#there's other symbols but i think theyre more obvious

[hopsof]

Lamb to the slaughter

[charliecharlston]

i wanna speak to the void abt gwens universe's colour symbolism and how it links to trans identity so here it is, feel free to read

the colours used in gwens universe - primarily in interactions with her dad are pinkish and bluish tones. the animators used pink as a way to show honesty, candidness and openness expressed, whilst the blue served to show isolation and dishonesty. ill discuss why i think so below

in the scene where gwen returns home after quitting the band, gwen is coloured in blue tones.

shes hiding her identity as spiderwoman from her dad and isolating herself in her room.

her dad tries to open up and talk to her about the case, hence the warm/orangey tones. but gwen remains blue, shutting him out. but when they hug, gwen is more purplish, showing a hint of her opening up.

the other scene i think is especially significant with her colour symbolism is the confrontation after the guggenheim sequence.

when gwen comes out as spiderwoman, the colours start to shift.

gwen is now candid, shes come out to her dad and is trying to make him listen and understand her. but just like gwens blues became pinks, george's pinks shift to blue.

the last image in this set is actually so chilling, the fear in his eyes hurt me deeply 💀 anyway

george hides behind his cop persona, avoiding and isolating from gwens confession to him, which is supported by the colour used to portray him.

all of this builds to what i think theyre trying to say about gwen being transgender. the typical gender to colour association is pink girl and blue boy. the choice of colour is deliberate here as much as it usually is with the spiderverse team. why use these two colours in this specific way? a lot of people who dont think gwen is a trans girl will say "well those two colours dont have to represent trans identity" they dont, but the details say that the spiderverse team (once again) is intentionally using them to talk about trans identity and coming out.

i think that by putting the "protect trans kids" poster in gwens room, and the trans flag patch on officer stacy's jacket show that theyre not just randomly picking the colours, but that they made the conscious choice for the boy associated colour - blue - to show hiding and isolation. whilst pink is about honesty and openness whilst being the girl associated colour. i think that the use of these colours in this way is saying that gwen is a trans woman.

and if ur still not convinced well

i havent even talked about the DIALOGUE in this movie and how trans it is. her arc (and miles' arc) across the two movies is such a queer coded story. "can i tell my dad, will he approve of me? will he still love me the same?" like it couldnt be more obvious. someone also mentioned somewhere that the side shave is also significant? like when she has the long hair facing toward the viewers its the same as the pink being used to show honesty and linked to femininity, and the short side almost like a masc haircut and being of the opposite meaning when its facing the audience. idk abt that one but its an interesting thought! that as well as her like having the same shoe size as hobie even tho that man is so fucking tall - yk this cuz her chucks are stated to be his.

anyways if u got that far, thanks???

and if u still deny that gwen is trans then idk what to say, u prob hate trans ppl

gwen is trans, they dont need to explicitly say it inorder for it to be true, just bc they didnt say gwen is trans, or miles is somehow queer, or hobie is gender non conformist, doesnt mean theyre cishet.

[desire-mona]

things abt dps i feel like we dont address enough (photos attached will be shit quality, i took screenshots from yt clips LMAO)

heavily ib @pencileraser1's post abt stuff he noticed n such

the fucking KIDS at welton. the CHILDREN. maybe its just me but i always find myself forgetting that welton isnt a highschool + there are in fact a lot more students than the ones we're focusing on. thats what makes welton so like. evil? to me? they start pushing these kids into a box EARLY.

related, i wouldve LOVED to see how(/if?) keating taught these kids, or rly any other class! he has other classes!!! i think!

ok. of course. neil is a smoker, we've touched on that. but charlie is too?? and he's the one who provides the cigs???? obviously the easy explanation is that he does it to be rebellious and stuff but also Is There Something Else. much to think abt. also wondering where he gets his cigs but thats not rly anything i dont think.

this ones just funny but when mr perry tells the boys they can take a seat and todd simply does not. i KNOW he wasnt sitting before and he needs to unpack and stuff but ITS STILL FUNNY.

"take your seats boys"

"🧍"

also my guilty pleasure is the dps but its todd being anxious video bc man usually crack videos arent my jam but unfortunately i find it so funny

also!!! neil calling his dad sir. obviously its something so glaringly obvious that we dont need to have a discussion abt how theres a disconnect between them. like wow rly thanks mona i didnt know. but come on!!! it makes me sad!!! also they shake hands later in this scene and its the most affectionate/ friendly we see these two get. and its a handshake. and i think what makes it worse is that neil is a SUPER physically affectionate person with his friends. if u watch the movie and pay attention to how often he's touching someone else then ur gonna be like man. he rly was jumping at every opportunity huh.

something about the way neil and the boys act around mr perry makes me view him as more of a drill sargent than anything. everyone immediately stands upon him entering the room. they dont sit until given permission. it rly puts the whole military school thing into perspective but NOT ENOUGH TO SATISFY ME. as much as i hate mr perry, i wanna know what his life was like growing up. this man lived thru the great depression AND wwii, theres stories.

cam's stupid fucking face when keatings behind him larping ghosts. i will never stop talking about how sassy this kid is. the dps redheads go criminally unacknowledged in terms of comedy because OH MY GOD. CAM AND MEEKS WERE SO FUCKING FUNNY??? they both pulled the most dastardly judgemental looks and they make me cackle. a bit earlier in this scene meeks goes full 🙄🤨 on sniffles (tissue kid. i call him sniffles) and it is, without exaggeration, my fav part of the movie.

the fact that i totally thought knox was gonna fall off his bike and eat shit in this scene. it would be so out of place since dps isn't exactly full of physical comedy but GOD i still fully anticipated it. either that or him getting attacked by a bird. theres totally symbolism surrounding birds in this movie btw and idk what to make of it. if any of u lovely ppl have a theory then lmk immediately.

keating so accurately calling cam out being like "is this right is this right. am i walking right." BC YESSS. i will eventually make a fully fledged cam post but to briefly touch on it, i find cam to be very confused on what is right, usually in terms of morals. a whole situation of confusing your personal values with the rules, thinking theyre one in the same, and completely abandoning what u actually believe. unfortunately i think neils death rly amplified that nd is what led him to tattle. cuz cam is still willing to break the rules in the beginning of the movie!! he's outwardly judgemental but he still does it!! much to discuss, i promise i will eventually.

keatings face after todd yawps!!! theres not much to say here he is just so proud!!! sweet little moment!!!! keatpostin!!!!!!!!

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

u guys know im an avid knox hater but this made me giggle. rip knox overstreet u wouldve loved twitch streaming.

