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boyfridged · 1 year

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this is perhaps completely obvious, but the comparison of pre-crisis vs post-crisis jason runs is such a poignant illustration of how the intentions of the writers make a world of difference.

pre-crisis jay was, ironically, at the beginning of his career much more of a thrill-seeker and much less serious about his motivations behind his desire to be a sidekick than post-crisis jay ever was. he was also much more reckless. he said, for instance, that studying crime was even worse than doing homework, and what interested him was going after "action." he didn't like the thought of not being credited for his actions. but he was still a character written with so much sympathy and enthusiasm – with so much open and continuous consideration for his youth, his past, his feelings. and the readers saw that! so many of them loved him! when you look at the back pages of these issues, issues in which jay often committed mistakes during patrols, in which he was at times petty and moody, you see with how much compassion they looked at him. there were letters that started with hate about the art or the storytelling, and ended with warm and attentive analyses of jay's character.

and the thing is, reactions to post-crisis might have been worse, but i don't think it was ever a matter of people disliking any iteration of jason todd from the start (even if some were certainly prejudiced as dick grayson fans. and as bigots); it's simply that post-crisis jay has never been written with a similar amount of care. o'neil saying that "people really hated jason" and that "he didn't know why" is absurd because (well, first of all, i don't think that he was ever that hated, and second of all) he was specifically written in a way that prevented a lot of casual readers to connect with him. pre-crisis, we see jay's perspective all the time, also beyond the patrols. he's much meaner than post-crisis jay a lot of times! for example, he tells julia (alfred's daughter), who is at the time staying at the manor, that he saw new flat listings, insinuating that she should move out because he is bothered by her presence. and that's rude. that's a reason why someone could think that he is a spoilt child (which imo pre-crisis jay actually very much is. i don't think it's a bad thing). but we also see him in his bed later, wondering "how could i have said something like that to her?" so naturally we see it from his side too.

on the contrary, when it comes to post-crisis jay, we have almost no insight into his head up until a death in the family. and of course, starlin admitted that he did want to make him unlikable; so suddenly everything jay does, including acting against orders, is written to make him seem like a difficult, unpleasant kid. but something you really have to understand is that the same attitude, when previously displayed by pre-crisis jay or even dick (!) was seen as endearing; a sign of bravery and an honest heart. in the first issues by collins, as well as barr's detective comics run, there's a semblance of recognition for that. beyond that, the whole narrative of his (very short) published history gets hostile. and starlin might not have written any of that outright, but you see that shift. all of a sudden a decision that would make you go "aww" if moench or barr wrote it, makes you displeased. i think one thing to take away from that is asking if it were depicted in the same tone if dick or tim did the same thing, for example. it's content that requires a much more critical attitude from the reader, that's for sure.

#i love saying things that are completely obvious for everyone.#pre-crisis #<- i have to start tagging. eh #i have not mentioned ntt because jay is written with much more love there which is quite obv because the titans office did care #about the mantle #and this was more about the batman office #also not mentioning the cult because frankly speaking while it has good plot #it doesn't really offer much in terms of jay's characterisation #anyway there's this one letter about pre-crisis jay that i adore #where the reader said that jay's “occasional brilliance” intertwined with horrible mistake can be explained by a sports analogy #where young talented players might have lower success rate than older mid players #bc they need to grow into their talent with experience #it was genuinely such a lovely comment.#and a piece of evidence showing that people were very much willing to sympathise with him #jay.zip #jay.txt #jason todd #core texts #robin days

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lordsovorn · 23 days

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Strange how people keep saying that "Shuro hates in Laios the same traits he supposedly loves in Falin", which is...

Seriously, look at him and his dialogue - does he hate Laios for being a monster freak? For being nerdy and weird and loving nature? For eating bugs? No, that's not it.

Shuro hates* Laios for being so profoundly socially inept (from his perspective).

The key difference between Touden siblings isn't that Falin is a pretty girl - the key difference is that Falin is caring and accommodating to other people, and Laios is awkward and unobservant, seemingly egotistic at the surface level.

