#sorry for the ramblings I’m insane

[quinnsteria]

Hoy Quarlow/Super Macho Man (MachoQuarlow) Headcanons 1/?

Citing this as part one in the title because I don’t trust myself not to talk about them more. Anyway this is just my insane scribblings about these old men since this ship has been rotting in my brain for months and I need to share them with the world

Anyway. Let’s begin with some background:

Hoy Quarlow is the age he’s said to be in the game: 78 years old

Super Macho Man is lying about his age. He’s not 27 but is instead approaching his early 60’s. He lies about it because, like a lot of typical big stars, he doesn’t want to be seen as older in fear of being discarded and out of the industry’s spotlight.

Hoy Quarlow and Super Macho Man joined the WVBA (Side Note: in my au it’s called the World Video Boxing Association because it was the first association to both broadcast the fights live, but also to package and sell recordings of the fights to consumers) around the same time. Although they weren’t there at the very-very beginning of the WVBA’s formation (since my au takes place in the current year and the timeline would be messed up), they’re both older so they were there before any of the other current boxers.

Hoy came from another boxing league but joined the WVBA once he realized his old league was very stingy on his paychecks. Because of the money the WVBA produced from both the recording sales and how much money they raked in for allowing the boxers to be as theatric as they wanted.

Although his hard work and determination led him to rising in the ranks, his sales were low. So, he studied what made boxers among him so popular: their personas. So, Hoy decided to also stretch his creative muscles too. He upped the ante and straight up brought a stick into the ring. It became a Hoy Quarlow staple. That, and the fact that he started to ditch the shorts and shirtless look to take on something with more personality.

Super Macho Man came in with that name all while being a scrawny kid. Believe it or not, but for a good while, SMM was considered a Glass Joe figure when he first started. When he got in the groove though and started upping his gains, he quickly rose in the ranks and grew into the name he gave himself.

He originally joined the WVBA because he wanted to be a movie star, anticipating that the sales of the WVBA recordings will get more eyes on him and he’d be recruited on for actual movies and not just fights. However, as he started to fight more, he became happier with the spectacle of being a WVBA boxer and the fame he gained, deciding to make his main goal staying at the top and not so much appearing in movies (although he’ll absolutely take a movie deal when offered).

Hoy and Macho were sorta aggressive to each other at first. Hoy, still riding high from his placement in his past league, looked down on a lot of other boxers. This is a character flaw that, of course, got resolved later in life (we can see this with how he acts with Birdie in the SNES Super Punch-Out!!), but it was definitely a flaw he had in life at one point. He saw Macho as full of himself and not yet having the skill to back it up. He correctly guessed that Macho was doing this for fame and judged him accordingly, seeing it as an unfit reason for joining the WVBA.

Macho saw Hoy as full of himself as well. He thought Hoy needed to get over himself and stop being so “needlessly mean.” Macho knew his pursuit wasn’t noble, but to him, it didn’t matter. He was so full of himself to pre-set his persona with actually being this, well…. a super macho man. He believed he’d grow into the name (which he did). He found it stupid how Hoy was only about a decade older and he was judging Macho this hard. Macho would often tell him straight up that one day, Hoy would be eating his words and watching Macho rise while Hoy himself sank down the ranks. This is only… uh… half true.

Right now, Macho and Hoy and right next to each other in the Special Circuit. Macho is Rank #1, right before Mr. Sandman (The WVBA Champion). Hoy is Rank #2 in the Special Circuit, right before Super Macho Man.

As they both aged, Macho and Hoy started to get along. With Hoy becoming sillier and way more relaxed, he was able to connect with Macho more. With Macho getting more full of himself, Hoy sorta saw himself in him and although he has fun with him, is trying to guide him away from the lonely life that being that high in ranks can bring. There’s all these camera flashes and people will be all over you and asking for deals, but they don’t love you.

OKAY… now that that’s over, I’ll be putting more headcanons under the cut. It’ll be more shippy, but it’ll still work as a “background section” if that makes sense that outlines their life together. I think this post should be in general about their background. Okay… cool.

I think Macho was kinda mixed up about his feelings for Hoy. Their relationship was definitely simmering for years, real rivals to fun friendly rivalry to friends to lovers. Macho never expected to fall for Hoy at all, and when he did, he didn’t know how to feel. He wondered what it’d be like to date another league member. Could he do that? What would the press do? Would the gossip magazines make Hoy look like a cougar… 🤨? Either way, he was nervous.

What also adds to it is that Macho is a pretty famous playboy. If he starts actually dating long-term (which he… actually kinda wants to explore with Hoy), how would that affect his reputation? With all these worries involving insecurities from outsiders, he was definitely indecisive with what he wanted to do. Hoy on the other hand… had different problems.

