#thanks again for the analysis OP

[melit0n]

for the lyrics thing: “there’s something in the way you lay / that makes the dead switch graves / you take your leave” from Jericho. is “you lay” a euphemism for sleeping around (so the person is so sexually active that they make the dead roll in their grave)? or is it saying that the person is so wonderful that they can even move the dead? i’ve never been able to figure it out so i’d love to hear your thoughts!

I was hoping someone would ask about the Two ep! Just my luck, thank you anon <33

In the UK, and in America as well I'm pretty sure, "lay" is used as slang for having sex with someone, so you're right on that part, definitely. However, the line "there's something in the way you lay" brings both negative and positive connotations to me. He's saying 'there's just something about you. The way you look like that.' There's either a sense of stillness and serenity with it; a calm brought about by the way they lay, possibly asleep next to their partner.

On note of the next line, which I'll talk about in a moment, a large amount of people are known to 'sleep like they're dead', and others note that having Sleep Paralysis feels like death. The Dead are often confused for the sleeping as well, as long as they don't have any noticible abnormalities.

Even though two is quite sexually charged, I mean hey, take a look at Nazareth, I'd like to go with it being they're just so wonderful, or, in the least, appear to be so.

"Enough to make the dead switch graves" Is a stupidly powerful line. Whoever this is is just asleep, or sleeping around, and they have enough authority to make the dead switch graves.

In addition to this, a typical euphemism you may hear is 'make the dead roll in their grave'. It's one thing to do something so disgusting that you make the dead roll around, but this is something enough for these corpses to get reanimated, dig their selves out, get up, walk to another grave, and switch. This person's mere existence is potent enough that it causes the deceased to get up and leave.

It gives the vibe of a shift in the natural order of things, if that makes sense.

Plus, plus, in Islam (I know, I'm back at the religion again, bare with me lads), after a person has died, it is believed they will rest in their grave until The Day Of Judgement where they will be full body resurrected and either be taken to Paradice or Hell. Aka, the corpse will be reanimated to be eternally judged. There's also a similar idea in Christian theology; some denominations believe they die and either straight up go to Heaven or Hell, or will wait in their grave to be reanimated and judged on Judgement Day. Just something to think about.

Further, Jericho is the 'oldest city in the world', and makes an appearance in the Bible and the Qur'an; Israelites conquer the city and destroy it's protective walls. Nazareth was the home of Mary in the Bible and also where she received Annunciation. Calcutta is the old name for the capital of British India (now called Kolkata). Overarching theme of big cities with violent histories.

Lastly, we have "you take your leave". It's sung in a very final tone, if you get what I mean. Basically a 'you leaving isn't a big deal...but it means a lot to me. You've hurt me; again.'. There's not much to analyse here; it's simple and it's final. Whoever this is is gone, either 'dead' and so thoroughly disgusted/angered by Vessel that they've reanimated themselves and walked off, and Vessel will spend his time dissecting old encounters and feeding off of whatever he can salvage.

On the note of 'death', a bed can also be a grave for some people, either a metaphorical one or a literal one.

[note-boom]

@ticklinglady : Are you sure you want Tachihara to stay in the mafia? Like, yeah, I'm asking this not because I personally care about the fact that these guys are organised criminals or anything like that ahdjgjgk. I'm asking this because of the fact that Mori made Tachihara's brother go through literal torture during the war to the point of the poor guy becoming so broken that he preferred suicide over the chance to eventually return to his beloved family. That guy was the only person out of Tachihara's shitty background to genuinely care and love him, so I personally don't think it's going to be fair for Tachihara to end up working for the man, who murdered him

(Hi there!) Sorry this took me a while to answer but, once again, life.

As for wanting Tachi to stay in the mafia...I don't thiiiiink I specified actively wanting him to stay in that organisation, but I might have really just forgotten my tag rambles or not.

But to answer your question, I don't really mind either.

I see it this way, for starters.

BSD seems to have an ongoing theme of....stagnation. There is character development and progression, of course there is, but at the same time, it sometimes seems like the characters aren't moving forward. I think Kyouka and Lucy (and Dazai and Odasaku and Yosano, to an extent) are the only ones who have "moved on," so to speak. That is to say, pulled themselves out of their emotional turmoil, resolved it, and physically acted upon their restitution. But for a lot of the characters, they still seem emotionally and/or physically "stuck" in the same place they were in the past (Atsushi still believing his only worth is in to save people, most of the mafia people (though you could claim Chuuya had more of a corruption arc than restoration arc), Dazai still suicidal and a bit untethered, Kunikida and his ideals, so forth). But again, they do develop (Atsushi finding his family, the mafia characters being revealed as more human, Dazai leaving the PM was pretty significant, Kunikida HAS softened, I believe).

Tachihara had a somewhat significant arc in learning to see past his, well, past and accepting his place in the mafia that led him to believe in the ADA. He took a step forward, and learning how involved Mori was in his brother's suffering could either reel him way back in to his indecision (because he HAD made a family with the Black Lizards) or push him into more character development as he contemplates his own morality against his "orders are absolute" mentality.

It could be that he, in the end, decides that the human aspect is worth giving up his conflicted feelings over Mori given how long ago it happened (he sort of did that with Yosano). Or it could be that he simply just leaves the mafia because he can't bear the thought of it. Like, yeah, I'd feel terrible if Tachi decides to stay right where he was introduced into, but it sure would make my mind rotate him like a rotisserie chicken so much more. And if he decided to leave, taking revenge or not, I am very very curious to see what road Asagiri will take for our boy

[letskilltimetogether]

Luna my favorite gal❤️❤️❤️

Luna is such a way more complex character than people give her credit for aurghhh

She is so idealized and has so many expectations placed on her by society that she feels like she needs to find a partner that is equally or more smart than her so the pressure isn't fully on her, she's constantly forcing herself to do things so she lives up to people's expectations and she still is able to be genuinely kind to those around her. AND FANS STILL HATE HER!!

She is, objectively, a great person. She's smart, she's kind and she's beautiful. Of course she's a little selfish and has a big ego, after all who doesn't? But she still forces herself to live her life according to what other people think she should live. People expect her to still be awake after being petrified for 3700, so she does. People expect her to be resourceful and help Stanley, so she does. The moment she decided to help Senku wasn't just the narrative twisting the gears so the story would work, it's the moment she's true to herself and goes against what she's expected to do and helps Senku. Not because she wants him to date her, no. She would do it regardless of him accepting her conditions or not, if he wanted her to wait she would too. She was doing it because she wanted to, not because she was expected to.

I will NEVER forgive these fake stoners for hating on our girl just because she gets in the way of gay ships, she's a STAR and you're NOT ready for her.

[bukuoshin]

The best thing is that person is all "That's such a pick me thing! It's okay to show tits, it's okay to wear makeup!"

Yeah, I know. I do both of those things. But I also understand that most people wear makeup because of misogynistic social influences. That dumbing things down and highly gendering them and considering the two interchangeable is, you guessed it, misogynistic. And that gender essentialism is a bad thing.