THE SPECIFICS OF THIS SHOT. i was gonna make a post a while ago being like "idk i find it funny that the main focus of this shot isnt even one of the poets" and then i realised that WAITTTTTTT THATS THE POINT!!!! keating reached kids besides the poets!!! u didnt have to be in the dead poets society to be affected by the way he taught his classes!!! u just had to be his student!!!!! also i love the fact that the kids who stayed seated r ASHAMED. EMBARRASSED.

the ending shot. oihghgghgg. it was SUCH a choice to set it up this way and honestly i adore peter for making it. this shot is SOOOO UNCOMFORTABLE TO LOOK AT and i love it. when i first watched this i was like "uhm ok interesting choice putting todd between this kids legs but I GET IT. one of the biggest things i remember from the film classes i took is that the way u set up shots is sooo important narratively, and one way to rly push the narrative is the space around a character in a shot. for example! if u have a character on screen surrounded by a TON of negative space then it rly emphasises how alone/ isolated they are. on the other end of the spectrum (the todd spectrum), if you surround a character in a shot with other objects or obstructions, like todd and this kids legs, then it rly emphasises how trapped and confined they are. looking at this makes me feel like. claustrophobic almost, like it's genuinely a bit harder to breathe looking at it. TODD IS STILL TRAPPED IN THAT SCHOOL. YES HE STOOD ON THE DESK AND YES HE NOW HAS THE MOTIVATION TO BE MORE CONFIDENT BC OF NEIL BUT HE! IS STILL! TRAPPED THERE!

more on todd since im on a roll here.

i was also gonna add that we dont rly talk about todd personality wise outside of poetry and anxiety but then i realised, what else is there? we dont really see much about him as a person outside of that, and i think thats the point! todd is constantly overshadowed by his brother, we know that, but i dont think we realise HOW MUCH that ties in with his entire character. quite honestly, outside of poetry and anxiety, ALL we have surrounding todd is his brother and his achievements. and of course! that makes sense! his parents want him to be just like his brother, they dont care about who he is as a person. UGH.

the desk set scene rly is the most insight we'll get into todds actual personality and desires imo, and thats what kills me. he wants a car!!!! get this boy a car!!!!!!!!! we rly see him start to open up before neils death and i wouldve LOVED to get to know todd when he's actually in a place to be himself!! but of course we never got that! sobs.

anywho. thats all i have for now. PLEASE share ur thoughts if u have any pls pls pls. encouraging discussion!! i love love love hearing about the specifics nd stuff, theres soooo much to pick apart abt this movie so i wanna hear everyones thoughts.

[warcholica]

i really like the how the olgimskys designs in the first pathologic play around with material. obviously – mainly with fur.

big vlad has his huge fur coat – it's very much in spirit of his hes bourgeoisie caricature like design. it's arguably not the best looking and i dont think that's intentional – his coat in patho 2 is clearly supposed to look very cozy and nice. i actually like how symmetrically the fur falls in the upper back of the original design. it's charming. overall the coat really emphasizes this very old school idea of wealth.

it reads to me clearly as fashion, not as an uniform – alexanders outfit is very elaborate as well, but it does read very, well, governorish. vlads quite extravagant compared to the other rulers.

and that design philosophy is not really typical for pathologic, i don't really think it is – grief does fall into it a bit, but that's all. it makes vlad stand out in some really cool ways, as he has an unique silhuette. it's kind of insane how well theyre able deal with a character that has to overpass the barriers of their standard design. everyone knows that his face in p2 is like. insanely well made. but did you maybe notice how good his voice acting in the original pathologic is? ridicoulously good compared to like. anna. it really makes me wish they decided on more variety regarding other characters. oh well.

let's talk p1 kapella because shes obviously a showstopper. besides her obvious cuteness, i like how much it focuses on jeans as a material. it is, i think, a symbol of wealth in her case. i am polish and for me there was always this idea floating around than during the PRL period jeans was considered to be a luxury good.

(here it is represented in ryszard zamorski's sculpture "playboy"-- a pop art image of a smiling man covered in jeans from head to toe. fun. hip. well-off)

and so she is draped in jeans, just like her father is draped in fur – her wealth manifests clearly as well.

its also worth noting, that she has fur details on her collar too. that plays into the visual identity of them as a family – she is his daughter, she is a successor. i love her biig satin bow. so cute. makes her look like a very pretty rich girl. old-school wealth with a modern-ish twist.

and i think you already know where i'm going with this. yeah... vlad jr does not have any fur element in his p1 outfit. i like to overinterpret that.

like in the context, i feel fur represents mainly wealth – but it's also worth noting that it's a material foreign to the setting. i really like the spindle touch quote from p2

and i think it works for fur in p1 as well, although, obviously, every textile material comes from outside town.

but whats fur outside of that? lets think fur as a symbol a cruelty that also connects man with nature. fur as a terribly sensual material. ​

and vlad doesnt wear it: what are the reasons for that?

1. hes working with dirt. it would get dirty

2. he doesnt really like looking wealthy – hes not like the other olgimkys! the unusual simplicity is, to me, kind of reminicent of what victor is wearing – and vlads a successor to victor. in utopian ending hes supposed to tame maria/nina a little with his normalguyness. when you choose to do an utopian ending as artemy, he notes that maria will be dangerously wild without a husband

3. i think he denies himself luxury. because of how his shed looks i think hes an utopist that separates himself from the reality of his feelings – and so he separates himself from such a sensual material. but thats reallly a material for another, much more headcanonish post in which i will incorporate fragments from czesław miłosz's biography. i will make that one when ill play p2.

and btw: its a strange model, right? but i like it, i actually really do. i like how obviously blonde he is -- it is a soft callback to victoria. hes similar to her. her son.

also, i dont think it was intentional, i like how big he is in game. it feels like there is too much room for his soul in this body and so it echoes. i have the same feelings about like. ross from friends so thats more like a throwaway point.

it does manage to make him very much like a bussiness man – and vlad sr in his bourgouise caricature swag is very bussinessmannish as well. so maybe in that way he takes after him too? just a bit.

this is all very surface level analysis, but i do think about it a lot. i think p1 managed to communicate what it wanted to do with those characters very clearly through visual language.

[ultra-raging-ghost]

Okay so like.... im trying to visualize bbh's library indexing concept in my mind in relation to the desert so stick with me here

rambles under the cut

Okay so in my mind, im viewing his memories (in relation to the desert) as the buildings that he passes by in the beginning sequences

the temple he's been at is definitely supposed to symbolize the eggs (im going based off the bed in dappers room being present in this temple, along with other things it just seems obvious) , they're his tether to his memories as we see played out right in front of us but why is that?

Well im imagining the desert as an area that is able to be mapped out, an area that is supposed to be mapped out. And maybe the mind cubito navigates the desert with said map.

We've established that the poisoned water he drank in the first sequence is from that one myth about how drinking the water in the afterlife is supposed to wipe someones memories after death. I'm envisioning this as the water washing away the map's ink. Maybe not literally, but its wiped away bad's map around his mind, and he's gonna have to re-map everything all over again.

As an immortal i think hes implied that hes done that before, but maybe it wasnt as difficult as it was this time because this time he's actively resisting the reset, and what comes with that is the persisting damage from his body being inflicted on him.

So on top of a mental reset, he's very likely got brain damage and definitely has radiation damage, which would also contribute to the brain damage. He is struggling to remap his memories that hes so desperately clung to.

He's found one thing (the temple(the eggs)) that ground him, and hes clinging hard to that. He's refusing to leave the temple, and i kinda have a theory as to why that is.

I am a person who knows where things are in relation to other things, and i think right now thats what bad's dealing with. In his mind desert, there are vast empty swaths of land between memories, and he knows where things are in relation to this temple, but he doesnt know where they are in general.

Do you??? Understand what im getting at here????

