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fogwitchoftheevermore · 6 months

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ok so. forgive me for a second but i've been abnormal about skizz and ren since the hiatus between third life and last life and holy shit this season is already not helping.

let's talk about skizz, ren, undying loyalty, and golden apples, shall we?

so the thing that you need to understand about skizz is that he is loyal to a fault. impulse literally says this exact thing about him in limited life, and skizz himself says himself: "you know me and my factions, i never turn." the second thing is that the first person their loyalty manifests for in third life is ren. he and ren run into each other on the second night when ren is getting accosted by mobs outside skizz's door and skizz gives him a place to stay the night. ren decides to trade skizz for his leather, for the upcoming enchanting buisness, and gives skizz a golden apple in exchange. skizz thinks this is wildly more than he deserves but is very thankful. skizz doesn't say it here, but this is the moment he swears his loyalty to ren.

throughout third life, he is willing to do or get basically anything for ren. the two of them literally die together to the tnt trap. when ren dies on the alter and everyone thinks martyn betrayed him, skizz is the first person to get there in the morning. he's in half broken gold armor and borrowed tools from bigb and he still tells ren "get behind me", still tries to protect him from martyn. when skizz is on red, he goes a bit crazy, but he channels that bloodlust into protecting ren. he kills jimmy in the red desert, he kills cleo when she tries to attack ren, he chases down impulse when he betrays dogwarts and dies trying to kill him.

when skizz dies in third life, he's got an unused golden apple in his hotbar. after he dies, he remembers the first time he met ren, etho, and martyn, and he spends quite a bit of time on his memory of ren and ren appears in his first memory of etho. after he dies, ren wields a blade named in his honor.

skizz spends third life loyal to ren- he dies for him and he dies with him.

in last life, ren and skizz end up on completely different sides, and it very quickly gets bad because when ren becomes boogey, he kills skizz. he lures him into a trap. he tells skizz he loves him. skizz literally says "i am broken hearted" when ren kills him. ren holds no regard for the relationship they used to have and yet skizz cannot help but compliment ren's skill with the trap, outright says he can't be mad at ren.

and then it only gets worse because skizz tries to storm ren's tower with impulse after they've gone red. and that! doesn't go well! and while skizz is retreating, while he is eating the golden apple in his hot bar, ren shoots him dead.

and that is the last time they've spoken. two years ago.

because skizz isn't in doublt life. and ren isn't in limited life.

and when skizz's time comes in limited life, he ensures he doesn't have a golden apple in his inventory this time. this time, he hands the apples off to his teammates, where he knows they will go to good use. and then he hands etho a diamond fucking axe (red winter is coming) and asks him to execute him for the sake of their alliance. ok! sure! fill ren's role more explicitly, why don't you!

and that first session of secret life genuinely only made it worse. when skizz is talking to tango and cleo about their alliance, skizz says he wants to give leadership over to someone else: "i want to be more of a soldier than a leader this time." cleo says she'll fill the roll of leader- she doesn't take orders well - and then seals their alliance by giving tango and skizz a golden apple each. because of course she does.

and well, we all know that didn't really work out, so that's one person off the list that skizz can fill the dogwarts shaped hole in him with, so then he goes to bdubs. he says he'll lay his sword at bdubs' feet. he says he'll win bdubs with his loyalty. he calls bdubs "my leige", jesus christ dude, you couldn't be less subtle unless you straight up called him ren's name.

skizz has been (whether accidentally or on purpose is up to you) trying to recreate the experience he had with dogwarts, and particularly what he had with ren, since the moment dogwarts fell. he can't have it with ren because he missed his only chance in last life, so he'll fill the void with whoever he can. his fellow soldier. ren's successor. ren's new kingmaker. anyone. and it's never gonna work. i need ren to come back for like, 900 reasons, but i especially need him to come back so skizz can have a shot at making it to spring.

#secret life spoilers #life series spoilers #skizzleman #rendog #secret life #my writing #analysis post #(not really. ill be real this very much veers more into summary territory than i would like for an analysis post.)#(but i like it enough to put it in that tag anyways)#renskizz #(is that their ship tag???)#(you dont have to read this through a shipping lens it should just be known that that *does* color how i think about them)#anyways. training montage by the mountain goats skizzleman song of all time.#“i'm doing this for revenge/i'm doing this to try and stay true/i'm doing this for the ones we had to leave behind/i'm doing this for you”

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halluciniwaynia · 3 months

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hakita dropping lore behind why Gabriel went ungendered in act 1 really puts into perspective how dehumanizing the council was towards him calling him an “it” instead of “he” after his defeat in gluttony. They were comparing him to the machines he lost to, those they deem as “it”, not close to god. they were making him an object they could control by taking something he needed to live away from him like a book is taken off the shelf.

