#Adsecla

[trixeclipse]

Really wanted to draw my take on Phineas Thatch, from Midst 💎✨

#midst #midst podcast #midst spoilers #phineas thatch #adsecla #critical role #critical role art #midst art #midst fanart #digital art #digital illustration #digital sketch

[kendaizhai]

Once you have completed assembly, make sure to notify the nearest notary. It's fun AND Valorous!

#Midst podcast #Midst #Midst fanart #Prime Consector #Adsecla #The Trust #Jonas Spahr #Phineas Thatch #critical role

[drinkingdeadpeopletea]

man not to read too much into spahr's "there was a reason i picked him" about phineas but. i am always keeping in mind that spahr pulled phineas out of the delta personally. he didn't meet phineas as a prospective adsecla he met him as a scared little kid! maybe it wasn't so much that spahr actually thought phineas was the best choice as that he really wanted to believe he was. maybe without even being aware of it! how could he not want to believe in the rags to riches of it all? something that started with that scared little kid HE was able to help save? a tangible representation--beyond valor--of something good he did? but now of course that whole narrative has crumbled around him! phineas did something horrible (that was all spahr's fault as far as he's concerned) and now phineas is dead! that's it! story over! :)

#man i can't wait for him to see phineas again. i hope phineas is ACTIVELY in the middle of some traitorous activity when it happens. #or actively falling through a field of mica i'd settle for that too! #this whole post was almost in the tags of my last reblog but then i came to my senses and realized i should spare op and make my own. #midst #midst podcast #midst spoilers #midst podcast spoilers #i think there's also something to be said for phineas's desperation and drive being a quality spahr might have seen as an asset #that fire that propelled him to try so hard the entire time! something that spahr seems to relate to and so probably thought #would make phineas an even better adsecla! worked for jonas didn't it? :)))))))

[captainofthetidesbreath]

I think a lot about Costigan, former Prime Consector to whom Spahr was Prime Adsecla. They seem to have an amicable relationship, but since she's referred to a bit distantly as "Spahr's old boss", they don't seem particularly close. It's hard to tell precisely what their relationship is like since she's only mentioned in passing in one of the appendices and in 2.10.

Much is made of Spahr's influence on Phineas, so I've long wondered what her opinion is of all this as someone with much influence on Spahr. What does she think about Spahr and Phineas, and Spahr's court-martial, and all the rest? It's unclear at the moment whether Spahr took over from her, but given the timeline and his age, he probably did. Still, there is a line of succession on top of holding the same office: she mentored Spahr who mentored Phineas. It's interesting that she was all but certainly there in the Delta too.

It's a lineage of a sort between them three, and it's interesting to think of what may have been passed down, what choices and attitudes echo through them all, what qualities of character for better and worse unify them. I wonder whether she worries she did not prepare Spahr properly for all of this or whether she thinks herself as having no hand in any of it. I wonder if she recognizes Spahr in Phineas and herself in Spahr. I wonder if she can see her own fingerprints on Phineas.

I'd love to know more about her, and what she's like, and what Jonas was like under her mentorship, and what their relationship was then and is now. I'm always a huge fan of a mentorship lineage, and we know that she's around here somewhere. So, what does she think of this mess her protégé is in?

#also tell me about her eyepatch #I really should post more about Costigan more often. I've talked about her a LOT in DMs and I never post about her. #Yes this is bc I was thinking about minor characters mentioned like twice I want updates on yesterday and about Spahr's Adsecla career. #Midst #Midst podcast #Midst things

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

RIP Baron of the Fold Shallows Kozma Laszlo, you never managed to properly recruit former Prime Adsecla Phineas Thatch before your untimely and horrific murder. You would have loved his cool under pressure, ability to think on his feet, and natural prodigious talent in the field of cosmetology

#midst #midst podcast #midst spoilers #kozma laszlo #phineas thatch

[playerkingsley]

incredible that across midst episodes 2.17 and 2.18 we get parallel confrontations of jonas & phineas about their titles, their identities (or lack thereof on both counts), and what exactly they plan to to beyond them. spahr’s court-martial and exponentially building breakdown and his internal ‘What IS it Consector? What are you about to do? Better get it over with, whatever it is. It’s probably not something that the Upper Trust would approve of. But then again, how much longer are you GOING to be Prime Consector?’ and his desperation to help sherman and fix SOMETHING (while sherman truly wants none of it, which makes phineas’s own single-minded focus on his absolution thru very similar means both hilarious and tragic) vs kozma’s external ‘What are you doing with yourself now, ex-Adsecla Thatch?’ and very bluntly informing phineas that if he’s no longer of the trust, he’s in breach, and him having to grapple with that along with like. his five-year plan.

