#this post was barely the surface

[kingtuna]

WHY DID I JUST NOW LEARN THAT THWRE IS A CANONICAL TRANS FEMALE CLONE TROOPER??

a CANONICAL trans clone

RAHAHHANDBWJDBCIOWNSJ

also this ties beautifully back to my post about the clones and gender

Sister's vode accepting her without a thought and the jedi encouraging her

just

QHGXJSJNXKSMNZJA

this is so important

how come I didn't know this sooner?

this is such a huge thing, to have her canonically exist

I don't have the words

[hurkules]

Jason Todd in Love…

As Red Hood, he’s talkative, sarcastic, aggressive, and cocky. When he’s with you, he’s tender and gentle. He’s eerily quiet and strangely calm. Every whim is followed without protest, and he hangs on every word.

Jason’s always looking for ways to touch you and will constantly pull you into his lap where he’ll give you soft kisses on your shoulder and neck. He just likes to watch you exist: he watches quietly when you’re getting ready, attempting to cook, etc. He loves how you’ll trail your nails up his arm and across the top of his back as you pass him on the sofa.

He loves you because you ground him: You’re real, you’re here and you’ve never left. His world slows down with you and, when he’s getting in his head and slipping away, you snap him out of it. You stand up to him. You talk your shit and force him back to you. “Don’t do that. You’re trying to talk yourself out of this.” You grab his face, forcing him to look at you. “You want me, yes or no?”

“Yes.” He’ll answer softly. “Always.”

“Then you have me.” You push him away from you. “Don’t try and find a way to ruin it. I will kick your ass. Got me?” You stare at him, arms folded and waiting for an answer.

He’ll give a smile before answering. “Yeah, I got you.” He looks at you honey eyed and apologetic.

“Good.” You move into his arms and place a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Now, go sit in the kitchen. I made us breakfast.”

[loverofstufflof]

Ways to consume Journey to the West (without needling to buy and read a full translation)!

I’ve noticed that a lot of people can’t read the book for a lot of different reasons, so I’ve compiled a couple of my favourite ways of consume the story while bypassing these problems, categorized by the various issues I’ve come across.

Note that this is mainly for English speakers, as that’s the language I default to for translations.

The book is too inaccessible/expensive for me to obtain physically

Journey to the West Research has an entire blog post dedicated to compiling free PDF versions of the book. This includes many languages, not just English.

I struggle with reading text in that quantity

There are abridged versions of the story, my personal favourite is the one by Julie Lovell—it’s approximately a quarter of the original story’s length, and mainly focuses on the most iconic chapters. These versions are also typically more easily found in local bookstores.

I struggle with reading novels in general

The story has been converted into audio form! Here are the ones off the top of my head, each listed with their own pros and cons:

Journey to the West: An Audio Drama Series is an original translation told in a read-aloud format, in which the host, Lin, acts as a kindly librarian reading to a group of awaiting 1st graders. She gives every character a distinct voice and personality, and she’s obviously delighted to be able to share her culture with the listeners. The show used to have free translation notes, where Lin gets to act as a disgruntled translator going on about the intricacies of the Chinese language and historical/mythological contexts, but these now require a subscription to access. This show is the reason why I know how to pronounce these characters’ names.

Legends Summarized: The Journey to the West by Overly Sarcastic Productions is one that I’m sure I don’t need to include (because of how widespread it is) but feel I should because someone is gonna mention is anyways. It’s a very summarized, very sarcastic retelling of Red’s favourite chapters in the book, accompanied by fun visuals and the excitement of someone who clearly knows and loves what they’re talking about. As Red has said herself, this series should not be your only source of JTTW knowledge, as she simplifies it a ton to make it more digestible. Great for people who are just getting into the story and want a general overview, not great for people who want a more in-depth understanding of the themes and other complexities.

Journey of the Monkey King is a podcast akin to a longform, more in depth version of the OSP series. It consists of two Irish comedians discussing one chapter per episode; one of them (Caoimhe) has read the book, the other (MJ) hasn’t. The format is mainly Caoimhe giving a comedic abridged version of the chapter while MJ gawks in horror at whatever absurdity the Monster-of-the-Week presents. Because it’s hosted by Irish people, there isn’t much cultural context given, and some names are butchered, however I do find this one a lot easier to follow in comparison to the Audio Drama Series, and it’s far more detailed than Legends Summarized.

