#while checking to see if this was really a spoiler

[erose-this-name]

Kabru is such a brilliantly written character, one of the best in Dungeon Meshi (which is a high bar as it is, most of the main cast are similarly genius). 

His thing is that he is very friendly and nice confident and maxed out his charisma stat, but is also kinda ambitious and manipulative. But not in an overtly malicious way. Which kinda scares me.

The most impressive thing about him, writing wise, is that it’s all show-don’t-tell. He very frequently uses his charm and empathy and understanding of how people think in really clever ways. We’re often walked through his thought process of how he does these social deductions. We’re never told he’s scarily charismatic, besides other characters reacting to him being scarily charismatic.

Kabru is a natural-born leader and social engineer with superlative skills in both, which makes him the perfect foil for Laios, who’s too autistic and unambitious that he’s not even the de facto leader of his own party that he’s the official leader of. He’s so bad at leadership that his party just, sort of, doesn’t have a leader. They just kinda argue and do stuff.

What’s also neat, and perfectly inline with Meshi’s general theme of clever and logical subversions of fantasy tropes, is that Kabru’s character design in no way clues us in on this fundamental character trait of his.

He’s sort of a human fighter / knight archetype, which in the language of fantasy RPGs is a class most would associate with being a white bread jock, chivalrousness optional. (Laios subverts the same trope in the same way. It’s really funny that the walking exposition dump of the group looks like the character creator default preset spec’d as the most generic class available.)

If Kabru was a bard or noble and Laios a wizard, their character traits would be far less interesting

Even better is that we would expect someone who looks like Laios to have Kabru’s personality, and vice versa. Their character designs are flipped; the confident super charismatic leader is a short wide-eyed twink, while the slightly naive and very autistic monster enthusiast is a tall conventionally attractive Aryan lookin’ mf. (see what I mean by Kabru being such a good foil for Laios?? No wonder everyone ships them, they’re perfect for each other!)

Yet, their designs also work for them. Kabru just has a face that’s easy to talk to, his piercing blue eyes and curly hair gives him a false sense of naïveté, while his iconic 👁️👁️ expression hints that there’s actually quite a bit going on inside his head. Meanwhile, Laios believably looks like someone who doesn’t know what hair conditioner is. His armor’s collar gorget thing is also pretty dorky.

You can’t trust people like that (I mean overly charismatic people with a manipulative streak, not blue-eyed twinks) because you can’t know what their real motives are. You can’t know they aren’t pretending, you can’t know they aren’t trying to or haven’t already manipulated you. How could you? When he has so much more social intelligence than you do, average socially awkward Tumblr user? He’s touched all the grass!

In episode 16 (spoilers, btw) Kabru finally meets Laios’s party, who he’s been trying to find and fight for the better part of the season, and he just decides that no confrontation is necessary. Like, immediately upon meeting the guy. Just from how Laios looked at him. He figures that since Laios didn’t seem to recognize him, they either have never met meaning he has the wrong guy, or Laios forgot meaning he didn’t think it’d be a big deal, meaning the treasure was a trap or something. Which is pretty in line with Kabru’s established ability to always roll nat 20s for every charisma and deductive reasoning check, so cool.

But he doesn’t even seem curious about which of those cases is true. (He might be interested to find out some of the treasure wasn’t dangerous, but accidentally got thrown off a bridge). Much to Rin’s dismay, he’d rather just not bring it up because that could upset the leader of the party he might be working with for the foreseeable future.

Actions speak louder than words. So, all we really learn in this scene is that Kabru’s goals and M.O. can change on a dime, and that he values reputation and political capital more than money and vengeance. More than his own party’s desire for those things. Not only is he someone with a silver tongue, but he knows its value and is determined to use it at every opportunity.

Kabru and his party might not be very good at fighting or surviving in the dungeon, in fact their frequent TPKs are a running gag. But, he also doesn’t need to be when he can just manipulate Laios’ and Shuro’s much more proficient parties into helping him.

So far, Kabru seems like the most likely one to become king of the dungeon or whatever the mcguffin is. He is the only protagonist so far who has said that’s an actual goal of his. He’s said that he doesn’t think someone like Laios who isn’t a born leader should get it.

In fact, Kabru seems to have very strong opinions on what kinds of people should be allowed to adventure in the dungeon, evidenced by the fact that he murdered an entire party over it, justified or not. Kabru seems to think that Kabru is such a leader, and he’s probably right about that, but what kind of leader? 

What would Kabru do with that kind of power if he gets it? Because I’m not sure. All I know is that he is the kind of person with the ability to use real political power to its full potential. For good, or for very, very bad.

I’m not saying that Kabru is evil or that he’s secretly gonna be the surprise villain. I dunno, I haven’t read the manga. He could just be a nice guy that’s just, like, is like that. Everything he’s done could be justified by the explanations he’s given. He actually reminds me a lot of one of my IRL friends, and I’d trust him with my life.

