#theposter

[angelmachines]

teru & socialization

i've posted about this before but something ive been thinking about a LOT is mp100's themes of loneliness (and eventual connections). i think this is an aspect of teru's character (in particular) that gets left out because it's not as explicit but i've been wanting to do a deep dive on it for a while and i finally sat down to do it. just a warning, this post is gonna be LONG.

these two panels are from chapter 16 of the manga (which i'm using for my evidence because i. dont want to scrub through the anime LOL). initial sentiment: teru uses his powers to cheat having friends/a good social life and wouldn't have that if he tried earnestly. this is a fair interpretation of the scene. with what we know, at this point of time (as in within the teru-mob fight) teru would not be able to connect with other people earnestly, due to his mindset. which i think is a fair interpretation, HOWEVER:

(from chapter 17 ^^) the first panel shows teru's expression to be strained and the second is visibly unhappy. this puts the first set of panels into a different context, that maybe underneath all of this, teru doesn't WANT any of this life that he's built. keep in mind that i'm analyzing this with teru's possible autistic tendencies in mind & you dont have to believe he's autistic, im not your dad, but i do find this a pretty meaningful indication of masking if he were

(note: yes, the strain can definitely be read as comp-het, and i would agree but that's not relevant so go read this post on that instead)

even if the rest of these panels show teru content with his life, i think these expressions are pretty vital to how we read his life especially because we know so little of it. think about it, if you were a kid desperate for affection because you couldn't get it anywhere else, especially not in a way that would come off as "mature" or "unaffected", wouldn't you also look for validation in your popularity? even if it aligned you with people who you consider fundamentally different to you? my point here is that teru can't not stand out-- it's in his nature-- and we are shown how he tries to blend in & receive attention in the only way possible to him; which is to say that he molds himself into something that is palatable, likeable, and superior to other people. if he's nothing, like mob, he has spent his entire life covering up for it. if he fails socially, like mob, he has to be good at everything (even if he cheats to do so) so that everyone else can look past it.

(side note for my teru angst enjoyers: this is a panel of his mom. the mom who he hasn't seen in years. doesn't it make sense that, if he hasn't heard his mom say he's proud of him for literal years, that he would overachieve in response? not related to the autism thing i just have the teru bug. also don't be misogynistic in my notes both his parents suck we just get a singular mention of his mom)

so if teru couldn't meaningfully have friends before mob, that could very easily be because of his past mindset, right?

...except, we don't.. really... see him make other friends afterwards.

but, the awakening lab, right?

(ok i lied to you sorry there is one anime screenshot and thats because it stood out to me while i rewatched it earlier this month. sorry.) id like to bring attention to this screenshot during the cultural festival because the awakening lab can definitely be seen as a direct contradiction of this and i'd like to point out a couple things:

1) in this scene the shiratori brothers are in another room 2) them and the other three are friends with ritsu (or at least close enough acquaintances to want to see him).

considering this is one of the only times they appear together for Fun i am more inclined to believe this is an encounter where they went together because they all would've gone separately anyway. this isn't to discount the possible bond that these characters might have, but thats the thing. we... aren't really shown that they're friends and enjoy spending time together outside of this screenshot, where two out of six of the members are not even present. not to mention that teru is still placing himself in a role separate from his peers. despite stripping the superiority away, teru is still the awakening lab's mentor, not friend. teru still views himself as fundamentally different in a context where his psychic powers don't make him that way.

...except with mob. i bring this placement of power up because where he is the awakening lab's mentor, teru declares mob to be his rival, or, in other words, teru is just like him. he is accepting that mob and him are the same. (and if we view mob from an autistic lens... so on and so forth)

as if to hammer in that point even further-- in the summer vacation omake, teru explicitly states that "summer break is just a super long, super boring stretch of alone time." i'm not sure of the timeline here, but guessing from the hair, we're at least post season 1. which gives us explicit confirmation here that teru is spending the break alone despite his relationship to the awakening lab. his connection to mob is a lifeline here because mob is one of the only people who can intuitively understand teru's isolation without judgment

(also, on that point of teru's autistic tendencies: teru does and says a LOT of things that would raise other peoples eyebrows and doesn't seem to notice.

here we get teru actively admitting to his home life, right in front of reigen, WHO COULD CALL CHILD SERVICES ON HIM? this genuinely made me rethink this character entirely. teru's filter is... minimal. he isn't constantly volunteering information and generally minds his own business, but if you ask? Well.