I fully subscribe to the “Hoy is Dragon Chan’s grandparent” headcanon. Hoy’s wife (aka Dragon Chan’s grandma, was married. They had a daughter who, just like her son, was a very determined kickboxer. She fell in love with Dragon’s father and they soon had a son, Dragon Chan. However, one fateful day, when Dragon was about 10 or so, his parents died in a fatal car accident (or at least that’s what my explanation is right now). Years later, Hoy’s wife died as well. She had a heart attack, although many say it was onset by a broken heart.

Dragon Chan, after getting kicked out of his kickboxing league while trying to live up to his mother’s legacy, joined the WVBA and gave him a place there. Dragon became popular quickly, and his ego became bigger (this is supported by his overconfidence in the ring and in pre fight rounds alongside his “chicken dance taunt” when he KO’s/TKO’s you). Dragon’s behavior only slightly reminds Hoy of his own ego at that age, and Hoy, although still giving advice to his grandson, knows that Dragon needs to discover his own path to humbleness.

Okay back to the tragedy of Hoy’s wife, daughter, and son-in-law. These tragedies caused Hoy to feel as if death followed him and anyone he loves. He blamed himself for all of their deaths, even if he had nothing to do with them. He was afraid to love again and to make another family, although this attitude is usually hidden by his now lighthearted personality.

Of course, this caused Hoy’s love life to become… confused I guess? Hoy was deathly worried of his family hurting even more. He was also worried for Dragon Chan, believing that there’s a chance he’d be mad that Hoy is trying to “replace” his grandma and pretend she never existed. Of course, Dragon doesn’t really care for that. His problem arises with Hoy’s dating choices when he realizes that it’s Super Macho Man of all people that Hoy is dating like huh that jerk grandpa? That loser? Cmon

I’ll probably elaborate on this in another post but the beef between Dragon Chan and Super Macho Man is so special to me. It’s like a family movie where the kid doesn’t like their new step-dad except the kid is a 22 year old grandchild who can actually kick Macho’s ass if he wanted to (and he does)

I think the first person to actually make a move was Super Macho Man. Macho was able to catch Hoy in the locker room after a fight and he asked Hoy if he would like to “hang out” sometime together, outside of WVBA mixers or some other thing, of course.

Hoy found it cute. He sorta laughed softly at it at first before he saw Macho’s dejected face. He realized it was genuinely series and he kinda flushed. Definitely went kinda quiet with an “O…Oh,” before trying to think of what to say next.

He agrees by the way. Though I think in another post I’ll elaborate

Annddddd that’s all I have for now! Thank you for reading and I’m sorry it was so long! These guys have been in my head for a bit now woah

[bloobydabloob]

Holy shit I love your Dirk interpretations, it's so true and I could talk about this shit forever. I feel like another part of his character that people seem to forget (along with Roxy for some reason) is that he's from the future in solitude in an apocalyptic wasteland. I just see that part of his character always removed which is disappointing because I feel like that's a pretty big part, especially regarding his themes around technology, his brother's theme of Time, his own isolation, and how he plays in the vastness of the universe and spacetime.

Art I drew related to the subject because I like to respond to asks with art.

But absolutely. I certainly understand where the lack of discussion over his isolation + upbringing comes from, considering a majority of the fanbase that I have seen builds their ideas based on their own version of postcanon. I’m not entirely sure how that would be fixed, but certainly even in the somewhat recent past I would see a lot more content regarding his upbringing both literally and symbolically. I don’t have much to add regarding the things you’ve mentioned, because they just are what they are. Dirk being confined to a singular room left to him by a father figure he never met, in a future where the only other person left on the planet is someone he cannot pursue a relationship of because of himself, with purely 3 robots to keep him companion, one being an exact replica of his own brain who is *also* trapped inside a pair of glasses, is about as literal as it gets to me.

The contrast to me involving the flooded, organic world in comparison to the little speckle of Dirk’s apartment packed with the dude and his technics is not only a representation of his isolation and entrapment within himself, but also of his lack of control. I think his obsession with & themes of control are a direct product in the case of Dirk specifically *of* this kind of upbringing. His themes of technology are also related to his themes around control. So much of his character is actually revolved around this to me like so much. Dirk is so deeply disconnected from humanity in every way and so much of his character + symbolism is based around that.

It doesn’t even have to be about the symbolism or anything though. It’s just pretty *interesting* in the literal sense that he lives in the middle of the ocean in the future. There’s not only a lot to theorise on to do with his young life there, but on how it might affect him in the way he acts for the rest of his life. The latter part is probably what I see mentioned the most by people talking about Dirk regarding this, I’m surprised I don’t see more discussion on the former too though. I really ought to actually talk more about Homestuck stuff on here. I will do it myself.

Roxy & Dirk’s relationship is largely ignored though because there is a narrative a certain demographic spreads that Dirk resented and blamed Roxy for her interest in him, and thus too many people believe that their relationship was or would continue to be an abusive one. Realistically, I believe it’s important to acknowledge that the way Roxy treated Dirk regarding his homosexuality wasn’t right while still acknowledging the obvious amount of respect and admiration Dirk had for Roxy. I mean we have a huge piece of dialogue from their post trickster mode conversations on the quest beds from Dirk purely stating how he feels about Roxy that people completely ignore somehow. I think this usually happens to characters that are women though. I know everyone says it, but it is true. Jane gets the exact same treatment of boiling her down to solely her negative aspects. The things I see completely mischaracterising both of them are horrific.

