#sooo MANY DRAFTS

[writingstoraes]

FINALLY on break will try to write some of the requests now hehehe

[brian-kinney-apologist]

it’s my birthday and I decided to (finally) post some Louis art as a little present to you all ❤️❤️

[coquelicoq]

justice of toren collecting songs and one esk/breq constantly humming/singing them is such a good detail and ann leckie does so much with it. an incomplete list:

justice of toren's eager collection of songs is part and parcel of its violent destruction of cultures: these songs are cultural artifacts that it only learns because of its presence on those worlds during their conquest, and in many cases breq is the only one to remember them because their people have died out due to that violence. JoT preserves cultural artifacts for its own use at the same time it directly contributes to the need for that preservation in the first place.

the matter-of-fact way in which this is narrated to us gives us information about JoT's stance on respect and imperialism - that is, contrasted with other characters who look down on the conquered cultures, JoT does actually seem to appreciate their value. and yet it communicates to us no sense of remorse over its role in their genocide.

singing can be a communal activity. this allows us to feel the difference between one esk's multiple bodies singing together in harmony/in a round vs. breq singing alone. this has emotional weight, is an evocative image, and illustrates quite nicely some of the logistic considerations of having one vs. multiple bodies.

the constant humming/singing is extremely notable and idiosyncratic according to other characters, which is a dangerous combination for someone who's supposed to be undercover, so it adds a lil bit of fun suspense for us.

the fact that no one ever figures out breq's identity despite this giveaway tells us something about the other characters' attitudes towards artificial intelligences (though see below about seivarden).

the fact that it's so idiosyncratic also tells us something about the ability of individual AIs to have personalities that distinguish them from other AIs, and the fact that one esk sings constantly but two esk doesn't tells us something about the ability of different ancillary decades that are all part of the same AI to have distinguishing characteristics. this is very relevant to, and illustrative of, the series' thematic throughlines around identity, personality, continuity, etc.

the fact that breq personally has a bad voice also serves multiple purposes. because breq and seivarden both believe that the medic could have chosen a body with a good voice if she had wanted to, we can infer something about how ancillary bodies work, how much the AI (and, by extension, its medics) knows about the individual capabilities of those bodies while they're in suspension, and what kinds of things the AI can and can't control once it has unfrozen and taken over a body.

we can also draw conclusions about the medic that chose that body and about intracrew relations on that ship.

breq's bad voice creates moments of humor and irony in the narrative, such as when breq's constant singing - aka the most obvious clue that she is one esk - is precisely what makes seivarden so sure that breq can't be one esk, because no esk medic would use a body with a bad voice for an ancillary.

constant singing/humming imposes itself on the shared soundscape, meaning other people can't easily avoid it and it has the potential to annoy them, especially if the voice itself has annoying qualities. the reactions of other characters to the frequency and/or quality of this verbal tic tells us something about the level of affection those characters have for one esk or breq.

because singing involves words, the meaning of the lyrics being sung can be used to advance the plot, communicate things about specific characters, create irony in juxtaposition with what's happening on the page, etc.

i especially like what's done with the lyric "it all goes around". it's woven throughout the story in such a way as to manifest its own meaning (the repetition of "it all goes around" is, itself, an example of something going around). by repeating the lyric, breq is the one making it true, and i would argue that her repetition of this particular lyric about things orbiting other things contributes to, and/or is a sign of, her growing understanding of the necessity/reality of interdependence and her place in that framework/her role in constructing it, or in other words, the extent of her own agency and the rights and obligations it confers upon her.

because the singing/humming is a constant, background, automatic action, it only ceases when breq is experiencing a strong emotion. from this we are able to infer things about the emotional state of our famously-omits-details-about-her-emotional-state narrator based on other characters' comments about whether or not she is currently doing this thing.

we also aren't even aware that breq is doing it constantly until another character says so. on a narrative level, this serves the dual purpose of making sure we know about how much she hums AND of reminding us that she's not telling us everything.