teru is a social person, but to say he is proficient in understanding social situations seems... wrong. teru views his loneliness as boring because, despite being fairly open, does not actually allow himself to think about his own feelings and how they affect him. this loneliness is boring because he doesn't have enough of a reference to realize its not

if we are taking pre-mob teru to be a version of himself who is masking, or at the very least someone who is faking a lot of stuff in a less autistic sense, the fight with mob changes teru to the point where he no longer hides himself. in the same way that mob was able to shake teru's fragile superiority complex i think the change in appearance marks the end of the self teru had built up. from this point on we see him become a lot more... Him. his appearance and his fashion choices are, presumably, completely normal to him and we get no indication that he believes otherwise despite the reactions it gets-- which is... well, i wouldn't be writing this post if i thought it was one of his most neurotypical traits.

in fact, he seems... pretty oblivious to what other people think of him. which is an interesting distinction to make considering the intelligence we Know he possesses (which is not to say that you are unintelligent if you don't pick up on social cues, just that its common for media to depict it that way.) these traits are made pointedly, even if unintentionally, separate, ESPECIALLY when you note the amount of characters who Do ruminate on or stare at teru's appearance.

some examples. i don't even think this is all of it-- case in point.)

[drilpencils]

(cartoon by james stevenson, caption by dril)

[itslilacokay]

(attempt at) human yellow! wacky wow

[foundfamilyarena]

[ID: images of two groups on a versus card. The first image is of Kim Dokja's Company from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, with all the characters eating, cooking, talking, carrying food/water, and light-heartedly fighting. They are in a forest with two tables by a stream. The second image is of the Strawhat Pirates from One Piece. They are all up in the air striking various victory poses. They all look happy with other emotions mixed in like being smug, calm or excited. The versus card has a yellow border with yellow roses, a hydrangea, and a dianthus. In the middle is a yellow heart with the word vs in white fancy/swirly font. End ID]

[wackpedion]

smth smth about how the musical took the plot of Heathers and injected amatonormativity into it

[nellarw95]

Happy Birthday Meryl 🥳🎂🎈🎁🎉

Mary Louise Streep

June 22,1949

Buon Compleanno 🥳🎂🎈🎁🎉

22 Giugno 1949

[wrencatte]

.....

I'm so happy to be off in a few hours. Gonna go grocery shopping.

[tiger-balm]

WAIT DID I ACCIDENTALLY MANIFEST THE DEWEY TRADE HOLD KN 😭

[pleuvoire]

i know eta means estimated time of arrival but when people put it in post in the same way they'd use "edit:" what does it stand for.

[neptuniccalamity]

WIDESTEP

[patorucho]

help me why are the asks im sending starry are in MY inbox

[surskip]

what would heal me right now is if i went to the store and got a giant rotisserie chicken and ate it all by myself

[bluiex]

u and space a thing?

We're friends 😭

[official-virtual-hug-dealer]

To anyone else who observes Good Friday,

This is your reminder that Good Friday is not about the people who crucified Jesus. I repeat, it IS NOT about the people who crucified Jesus. There tends to be an increase in antisemitism going around from what I’ve seen around this time of the year. Putting aside the ridiculousness of insinuating that modern Jewish people had anything at all to do with the crucifixion, this day is not and should never be about them. What it is is a day for solemn prayer. A day where we should open our hearts to the pain our Lord endured and to true gratitude for his sacrifice. It is a day to mourn for the suffering that was felt on the day of the crucifixion and the suffering of so many of God’s children throughout history and even now. All while we await the resurrection on Easter Sunday. To make this a day of hatred is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. On the day Jesus was crucified, whose hearts were filled with hatred? Not Jesus’s. In no gospel was he ever recorded saying a single word to condemn those who had crucified him. When his disciples had tried to prevent the arrest by means of violence, Jesus stopped them and went peacefully. When he entered Jerusalem he entered on a donkey, a sign of peace. Jesus could be passionate in his beliefs, but he never did anything out of hate. To his dying breath Jesus bore no ill-will towards even the Romans. This day is about Jesus and his sacrifice. Don’t take Jesus out of Good Friday just so you can carry on in hatred.

Peace be with you

Tl;dr: Good Friday is about as far away from a free pass on antisemitism as you could possibly get if there were such a thing as a free pass on antisemitism, so get over yourself and your hatred to focus on what’s really important here: Jesus.

[hacknet]

for once my bizarre tendency to skip ahead a line or so in something im reading actually stopped me from reading p2 spoilers. first time for everything i guess

[raurquiz]

#HappyBirthday @carolynmccormick_official #carolynmccormick #actress #minuet #startrek #thenextgeneration #spencerforhire #lawanorder #trialbyjury #CriminalIntent #cracker #judgingamy #onelifetolive #bull #aholidayspectacular #thepost #mapplethorpe #thelastthingmarysaw #startrek58 @startrek @startrekonpplus @streammaxla