#ultrakill #gabriel ultrakill #gabriel #analysis post #something something he is both a trans masculine and a trans feminine allegory and no I won’t explain #Personal post

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mynonclicheblog · 1 year

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Something about... THIS scene

And... ngngnfnds it's something about Lucy not being herself // Lockwood being TOO much of himself...

The words are coming from Lucy's mouth, but they aren't hers; those are Lucy's hands, but she isn't the one using them... an otherworldly force chose Lockwood to be her scene partner here, and once again it's about external voices seeing Lucy's feelings for him before she knows it herself...

And then there's something about how it's in direct contrast to Lockwood, who is PARTICULARLY aware of himself in that moment... this is one of the few times we get a full scene of Lockwood stripped down to a tshirt+hoodie instead of his usual suit+tie number (my brain is buzzing over this, since I presume the suit is sort of a costume for him, with the purpose of masking his inner self/vulnerability)... AND ALSO because this is arguably the first physical romantic scene they share, and while he is clearly concerned and confused about her behavior, the fact that he is having to reckon with Feeling Something Else Too is written all over his face...

I know this take isn't super book-accurate, but it feels almost allegorical to this idea that Lockwood is the one who is being caught off guard and having to realize his feelings early on... versus Lucy, who is there, and she's participating in the dance, but she's also being stopped from experiencing her feelings to the fullest by something within her...

Anyway, I'm sorry this is an absolute rambling MESS because my brain doesn't quite have its thoughts together, but I needed to post this right now immediately, hope you all understand 👋

#perhaps i am reading too much into it. but also. critical analysis my beloved #locklyle #lockyle #anthony lockwood #lucy carlyle #lockwood and co #lockwood & co #l&co netflix #l&co spoilers #*success #analysis post

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dekalko-mania · 8 months

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One of the saddest dp scenes lowkey was in Kindred Spirits when Danny kept saying thank you over and over to Sam and Tucker for saving him when he thought he was really going to die.

They didn't even know exactly what they saved him from, just that he wouldn't stop thanking them. Like almost desperately.

It was played up as a wholesome moment and it was, but it's also kind of brutal when you think about it. David Kaufman did a really great job with this as well - you can HEAR the tremble in his voice at the beginning. Like despite his brave face and willingness to keep fighting, he was really terrified. The whole Vlad situation was really a wake up call - if he didn't have his friends to help him, then he might not even be half alive at all at this point.

It's also a bit of insight into what he's thinking during his brave/heroic moments. He hides the fact that he's often scared very well. Reminds me of that one quote - Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

Scene attached for context but bro he would not STOP. Even they were like??? What is going on??

#danny phantom #analysis post #ectothoughts #dp #literally on my rewatch i was like....is he ok???#whole show is one big lore and analysis bank i swear #and of course one of this episodes writers is steve marmel lol

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lunixiscool · 4 months

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The way some people talk about Neil and Todd's relationship make me think we didn't watch the same movie.

Todd didn't ruin Neil nor did Neil become unhappy by being friends with Todd. Todd wasn't a burden to Neil. The reason Neil was so unhappy was because of his father and the expectations of others on him.

Neil doesn't see Todd as "an experience" and I think that claim really undermines Neil as a character. I understand why some people believe that but Neil is a very genuine character and doesn't create bonds with any of the poets "for the hell of it". Neils the type of person to show up at your front door if he hasn't talked to you in 3 days. Watching their scenes together, watching the relationship these characters develop, even the way Todd reacts to Neils death. It shows there's a lot more than what the camera showed us, especially when Todd screams at Cameron about Neil loving acting. Although obviously everyone knows that Neil loves acting, that part alone just showed there's a whole lot more conversation that we missed betweens these characters and whole lot more than an "experience"

TLDR: People mischaracterize the hell out of Neil

#dead poets society #dead poets fandom #dps fandom #dead poets #neil perry #todd anderson #anderperry #analysis post #character analysis #media analysis #media critique

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mageknight14 · 6 months

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What It Means to be Friends: The Differences between Neku/Beat and Rindo/Fret

I’m feeling in the mood for another TWEWY analysis post and for today’s topic of discussion, this will be centered around Beat and Neku’s friendship in comparison to Rindo and Fret’s own and how they contrast in very interesting ways that are reflective of their respective game's writing styles.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Neku and Beat didn’t exactly get off to the best start in the beginning of their relationship in the original. Hell, if anything, they flat out disliked each other. Beat saw Neku as nothing more than an emotionally distant asshole who made his little sister feel bad for trying to help him out and Neku saw Beat as nothing more than an overly emotional idiot who’s way too energetic for his own good and initially wants nothing to do with him.