(others have already written wonderful essays on why and how they grew up like that)

It has to be noted that Shuro is a sheltered noble from a land where proper etiquette is paramount - he is used to people being incredibly subtle AND incredibly observant around him. He comes from a high-context culture where everyone assumes things based on lots of social cues and shared understanding of context. That's not even a matter of being neurotypical, that's his culture (in addition to his personality and brain chemistry)

He is also rather introverted as person and doesn't have many friends. Even his attachments and emotions in childhood are expressed subtly, in a restrained and proper way. He is polite and refined, perfectly fitting into his house's expectations - even if that means repressing his childhood interests and little weird joys.

In that particular way, the opposite of Laios.

Shuro hates* Laios for being the opposite of the image HE was grown into. This strange man is so utterly insensitive and so open about it - he has no sense of shame (like Shuro), no tact and ability to shut up (like Shuro), no restraint (like Shuro). Look at him talking non-stop about things he wants to talk about and having fun (unlike Shuro) while completely overestepping Shuro's obvious boundaries!

The boundaries, I must say, that not only never before needed to be spelled out, but in Shuro's upbringing and culture would be as ridiculous to spell out as "I want to pee, so I'll go to the bathroom and remove my pants and sit on the toilet and release the sphincter holding my pee in my pee bladder"

Falin is not only awesome in his eyes for being weird and in touch with nature, but for being very delicate, observant and caring AT THE SAME TIME. She is a gem in Shuro's eyes, a miracle of his dreams.

In Falin, he not only sees a nerd-freak - he sees a hope for an introverted, polite, restrained person like himself to reconnect with that love for nature and nerdiness and freakiness.

Laios isn't like that. Laios is unobservant for subtle cues - and so a lot more loud, persistent, enthusiastic and unwittingly annoying. Yes, Falin has all that inside her too - but she restrains herself in order not to be a burden. And so does Shuro, in order to fit expectations. There's similarity between them in that regard, between two introverted and restrained weirdos. And a hope for a kindred, more open soul, from the more restrained Shuro's perspective.

* - I don't think Shuro's feelings to Laios are properly described as hate. Yeah, in his darkest moment he says that, but honestly it felt more like an accumulated stress from a continuous cultural and personal misunderstanding, rather than a profound personal hate.

...

What was the post about?.. Oh, yeah, Shuro loving Falin and disliking Laios. That's not him being too horny to think, that's him loving in Falin the defining difference between the two - they aren't gender-swapped clones, after all. Give my boy some respect and nuance.

#dungeon meshi #dunmeshi #shuro dungeon meshi #shuro #laios touden #laios dungeon meshi #falin touden #falin dungeon meshi #taking up the mantle of Shuro-stan #if no one is writing this in particular about him I will

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sirenetica · 2 months

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Get a load of these dudes!

+ some silly romance-y stuff

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pokeberry5 · 9 months

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thug beatdown round 2: electric boogaloo

(extras, cw flashing gif:)

alt:

the fit:

#tim drake #dc #sart #cw flashing #im grateful to the femme tim people for indulging me bc im back on my bullshit #long hair tim!!! LONG HAIR TIM!!!#if dick can have a long hair moment so can tim #further #as a canonical nightwing fan i think tim would at some point try to emulate that (also as a possible successor to the mantle)#(altho the nightwing!damian to batman!cass art i saw once also lives rent free in my mind)#AND if we track the progression of tim's hair from robin to red robin #this is the natural conclusion #in this essay i will—#aside but altho the only time i've seen jack drake drinking in the comics it was beer #we're gonna pretend he was fond of whiskey for the Aesthetic #also traditional upper class white man things #and tim drinks whiskey as a begrudging homage to the father he never really got to share drinks with beyond that one time he got magically #aged up #((i got a new dress and i thought tim would look nice in it))#god i can finally think about other things now

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lanternbats · 6 months

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I've been thinking about how much I actually dislike Damian becoming Batman as an adult and how I think it would be way more impactful for his character if he broke away from both of his parents and formed his own identity, which led me to "Well, who should become Batman then?" and well. What if nobody becomes Batman after Bruce steps down. The family carry on his mission, his message, but not his title, because Bruce helped them become something else, helped them become better than him. The goal was never to become the next Batman, it was for them to grow and learn and become their own people. Batman never dies, he is an eternal symbol, but one that they all wear instead of physically inhabit. I think as Bruce ages he should realise that Gotham doesn't need Batman, because now it has so much more than just Batman.