But, I can’t help but feel a distinct sense of unease whenever he’s on-screen. I try not to trust confident natural-born leaders like him right out of the gate. I don’t like that our instinct as humans is to blindly follow them without thinking about it.

Tyrants and psychopaths also use confidence and charm and a friendly demeanor to make people think they’re a good guy, while manipulating everyone into thinking their self-serving actions are altruistic. Benevolent, confident, skilled leaders do exist. But there exists many more snakes wearing their skin. Wolves rarely bother with sheep’s clothing, they dress as shepherds and sheepdogs.

Anyway, my point is that I think it’s kinda neat that it’s possible to overthink this much about a character whose probably just a nice guy that is the mirror opposite of an autistic person. Writing that kind of ambiguity is hard, and employing it in this way is inspired.

[latteandjacks]

"They should've made an emphasis on Sallie May being trans before" "There should be things that openly indicate she's trans aside from the horns" "The merch shouldn't show her with a bulge if she's trans, logically she should hide it"

My brother in Christ shut the fuck up

Aight, I get where most of you are coming from but let me just say that Sallie May is a big breath of fresh air from a lot of canon trans rep I've been seeing in the internet about big projects such as Helluva Boss, let's go point from point

This contains spoilers from Hell's Belles

Sallie May is a transgender Imp, this is not something that was decided just now for the short as her first appearance in the moon harvest festival already shows her with the thick line horns (Which are exclusively from AMAB (Assigned Male at Birth) Imps

If there's only one point these people made that I agree with is the fact that the horns thing should be something implied in the show, not specifically with the intention of outing a trans character but something simple that could give more context for those who do not check the wikis or the social medias that often

Other than that, I feel like they haven't actually meet a trans person irl because they believe that her being trans should be something that everyone should catch the first time they see her, that someone should inmeditaly point out she's trans, yet, they get upset at the fact that she's proudly showing a bulge on the merchandise They want the show to scream verbally about her being trans but not casually

You have no idea how relieved I felt when, at no point in the episode, her being trans was mentioned or outed, none pointed out her horns or voice and instead the problem was her feeling left out of her sister's life, and, again, not because she's trans and feels like Millie doesn't view her the same or some bullshit, but because Millie doesn't go home as often and felt a bit mad when she had to do her work In fact! Her not getting genitalia reconstructive surgery is also a thing that is cool about her, she got tits but didn't chop off the dick and is not insecure about it, most of times trans people are put between not getting surgery or getting ALL of the surgeries AND being extremely insecure about their genitalia, and yes, there's a lot of trans people that feel that way, but I think that aspect of her is really good representation for those that don't want to get surgery or only want to either reduce or enlarge their chest, not everyone gets dysphoria the same way and this doesn't make her less of a woman for that

Even if it's okay to have characters where one of the main issue of the comes from being trans (I have a few myself), It's also nice to see character that are trans but the main issue with their life comes from something completely different and not related

So for people upset about her passing so well you can't immediately tell she's trans Surprise! That's a lot of us want, that's what a lot trans people irl try, to just be a person of the gender we really are, to be normal and not needing to always out of ourselves, to be treated the same no matter what I make a lot of jokes about my lack of dick and my excess of tits, I only out myself as trans when formally presenting to someone and that is just because I'm not allowed to be trans so I don't pass as a boy at all and need to specify, but me being trans is something that most of my friend only bring into the conversation to make a friendly joke or when I bring it up

Sallie May is not only good representation, is one of the best I've seen in a while in the modern adult media, because she's subtle yet obvious You may not like Viv (Me too girl /non gendered), but I got to give it to her, the lgbt+ representation she does is on point

Anyways now that I tackled down that issue is time to actually talks about this short as a whole see ya

[doyouknowthisdisabledcharacter]

Do You Know This Disabled Character?

At the moment, Roronoa Zoro from the live action version counting is debatable. Vote how you see fit if you only know him from the live action version.

Roronoa Zoro is visually impaired and has various scarring.

[ohmigoshiloveu]

Hey so since Emizel is a half vampire, could drinking his blood before he was fully turned form a blood bond? That would explain why his sire spared him despite having been previously willing to kill him for less- he literally fell in love with him (ish-kinda I know that’s not how level one blood bonds work but for the bit cmon).

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale's Analysis: Why Gabriel Agreste is the best parent in Miraculous Ladybug

Now the candy cane man has been getting ribbed on the internet since season one. Many people are convinced he is such an awful and unsympathetic individual that they believe jail or even death is a punishment that is too merciful. I know this because I was once one of the people that believed that.

But after doing an extensive deep dive into the series I can say that not only is Gabriel Agreste a fascinating character he is the following:

Sympathetic Antagonist done right

A Genius in Fashion and Scheming

A Loving Father and Husband

The Real hero of the series

These are bold claims I understand but I will be going into detail down below.