There are little cracks that start to form in the walls between them, however, where their respective duos start coming together to help each other out in the Game and they start to form a little friendly rivalry between them. Mostly on Beat’s side since Neku could care less. However, that bit of bonding gets interrupted by a cruel twist of fate: Rhyme’s sacrifice and subsequent erasure. In which Beat, in a mix of grief and desperation to save his little sister, begs to and subsequently joins the Reapers, much to Neku and Shiki’s shock.

And then, Kitaniji asks Beat to do one task to show his dedication to the Reaper cause: kill Neku! (and Joshua). Initially, Beat tries to draw upon his dislike of Neku from the start of the game to motivate himself into completing his task but he just can’t go through with it no matter what, a feeling that only gets worse when Neku gives him Rhyme’s pendant that he dropped, thus invalidating Beat's previous resentment towards him. Seeing Neku go out of his way to return something precious to Beat even after he had antagonized him throughout the week causes Beat to drop his animosity completely and the next time we see him, he’s rescuing Neku from a unwinnable scenario by becoming his partner in Week 3.

From then on, we see Neku and Beat’s dynamic start to become more whole, opening up to each other more and helping the other through their struggles and ultimately culminating with them becoming genuine friends by the end. By the time W3 starts, they’re the only actual Players left in the Game, in the middle of a life-or-death situation, AND have the entirety of the UG after them due to Kitaniji activating Emergency Call. With circumstances like those, it’s no wonder they become as thick as thieves. Beat relies on Neku to help keep his head on straight and set him on the right path so that his temper and rash personality doesn’t end up screwing them over when things get rough, something Beat can't afford whatsoever when it comes to his mission of trying to save Rhyme.

Likewise, Neku relies on Beat to help keep his feet moving instead of allowing him to wallow in his own head when aspects such as Hanekoma potentially becoming the Composer becomes emotionally and be strong enough to catch him when he stumbles and falls. On top of that, he also trusts Beat’s emotional intelligence and honesty in matters such as when Beat convinces him to spare Uzuki and Kariya.

You see this dynamic persist in NEO as well even after all of the time they spent separated, in which Beat is heavily implied to have physically searched for Neku throughout all of Shibuya (remind you of anything?) and even take up some of his aspects, like the headphones, to honor his friend. And considering how Neku has helped him save his little sister and supported him when the chips were down, it's honestly no wonder.

Beat even flat out admits to Nagi that he was in some measure putting up a front to mask his fears and doubts and is quite calmer when Neku is around compared to NEO’s weeks 1-2. Not that his hot-blooded energy is gone but he notably isn’t as prone towards picking fights or shouting. Meanwhile, Neku is out of the loop after having been away for three years but Beat is again there to pick him up where he falters and help guide him around. The two of them are best friends through and through.

By contrast, we have Rindo and Fret, whose dynamic is quite different from Neku and Beat’s but is nonetheless just as well-written. I think the start of the game does an excellent job at setting up their relationship, where their early dynamic is fully on display in which Fret drags Rindo around and Rindo just casually goes with it despite internally bitching and moaning along the way. Like Beat and Neku, their friendship is mutually beneficial towards the other but in a much more casual and "shallow" way that’s very interesting.

They both want to be around one another in order to cover up for each other’s faults and their flaws feed into a loop that prevents the friendship advancing so that they don’t have to try but when it actually comes under serious strain, the flaws are exposed. Rindo being closed-off and content with just letting things stay on the surface level is perfect for Fret since he doesn't need to address his true feelings whatsoever and also fulfills his desire for someone to talk to because Fret is a pretty social guy and the class clown, letting him ignore his own problems. For Rindo, Fret allows him to also fulfill his desire for social companionship while not digging too deep and delude himself into thinking he’s autonomous and avoid the hurdles that comes with decision-making, which Fret is aware of and fine with because he’s more of a follower. The restaurant choice at the beginning of the game is a perfect example of this. At first glance, you think it’s just Rindo making a choice until you realize that it’s mainly Fret narrowing down the choices for Rindo without his input and he’s perfectly okay with that.