Maybe he doesnt know that hes supposed to be mapping, hes confused as to why he doesnt know where anything is. He doesnt know theres supposed to be a fucking map, whats a map? HE DOESNT KNOW!!!! HE HAS BRAIN DAMAGE!!!

and hes too fucking afraid to leave the eggs to figure the shit out, hes too afraid to leave the temple so hes experiencing using the eggs as like this crutch, the eggs are with him constantly so its not an unreasonable crutch to have but like!!!!! we've seen!!! when the eggs arent with him!!!! hes just GONE!!!!!

HES GOTTEN WORSE!!!!! the eggs being back have somehow made him WORSE hes no longer having lapses of memory when theyre not around, he consistently and continuously remembers FUCK ALL when an egg leaves his sight. We saw it today the MOMENT pomme and dapper left his sight he was just GONE there wasnt a buffer there wasnt a moment where he remembered anything, he was just head motherfucking empty

and hes honestly kinda worse than that!!!! Hes still not remembering absolutely everything around the eggs, so theyre not even helping as much as they should be!!

my head hurts i mightve lost the plot halfway thru this was such a shitty rant, but its 3 am and im gonna probably make 3 more posts in this vein tomorrow

[cyb-organ]

masterpost of all my favourite yabusame interactions/moments because im autistic about them

spoilers for. everything.

also. none of this makes any sense my wording is HORRIFIC and my grammar is worse. english is my first language im just insane

anyways enjoy my incoherant ramblings

okay this one is obvious i think. the the the THEY were the sisters quarreling (or. whatever. gender) alice saw him and reko IN sara and kanna and he just wanted them to reconcile. so he tells them, to reconcile if only in appearance because because he wants to reconcile with reko, but. but he cant. not really. alice and kannas dynamic especially in chapter 3 is SO interesting w his "i cant vote for anyones little sister" and his augh. hes just. theyre just. hm.

more under cut ^^

this i think about all the time. in chapter 2 alice tells sara that he cant play any instruments (vv)

which is just obviously a lie. well, not really because he WAS the bands drummer and he. Cannot play the drums. but thats it!!! the band was his and rekos. Thing. when they were kids. it was their (well moreso rekos) dream (it was mainly alices dream to just. be with reko. the band thing was a side of that) and he TAUGHT her how to play the piano. that was HIM. but shes so much better than him? and he watches her improve to more than he could ever do and watches her. i guess just move past from him. their entire relationship is just full of . time moving too quickly. something something slipping through my fingers?? does that song fit here?? whatever. theyre like that "ships passing in the night" thing. except they. came from the same dock. does that metaphor work? whatever!!!!!! but alice teaching reko how to play the piano always makes me so upset because he CAN play intruments. he plays the PIANO. but he doesnt, in samurai yaiba he plays the drums. and does stage managing. two things that are. ig further to the back?? the drummer is usually at the back of the stage, he is literally staying out of rekos way. and the hanging out in the background is shown in the yaiba cg as well

okay on to the next screenshot

THE BONGOS oh my god. the bongos are, obviously, so much more than just an instrument. they ARE their relationship, and the progression of the bongo. Symbol? i guess? is like. a direct parallel to the progression of their relationship. alices minisode, reko MAKES THEM HERSELF and is very happy and excited to show alice, but she still thinks something is missing. and then when it rains, she thinks its SO MUCH BETTER but alice cant notice a difference, he doesnt think its anything special. reko obviously really cares about alice and SHOWS it here, despite in the future when shes all. edgy and whatever. but alice is. hm. idk i dont wanna say indifferent because he obviously does care about reko alot. but i would say he doesnt quite understand the importance of music to her? like the bongos here i would say both symbolise rekos relationship w alice AND her relationship with music. and then when they get thrown in the bin, alice tells reko that theyre probably no where (again, not quite understanding the importance here). and if he goes back to find them and fix them up, he cant. this is very obviously the Moment where they i guess drift apart. alice comesback and rekos playing the piano without him (see above piano analysis) and yeah. flashforward to yaiba days. he gives her the bongos AGAIN and she almost throws them out (like they were when they were kids). but she cant. she keeps them and treasures them ESPECIALLY after alice's arrest. as alice says, shes indifferent about them in the same way shes indifferent about alice. but shes not. not really. as she says, they are precious bongos like none other in the world (something something, "i know theres better brothers but youre the only one thats mine" brother by murder by death) she just never expressed this. she just kept them for some inexplicable reason. it was just.. a feeling. and then after alice's arrest and she changed and developed into a much more caring person she played the bongos in her new band. DRUMS. alice was the drummer. reko is still like a frontman(or whatever. gender.) but she is also a drummer. alice was the drummer and the opposite of a frontman. she is. hm. not trying to REPLACE him but yk. i am horrific at wording things bear with me here (bare? whatever. just hang on) and then flashforward AGAIN to bongo scene in chapter 2 (i love the bongo scene) where reko smashes (THROWS AWAY) the bongos (AGAIN) and this is the reko that alice knows. this is the reko that he GAVE the bongos to in the first place. and that reko is the one who is indifferent, actually. that reko is the one who HATES him. our reko, the real reko, is stronger than that. but alice doesnt know that. he barely knows the real reko because the "real reko" as we know her was. born??? created??? developed??? after alices arrest. he only knows mean harsh reko. which is why hes so ADAMENT that the fake reko was the real reko when nao (who had known her for less than a week) knew something was off immediately. i think ive gone off track. anyways. bongos are them. when reko says that her bongos are "just ordinary" but "like none other in the world" i feel like that directly mirrors alice calling himself just her deadbeat brother. HE is "just ordinary" but "like none other in the world" (SOMETHING SOMETHING. "I KNOW THERE'S BETTER BROTHERS BUT YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE THATS MINE" BROTHER. MURDER BY DEATH.) reko does care about alice, but alice didnt quite know that until it was too late. eughhhhhhhh tragedy

yttd discord server has seen this already but im bringingit back. hinako here is just everything that alice was (or was pretending to be) when he was first introduced, like when he was like "hmph... i am not going to help you worthless mortals..." or fucking whatever he was saying. she IS the like. emo edgy kind of mean villian ish (but also not really) figure that alice, or "gonbee" tried to make himself into in order to make himself into a stranger to reko. and now rekos gone and. well gonbee has been gone(bee) since chapter one(bee) (okay ill stop) and alice is. well hes alice again. and hes greiving and hes actually very close to alot of the cast now. and he sees who he tried to make himself in the form of. a Very Small girl and idk. literally i dont know how to word this. no clue what this means or implies. actually i do have a clue but i cannot bring it into words its literally right there in my brain but its on the top shelf and im not tall enough. alice is WATCHING who or what he was trying to be to distance himself from reko. and now hes physically distant from reko he is not that person anymore yk?? i feel like im repeating myself. whatever. we were ROBBED of more hinako alice interactions!!!!! they are character foils frfr. thank you

another yttd discord server moment. chapter 2, alice is watching reko sing from the doorframe. minisode he is watching her play piano (presumably) from the door frame (he had just gotten in so im assuming he was just in the door). hes always watching from a distance. from the doorframe. not actually properly entering. but just sort of hovering. something something "you were always so far away" brother by alice in chains, i am ILL!!! literally it doesnt MATTER how old they get, it doesnt MATTER how much time passes. their relationship stays the same. it stays distant. and it will continue to stay distant because they can NO LONGER BE CLOSE ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY CANT. god they are so tragic.

