frees aaravos under possession (after making a choice he knew was risking said possession - same end in terms of his priorities, but different manifestation)

if callum and ezran start to have conflict (which was always the biggest requirement for this avenue), they want to have callum free aaravos for his brother instead of rayla in order to resolve that plot point

someone other than callum frees aaravos (a fanatic or traitorous celestial elf for worldbuilding purposes, or claudia laying a siege on katolis if the prison is still there for example) and callum plays into his hands in another way (providing a power-up if the key holds a quasar diamond / aaravos' chest piece)

the cube gets stolen/taken after a plan goes wrong

that said i'm still here like

[mihai-florescu]

"Why?" has got to be my favorite word in the universe. She has done more for humanity than any other phrase and if anyone ever says to not ask it, i instantly know they're hiding something and cannot be trusted. There's always an underlying reason, and accessing it is the one way to better understnd both others as well as ourselves.

[byler-alarmist]

So damn wild that the final song of the Snowball (and S2) was "Every Breath You Take."

It's such a sad and bitter song!!!!

Yet many listeners often miss the point and play it at their weddings and stuff, which the artist even said was the incorrect way to read that song.

Likewise, the Duffers knew that the GA would similarly misinterpret the end scene to be sweet and romantic for Milkvan.

But Byler are actually both crushed and yearning!!!

It's not a happy and sweet moment for Mike.and Will like it is for Lumax or even the way it's supposed to be for Milkvan.

Even without knowing the Vecna context of stalking/watching the party the song is NOT uplifting and sweet, like you would imagine a song would be for a new relationship.

Mike and Will were both faking happiness as they danced with girls, painfully aware of the hopeless nature of their crushes, yet feeling jealous and upset all the same.

Clever of them to blur Mike's face when he's paralleled to Dustin's pain:

That's why Mike's face during his dance with El is mostly in shadow and he looks so serious. If he was just feeling really happy, his face would've been fully lit and smiling, like Lumax both were. Instead, it's mostly just El whose face is lit up and smiling. They hide Mike's face from us.

Lighting enhanced to show his expression:

Even when he kisses El, he doesn't look happy afterwards and only smiles when she boops his forehead:

Lighting enhanced to show his expression:

And the lyrics. Ohhhhh, the lyrics.

We've talked about "every smile you fake" playing when Will is doing literally just that, but also the whole song opens "every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you" with the context of Mike openly staring at Will dancing with the girl with a mixture of seething jealousy and crushed heartbreak:

^this gif doesn't give the full impact of just how long Mike was staring at Will, but you can watch the clip here:

In closing, I think my very favorite use of the song is "every vow you break" - perhaps the vow to go crazy together?

[daddys-radioactive-milk]

Honestly love how relaxed criticism and conflict when it comes to fallout is. Don’t get me wrong it can get heated, but not all of it is.

[wibble-wobbegong]

who up thinking about mike and promises. i sure am and i will never get over it Ever

[chemtrailactivist]

lily orchard is the progressive man’s chris chan