#why yes I do love characters on equal and opposite spirals meeting each other along the way. and they DO need to have the most ridiculously #dramatic reunion after this. either that or PAINFULLY stilted and awkward—nothing in between #also jonas and phineas swearing? can be so personal #midst #midst podcast #decided to mix it up with my d20 binge since midst episodes are obv much shorter #midst spoilers

[queenjulia11]

Re-listened to the whole first season yesterday (because I’m chill and normal about my interests) and wow is Phineas the perfect example of how toxic masculinity completely changes a person.

In his introduction, Phineas does exactly what he needs to in order to get the job done. He doesn’t use excessive force, and is able to solve the problem without anyone getting hurt. In any other world, this would be impressive.

Spahr is proud of him, but reminds him to play it up more for the media. Okay, noted, he’ll do better next time. He did exactly what was asked of him, just not in a manner that makes The Trust sound badass and cool to the kids listening back home.

He doesn’t break even — sucks, but no time to be sad about it! Here’s Backpack with her microphone! Look on the goddamn bright side, Phineas!! He still feels his feelings, but does way more than he should to cover them up around other people.

The gala goes well for him, a much needed confidence boost; he takes pride in not accepting handouts. But he doesn’t just say “no thank you,” like episode 3 Phineas might have, he’s offended that Mr. Loxlee expected he would want his help. That would make him weak. Mr. Loxlee clearly just doesn’t get it. This righteous reaction to turning Mr. Loxlee down says more than I realized at first about The Trust’s propaganda that Phin’s been consuming literally since childhood.

Then Spahr basically tells him to stop having social anxiety. Phineas has been feeling so many emotions, asking himself so many questions, trying to put on the Starship Troopers G.I. Joe face this entire time — looking for the answer. Looking for a guiding light to tell him how to be who he’s been told he’s supposed to be. And what answer does Jonas Spahr give to sweet, mild-mannered Phineas Thatch?

Don’t show weakness.

Or else he’s out. Last warning. Is it really that surprising Phineas lashed out against Sherman the way he did?

Spahr is certainly surprised — woah, this is not what he meant. But regardless of his intentions, this is what he fostered. This ruthlessness. This cruelty. This Adsecla who Phineas never would’ve seen himself as back in episode three. “An impulsive fucking idiot.”

“Phineas sees Jonas Spahr. But Jonas Spahr does not see Phineas.”

In more ways than one.

And after finally doing as he was told (to the best of his understanding), Phineas’ mentor, his hero abandons him. He didn’t want to, he never meant for it to go this far. But Phin doesn’t know that.

And now here he is, chewed up and spat out by the system he was born into. After following all the rules, he has become one of the indebted former trustees he was tasked to hunt, with no hope of ever getting back to where he was — let alone breaking even.

This is what propaganda does. This is what toxic masculinity does. This is what a cult does. And it doesn’t happen in a way you can easily see, it slowly simmers until it boils over into something unrecognizably sharp.

Oh, Phineas. I’m rooting for you, buddy.

#midst #midst podcast #Phineas Thatch #the trust #I know there are female and non-binary trustees #but the patriarchy affects everyone #and Phin is a guy and a protagonist so the toxic masculinity stuff is gonna be seen more in him than others #like this is literally his arc #no one’s telling him to literally man up or whatever but I think the metaphor is pretty clear #and they’re doing a damn good job IMPROVISING that like WOW

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

I have some thoughts on things that Phineas could actually stand to learn from Spahr, which he clearly hasn't had the opportunity to do.

(This post is full of spoilers for Midst s3e8, which will all go under the cut.)

One of the foundational assumptions of the cult of Valour is that it's possible to neatly and precisely assign (and subsequently quantify) blame. People who succeed politically in the Trust become exceptionally skilled at shifting blame in such a way that it's assigned to others. This includes casual conversation, where presumably the question of Valour cost is irrelevant; they just. practise. all the time.

Throughout the episode you can watch Costigan deftly wiggle out of the blame field while attempting to move it over to Spahr. She's doing it pretty much continuously, but I want to look at just two of the examples.