[rafry]

Euclydia, Cults and Need for Control

Disclaimer: this analysis raises sensitive topics. if you are/were a victim of a cult and the topic triggers you, please refrain from reading further(/seek help). Additionally, I am not a specialist on said topic, nor am I a clinician. But I am a survivor, so part of the narrative may or may not be just me projecting the trauma on a silly yellow triangle. That said, reader discretion is advised! :)

The take: Euclydia is likely to be a cult-like society and the reason Bill, after years of abuse, grows up to be as he is: a power-hungry monster. Let's analyze!

For the starters, The Start. Each state has its own anthem. How lucky that we were kindly provided with the Euclidian hymn (hidden under the code "FORGETTHEPAST")! Lets take a look:

"Two dimensions to and from, You always know which way to go If you're lost, don't be afraid, In Euclydia you've got it made! Run too far too right of frame, You'll appear on left again! Jump too high, don't fry or fret, You'll pop up from the ground, I bet! In this place there is no fear, Roles and rules, always clear, Euclydia, we hold you dear…"

That tells us way more than we could've asked for, really. The most important: Euclydia is a state of Clear Rules™. Everything works perfectly thanks to The Rules and The Roles, and the state is loved by it's citizens. It's might be a caricature 2D utopia, but how it reacts when the rules are questioned?

"Eye doctor of a different kind, who wants to make his patient blind The doctor says: 'three sips a day will make the visions go away' Fussy eater, baby Billy Wouldn't drink unless it's silly..."

If there's anything about cults and the way they make people behave, is that the "wrong" ones in the community are usually ostracized and/or heavily medicated to not cause any troubles. Those people are sometimes called 'heretics', but may as well just be called crazy or insane by their peers. Oh look completely unrelated picture:

"Cipher, Cipher, he's insane Starting fires with his brain"

Honestly, the other time it would be it. Euclydia, if not Is, then sure does Act like a cult in some way. I could've finished here, easily, but there's something missing, isn't?

"The hell do you mean by 'The Need to Control', OP?"

I mean that the BILLVILLE is important.

There's the thing about trauma survivors: some of us, after living a life with no control over ones societal position (ostracization/isolation), body (forcibly medicated) or even mind (feeling of inadequacy), crave for some form of control to be regained.

It can turn toxic very quickly when the only form of control one has ever seen in their life is being The Leader (cult leader/shitty parent/armageddon overlord/you get the idea, it's about becoming an authority figure).

And so, Bill becomes a cult leader! Very possibly covering up the need for control and admiration with what I call "The most inefficient way to build an Interdimentional Portal ever", since, well, he's got to lie to himself every now and then, that's his thing (trauma response).

As for the details:

He uses the dead mans body — the body that wouldn't cause any resistance, thus being perfect for taking under control.

He sees the position of the interviewer as more authoritative than the position of the interviewee — and he swaps the roles. That wasn't enough though, so he demands (politely) to be called "My Lord And Master" for a good measure.

He very possibly recreates some of Euclydia-like order in his own "Town" in terms of expressing individuality. They might've been pretty decent in following scripts, I think.

So, I don't think Euclydia has ever been religious in any way, since that would left some other scars on Bills psyche for sure. But highly authoritative, ignorant, strict in its rules to the point of self-damnation? That checks. That's the place that has formed Bill, after all.

That's the place that he wishes to rebuild.

Maybe not consciously, maybe distorted by his illness and broken memory of a loving-paradise-home that has never actually been that way, but he seeks the comfort of familiarity — most of us do. Familiar stings are better than an uncontrollable too-bright future, isn't?

I hope he does well on therapy.

[heartofbusan]

Jikook inspire so many people to believe in the kind of love songs are written about.

The kind of love found in books and movies and art.

Love is such a simple yet powerful emotion. Can it really be just a feeling? Sometimes, it's so powerful, it can barely be contained in one's body, thrumming to the surface, making your hair stand up, your cheeks blush, and your body to become like a magnet. The pull of the moon is strong between them.

They've been given a gift, really, and they share it with us. Keep it safe 🥹💜💛

-

I loved reading this thread. It's a compilation of people realizing...

Because you can't deny what's happening right in front of your salad.

What was your moment?

Mine was GCFT. I work in film, and I know how much time and effort goes into making any video, be it short or long. This was a labor fueled by love.

Any video is born from an idea, a spurt of inspiration that transforms into concrete steps and actions. Jungkook constructed the narrative by, first of all, bringing along the camera. Maybe even while planning the trip. He consciously turned his lens towards his subject, his muse, by placing said subject in a variation of wide shots, the 'Tokyo' of the title becomes the backdrop of the narrative: a young man, enjoying his freedom in Tokyo.

The close ups always get me. First, the Jimin we see glancing around his shoulder in the tunnel leading towards the plane. He's in 'disguise', hiding his appearance, hunched over a bit. Hiding, but unable to keep up appearances, he busts a funny move when he catches Jungkook looking at him. This is the beginning of his transition. The shedding of a layer.

Then, comes the silly faced Jimin, bathed in yellow light.

Here we see Jungkook's Jimin emerge.

Funny, yes, but more importantly, UNINHIBITED. Free. Guys, I'm crying again. Nobody puts GCFT in a corner because she needs to shine.

The golden light cast upon his face, and he emerged into his truest form.

😭😭😭😭

Almost at the end of gcft, we see the most beautiful of all the Jimin’s. He is free to laugh and be silly, free from control, his own, and others. And Jungkook is right there with him, catching him if he needs.

Also, Jungkook is immortalizing this moment. For Jimin to see: this is how I see you. This is how beautiful you are, to me too. Guys, really... I cannot. Drink water pls.

As I looked for stills I stumbled upon a THOROUGH analysis of GCF's videos that I sincerely recommend. Read it on this (hopefully) lazy Sunday. Thanks to @kanmom51 for reblogging it since OP deactivated 🤧

Wow. This started as a way to hype that first thread, and before I knew it, I spent an hour looking for pictures and stumbled upon that blog, and my lazy Sunday became a GCF rabbithole. 😃😃😃 I am normal, I swear.

Have a lovely day, my sweets, I admire all of you for supporting real love. For believing in romance, even if you haven't experienced it yourself, or if you lost it, or if you don't desire it at all. It's all good. Life is about growing into your truest form.

Jikook grew from separate branches, only to entagle with each other, and GCFT is proof.

[lockwoodshitposting]

I think a lot of the reason that this happens is because George has canon traits that are highly consistent with mainstream depictions of autism. He falls into the Savant trope of being both antisocial and incredibly dedicated to his academic/research work (think early seasons of Criminal Minds Spencer Reid, House, Abed Nadir from Community, etc).

Obviously other characters can be interpreted as neurodivergent or on the autism spectrum specifically (and @krash-and-co has some AWESOME headcanons to this end) but George fits into a really well established archetype of Smart but Goofy Side Character. And these characters tend to get smacked with a healthy dose of both "comedic relief" status and complete infantilization, often being reduced to "The Childish Genius" for the butt of so many jokes.

I kinda feel like that happened to George! People saw an intelligent male* character who's designed to contrast the handsome and outgoing main love interest and automatically assigned him the other traits associated with the savant trope. It's not a purposeful decision, or one based in ableism (although the trope itself definitely is) so I'm not trying to shit on people's headcanons. But like OP said, it's not characterization based in canon.

*and yes, this IS a gendered character profile and I will go into detail given the slightest provication.