I mean how much more explicit can it get that their relationship is obviously very important to Dirk? But I digress. I think the best or I should say “most interesting” interpretations of their relationship usually come from DirkRoxy shippers actually.

I would be interested to hear about Dirk’s relation to his brother’s theme of time though. I don’t have any thoughts on this and I don’t recall ever hearing anyone talk about it before. If you or anyone else would be willing to enlighten me I’d be thrilled.

[zqttixx]

WHY DOES CRUNCHYROLL KEEP USING FAIRY TAIL TO QUEERBAIT IMCRYEING 😭😭😭😭 ik you’ll all call me dramatic BUY ITS LITERALLY EVERY FAIRY TAIL POST FROM THEM ENDS UP BEING GAY ???? LIKE THAT ERZAJANE SS DIDNT NEED TO BE THERE HUT YOU PUT IT THERE SO NOW WHAT ??:?;?:!2!

[bababerries]

Daniil Dankovsky’s internalized bigotry is really fascinating to me because he’s clearly someone with left leaning values who wants change and actively questions things. And he’s clearly a victim of oppression himself. But he’s also a famous white guy (potentially wealthy tho I feel like that aspect is debatable/up to interpretation with how money is in his storyline) with a lot of unchecked privilege over others he doesn’t fully recognize and I like how this is shown gameplay mechanic wise with how Clara and Artemy have struggles with the reputation mechanic but you never have an issue with that as Daniil unless you’re actively trying to lol.

It’s some nice discussion on moral purism because I feel like a lot of left leaning people don’t wanna dissect how a lot of us have internalized bigotry in some way shape or form and get defensive about confronting it. It’s easier to admit to the internalized bigotry however if it’s a minority you’re part of. Like it’s seen as more “inherently noble” it’s seen as more palatable and heroic to carry that burden on your shoulder where it gives the illusion that the only person you’re hurting is yourself. (I think I kinda see Artemy fitting this to an extent in a meta way (?) because he’s an internalized racist and his narrative feels like a commentary on like an avarage hero journy where he’s the underdog who struggles but overall comes on top and achieves a “happy ending” for everyone and oh he’s so noble for shouldering all these burdens on his own despite his suffering and even he believes this as he refers to himself as a hero but in reality his internalized self loathing and conservative brainwashing and pressure to live up to his dad has made him neglect his own interiority and his plethora of issues) and how I personally interpret Daniil I think he kinda sheds light on how people definitely have internalized bigotry for groups they don’t belong to because internalization is more complex then internalizing the ugly comments and actions people direct towards you for your identity but the seeds the world plants in us to hate those different from us. And how victim blaming is taught to us. I think a lot of people get defensive about confronting this part of themselves but it’s a very real thing. Sometimes good intentioned people do and say fucked up things

And I see this in Daniil’s story. I think it’s very fitting actually. He values freedom and freewill, he thinks scapegoating is horrible. And he has a lot of admirable values and wants to fight against a government that oppresses him. Him saving Clara on day 6 is one of my favourite character moments and it’s consistent how as an npc he always plays a part in helping you restore your protagonist damaged reputation. But as much as he wants to fly free he’s so imprisoned and oppressed and ends up mimicking the behaviours that he despises from those above

His language is often filled with racist and insensitive microaggressions like calling the kin savages and isidor having a “uncivilized air to him” I think here Daniil is mainly criticizing the kins violence which I don’t think he’s wrong to have an issue with and he has this issue with the town to talking about them in a similar way. But this language is targeted and offensive and uses racist terms conscious or not. I think it’s what makes some things with his dynamic with Artemy interesting to. They put a time limit on their friendship because the both of them understand they’re different and have different viewpoints on this dilemma but in the Haruspex route they do develop a genuine friendship so there’s definitely a tragic element to the fact that they just refuse to try to understand or ever consider what the other is saying or try to reach a conclusion together. I would argue to some extent all the healers acknowledge in some way they are simular and empathize with one another weather they want to acknowledge that or not. But they’re all too stubborn and prideful to ever try to propperly get a long and work together. And while Daniil likes and appreciates artemy he does not respect him. He says he does and perhaps Daniil thinks so himself but I don’t believe that. He is actively very dismissive and condescending towards Artemy. And it’s very insensitive how he talks down the kin to Artemy’s face. Only ever indulging him in his background when it benifits his plan to save the polyhedron. (I wanted to talk a bit on how he views twyrine and the panacea but my memory is a bit blurry on some of the specifics regarding his shifting feelings)

His classism is also interesting as he’s also a victim of it or it’s generally just heavily affected his life of having to work so hard and rise ranks to be someone important in order to actually make a positive change in the world. And even with his status he’s still picked on by the government and how the powers that he can so easily crush and shut down his lab, research and passion just because they feel like it. And it’s easy to interpret him going broke by just trying to keep Thanatica afloat. Daniil is egotistical but he also thinks highly of himself because he feels like he needs to be a responsible reliable person because that’s his job.

