#the very SECOND someone who is good and moral and has much of the seemingly similar goals and determination of flint

[butcharyastark]

also back to my point before i got rambling but man in this rewatch it's so much clearer how obvious it is flint is subtly manipulating silver's emotions the whole time since the end of s2, some of it overt to silver's observational skills and some not. and the whole thing w silver needing a tether while being someone who tempers someone like flint and madi does that, she is the person that drags silver away from flint and flint's goals, she's the one he sees good in and reciprocated love and it like. makes me insane. silver's been trapped in the narrative with flint for 4 seasons of on and off emotional hell and trauma but the second he's given a tether, he near immediately gets pulled back out. do you understand.

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

MDZS Notes + Analysis — Chapter Two: “Reincarnation”

Three main things stood out to me when rereading this chapter: the theme of status, our intro to WWX, and the information we’re given about his state after death.

…Well, four things, but the other one will get its own post.

The theme of status is immediately introduced* with ‘MXY’’s treatment and the backstory of MXY and his mother, yet again showing just how well MDZS’s ideas are integrated into the text and how well it’s paced! You’re introduced to every important theme so, so early on. Two screenshots are analysed below:

(See: entitlement of the upper classes towards the lower classes, and how this can exist even between members of the ‘same family’; and arguably the idea of debts between a richer family and someone who was 'taken in'. There are a surprising amount of parallels between MXY and WWX, but I'll make my own post about that)

(See: once again, differences in status between members of the same family, and also the worse, and disposable, treatment of one daughter because she was "the daughter of a servant". Now, why does that phrase sound familiar...?)

Also, MXY's mother was sixteen when she attracted JGS's attention... if you somehow needed even more material to hate the guy...

We also get introduced to WWX’s personality(!), which immediately disproves the rumours from last chapter on how he'd cast the world into ruin:

(That's one of the first questions he asks after waking up – I love how he's so concerned about this! It shows us two important things, too: 1) Morality is important to WWX, and 2) Doing immoral things seems to be out of the ordinary for him. Both of these stand in direct contrast to the picture of WWX we were painted earlier!)

(Same thing here, along with showing us some of the (healthy!) pride WWX has – he wouldn't be offended at this if wasn't something he held as important within himself)

(I use this quote again, but here it's once again proving that the vengeful, evil WWX who'd sink the cultivation world into "nothing but chaos and despair" at the first chance he got... very much does not exist.)

(And finally, it's explicitly confirmed here that he's not the type to take exessive revenge and take pleasure in it... at least at this point in time, because. MXY definitely had reason to think this considering Sunshot!WWX, if everyone had been working from the truth. But importantly that isn't who he is now, and isn't who the WWX villified by the cultivation world was – imo that's including Nightless City, we'll get to that when I reach it. But note that actions during the Sunshot campaign aren't even mentioned in the prologue, because, shock, they actually helped the cultivation world win the war! Though that doesn't mean they weren't part of rumours + the WWX hatred mill later.)

Then some non-morality related things:

This is just really funny to me, with how the makeup being badly applied (:o) is enough of an issue to merit a thought – WWX I love you.

And then this way of thinking comes back a few times esp during the earlier chapters, enough to be noted I think.

Confirmation on WWX's status after he died – it's not anything new to point out, but this chapter does give us rare insights into what state he was in during the post-death, pre-rebirth period.

So, he was somewhat conscious, enough to be aware of what he was(n't) doing – seeking vengeance, haunting the living – and was seemingly in control of those actions. However, he was specifically a "wandering ghost" – his soul didn't pass onto the afterlife or "return back to Earth"** like the body-offering spell's caster's would. He was conscious that a long time had passed as well, and this long period of downtime where he could accept + deal with what happened in his first life is what likely allowed him to be so well-adjusted the second time round – even taking into account the remarkably good way he tends to deal with things in general (cue the "forgetting the wound when the pain fades" quote, it summarises WWX's mindset really well)***.

Also, as for resisting the summons from the prologue – I'm wondering how much was due to WWX's experience with resentful energy + general capability (if that affects it..?) allowing him to consciously refuse, how much was due to WWX not being the type to hold onto resentment (so possibly spells targeting ghosts, full of this resentful energy, wouldn't be as affected?), and how much was due to the relative lack of knowledge about how ghosts/resentful energy works compared to WWX. Or, if it was something else. Either way, achieving the impossible, that's WWX for you :D

It is interesting that he hasn't heard a voice in ages despite wandering, too – do ghosts just not hear the same way, or did he deliberately avoid areas with people? I could see both, the second being more likely, especially considering how many people wanted to summon him back for... less than stellar purposes.

Misc:

Poor Mo Xuanyu....

--

*Well, reinforced – in the prologue, one of the things said about WWX is that "if not for the YunmengJiang clan’s adopting and teaching him, he would have been a hobo living on the streets", which is among the insults people throw. So of course, class-affecting-perception is tied to WWX from the very beginnning! But this is the first time it's actually explored, not a throwaway line.

**Though that may be what's literally happening to WWX's soul here – it is wandering around Earth �� I don't think that's what this line refers to. There's a very good meta on how different translations handled that line, I really recommend it (tysm @/mxtxfanatic for finding it)!

***It would be very interesting to read a fic where it felt like no time had passed for him since his death, actually! Though the extremely stressful circumstances are gone, it would still be interesting to see a WWX for whom the Siege, Nightless City, Qiongqi Path etc are pretty recent – but only in fic territory, since I'm so, so glad we got the WWX we did in canon. Also, I'd love to see a fic maybe exploring some of his time as a ghost...?

[elasticitymudflap]

hey I know the whole 'I did not care for winter king' thing pretty much summed it up but i'd LOVE to hear what you thought of that whole fucking episode.

IT IS SO FASCINATING TO MEEEEEEE, i mean obviously a 'role swap' universe would be regardless, but beyond the surface lies a lot of hints towards reasons why this world was so different and fucked up fundamentally!! again, my big theory is that no matter what happens our simon is not going to be able to access the crown again in any universe they visit as an extension of betty's wish, so yeah winter king's ass was probably doomed the second they set their sights on duplicating the crown but also, good , because fuck that guy

one thing that stands out to me is how our simon's morals are very different and a lot stronger than wk's, especially how he very clearly doesn't wish the madness of the crown on anyone but himself, but he can empathize with other victims of the crown. throughout the entire episode he's desperately trying to get the others to empathize with candy queen's situation as someone who knows what the madness of the crown feels like and how it warps you. but also, his approach to her is so...

like he actually vibes along to her song, compliments her "metaphor", and above all BEGS fionna and wk to see her as a person who deserves compassion, patience, and understanding... something he seemingly doesn't seem to extend to himself as ice king.

but even her madness seems somewhat suspect to him - just before her musical number he seems mystified as to why the crown's madness would make pb obsessed with him, when he knows from his reality that it's marceline that she's in love with. i'd actually argue that there is a hint of distrust towards winter king that he can't quite put into words at first, but simon's self-loathing at how "functional" his counterpart is seems to counteract his instinct and so he never pries too deeply into it.

there's this interesting reaction to pre-winter king ice king that stands out to me, almost like he's confused and doesn't recognize this specific anger and wrath to be a part of his own ice king experience. our ice king seemed to be much more of a depressed and ultimately harmless nuisance than the threatening figure he appears to be in that sequence. in fact, despite the madness, our ice king is actually quite consistent in there being a line not to cross with violence: he saves finn and jake from the hitman he accidentally hired, he refuses to kill marceline and finn when the empress commands him, he's even horrified at himself in 'I Remember You' when he pushes marceline. our ice king cares infinitely more about having friends and for people to love him and understand him than he is to actively "fix" or change himself, and in the short-circuit that is his mind he always seems to find a way to redirect his 'bad feelings' into doing something fun or impulsive than to stew in anger.

and simon isn't exactly taken in by the splendor of winter king's whole thing the way everyone else is, he doesn't stop questioning how he did it. how did he supposedly "conquer" the crown through "sheer force of will", how did he manage to get the 'best of both worlds'?

except we know it's not. and the mask-slip starts pretty ominously with his insistence that candy queen's kingdom is "forbidden". he slips up just for a moment and then returns to his whimsical wizard of oz-ass persona, and he looks almost guilty for letting on that there's something wrong here that should be avoided

which is something else i'm very fascinated by: winter king's obvious hypocrisy and the awareness of his unethical behaviour. he's quite callous in performatively pretending not to remember who betty is, and then only referring to her as "the dead one". he also seems confused by simon's heartbroken reaction to this callousness, but even more so to his characterization of her as "the great love of (his) life". he obviously has some of our simon's attachments to the past and memories of people he loved, he definitely knows and loved marceline, so why is she the only person he cares about enough to make an "ice person" of? he doesn't recall betty as someone he had a great love with - though he obviously knew who she was, so does that mean he still had some kind of relationship with her?

remember, the mere notion of finding betty so he could apologize to her literally meant so much to our simon that he was able to hide his surviving research on time portals from himself inside the ice castle, long after she would have died naturally had she even survived the mushroom war. and during the bellanoche fiasco he literally staved off death from losing his magic through sheer force of will; the intense motivation to see her kept him going in a decaying 1000 year old human body long enough for him to jump right back into his research and create a time portal to her to say goodbye. that's how much she means to him.

winter king doesn't know that betty is technically still alive, or how our simon was freed from the crown's curse. he simply offers simon a solution to reuniting with someone who he loved who is dead, without knowing how very different our betty's situation is. and that solution is to make an ice-person of that person from the time you loved them, even though you know it's "unethical".