You also see this pop up again when Fret makes Rindo the leader of the group ALSO without his input so that he doesn’t have to get emotionally invested in the role and put the spotlight on himself. And initially, both are content with this and continue this dynamic throughout the first week of the Game, that is until shit hits the fan in Week 2. With the stakes becoming far more apparent and serious than they initially thought, and having to start another Game after getting cheated out of their victory, along with Sho just flat out ditching them and leaving the team to fend for themselves, tensions start to rise high between Rindo and Fret, which this ends up putting a strain on their relationship and we see the flaws in the friendship get exposed.

They start becoming more casually dismissive of each other’s interests whereas before they were just cool with whatever with Rindo not giving any regard to Fret’s interest in fashion and Fret mocking Rindo’s friendship with Swallow out of frustration, where Fret is pushing for Rindo to do anything regarding them considering Swallow's obvious involvement in the Game, and Rindo doesn’t want them to get upset so he pushes the issue away for later. Whereas Rindo is getting frustrated with Fret's self-defeatist attitude while not doing anything to help out with the situation that they're in, thus having them go back-and-forth and arguing with one another.

What makes this hit harder in hindsight is that this aspect was always apparent when you look back at the beginning. They bicker, like, a lot and the most noticeable example in W1 is the Nagi argument, where Rindo doesn’t see how she can help, worried about being held down by strangers, while Fret pushes for recruiting her, worried about having to handle a tougher burden on his own.

The part where they were in the ramen shop at the start of the game also does a good job at setting up this kind of relationship. Fret didn't know that Rindo played FanGO or was friends with Swallow, which heavily implies that they don't know that much about each other before entering the Game and later on, you see how Rindo constantly keeps Fret at arm’s length and opens up mainly to Swallow while Fret didn’t even talk to Rindo about his best friend that committed suicide. And in Week 2, these aspects become far more pronounced and the two become far more prone to taking passive-aggressive shots towards one another, culminating in their argument at the end of W2D4. I think what Rindo says to Fret in particular here is pretty telling of how he doesn't think that Fret is taking the situation seriously in spite of him actually showing otherwise what with his constant prodding. It's also hilariously indicative of Rindo's hypocrisy considering how he's constantly relying on others' input before making any actual decisions on his own, such as with Swallow in the very next scene and the day after.

However, despite all of this, they still do genuinely care for each other. Rindo’s first use of Replay was spurred on via wanting to save Fret from getting flattened by a truck and Fret is always pushing Rindo towards becoming more and more decisive in small ways. Most notably, when everyone except for Rindo gets erased by Soul Pulvis and he’s the only one to make it back to the UG, who’s the first one he calls out and tries to look for? Fret.

I’ve seen some people complain about how Rindo and Fret’s friendship doesn’t feel especially deep when compared to some of the other relationships in the series when I’d argue that’s the entire point. They’re not childhood friends who know every single thing about each other from the start unlike some JRPGs out there or a duo who starts off hating one another before gradually becoming closer to one another due to the stakes of the situation they’re in. They’re really casual school friends who keep each other at arms’ length out of an attempt to keep themselves protected. Their relationship is interesting to analyze because it's layered, much like a real friendship would be, due to them dealing with their own personal issues. And yet it never feels like one can just call it shallow or deep and have either be a definite despcriptor, just a well developed bond. Fret is still reeling from his previous best friend’s suicide and Rindo has social anxiety out the ass so their bond makes perfect sense.

And on top of that, they do gradually become closer to one another. Fret starts taking Rindo’s interests more seriously, even becoming disgusted at Motoi on Rindo’s behalf and sad for him as well as showing understanding to him concerning his Swallow situation.

And Rindo starts taking Fret more seriously as a person, with W3D3 being a prime example. He brings up the possibility that Kanon is acting strangely and might be possessed, brings up calm, rational points that the others have no choice but to agree to and doesn’t try to force Fret to keep his feelings for her down, rationalizing that there might just be another way to save her and assuring him that it’s ultimately Fret’s choice because he respects his input. And when Fret shows up anyway to try and save Kanon, he doesn't hesitate to support his buddy in his endeavors and does his damndest to help. On top of that, he becomes far more supportive towards Fret’s interests, particularly with EleStra, and is happy for him.