I remember thinking to myself “Daniil would be the kind of person who’s say what do you know you don’t have a degree in this” which he actually said in Marbles nest and yeah he would say that. Because he’d take it as a personal attack at how hard he worked to get where he is and an attack to his ego. He’d be offended on the behalf of himself. But in reality this is a really bad statement to make a lot of the time because education and knowledge shouldn’t be capitalized and gatekeeped. It’s insensitive to those who’ve gained knowledges through lived experience and unfair to those who don’t have the same luxuries as other people do and is just a very narrow minded view of intelligence. I think it can also beg the question that yeah I think Daniil is justified in a lot of the frustration he feels in the game at the town. He gets manipulated and abused a lot. But also a lot of people in the town didn’t have the same luxuries Daniil did. He has a lot of privilege and knowledge a lot of common folk in the town do not and kinda have to live in these circumstances. And it’s frankly also all they know. (Again I think Artemy’s ending kinda discusses this with the kids growing up to mindlessly fill their parents footsteps without questioning everything and reverting back to status quo)

I don’t think Daniil is stupid but he’s very flawed and also often will see things in black and white and get tunnel visioned because he wears his heart on his sleeve. He struggles with being empathetic/sympathetic and can be dismissive. He feels like he himself is misunderstood so he has difficulty giving people that same luxury because he himself feels denied of it but it ends up with him being self absorbed in such a way where he ends up hurting more people then doing good despite desperatly wanting to do the latter. I think the message of his ending captures this perfectly

(I do kinda wish his misogyny was written a little better especially since his route has themes of him having issues with the towns violent misogyny and Maria and Eva respectively being easily read as commentaries of misogynistic archetypes but there’s barely any lines of him saying misogynistic stuff in game all of them are basically a rude conversation ender and also just feel lazily written. I also don’t think he says anything as an npc irrc. It comes off more like old video game misogyny that feels “oh this character is an asshole and a man so we have to also make him misogynistic sometimes” then an intentional character flaw which really sucks since I do think you can write something interesting with it. Esp since I think Artemy’s misogyny is really interesting with how it plays into his ending and how racism and misogyny have a lot in common so it’s easy to conflate the herb brides treatment with his own)

[galadrielspeaks]

There’s something about Legolas and Gimli considering themselves a seperate entity inside of The Fellowship that makes my brain go a little insane. It’s the way Gimli says “And what about your companions?” to Merry but then follows that with “What about Legolas and me?” right after. They are seperate from this group they are in. They are of The Fellowship but are almost Outliers in it. They have a relationship that has become so different from the camaraderie the others share that they have begun to refer to themselves as a unit separate from everyone. They go off and disappear together. They whisper and chat in the background. Legolas bears arms with Aragorn and has ran miles to save Merry and Pippin but it is Gimli he confides in, it is to Gimli he says he finds comfort in his presence. And it is to Legolas Gimli expresses his desire to show the most one of the most beautiful sights he’s seen, the glittering caves, the trust he has to show this elf a place of beauty, and to be fully convinced that he will see the beauty in it too. Two creatures so different yet so alike drawn together by fate and war and oh how they toe the line between tradegy and history and the heavy burden of their familial animosities and love and happiness and joy like figure skaters toeing the line between ice and cold dark water. Their dance is beautiful and poetic and private and separate. Separate from the plot and from The Fellowship and from even our eyes but constantly referred to in little moments like these… “What about Legolas and me?”. “What about Legolas and me?”. “What about Legolas and me?”. Yes Gimli. What about Legolas and you?

[peregrine5]

The Lady (plus HK he’s there too) from chapter 34 of RnS bc she’s very very cool and Silverskye’s descriptions make me want to draw :]

[tekkenenjoyerblue]

I tried to make a fake SFV screenshot for if Echo had a story mode definitely not my usual shading style but I gave it my best attempt!

[piquuroblox]

[elliotthinkssometimes]

azula deserved so much better she deserved to have real friends she deserved to have a family she shouldn’t have been a killer at fourteen she shouldn’t have gone crazy at fourteen she deserved love she deserved to heal

she knew her mother thought she was a monster she knew Mai and Ty Lee were only friends with her out of fear she knew her father was using her she didn’t care she didn’t care because she just wanted some tiny form of control over anything in her life because her mother and brother were ripped away from her and her father never cared and she didn’t have any real friends

she shouldn’t have been pushed to the point she tried to kill her own brother she shouldn’t have had to have been chained to a grate by him and left there she shouldn’t have ever been left in the first place and maybe even as she lashed out with burning flame in the only way she knew how she still hoped her big brother would help her

maybe she resented zuko for the way he got out, the way their uncle always liked him more. Maybe she couldn’t help but think it was so unfair that zuko got to heal and meet real people who cared and she was stuck as the monster she knew she was. Maybe, even as he chained her down, he was gentle, gentle as he could’ve been to his little sister in the circumstances and it made her sick because he could still hold something in his hands without breaking it and all she can do is burn and cut and hurt

she was only fourteen

she was only fourteen and she had nothing ahead of her

[krashlite]