(Fair warning, I will be discussing up to the current Season 5 episodes that have aired and if you are not caught up yet, I recommend coming back to this post.)

APRIL FOOLS!

Gabriel Agreste is a piece of s***!

Here are some images of him getting owned

[easyaesthetics]

Imitates human behaviors to an uncanny degree, Akira remembers from the lab notes. Mimic skill on par with any natural predator that imitates another animal to lure in prey.

Scene from the amazing mermaid fic, I like to think I’m a good person by @relationshipcrimes (READ THE TAGS BEFORE BEGINNING)

[thegreatyin]

i love the gyrm bossfight at the end of bg3 act 1 because depending on how your first playthrough goes the reaction to other accounts of it is ALWAYS either "wait, you can do it with the hammer??" or "wait, you did it without the hammer???"

[dovalore]

say goodnight

[tswwwit]

Who are dipper's parents in this au?

They're parents! And arguably, not the best ones ever - they've been mostly out of the picture since the twin's magic showed up, which is when they were sent to Stan.

They don't have any names in canon, so I've never come up with any for them either!

[v-t-holmes]

i finished all the big starting quests in totk

this game is so fucking pretty omg

[mercyisms]

If you don't find harrow as interesting to discuss as the other characters I totally understand, but I have been dying to find meta from people much smarter than me about the paragraph from Crux in NtN: "Lady,..you've gone away again, my lady; where have you run?...Who are you this time, if not my Lady Harrowhark?" (pg 459, hardcover) Have you seen any? I'm surprised I haven't seen it mentioned more, but the NtN has a ton to talk about so

oh! well, i certainly do find harrow, gideon, ianthe, and so on very interesting. i just happen to have a specific illness that makes me very sure i remember almost everything mercymorn and augustine & co have said, and much easier to discuss. that is a fascinating little moment! it strikes me as something that is hard to write meta about, per se, because it refers to something concrete that the author clearly knows but hasn't quite surfaced in the realm of the novel. it's harder to analyze, though potent for speculation! depending on how much you trust crux and his read of harrow's childhood, it certainly suggests a pattern of dissociation or hiding. (again, not enough there for me to call it evidence, but it feels in line with, say, discussions of harrow as a person with schizophrenia? i've seen some thoughtful pieces on that before, though i'm not able to link to any off the top of my head.) it's a brief window into harrow's childhood that harrow herself may not be able to recognize and gideon, in gtn, certainly would not have been privy to. crux's rhetoric, though superficially soothing, is also, perhaps, a way of seeing the different ways harrow came to understand her profound duty to the ninth. i think what i feel certain about re: that moment is it very clearly sets up context for crux's interactions with gideon/kiriona, which strike me as the primary dramatic purpose for crux's return. the comparison between moment of (as best as he can manage anyway/undeniably twisted) tenderness and reaffirmation and the way crux treats paul (crotchety/resentful to outsiders) and gideon (undeterred, spiteful hatred) remind us a) the initial dynamics gideon/harrow were steeped in (and possibly how far they have or haven't come?) and b) how lmao deeply vile and personal crux's hatred for gideon is. it's that "why doesn't it feel good" that is, within nona, still the showstopper for me. (crux being a mutation of a father figure is important there, for sure.) if there was something more you had on your mind, i'd love to hear it! but considering those paragraphs without any further context... to me, they're wonderful bits of colour, but not necessarily enough on their own to suggest much. possibly there will be more to them in alecto -- also possibly it refers to something that will never make the narrative!? however, if people have cool thoughts please link them in he replies.

[wereh0gz]

Ok finally read the new issue and man sonic really needs to change his approach when talking to surge

[languiddragon]

girl help the main character of the series I'm reading is being brutally reminded of the immoral and callous nature of cast based heavily aristocratic societies, like the one she has through reasons largely beyond her control (and yet by her own merits) thrust into a position of authority within, are not only run on the blood of its lower classes and polished with the unmarked ashes of those associated with seditionists but also that such systems require of their authorities a near complete dehumanization of those beneath themselves in a way that leaves little room for the deep compassion and morality she has throughout both her lifetimes held dear, as well as struggle with the reality that many of those she has held dear, beyond being themselves complicit if not enthusiastic participants in this system, are attempting to raise her to be a enthusiastic participant in this process, on top of which is the reminder that these serve as of the constant struggle she will have to through to learn to act within the rules and framework of this world while holding on to who she is or the compassion and morality she holds dear

[mothheart]

I started exploring my first chasm for the robbie quest and whewww. Really just getting started here huh

[sysig]

*rotates him* (Patreon)

[todayisafridaynight]

very specific how aoki will fold his hands together when he gets deep in thought bout somethin but it’s a detail i like