Journey to the West English Amateur Audiobook is one that is on my radar but have not started. To my current knowledge, it is an audiobook version of the WJF Jenner translation, which is notable to me because most of these types of podcasts are derived from the Anthony C Yu translation, so this one would be a nice listen to compare how the two went about handling the text.

Please know that this post isn’t intended to shame anyone into consuming the story; it’s not for everyone! But I’ve come across my fair share of aspiring fans who couldn’t access the book in a way that suited them (including myself) so I wanted to make this knowledge more generally know for anyone else who might need it :]

[mochiajclayne]

how do I even explain that law had been saying homosexual coded stuff about him and luffy as early as marineford like sir what do you mean your meeting with strawhat was fate 🤨

[frogbians]

here’s even more of my pokemon ocs

[mari-lair]

Kou's perception of Mitsuba, and how it changes, is fascinating to me.

(Quick note: I’ll be calling the human ‘Sousuke’ and the supernatural ‘Mitsuba’ to make it less confusing)

Let’s rewind to Mitsuba’s introduction in Hell of Mirrors: Kou leaped at the idea that Sousuke was back. Even after Tsukasa told him this isn’t the same person he used to know, merely an "artificial ghost with part of Sousuke's soul", Kou subconsciously rejected the idea.

Mitsuba’s existence brought his grief back full force, and while he could sense that Sousuke’s memory doesn’t perfectly match reality, logic was never his strongest motivator in hell of mirrors, he is so full of hope and desperation: He wants Mitsuba to be Sousuke so bad.

He can’t let go of the past, he is not seeing Mitsuba, just shadows of Sousuke.

Kou wasn’t able to tell this is not his old friend, simply perceiving Mitsuba as an amnesic Sousuke.

Kou wants Mitsuba to 'remember' him when we know from Mitsuba's empty mirror that he has no life to remember. Kou calls him what he had called Sousuke and gives him Sousuke’s photos, visibly desperate to get his friend back.

Even when they get out, Kou did not allow himself to face reality, talking about Mitsuba as if he was Sousuke, pushing what Tsukasa had said away.

“I thought he was gone for good” “I didn’t think I’ll ever see him again” “Because I couldn’t save him” Is all about Sousuke, which, as Tsukasa explained, “Sousuke doesn’t exist anywhere in this world anymore”

Kou only starts to realize what he has been doing and face reality in picture perfect, when Mitsuba shows him Sousuke’s life on the windows, calling Kou out for only focusing on his dead friend, ignoring Mitsuba, and using him for his own selfish reasons.

Kou is reminded of his trauma when Mitsuba breaks the window with Sousuke’s memories in it, but it does serve as an efficient wake up call.

Kou actually looks at Mitsuba here. He is dazed and shocked but he pays attention to what Mitsuba is saying: he is able to sees him as his own person. 

Mitsuba is confident no one cares about him, so after venting, completely breaking this world's facade, he sucks up his tears and goes back to his human form, offering Kou his dreams.

This time Sousuke’s image isn’t overwhelming. Kou doesn’t want to believe in this fake world now that he can see through it: Now that he can see Mitsuba.

He understands this is his own wish, not Mitsuba’s.

He can see that this lie is hurting Mitsuba.

Kou understands that there is truth to Mitsuba’s words. During all the fun times they spent together, he had been picturing Sousuke by his side, he wanted to have Sousuke back so badly that he never considered Mitsuba’s feelings, or how his wish to replace him would be hurtful.

Kou is a selfish person full of genuine kindness: He still wishes Mitsuba was Sousuke and he feels guilt for ignoring Mitsuba.

“You can’t find happiness in a fake world” is a message to both Mitsuba and himself. Once Kou snaps out of his dream, he realizes it would only lead to ruin and tries to drag Mitsuba out of his own delusions, and while he has some points, he doesn’t understand that promising a better reality, giving him hope, is cruel.

Kou genuinely wants to understand Mitsuba, so he hears him out, and pays full attention to his distress.

There is still the solid weight of his failure with Sousuke in Mitsuba’s very essence, but despite them looking the same and being very tied together, Kou is determined to focus on Mitsuba, he doesn’t want to do the same mistake again.

I won’t go in depth on Kou’s lack of care about his own life in this analysis, but I think it is worth noticing this offer was for Mitsuba, not Sousuke, and Mitsuba could see that.