The brainrot took over and I spent all morning rambling/psychoanalyzing BigB and Grian cause they make me crazy

So it’s been established that Grian + Scar and Ren + BigB are soulmates. No matter what they will find each other- even outside of DL. Fate chose them and continues to choose them

Grian + BigB on the other hand are not soulmates, they just chose each other. It’s rare that they cross paths but typically they’ll stay nearby whenever they do.

3L had blue sword boys (BSB) which was the two of them and Martyn, though Martyn was the only one out of the three that called on the alliance. The desert’s first plan happened at BigB’s castle- an action that steered Scar away from BigB and towards Dogwarts even though aiming for BigB probably would’ve gotten them more immediate results- something I know damn well Grian shoots for. I like to think this was because B was Grian’s backup plan if Scar did die. “Your job isn’t to steal cookies, it’s to do murder” if that was the sole reason for changing targets then why not just attack BigB instead of stealing his cookie?

They didn’t cross paths on the battlefield iirc, even when the desert stormed Dogwarts for the final time. BigB was absent when the desert went sky high and was largely uninvolved in most of the war. Though he sided with DW he didn’t fully stand against the desert, he didn’t stand against Grian. And when the desert stormed DW, BigB was mostly on the outskirts of that fight, which I think was because he’s scared of combat. EDIT correcting myself here but BigB was in fact shot by Grian, even if unintentionally

The next time they see each other is when Scar comes along to sic Bdubs on BigB. The whole time Grian is begging BigB to “do something!!” And saying he can’t watch. EDIT 2 I watched the clip back and Grian specifically told him “don’t go out without a fight.” DON’T GO OUT WITHOUT A FIGHT.

Even after BigB panics and attacks him, Grian is still distraught over the fact that he’s gone. He even justifies BigB attacking him as it being revenge for the arrow

I’m also fascinated by B’s decision to attack Grian instead of the other two reds. Grian was the only yellow name left, which was probably the reason why B went for him over Scar or Bdubs. It could be a fun idea for BigB to see that he was never truly on the desert’s side and attack Grian as a response to that. Yes Grian was pleading for him to do something, but he made no actual attempt to save him. Grian was going to let them kill BigB, and B knew this

Anyways

-

LL they didn’t really interact much- which does come into play during DL

-

In DL Grian and BigB found each other day 1, but alas, not soulmates. But there’s a couple things established in their first interaction. Grian suddenly dropped like 6 hearts bc of Scar and started panicking asking for food. This established pretty much immediately that Grian’s soulmate wasn’t going to save him and BigB was.

BigB, on the other hand, though Grian’s disappointment, reads that Grian would have truly valued his company- not to mention how he knows that G would’ve taken the lead on things B feels he’s weakest at, considering they have past experience

Enter Ren! Ren is someone who truly does value and care about BigB but he is very bad at actually expressing this. He tries spinning negatives into positives instead of working through them- which isn’t a flaw necessarily but it is something that clashes with BigB

I would like to specifically point out that instead of listening to BigB when he said he doesn’t know how to build and teaching him some basics- Ren instead leans into the fact that BigB is bad at building. He decides they should make the ugliest base as a sort of inside joke but I can’t help but feel like BigB was a little hurt by that. He laughs along, but damn.. Ren intended this as some harmless fun but fails to recognize that it’s not what BigB wanted, nor what he needed. BigB does learn to love the base for all its goofiness because he loves Ren, and wants to be there for him

Box pretty quickly becomes about what Ren wants- not through malicious intent but because they have different personalities. Ren is very loud and outgoing while BigB is more reserved.

Ren is someone who tends to jump into things headfirst while BigB tends to follow. Ren also has a habit of not listening to people- something he did in past seasons as well. DW almost crumbled because he failed to listen to Martyn, he got tunnel vision in LL while building the shadow fort and failed to save Cleo- not even realizing she’d died when the betrayal happened on his front doorstep

BigB, on the other hand, needs to be listened to. Again, he’s a lot more reserved than other people but truly shines when he has a spotlight on him. LL was wonderful for this since, after his betrayal, the main plot thread of the fairy fort centered on him- on how his mistakes led to their demise and how it was up to him to fix the situation he caused. BigB stayed closer to his team than ever before, making sure that they knew he was trustworthy. However, B also ran away from the true issue, which was that he had betrayed Cleo. BigB was too scared to try to make amends with them after Cleo burned the fort to the ground, fearing for both his safety and the safety of his team.