I think that shift from the ingenuine to genuine is what NEO excels at with its character relationships and by the end, you can really see Rindo and Fret really coming together as friends that genuinely respect and trust one another.

Neku and Beat’s friendship is much more bombastic and in-your-face while Rindo’s and Fret’s friendship relies on the more little details and I think both work well for their respective game and themes. You have the story of a distant and hostile kid having developed into a more personable young man using his lessons to relate with a seemingly gruff and bullheaded guy only to find a shockingly self aware young man who hates himself and lost his only support become more sure of himself vs. the story of two seemingly close friends grinding against each other due to their underlying issues surfacing, deepening their bond through their honesty and growing self-awareness. The first is more conventionally written while the second is a bit more subtle and requires deeper inspection in order to get the full picture.

#twewy #the world ends with you #neo twewy #ntwewy #rindo kanade #neku sakuraba #daisukenojo bito #beat bito #tosai furesawa #fret furesawa #analysis post

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existencebringsonlypain · 10 months

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I love the attention to detail in this show, down to even how everyone blushes differently.

We've got classic tomato face Amity who blushes with her whole face, and Luz who only blushes on her cheeks.

Willow also blushes on her cheeks. Hunter's blush is oddly inconsistent, but it's generally his cheeks and ears, though sometimes only on his cheeks when he's less flustered and more embarrassed. We never see Gus blush to my knowledge.

Rains blushes on their cheekbones and nose, Eda only on her cheeks.

We never see Masha blush, but Vee has a tendency to blush around her cheekbones.

Darius just has the anime lines as a blush. Alador, of course, is the source of Amity's tomato face.

So much diversity in something as ubiquitous as blushing, which you tend to think only has two kinds, lines and airbrush pink on the cheeks.

Now look back through at the eyes. Amity has heavy eyeliner but the same eye shape as Alador, formed by two curves and an angled curve connecting them on both sides. Hunter's is similar, but it's just two curves, one much larger than the other.

Luz, Gus, and Willow both have oval eyes, but Luz has two eyelashes on the lower curve of her eyes whilst Willow has one lash on the top. Gus has no eyelashes.

Raine's eyes are essentially a flipped version of Hunter's, a shallow curve on the bottom with a larger curve on the top.

Eda's are just tall "almond" shapes, wider toward the nose. Lilith's, though not pictured, are a mirror image- wider toward her ears. It's also worth noting that Eda's lower lip has visible lipstick, contrasting Lilith's upper lip- to drive home the similarities between them.

Masha's eyes are a lot more squinted and upward-tilting, wider toward the nose. Vee has near circles as eyes, though they look a bit down-tilted, and she has two lashes near the top.

Darius has nearly the same eye shape as Alador.

There's so much variety in the designs in this show. The eyes, the blushes, heck even the noses and eyebrows and chins if you go back and look. There was so much thought put into the designs of these characters, I'm frankly astounded that more people don't recognize it.

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unexpectedstormy · 4 months

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Okay in so this scene in the LU comic "Miss Her"...

Time is challenging Sky to separate himself from what makes him a hero and think about what makes him a good person. I can't help but wonder if this is going to be foreshadowing for whatever Sky's story arc will be in the comic. Will there be a point when he has to choose between doing what a hero would do and what a good man would do? (Like Frodo's choice between kill Gollum and have mercy on Smeagol.)

I also love how in the last 2 panels Sky is looking up at the sky and seeing 2 random birds, but it symbolic of his and Sun's loftwings.

#linked universe #analysis post #and by analysis I mean mostly rambling speculation #rereading parts of the comic for story research purposes #lu sky #lu time

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earthstellar · 9 months

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TF Earthspark S1 Episode 21: What it Means to Be Believed -- An Analysis Post

Putting this analysis behind a spoiler cut, as these episodes came out today!

The conversation between Hashtag and Starscream here immediately reminded me of the times I've spoken with abuse victims.

Hashtag: Is this how Megatron treated you?

Starscream: ...You believe me?

Hashtag: I believe he hurt you.

Starscream: You don't know me! You couldn't possibly understand what I've been through!

Hashtag: Then tell me. When bad things happen, it isn't always our fault. There was this Mandroid guy, and he hacked my systems! And I...

So, let's talk about this exchange.

Starscream starts out aggressively just before this conversation, attempting to order Hashtag around.

She declines, and immediately identifies that Starscream's behaviour has likely been informed by prior abuse.

She highlights this in the moment and gets Starscream to notice his verbally aggressive approach by making him realise that he is behaving how Megatron used to treat him-- She does this by using questioning, not by using accusatory language.