Mitsuba doesn't believe Kou can make him human, but he understands that he is serious, and that Kou will try.

He gets the feeling that maybe, hopefully, Kou cares about him too, not just Sousuke, so it freaks him out that his possible friend throws himself out of the fucking building.

The last thing Kou wants is to hurt him, so he apologizes for being reckless and trying to sort out his own feelings without considering how Mitsuba would feel.

Despite this determination to be closer to Mitsuba, he subconsciously puts a distance between himself and the supernatural. He accidentally keeps ignoring him.

Remember this:

It’s about Kou’s wish, but it shows one of Mitsuba's own wishes, one weaker than his burning desire to be human, but no less real: The wish for friends.

Friends are one of the reasons he went along with faking to be Sousuke, friends are one of the many reasons he wants to be human in the first place.

But unfortunately, this is a wish he shares with Sousuke, so Kou blocked it out, not wanting to overlap the two, even if wanting to be friends is a part of Mitsuba too.

It’s complicated.

Being friends meant so much for Sousuke, and Kou doesn’t want to be reminded of him.

Kou understands seeing Mitsuba as Sousuke is an insecurity of Mitsuba and truly believes that the supernatural deserves better, he should be his own person instead of a shadow of Sousuke. Kou recognizes this difficulty separating the two is his issue, not Mitsuba's, so he is determined to make sure it doesn't become a problem again.

This need to separate the two makes it so he can’t see Mitsuba as a friend, or if he does, he can’t voice it. He has never called Mitsuba a friend unless he was thinking of Sousuke or mistaking him for Sousuke, whose friendship he treasures. Even when Mitsuba had expressed he want Kou to stay in this world as his friend, the wish didn't register, and Kou focused instead on the far less achievable, but completely detached from Sousuke, dream of turning him into a human.

Mitsuba’s dream is important to Kou, and Mitsuba noticed that, since his vent was a moment were he had Kou full attention on him instead of Sousuke, so Mitsuba eventually used his dream to distract Kou from Nene’s lifespan and their dilemma in Mei’s world.

Unfortunately, this is, at its core, just a distraction: Mitsuba may believe in Kou’s determination, but he doesn’t believe Kou has the power to grant his wish, he isn’t expecting Kou to find a solution, and he never pressures Kou about it after, he only said this because he doesn’t like to see Kou in distress, it makes him uncomfortable, and so he needs him to snap out of it.

Mitsuba has no idea how huge this is for Kou, how important it feels, cause Kou feels as if no one had ever expected anything from him before.

Even when Hanako expected him to save Nene, Kou had no idea so much trust was put on him, because Hanako only told him this:

And Kou was frozen in time, unable to hear a thing, when Hanako added this:

So in Kou’s point of view, Mitsuba is the only one that expects something from him, the only one that depends on him. (which is diferent from people depending on his role: like his siblings needing a housekeeper)

Kou talks big but in the end, he is just an overwhelmed 14 year old: while he is determined to make Mitsuba’s dream come true and fully separate him from Sousuke, he has no way to help him, and it is hard for him to not see Mitsuba as Sousuke. It’s incredibly hard.

It may have been presented in a comedic manner, but we know this haunts him all the way to his dreams.

Add in all the romantic undertones of his interactions with both Mitsuba and Sousuke, and Kou really has a big crisis.

He only fully comes to terms that Sousuke is gone when he visits his mom and sees first hand the impact of his death.

He processed and mourned Sousuke's death, he can truly separate them now, but things are still far from simple.

What exactly is his relationship with Mitsuba? It isn’t as easy to understand as his relationship with Sousuke.

Let’s see how his wishes manifest to illustrate it. This is his wish with Sousuke:

It's the wish to have been a good friend to Sousuke while he was alive. Depending on where you read, the translations may be ‘you were my friend’ or you ‘are my friend’ but regardless, it has Sousuke wearing his death clothes and thanking Kou, which shows that Kou has moved on. He has accepted his death, no longer wishing for Sousuke to come back to life.

His wish with Mitsuba may start simple enough: Kou wants to be missed, to be wanted.

But grows out of control very quickly.

It’s strange. Dangerous.