#bruce wayne #damian wayne #kit.posts #like at first gotham just has batman but now? it has batwomen batgirl nightwing red hood red robin spoiler oracle signal-#TO ONLY NAME. A FEW.#and then whatever damian wants to be #i know batman is a mantle they hand around but like the theme of identity and becoming who YOU'RE meant to be is one i really like #and i think it's more meaningful for batman to be retired because he's not needed now he has a family now gotham has protectors now #this is not a new thought but ya know i'm just thinking about it to distract from whatever the fuck the comics are doing right now

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brucewaynehater101 · 2 months

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I'm bad at math, but is Bruce theoretically 38 years old when he goes into the time stream?

Hear me out (and canon likes to fluncate their ages, so this is my best guess without trying to account for birthdays):

Bruce becomes the legal guardian of 9 year old Dick when he's 23. That's a 14 year difference.

Jason becomes Robin when Dick leaves at 18. Jason is 13. That's a five year difference.

Jason dies at 15, and Tim becomes Robin at 13. That's a two year difference.

The age difference between Tim and Bruce would thus be 21 years.

Tim becomes Red Robin to find Bruce at 17.

That means that Bruce had to be 38, right? Why was I imagining him closer to 50?

Adopting so many kids must have aged him

#tim was 2-3 when he watched the graysons fall #jason would have been 17 when he attacked to at titan tower #this would make dick 24 when his dad dies and he has to take up the batman mantle he never wanted #UtRH is more tragic if you think about how jason wasnt even an adult #i do love the parallels of 23 year old bruce being a father to 9 year old dick and 24 year old dick being a father to 10 year old damian #also it's definitely the continued exposure to crime and violence that gave bruce his stress lines and grey hair (or jason dying)#this is all theoretical anyways because DC writes its own rules for how to math ages #dc universe #dc comics #bruce wayne #tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #the consequences of dc being vague on their ages is that means the characters speedrun all their trauma and can't breath through it #they are all so young

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arsenicpanda · 9 months

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the #1 archiereggie shipper, but in a homophobic way

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pearlcaddy · 1 year

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tv appreciation week 2022 📺 the tv show with the best ending

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Breaking the Chosen One Cycle

#tvweek22 #buffy the vampire slayer #btvsedit #buffy summers #buffysummersedit #dailybtvs #pearlcaddyedit #pearlcaddy btvs #500 #1k #2k #part of why i love the btvs finale so much is that it finally lets buffy lay down the mantle she's been carrying for the whole series #that it's about women sharing power equally with one another to break down patriarchal structures and hierarchies #and tearing down the core premise of the series itself #the way that this central tragedy at the heart of the show is flipped into a source of empowerment in the end

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monomons · 8 months

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redesigns ^_^

#ace attorney #maya fey #pearl fey #society if there was an actual aj trilogy and maya and pearl got the arc they deserved >>>>#i have a lot of thoughts about it... mainly the fact that i dont think maya would be happy as master of kurain #but she takes up the mantle for pearl and familys sake #im frustrated that in aa6 shes just there as like. a novelty. to wave around in your face like haha hey guys remember her!! whatever #soj isnt real but the shit i make up in my head is ❤️

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deadringers2023 · 2 months

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— Yeah, I'm not doing this. — Fuck you!

RACHEL WEISZ as ELLIOT MANTLE DEAD RINGERS (2023)

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faeriecap · 11 days

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mcu releasing cacw like: “sorry mackie ur character who is actually a crucial part of the cap storyline historically can’t get any significant screentime in cap 3 yeah we know it’s the final movie sorry we had to have an endless fucking montage of maria stark trauma porn bc it actually wasn’t already clear tony was emotionally unstable and had mommy and daddy issues followed by the wandavision cooking special for,,,,,, reasons,,,,,,,,,,,, and oh yeah did we forget to mention this is actually another avengers movie and the first spiderman??? best we can do is a scene where sam’s mean to bucky lol …… what about steve rogers??? wait whos that uhhhh is he even in this script?”