I always accidentally fall into the trap of imagining Lockwood as this cool, tall, serious teen in a swishy coat, and George as the quirky, silly, “trousers are for wimps” when it’s kind of the opposite?

Lockwood who pretends he’s a blue whale when he drinks orange juice with bits, who had a weakness for big hats and wears silly disguises without batting an eye. Lockwood who reads gossip magazines and is awful at accents, and insists on wearing said long swishy coat even though he’s tripped over it on multiple cases.

Compared to George who is actually quite serious apart from when he’s drawing rude cartoons on the thinking cloth, who cares more about his research and a good meal than his appearance. George who considers solving The Problem his own personal mission, who’s very matter-of-fact.

Obviously Lockwood is very serious too, and George can be silly and sarcastic, but I tend to hc them wrong at first until I check myself and remember Lockwood is (affectionately) the more ridiculous out of the two.

[lesbomaticlove]

ive talked about it before but i wanna talk about it again and that's

body types in drawing especially in terms of one piece characters

and i know its because official art presents them all the same but it just does not feel right to me, y'know? especially when i look at fanart and it looks like they just drew the same body multiple times with different faces (talent in that yes but god change it up a bit PLEASE)

like with my style i like to draw semi-realistic cartoon type beat, and that means im thinking about an abstract of shape language in the way that i present the characters. i consider their fighting styles and workouts when i think about what their body type would be, not just for op ive done this with mha and jjk characters too because god dammit gege, maki deserves bulkier muscles for her efforts

so here it is. my analysis of more semi-realistic designs for these characters. all my opinion and not meant to be a call out to anyone.

also, not including the women because we all know how unrealistic they look and i dont need to explain that to you im begging just use reference.

LUFFY

rubberhose arms are ESSENTIAL in his design so when i draw him, i never put too much definition in his muscles. real definition should be reserved for gears that alter his muscles

noodly arms and stick ass legs that is his Charm thank you i dont need super definition

ZORO

on the opposite end of the spectrum, zoro.

though, i see many people draw him more bodybuilder silhouette when he should be powerlifter silhouette, youve SEEN how this man works out. stereotypical bodybuilder physique that's all muscle and no fat is EXTREMELY UNHEALTHY TO MAINTAIN and you know theres no damn way sanjis letting someone on the ship watch their weight for the sake of visuals. he should be defined and bulky, but softer edges on the abs.

USOPP

Speaking first on pre ts, what does he excel at most? long range weapons and running.

obviously he gets proper strength training during timeskip, but i really think the best representative for him is olympic sprinters

muscular, but still pretty skinny

SANJI

hear me out. ballet physique.

i see him drawn w the same physique as Zoro and it just feels so wrong. he doesnt train his upper body, so most of his definition would be in his core and legs. not to mention his flexibility tracks with that.

maybe ill come back with a figure study on these later to fully show how it translates into my drawings but. for now. tumblr wont let me add any more images to this post

[nmr0709]

Lucid dreaming

Aka Caleb's standard myth

Spoilers:

First off- why did every myth not have a satisfactory ending?! Infold, you'll put every single girl in depression. I wasn't over Sylus's dragon myth and then this?

Onto main-

MC visits Skyhaven, for a mission with Farspace fleet .

Caleb is super smart. Hell, he'll give even Dr.Zayne a run for his money. Fucking sly fox this guy is.

He guesses her purpose, invites him over to his place.

Beautiful house. Beautiful place.

Long story short, he's nominated as a new Commander of Tuum fleet, with the previous commander and soldiers being placed under him. MC is there to investigate this and he gives her the files for clearance.

MC notices that things ain't adding up. People who were hostile, after medical examination are now docile. Before she can catch one person, Caleb comes in with food and tells her he has a meeting.

Caleb- knows MC better than she knows herself. And has planned down 20 steps ahead of her. Never give this man chess to play. He'll wreck everyone hands down.

Cue MC snooping around( again) and getting caught( again). Really girl? Really? Why the hell .... There's a reason you're on field and never in covert ops..but Pls Learn Subtlety

She manages to steal a chip and access his files before being revoked access and Caleb confronts her. Says either you be happy and stay out of this mess or I'll be dragged to HQ and questioned.

At this point- Caleb is shady af. Like so shady he makes Sylus pale in comparison.

Next up mega banquet to celebrate Caleb's promotion.

Caleb is attacked by the previously demoted colonel and company, he sends MC away to safety while he deals with them.

Guy has no qualms about manipulating her just so she can stay safe?! Like red flag but also green?

MC waiting for him realises she's been duped, and self implants a chip without him knowing.

The man that he is- goes to her- tells her she is his forever- and faints in her arms.

Guy is scary fine but absolutely down for her. Like yandere tendencies and controlling and possesive...gurl you down bad for him? It's toxic but...idk at this point. She enables him a lot ngl

Next- Caleb faints, has a seizure, and loses all his memories thanks to his chip

MC- she plays him and tells him he is hers. Gives no in lination of telling him anything about his lost memories. ( GURLL WHATT?!!)

They go to an amusement park- she faints thanks to her chip- turns out Caleb had all his memories and was playing her.

What in the 5D chess is this??!! Caleb my man. My amazing hunk of revived corpse and flesh. Wut. I'm shook. But very very impressed with your tactics ngl. Extremely well played.

MC is taken to infirmary to get her chip removed forcefully - she will lose her memories but will retain some recall of it.

cue her throwing a fit- refusing it- Caleb somehow convincing her ( slight gaslighting?)

She's done with him. Removes his tie and coat.

Those bite marks on his hand? Hers. Apparently he gives her his hand everytime she's sick so that she doesn't accidently bite her own tongue off. ( So sweet man but don't distract me)

MC is ultimately forced to have the chip removed. Has little recollection of ehatvexactly happened on Skyhaven. And goes back.

End note-

Infold I will curate every single myth and play it on loop till you cry.

Point is- amazing amazing portrayal of Caleb and backstory. Human experimentation for the ultimate weapon, Caleb being chosen and put through it( not all details revealed yet in myth) , him being forced to give up his emotions and humanity and yet, he never forgets MC.

Caleb is the walking red flag of LADS but.. idk even at this point. Guy's like the morally grey character with a solid backstory and reasoning for it. Can't wait for more.

To the fans thinking Sylus is a red flag? Brothers and sisters, compared to this Bucky Barnes inspired persona, he's a green forest.

More on analysis and emo dump later.

Toodaloo!! And thanks for reading this monster of a post.

[calmlb]

adding my two sense because it’s probably the best Dazai analysis i’ve read to date…

i think that Dazai's distorted self perception is vital to his character (similarly to how Yozo in NLH was an unreliable narrator). he cannot see himself as good no matter how much good he does, or how many people tell him, because he believes to his core that he is bad— so bad that he is disqualified from being a human being. and so he is consumed by shame, adding to his hopelessness.

the irony in this is that Odasaku was right— Dazai didn’t (doesn’t?) see much difference between right and wrong. it’s hard for someone like Dazai to see the difference, with as smart, and able to see through people as he is— because the hypocrisy of human nature is so blatant. plus, when you can’t find a reason to live, nothing really matters. everything starts to become pointless. what’s the point in discerning between right & wrong if life itself is pointless?

i think this mindset contributes to Dazai’s apathy towards killing. when you don’t see the point in living— when it doesn’t feel worth it— it becomes nearly impossible to fathom why anyone else would want to be alive… to fight to stay alive (enter Dazai’s fascination with Chuuya).