... but betty being "dead" was always the case to our simon, he knew that she was dead because of course she was, it was hundreds of years in the future! but there was always a way back to her, and it was because of his relationship with one miss betty "ancient magic was my major" grof that he had this plan ready at his fingertips

so i think maybe either this world's simon didn't have a very strong relationship with betty, or he did but he had some reason to write her off as 'dead forever' and throw away the prospect of ever seeing her again. it's interesting that despite writing betty off, ice king's obsession with bubblegum persisted as a point of his madness and transferred to her, when even our ice king still cared a lot about "weird lady", though he didn't know who betty was.

in any case, he dismisses the subject very quickly with "jokes" that creating an ice person of someone you cared about, who died, would be unethical. and yet...

this, too, is very interesting to me. little ice marcy has marceline's actual axe bass, the axe which hunson brought with him to ooo after simon summoned him to take care of marceline when he had to leave her - marcy converted it into a bass herself of course. and the two definitely met and stayed alive together when marcy was a child

i've seen people theorize that marcy died in this memory here, but considering the presence of the axe i'm honestly not so sure. i mean, she grew up enough to gain and convert the axe to a bass, maybe she died of old age as a half-demon and never turned into a vampire? except that non-vamp marceline from farmworld seemed to still be kicking, what would an extra 12 years be to someone like her?

despite simon's pleas for fionna not to hurt candy queen and for them to help her, winter king INSISTS that she can't be helped, and that the only solution is for fionna to "knock her out", not kill her, because he would lose his conduit for the crown's madness and so this cycle will continue forever. winter king seemed committed to keeping the secret of how he "conquered" the crown, and who he hurt to manifest this reality of his, only to reveal it supposedly when simon was infected with the crown's madness again.

so why did no one stop winter king for 100 years? finn wouldn't have been born yet, but surely marceline, if she were vamped up and aware of what winter king had done, would try to stop him? but there's no sign of her in this world... save for her one possession we know she had later in her life, in the hands of an ice clone of her, frozen at a time in her life when she still loved simon unconditionally.

... i'll leave you with one VERY interesting production note steve wolfhard posted today about the blade he gave fionna, because it implies that even beyond this simon lacking some integral part of what makes him himself, the madness of the crown wasn't completely absent the way he'd thought it had been, so even in the end it wasn't a "perfect" solution to the madness.

[rocksibblingsau]

I just reread your Cloud Guy post and I would love to know, what are your thoughts on Crimp?

To me it's very obvious that they cut out her other scenes and left her in this weird middle ground of not really being part of the antagonists team fully but she also doesn't read as 'good'. If anything she's morally grey?

Why Crimp is with Velvet and Veneer can only be assumed to be by her own free will, at least until she's thrown into the closet near the end of the movie. She's an assistant. This is a job. She's not captured like Floyd, she's not blackmailed. She is receiving some sort of pay (money, credit, a good name on a resume as an intern) in return for fulfilling this job. Perhaps there's a good reason. A need for money for her family, a lack of job security in the fast-paced city of Mount Rageous. The movie doesn't establish a motive, which makes it really hard to figure out her intent and morals.

Crimp was verbally abused and belittled by Velvet and Veneer, but the movie does not give any particular reason why she simply did not quit or leave. If she morally objected to the kidnapping and torture of Floyd, why did she stay? What were her intentions?

I've seen people bring up the shoulder pads as evidence either way and to me they don't deserve mentioning because from what is shown, she was not aware of what they would be used for so they're not indication of her being an accomplice, but her lack of knowledge does not absolve her guilt.

When Crimp places handcuffs Velvet and Veneer she listed the kidnapping and torture of Trolls as recognized crimes. Meaning either 'kidnapping' in their law system can extend to trolls or there is a specific crime of 'trollnapping' as in kidnapping a troll. Crimp has been aware for two months that Velvet and Veneer were engaging in criminal activity. Not just troll related, but fraud. At no point did she seemingly attempt to contact the police. Again the movie does not give us a reason why. Was she scared they wouldn't believe her? Was she being blackmailed into silence? Was there any reason she could not or believed she should not contact the police?

So we're looking at a person who is keeping a job that requires her to be complacent in the continued unlawful restraining and life-threatening torture of a person. There's seemingly no reason she should be stuck doing this. She's not, to the viewers knowledge, made any attempt to call for help or report the crime to the authorities.

For someone so quick to call out Veneer on broken laws, she doesn't seem to be aware of aiding and abetting.

Here's where things get interesting. Poppy and Branch free her from the closet and Crimp shows up in time to mute Velvet and Veneer's mics so Brozone can save the day. Crimp helps the heroes... at the last possible second. She seemingly switches sides when it's clear that Brozone is about to do something to turn the tide. Crimp only assists the 'winning' team. Crimp only helps rescue Floyd when someone ELSE shows up to do it.

A lot of her dialogue seems very self-focused. By which I mean when she arrests Velvet and Veneer, she cheers that it's "liberating". She's getting one over on her bosses that were mean to her. Not once can I recall her apologizing to Floyd, checking on him, or really talking to him about himself in anyway. The only time they directly communicate is Floyd tells her that her ukulele is coming along and she thanks him. She does tell Velvet that the vacuum will kill him. "If you use too much, you’ll kill him." She doesn't say 'Stop', just warns Velvet that the results are lethal. A warning that could easily be for Velvet's benefit if death was not her intention. A warning that the vacuum would use up the talent far quicker than the bottle.

Crimp to me reads as a character whose only interest is her own life. This isn't necessarily bad, but it means Crimp only does the "right" thing when it benefits her most. Freeing Floyd would put Velvet and Veneer out of work, which would leave her without a job. She allowed what was essentially a drawn out murder attempt for at LEAST job security and at most... some possible blackmail reason or her own family's wellbeing that was not mentioned in the movie so it's at best a headcanon. She's not innocent in the matter at all. If it had been revealed she was being say, blackmailed, like most movies there would have been a scene where there heroes say 'Don't you see what you're doing? Help us, there's still a chance to turn things around and do the right thing.' It would have been portrayed as a bad action. Here it's not addressed at all.

That's my opinion on Crimp!