(it’s bc they didn’t care about developing sam at all until he was their “only” option for cap and could safely not be shipped with steve if they ever actually interacted wait what huh who said that)

#IM JUST SO UPSET #i loved their relationship so much and we should have REALLY gotten to see it #cap 3 should have been ALL about steves friendships with sam and bucky in the wake of hydras return #it should have been about samsteve relationship and dynamic ESP if they had always planned for sam not bucky to take up the mantle first #ESP IF THEY STILL WANTED TO DO THE DUMBASS CIVIL WAR PLOTLINE LIKE SAM AND BUCKY AND NAT ARE STEVES REAL FRIENDS #IN COMPARISON TO TONY WHO PROVED WHERE HIS REAL NARCISSISTIC MOTIVES LIE #sam SHOULD HAVE become cap at the end of the movie #STEVE SHOULD HAVE PASSED THE TORCH THEN AND THERE #but noooooo we needed chris evans to market the final avengers 🙄#steeb #sammich #samsteve #stevebucky #marvel #i speak #anti mcu #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #cacw #captain america civil war #captain america #anti tony stark #steve rogers #sam wilson #anthony mackie

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bongo-clash · 2 years

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Peacock Au Part 1

Okay so Big Huge credit to @stealingyourbones for letting me do my own take on their amazing eldritch Danny idea!!!! This started out as me just doing a drawing but then I ended up with a whole DPxDC fic that I'll be posting the part two for at some point!!! Anyway, here's the vague designs:

And here's the part one of the fic under the cut!!! :D (Edit: Part 2 is Here!!)

There’s a Lazarus Pit forming underneath Gotham. Normally, this would not concern John Constantine at all, because it’s Gotham, therefore Bat territory therefore not his problem, and honestly he has his own things to worry about. Unfortunately for him, however, the infamous Dark Knight has somehow gotten it into his head that he can do something about it and, Hell, he’d said it would be a ‘big favour’, which meant the man really must be desperate; had to have been in the first place, he supposed, to have even bothered with John in the first place.

Still, he’d almost kind of forgotten what a huge mess any kind of favour for Batman could be, and thus, he now holds possession of a book that is probably going to get him killed.

Whether the actual book itself wants to kill him is up for debate, but Constantine has read the contents of this particular Book of Summonings and nothing in here seems remotely safe. He’s absolutely going to be hiding this away somewhere deep in the archives of the archives of the Justice League watchtower with an incredibly pointed ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ on it once he’s done with this, but for now, it’s the only thing he’s got in the way of sorting out this Pit problem.

There’s an entity that exists, this book claims, that keeps the balance between realms. ‘Closes doors’, apparently, and the doors the pages depict certainly look like a Lazarus Pit. This is brilliant news, obviously, but the book doesn’t describe the entity itself at all beyond that; barely any of the other entries are as vague as this, and that plus some of the frankly bizarre sigils he’s having to draw to summon the damn thing are giving him no comfort. The only remotely comforting thing about it is that the ritual doesn’t require any blood- which either means the entity is benign, or it wants something more valuable than blood.

…Okay, maybe not that comforting, actually.

But, before he can consider that maybe this wasn’t his best idea and backing out would be for the best, the sigils flare with light, and Constantine squints to keep track of the way they activate, desperate for any indication of what he’s managed to summon with that stupid book.

His feet feel feathery against the ground, like they’re barely tethered by gravity and just waiting to float away, and perhaps the seeming lack of atmosphere is fitting with how dust like stars lift from the summoning circle, bringing with them intercepting layers of purple-blue-pink-white, galaxies and nebulae being peeled off the floor. It comes with a sound- something whistling, almost. Seeming hollow, between a shriek and a bell ringing, or maybe more musical than that. It seems to change every moment he tries to focus on it, as if it’s something his ears can’t really hear but his brain is desperate to process, painful to try.