“There is nothing worth pursuing at the cost of prolonging a life of suffering.”

it might even seem like mercy to end someone’s life (i don’t know if Dazai saw it like this, but i don’t think he saw it as a bad thing. and we saw him show mercy to the GSS solider by killing him so he wouldn’t suffer a slow, painful death). we know Dazai considered dying to be a luxury— he was giving the soldier exactly what Dazai himself wanted so desperately, hence his slight mental breakdown in that scene.

“Ha ha ha. What a luxury. Ha ha ha ha ha!”

i also think this excerpt from stormbringer is so important because it shows that Dazai rarely, if ever, enjoyed the things he did in the port mafia, such as killing (and this remains true). that’s the point.

The longer he worked for the Mafia, the darker and more unfathomable he became. Nobody knew exactly why, either. Nevertheless, Dazai continued to slaughter his enemies and serve the Port Mafia in order to force himself into an even darker place. His achievements were outstanding. But there was one person who did not take delight in his glory: Dazai himself.

he joined the port mafia, pushing himself further & further into the darkness, thinking that if he could observe death up close, he could find out just what it was that made people fight to live. yet he still couldn’t find it— partially because he took no pleasure in the things he did. whether or not he felt negatively about his actions, i'm not sure, though if Dazai does feel a lot of shame it’s possible. but at the very least, he was neutral/apathetic about them. like op said, it was logical… able to be rationalized— the optimal solution. a way of thinking that he was naturally inclined to, but was trained into him even more by Mori.

most of the things Dazai had to do were either:

1. just part of the job/how the mafia functioned. i think he very quickly became desensitized to death & violence, if he wasn't already before meeting Mori, which i don’t think he was completely, based on his reaction to seeing the Old Boss murdered.

OR 2. orchestrated or subliminally influenced by Mori. Mori was training Dazai because he saw himself in him— he projected on him because of his own loneliness and groomed him to be, probably, the next boss. i don’t think a lot of people realize how Mori’s abuse of Dazai actually worked. it was much more covert and subconscious manipulation. he put the idea in Dazai’s head to recruit Chuuya, and how to do it, but he did it in a way that made Dazai initially believe it was his own idea. Mori was trying to train Dazai to think like he did— to always make the optimal, logical choice— because that’s how Dazai’s brain was already inclined. but as we saw in dark era, Dazai was much more emotional than Mori (or at least, he couldn’t completely put aside his emotions for the sake of logic. and after Odasaku’s murder, Dazai wouldn’t put aside emotion for the sake of logic— another reason he left the mafia).

Dazai is not emotionless, nor is he sadistic. this is one of the reasons i’m so passionate about doing away with using the “Demon Prodigy” nickname in the fandom so casually (it was originally a spin on a line from a fan translation of The Heartless Curr, but it’s found nowhere in canon). in my opinion, it badly mischaracterizes Dazai because it pushes the idea that he was an absolute demon of a person. when in fact, the moments when he could be interpreted as sadistic, cruel, or heartless were usually just masks.

Dazai is a chameleon— he shows people exactly who they need him to be in order to accomplish his goals. if you think PM Dazai was a demon, then Dazai (and Mori) accomplished their goal. Dazai, because as a child in the mafia & the boss’s right hand man (& accomplice in the murder of the Old Boss), this protected him. Mori, because if everyone feared Dazai, not only would they listen to him, but Dazai would be even more alienated and lonely. this would make him even less resistant to Mori’s influence, and to suppressing his emotions & connections in favor of the end goal, which is what Mori was training in him.

this isn’t to say that Dazai didn’t do anything wrong when he was in the mafia. obviously he did, but most of it was just doing his job. Chuuya and everyone currently in the mafia still do those things every single day, but i don’t see people acting like they’re merciless killers all the time. intentions matter, and from everything we’ve seen in canon, even when Dazai looks like he’s doing something wrong or cruel, etc, it’s always with a good intention (unless i’m forgetting something).

much like Kyouka, Dazai was very talented, and his skills served him very well in the mafia. but that doesn’t mean he himself was well suited for the mafia, or that his skills couldn’t be used for good (hence why he was able to get through to Kyouka).

one of my favorite things about Dazai is how he’s always taking in the strays. i don’t know if he’s consciously aware he’s doing it, but he’s always saving the lost or those with nowhere to go. this was true even when he was in the port mafia— he recruited Chuuya (granted the idea was put into his head by Mori but my point stands), he recruited Odasaku, he recruited Akutagawa, and Gin by extension.

after he joined the agency, Dazai recruited Atsushi, who in turn recruited Kyouka (but Dazai aided in that too), and now we have the potential of Sigma being recruited (we don’t know how the Tanizakis & Kenji joined so who knows? maybe Dazai had a hand in recruiting them too).

Dazai is naturally inclined towards helping people, no matter how much he’s blind to the fact (other examples include leaving the choice to Chuuya in stormbringer, renting out an entire building for Oda’s orphans to keep them safe, training Akutagawa so he wouldn’t end up killing himself, etc).

but Dazai doesn’t let himself get close or attached to people, because:

1. everything he wants is lost the moment he obtains it. yet there are certain people he can’t help but get attach himself to. like a barnacle, along for the ride so he observe these people he finds “interesting,” and hopefully learn what makes them want to live… because that what’s he’s after right? a reason to live.

Dazai doesn’t want to die because he’s depressed. he’s depressed because he wants to die can’t find a reason to live. i think Dazai is more of a case of “doesn’t want to be alive” as opposed to “wants to die.” it took me a long time to understand the meaning of this quote from dark era, but once i did, i think it perfectly sums this up:

“Awaken me from this oxidizing world of a dream.”

being alive is too painful. and Dazai hates pain.

awaken me = death. oxidizing world = just the act of being alive is eating away at him. world of a dream = this world has to be a dream because if this is reality, it’s too painful to bear, so he’s clinging to the hope that whatever comes after death is better than this.

and 2. like op said, Dazai is terrified of people seeing his “true self,” which he believes is not human. so even though what he wants most is to be seen & known, it’s also what he fears most. he hides behind his masks and resigns himself to being misunderstood. this disorganized attachment style dooms him to his loneliness just as much as his intelligence does.

“He's sharp-witted with a mind like a steel trap. And he's just a child— a sobbing child abandoned in the darkness of a world far emptier than the one we're seeing." He was too smart for his own good. That was why he was always alone. The reason why Ango and I were able to be by his side was that we understood the solitude that surrounded him, and we never stepped inside it no matter how close we stood.

Dazai’s loneliness is just as vital to his character (and this intense loneliness is also what Dazai and Chuuya mirror in each other).

“…nothing beyond your own expectations will happen. Nothing in this world can fill the hole that is your loneliness. You will wander the darkness for eternity."

even now, in the agency, that loneliness still isn’t gone. Dazai still feels alienated by his intelligence and imposter syndrome and feeling like a monster masquerading as a human in a world of humans. he still doesn’t want to be alive. but he’s still searching for a reason, and he figures, while he’s here, he might as well help others along the way

(and you know he’s being genuine here bc harukawa sensei drew him with the faded effect <3)

Writing a complex character such as Dazai is actually really hard even for people who understand him because he is, as you said, extremely unpredictable. I don't know exactly what to tell you, but I'll try to help a little bit!