Back to DL! BigB overcompensated for past mistakes by fully mirroring whatever Ren did, all the way down to getting a matching pair of sunglasses and dog ears. He didn’t agree with Ren’s decision to ban Pearl from Box, but stood by the decision since Ren had made it. Largely, BigB didn’t feel heard in the relationship- something that’s later discussed in couple’s counseling

Putting a pin in that!

On Grian’s side of things he is in! An entire mess. Not only is he paired with a past fling, but Scar is almost constantly causing problems for him. He’s taking large chunks of damage, getting himself into stressful situations for Grian, and Grian has to drag him everywhere in order to get them to get along. Scar wasn’t even going to base with him, he was perfectly content in them living in separate bases when Grian needed to stay with his soulmate. It comes down to safety for Grian- he doesn’t think he can rely on Scar to keep the both of them out of harm’s way. In fact, Grian has to hurt himself to be with Scar, even in their first interaction with the stalactite!!!!

Grian feels less like Scar’s partner and more like Scar’s mother, having to constantly watch after him and make sure he’s out of trouble. I think Grian even remarks that being with Scar is like watching over a toddler.

Scar’s behaving like this both to try and get Grian to be less uptight about every little thing and also as a means of getting back at him for said little things. Grian didn’t want the pandas in the house? Fine, he’ll hop in some powdered snow. Grian’s upset by him taking damage? Fine, he just won’t eat for a bit. Scar knows it’s not as serious as Grian’s making it out to be but does nothing to reassure Grian.

All this does is push Grian away, so it’s absolutely no surprise that Grian runs off. He tried! So hard! To fix the relationship and doesn’t see Scar putting in the same amount of effort. Again, Grian is his partner, not his caretaker. He shouldn’t be expected to constantly clean up after Scar

No G wasn’t perfect but goddamn

BigB on the other hand, has already been established as a Safe person. Both this season and in past seasons. Remember, Grian was completely absent from the fairy fort plotline, never actually crossing paths with the consequences of the betrayal. This affects both of them. Not only does Grian perceive him as safe, but BigB knows he has nothing to prove to Grian. He is loved regardless, while with Ren he feels the need to prove himself CONSTANTLY with little acknowledgement.

They both felt undervalued with their soulmate but were valued with one another. However, neither one of them wanted to actually leave their soulmate, which is where things get tricky. They were fully in the wrong for cheating on their soulmates, even if they did have a reason for doing so

But anyways

BigB got caught between Grian and Ren, the more he leaned to one side the more he lost the other. This is the same issue he had in 3L- coincidentally landing between the same people.

Both of them kept the other a secret to protect their peace more than their soulmate. Grian even goes as far as to gaslight Scar when Scar clearly knows he’s being cheated on. BigB also lies about Grian’s involvement in his and Ren’s 2nd death, leading Ren to focus solely on Bdubs.

Ren does this to find a target to defend BigB from rather than actually addressing the root of their problems- Ren’s inability to listen. He thinks that if he just Shows BigB how good of a soulmate he is, he can keep BigB at his side when that’s not what BigB needs. So now Box is caught in a cycle of trying to prove themselves to the other

Scar, on the other hand, doubles down on his behavior instead of making any changes. The only thing he does change is how much he listens to Grian. He basically becomes Grian’s lackey, which was meant to address the fact that Grian feels like he has no control over his circumstances. However, he fails to recognize that the reason G thinks he lost control is because Scar himself is a rogue element.

So both sides continue to get worse in trying to course correct- which causes both of them to get into increasingly dangerous situations

-

Also side bar, in writing this I realized if you swapped Grian for Ren they would be perfectly functional on both sides- since Ren’s course correction matches what Scar needs and Scar’s course correction matches what Ren needs. Ren needs support while being a protector and Scar needs someone to stand by him. Grian needs someone who’s safe and BigB needs someone to guide him

It’s a really funny coincidence but anyways

-

Ultimately it was Grian’s impulsiveness that did them in- all four of them. He set the trap at Box trying something ambitious, and he went to get a warden for a last hoorah. I like to think he was emboldened by the fact that the soulmate feature had less emphasis to him in those final episodes. He was thinking about BigB and not Ren and considered Scar entirely separate from him. It also doesn’t help that two of the three soulmate couples that stayed together- were either dead(ranchers), or distant from him(clockduo). Boat boys fed into his chaotic nature through being silly goofy guys

Even after Grian ended his season, BigB still forgives him. He still cares!!

I’m not normal about this season whatsoever

-

In LimL they really don’t properly interact until the very end but we’ll get to that.