[variousqueerthings]

also, to be that guy who's obsessed with the mythologisation of dr james barry for a second (it's been awhile on this blog I feel), I was interested in how casanova the tv show felt like a deliberate play with myth through the framing and the anachronisms and the lighting and the blocking and and and -- and how casanova himself is a heavily mythologised person, to the point that my partner asked me if he was real before we started

I feel like there's a similarity in ideas in dr james barry and casanova -- they were both adored and reviled, talked up and talked down depending on the agendas of whoever was spreading their tale, both with larger-than-life personas and adventures that seemed to teeter out in the later years as the traits that served them in youth (brashness, stubbornness, laissez-faire attitude around money, very specific ideas around how to live that didn't mesh with the laws and morals of society around them, a genius that in youth is considered prodigy-like... etcetc) (the details, of course, are different) became something that others were embarrassed about/didn't respond to as they aged and lost their connections

(also this is tv-show, so I don't know until I read the diaries, but they both seemingly had a manservant with whom they were very close/came with them on their various journeys)

casanova has the distinction of having a set of diaries that allow one to peruse primary material at ones leisure, so despite being someone whom one might only know from a particular re-telling or history book or even just as an idea, there is some power in being the main teller of his own story

which dr james barry of course doesn't really have. I feel like I read somewhere that he had more private letters that were lost at sea (which whenever I have that memory of having read that, I squint and wonder if I'm not participating in the mythologisation myself), but certainly the majority of what we think we know about him is either from others' opinions of him or just plain wrong/written after his death

in my head though, I think out of the many many biography-type movies and tv shows I've seen, the casanova show might be the closest to something I'd imagine for barry -- not for the same story, of course (the years of their lives also barely overlapped, but my special interest brain did note that early napoleonic and post-napoleonic era), but for the presentation. the idea of indulging in the fantasy, of the playing with anachronism, of an interaction with present (our present) and past. and mostly of fun

I think in a lot of the narratives around barry, it's often hard for me to see someone I think would live the life that he lived -- who had fun, who made deliberate, conscious choices that he enjoyed making, who was very passionate about his ideals and medicine and who -- like casanova -- was very much his own man. they're so often so preoccupied with ideas of deception and being found out and imagined projected cisgender anxieties. they often lack fun, and when they do insert their modern lens (in whatever time whatever thing about him was created), it's not to bridge the gap between us and him, to imagine who he'd potentially be if he lived now, it's to inject their personal ideas about what is morally correct to them onto a symbol

and yeah, at this point dr barry is more figure than man, as happens generally to historical people, especially those we remember for Highly Specific Things (like casanova, like barry), and I think it'd be interesting to really engage with that, to go deep into the world barry lived in, and to make him a figure who was cognizant of that world and the structures he was defying, who felt good about the choices he made

there's a certain idk... thematic overlap between the two figures. and that was something I really really enjoyed while watching this

[hamliet]

Saw an argument questioning why Wuthering Heights is taught in school since it's a racist book with harmful stereotypes where the villain is a dark skinned man who wrecks havoc in the lives of civilized white people. Now correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that the exact opposite of what the book is doing? I mean not only is Heathcliff not the villain but there's no 'good' people in the book? Everyone is despicable (pretty much) and the book also shows how people's attitude towards Heathcliff changes once he gets rich and becomes a 'gentleman', and how the toxic environment of Wuthering Heights changes a seemingly sweet-natured girl like Isabella for the worse. Also, in the second generation, Hareton, the white boy is the 'savage' and Linton who is Heathcliff's son is the 'gentleman', so again and again it seems like Emily's point is that it's not people's skin color that makes them, but the environment and the way they're treated. But like that discussion had so many people agreeing that I'm questioning my own understanding 😭

(I do get why some people don't like that both Heathcliff and Linton die and the property is returned to the two white families. But also, in a literal sense, he does get his revenge against the two white guys who did him wrong but young Cathy and Hareton had no part in Heathcliff's suffering and they both did develop and became better individuals something which Heathcliff and Catherine failed to do, partly because of their circumstances and partly because they're Heathcliff and Catherine. I'm talking a lot of nonsense but what I'm trying to say is no-one defeats Heathcliff, Heathcliff defeats himself by blindly running after revenge)

Yeah lmao. That's misreading at its unfinest. It's also, frankly, simplistic and anti-intellectual, and to quote what I reblogged yesterday, fundamentally a conservative argument instead of a progressive one.

Heathcliff is human.

That's kinda the point. Heathcliff gets dehumanized by everyone around him, so he becomes Lord Byron basically, which is a human reaction. Like, not everyone reacts to abuse (including racism) in a positive way, and not every story has to be a morality tale. Wuthering Heights is dark and gothic, more tragic than fairy tale. It also never pretends to be anything it isn't.

Anyways, the attitude that because Heathcliff is not a good person means that he's a racist caricature is not actually progressive. That's delving into another racist trope--the idea that the color of a character's skin determines how they can be portrayed.

Heathcliff is a person. Well. He's a character. But he's very, very human, and that's what makes the character so controversial and resonate so deeply centuries later. Readers are intended to wrestle with the novel's themes, with their empathy for the characters and with their horror. Ironically, these kinda of stories are, imo, far more likely to provoke actual progressive personal growth in a reader than a modern YA story that uses characters as tokens.

Look, I'm not out here trying to argue that there's nothing to critique in the classics, or even that someone can't be triggered by this issue and its portrayal in this particular novel. It's still a 19th century English novel. Was it progressive for its time in a lot of ways? Kinda. Was it still a product of its time, though? Yes, absolutely. (So are we all.) Are there elements to criticize regarding its portrayal of race, among other social issues? There definitely are.

To repeat myself, there's plenty to be critiqued. However, to argue that the entire book shouldn't be taught based on this is... no. It's a bad conclusion, and it's a dangerous argument.

The critical thinking skills are so lacking that it's alarming and reflective of the ouroboros of society: the serpent consuming its tail, young people who think they're being very progressive but who are actually just wrapping around to become the exact thing they purport to preach against.

Literature is an art meant to reflect the messiness of humanity. Wuthering Heights is so well-known because it does that very well for a lot of people. Not everyone, but that's okay. If you remove the messiness, you don't have humanity. If you blunt the pain, you're not being honest. If you're not being honest, you're perpetuating the problem.

[diviinaee]

ok i actually am sick of alexis discourse ruining my peaceful senior year day SO I'm writing this and then I'm ignoring all notifications

Calling her a bitch.

Now. I've sen alot of Alexis Hate takes where she is called a bitch and claiming that calling her such is not misogynistic. However, it very much can be. Take this article from Time Magazine for example.

As seen in both images, "bitch" has only been widely used to bring down the woman. It's like I said in a previous post. The double standard in the fandom is atrocious. I recently recieved a reblog that basically said that Alexis has no redeeming qualities. I should mention, the post they reblogged was one where I mentioned Blake and Vega. I also mentioned Ivan but he has the excuse of being controlled by Vega. So let's look at Blake and Vega. Besides seemingly being attractive, what moral redeeming qualities do they have? None. Blake is a bad person regardless of the situation because he has hurt people. Vega is a bad person regardless of the situation because he has hurt people. ALEXIS IS A BAD PERSON BECAUSE SHE HAS HURT SOMEONE. How is it that when the male characters have that statement on their name, the fandom is okay with them having fans. We might disagree, but we all live with it. Why is it that with Alexis, her fans are called gross and are accused of excusing rape?

I think what Alexis Haters seem to ignore is that the people who enjoy her character are not saying that she's good. Me personally, I love her character because there is so much possibility that her character can experience. I don't love her because she hurt Sam. Alexis fans understand that what she did was wrong, but what they see that Alexis haters don't, is that she can grow from that. It's the same thing as Cutie. They messed up. And they can grow from that.

POC Alexis

Now, before I get into this, I would like to state that I am Latina and I will be seeing this from that perspective.

I have noticed that alot of people's artistic depections of certain characters as POC is quite concerning. Here are the main ones: Gavin, Darlin', Huxley, and Alexis.

Since this post is only about Alexis, we'll dive into hers only.

In the following images, the narrative summarizes the stereotype of the angry black woman [which i have seen many Alexis depections of]. The second image speaks of a social experiment revolving anger in the workplace and how people react to anger of different races, ethnicities, and genders.

To make Alexis one of your ONLY POC characters is feeding into this stereotype. Since she is already depicted as a evil woman by much of the fandom, the fact that you would make her one of your only POCs is concerning.

Now before you line your pitchforks and preach that you aren't racist, I need y'all to breath with me for a sec. It could very much be something you are doing unconsciously.

Society depicts many POC in media as aggressive or sexualized creatures. It's no wonder why so much of racism can very much be unconsciously done.

We aren't asking you guys to change your Alexis designs. We are asking you to please understand that even if your intentions is good, the impact can be harmful.

Literally just agree to disagree.

Something that I find in EVERY fandom I have ever been in is the fact that no one can agree to disagree. Some people hate Alexis. Some people like her. The world still spins. The sun still shines. NOTHING BAD HAPPENS. Instead of calling each other names and resorting to attacking people directly, just agree to disagree.

[and before anyone comes after me saying that i cane after haters, i was going after how hypocritical some of these takes were and the sheer uncertainty that went into their takes.]