okay, maybe alice WASNT quite standing in the doorframe just sort of.. far away. but i think thematically the doorframe thing is very interesting and also what i picture everytime i replay these moments

stronghold banger. literally idk what i can say about this one. its. its right there. alice is next to a prodigy like reko and hes losing sight of who he is. hes not a musical guy, like he can play the piano !! he likes music!! but talent wise, especially compared to reko, hes just not quite up there. especially not up there enough to be in a band but he cares about reko so he started the band with her. he PROMISED to start a band with her. he planned out his dreams and his future based off of reko because she was the most important person in his life, shown when reko asks what his dream is and he says "well its the same as yours" or something like that. and then when he does the "you and i are different" moment, reko says "did you forget? (your promise)". to her they are the same. their dreams are the same. but they arent, not really. and this again. is the i guess breaking point? to their relationship? they were never the same, alice knows this. but he was still trying to be the same. aka: losing himself. okay i lied i did know what i can say about this one. also that is ALOT of personal interpretations i wont lie im blurring the line between headcanon and analysis here.

okay. reko as an older sister figure (not sure if this is the best screenshot example, but its the only one i had on hand). again. with the bongos, with the becoming a drummer. she is almost morphing into alice?? or not morphing. shes trying to be what alice couldnt be (due to him. being in jail) shes trying to be the older sibling, while alice changes into very very vaguely what reko was. she gets kinder after his arrest because she doesnt have that older sibling anymore so she. i guess BECOMES that older sibling. while alice in jail gets. well not MEANER, when hes trying to be gonbee hes obviously pretty mean. actually yeah based off of how he was in his minisode he does get meaner. they do a flip. they do a switchy switch. this is all very like simplified its so much more than them just becoming each other. they are adopting parts of each other's personality, intentionally or not , because yes obviously they grew up together so theyre going to have an influence on each other but also. they are growing. i guess. not together. 2 years of change without each other. and they come out on the other end as like frankenstein messes of each others personalities based off of purely their memories of each other. does this make sense?? am i making sense?? honestly im making this up as i go along.

i dont have the game screenshots for these so i stole them from the wiki. okay so genuinely i dont know what to say here its there. its right there. he idolised reko and looked up to her (despite her being younger. and also shorter) and. i will not lie to you. alot of this sounds very parasocial despite them actually being siblings. which i think is evident to how reko behaved when in samurai yaiba, like obviously she was very harsh on the band and was this sort of figurehead?? to them?? like in alices minisode stronghold and ursheen talk about her as if theyre like. fans of her. not just bandmates. dunno what to say about that shes just very. distant, yet again. the gap and distance between alice and reko is shown AGAIN and its shown through every single one of their interactions after the flashback in alices minisode. after that moment every one of their interactions is so awkward? i feel like im just repeating myself at this point. anyways.

alice puts reko up on this. perfect pedestal? to the point where he pushes her away because he doesnt want to hold her back. but like. SHE doesnt want that to happen. like yeah reko is kinda mean but their relationship being so strained is like. partly if not mostly alices doing, albeit unintentionally. while trying to make her happy by fading into the background he actually ended up making everything worse. (something something "but you knew from the start it was us didnt you, it just took me a while till i knew" mitski goodbye my danish sweetheart) (hmm atp maybe i should just share my yabusame playlist)

yet again i lied i did in fact know what to say about this

i dont even know how much of this is accurate and canon, and how much of it is my brain being abnormal. its a mess up there. but i love them, these are my analyses(analsysyses?? analysess?? fucking. those.) if these are wrong and out of character ... dont tell me because youll hurt my feelings (jokes obviously im open to different opinions) anyways have tiny them

thank you for reading if you made it this far i hope i didnt give you a headache

[taikanyohou]

Hi hello! I am still reeling from this past kinnporsche episode. It was everything I wanted and more, but now I cannot stop thinking about vegaspete. Just, the way Vegas' torture/sex room in the safe house is gonna change in symbolism. For Pete, it was, and is, a literal dungeon, but once he realises the influence he has on Vegas, it becomes the only place he can freely yield that power. Meanwhile for Vegas, that room used to be a place of relief and outlet. But now, that his intrigue with Pete has taken him over, now that he's falling for Pete, that room becomes Vegas' prison. Because it's the only place he can indulge in his feeling of comfort he started to attach to Pete. And I think he will become so addicted to this feeling, that leaving that room, that "safe heaven" to face the expectations of his father and the outside world will become impossible. Even when he has to, physically, he will still be stuck there. They will both be. And of course, the "safe house" was never "safe" for either of them. Only when Vegas and Pete overcome what (they choose to) keep them apart, will they be free and safe with each other, no matter the place. However the show will or will not go about that. I have just been thinking about the contrast between outside expectations and experience and the isolation and intimacy of this room. The show has made the narrative importance of space quite obvious throughout, but I believe what this room represents for vegaspete, in duals ways, goes even further. Please feel free to disagree with this interpretation, or add your ideas. Id love to hear your thoughts. All the love and take care!

hiiiiiii anon!!!!

OH I ADORE THIS.

ok. so i wanna add on my thoughts to this.

like you said. there's the outside world. and the roles and responsibilities and loyalties that vegas and pete have in that world.

and then there's the safehouse.

see. i said this before. and i'm gonna say it here too. compared to the novel where pete was captured and kept IN vegas' house, IN vegas' room, the show has switched it up completely. they've both been forced to stay in this safehouse against their own will and they're both ALONE in this safehouse. unlike the novel, no one is here to intrude on them. they've got no contact with anyone from the outside - apart from vegas' dad who doesn't even step INSIDE the house. he was on the periphary of the house, not in it.

that safehouse is solely vegas and pete's space. and i think thats very significant. that gives them the complete space to explore one another, mentally and physically, without needing to think about the outside world and their responsibilities and loyalties and duties to anyone else. here, vegas can find his self worth (via pete's help) and pete can find out what he desires (via vegas' help).

and its so huuuuge bc. next episode, vegas is going to take the chains off of pete. he is going to give pete his agency back. and pete can now choose what he wants to do. he can so easily knock vegas out and flee. or choose to stay.

and if he stays, which he will, then they can explore What That Means: the "what's making you stay when you can so easily leave?". this isnt about anyone else influencing their decision making, bc no body else is there! this is alllll on them.

and when they've wormed their way into each other's brains and tapped into each other's wirings, god. once they step out back into that outside world, its when they BOTH will realise what that safehouse meant. they left from it as a whole different version of themselves as opposed to when they entered it.

which is why i keep saying. can you IMAGINE the heaviness, the stifling nature of the moment where they both lock eyes with one another again when they see each other OUTSIDE again, in a room full of crowded people. bc they KNOW each other in a way no one else does. theyre IN EACH OTHER'S BRAINS. and that safehouse is witness to it all, to how they got under each other's skin.

and. like. how. HOW do you go back from that? HOW do you turn a blind eye, feign ignorance to that? how do you pretend none of that happened?

like. of course. they'll go back to being who they were to the outside world, and, Lord Knows they'll try and TRY going back to the people they used to be. but all its going to take is them hearing each other's name in a sentence, or when they're all by themselves in their own rooms and no one else is around and it all comes flooding back, or just them LOCKING EYES from across the room. thats ALL it will take.

honestly though i am so excited to see what they're gonna be like once pete leaves. how BADLY does that fuck them both up? to what extent!!!!!! how do they function when they're outside again!!!!!!!! and in that great big family showdown in the finale, when they're both on OPPOSITE SIDES, oh my god ...... how will they react to each other!!!!!! what is it going to stir in the both of them??? because FUCK the loyalties and the duties and the responsibilites.