The whole thing about Dazai is that he doesn't understand humanity. He understands the basics and why people do what they do because he is analytical and has been studying people's behavior and human connections forever. But he doesn't feel connected with humanity and empathy the same way other people do. He perceives others from like, the other side of a barrier. He studies them carefully. Manages to care about them deeply sometimes. Even deeper when they're able to see him and get to him (Odasaku, Atsushi, Chuuya, the whole agency in fact means something to him). But there's always this layer of disconnection and apathy and emptiness he doesn't know how to get rid of. It's like he cares, but he actually doesn't because he rationalizes everything and turns it into a game of chess, more or less? And I think that frustrates him. He isn't used to caring about people because he doesn't understand them, but he takes an interest in the people he finds amusing to study and once he cares deeply, they're taken away from him (that's why he mourns and regrets Oda's death so much. He feels like the world takes everything away from him the second he manages to feel human). Hence the whole thing about not feeling human (amongst other things). He cares and yet he is realistic. He has regrets and suffers and feels pain and he can care about others (ignore all the people who keep portraying him as an emotionless monster, please) but he doesn't drown in self-pity when it comes to all the people he has killed and his past because he can rationalize that. It was another era. He has moved on. And if it's for the greater good of the mission or his journey to find something to live for, he doesn't care how many random people he has to kill (when he was younger he valued other people's lives way less, of course. Now that has changed because his apathy is something he doesn't turn into cruelty and instead uses to rationalize plans and help the world and the agency. Basically, when he was part of the mafia it was kind of "I don't give a fuck about random people" because he genuinely didn't feel anything for them, but now, even if he doesn't genuinely care for them, he protects even random people because that's what the image of kindness Oda had planned for him). Oda tells him that, if the good side and the bad one are the same and he hasn't found anything to live for yet, why not help the world while he's at it? And it's such a beautiful thought because Dazai has this issue with understanding humanity and making bonds. But he understands, now more than ever after Oda's death, what living and killing means. He might not actually care that much for society and its well-being, but maybe he can find something to live for in the light more than he would in the darkness. He keeps wanting to kill himself, right? He keeps trying. But he doesn't actually want to. It's common sense. If he truly wanted to, he already would've done it. "I don't like pain" is the most common thing to say when you don't actually want to do it. I think that, unlike Nikolai, who actually craves to die as a representation of freedom, Dazai only wants to keep trying and trying to find a reason for living. Chuuya was that thing when he was in the Mafia. Chuuya and Oda, because Chuuya is quite literally his soulmate (in the sense of bringing amusement to his life and also making him feel human, as his ability is the only thing that can help Chuuya. And also Chuuya not being human but being the most empathetic and emotional of all the people Dazai has met in the mafia) and Oda was the first one to actually understand him and see him for who he is, something I don't think he'll ever find again and that's why Oda's death fucked him up so bad. He found a place to belong and somebody to live for, and then he dies and leaves him alone? It's not fair, but he'll try to fight for good and live in the light if that's what Oda wanted for him. As if Oda knew him better than he knows himself because I also think he has a hard time with his own perception and personality.

In simpler words: Dazai has a hard time understanding humanity because he feels disconnected from it by a layer of apathy and the fact that he doesn't understand basic human needs/actions because he doesn't share them. One of the things that makes us human is desires, right? Wanting. Loving. Longing. Dazai rejects all of that because he doesn't know what he wants and nothing he tries ends up making him feel whole. In "No Longer Human", actually, you can read things like "It is almost impossible for me to converse with other people" and "I have never known what it means to be hungry / Eat or die, the saying goes, but to my ears, it sounded like just one more unpleasant threat". So he isn't a monster, his brain just functions in a different way. He sees everything. Analyzes every little thing. He's smarter than everybody else and he's aware of that, but he feels lonely there and only wants somebody to understand or something to fight for. Oda gave him both things, and the agency gave him a reason to keep going because he genuinely cares about doing good and keeping them safe. I don't think Dazai's journey has ended, because he still fights against.... So many things with himself. His past. His future. His desires. But at least now he has a thing to enjoy and bring him happiness. His constant act of being "silly" isn't that much of a facade. I mean, I think it is because if he acts like a clown, nobody will ever see the true self he hides. But I think he ends up having fun with the agency and annoying Chuuya because he sees them respond to his behavior and he finds it amusing. I think being extremely smart and lonely and tormented can coexist with being fun sometimes.

As per writing in his POV.... It depends on what you want to write, really. I think his brain functions differently depending on his mood. I guess the most important thing is to keep in mind his surroundings because he's always hyperaware of every little thing. But it frustrates him not knowing how he's feeling or not understanding what he actually truly needs, often focusing on others instead of looking into himself, because every time he does, he only finds himself empty and craving for something he doesn't know what it is. In his worst moments, I think it's quite obvious he tries to fix things with distractions and impulsive actions like substance abuse. In his more analytical moments, it's when he becomes more apathetic and sees the world as his game of chess and people as only pawns. He knows he's human, he just doesn't feel like it. Fyodor has a sense of superiority Dazai doesn't share. He's smarter because his brain functions differently, but he is no God. He is no entity. He analyzes from the POV of somebody external to humanity but knowing quite well he isn't God. And when he's having genuine fun and feeling some type of care/love? I think he's grateful. The emptiness is always there, though. Always haunting him. In the back of his brain. But he sees hope in Atsushi and a place to keep his promise in the agency and maybe fulfill his heart. He might always have a fucked up perception of himself, but at least he's aware that doing the right thing fills the hole in his chest more than tormenting others. As I said, he likes it there (and Chuuya) because it makes him experience humanity even if he keeps telling himself he isn't human (No Longer Human quote: "You miss her, don't you?" / "Yes." / "That's human nature, I guess").

I don't know if I helped you?? I think it's a bit of a mess, sorry 😭 It's like 3am and I don't know if what I said makes any sense, but I really hope I was able to help you!

holy FUCK it took me fifteen minutes to read all of this and i'm glad i did because this is the most succinct and articulate analysis i have ever seen of dazai's underlying nature and his ambitions in relevance to the plot OP I THINK IF ASIGIRI CANT WRITE ANYMORE YOU SHOULD TAKE OVER BSD MANGA BC I THINK U UNDERSTAND DAZAI BETTER THAN HE DOES SOMETIMES TBH💀💀 aaaa jkjk i digress you were so real for bringing up the yozo/dazai parallels bc there's genuinely so many and if i still had my fucking BOOK :side eye: i could go through the intricate and profound commentary i left in the margins but alas my dear friend insists on keeping it longer. there's nothing more i can say on this topic bc i agree w you on everything wholeheartedly i think you deserve a scholarship to harvard or smth bc god DAMN you would slay as a lit or lang major

[theglassesgirl]

Thank you for your insightful tags @a-bottle-of-tyelenol !

And I hope you don’t mind me using this opportunity to mention Calypso because i refrained from doing so in my initial response, after having written a whole thing about her a few months ago, but I do understand it being a polarizing creative choice to make it ambiguous.