Literally take from this what you will but if you ignore everything at least take this. People in the world agree and disagree all the time. It's the people that don't agree to disagree that cause problems in the world. Let's all just accept the fact that we have difference in opinions and live on woth our lives.

Literally begging everyone to go eat some cookies and calm the hell down.

[inquisitiveperfectionist]

Today's theme is unflappable, less-than-moral protagonists, apparently.

A Mild Nobleman's Vacation Suggestion: I've been going back and forth between the light novel and the manga the entire time because there's so many good things in both. The premise is that a duke, Lizel, accidentally transmigrated from one fantasy world into a seemingly parallel fantasy world and decides to treat it as a vacation while becoming an adventurer. The summary swears up and down that it's not BL, but most of the people Lizel meets either loves or hates him. Few characters hate him - he's very good at manipulating people into doing what he wants them to do. (And me, too; I can never tell just how much he's bluffing.) Plus, Lizel has a gun. A straight-up (fantasy) gun.

After an Infinite Flow Player Retires: Absolutely gripping webnovel, this has quickly rocketed up to one of my favorites so far. Premise is Ye Jia, formerly Ace in an infinite horror survival game, finally racks up enough points to retire into a quiet life as an lowly salaryman for a paranormal investigations bureau - but the game crashes, spirits and monsters from the game leaking into real life. Doesn't shy away from the horror at all and I adore Ji Xuan so much, the ruthlessly obsessive bastard that he is. Might be too squicky for some people, depending on your tastes (spider larvae are incubating under someone's skin at one point, Ji Xuan is pretty classically yandere and spends a good chunk of time in the younger form he first met Ye Jia in) but it's an excellent read if you like the friends to enemies to reluctant allies dynamic.

Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know: I'm only about halfway through the webnovel currently, but I absolutely love it so far. Premise is Wenren È, fearsome leader of the demonic Xuanyuan sect, has been tasked with fixing a terrible novel focused on a silly girl from a righteous sect that gives up her divinity for someone who never appreciates it. The review section for the novel wants to know why she never liked the second male lead, and he is also very concerned with this question - as well as why he even liked her in the first place. It's so fucking funny, watching the Devil Venerable try to figure out what love is in the first place while also showing far more affection to his most trusted subordinate than he realizes. I'm waiting so hard for Wenren È, the wicked-sharp amoral demon, to realize just how oblivious he is to his own feelings despite trying to induce it in others.

[elvenbeard]

6 and 8?

Thank you so much for asking!! :DD

6. Would your OC make a deal with the devil?

Technically, he's already made many deals with many devils, so, yes, I think he would! He signed his contract with Arasaka fully aware that they were probably involved in all sorts of shady business practises (but his expectations weren't even close to how bad it was in reality). But Vince is someone who always thinks he can outsmart others, looks for good opportunities and seizes them, and making that particularl deal was an amazing opportunity for that point in time of his life.

I mentioned this before, but had he not made any friends during the whole ordeal with Johnny, he also would've taken Arasaka's second, much more life-changing deal. The one reason he didn't was River inviting him to the family BBQ the morning after Johnny's wild night out, which gave him some time to rethink things.

Had that not happened, he would've gone to Hanako the same day. And all alone in that spacestation, the only person he felt he could somewhat trust being Takemura (and I'm sure Arasaka would've been able to mess with V's head in a way to make them eat up whatever Takemura promises), he would've taken this seemingly last chance at life in his desperation.

Not my happiest ending for him for sure xD But one I could definitely see work super well with who he is as a person!

8. Would your OC consider themself evil?

No, he wouldn't. But he also wouldn't consider himself good, too. He knows he's done some fucked up stuff, and he doesn't shy away from doing fucked up things still if they help him in some way. "Evil" to him is someone who has no morals or empathy whatsoever and does things completely for their own gain though without considering how it might affect others. And in that regard he has some standards still, morals he stands by and wouldn't wanna break (betraying a friend for personal gain for example), and even though he has mastered his cold-hearted bastard attitude, he is a very empathetic person.

[marley-manson]

Thoughts on The More I See You

- I kinda dig Hawk’s initial awkward conversation with BJ in which the closest he gets to deflecting is delaying admitting something for about two seconds before it comes out. It’s awkward, it’s uncomfortable, Hawkeye’s clearly thrown very off, but he doesn’t actually dodge or hide anything lol, even readily corrects BJ that Carlye left him rather than the other way around.

- Then he says he needs to see her and leaves, and while he goes to get intel from Radar first, he and BJ are still seemingly the first people who show up to say hi lol so he didn’t delay long in ripping the bandaid off. Like even at his most understandably awkward and reticent he holds very little back.

- Hawk deriding advertising in comparison to surgery as a career in a little rant, solidifying Carlye’s point that he was never going to prioritize her over it in how defensive he is about it.

- BJ’s “married person” conversation with Hawkeye is weird honestly and yeah my take, intended or not, is that BJ is definitely lying, to Hawkeye when he claims he doesn’t disapprove and doesn’t care, and to himself when he says he’s never been tempted. My evidence is: Mike Farrell’s delivery throughout; BJ’s overinvestment in other peoples’ marriages as seen in Of Moose and Men, the tag in which BJ lies for no reason with no other possible thematic relevance; the fact that BJ is the one to bring up Hawkeye’s affair with Carlye out of complete thin air only to then claim he doesn’t have an opinion on it; Hawkeye stating that BJ disapproves; the wordiness of BJ’s denials; “A lot of people are unfaithful.” “I read that in the cheater’s almanac,” ie BJ indirectly correcting Hawkeye’s downplayed phrasing with the more direct and indefensible ‘cheater,’ implying disapproval; aaaaaand the fact that he cheats next season lol.

- I’ve seen a lot of people who think Carlye intends to tell her husband she cheated on him and divorce him, which is odd because when breaking it off she says: “I’ve always been honest with Doug,” to which Hawkeye urges her to stay honest and tell him, to which she replies, as a reason not to: “he’ll want a divorce.” In line with every other cheating plot in the show, the continuation of the marriage is prioritized, and like BJ and Potter’s son in law’s plots, the moral is to keep your affair to yourself so you don’t ruin your marriage.

- Carlye brushing off the way she left without a word the first time, as something Hawkeye let happen and should’ve seen coming: wow harsh.

- Ultimately it boils down not to a flaw of Hawkeye’s but to irreconcilable differences, which I dig. “That’s fair! That’s how it should be!” Hawkeye can live without her, which isn’t enough for Carlye. This is reinforced in Stars and Stripes too, where he mentions this relationship in terms of incompatibility - I couldn’t change in med school for a woman I loved. But he’s still waiting for that custom fit. So anyway I’m sticking with my take that he’s willing to commit but it has to be with the right person - and the right person won’t demand that he prioritize them over his career.

- incidentally I also think this clashes with GFA lol, in making Hawkeye’s career shift more of a tragedy than it’s framed as. It should not be seen as ‘oh good, now that he’s traumatized by war and dropping his intense career path he can commit to someone’ it should be ‘wow the war destroyed the one thing he couldn’t even sacrifice for love? fucked up.’ any post-canon story where he can fully prioritize a person over his career is now sad to me.

- idk this episode is ultimately fine. not a fave, but much better than the het backstory could’ve been lol.

[emletish-fish]

Johnny and Daniel and thematic journeys. Daniel vs the monster and Johnny vs the self.

This rant was inspired by a discussion with @arabianflowers ​ on this post.

TV is a visual story-telling method, so lots of hugs/smiles/closeness in one dojo vs lots of solo practice in another dojo is a quick visual short-hand for telling the audience something about the environments/priorities within those dojos. Cobra Kai is trying to tell us something about these two men by framing it this way.

Season 4 makes it clear that these two need to blend their approach and have a lot to learn from each other.  Johnny teaches with more physicality and Daniel teaches with more philosophy and the kids need both. 

Short answer; I think this plays into the red-oni/blue-oni,  hot and cold, red and blue thing they have going on with Johnny and Daniel.  Johnny being a warmer sensei vs Daniel attemtping to be coolly logical and philosophical  ties into this red/blue theme. 

(I do not at all think this is deliberate or intentional on the part of the characters at all.  Can you imagine Johnny’s reaction to being told he has the cuddliest dojo and he’s the snuggly sensei?)

Longer answer -

This actually ties into something thematic in their overall arcs so far.