It’s important that when the Fake shows up in the red house he is a supernatural, not a human like Mitsuba wishes to be. The fake also wants Kou to fulfill his promise from picture perfect and die so they can be together, which is something Mitsuba rejected, angry with Kou for his reckless behavior.

This wish to stay by his side forever is purely Kou, though it's not as simple as Kou wanting to die: Keep in mind that many of the house wishes are merely things Kou subconsciously wants because it would give him an easy answer to a dilemma he is being troubled by: Like when the house materialized an evil Hanako telling him to “exorcise me before I kill everyone” because all his problems would have been easier to solve if the world was more black and white.

If dying, ending it all, really was a deep wish of his the house would have shown him an easy way to die: For better or worst, the house is very straight to the point with its temptations, when Kou wished for a legendary weapon that would ‘save senpai in a flash’ the house gave him exactly what he asked for, when he got hungry it showed him food, so if he seeked death itself, even if subconsciously, the house would offer him a noose or a drop as high as a school building, not something so tied to the idea of being wanted, to Mitsuba trusting and believing in Kou.

Kou has very little self-worth and sees his own life as a disposable tool for others, but I do not believe being willing to die and wanting to die are the same. He mostly wants an answer about what to do with Mitsuba, he wants to be the one with the solution to his problems more than he wants to make Mitsuba human, and the only solution he can come up with is to become a supernatural, so the red house gave him exactly what he wants: a solution of his own making.

Kou is very self-centered, the Fake may be twisted, but Kou had always accidentally distorted his relationship with Mitsuba, the unease he felt facing the fake is likely because it isn’t what he expected to see, but it isn’t alien either, it’s similar to things Kou has thought before:

Now, Kou doesn’t want Mitsuba to be helpless, to consume his life, he have no malicious intentions whatsoever, but he does want to be needed. Kou is desperate to be needed.

He feels like he is never seen as reliable: He had bonding moments with Nene on many occasions but she has Hanako, whose actions are morally questionable at times but he does get results, unlike Kou. Teru loves him but kept him in the dark about the exorcist world for his whole life, Tiara loves him but Kou seems to be under the impression her favorite bro is clearly Teru, and anyone else wouldn’t pick him as their first choice.

In contrast, Mitsuba is very attached to him, Mitsuba has a wish that he had asked Kou to grant him, and Kou had attached himself to Mitsuba just as much as he has grown attached to the idea that Mitsuba needs him.

Kou’s wish to be with Mitsuba and his deep wish to be needed are interconnected, Kou wants so so much to help him, to not be a disappointment again, that he became obsessed. Ironically, while Kou wants to be trusted, he doesn’t trust himself, and this determination to grant his wish blinds Kou from bonding and granting Mitsuba's wish for friends. Kou does have good intentions but he is doing what he wants, he is not paying attention to Mitsuba.

Kou doesn’t want Mitsuba to worry, Kou wants to help, and he can’t see his lack of self preservation hit Mitsuba too. I personally think Kou is aware his selflessness is inherently selfish but he hates that part of himself, because he rejected all his wishes in the red house but was able to admit to himself later they are his wishes.

He seem to acknowladge this but still reject it, cause he keeps doing the same mistakes: He may have apologized for jumping in picture perfect but he keeps missing Mitsuba’s intentions.

He is at his most selfish with Mitsuba and yet, I have no doubts he genuinely cares about him.

When he does see Mitsuba again, he is happy he is ‘good’ and he has both a heavy romantic energy and a noticeable distance. In hindsight, I’m not surprised he called him an acquaintance.

Kou likes him but he isn’t sure if is because of Mitsuba or because Mitsuba reminds him of Sousuke, so Kou had put a mental block on the idea of them being friends. Mitsuba very existence was born out of his failure with Sousuke, and have a big tie with Kou’s self worth. Any romantic feelings he has are being suppressed, and yet they do have a connection outside Sousuke. Kou is so focused on not disappointing Mitsuba he sabotages a lot of chances of connecting with him.

So what are they? It’s not as simple as ‘not quite friends and not quite lovers’, they are deeply affected by each other but know so little of the other they are basically strangers. They put their wishes on each other (”I want friends” “I want to be needed”) and yet misread what they are expected to give. They want connection and are afraid of not being as important to the other as the other is for them: They are a loving and tragic mess.

I am not surprised Kou had a breakdown when Mitsuba told him to exorcise him.