ALL they'll think about then IS the safehouse.

and how, "i know you. i know you. i know you."

[relaxxattack]

hey, so i still havent read knifetrick yet, but i saw the post you reblogged about it being about capitalism's treatment of disabled people. im aware that this is just one interpretation of your work, but did you consciously make decisions about what messages to send within your story? did you purposefully include imagery or motifs or references or anything else to create a particular theme or idea?

im wondering because im making my own story, and im curious about what others put into theirs. i have a few key ideas i want to send with it, so i'm trying to tie all my characters and their arcs and the symbols and everything in my story to it. my brand of autism tends towards the "everything MUST have a logic to it!" and this is an obvious influence on it, but i still also think it's worth putting a lot of thought into it because theyre ideas i really care about. i want curious readers to be able to look into my story and see how it all ties together, and i want to impart messages of compassion onto my general audience as well. i think that all art has messages within it, whether personal or otherwise, and by being aware of what those are you can create a stronger and more cohesive story. at least thematically. if that is what someone wants to do, of course.

i know knifetrick is a story you started for fun. there is absolutely value in that (in your own joy) and i dont think art without intentional purposes or messages is inferior in any way. but did you ever get an idea for an overarching message in your mind, and implement it? its cool if you didnt, or if you did but dont want to say what it is too btw lol. im kinda just looking for the experience & thoughts another author had with their own thing. (i am very nervous sending this ask. i hope i dont sound like im jumping the gun.)

do not feel bad for asking this question, i'm always down to talk about my written works, even if it takes me a bit to collect my thoughts and figure out a response. yes, the truth is i went into knifetrick from the start with a lesson/moral i wanted to explore and teach. a fun fact about me is that i have several younger siblings, who are often being taught things i personally don't agree with. having conversations with them about what is really "right" or "moral" is awkward and not really doable. but stories and characters have always been a good and safe way for us to have this discussion-- why did this character do that thing, what makes this bad guy bad, and so on. this is why with writing i don't just like to tell a story, but i also like to teach a lesson. as patronizing as that sounds, i kind of just think it's pleasing when stories have a good moral behind them. although they don't need to for me to enjoy them. but back to the actual topic, yes. i did intentionally choose to explore the idea of capitalism's failure of certain groups of people in my story. that is what the main plot is actually wrapped around-- there's the obvious struggle with the main character, ran. he is physically and mentally disabled, he is treated differently than his peers. in a way he is fed from a young age the idea that the only way he can be considered equal to everyone else is to have a use to other people; to be the hardest working member of the order. his society encourages this worldview so that they can take advantage of him, but they don't actually care about him at all. they would discard him if he stopped being useful to them. the second example of this is the other main character, jackie. jackie's society also failed to take care of him-- he was orphaned, and then immediately lacked a support system of any kind, personal or governmental. he turned to a life of crime to make ends meet and repress his emotions, but all that did was eventually make his severe depression worse and manifest itself in a lot of anger issues and lashing out. by the time ran meets jackie, he's attempting to turn over a new leaf and take this opportunity he's been given to make an honest living; jackie cares a great deal about the people around him. the missing children are failed by society in the fact that they go missing in the first place, and nobody has bothered to try and find them (although the blame for that rests mainly on watson's shoulders, seeing as he tricked the king into thinking that was being solved). scoots and clem are failed by society as well- scoots is denied the job she actually wants to have due to her disability, and they are very poor. obviously this is made worse when clem goes missing, and since no one else is doing anything, scoots stops working to look for her sister. possibly the most obvious examples i can think of are maia snail and laggius maximus. maia's children are both autistic, with one of the two showing much more severe symptoms than the other. she's dealt with this in the way she best can as a mother, which is give them things they can comfortably work on to get their energy out and be helpful without having to do anything they don't like. society fails them as well, in that laggius is killed in the pit. but the more important part of their story is something snail tells ran: "i would have loved my brother even if he was never useful a day in his life, because he deserves it". essentially all throughout knifetrick, especially through ran, we are shown this idea of usefulness as equivalent to worth; i.e. how capitalism teaches us to view ourselves. we are shown how faulty of a system that is through the various characters. eventually ran realizes that he does not actually have to do anything useful to be worthy of existence, comfort, or love, and that is the sort of “end moral” of the narrative. ran ditches the council, showing that he knows his own worth and refuses to be tied to people who only ever hurt him, and then jackie helps the king start to reform subbin’s systems so that less people will fall through the cracks as he did.

so yes, that is essentially how i explored the idea of capitalism failing disabled people through knifetrick. there’s likely more stuff that i forgot but that’s what i remember off my head right now. anything anyone else sees in knifetrick about this topic is probably fair as well, death of the author and all that. this is what i intended while writing but other people might have seen more things in other characters that i didn’t think of too hard.

i hope that helps.

(bonus: firefox completely froze while i was at the end of this ask and made me fear for my fucking life. it took so much waiting and minimizing the program before i could safely save this to my drafts and then close firefox. terrifying.)

[coyoteprince]

more of an open question but what are some fun worldbuilding things you can think of off the top of your head? I want to hear more owo

Sorry for this novel

Waite has a grey (the kind that looks white) mare named Seraphim, who will make a minor appearance in comic. She's based on a Suffolk punch and Narragansett pacer.

All horses within Widderwood story have a dorsal stripe, no matter if theyre earthly or fae or whatever breed.

Likewise, almost every fae within Widderwood have ear tufts

Degare got his hat in a trade for sex from a Darlington priest, though it is a farmer's planter hat. His shoe style is also called a winklepicker.

Every person's soul is represented by a flame and each person has their own lantern (or lamp, or candle holder...) in Sandman's garden. From a design point, his garden has two principals: the light must always be a flame (no electric light), and time doesn't matter so modern lanterns are okay to depict, but only in this space.

Widderwood is technically steampunk, but I don't think it's going to be super obvious in comic unless you look super closely? Time rules are also funky: I've delayed invention of something yet moved up other things. It technically takes place during the 1880's, but plenty Edwardian and even modern day things pop up. No cars, but gramophones will soon be released. Coal is starting to die off in use and steam and some electricity are quickly becoming king. Prosthetics & aides are heavily decorated and become a hot tool to customize and be proud of. Women wear pants (though high society finds this disturbing) and can own land. Queerness & gay marriage isn't outlawed but its pretty weird to traditionals and queer identity is refered to as "the third sex" as is historical for that period. Those sorts of things

Primary community of Darlington is Caucasian, Black, and Native American, but all manner of people pass through thanks to the nearby port city

What is equivalent to the americas in Widderwood is made up of "territories", which I've been leaving vague because I cannot manage to care about building political empires, I just want two dogs to kiss. Either way, Darlington is ruled by English-equivalent, but original England-equivalent got overthrowed and wiped off the map. Southern state-equivalent, Eastern Canada-equivalent and some of the plains are under similar but different self-governing rule. Much of the western territories are aboriginal-ruled and the entire continent is much smaller than our world. These territories are all mostly on good terms with each other because this is just background flavoring. I'm trying to figure out a naming system for these territories or if it even matters since this story is pretty contained.