Daniel is on a daniel vs external foe (and evaluating how to fight that foe. eg examining his connection to and understanding of miyagi-do, what he is willing to sacrifice to win, price of victory, nature of evil, what is justice etc etc. All good moral and juicy questions that the show is in the process of answering.)

Johnny however is on an internal quest. It’s Johnny vs Johnny all the way down.  Can he overcome his toxic masculinity, overcome his past, and learn from his mistakes? Can he build successful relationships despite past failure. Can he atone? Can he have an improved relationship with his son? Can he break the cycle and be a better teacher/male role model than what he had as a youth?

Daniel’s story is about overcoming a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Johnny’s story is by nature more interpersonal, so that is why there is probably a greater focus on his interpersonal relationships as a result.

Caveat - it’s much easier to analyse stories when they’ve been completed and you see where all the loose threads end up. Cobra Kai is still in progress, so predictions are all just based on my best guesses. 

So yeah, it’s hard to predict where this is going to end up - but two thematic journeys are taking clear shapes.

Johnny and Daniel are mirror characters and foils for each other but they are on very different thematic journeys.

Daniel vs the Monster -

Jee, for someone who idolises a pacifist, Daniel does love to provoke and escalate fights, doesn’t he?

But that is kind of the point.

From season 1, Daniel’s driving action has been geared towards trying to defeat external enemies. First Johnny, then Kreese and now we are entering a new and probably final Daniel Vs Terry arc.

Terry is the ultimate big bad for Daniel.

Terry is the monster lurking in the traumatic shadows of all the things Daniel has suppressed.  Terry and the experience of everything that went down in Cobra Kai III are behind Daniel’s trust issues and his less noble actions. Terry is the undertow that pulls him towards escalating conflict.

In season 1, Daniel sees an instant enemy in Johnny NOT when he comes into the dealership. (There, faced with the man himself, Daniel can be magnimous and generous and tactful and kind).  No - the second that Daniel decides that Johnny is his ENEMY is when he sees the Cobra Kai sign.

Daniel is really fighting the snake - but it leads him to seeing enemies in people like Johnny and Chozen, when the real monster is just lurking off to the side.

And it’s so interesting that Chozen and Johnny and Daniel are all going to work together in season 5. I’m so curious as to how this dynamic will play out. 

The two people who seemed so bad and terrible to young Daniel will actually be his greatest allies and assets if he can learn to work with them.  We know that as soon as Daniel stops seeing them as enemies and starts seeing them as people, he can be the open and generous person he is in his heart. He enjoys their company and has fun with him. (We don’t get much carefree daniel).  And as of season 4, he’s acknowledged that there are things he can learn from both of them.

Daniel sees that Johnny and Chozen were messed up kids who were subjected to toxic idealogy when they were younger, and not inherently bad people or monsters.

he’s not a monster. he’s just a guy with a lot of demons.

He is much more forgiving of them as individuals - but also much more strident about his mission in ridding the valley of Cobra Kai. 

 But how much is Daniel willing to sacrifice to win and how far will this take him away from the Miyagi principles?

We see Daniel really lose sight of Miyagi principles in season 4 when he proceeds to do the opposite of what Mr Miyagi would do - all to beat  Cobra Kai and Terry Silver. 

(And I am predicting that season 5 will take us further down this rabbit hole.)

but this has been a building theme since season 1. Daniel drives all the escalation in season 1 and 2.  Aside from the dick graffiti, Johnny doesn’t instigate any of the drama and is much more reactive to Daniel.

Bizarrely, Johnny strike-first Lawrence is also more likely to be the one who reaches for de-escalation. eg the season 2 dojo confrontation and the season 4 battle both have Johnny attempt to diffuse the situation without violence.  He’s unsuccessful, because this is not his strong suit, but it is so interesting that the attempt is there.

Anyway, a pattern is forming.

In season 1 Daniel tries to fight Johnny indirectly through various means and close his dojo.

in season 2 he tries to out-karate him and open his own dojo to show everyone a better way.

(teaching karate is almost secondary to the goal of destroying cobra kai though ‘showing them a better way’, which is why Daniel’s storyline is more geared to  that, and has more philosophy etc.  The focus isn’t on the interpersonal relationships, but on daniel as a teacher.)

In season 3, Johnny is no longer the enemy and new villian has taken centre stage. Kreese is running the dojo, and Daniel tries to fight kreese indirectly and get the dojo shut down through various means.

Season 4, Daniel tries to fight Terry and Kreese by out karate-ing them at the AVT,.

I’m predicting season 5 will have Daniel once more trying to fight Terry through various means, rather than direct karate confrontations.  But in each season, the stakes get higher and the villians get stronger/badder/more evil, and Daniel has to make more compromises with himself and his values to confront them and the toll it takes on his family and his life gets bigger. 

Daniel is driven to fight the snake, often against his better judgement.

Daniel’s story is all about exploring how to be a pacifist in a violent world with violent foes, and what is the true meaning of justice and honour and mercy?

Daniel fighting an external foe means that he has his eyes on that goal and he loses sight of the bigger picture. Which is why he can use children to further his cause but justify it to himself as being for their own good.

Because Cobra Kai is terrible and Daniel will save them from it by using what saved him.

Miyagi-do.

and Miygai-do is a solo practice for self-betterment, it’s for defense only, it’s good.

and cobra kai is bad. 

so the ends justify the means.

I mean, that’s clearly where we are at right now.  Daniel is going to be obsessed with taking down Terry next season, and I’m just wondering where that obsession will take him.

I am so fascinated by both Daniel and Sam’s black and white thinking and how it affects their choices. Sam has been able to grow through hers because all the kids are wiser than the adults, and I hope Daniel will follow her footsteps.  I am hopeful that through the course of fighting Cobra Kai we will see Daniel eventually reconnect with himself and rediscover a more complete understanding of Miyagi-do.

Daniel’s story is about our connection with our own values and how this is tested by external circumstances.

Daniel’s story is driven by his need to defeat an evil, and that is why we get such a focus on his devastated face at the end of season 4. Because evil won, and he lost and now a snake is going to coil all around the valley and a new generation of vulnerable young people are going to be indoctrinated with poison. 

But how does Johnny react to this same loss?

They are on the same team with the same goals at that point, after all.

While Daniel is devastated by this horrendous defeat and what it means for the big picture (Cobra Kais all over the valley and generation lost to a toxic idealogy that he knows destroys lives, Mr Miyagi’s legacy trampled into dust)

...  But Johnny’s son is looking sad and lost even after his dojo winning, so you know, Johnny’s much more pre-occupied with that.  Plus he’s had a falling out with Miguel, so that’s weighing on him too.

His biggest stake in the AVT are all mostly personal; a knee-jerk desire to get back at Kreese, and prove that he’s equal to Daniel and get Robby out of the crazy dojo are all personal motivations.

He DGAF about the All Valley or the nuances of karate philosophies in a general sense, he only really cares what is going on with the people close to him.

Because Johnny’s story is about connections with people.

Johnny vs Himself

Johnny, at the start of the series, is a very isolated character, but it seems to be largely self-inflicted.  He pushes people away. He’s estranged from his son. He has no immediate close bonds with other people.

He’s a trauma-ridden mess. an alcoholic. a loser.

Johnny struggles to genuinely connect with people because he hauls so much baggage into every interaction.  But through the simple, surprising state of being NEEDED by Miguel, Johnny begins to change.

(I will also argue that Johnny, even though he didn’t realise it at the time,  needed Miguel just as much as Miguel needed him  - and that’s a big part of why their relationship has always been on more equal footing than Robby and Daniel’s). 

Miguel needs something very simple from Johnny - karate instruction. And karate is something that Johnny feels confident in giving. He is able to give Miguel this piece of himself and it goes well.  He isn’t rejected. he feels like he’s helping the kid. and it feels kinda nice, to have someone to help and a reason to get up in the morning.  Teaching Miguel becomes a big priority for him. 

and once again, karate is kind of secondary.

Daniel teaches karate to fight Cobra Kai.

But Johnny teaches karate to build connections.

In Johnny’s lessons, we get a much bigger focus on the interpersonal relationships between everyone in the dojo, but especially on Johnny’s role as a teacher and how he develops this relationship with his students.

We see him initially copy kreese exactly, but very quickly he learn to soften the drill-sergent nasty stuff and he reaches out them as fellow losers, and take pride in their achievements and stand up for them at all valley committees, and it’s all part of his journey towards being a better sensei/better mentor than the one he had.