And then, the entity begins to form.

Unnoticeably at first, a white glow drifts forming in the centre. It congeals as Constantine’s gaze finally fixates on it, layers forming like jellyfish trails, or flowers, or peacock feathers with runic circles at the tips, fading smaller and smaller as they reach the centre, and a thing akin to a body unfolds into view at the front, a centrepiece. A child’s image of a shadow in opalescence, a strange curving feature where a neck might be, and searing-green spots of varying sizes scattered along the space where cheeks and eyes could’ve been, fading up and down across the lower-half of the ‘face’ and into the ‘hair’. He barely understands what he’s looking at, but maybe that’s the point.

The sound of a thunderstorm rings across the room, and the curve of the neck unfolds, and it’s an eye, and the tips of a thousand twisted, cosmic peacock feathers become eyes as well, if they weren’t always. They move, wavering, either lashing or flickering from visibility.

“And what is this?” The voice is a kaleidoscope, echoing off and from every corner of the room, and when they speak, infinite eyes become infinite mouths, too many teeth barely contained by the edges of what seem vaguely like frostbitten lips. To have something even remotely human suddenly etch itself onto the entity is somehow worse than the parts he can’t comprehend. “Who are you, to have summoned me, and seem so afraid?”

Constantine wishes, maybe for the first time, that it hadn’t been an obligation to do this alone; he’s never wanted Batman or one of the Light members with him more than now. It’s a difficult thing, almost impossible, to shake off the speechlessness. It’s a wonder that it’s possible at all, with how the room seems to have been twisted into a vacuum. “I was told you could- you could help with the pits?”

“The pits. There are many pits.”

God, this is creepy. “The Lazarus pits to, uh, to be specific. There’s a huge one cropping up under Gotham that’s not supposed to be there, and the local- I mean, the locals are getting antsy about it. …I heard you can take care of them.”

“I can smell its blood between the gaps of atmosphere, encircling. You, whose soul is bound in so many directions, who may be pulled apart like meat in time- can you sense it? Does it draw you?” John doesn’t know how this- this thing knows that, but he’s scared asking will invoke some kind of consequence, and more and more he’s wondering why the Hell he decided to do Batman this favour. He feels exposed.

“Uh… no, I don’t think so. But can you fix it?”

“Yes.”

“…Will you fix it?”

The chill is getting to him. Goosebumps are running across his arms like a livewire, and he’s never doing anyone a favour ever again. The entity makes an approximation of a hum, his ears shriek with whale song and stars, and after a pause, everything switching up and down on itself, the peacock eyes form into huge, reaching hands. For a second, Constantine’s whole body freezes with terror, because he’s petrified the thing’s going to grab him, but then the arms tumble phasing into the ground, and the green spots on their ‘face’ flare with a supernova glow and they make another piercing noise, chiming or trilling.

A long moment later, the hands slowly return to the entity’s back, and fade into the peacock feathers or jellyfish bells or whatever they were before, blinking at him. “It is gone.”

“Uh… cheers?”

“It will not return, but this place shall see its dead for some time. Try not to look.”

This is maybe the worst day of Constantine’s life. “Can I- uh, yeah, great advice. ‘Appreciate it. But, can I ask just, y’know, what you are? Or not.”

“That is up to you.” They say, and though the eyes that appear briefly between sentences bely or reveal no expression, it feels scrutinising. “What is it that closes doors? Is it alive?”

He hates riddles. He hates riddles and he hates cosmic horrors and he hates eldritch entities and he hates Batman for getting him to agree to this horrible favour. He wants to go back to the House of Mystery and pass out for long enough that this whole thing becomes a dream. “Fair enough! Forget I asked- cheers for sorting out that pit, though. Uh, don’t suppose you’ll just let me go on my way or anything now.”

“I know of your Bat.”

Oh dear. Constantine’s stomach sinks like a shipwreck into the Mariana Trench, but the entity moves on like they’d never even said it. “I will recede, and find you in time, perhaps both. You will know when I am coming, and I will find my recompense.”