My partner bought me a vintage prosthetic leg from a firehazard of a thrift store just so I can use it as reference for Simon's false leg. It literally floats about the house in different spots and we just call it "Simon's leg"

Speaking of Simon, partner also bought me a Victorian book all about prosthetics which surprisingly is very empathetic and includes sentiments from actual disabled people of the time. I used this book to help me figure out what exact style of prosthetic Simon has, as well as his injury. His amputation took place mid calf and despite some mobility issues and how he looks, he's decently strong and has good endurance.

Waite is an Aries with pisces moon & taurus rising, Degare Gemini with scorpio & leo, Simon is Capricorn but idk his moon and rising. I don't give much thought to astrology but I think using it to build character personalities is very fun.

Widderwood mermaids are a combination of selkies and mermaids. They have front & back flippers and inhabit the same role as selkies in that there's many stories of marrying humans and their spouse stealing their skins.

Nuckelaaves are essentially slenderman to fae and no one knows what exactly they are

Darlington is known for their abundance of daisy wheels as a symbol of protection, which comes directly from my colonial cemetery special interest. They often top the margins of colonial tablet graves and have been historically used as a protective symbol against magic worldwide. In my personal practice, I've reclaimed them and they act as my main "religious" symbol, much in the way a cross or pentacle works, and despite the fact they were once used against witches

Darlington & Sullivan Forest geography is set in fantasy Massachusettes with influence from the entire region of New England and forests in Northern Georgia. Locations & buildings in the story will be based on a variety of locations I've visited and documented in person including: Salem Witch House, Bulloch Hall, Root House of Marietta, Atlanta History Museum Gardens & internal exhibits, and Allen County Historical Society & House Museum (the most important museum in my life and the reason why I am the way that I am today). I'm still picking the cemeteries I want to base on, but will likely be a mix of a cemetery I accidentally ran into outside of Salem and a variety of local Georgia + Ohio cemeteries from my childhood. I am hoping to visit Colonial Williamsburg as well as Historic Westville as further reference for town scenes. Yes I am really that intense that I've traveled states wide just to gather research for my gay dog boy webcomic

I have much more I could give, but I need to be careful with what I share to avoid spoiling all my work.

[kaoharu]

hi yves hi 5, 6, 13, and 24 + ciel dearvo for the character ask game? \o/

ask game !!

YIPPEEEE ciel ask . . . utc cause it got Long also sorry for taking ten billion years. yvelies are very slow and get distracted at times

5. what's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them ?

UH ache&deny for Obvious reasons but aside from his own songs , this is going to be a Really weird choice , but the dragon cave / rune prana final area ost from rf3/4 respectively lol . you uhh just have to see inside my wondrous brain 👍👍 i cant think of anything else atm 😔

6. what's something you have in common with this character ?

i feel like ive answered this question before w a similar ask game. i swear this has happened before . . . the human brain is so interesting /nm anyways uhh id say ❓️ maybe sort of. demanding in a caring way . if that makes Any sense i dunno i honestly dont feel very similar to him KSBJSJSJS

13. what's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot ?

i think hed like the like. closed eye kaomojis like ＼(￣▽￣)／ or smth . . . i dont think hed use them Often or anything but like he just wld and itd be mildly surprising but also ?? itd just make sense. i dunno im insane /silly

24. what other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them ?

hmhmm hear me out ( abt to say smth that makes no sense ) he vaguely . Very Vaguely reminds me of kaoru in a sense ❓️ esp as of late w their kindaaa cooler dispositions if that makes sense . . . theyre kinda calm and more mature than the rest of the cast in their respective series ❓️❓️ also they had rough childhoods tho for different reasons kjsnsjdjd Oh and Blue yeag /silly

[bluebelleix]

Okay so these are all just rambles about Saint Ars I have in my head that I just wanna let out

I also didn't write these down so they might seem inconsistent so apologies for that

Saint Ars having the lowest divine visionaries is so funny to me. Like I love that school (even if we don't have any knowledge on it) but like that type of situation where its been hundred of years and you still don't have atleast a two digit number amount? Yeah no what the hell is going with school.

Okay there's like 3 main(?) schools which are Easton Magic Academy, Walkis Magic Academy and Saint Ars Holy Magic Academy.

Here's my personal thoughts: Walkis is probably more towards on like being a higher-up?? If that make sense. And taking in about "Power means everything to them", it's probably about having an authority.

They're probably related to the government and politics and stuff I guess. Either that or they're just strong to pass being a Divine visionaries.

Easton is probably specifically towards magic and maybeeee theyre connected with jobs related to magic (magic police etc). Considering the entrance is hard to pass, I guess the failures went either to Walkis or Saint Ars.

So yeah I conclude that they're just related to magic and other stuff like mythical creatures and all that. Like studying them and learning how to seal magic and other dangerous stuff.

Now Saint Ars.. anyone who comes across my posts knows that well, I might be. just a little. enthusiastic about that school.

I could be interested in a character or something BUT NOOOOO my brain just likes this school or something., when there's barely anything related to it.

WHATEVER, anyway, Saint Ars has this religious vibes which is obvious from their logo and well, name.(That's a cross, yiu guys think Jesus exist or something)

Now remember how at that one point that Bureau of Magic guy that's bald said that God gave the world Magic and all that and how there's a bunch of gods you can summon as a third liner?

NOW HEAR ME OUT, it's already so obvious that of course that this is just a church being transformed into a school. I just don't know how to word it out.

I like to think 1. That this school mainly focuses on praising and believing God/ gods(?(do they acknowledge them as well?oh well), 2. Acts like the bald guy but WAYYYYY harsher.

Definitely believes those without magic was chose not to by God and yknow that type twisted mindset. Like they would say, why would God let them exist in the first place?

It's crazyyy

Anyway, the other part which is like Justice related. The law being related to religion is.. I can see it but again, I can't word it out 😔.

I feel like this school is probably towards the Law and other type of stuff related to it.

Now I don't know much of the law so I'm afraid I'm low on info on these type of stuff. However, I can see it but it's hard to describe. The only thing is I know it's about like religious law or something like that.

I guess I can see the school being like related to the Town's church or something and students would always do community work at that place.

I definitely see this school having like. a fucked up idea or mindset. Like I pray that Mash should never be near to this school after his whole reveal.

Actually after that controversy(Mash's reveal), students probably were like so angered because of how they were taught. But I believe maybe one day, that school will slowly but surely grow out of that mindset after like a few years.

Oh and the main God they praise is Themis, God of Justice because of the law thing jfhdh. I imagine that this God is the symbol and pride of that school because "the God helped build it(the law)" lol.

The law and religion.. it's such a nice combo. That school reeks of traditions and moral codes. They probably have a bunch rules to follow and like beliefs.

The teachers are probably all nuns and priest. Do they study magic? I guess they appreciate it more than an average person but they have a higher belief that its a gift from God.