The most obvious, spelled out in plain text case is the breaking of the flower pot: she loses her temper, and immediately follows it up with a "look what you made me do" - an explicit, verbal assignment of blame. But here's an interesting thing: Spahr, even at his lowest, even though his gut reaction is to accept the blame and clean up the mess, does not budge, and forces her into a retreat - both in practical terms (she cleans up the mess) and in conversation (she *admits* that she's caused the mess in the first place).

Later, there comes another of her moves: she eagerly agrees with Spahr that Phineas's faults as Adsecla are Spahr's fault; virtually in the same breath she expresses that the failures of her subordinate are also that subordinate's fault. Spahr is responsible for all actions, his own and Phineas's; Costigan is responsible for none.

Here, too, Spahr doesn't stay within the blame field. He doesn't explicitly call her on it, but internally he doesn't submit to her evaluation. Instead he walks out with a new sense of clarity, courtesy entirely of seeing her bullshit for what it is.

Here's my point: Phineas would've 100% got onto his hands and knees and picked up the pieces of that flower pot. And I guess what I ultimately wish for him, is to arrive at the level of recovery where he *does not*.

#midst podcast #midst spoilers #midst s3e8 #jonas spahr #phineas thatch #(kind of)

[essektheylyss]

Just got to wondering where Jonas's parents are if he's 30, especially since he apparently was already Prime Adsecla when Phineas was rescued from the Delta as a kid, which I have to imagine would've been at least 10 years ago, if not more.

We know kids who are born with Caenum can become child laborers—I mean interns!—to gain Valor. We know the Company is very happy to recruit kids desperate to prove themselves. We know Jonas Spahr keeps his personal life and professional life very separate. So I'm just wondering if like... could he essentially be the equivalent of the kid who's been the family breadwinner since 16? Could he have relatives who are specifically reliant on his position?

I can't really say whether or not this is true for Jonas, but both given what we know and the real world structures that this system largely mirrors, it's horrifically plausible as something that happens in the Trust and in the Company in particular.

#midst podcast #jonas spahr #listen is this not how jrotc works tho. like let's be honest. #midst meta

[nazmazh]

In the middle of doing my daily Semantle etymology write-up and something dawned on me:

"Consector" and "Adsecla" sound very Latin in their construction and not just funny mashed-up syllables. "Caenum" means "mud/filth", so it tracks that we've got more Latin-ish words. ("Boccular" means "mouthpiece" apparently, which... sure?)

Plugging "consector" into translate churns out "reaper" which tracks, honestly.

"sector" itself seems to be a pretty good fit with "pursuer". "Con-" is a prefix that means "with".

"Adsecla" is less easy to crack.

"Ad-" has a lot of versatility as a prefix, but indicates an association ("to", "on", "towards", "near", "after", etc.)

"Secla" translates as "Century" which doesn't seem quite right here in this context. Hmm...

"Teletheric" has Greek roots, as our modern Tele-words do, in this sense would mean probably roughly "across the distant sky".

"Secla" [or it's proper-character equivalent, "σέκλα"] in Greek comes back as "chair" in English. This might be the right trail.

"Sella" is chair in Latin, with some related terms introducing that "c" - "lectica" is "sedan chair/litter"

Okay, so "to the sedan chair" - ~"Official assistant while travelling on official duties"?

(comes back as "ad sella" or "ad lectica" when plugged into translate)

I don't know if that's the exact logic, but I think it tracks pretty well.

Obligatory:

#midst #midst podcast #etymology #I really should be sleeping #but instead I'm attempted to decipher word roots #from languages I don't actually speak - I just kind of recognize roots and uses from my science background #and have played around with translate on things as part of my etymology fascination

[samcarter34]

It’s really so telling that when Phineas is measuring time since Midst, he says ‘since he was separated from Jonas. From the Trust.’ He says it in that order because that’s where his real priorities are.

Jonas was the one who pulled Phineas out of the Delta. Jonas is the one who introduced him to the Trust. More than likely, Jonas is the one who trained him to be Adsecla. As much as Phineas is/was a believer in the Trust, it’s clear that it was Jonas’ approval that he truly sought. When the whole thing with Sherman went to crap, Phineas tried to find some way to fix it, not because he was worried about his account, but because he couldn’t let Jonas tell him he was a failure. He goes after Tzila because he wants to prove he’s worthy to Jonas. Jonas in many ways IS the Trust to Phineas

But as we’ve just learned, the Trust doesn’t really like emotional honesty. Phineas is against telling Mother Anguish what’s going on with him because he believes it would be a burden on her. He only relents when she flips the Trust logic on its head. And we’ve seen that Jonas is absolutely putting on an act.