He clearly wants to be better than kreese.

And there’s the rub, and the tension.

Because try as Johnny might,  he has so many toxic and embedded patterns from his time with Kreese - and sometimes he is not even aware of them until it is too late.

Johnny’s biggest struggles mostly boil down to him trying to break his toxic cycles, move past his inter-generational trauma, and be better that any of his father figures.

And when he succeeds, it’s great. (Back half of season 2, Johnny kicking kreese to the curb because he could see what a negative effect the man had on the kids. the fact that he could do for the kids what he couldn’t do for himself and was finally able to stand up to his abuser because he thought they were being mistreated.  Johnny fully breaking with his indoctrination and fumbling to try and show his students a better way, more merciful way  - that was peak Johnny for me. A real high point in his journey.)

And when he fails, it’s tragic.  (The downward spirals, the season 4 insecurity leading to all manner of poor life choices, and the way his inability to overcome his trauma affects the younger generation, especially Robby and Miguel.  These boys both want him, and Johnny wants to rise to the moment and meet both their needs but he often fails and then hates himself for failing and withdraws. but that doesn’t do anything to help either boy.)

This is why Johnny’s biggest foe isn’t an external enemy.

Johnny’s biggest enemy is himself.

His inner kreese, the voice that whispers ‘you lost, you’re worthless, you’re nothing’. The insecurity and toxic masculinity and the need to be tough and the aversion to showing an vulnerability, the hyper-vigilance to threats and the overwhelming need to  over-compensate for any weaknesses are all things Johnny learned from Kreese alongside Strike Hard- Strike First - No Mercy. (A philosophy that no doubt has had an irreparably negative effect on Johnny’s life).

Whilst Mr Miyagi gifted Daniel a path to inner peace, what Johnny received from his Sensei was inner turmoil. He needs to constantly fight his inner demons and he doesn’t always win. And listening to his inner kreese causes some of his biggest mistakes with the kids.

But Johnny’s mistakes as a sensei can’t hold as candle to his mistakes as a father.

Robby and Johnny’s desire to connect better with his son has been driving the action in Johnny’s story since we first met the kid back in season 1.  I would say most of Johnny’s narrative drive is centred around him trying to improve himself and build better relationships rather than fighting external foes.  

Final thoughts:

so yeah, because Daniel’s story is all about how to fight and enemy bigger than yourself and how to stay peaceful in a world of violence and how to find balance  - his teachings are much more philosophical to mirror that sort of journey.

But because Johnny’s story is all about moving past inner demons/past experiences to build meaningful connections with others, his dojo has a much heavier emphasis on those interpersonal relationships and more found family vibes - because that is the sort of story that is going on there.  

It also leads to this wonderful dictomy, because Daniel is teaching more pacifist teachings whilst engaging in fighting  external foes. He’s got a much more active and aggressive character journey.  Daniel is much more rigid in his approach to most things, and his attitude to his students is no exception. He needs them to meet the Miyagi ideal because Daniel is fighting a war, and Miyagi- method is the weapon he is sure will win. 

(Oh Daniel, what a wild ride this season will be for you!)

Whilst Johnny teaches assertiveness, he’s actually far more passive in his personal life and has to work up the courage to reach out to people.  He’s more likely to question his own actions and second guess himself and change his approach depending on the circumstances.  He’ll respond if provoked, but we very rarely see him instigate fights (and will only really do so if he has some personal stake.  like, the only example I can think of is beating up the sleazy dude who was trash-talking Carmen back in season 2 and the bikers who insulted Tommy). He’s less invested in the karate war as a battle of ideas and much more focus on the people.

Season 5 has set up Johnny taking a break from the karate scene and peacing out from the drama so he can focus on Robby and Miguel, whilst Daniel goes down the fighting-terry rabbit hole.

And I’m excited to see where the rabbit hole goes.

[whats-wild-to-you]

Lila’s Song

You squeeze the mic, your knuckles turning white. It took all your courage to sign up for SMTM and now that you’re here, all you want to do is run. Your fellow contestants come back into the waiting room, one looking more defeated then the other. They all go and hug their friend, relative, whoever it is that’s with them for moral support. You have no one. Because you were either too embarrassed or scared to tell anyone about this, you ended up coming here alone. 

“This is a tough competition!”, you hear someone say and instinctively look around. 

Should you just leave the mic somewhere and go? Announce that you’re leaving and storm out? Pretend you have to use the bathroom and sneak out? Beads of sweat form on your forehead as more contestants who have been eliminated come backstage. 

Suddenly your name gets called and you panic, stammering gibberish at the person pushing you towards the stage.

The lights are blinding you and it takes several seconds for your eyes to adjust. Then you see him, Jay Park, in all his glory, sitting in front of you, looking grim.

You remind yourself to not freak out, but most importantly, not to fangirl. You take a couple deep breaths and introduce yourself.

“Hi, I’m Lila Kane, singer/ songwriter from Daejeon. Nice to meet you!” The other judges nod, but Jay remains stone-faced. 

“Have you prepared a song for us?” A judge asks.

“I’m going to sing something I wrote and composed myself, I hope you will like it!”

At this point you avoid making eye contact with Jay, seeing as he makes you nervous. When you sing, you look at all the other judges but avoid him completely. 

Jay on the other hand doesn’t tear his gaze off you. For a split second hope rises in you. Maybe this time you will succeed. You’re in your early thirties and way past your prime, so competitions with much younger people never end in your favor. You know that, you know this is your best, your last shot. If you fail here you’re going back to working in a boring 9 to 5 office job.

The song ends and the judges applaud hesitantly.

They didn’t like it., you immediately think.

“How long did it take you to write it?” A judge asks.

“It’s very raw, very emotional!” Another adds.

You can’t get a word in, panic rises in you.

They don’t like it!, you think again.

Jay, who remained silent all this time, is shuffling in his seat now. Clearly he has something to say.

“What do you think?” Someone asks him and he sighs deeply, licking his lips several times before he starts talking.

“It’s not that it’s not good, the song is good. It’s just not the style we’re looking for here on SMTM.”

“I understand.”, you automatically say, fully expecting to be cut.

“I disagree!”, a different judge blurts out, staring at Jay. “She’s very talented!”

“I didn’t say she’s not talented, she is! It’s just not what we want for the show!”

It becomes clear to you, Jay has the final say in this. And right now it’s not looking good.

“Sorry, but you didn’t pass. But please continue to do your music.” He finally says.

It’s little comfort for you, still you bow before them and thank them for their time.

Backstage, someone takes the mic off your hands and pats you on the back. You take your backpack that’s been laying in a corner and exit the room. In a daze you return your entrance pass on your way out, almost missing someone calling out your name.

“Lila!”

You recognize Jay’s red beanie and hastily wipe off your tears.

“I can’t let you go that easily!” He says, a bright smile adorning his face. 

He hands you a business card, with a handwritten number on the back.

“Give me a call tomorrow, I’ll make sure the world gets to listen to your songs.”

Your face lights up, mirroring Jay’s, and you both stand there in silence, with the whole world seemingly standing still as well.

[retphienix]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Okay.

So, I genuinely can't say if this is a side effect of my elongated playthrough, or if it's simply "How my brain would handle this in real time" but regardless my experience is thus:

I was suspicious as HELL of Akechi at the start because he heard Morgana. But I relatively quickly excused this as something "else", like maybe he was preconfigured for this kind of thing kind of like being psychically sensitive or what have you.

And even when I WAS suspicious of him, I was suspicious on principle, not in a specific "He's responsible for the mental breaks" way- I never once suspected him of that and again that's where my question of "Is this how I'd always think it through, or is this because I played this game over 6 months"

But here we are!

I fucking love that Morgana and Joker both noticed Akechi's initial slip- I really really fucking love that because Morgana is often portrayed as being either too immature, too confident, or just having slightly too big of a head to understand and notice such small details; but they've also proven themselves to be very competent despite that.

IE, I could totally buy them overlooking it on the basis of "Huh, must have been a mistake, anyways back to being the coolest phantom thief around :3" but them NOTICING is still somehow entirely in character and just feels cool as hell.

I don't say this lightly, I'm on the edge of my seat here, I loathe that I'm taking short breaks to type any of this simply because I Want To Know already.

It's a sort of realization that feels like an honest to god backstabbing from a friend.

Like, hear me out a second.