I don't know what type of magic they'll study but definitely not combat.. because "that's what started the war before Adam Jobs came in." They're all in that they don't wanna repeat history and stuff.

So the school is more towards Magic History and Magic Zoology? ("Creatures are also creations of God!" Yada yada type of stuff), though I imagine all schools have the same type of subjects.. I think.

Okay that's all.. I think

[6kate1bishop6]

okay so i rewatched the batman for like the 5th time last night / this morning and i was having too many thoughts to put them all as a letterboxd comment so here are all my little semi connected ramblings on the film 

starting off strong with right at the start the drophead guy that tried to rob the convenience store, its just so interesting to me that he was scared of the batman even when he wasnt there and so he ran back into the street and got hit by a police car but the police just yelled at him like they didnt try to stop him or anything -- metaphor for how the batman is offering solutions and providing suspects for the police and stuff but theyre too corrupt to do anything about it ? maybe 

it’s the whole system -- just that quote is so good, i should remember who said it considering i literally watched the film 2 hours ago i think it was gil but again super good line just encompassing the fact that the gotham justice system does not offer justice, it is corrupt down to its core and it is failing the people 

bruce wayne my blorbo this is just a point about how smart he is and like he just catches on to things but its interesting because he can understand how the riddlers brain works also when bruce punched jim and then jim was like you couldve pulled that punch and bruce was like i did he is so im just kind of obsessed with the fact that he trains for this and its just interesting anyway point about my poor little meow meow over back to analysis 

the good cop batshit cop contrasted with brains and brawn -- bruce and jim work together well, they bounce ideas off eachother especially in that scene with the penguim and the way when jim pretended to side with his captain (??? i cant remember) bruce was like et tu? and then that contrasted with batman and the riddler the way riddler thinks hes working with bruce because they both understand a fundamental aspect of eachother and sure bruce is on the same wavelength as him sometimes but its only to track him down and riddler just completely does not realise 

when alfred intercepts the assassination attempt and the card reads see you in hell, i feel like that wouldve twisted the knife even more; im not 100% familiar with the original deaths of martha + thomas but the whole senseless crime thing kind of echoes here, like all the other cards to the batman had a cypher or a clue or something but this is just senseless hatred that has no obvious lead for bruce to chase up 

he mindmaps, i just like that its fun its fresh hes just like me fr 

the way bruce and the riddler are tied together, like in the small things with the diaries but also theyre obviously both orphans and they can understand eachother, they were both born out of tragedy and that was the renewal fund and thomas + marthas deaths, where bruce was left without a mother or father alone in the world (ignoring alfred, as bruce did) the riddler was left without hope, they both use fear, though the batman uses it as a deterrant whereas the riddler uses it as inspiration and almost thrives off it 

the way bruce misses the tucker, the carpet tool, showing that even if he fights for the city, even if he walks its streets, he is still a billionaire in a bat suit and there will be experiences and little things that he does not know and that shape his personality and the way he solves crimes 

the way the batman begins with the whole i am vengeance thing but comes to realise that he needs to be a symbol of hope, someone for people to fall back on as he ends in the movie, the realisation as he hears his words come from someone wanting to cause only pain and immediatly sacrificing himself by cutting the electric thingy and falling into the water just seconds later 

[sparksnevadas]

Hi sparks!!! I loved this chapter!!

Perfect bdubs is a whore propaganda and thank you for putting get it henchboy Wednesday in my vocabulary

But aside from that i LOVE to see more allusions to Cub and hints at what he is/had been up to, and witnessing a scheming and evil Scar. Glad he's finally back to blowing things up, being homoerotic is only half of his needed enrichment

Their coordinated outfits (Scar and Mumbos already matching and then them exchanging small accessories, omg) are so nice, along with the refusal to give a feather to Scar that is making me lose my mind?? Incredible! And I'm not sure if the use of a red carnation for Doc was purposeful, but dark red meaning admiration and romance and him immediately inviting Grian for an avian dance? (And more mentions of Grian as poultryman? 100/10) I am looking with my eyes WIDE open at the characterization

I'm a huge supporter of seeing more of the guys bumbling around and avoiding their very obvious feelings for each other, and every time you absolutely deliver. I wish I could absorb the way you write character dialogue and interactions because everything feels so natural and fun

I didn't know I needed more GIHASM Bdubs but I 1000% did. He's so awful and I love him.

Anyway yeah great chapter!!!! Glad I was able to read it after school today! I'm such a sucker for dances (and even more for causing general chaos and property damage). Hope you're doing well!

Hi Scopop!! Friend!! :D

First and foremost, i want to say that the bdubs propaganda was NOT intentional on my part, but i think its funny as hell so…

The perfect enrichment for scar is a scoop of villainy + a healthy helping of homoeroticism + being the center of attention <3

Also i love the idea of mumbo sitting quietly, even nervous about bringing his crushes the equivalent of a prom boutonniere or corsage… when they literally Mark him with their symbols without asking LMAO theyre all so gay…

Also just gonna say.. theres a theme with people wearing flowers… not being the ones who picked them… at least symbolically…

I feel like i say this every time but its true: i want them to feel like friends first, because love to me is just a deeper friendship. I want them to be so charmed with one another its not a surprise when they finally realize, yknow? :) Im happy you like the dialogue and havent gotten tired of the slowburn at all <3

Lucky for you i have a gihasm one shot planned for after it ends, and hint hint, itll be bdubs centered :)

Hope youre doing well too!! And funnily enough im writing this after a class too hehe. Thank you so much for the comment scopop!! 🥰🥰🥰

[bipirate]

ooh! 1, 3, 14, 22, 25!

thanks for specifying cql in your other ask!

the character everyone gets wrong

mostly wwx but like i said in my other ask, lwj and nhs as well. also jc. theyre always depicted as superficial stereotypes and robbed of any complexity that makes them interesting.

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

man i dont even know at this point, i've seen so many garbage takes on here. what about that one time someone got so mad in my inbox because cql was rumoured to have been a love story between wq and wwx at first and they 'changed it because of fans threatening the production crew' and they called the script writers and producers etc homophobes for daring to alter the source material to be a hetero relationship. all that when the end result is still deeply homosexual even with censorship.

or all the thinkpieces people have written about how jiang cheng is actually a good guy and he couldve been the one to save the wens if only wen qing had been gracious enough to marry him. or whatever.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

just one thing? nah

'oh my god lan zhan warn me before you do something so romantic!! ~~~'

when wwx's waist is described to be so tiny that lwj's hands can wrap all the way around it :/

i havent actually read fic in a while so this is more difficult than i thought

wwx having straight hair in his original body but wavy/curly hair as mxy for some reason? this isn't bad but it's something i've come across multiple times and i always wonder why because i don't remember this being a thing in the novel specifically

lqr being homophobic for some reason. let the man live. he's traditional but there's no indication that he's homophobic?

fic authors seem to have no fashion sense whatsoever

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

the fact that lan wangji would absolutely be friends with all the lesbians and especially mianmian. WHERE is all the lwj + mianmian friendship content (idk. all of my favourite things are pretty popular as well)

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

the complaints about cql being censored and 'not actually gay' or 'not gay enough'. like yeah censorship is bad, we all know this, and if given a choice i would also have preferred a textually explicit romance, but the people that complain about this really lack critical thinking. wwx and lwj don't need to make out or have sex in the woods without lube for them to be a legitimate couple lmao. cql IS a romance and it's made obvious by the symbolism, the music, and the script.