And just like that, their whole form shimmers into clouds and pearls and smoke and mirrors, and they fade back into the runes that summoned them like tap water down the drain. The galaxies they’d formulated within the confines of the room fold back in on themselves and turn to whispers and then nothing, but the feeling persists on his skin long after weight has settled back onto his bones. He hadn’t known a thing like that existed until now. He doesn’t know what it can do, doesn’t know how all-encompassing it truly is.

And he owes it a favour.

Crap.

#I'll be posting the part two at some point soon since it's already written out so prepare for that lmao!!#Warning that there might be some mistakes in here since I literally just wrote this and the second part a couple hours ago #This is a Little bit of a thing about my hc on the Ghost Monarchy and how it isn't Actually a monarchy #It's just that the 'king' keeps the actual physical balance of the GZ (ie natural portal stuff) & the title originally had a different name #But when Pariah Dark took the mantle he decided it made him the ruler of the GZ and that's why the Ancients took him down #But I'll talk more abt that if I ever get around to finishing that GZ culture/history/evolution post thing I had planned lmao!!!!#Either way I Love Eldritch Danny sm and writing this was so so fun!!!#Part two will be from Danny's perspective!!!#I might colour those drawings and stuff at some point but for now I like them as they are!!!#Also before I forget I Am still thinking about that pizza delivery guy pt. 2 I just got stuck a bit!!! It'll hopefully appear at some point #dp au #danny phantom au #dpxdc #john constantine #danny phantom fanart #dp fanart #danny phantom #Bongo's Aus!!!#Bongo's Writing!!!#Bongo's Art!!!#tw body horror #peacock au

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clowndensation · 11 months

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there’s a question to be asked i think about to what extent “getting out” can be conflated with “being saved” in this show, and what freedom actually means to any of these characters.

like you can argue that shiv saved ken by voting against him on gojo, but what if your intent behind saving someone is to inflict a worse punishment than if you’d just left them trapped? can a child weaned on poison survive on milk, or are you just sentencing them to a death by inches, starved of the only thing they know? and if you save someone specifically because you know that being saved is the worst thing that can happen to them, is that kindness or cruelty? at what point does a good thing become a malicious act?

and you can say that roman is finally free, but what exactly is he free from? the company? his father? does unlocking a cage mean saving a dog, or are you allowing him out on the street knowing there’s a kill shelter nearby? if the driving anxiety behind roman is that he’s an idiot and a failure—that he’ll never amount to anything, and trying will only lead to pain—and he’s finally cut loose once all of those anxieties have crystallized into cold hard fact in his mind, what has he actually escaped from? if the cage is in your mind, is it even possible for somebody else to unlock it?

the fundamental truth of a tragedy is that even being saved can be a death sentence, if the characters are incapable of escaping the thing doing them the most harm (themselves and their childhoods)

#'what about shiv' if i think about shiv i'm going to kill myself. she needs her own post. there's too much there to get into.#anyways seeing a tremendous amount of At Least Roman Is Free <3 tags that have me going. right. for sure. free from what?#because it's certainly not the intense amount of self disgust that has driven him in circles this entire time.#i fear he may feel the weight of alienation on his soul for the rest of his life. and he won't even try to alleviate it anymore.#and ALSO the idea that shiv went out of her way to save kendall as an act of like. altruism. like it was a sacrifice on her part #which i feel is a very toothless perspective on shiv and the psychological torment that's been weighing on her essentially since birth #like her choice in regards to gojo is one of the meatiest most harrowing bits of character work i've ever seen #and while of course there was love inside that action (because nothing these characters do is entirely divorced from love)#i don't think it was necessarily a kind or forgiving or sacrificial love #like this was an intense vitriolic snapping from a dog that has been kicked by her dad all her life.#and who absolutely refuses to accept that from her brother (because that would mean acknowledging that kendall takes the mantle of Dad-#and that she's subservient to him. which is the one thing she absolutely will never do #because it's a level of degradation that's finally a step too far)#anyways. um. insane season that i still can't look at directly or i'll perish on the spot.#succession

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