This is REALLY IMPORTANT, and is a good approach. When someone is behaving poorly or offensively, encourage them to reflect in the moment by posing a question. It prevents any sense of being challenged, as they are now set up to challenge themselves. "Is my behaviour actually negative? Am I being hurtful?"

This approach is successful, and stops Starscream outright.

It shocks him, to be given the leeway of genuine understanding. This catches him off guard so severely, that we actually get a totally honest reply from him. "You believe me?"

Which is a really significant moment, because Starscream is constantly subject to being, essentially, assumed evil. The other bots often see his negative behaviour and lashing out in a very surface-level kind of way; They don't further investigate or try to think about why, exactly, Starscream is like this.

We don't know how he used to be, before the war or during the war, in this continuity quite yet. But it is heavily implied that a lot of his current behaviour is informed by trauma, and some of that trauma very clearly stems from his prior relationship with Megatron.

Starscream is genuinely surprised that anyone is willing to look past that surface level and actually think: Why is he like this? Where is this behaviour coming from?

Hashtag rightly identifies that what Starscream is saying and how he is saying it is very reminiscent of commanding language; She knows Megatron was his superior officer during the war. She knows Starscream has a poor relationship with Megatron. She knows that as a lower ranked Decepticon, he likely was subject to at least some mistreatment, and that mistreatment is echoed in his "taking command" approach here.

Because to Starscream, "taking command" means being aggressive and controlling. It means using intimidation and belittlement to stay on top.

And Hashtag rightly assumes that this is likely because this is how Megatron did it.

This is how Megatron treated him.

Of course, Starscream responds defensively, as anyone might expect.

It hurts to become aware that you are mirroring harmful behaviour, that you are acting out your hurt on others in a way that hurt was inflicted upon you, and Starscream understandably retorts by claiming that of course, Hashtag doesn't know him-- Or, it is implied, his past.

He is trying to protect himself or instil a sense of control over the conversation by creating distance, while also trying to work up some defensive anger in himself-- How presumptuous of her, to assume!

Except, she's right. And he knows that.

So instead of throwing a fit, he listens when she continues.

Hashtag does two very correct things here:

First, she lets Starscream know that she encourages him to talk about it. She's willing to listen.

Second, she offers some support by starting to talk about her own experience of being abused-- When Mandroid took away her self-agency and assumed control of her.

This is a good and fairly common way that abuse victims tend to offer support to one another; It's often encouraged in certain types of group therapy or support sessions for people to share similar experiences, or experiences that evoked similar feelings, when it's appropriate and beneficial for those present (including the speaker) to do so.

She is attempting to reinforce to Starscream that even though she might not know his pain, she knows her own-- By sharing that trauma with him and being vulnerable herself, that might provide a connection point for them both and could possibly encourage Starscream to open up a bit to her.

This is roughly where the conversation is interrupted, so we don't get to hear Starscream's response.

But I think Hashtag intuitively had a very good approach here: She identified a traumatised person lashing out in a way that was familiar to them but harmful to others, in a way that is indicative of potential prior abuse, and made an effort to provide a safe opportunity for Starscream to talk it out without any fear of repercussions.

She made sure Starscream knows that she is listening and paying attention to him.

She made sure Starscream knows that she believes him, that he does have someone willing to hear his side of the story and genuinely take him at his word.

And that is immensely important; It is common for abuse victims and traumatised people to attempt to self-isolate or lash out, and she saw through Starscream's behaviour here for what it was: An abused person lashing out, trying to close off, behaving in hurtful ways that reflect the hurtful ways they were treated as a defence mechanism.

Starscream needs someone like Hashtag, who won't judge him based on preconceived notions of who he was as a Decepticon, who is willing to listen and give him an opportunity, who is willing to counter his withdrawal by providing honesty and letting him know that she wants to keep the conversation open and give him the space to speak freely about his hurt.

I also especially like that she makes a point of mentioning that we are not at fault for how we are hurt by others. We're not always in control of how we feel, or how we express our feelings.

She doesn't blame Starscream for lashing out. She gets it.

Alleviating Shame: It Is Not Your Fault

Hashtag had her autonomy violated in a very serious way, and although it's not the same thing, Starscream as part of a militarised faction and command structure lost a lot of his autonomy to his service under Megatron-- You don't get to walk away if you're second in command, assuming he held that same position in this continuity for most if not all of the war.