BigB’s POV really reinforces that Grian is a loose canon. This was established in DL but LimL reinforces this in a more Romanticized kind of way. Grian’s sort of framed as being dangerous in a fun way and not the “oh this one’ll kill me and dump my body off a bridge” kinda way. He’s a Bad Boy, not a Bad Guy

On the other side of things, Grian’s POV reinforces that BigB is “safe.” The only conflict he has with the Nosy Neighbors is the Judge Judy and Executioner plotline- which Grian doesn’t take seriously whatsoever. Meanwhile, the Bad Boys have conflict with literally everyone else on the server

So when Jimmy and Joel die, it is zero surprise that Grian comes running to BigB again! BigB can’t save him, he can’t even save himself, but goddamnit Grian still trusts him and BigB’s too nice for is own good

And once again!! It’s Grian’s impulsiveness that gets them killed

I would like to also point out the moment where B has 45 seconds left on his timer and while Pearl is desperately trying to save him, Grian sort of stands off to the side and gets ready to crit BigB out if he has to. Remember- Grian was fighting a losing battle to save his boys, it getting to the point where it just wasn’t worth the cost. He hesitated because he didn’t want to lose BigB but wasn’t quick to save him like Pearl was.

And honestly it’s no surprise that Pearl was so quick to give him time. She spent the last season completely on her own and had nobody to turn to. Everyone she tried to stay with turned her away, and BigB was arguably the only person who didn’t outright shun her. Remember, he was only going along with Ren’s decision and I think she knows this. Now in LimL, Pearl has him as someone she can fully rely on, someone who stays at her side no matter what and I also think she panicked at the idea of being alone. Grian has a habit of making selfish decisions, and she knows that won’t bode well for her if it’s just the two of them. Plus she fully understands the power of a sacrifice and what it means to others. Hell, her victory was given to her THROUGH A SACRIFICE. Pearl knows damn well the amount of kindness it takes to do something like that, so her jumping to save B makes complete sense

I also like to think this calls back to 3L, with Grian not moving to save him from Scar and Bdubs. In both situations, Grian thinks BigB was going down anyways and is too scared to do anything to save him. But while BigB couldn’t do anything then, he can do something now. Grian is grateful for the extra time but I can’t help but think this pushed BigB away

Pearl was the last of that trio iirc, with both BigB and Grian dying in clumsy ways

-

SL they coincidentally wound up on the same corner of the map and most of BigB’s silly goofy behavior was directed at Grian but I really need to watch their POVs again to do a proper analysis so we’re putting a pin in that until later

[justyourtypicalwriter]

I lowkey squeal every time I get to write a Kenny and Kyle interaction. Like Kenny’s always gonna call Kyle doll wether it’s a romantic or platonic relationship and something about that makes me explode

[smilesrobotlover]

Thinking about how I was on a date with some guy and most of the things I talked about were Zelda and I realize that this franchise has truly become my entire personality and I am unfortunately insane

[anobjectshowguy]

I could spout for hours and hours about how great II 16 was and how much it subverted my expectations but for now, I want to focus on MePhone X in particular.

I made a post here in January (before anyone knew anything about MePhone X) about how the MePhones’ continued to become more robotic and lost their autonomy as they went up in generation. I also talked about how I hoped that MePhone X could be saved from Meeple by his old brothers. Even after seeing episode 16 I still kinda hope for his redemption. I also believe that there is (obviously) way more evidence of Cobs’s cruelty that he directs at his creations (even if we don’t see anything on screen happen with his latest models).

From what we can see from the little presentation of MePhone X is that he has some advanced technology abilities, like being able to turn invisible or suck the lifeforce that MePhone 4 gave the contestants out of their bodies, returning them to their normal state. He’s going to be a big threat for sure. Cobs gave him the ability to turn invisible so he somewhat trusts MePhone X to not turn on him or run away, which is interesting and kinda breaks my previous theory.

However, in the episode, MePhone 3GS says that Cobs will only accept things that are perfect, and Cobs talks about how his new creations are less and less popular and that people are less likely to buy them. Cobs is failing to sell anything recent and MePhone X is recent tech meaning that MePhone X is already partly a failure, even if he hadn’t done anything yet. And that’s not even talking about Cobs’s constantinfantilization of MePhone 4 in the episode, which who knows if he does that to anyone else.

I don’t know if AE is planning to do another MePhone 5 situation where the two phones confront each other and have a big fight and the “evil” one dies. However, from what I personally gathered from the end of season three was that MePhone 4 seemed like he was going to try and do something new when it came to the Meeple products he encounters.

I mean, He gave Walkie-talkie a second chance, even after knowing that she was a Meeple product sent there to kill him. Maybe it was because she never really went after the contestants, but there was also the conversation on the volcano where MePhone 4 acknowledged that Cobs was always going to try to replace things and make new things even though they weren’t needed and try to control his creation to get an outcome he wanted.

I know this is such a long rambling post that seems to be about nothing but I still don’t know if I could stomach X being killed or being seen as evil. Especially based on the information given about being one of Cobs’s creations and how he controls them. But again, if that’s what AE wants to do, I am not gonna sit here and complain. It’s definitely interesting. Here’s to my stupid ass happy ending heart hoping that X can be redeemed or something like that lol.

[catstar91]

Ok phandom peeps, I need to get something off my chest. I cannot stop thinking about it, it’s so funny that this happened to me!