I KNOW Akechi's entire social link is showcasing just how intense their rivalry is and that he's, by definition of his own hatred for everything we are, not our friend. But this still has been a full palace and a lot of dialogue leading up to the conclusion that Akechi seemingly has or at one point had good morals.

We really fit so neatly into being opposite sides of the same coin- damned to hate each other and the other's methods- but striving for the same conclusions- that to now see evidence to the contrary~

Evidence that Akechi has supposedly-

because I'm forever cursed to offer the benefit of the doubt even as I literally hear Akechi say he wants to kill us because I like him so much

-become corrupted by his ideals and despite cursing us for our vigilante methods- he's supposedly following orders from the director or that dickhead politician to do just the same but with a less personable morality and more of a "Big picture" (and only big picture) morality.

It honestly feels like I got to know someone who's entirely different from myself, but is still a good person fundamentally.

Like, my opinion of him was even given a chance to be challenged, changed, and reinforced through this story: Do you remember when Sae was being maliciously corrupt in her methods towards Sojiro and I was like "That's super fucked up!" and then Akechi "seemed" to support her and I was like "That's super fucked up!" and then Akechi revealed that he had no idea exactly how shitty her methods were- and once confronted with that truth his opinion flipped and I was like "Oh! He's actually a good lad :) He was ignorant of it and now that he knows the details his morality doesn't stand in line with that!"

That small ride of my opinion on him did a lot to cement a trust in him, and now that trust is being spat on and I'm like !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have no idea what comes next. I have no idea to what degree he is the traitor IE if he's the mental break culprit as well.

I know it's being painted PRETTY CLEARLY but even as I type I'm left instilling a sense of ambiguity to his role.

I am being presented with information that pretty much confirms he sold us out, he's the traitor to the PT at the very least.

I know he's been to the metaverse before, which aligns with him being the culprit.

I know that he wants us dead, which aligns with using us as a scapegoat to hide that he's the real culprit.

But the way I see it there's a few potential next steps.

He could just be the guy, 100%, which would mean he is far more clever, charismatic, and manipulative than I've given him credit for up until this point.

This would align with the general air the game has applied to him; But I find small... not contradictions so much as road bumps in that, such as his reaction to Sae's handling of Sojiro. (link to relevant posts in reblog because tumblr honestly seems uncertain if links [even to other tumblr posts] are allowed in tags or not)

I could see a character having a twisted sense of morality that demands professionalism and a refusal to make false claims while still happily killing hundreds to thousands of people just to make sure the status quo is maintained- but I don't know if Akechi is that or not.

I could see it! But I also can easily not see it.

I could also see him simply being a traitor to us, and that's it. It would offer the road bump of him not supporting Sae's "crack a few eggs" method, but it would still work in the sense that he DOES 100% unequivocally think we are bad. The PT are bad, shitty, horrible, a blight, Just As Bad As The Mental Breaks, Risky, and the best way to truly kill this snake is to remove its head.

He could simply think, perhaps rightfully so, that we wouldn't uphold our end of the bargain- that we would change Sae's heart and then be unsatisfied with the fact that we aren't helping to find the true culprit anymore- so his means of silencing the PT and directing attention back to the true culprit would be to kill off Joker.

But then this opens its own can of worms and seems less likely because of the consequences of it. Yes he wants us gone, 100%, but he also wants the culprit gone in this hypothetical, and scapegoating us doesn't solve that issue, it solves one issue and gives the other (ARGUABLY MUCH BIGGER) issue a free pass for a while.

UNLESS~~~~~ Third option, he is a traitor to us alone, isn't the culprit, but works for the director and directly or indirectly supports the true culprit, knowingly or not.

Meaning he wants us gone, that's what he's doing, and he's okay with the can of worms of the culprit getting off scot free because he's working under the assumption the culprit is a vital and necessary tool for those above him.

Well that was fun to hypothesize.

He's probably just the culprit and has had his sense of justice corrupted far further and for far longer than Sae, perhaps groomed into this position from the very start of his "Young Brilliant Detective" days.

I felt compelled to hypothesize the ways in which he might not be the culprit mostly because of what I mentioned earlier in this post: His betrayal honest to god FEELS like a betrayal, like a character I was tricked into trusting !WITH THE FULL KNOWLEDGE THAT OUR ALLIANCE WAS LOFTY! has betrayed me after honest to god earning my trust on his sense of morality. He got me, so I rambled, let's see the truth then :)

[the-ship-maker-2]

Hello there! You've been visited by the random question fairy! ~ ☆

What was the most meaningful relationship (platonic or romantic) your character has had with another person? Why was it so meaningful? Ultimately, what happens to this relationship?

Tabby

Michael: her step-dad. The man who raised her when no one else would. Her first real friend and the only one she came to respect on her own without being forced too. Set up her core foundation of who she was today and raised to become what she is now. The main source of her trauma. Very estranged now.

Adam: Her baby brother her pride and joy. She was forced to raise him at 9 since he was born. He is her living proof that she is not a monster and a bad person contrary to her step dad's belief. For how can someone so bad raise someone so good? Eventually they come back into each other's lives.

Horatio: The first person she ever met at Rosewood. became rivals and became each others equals. Also a main source of trauma and the bane of her existence. Taught her heart break and betrayal and that there is more than meets the eye. How to humanize people. That you can't save everyone if they don't want to be saved. They become sworn enemies again.

Autumn: Her best friend. Her second in command. her big sister. her human diary. Her other half. Pick one and go with it. The person who taught her what love, home, understanding and acceptance was. She balanced out Tabby's darker tendencies from her step dad. Would become the basis for what moral compass she has. Unfortunately death has kept them apart.

Toby: The boy who unknowingly saved her in more ways than one.Her savior and they one she grew to fall l in love with. Taught her that a second chance comes with everything, There is more to life than being a proxy and that you have relatively good people around you if you look hard enough. I can't give spoilers for ERHIT but it's becoming something worth while.

Chase:

Connor: the boy who was by his side since day 1 in the orphanage. His best friend and soul mate. He showed him that he wasn't a monster and not to fear him. He never had that before in his life. For once he had something to fight for. Unfortunately due to trauma and tragic events they're both dead and become very estranged.

Sister Mary-Angela: the nun that took care of him and Connor. The seemingly only good one in that place. She gave them a mother figure that they both could trust and rely on. Unfortunately she dies for them and they both mourn her greatly.

Connor:

Chase: his first real friend at the orphanage and his first real love. He never strayed too far from his side and fought for him. They're unfortunately very estranged now.

Sister Mary-Angela: same as chase up above

Juliet:

Louisa Monroe: her mother and one of the few family members she was close to. Definitely a mommy's girl. Gave her the doll that looks just like her and the only thing that she has left of her mom. One day she walked out on them and never came back. Needless to say I think they would be very estranged.

Evan Monroe: her older brother by 4 years. The second one she was closest to after their mother left. Only for a bit of course. Until their step mother came into the picture and began to turn on her. Needless to say they hate each other.

Fallax: a friend. A demon who haunts the abandoned carnival grounds that Evan forces juliet to explore every night. Her first true friend and savior from her broken home. They're relationship is very good very much a guardian/mentor/apprentice type of relationship.

Robbecca:

Tbh I haven't done enough development for her to answer that question.

Amelia:

The college gangTM (Smiley, EJ, and Locklear): her friend group all throughout college and med school. EJ was the baby of the group. Locklear was an honorary member, and Smiley was her first love, although they were never officially together. They helped each other grow and develop. Until the death of EJ and then the group became distant and disolved. They were very estranged for a while after getting the group together in nearly 20+ years, but they're currently working on mending their relationship with each other. It's not perfect buy its a work in progress.

Anna: her lifeboat and savior after the group. Was there when she lost her medical license and got her in the medical cult to get it back. She turned out to be a back stabbing bitch so amelia killed her.

The cult: her one hope to getting her medical license back. She never truly belonged there but it was all she got left. Eventually she got out by killing all of them.

I hope you like these and feel free to ask again!