A brief (for me at least) analysis of Sexual Assault in terms of Calypso and its parallel to the suitors under the read more:

My thoughts on it on this specific subject compared to what I’ve talked about before are as follows and serves as a parallel to what Penelope went through on her own island while her husband was trapped in another;

To be fair, I don’t think it’s necessarily sexist of Jorge to have removed the assault aspect of Circe and Calypso (as some are saying in the OPs own post which…is a take, I guess)

I DO think it was absolutely a choice he made because he did not feel equipped to broach the subject that way and I’ll explain that a little bit, but he still absolutely understands the necessity of it throughout the musical and works to make HIS choice work for the overall arc - and well! Mind you! I think he succeeded even when he held back.

If we look at the source material, it’s certainly intriguing that the MAIN character of the story is a victim or assault by two different gods across the years, who essentially imprison and abuse him. Because of this, I feel it ADDS to the terror and fear by the time we the readers make it to Penelope and Telemachus’s POV in the poem. Because by that point, we have SEEN the antagonists “win” - Odysseus, like his family, has been a prisoner strip of any agency and options, and if HE has suffered sexual violence, it becomes a very real possibility for his WIFE to face

(in a lot of ways, we could also view Oddy killing the suitors be a sort of catharsis for him in that aspect, to be able to kill these violent men the way he couldn’t the goddesses who did all that do him, before they could hurt his wife and son)

Jorge’s musical is MUCH tamer, because he himself might be uncomfortable with depicting that subject matter as a physical action, but it still has a similar vibe.

We see Odysseus was able to respectfully reject Circe, but she still came onto him (albeit to kill him, but he had to account for all possibilities) so when he’s faced with Calypso, it’s VERY shocking and upsetting that he isn’t able to do the same with her.

The ambiguity of the seven years has caused so much discourse yet I argue, and trust me I’ve argued about it so much, that in some ways it’s exactly the ambiguity that Penelope and Telemachus faced.

We will never know what EXACTLY happened to Odysseus on that island, and we will never know what EXACTLY happened on Ithaca either.

As far as we do know, Antinous and who knows how many others feel very comfortable using sexually violent language to Penelope’s SON. She’s clearly put up a strong and unaffected front that Telemachus admires her for, but I’m sure it’s taken a heavy toll on her - the same her husband has faced, and that Athena has seen. And as far as we know, whatever calypso has done, given her words (like Antinous’), made Odysseus openly suicidal at least once!

While one spouse has to look strong, the other is visibly very weakened. This dynamic is missed when we don’t see both Penelope and Odysseus as complimentary partners, even after two decades of being apart!

But anyway. Having said this, Jorge’s version still provides a sense of urgency and plays on the audiences psychological need for Penelope to get a happy ending.

Because we’ve seen Odysseus successfully turn down one goddess, and we’ve seen him suffer under another without the privilege of knowing the depth of what he went through - for Penelope, its once again utterly inverted.

She CANNOT turn down any of the suitors successfully (hence the impossible task being her last ditch high stakes gambit, because SHE knows none of them can do it, but also doesn’t know how violently they will react to discovering that) and Antinous and the other suitors have completely cast aside pretense and are planning to assault her - no more ambiguity.

Where her husband has survived his own assaulters (though not unscathed) we are made very aware that Penelope’s situation is far more dire and her options much more limited. We are made to feel RUSHED, urged to see her helped (by Athena, her son and FINALLY her husband)

Jorge’s creative choice is still true to the integrity of this arc, Circe and Calypso still represent a parallel and an inversion to Penelope’s own plight.

Is it frustrating that not having a definitive answer to the boundaries Calypso pushed Odysseus - very much, I personally DO see her as someone who got physical based on much of her lyrics but I don’t mind people who don’t. As I have oft said, even without her “successfully” assaulting him, even if all she did was stand in front and look at him for seven years straight - it’s a violation of his autonomy and truamatizinggggg

but we’re not talking about her so much as how her role now fits/changed in the story. Mostly it hasn’t, is my point! If we really take a step back and follow the thread of this particular arc, it serves its purpose as well as when what Calypso did WAS explicit. Which again is why I feel Jorge made the creative choice to make the suitors intention MORE explicit.

For me, at least, it’s a careful balance that makes you LOOK at these two storylines and forces you to consider their similarities. We might not approve of the change, but unlike the heinous suggestion that the suitors should be innocent victims and Penelope be made their pal, Calypso’s role STILL works and fits the narrative.

Nevertheless, it’s perfectly fine if you still feel that way about it, because lord knows I’m constantly debating several aspects of Calypo’s character with other people across social medias lol and I’m sooo sorry this response went beyond the scope of your initial comments (please let me know if you’d rather untag you! 😭)

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

Tower of God S2 OP Analysis (Spoilers)

The opening starts with Bam sinking after being pushed down by Rachel, before eventually being overtaken by a red light, one in which we can see the Thorn hidden in.

In this Wangnan shot, there’s a number of items littered around, with the most important being the ring and crown, signifying his status as the self proclaimed “future king of the tower.” Nia shows up after Lurker bursts in, signifying his true allegiance. There’s also a banner to a ramen place behind him

Bam is wildly reaching for his old Test floor friends as they continue without him. As Bam rips the page, we see a singular star which breaks the rest of the image, showing how Bam’s happiness with his friends was sacrificed just for Rachel’s obsession with the stars. (The lyrics here are “Even if I reach out, I can’t touch it”)

Here we see Horyang, Cassano, and Sophia, as well as the tubes Horyang and Cassano were trapped in when becoming living Ignition weapons. The wings sit upon each’s respective shoulders. (The lyrics here are “getting hurt”)

This is the money shot, so many details. There’s a rip between Khun and Rachel while curtains act as a border, showcasing that everything between the two is an act. Ran, Nobic, Dann, and Gyetang sit on Khun’s side while Apple and Micheal sit on Rachel’s side, hinting at their betrayal. Khun’s side also has an eye watching Rachel, a crown to signify his desire to become the head of his family, and a masquerade mask to show that he’s putting on a mask in front of Rachel, but one she’s able to see through. Rachel’s side has mouths showing how she lies, and a bloody knife to represent her stabbing Khun in the back and Dan in the legs. (The lyrics here are “betrayal”)

Jinsung and Hwaryun stand before a bunch of faceless FUG followers, though we can see Karaka lurking in the background to the left.

Here we see all five princesses we’ve come to know. Yuri, Maschenny, and Repellista are within the boundaries created by Jahad while Anaak and Endorsi are passing the boundary. There’s also a lizard sticker on Anaak’s side and a butterfly on Endorsi’s. (The lyrics here are “it’s painful”)

We cycle through all the important test admins before eventually settling on Hansung and Augusgus as the colors shift and chains in the background disappear. This shows their allegiance to FUG.

This shot (Ehwa) isn’t important I just like it. But we do get to see some important settings such as Repellista’s palace, the 21st Floor Whie Cichlid, and a house (though I can’t quite tell whether it’s Khun’s or S&S’s). (The lyrics here are “Burning red fire, blazing emotions”)

Prince and Miseng pass by, each in monochrome up until they finally notice each other, both giving a small smile towards the other

These shots with Viole are pretty quick but there's a good amount of meaning, so I’ll number them off.