Hashtag is forced to deal with what Mandroid did to her, and Starscream is forced to deal with how Megatron treated him.

Neither of them had any say in what happened to them, or what was done to them, or how it hurts afterwards.

Hashtag knows she has support from her family, but who does Starscream really have? The other fliers, sure, but to what degree? How much support does Starscream really get from anyone, ever?

By letting him know she's been hurt too, even though she didn't get to finish her sentence, she's let him know that he's not entirely alone.

By making the point that nobody can be responsible for what others do to them, Starscream is told outright-- possibly for the first time--that the way Megatron treated him is not his fault.

Internalised Blame: Guilt and Failure Under Megatron's Command

Starscream may very well blame himself, to some degree; We don't know exactly how he's internalised anything, but we do know that Starscream was reasonably high ranking, and was in that command structure for most of the war.

In most militarised ranking structures, it is often the case that officers are considered responsible for errors, mistakes, losses etc. that may fall under a branch of their command which are many times realistically somewhat beyond their ability to control.

This can be a significant source of internalised blame for a lot of former military officers or even military personnel in general; "We lost X soldiers/civilians/etc. and it was my fault" is not an uncommon sentiment, even when realistically it is no single individual's fault and certain circumstances or occurrences are beyond anyone's control.

Megatron likely came down hard on Starscream for any losses, whether it was territory, soldiers, or anything else. He likely came down hard on Starscream for just about anything, after a certain point.

It's entirely possible that Starscream started to internalise these situations as personal blame, as both a result of serving in a war where officers are held ultimately accountable, and as a result of Megatron's treatment of him in general.

He may not have been able to separate "challenges experienced as a commander" and "personal failings" after a while.

And any further/prolonged abuse from Megatron would have only compounded that trend of internalising anything and everything as blame, failure, his own fault-- Not as an officer, but as a person-- Even if it explicitly could not have been.

Emulating Harmful Behaviours: Identify, Understand, Address

This would go some way to partially explaining why Starscream starts to exhibit this aggressive, commanding behaviour; He ends up likely unintentionally emulating Megatron's harmful leadership style, because he sees Megatron as being successful and powerful and in control, while he feels as though he is the opposite in every way.

Abuse has a tendency to make people feel less-than. It can remove people's sense of agency and confidence. It can make people think that their personal traits or inherent elements of their self are suddenly no good, that they could have done something or should have done something, if they were "better".

This is one way that abused people can sometimes start copying or reflecting harmful behaviours from their abusers; They don't know what else they can do. They may be disconnected from themselves to the degree that adopting these behaviours seems like the only "right" option, because it's the only thing that makes people back off, that makes them have that sense of strength or control that their abuser has stripped from them.

I say this a lot in some of my posts, but it's important to remember that while a behaviour may not be OK, we do need to understand.

It's important to recognise this type of repeating back prior experienced abuse, and to not dismiss people who may be hurt when they are lashing out or copying abusive behaviour-- It's important when safe and appropriate to do so to identify this is happening, to make an effort to understand it, and help the person do the same. That's when addressing internalised abusive behaviours can start.

This can take a lot of work, therapy, support, etc. to start identifying, let alone start addressing it-- But it's very possible for abuse victims to restore their sense of self and regain confidence in their capability and identity.

When abused people reflect back prior abusive behaviours that they have experienced, this does not make them a bad person. It means they have been abused, and they may need help to realise they are doing this, and may need help to identify why in a safe way, and may need help to start actually processing trauma in a healthier way for themselves and others.

Hashtag has opened a door for Starscream in more than one way, in this episode.

She's giving him a chance to do this.

She's helping him identify his harmful behaviours, she's acknowledging that he feels bad, that he was made to feel less-than, in ways that she might not have experienced herself-- But she's experienced similar feelings if not the same exact situations, and she's willing to share her own trauma with him. Hopefully he feels he can share with her, too.

I've spoken with plenty of abuse victims, and it's common to hear "You weren't there, you don't know!" or similar retorts when attempting to encourage conversation around some sensitive or traumatising memories or experiences.

It's not always appropriate to provide one's own traumatic experiences in response, but in cases where it is safe and appropriate to do so, I have rolled up my own sleeves and shown my own scars. I have talked about my own traumas as a way of showing support and as a way of showing someone that even if their individual experiences were unique, the feelings they experienced were not, and those feelings can provide a common ground and help provide a point around which to help build rapport. It can also help provide perspective, external to themselves, which can be ultimately positive.