So I’ve been casually perusing the DP fandom for a while, right? Like for several years at least! What can I say? I like art! So at various points I had talked to my aunt about some stuff related, like fun stuff about the phandom and the existence of ghost king aus and stuff. Recently though, I found a fanfic that I spent AN ENTIRE DAY reading and doing nothing else! Like I stayed up late the night before, woke up to immediately read more! I don’t normally read fanfics, let alone any long form story, cuz my attention span is shit and has been shit basically all my life! So in the evening when I was a good chunk of the way through the fic, I talked to my aunt about it! Cuz it’s funny! I found a lot of things in it very amusing and wanted to share!

And then she asked for a link…

The next thing I know, within a few months, probably 3 months later at most, my aunt starts telling me about phandom lore I had never even heard of before! She literally made an ao3 account!!! Guys I am floored! I’ve been idly watching from the shadows for so long, and then I accidentally get my aunt into the phandom and she starts telling me about a red duck candle that’s apparently been integral DPxDC lore for YEARS!

What have I DONE???

[sorikufeels]

https://www.tumblr.com/pondrea/748403783611105280/dont-you-recognise-me

amazing art by pondrea (link above!!!) got me feeling things (the art is so good op!!!!!! 💚) and now i need to yap about this scene lol it’s of the moment zexion disguised himself as sora to riku in com.

(i hope it’s ok to post the link here! let me know if not!)

i’m CONVINCED what zexion said to riku as sora this still haunts riku to this day. it wasn’t even sora who said all that, but i’m sure the fear of how it played out in com actually playing out with the real sora scared riku to death. the fear of this happening led to him walking away from sora first, not even giving him the chance just in case there was a repeat scenario. sure, there was a lot of self hatred and feeling like he didn’t deserve to see sora as well, but the look on riku’s face tells you that this scarred him. this was his biggest fear. he rather fade to darkness than go through this again and isn’t even willing to risk that it could go another way.

anyway, this is just context for what i actually want to talk about lmao

so this is probably one of worst moments for riku right? utterly rejected by his best friend and now that friend was willing to kill him for who he is now. and it wasn’t even real.

but you know who that was real for? sora. in hollow bastion. utterly rejected by riku. his only means of defense taken, basically left to die. and then riku fought him tooth and nail until he lost and sora let him run away.

you know who got closure for their version of this scene? riku. he got it when sora fell to the ground on his knees in the world that never was, when he said he looked everywhere for him and told him he was still riku no matter what. sora told him exactly what he needed to hear to reassure him that sora didn’t think any of things riku feared he did. sora telling him specifically that he was still riku no matter what showed riku that sora stills wants him around. even if he looks like their enemy and even if he did some real awful things, he’s still riku and that’s enough. riku as he is is enough for sora. always has been.

you know who never got anything like that? sora. in fact, the conclusion that sora found to get him through is that he’s not enough. his friends are his power. alone, he has no strength. he only made it through by relying on a complete stranger he managed to befriend. if beast wasn’t there or if he refused to go with sora, would he have survived? he had magic but that would run out eventually. would he have even made it to the room he fights riku in?

i don’t think he thinks he would’ve. in kh3, he says alone, he’s worthless. he’s held that sentiment this entire time. no one told him otherwise. (until riku’s sacrifice but it’s murky about whether sora even remembers that at this point. but even if he does, it wasn’t like the scene in the world that never was. sora was able to dictate exactly what riku needed to hear with no imminent threat and riku was not emotionally compromised like sora was in the keyblade graveyard. riku was able to process everything sora said. that is a far cry to sora screaming in agony over all his friends dying, sora believing wholeheartedly that he's nothing without them, and riku just saying he believes in him. sure, thats what sora needed in that moment to save everyone, but it's not a response to his fears and insecurities established in kh1 like how what sora says to riku is a response to his fears and insecurities established in com.)

at this point, i think it’s obvious that sora knows riku’s changed from kh1 and that he doesn’t believe the same things. sora knows he cares based on his actions and how he saved him too and we know as an audience how dedicated he is to him. but it fucks me up to think that riku got that verbal closure while sora never did. that riku got to start healing from that awful moment but sora really never did.

just,,,, please please please please let them talk about what happened in kh1 i am on my knees begging

extra thoughts: didn’t think of this at first so sorry it’s a little disconnected, but maybe the reason riku is so horrified in that moment in com is because he realizes this is what he put sora through. maybe he made this connection himself and feeling what it was like to be on the other side of it, on sora’s side, horrified him. what’s worse, in riku’s mind, is that riku deserves to be in this position and deserves to be rejected due to his past actions. but sora never deserved it. maybe that contributed to why the self loathing spiral got worse after com.

[bluejay-flies]

How the heck did my Hugs post reach 100 notes??? This is shocking oh my god :0

This is my first time reaching 100 notes without a more well known artist reblogging my art, thank you guys so much!! Genuinely in shock so many people like my art, this is literally a dream come true for me. Thank you all so so so much <3