1. The two rings Wangnan and Karaka bear (The lyrics here are “Bonds and a wishing heart, they become the key”)

2. This is Rachel’s wheelchair (thank you @ylge-alt on Twitter). Yellow daisies represent friendship and positivity

3. The scratched off name sheet

4. Nia’s dead body

5. The treasure chest and key containing the sweets from the Floor 28 test

6. This shinsu test machine showing Viole’s number in first place

7. A plate of sweet and sour pork

8. Arkraptor’s earring

9. A bloody knife and an apple with a bite taken out of it, once again referencing Dann getting his feet stabbed

As we reach the chorus, we climb up a pair of stairs as Headon welcomes us and here we go through each arc Viole bears witness to before ending on Khun standing in the entrance to Arlene’s hand.

Finally, we end on Team Sweet and Sour standing together on the stairs that rise even higher, with Wangnan especially excited at continuing his climb.

[lets-try-some-writing]

Hi, I'm the anon that ask about the belief thing, I'm truly sorry unwarrant hostility, I was tense and I'm just going say it, that post has a lot of things that I have seen before use to ease people into Terf rhetoric and it striked a nerve and I took out my ajitation on you simply because your one of my favorite author and you reblogged and I felt irrationally angry, I shouldn't have done and again I'm very sorry, that was a shitty thing to do

Anon I'm not upset in the slightest! I've been mulling over it and talking to others and I get why you and others are upset with me.

Originally when I came across the post, I ignored the controversial terms and buzzwords, instead looking at the sheer analysis portion. I should have taken the OP's terms into consideration when reblogging and noted that others probably wouldn't take it well. I forget I'm being observed online more than I should. And I've long since grown numb to such rhetoric and looked solely at the commentary on how Elita-One and Airachnid have become rather bland as characters when compared to prior iterations.

I meant no disrespect and I do not agree with all the terms applied and commentary from the OP. I do not support all the points made within the OP's post, nor to I agree with the way human concepts were so harshly applied to aliens of all things. I simply found there to be a good point within the rant and focused down on that portion without much regard for the rest. I didn't look all that deeply into the use of language.

I apologize for any miscommunication. I was a tad aggressive myself in prior responses and was not fond of being critiqued when I didn't see myself as having done anything wrong. Thank you for reaching out! I will try keep in mind the perceptions of others when I interact with more sensitive subjects.

[theboombutton]

Bad Fictional Data vs Fictional Bad Data

WARNING: This post will include discussion of a name that might be Alice Dyer's deadname. I won't be calling Alice by this name or using it in the context of that name being a pointer to Alice, but I will be using the name, uncensored, when talking about where and why the name appeared in chdb.xls .

----

You may know that as part of the ARG, the sleuths on Statement Remains uncovered a document called chdb.xls, allegedly a list that has something to do with The Magnus Institute. There's a list of names, ID numbers, first and last names, dates of birth, and information apparently related to each person's "score" in an assortment of psychological/personality tests. Three of the names in particular have stood out in a lot of analyses: Samama Khalid, Gerard Kaey [sic], and Connor Dyer.

You likely don't know that the commonly linked version of the spreadsheet, ported to Google Docs and linked in the TMAGP ARG Masterdoc, is presented out of order. (I'm guessing they didn't lock down editing until it was already all out of order from various people messing with it - totally understandable, this is not a callout post, thank you for making this easily accessible to people.)

But let me tell you about something I discovered by looking at the spreadsheet in its original order, and the almost certainly incorrect rabbit hole of theorizing it has sent me down.

Bad Fictional Data

Until episode 2 I had the same thought about the Dyer listed in the spreadsheet that I think most people did: that it was Alice's deadname, and that she had therefore been one of the Institute's young subjects. But after Alice had absolutely no reaction when Sam mentioned the Magnus Institute to her in episode 2, I now think this is significantly less likely.

Don't get me wrong: it's still reasonable to think that the Dyer listed in chdb.xls is Alice. Maybe she had some kind of supernatural experience that wiped her memory. (It probably wasn't that Alice was too young to remember, as the Dyer on the spreadsheet is listed as being at Piaget Stage 3, which occurs from 7-11 years old; but it's always possible that the Magnus Institute was using the names of legitimate psychological tests to hide their tracks when recording more esoteric data.) The point is, this isn't hard evidence that Alice has no connection to the Magnus Institute; it just made me go looking for more evidence.

I went back to the spreadsheet to look for more clues about whether or not this was Alice's deadname. What I found instead was some extremely sloppy fake data at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

For context, here are first ten names in the spreadsheet:

Note how each ID begins with the name's first and last initial.

Now check out the last ten names:

Not only do these IDs no longer always match their subjects' names, they occur in order: CD, EF, GH, IJ, KL, MN, OP, QR, ST, UV. The first names of each pair match the first letter of each ID, but many, though not all, of the surnames don't match the second letter.

My first thought was that whoever Rusty Quill had contracted to generate these names had gotten sloppy at the end of the list, created the IDs all at once using this alphabetical pattern, and picked names to fill in that roughly matched the IDs. But hey, we could use this to our advantage! Any name that was filled in as part of a series of IDs with an alphabetical pattern like this could be removed from consideration for red string analysis - we'd know they were meaningless fakes added by a lazy contractor, and not clues or characters that might show up again later.

Scrolling back up the spreadsheet, we can see the person generating the data having more care the earlier we go. We find the beginning of the AA/BC/DE/FG/HI pattern at line 136, but at first, the names mostly conform to the initials they've been given. JK09874 "Josie Jordan" at line 154 is the first break from the "first two letters of the ID are their initials" pattern; and breaks occur more often the further you go down the sheet.

Scrolling up to before line 136 (AA09911 - Aaron Atkinson), while the pattern isn't yet at AB/CD/EF/GH levels of obviousness, the first initials are still in alphabetical order. Zoe Hart follows Yara Logan follows Xavier Freeman follows Wyatt Edwards. The data creator skips a few letters - for example Niamh Fenton is followed by Phoebe Emmett, and S and T are together in the same line in Skye Travers.

We can follow this less-obvious version of the alphabetical pattern up to an abrupt break right at line 118, above which the IDs don't follow an alphabetical pattern at all. (They might follow a different pattern, but it's not one that I've found yet.) So that means we can discount all the names in line 118 and below as purely fake, generated lazily by a contractor, and not worthy of our attention for the purposes of red-stringing. Right?

What the fuck?!

(highlight is my own, it is not present in the original document)

My first thought was that the sloppy data generator had done the funniest thing imaginable, sending everyone on a wild goose chase about Alice's deadname just by having the name "Dyer" on the brain while looking for a surname that started with D. This would be Very Funny. No plot relevance, no implications, just the brain fart that launched a thousand theories.

My second thought was that maybe Connor Dyer was the last legit name on the list, and whoever started filling the rest of the sheet in with alphabetical junk data was inspired by the "CD" initials in the first place - whoever it was went on from there.

These are both valid thoughts! But I prefer my third thought:

What if it's on purpose?

Fictional Bad Data

There is a very obvious break between the set of data that doesn't look obviously* fake, and the set of data that is immediately identifiable as such. If we assume that this was intentional - and I want to reiterate that it all being unintentional is still a very real possibility here - why would someone at Rusty Quill want the data to be structured like this?