the humming is not mentioned constantly even though it is happening constantly - this helps us forget in between mentions that it's going on while also simultaneously reinforcing just how constant it must be, so constant that to mention it every time it happens would be like narrating every time she breathes in or out. whenever someone brings it up, we are reminded anew that something has been happening all along that we forgot about. this means that ann leckie is able, by leaving information out, to hammer home to us how much we are not being told.

through this one character trait, ann leckie efficiently and elegantly communicates not just aspects of character but also of setting, plot, tone, theme, and narrative. there's no extraneous exposition just to tell us about the song collection or singing; everything that tells us about it is serving other functions in the narrative as well. the ways in which she manifests this one character trait in the universe and in the narrative contribute to and exemplify both the story itself and the method of its telling.

[daycourtofficial]

Anyone else have the writer blues/imposter syndrome? Anyone else feel like writing one sentence is an impossible feat?

[icewindandboringhorror]

recent lounging babey images

[brookheimer]

lorene scafaria (director of s4e4) on roman roy in the episode

[bredforloyalty]

i study psychology so i can think about characters better :|

[dreamthinkr]

sammy and patchy

[yesloulou]

RIC3 2021 | Max in 2018

[rosenbergamot]

thinking ab goodtimeswithscar again. a man of so many masks, all with the same charismatic smile. a man who underneath those masks is so dedicated and loving and lonely and petty and chaotic and silly that it cant be contained. a man who watches and blends in and smiles and laughs, because thats the way hes learned to survive. a man who loves so much and so deeply and loyally that it kills him. a man who, when he stops loving like that, ends up winning his series. a man who is defined by trickster status but wants nothing more than to be defined by the friends he keeps. a man who fights against the want to love people and the want to survive. a man whose every interaction is transactional. a man who sells everything, his heart his soul his bones his blood, just to live another day.

[veggieboxes]

ok that adult teru post and in the tags you have some thoughts about him and his relationship w adulthood PLEASR PLEASE PLEASE TELL Us those THOUGHTS PLEASE. sorry i just i want to know i love teru hahaa

my god. you are unleashing my analysis brain. ok.

i have a lot of thoughts in general on the "main cast" around mob (reigen, dimple, teru, and ritsu) in general LOL + how they all intertwine with e/o but i do really like teru bc of how nebulous his backstory is.. ONE pretty much just gives us this:

(this dude is fucking 14. did he start living alone at 10????)

+ the fact that he started living alone bc of the claw attacks. everybody else has pretty straightforward backstories (except for dimple i guess, but he doesn't really follow the traditional rules of all the human characters), but teru's situation is so fucking strange. and it's never elaborated upon.

but i do think that it's very obvious that he turned out the way he Did pre mob meeting just bc he was forced to take care of himself and survive from an insanely young age. skipping childhood to become an "adult" is really the only option for him, which ultimately leads him to creating a social hierarchy at his school because gaining a position of power is "just something adults do." that plus the fact that he needs some way to prove himself to others that he's worthy of attention and praise because he can't get that validation from his parents. so the next best thing is his classmates!

from my viewpoint, a lottt of teru's behaviors boil down to doing what an adult "should" be doing / the ideal successful adult figure. which is also why he fits himself in those traditional heteronormative and masculine roles via. dating women and fighting men. this stuff helps reinforce the social hierarchy, but also creates the illusion that he's capable of being in functioning hetero relationships as people are expected be in as they grow older. teru wants to stand out, but in a "socially acceptable" way -- the way that will guarantee him praise from others.

the whole facade obviously crumbles after his encounter with mob. he's knocked off of his pedestal, being stripped of his dignity (and other things...) in front of the carefully constructed ecosystem he created with himself at the top. bigger pond, bigger fish! so once that's gone, teru really has nobody else to prove himself to or get worship from. at the end of the day, all he really has is himself to gain acceptance from. and with that, he can become an actual functioning human being and not a weird, disfigured, carefully chiseled mimic of what he thinks is the ideal adult.