At this point, Kou is able to see Mitsuba as his own person/monster, so I feel like the request to be exorcised doesn’t make him remember Sousuke’s death, but it does bring back Severance trauma: We haven’t seen a Sousuke flashback in ages, but we got plenty of little panels of Mitsuba in the severance from Kou’s pov.

Outside the distress of Mitsuba wanting to die after Kou just got him back, it’s important that Kou focuses on how he needs to eat to survive after the severance, and instead of being disgusted as Mitsuba expected, Kou takes it as a personal attack, as a declaration Mitsuba also has Tsukasa to rely on.

Kou doesn’t care that Mitsuba is a monster, it was one of the main things he used to differentiate him from Sousuke, is old news, but he does care that Mitsuba still wants to be human but have gave up on ever being one. By doing so, Mitsuba indirectly admits that he doesn’t believe Kou can grant his wish, which is a promise that Kou had put a lot of his self-worth in, so it feels like Mitsuba doesn’t need Kou.

The only thing Mitsuba seems to need Kou for is to exorcise him.

Kou needs to handle both the realization Mitsuba wants to die and that he doesn’t believe in him, that’s more than enough to break him. Add in all the repressed feeling he have, both of friendship and romance, and dear lord, please help this kid.

These two have so many communication problems I hope they talk in the next chapter.

[initforthelolzz]

back from the dead

[ambitionsart]

So... Deadlands but make it a Guild?

Putting it under read more because there's a lot.

So given the Deadlands characters have very little backstory we are headcannoning a lot here. Bare with me.

Edie, I imagine as a rouge (was torn with bard), who uses her sweet charms to get the information she needs. Picks up shifts in taverns in exchange for a roof for a few days.

Garnet is just Prudance 2.0. Since we don't know much of backstory, I can imagine her being a reserved magic user who does not talk about where her magic comes from, because lets be honest a less than savoury patron really doesn't go down well. (Also the idea of her having like a deck of many things, or where her patron picks the cards delt to deal damage would be fun)

Silas, I'm sorry this man is a barbarian. There is no other thing he could be, it's the unfiltered rage. Though I liked the idea of him duel wielding blades like his pistols. Also having miss matched armour to reflect he used to be someone important, the hints of his 'law man' image.

Nate, Okay so. Nate I struggled with. I'm thinking a paladin of some kind? Also I don't know how to translate, was at one point dead and now lives on alcohol and jerky, other than the common stereotype of Dwarves. So. Yeah. Sorry Nate. Though I do imagine him keeping his shirt as if it was something his late wife embroiderd for him and now it's too sentimental to get rid of so it's got patches holding it together.

Delacy, the idea of this relatively human party having a child half orc running around with them felt apt but also the level of humor of oxventure. Also Delacy being an unusually strong child also very good. I can imagine him being a fighter or some combat specific class.

If anyone has any better ideas, hit me up I'm not 100% on all of these, so please add your own to them.

[deancasforcutie]

Despair // Night on the Galactic Railroad

'Campanella,' said Giovanni, sighing deeply, 'we're alone again. Let's stay together till the ends of the earth, okay? If I could be like that scorpion and do something for the benefit of all people, I wouldn't care if my body burnt up a hundred times over.' 'Me too,' said Campanella, his eyes welling with the clearest tears. 'But what is real happiness, Campanella?' 'Don't ask me,' he answered dreamily.

[autoboros]

WHAT??? ARE THERE MORE SPOON PEEPS??

Yep, these are my real main 4 guys

They're all really close friends and they've been around for like... nearly 2 years now which is crazy

[you-me-we-04]