[asoulofatlantis]

I think Randy shows very much how difficult it is to switch from a life as a Jaeger, to a life as a good human with a conscience and a strong moral compass. Its been years for Randy at this point and yet, he still struggles with how his strength, the strength that gave him the name "red reaper", is sometimes seemingly useless or at least not enough when he tries to protect the people he loves and cares about. The difficulty to understand how he was once strong enough to kill people and destroy villages without any problem and yet, when he want to do good, and protect people and places instead of destroying them, this strength isn't enough. We have seen through the Trails-Saga that former Jaegers or even former Gang-Members have unlike skills to them that can benefit them in battle when they use them for good, but not being on the bad side anymore comes with the prize of not being ruthless anymore. If the only way to protect your friend is to throw someone else into the line of fire or kill someone with your very own hands - which is something most Jaegers would do - then your moral compass will stop you and you will find that strength alone isn't enough, not when you are on the good side. And I believe it is very hard to deal with that when you once have been unbeatable and no one could stand in your way. I think Randy is especially prone to feeling this... helpless and frustrated about this helplessness, because his journey as a jager ended when his own stupidity was partly to blame for losing a friend...

I have to say it again, how proud I am of how far Lloyd has become since the Crossbell-Saga and how much more I like him these days. All he has been through has changed him truly for the better and makes it so that he finally truly feels like the best leader the SSS could have. Seeing through Randys state and giving him this amazing and honest pep-talk was a wonderful example of just how much Lloyd has grown as a person, a leader and also a friend. And it was wonderful to be able to watch this growth happen over time.

They are amazing! Why do they not have an S-Rank yet? They surely have the skill, the power and the experience to freaking deserve it!

Seems like Estelle has turned the tables on Randys favorite joke XD

And since we are both idiots why don't we promote you from "former Colleague" to "my wife"? Sounds about right, right? XD (DAMN RIGHT!)

How the freaking heck did I fuck up the order so badly? I planned to finish Rufus route first, because that one sucks in this chapter but somehow I ended up finishing Reans and then Lloyds first and I do not know why at all ^^'

Uh... okay? Not sure why we lose access to the corridor, but whatever...

Yeah, thank you for looking after my only child, man that killed my best friend with a shot in the head from behind like a cold blooded murderer... *achem*

Are they cute or what?

I did not get much off all that unnecessary bullshit when I played this game with the spreadsheet and it seems like I am still lost here. So... I hope this conversation end a little bit quicker here, seeing how many lines from the whole game a quite different from the ones from the Spreadsheet...

The kind heart of a murderer.... geez Falcom. I get you want to show us that EVERYONE deserves a second chance and that not everyone who does bad things is bad or stays bad forever and blah, blah, blah... but this is just ridiculous. Guy was an innocent man, a good police officer, the only family member Lloyd had in Crossbell and he was about to get married to the love of his life too. And Ian killed him. And not even in a fair fight. He shot him in the head from behind, without warning. That is even worse than what Rufus did with Lianne. How can you straight out let anyone say that he is a kind hearted men?

But he totally pretended not to be XD It was all "They are fine" and "They are capable" and "I know they are alright" but this was merely him trying to convince himself at the end of the day. Our Rean Bean is still a worrywart, he just hides it way better than in the past XD

Yes, lets do that before your pretty little Girlfriend here gets a panic attack...

[pacifymebby]

I did not see it coming at all. Also I'm not sure that's what Rhys meant when he said he wanted them to make up 😬 How does miss groupie really feel about each of the boys?

I'm not gonna lie i didnt see it coming either and then as i was writing it just suddenly occurred to me that they couldn't not? There characters have been building to some kind of realisation since the very beginning, theyve always been closer than just "fuck buddies" and its been apparent right from the start that they care about eachother and that if she was any other girl they'd have been together already.

But for reals its definitely not what rhys meant :o :o :o

I know im the writer and I'm supposed to know how my characters feel but right now i have no clue whatsoever!! I think miss groupie is confused and in a real mess and I am confused too. I dont even know who i think would be better for her at this point??

Its clear she fancies the fuck out of Billy and she's definitely going to be thinking about that night for a very long time. I can't imagine shes finished with him just yet.

Aaron is definitely someone she is very emotionally close with too, not as much as she is with Harri, but they're certainly good friends. Perhaps theres less between them and perhaps he may be a little easier to let go if it ever even comes to that, but I think she'd be lying if she said she could let him go and never second guess herself.

Jamie is such a tricky one because clearly everyone else thinks he isn't good for her, and perhaps he isn't... But theres something there that she just can't get enough of. Maybe if we sat down and psychoanalysed her we'd find some deep emotional reason for her enjoying the way he appears to hate her, the cruelty he treats her with and the plain lack of respect he seems to have for her.. Or perhaps shes just a thrill seeker and that's all there is to it. Either way I think she's still hooked on his temper and trying to piss him off. He has a lot more to offer her right now than you can begin to imagine and i think her inability to predict just how far he's going to take things will keep her hanging on despite her friends warnings.

Theres also the fact that Jamie has expressed a hint of remorse and perhaps even a little concern for her in the past, and has certainly calmed down after the events backstage which lead to this mess in the first place. You can't forget that he was willing to fuck his entire engagement into the ground for her, and although perhaps you could say that says more about his lack of love for Saskia than it does his feelings for y/n, but you can't say that without acknowledging that it takes something pretty strong to lead someone seemingly blindly down a path of devestation so, well, devestating. Whether its attraction, love, something else or just plain old self distructive tendencies, somethings going on there he isnt telling anyone...

If anyone knows whats going on his Jamies head its probably Eddie and perhaps thats why out of all the lads Eddie has the least to do with our groupie.

Eddie really is just a bit of a booty call for her, they don't even fuck very often and hardly have one to one interaction. Probably Jamie is keeping him too busy with the laundry and ironing his socks, he doesnt have the same free time as the others. Or perhaps he can sense that theres something underneath Jamies bad temper and cruel remarks, perhaps hes seen this kind of thing before and he knows whats really going on in Jamies head...

The younger lads are far too new to the mix for y/n to show them any real thought I think, she doesn't know many of them all that well, but she probably feels a minor moral obligation to Finn because of her relationship with his father. I think they're more likely to remain friends even if she gives up her nympho lifestyle and settles down. I think he sees himself as a friend to her and she sees herself as a friend to him too. In another life they could have ended up being raised together like brother and sister (you know because when her dad died finns dad was there and could have taken her in) so i think they understand theyre always going to know one another and need to be friends.

I think she's going to remain curious about James, i dont think she's going to be able ti shelve that curiosity at all... But is she even going to get to know him? What if she has to pull the plug on everything because of whats happened between her and Harri.

As for Rhys... That feels so uncertain and so complicated. Their relationship developed so fast and really is the spanner thats been thrown in the works between the rest of them. Rhys showing up has meant she spends less time with Aaron, no longer sleeping in the same bed as him at night, its meant theres been someone there to hold her back from winding Jamie up, someone to show her the care and comfort she needs when she goes ahead and pushes that too far anyway. Before Rhys her main authority figure was Harri, but he always enjoyed her wild side too much to ever really hold her back or stop her when she was in the middle of a tricksy plan. Rhys has been there to defend her, something shes never let anyone do in the past, to look after her and treat her softly, baby her in a way shes never let anyone else do. Before him she was always keeping up the "pretence" of independence, that she liked being alone, that she didn't need anyonr and that other people to her were just pieces in her game to be used and then knocked off the board. But Rhys is different, he's the only one who won't give her what she wants, the only one who won't give her instant gratification or the satisfaction of a conquest and so for the first time she's being forced to consider making sacrifices, to consider someone elses feelings and rules... Because Harri didnt have rules and she didn't care about anyone elses.

Rhys does and for the first time she isnt being rewarded for breaking them... Thats forcing her to really consider what he js to her.

I think she wants to trust him completely, but something is holding her back... The knowledge that if she hands herself over to him she has to give up all her other options. For whatever reason this girl craves and needs the attention of all these men, perhaps its just a classic sex addiction or perhaps its something deeper than that.

We know shes got her daddy issues and she always seems to be seeking out authority (even if that is only so she can rebel against it) either way its complicated and she has a lot of thoughts and feelings to try and work out. And tbh she's running out of time to do so...

I think a fair few chapters back Jamie asked her what she was going to do when the tour ended and she told him she'd probably go home for awhile, find a new band to hang around with... I think all considering the stitch shes in now, and the way she tends to deal with problems (either purposefully making them worse or straight up ignoring them and shutting off her feelings) she really will go off and do that. Perhaps we'll get a Groupie Part ll or perhaps someone else will give her a better opportunity.

Thanks for this anon anon, its actually given me a good opportunity to recap everything and really consider the characters feelings haha ♥️♥️♥️