I hope whenever these two find their way back to each, they’re both in a place where they can be honest with each other.

Joke answer: Phineas’ mental well-being would improve greatly if Jonas told him he was a good boy every now and then.

#midst #midst podcast #midst spoilers #phineas thatch #jonas spahr #meta

[hoarding-stories]

Costigan: And MY Adsecla...wasn’t a mismanaged, weak-willed liability. At least, I didn’t think he was at the time. I don’t know about now.

I hate this woman so much

#midst spoilers #midst podcast #midst #also with how much people keep harping on Phineas in front of Spahr i cannot wait to see them meet up again

[darkwater-smidge]

Thatch Haired Youth

A Phineas Thatch fan mix

With line notes about song choices below the cut.

Icarus

The classic tale of a trapped boy trusting to be freed using the wings built by his father and crashing into the sea after flying too high and too fast.

Locker Room

The industrious masculinity of the setting mixed with the desperate need to prove one's worth matches the Phineas we meet early in season 1.

Boy on the Bus

The Phineas we know is about 22 (stated to be no more than 10 years older than Tzila). To be Adsecla to the Prime Consector by age 22 means he probably started with the Company much younger.

The Kids will be Alright Eventually

There's a driving desperation to Phineas where he feels the need to feel grateful for the opportunities he's been given, but those same opportunities are what put him into debt with the Trust. So, like the bridge of the song says, he's good, for nothing.

The White Shore

The people who grow up in The Trust, particularly those in The Highest Light are taught to turn a blind eye to the violence and manipulation The Trust uses to perpetuate itself.

I Wanna Be Your Dog 2

Phineas going straight from Trust foster care/orphanage to The Company has made a young man so desperate to be given orders that he doesn't know what he is without the system he built himself around.

Accident Waiting To Happen

The incident at the Black Candle Cabaret was in many ways inevitable. Phineas's world view to this point was just like his mica armor, rigid and protective but explosive and unstable if hit with resistance at the wrong angle.

Yes All Cops

Even if they're called Consector or Adsecla, they're still cops. Phineas displayed the violence too obviously and so was abandoned as a scapegoat, but no matter how peaceful and enlightened the Trust pretends the company is they're still space marines in giant video game armor zip lining into missions with mica weapons and fold grenades.

I Broke My Own Rule

What Phineas did to Sherman starts to sink in and he starts to spiral

Bad

More spiraling, but this time about being disconnected from the Trust and having no opportunity to document his deeds either good or bad. Having no feedback or support to Do Good in the way he's used to.

Make a Change

Phineas needs to change, and at first he thinks he needs to change to be more like the image of Jonas Spahr in his head, but trying to live up to someone you've put on a pedestal leads you to see the hard fascade of the statue instead of the equally fallible person they are. And it was only when Phineas was removed from the environment of the Trust entirely could he see any other way to change himself.

Dreams Of Cannibalism

Phineas starts to grapple with how the Trust treats needing help as something to repent for. Meanwhile he paid back that kindness by being turned into a weapon of prosecution. Now he's trying to figure out what mortality means to just him.

Change in the Weather

Thrown into a tailspin by the events of season 1, Phineas had no hope of feeling the light again, but has some new perspective and and feels like he's climbing out of the hole he put himself in.

God Hates Facts

It's a long and painful road to distance yourself from a toxic ideology you were raised in. One with doubt and violence but one that lots of other people walk too if you can keep yourself from hurting them before you can connect.

Face the Void

Phineas has a lot of big ideas and strong opinions but didn't have nuance and perspective until he faced the void of the Fold. He had used Fold grenades countless times but didn't understand the weight of it until he was on Midst. And after that he didn't see the beauty of the Fold until he went deeper and experienced it first hand.

The Market of Compassion

A reflection of the Trust and how it turns kindness into a transaction.

It's Alright

It's good to remember that the actions of our past aren't everything we are for the rest of our lives and it's a lesson Phineas really needed from the Mothers. He's still trying to fly on new wings though and still views redemption as a binary balancing of the scales rather than a lifelong journey.