[alienssstufff]

DSMP and Bug Symbolism

actually in light of my c!dream design - to note there is a lot of symbolism when associating dsmp members with bugs. going to use this post to just whwwh talk about some of them! 

A little bit of an overview, in a way the Dream SMP can be interpreted as a greenhouse that houses all sorts of bugs... and DreamXD in His godly form is the server’s Gardener, The Entomologist, The Collector - This is a list of some of some of the bugs He has on display (all that I’ve thought of so far):

>DREAMXD: Centipede (earthform when He communicates with the characters) >DREAM: Polyphemus Moth >DRISTA: Io Moth >GEORGE: Blue Morpho Butterfly >SAPNAP: Fire Ants (collective) >AWESAMDUDE: Termites (collective) >PUNZ: Murder Hornet >PURPLED: Wasp >TUBBO: Honey Bees (collective) >TOMMY: Fly >ERYN: Firefly >WILBUR: Cockroach >PHILZA: Emerald Beetle >TECHNOBLADE: Rhino Beetle >ERET: Queen Alexandria’s Birdwing >SCHLATT: Goliath Tarantula >SLIMECICLE: Earthworm :] >FOOLISH: Milipede >HANNAH: Dragonfly

[Continuation of explanations under cut]

Some of them have reasonings behind, others like punz and purpled i see them go hand in hand so theyre similar bugs

>DREAM & DRISTA: (Polyphemus Moth, Io Moth) As DreamXD is the god of order, Drista exists to counter Him and shows up in the form of moth swarms atc. Hc that after losing his face, Drista gives him a moth companion. Polyphemus moths are known to intimidate predators by their haunting faces. And Io moths do ,,, just about the same tactic but when they do it they look like the :3 face

>GEORGE: (Blue Morpho Butterfly) Symbolically the opposite of what a moth is. Unlike Dream who was cursed by the world, George was blessed by it. My lore of George is that he is gifted a blue butterfly BY DreamXD because he found him pretty or smth and wanted to preserve that face of his. And UNLIKE Dream’s moth, George’s butterfly exists to cover his line of sight. Like rose tinted glasses, the butterfly makes him see the world completely differently, more dreamy ethereal like (lmao the dream realm) that DreamXD says to protect his eyes from seeing the imperfections of the real world. Trivia: According to consensus, blue morpho butterflies are considered the world’s most prettiest butterfly!

>SAPNAP: (Fire Ants) I say collective as he to me can act like a one man army he is ALL those ants and exists to serve and protect those worth protecting. In a way the downside being that at times perhaps Sapnap is only seen as such, a sword forced to act like a shield.

>TUBBO: (Honey bees) Obvious choice but wanted to mention him anyway as a collective similar to Sapnap. Honey bees work and serve something, they are born with a purpose and work until they die. And as the server’s youngest political figure with the strength of a hundred responsibilities pinned to his back I find that painfully fitting.

>TOMMY: (Fly) He’s associated better with flies than he is with butterflies I will DIE on this hill! Butterflies are adored by many, they are loved by the entomologist and are known for their beauty. Unlike George (who is a butterfly), Dream sees Tommy as the opposite, he finds him an ugly mark on the server “a pest that won’t go away” - Canon words by Dream somewhere. More symbolism, flies are fast and easy to kill. And once you kill them - there will always be another one to replace it (the many Tommy deaths, Dream killing and reviving him cycle)

>WILBUR: (Cockroach) Very similar connotations with Tommy, he is also seen as a pest. He like cockroaches they are difficult to kill - if you throw anything at it you’d be sure to know they’ll come right back up. They are resilient.

>ERET: (Queen Alexandria’s Birdwing) [TBH I personally think the queen alexandrias are wayyy prettier than blue butterflies but that’s just me cough] Queen Alexandria’s Birdwings while lesser known than the blue butterfly are considered the world’s largest butterflies. Knowing that and by how cool the name sounds - this association would be perfect for Eret! These butterflies also are known to show up in two different colours indicating the organism’s gender: males are turquoise, females are brown - both are beautiful to me :] I like to hc that Eret is associated with both butterfly patterns with the multiple pronouns she uses and their embrace with both masculine and feminine fashion alike. LIKE she is found wearing a brown gown during and up to his dethronement - WHILE they change to a blue dress after the betrayal ALSO ALSO the crown Eret has while in rule isn’t actually a crown but a golden, heavy war helmet in the shape of a butterfly head (like the actual in-game gold helmet he throws down the lmanburg ruins)

>SCHLATT: (Goliath Tarantula) Big guy. World’s biggest spider. While not poisonous it’s big. It fucking eats birds and small rodents. Big guy.

>SLIMECICLE: (Earthworm) Slimy guy. It goes snore snore mimi in the dirt forever. I like him :]

>HANNAH: (Dragonfly) Very buzzy like a bee, elegant still like a butterfly.  Unrelated-ish my irl dad used to do this thing where he would catch dragonflies by the wings and that reminded me of how Hannah loses her wings in canon :[

More to be added,,, one day x]

[sevicia]

HI DANTE!! i wanted to hear ur thoguhts on just lgbt ppl and horror as a bi guy

but also have u seen incantation!!

i HAVE seen incantation my sister showed it to me she said it made her paranoid... I really liked it!!! I enjoy that sort of movie that has the same vibe as noroi... ! I esp liked the use of that one symbol yknow the one? i like that kinda stuff.

with lgbt people and horror, i feel like theres a LOT to say and im not the right guy to say it cause i am NOT very eloquent (or thoughtful for that matter...) but!

I think that theres literally the link ever with trans people and creatures that transform or that change in some form or the other which is pretty obvious like duh, BUT i also find a lot of comfort in Frankenstein's monster (who i dont like calling a monster but yknow), cause it goes through so much shit just trying to be with other people, trying to be loved and trying to show that it is not as heinous as it seems... i feel that way a lot about my trans body, like i have a massive BEWARE symbol stuck to my chest! i feel very connected to it, and when i read the book i was almost in tears TBH

Also theres SOMETHING there about wlw & the sexualization, demonization and villification of their attraction... Like the typical scene where women are shown together just to be like "hah! look how DEVILISH and FUCKED UP they are!". But im not the right person to talk about this cause i have no clue on the subject, i just KNOW theres something wrong w the way wlw are handled in horror (the movie High Tension being a prime example iirc)

And i feel like (and this is also obvious but lemme have my moment ok) we dont see the same being done to mlm cause our attraction IS villified, but not sexualized. Theres the fact of misogyny of course (as in, sexualizing women, objectifying them, using them to sell), but theres also something about mlm being hidden away and hidden somehow... This is not me saying one faces "more" or "worse" oppression than the other cause we all have our struggles, but theyre obviously different u know?

I think theres also something inherently gay about horror... or at least some types of horror. Something something about being hidden, being shunned, being made into something to fear... Then again i really am not the type of guy who gives much thought to, like, anything, so it's hard for me to talk about stuff like this cause i HAVE feelings about things i just dont know how to make them make sense and put them in a way that others might understand. or in a way that makes sense at all for that matter...!