If the sharp dividing line between reasonable-seeming data and obviously fake data is intentional on RQ's part, it would suggest that we should take the data above row 118 as in-universe real data, and the data below row 118 as in-universe falsified data. It suggests that someone, either at the Institute or after its demise, was adding nonexistent children to the roster of The Magnus Institute. Why would someone want to do that?

There are all kinds of possible reasons, but here are a few off the top of my and my theorizing buddies' heads:

Financial fraud (institutional edition). If the Magnus Institute received funding on a per-child basis, they'd have an incentive to inflate their numbers.

Financial fraud (researcher edition). One or more people on staff were blowing off their child-analysis sessions and recording fake numbers for fake children. This would be ballsy as hell if they could be fired for it, but it was the Magnus Institute, so there's decent odds they couldn't be.

Scientific fraud (faking conclusions edition). The Magnus Institute in the Protocolverse claimed to be doing research on giftedness in children, which is the kind of thing that you'd normally publish in a scientific journal. It's not unheard-of for dickhead academics to falsify data to generate statistically significant results, since statistically insignificant results aren't going to get you published.

Scientific fraud (obscuring paranormal bullshit edition). If the Magnus Institute was using legitimate psychological test names to record Fear-related test results, it's possible their results showed different patterns from what you would expect from the real tests. They could have added the fake children to balance out the dataset as a whole.

Pseudonyms. The children are all real, the Institute just started using fake names for them for privacy purposes. They couldn't go back and change the names they'd already written properly for some reason. Probably something paranormal.

Those are all pretty interesting possibilities, and if we could narrow them down, it might tell us something about what things were like at the Magnus Institute before it burned down!

And the other big question is: why did RQ make the dividing line between the two sections, the first likely-fake entry, Connor Dyer?

One straightforward reason could be as a troll, a red herring to watch fans get in a lather over. And once the community inevitably noticed all the obviously falsified entries, RQ could eat popcorn and watch us lose our minds over whether or not that's even a real entry! (That sounds really fun, I would absolutely do that.)

But let's dig a little deeper, and look at what Connor Dyer being on the border between the real and fake entries would mean in-universe. Because of its position as the border between real and fake, it would be very easy for that entry to be accidentally included in the wrong group - a real research subject discarded as fake, or perhaps more interestingly, a fake research subject accidentally reclassified as real.

Remember, if a name is fake in the context of the Magnus Institute's research, that doesn't mean that the name itself is made up. If I was trying to think of a name that fit the initials CD, and those were the initials of my next door neighbor's kid, I might just write their name in as a lark. Especially if it was my first time trying to get away with falsifying information: this is a kid that verifiably exists and lives in the area.

My theory, supported primarily by my love for The Implications instead of actual evidence

Twenty years on, after all institutional memory of the fraud was long gone, trans icon Alice Dyer applies to work for the OIAR - an institution that (according to this theory) has an unofficial preference for hiring former Magnus Institute kids.

They are very confused when Alice proceeds to act nothing like a former Magnus Institute kid. It doesn't occur to anyone that her entry might have been falsified. What reason would anyone have to do that?

----

* Of course people with a background in data analysis or statistics will see immediately that even above line 118 this is a wild-ass dataset that would raise red flags for falsification, but at least it's not "the alphabet over and over" levels of obvious.

[inksandpensblog]

@tallsc have you seen this?

Siciria Analyzes The Most Complex Stick Figures Known To Man (part 2)

Red's new tiktok came out.

We're going with Red next.

Also here's part 1 of SATMCSFTM.

Idk why I abbreviated it.

Or why I linked it.

Welp.

-

Okay, so to start off, most people perceive Red as the youngest of the CG, and the most outgoing. He's the resident animal lover, is sensitive, and in some situations, can be really aggressive and hotheaded.

Like here:

Red went first. He is someone who always throws himself willingly into danger (like Blue in the last part, though Red does it more consistently). With Dark, he went for it not knowing if he could win, but instead to protect his friends. He is the line. He is someone who truly cares for others, and will treat newcomers with the utmost goodness regardless of what he's getting in return. He will go back for them.

This is shown, primarily, in Monster School.

In this scene, he was about to turn back. He was about to go back through the portal. But he saw that his teammates (the ones who bullied and harassed him prior) were in trouble, and still went back for them. We talk about how he went back for them. We talk about it.

But we don't talk about how he must have been feeling, or how much they must have hurt him. And he still helped them despite that. He truly has an extremely strong character, probably the strongest out of everyone, or at least the CG.

AND HE SURVIVED BEING LITERALLY POSSESSED TWICE. TWICE. HOW MUCH MENTAL STRENGTH DOES THIS STICK HAVE.

Okay, now to not state the obvious. this whole "analysis" thing is just me stating the obvious anyway idk why u guys seem to like it

Red is smart.

No, Red is really smart.

And I think we, as a fandom, don't give him credit for it. He's always the one to come up with new ideas, and these ideas seem to work. This is shown, mostly, in the Minecart Race episode.

He was the first one to start paddling with his hands.

And the first one to boat on the ice.

And he had the bright idea to use the snowballs.

Even in the Color Sorting short, he had to know at least some kind of coding or engineering to get all the items to become red items. Come on.

And in his tiktok that just came out today, he does so many different, unique moves. In Green's and even Blue's, it's more repetitive, and shorter (though Blue's dancing skills are unmatched ngl).

An in Monster School, they only passed because of his ideas (WHICH THEY HARDLY GAVE HIM CREDIT FOR). Because it was HIM who understood that the bow needed to be flipped around to shoot properly.

And it was HIM who knew that tickling the Enderman would help.

And it was HIM who got them across the ocean to the mountain using the spider.

He is someone who can recognize the potential in his teammates, and recognize what they can do in a given battle.

AND WHAT DOES HE GET FROM THEM? NOTHING. NOTHING. HE GETS BEAT UP. HE GETS STICKING BEAT UP.😭😭😭

So in summary...

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT RED MORE.

(I honestly learned more about Red doing this. It's kinda fun ngl).

[kuvvydraws]

My dog needs surgery

So this gentleman ↓

Has a 1cm sized calculus in his bladder, and this year he's already had two episodes (February, then today again) where it shifted and hurt him, and it leaves him crying and shivering and in great amounts of pain.

We were told it was not going to get better.

After another ultrasound, the vet has determined it's best he goes through surgery to remove it, now that he's relatively young and healthy, rather than later on.

The issue is, the whole thing costs, with pre-op and analysis and everything, around 600€.

Edit 1: someone asked if the vet suggested we give him a special brand of dry food to help his body dissolve the urea crystals, since Dalmatians lack the enzyme that processes them. Indeed they told us, but we cannot give it to him because Tempus is allergic to gluten, and the only company that makes that kind of dry food in Spain doesn't have a gluten free version, unfortunately.

Edit 2 (14MAY24): Today we visited the vet again for pre-op and so far the surgery is a go! 03JUN24 is the date!

I've set a goal in my KOFI page for anyone who wants to help me a little - I would be incredibly grateful, I assure you.

Likewise, here's the link to my COMMISSION'S page, also through Kofi, because anything could help at this point and you might as well get a drawing out of it ♥️

Reblogs would be amazing 🙏

Thanks a lot!