obviously, remnants of this system pre-yassified teru put up is still present and we see that with teru still getting lots of gifts from girls who are kinda scared by him. but we don't really see how teru interacts with his classmates or vice versa in everyday life past that. i do really enjoy the idea of black vinegar's shadow leader coming back with a complete 180 personality. and a wig to match that change.

but all that aside, teru coming to the realization that he doesn't have much if you take away his psychic powers lets him become a kid again. not hardened by life or jaded, not held up to these wild expectations, not expected to take care of himself emotionally (which isn't kid-exclusive, but teru just never allowed himself to share that burden to begin with). i mean, he's always been a kid -- just in the way he tries to appear mature -- but he can let himself grow in his own, much healthier, way.

i think that's why teru's character in particular inherently has so much gay subtext, because the audience sees his character go from "traditional masculine figure" to... basically the opposite of that. and if the traditional masculine figure is defined by the role in heterosexual relationships, then the opposite would be homosexuality.

well, that and his general attitude towards mob. and teru's fruity ass fits. i'm not sure how he had those in his closet and thought, "yeah! i'm straight!"

and that's my two cents! my concluding statement: god, i hope we get the series of animated spinoffs ONE mentioned as a hypothetical.

i love mob's story to death, but i'd love to see more explorations into the other characters because they're usually pushed to the sideline development-wise after their respective arcs are over. i do love the omakes for this reason though lol

anyways, thanks for reading my intro to mob psycho 101 essay :-) sorry this is stupidly long. but also? i could write an analysis like this for every secondary character because i care about them so much.

[neurotypical-sonic]

just in I have actually forgotten how to draw sonic. it any other sonic character. the skill and tricks I taught myself have vanished into thin air. give me a bit to try and see if I can recover it lmao

[chirpsythismorning]

I hate when ppl (mainly other bylers) talk about how bylers are focusing too much on fanon or that ppl are picking and choosing evidence or that we're reaching too far with theories. Like.. I see their point I really do and I get annoyed about some of that stuff too but at the end of the day I'm here for a fun time not a long time.

btw im living for your asks

Thank you 😊

It just feels invalidating from other bylers especially, bcs like, you know what we’ve been through.

It’s not always about focusing on the most standard obvious evidence all the time. We would have nothing to talk about at this point if that was the case. It’s nice to have a variety of posts circulating, some discussing the main ideas supporting it, as well as all the theories and analysis and art and wips and just everything.

I don’t make posts to be palatable for byler antis bc to them nothing about byler is palatable. They don’t like the obvious evidence and they don’t like the far fetched theories. To them it’s all one in the same.

And so I don’t see a point in stifling things I think or want to talk about, on the basis it makes us look delusional or something. If I think something is compelling based on a lot of subtexual and/or textual evidence, I’m gonna talk about it.

Even I sometimes see a theory that I think personally is far fetched and then I follow it up by moving on. Like it doesn’t make me get the urge to send them an ask on anon where I tell them as such.

There are some theories that blow up tho, with some insisting it’s all coincidence and means nothing, but I don’t think that would be the case every single time, if so many people are going wow that makes sense and are agreeing and resonating with it. Like it’s not like we have maybe a couple hundred posts, there are thousands upon thousands of really articulate and complex posts breaking stuff down. Some of that could be nonsense, but all of it can’t.

I think that’s what also upsets some people, like if what you don’t subscribe to blows up, then a sort of defense mechanism is to try to tear that down bc it forces you to second guess yourself.

But theories will not hurt you for being discussed. And in the case they do hurt you, block.

Otherwise, let the freaks do their business.

[wishmemel]

the way my page has regressed to me just trying to keep up with my moots — i am sooo tired rn n just trying to make sure everyone else is doing well <33

[mayullla]

Sometimes people ask for a part 2 for a oneshot, and I am here like "PLEASE I WANT IT TOO BUT HEAD IS TOO EMPTY!!!"

[nvoc]

once again i am gutting out a whole chunk of stuff from my load order.....