For personal reasons, I need one of 911 season 8 main plot points to be a love triangle centering on one Evan "Buck" Buckley. I long for Tommy and Eddie's cat fighting over this man, his time, and his love. I need Tommy and Eddie always trying to one-up each in the smallest things (I'm talking about who gets to buy Buck a coffee, who makes sure he gets home safe after a night out) give me Hen running a betting pool over who Buck will end up with, give me Tommy and Eddie still doing Muay Thai together and during these seasions of them doing Muay Thai it is broken up with vague threats over who loves Buck more ("Evan" Tommy corrects every time, Eddie always hits a little hard after that) give me Buck pretending like he has no clue this is going on but in truth, he feel unworthy of causing all this drama esspically when he finds out from Chris that it's messing with Eddie and Tommy's freindship, give me Buck going to Maddie for support finally admitting all the stress this is causing him, give me pissed off Maddie going big sister mode on both Eddie and Tommy telling them if they really love every part of Evan Buckley that they will stop this stupid cat fight and let him make up his own mind. Then. Then. Then. THEN in the season 8 finale in the very last scene in the wrap-up they do in every season give me some line about love and how it finds us i.e "And sometimes in a moment when its most inconvenient and unexpected love finds a way to make its way into our lives and despite it all, it finds a way to surprise us." (In my head the voiceover is Bobby) and we see Buck's home clothes are strewn in the hallway we see two male bodies cuddling in a bed. One we can't make out but the other is clearly Buck and we cut to a close-up of Buck who just says "I love you" THEN CUT TO BLACK COME BACK FOR SEASON 9 TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

[coquelicoq]

i know we're all losing it at this sudden insight we've gained in the [tarik voice] uhhh why is there a drone in my face scene, so i wanted to pull out some moments from previous books in which murderbot uses drones to look at people and see how differently they read if we now assume said drones are hovering inches away from their faces. reviewing my notes to look for examples is how i found out that mb doesn't pilot drones to look at people's faces until FT/NE, with one exception, and it's a doozy:

When it [the drone] reached Wilken, I had it stop and hover in front of her face for twenty-six seconds. Okay, so I was a little angry. (RP, ch. 5)

so like, it knows putting a drone in somebody's face is gonna freak them out, and it uses that to fuck with a human that pissed it off. lol.

that's really the only moment in the first four books where mb could conceivably be droning right up in someone's business, and it's made explicit. so i don't think we missed anything there. FT and NE are another story. here are some of my favorite moments:

FT

Indah faced me and asked, "You have experience at this?" Watching her via the drones, I kept my gaze on the Starchy Foods!!! sign, which had little dancing figures around it which I guess were supposed to be starchy foods. (ch. 1)

there's something about having a drone in your face while you're trying to talk to a person who is staring very seriously at a whimsical sign that contains three exclamation points...

Indah stared at Tural. So did I, with my drones. (ch. 2)

MULTIPLE drones in face incident! plus your boss giving you the eyeball?? tural is doing their best u guys please have mercy!

He [one of Mensah's assistants] was used to me and used to confidential council stuff, so he didn’t even glance up at my drones, just nodded to us and slipped out as we stepped in. (ch. 6)

whose job is it to tell newly hired assistants "ignore it" when there's a drone in their face? it's probably part of the standard onboarding procedure at this point tbh.

Then me, Aylen, and Indah were standing in the office looking at each other. Or they were looking at me and my drones were looking at them. (ch. 6)

mexican standoff if instead of guns you had eye contact and also one of the people involved doesn't like making eye contact. or something.

NE

The drone I had watching [Mensah's] face increased magnification, its low-light filter rendering her features in black and white. (ch. 2)

POV you're having a tense conversation about trauma therapy in the dark with a little flying camera buzzing around your head. just little secunit teammate things! (i actually think mensah finds this very comforting though. she smiles at the drone four pages later <3)

I wanted to use my drones to look at [Amena], but while that was calming for me, it wouldn’t be for her. (ch. 3)

hmm would it not be calming for amena to have something hovering in her face right when she's about to be abducted by raiders? ya think??

I had a drone view of Amena watching the hand scanner, her brow furrowed in half-wince, half-concentration. (ch. 6)

it doesn't have to be like this [mb 🤝 performing surgery] when it can also be like this [putting a drone in amena's face 🤝 mb 🤝 performing surgery]. mb has two hands (metaphorically)

My drone watched [Amena] eyeing me. (ch. 20)

every time mb says it sees through a drone that someone is watching it gets 200% funnier if this means that the person is deliberately ignoring the drone invading their personal bubble in order to look at the person that is outside of their personal bubble. like that's commitment.

[Mensah] came and sat down next to me in the lounge and I adjusted a drone to be able to get a view of her face. (ch. 20)

read: "a drone zoomed down from where it was circling above my head and stopped an inch in front of mensah's nose." i mean, you don't have to read it that way, it's never made explicit and i'm not the boss of you. but isn't it fun to imagine?