Little Skylark (worsted wood)

Ending on a lullaby, Phineas had found the space to rest and collect himself, but the story isn't over yet and he's still caught in the wilderness.

#midst podcast #midst fanart #phineas thatch

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Phineas Thatch has no idea who Lark is. Like, to him, she is simply a friend of Sherman who is looking after Tzila. He doesn't know that she is Fuze's killer—the killer he was looking for as part of his job on the last case he ever worked on as Adsecla. He doesn't know that she is Maximilian's killer, the most wanted person in Trust history.

He is traveling with her, and he has no idea about any of this. She's just some woman from Midst as far as he knows! He's gonna be basically the last person to find out about her.

Also, it's so funny Lark decides to go with Phineas, person she worries may turn back to the Trust if offered any amount of Valor, knowing that she is definitely worth a lot in Valor. She doesn't have a lot of choices here, to be fair, but that's still quite something.

These two are a disaster. He has no idea who she really is, and she knows that she's worth so much in Valor that his grandchildren would still be Upper Trust. And they're traveling together. To Highest Light.

#Phineas Thatch #Lark Midst #Midst podcast #Midst #Midst things

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

The thing about both Phineas' and Jonas' narrative arcs in Midst is that they're both men whose entire identities were crafted and controlled by the society they lived in. Jonas Spahr was the Prime Consector. Phineas Thatch was the Prime Adsecla. And they were expected to play out those roles to perfection; their every move while on the job was monitored and narrated by the media for the whole of the Trust to hear! But after establishing them in their roles throughout the first season, Third Person spend seasons 2 and 3 stripping them both of everything about themselves that the Trust imposed on them. Their certainty in the Trust and its ideals, their defined place within that structure, their titles, the distinctive armour they were both introduced in, their sense of who they were as people as defined by all of the aforementioned. Until all that was left in the end was two people staring at each from opposite sides of a room destroyed by thousands of minuscule explosions who having lost everything can finally start fresh and define for themselves who they are.

This is also why I feel it's reductive to say that their relationship was always romantic, because who they were to each other, like who they were to themselves was so tightly controlled by the Trust that it couldn't be anything other than the mentor/mentee, Consector/Adsecla relationship the Trust defined it as until they were both stripped of everything and the Trust was destroyed. Despite the depth of feeling for each other they both display prior to "Breach" and "Trustfall" their lives and relationship needed to truly be their own before they could begin to decide what either of those things mean for them and only then was a romantic relationship on the table as a possibility. I'm not even sure that's where they ultimately will land yet! But they both needed to go through the process of losing everything and having to start again at zero for such a relationship to even become one possibility among many.

#midst #midst podcast #midst spoilers #phineas thatch #jonas spahr

[dog-beast]

So, Spahr's court martial went Great and everything is Fine.

The punishment he was dealt seems a little cruel, far worse than he was expecting for sure. And while I have some thoughts about how we got there...that's for later (maybe).

For now...Caenum is hanging around his neck. We don't know exactly how much, but we can assume its a hefty amount. Since they made him pay back everything he earned as Prime Consector (the news says "during his tenure" so I am assuming its as Consector/Adsecla and not as a Company member) one of two things is true:

Spahr fucking loves luxuries and spent entirely too much Valor over the last few years

Or

He started with Caenum

But the marble bust! The fancy things in the episode artwork! I know, I know...but folks who go from rags to riches indulge in luxuries they were never afforded before.

Mind you this whole theory is hinged upon a single exchange:

Spahr never agrees with Sherman when he assumes Spahr was born Valorous.

Maybe he wasn't. Maybe he has been in the Company for most of his life, desperately trying to work off a debt. Maybe he had just broken even when he was thrust into the position of Prime Consector. Maybe he knows one can go from bearing a hefty debt to being incredibly Valorous. Maybe that's why he handpicked Phineas to be his Adsecla.

Maybe that bust is of the first of Spahr's line. Maybe he commissioned the bust to honor her. Maybe she was Unlifted herself. Maybe it hurts him real deep down to see her once again wearing Caenum, when she wore his Valor for years.

It's probably exactly none of that and just Spahr getting a fucking reality check in the worst way, but hey

#and arguably he suffers more if he's been reset #midst musings #midst #midst podcast #jonas spahr #its true i do love seeing a beautiful man suffer #its delicious and i eat it all up #and midst provides so much of that I've been FEASTING