[agenderduck]

thinking about how duck and red are two sides of the same coin, opposites yet exactly the same. duck is a square, a cube if you will. he desperately wants to be in control of something, anything. deep down though he wants nothing more than for the trio to be a family because that is where he feels most safe and secure. duck’s can’t live without their flock. he acts out of fear though he’ll never admit it. any slip up on his end could lead to the trio separating again. so he clings to his clipboard and does his visual inventory by compulsion. duck does it to feel some level of ‘control’ because what choice does he have? he hates feeling weak, but most of all he hates the thought of his friends being anywhere but with him.

red on the other hand is a rhombus/diamond, a square slightly tipped to the side. on the surface it seems like a different shape but they have the same amount of sides, and the same dimensions. red says he wants to be dead because in his eyes its the only way he can gain some level of control over himself, though true death will never be an option for them within the cycle. those sweet moments of darkness might be nice for a second but then before he knows it the lights are back on and the house is spinning again.

transport and electricity highlight how duck and red will never have the same courage yellow has to confront his discomfort with the cycle. both will inevitably continue to run from that discomfort. red runs from everything all the time, like duck’s death, or the three of them being a family. he runs from his discomfort with the cycle in transport, and it is far from his first time doing something similar. red is too beaten down to question things like yellow does. deep down he cares for the other two, realistically he can’t live without them, but he wishes he could. red associates them with the house often, and the things he himself can’t be. duck on the other hand runs by desperately trying to hide the fact that hes terrified behind his ego and abiding by the rules. he is consistently beaten down and devalued by it, duck has long since given up questioning why these things happen to him. why would he fight back when bad things will continue to happen to him regardless? the trio could be split up for all he knows,it could put their little family at risk. so when yellow starts questioning things in electricity,duck is not just worried that his friend is acting differently, and out of the norm its also a reminder of the fact that he will never be able to do the same.

they’re not allowed to feel much of anything, forced to put forward the often worst parts of themselves, forced into character types they don’t want to play. red and duck bicker, but its not out of hatred for each other, quite the opposite really. they respect and care for each other deeply, though they would rarely ever admit it. red, because of his general avoidance, and duck because he assumes its already implied. they huddle together when yellow starts acting ‘wrong’ in electricity because the sense of familiarity they have with each other is comforting. both puppets love and care for yellow, but fail to truly understand him and his point of view. as long as they’re in the light the trio’s interactions with each other will be hollow and limited. for duck and red the only time we see them truly open up around each other is in the dark. only then do they realize they actually like looking at each other. ‘my housemate has really pretty eyes actually…. why am i only just now realizing that.’ they see each other in the fridge scene in a way they’re denied most every other time. they realize that they genuinely enjoy each other’s presence and appearance all while barely being able to see each other. its both intimate and sad. the scene is abruptly interrupted when red and duck question where yellow is who shortly after appears to have come back down stairs, accidentally letting the light back in. anything that was just said goes straight into the shredder. the trio will never be on the same page ever. no real change will ever be made for duck and red with their egos and vulnerabilities getting in the way. so while duck and red have the potential to make each other better on paper, they will more than likely make each other so much worse, they are puppets bound and choked by their own strings.

[pinkeoni]

Explaining WillEl's Narrative Duality— With Charts!

Today I want to talk about the duality of Will and El's storylines and how paralleled the two are, and to help explain I've drawn little diagrams! (or, me forcing everyone try and read my handwriting)

This will probably be a multi-part post, but I'm going to start with season one since it is the easiest to explain, but also looking at just season one gives a good incite into where their individual arcs are heading.

First, let's start with the narrative backbone— Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey

The Hero's Journey is literary cycle that Joseph Campbell proposed all stories follow. Now whether or not all stories follow it is debatable, but ST actually follows it to a T.

I've simplified it for the sake of this post, but the general gist of it is that the hero starts off in the Known World, or the "Normal World," and then "crosses the threshold" into the Unknown World, or the "Realm of Monsters" as I'm calling it on my little chart. The hero then ends the cycle when they make the return journey back to the Known World with the knowledge they have gained.

Pre-season one, El and Will are sitting on opposite ends of the chart, Will lives in the Known World and El lives in the Unknown World. This will make more sense as I continue explaining.

I guess it's important to note that parts of the Hero's Journey is meant to be transformative based on the work and character that it is applied to. The Unknown World here is the known world to El, but from an audiences perspective her world is the unknown one, thus why I've placed her on that side of the chart. Will and El both follow the same steps of the chart in the same order, but whether they are in the Normal World or Realm of Monsters is different.

Once season one begins and we have our inciting incident, both characters cross the threshold onto the other side of the chart. They basically switch sides. El escapes the lab entering the Normal World and Will is taken to the Upside Down, or the "Realm of Monsters"

We see a lot more of El's story then we do with Will's, but for most of the season Will and El are basically living out opposite arcs. I think if you consider Will having powers, this is especially true.

El is a girl with powers who is learning how to navigate the conventions of the normal world.

Will is a normal boy who is learning how to navigate his powers in the unknown world.

If El is going to survive in this new environment, she has to learn how to dress and act like a normal girl. She has to learn what normal girls wear and what a friend is and how to make promises, all things that kids in the Known World, like Will, are already familiar with. On the other side of this chart, if Will is going to survive his new environment he has to learn how to use his powers. He has to learn how to control the lights so that he can communicate with his mom, something that kids in the Known World would not know, but that kids from the Unknown World, like El, would know.

The climax of season one is when their respective "monsters" are closing in on them. The Demogorgon (Vecna) gets closer to Will and Brenner gets closer to finding El.

Will and El then end the season on opposite ends of the chart once again, having both made their return journey.

(Of course, the story doesn't end there, but this is the resolution that is offered for the first season)

Like I suggested towards the beginning of this post, I feel like examining their respective storylines in this way could help predict the projection of their arcs in season 5, and what the core of their arcs are actually about.

An important aspect of The Hero's Journey that I didn't illustrate on my little chart is "Master of Both Worlds" or the step toward the end where the hero is a master of both the Known World and the Unknown World. This is a step that we haven't quite seen yet with neither Will nor El.

This goes along with my post here where I speculate the conclusion of Will and El's arcs, which includes El becoming her own person outside of being a superhero and Will becomes the chosen one. Considering that Will started off in the Known World and El started off in the Unknown World, the goal for each character has to be about mastering the opposite realm. Will is likely going to become a master of the Upside Down and his powers, and El is going to come into her own person outside of her superhero identity.

[creatively-cosmic]

i need to draw shittier things more often so heres really rough sketches bc of this post

[hephaestuscrew]

Lady Miss Clara Entwhistle

'Miss Entwhistle' or 'Miss Clara Entwhistle' is said 93 times across Seasons 1 and 2 of Victoriocity. 'Lady [Clara] Entwhistle' is never said until S3E4. I'm obsessed with the fact that every time Clara has introduced herself or been referred to by name - every time she's been 'Miss' rather than 'Lady' - it's been a symbol for her of how she's building her own life, separate from her family and their expectations for her. She could have adopted a whole new name if she wanted to entirely disguise her aristocratic family ties, but she choose a more subtle shift.

Before she came to London, how many times had she walked into rooms she didn't want to be in and been announced as 'Lady Clara Entwhistle'? Did it feel strange to her at first, the switch to introducing herself without any hint at her father's Earldom? Or did it just feel right, her name finally able to stand on its own, like she was trying to? 

How many situations has Clara been in since moving to London where her title would have commanded respect and made things easier? How many people has she met who would have been impressed that she was a member of the aristocracy, who might have cooperated more quickly or revealed information more easily had they known? In the confrontation with Merrick in the House of Commons, for example, would there have been quite so much jeering and disbelief from the benches at the words of an Earl's daughter, as opposed to a random unmarried female journalist? But she's never played that card - it's never felt worth it to her.

When we first meet Clara as she enters London, she says "Well, my mother's occupation is... Lady, I suppose. And I am a journalist." Lady is a role which defines her mother, who is appalled by the idea of having an occupation. "Why couldn’t you just have married a duke, moved to Saxony and died of scarlet fever like your sister?" is funny in its ridiculousness, but it's also horrifying; Clara's mother would prefer a dead daughter than a daughter who is living the life Clara wants. That's something that must weigh on her, even when the ties are cut. Coming from an environment like that, it's no wonder if she sees a life of autonomy and independence as inherently incompatible with any acknowledgement of the role in society she was born into. So she goes by 'Miss', and she doesn't seem to talk about her aristocratic heritage, and still she's asking herself "what it means to be free, for birds or people"...