It can also be a show of good faith: I'm not going to judge you. I believe you. I have been hurt, too. Our situations are different, but the way we were made to feel at times was similar.

When appropriate, this can be a pretty effective way to help someone open up about things that are potentially very hard to talk about, or to discuss feelings that are very complex or "tangled" in a way that takes some work to sort out in a healthier, safer way.

Hashtag offered her own traumatic experience to Starscream here, as a way of hopefully meeting Starscream halfway.

And hopefully, it was at least to some degree successful.

So I think Hashtag did a great job in this scene, and I hope we see Starscream take this opportunity that has been afforded to him to give the Malto Bots a chance...

...And to give himself a chance, as well.

----

This is entirely unedited as I continue to watch the episode, as I just got home from work, but I hope it was interesting to someone! :)

#tfe spoilers #earthspark spoilers #spoilers #tfe starscream #tfe hashtag #long post #analysis post #maccadam #maccadams #tw abuse #tw abuse mention #starscream

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lily-drake · 2 months

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Look at the lines

Something I love about manga and anime is the way they draw faces! Because you can tell a lot about a character based on their features. For example:

Here’s photos when they first met before the kiss. The lines are soft, smooth, young. Arnold’s hold a sharpness to them to show his vicious side, but it’s still smooth and young.

Immediately following the kiss scene Rishe’s features are sharper, more defined if you will. Shes growing as a woman and is slowly finding strength in the relationship where Arnold’s lines become smoother. He is softer around Rishe, he is open, more rounded.

In the last officially published chapter we see their lines are almost the same. They both hold a new sharpness to their features while also still holding the softened curve of their youth and love for each other. They have both aged and found solace in the other. They trust one another and view each other as equals at this point in time.

Tell me if I missed or forgot anything, because I know for a fact I did.

#7th time loop #7th time loop: the villainess enjoys a carefree life married to her worst enemy!#rishe irmgard weitzner #arnold hein #rishe x arnold #character analysis #analysis post #manga #anime and manga

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efplanning · 4 days

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eon feeling like he's freezing to death no matter how many layers he puts on after losing all that fur for a few days...

eon having a crazyyy bad headache the next day bc of his new emotion related powers...

eon getting annoyed w ppl being "unprofessional" after evolving before he realizes his ability changed when he evolved...

eon getting frustrated w his ribbon getting in the way and constantly picking up other pokemons emotions...

And yet eon. No matter how miserable being a Sylveon might seem at first...not once regretting having evolved...

#analysis post #Do you understand.#also also him bonding w Sylveon over the experience...😭

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halluciniwaynia · 2 months

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I kind of wish there was some kind of language to describe the literary and narrative structure of ultrakill, because conventional ones such as “protagonists” and “main characters” only capture a very small picture of the wider story. ultrakill already spits in the face of those things by having the “main character” (the main driver of events in the narrative) being someone who is the “antagonist”, antagonist being the roughest and closest word to describe Gabriel.

But even that categorization falls short in the sense that the game’s story is not about you, but it involves you. V1’s importance in the story is that of someone who is involved in a larger piece of something else: mankind’s extinction and the quickly growing (and very chaotic) sentience of hell, something it interacts with purposefully in the game as part of the mechanics, but story wise, we do not see. The only events that matter which we are influencing is our encounters with Gabriel, and the terminals, because everything else is hell interacting with itself. Everything else is hell becoming some weird kind of massively intelligent superorganism, at odds with the ideals of God being a omnipotent and ever loving creator. That is the story which drives the events of Ultrakill, the story that actually explains and branches out why everything is happening the way that it is and the way that it does. It’s not about V1 except that you (and it) are the hemorrhagic consequences of these factors coming to a head. A massively powerful, easily influenceable (by blood) ant which crawls its way into hell and goes deeper and deeper enticed by the terminals grading, enticed by the constant momentum and unfettered carnage that take place.

If anything, Ultrakill is a story which can only be experienced in a video game. Ultrakill isn’t separating the gameplay from its story, but it is making the core mechanics (style meter, weapon freshness, the terminals feedback with the player being the former’s source of entertainment, etc) completely separate from what is propelling the plot forward, from what is changing the world around it. A story like this, where you experience a world as the consequence, and not the cause of the story’s progression is something that can really only reliably happen when the audience is forcibly interacting as a outsider, with some of input. You cannot achieve this affect in film or books because there is no underlying mechanical reasoning to interact with. What you are shown is what is happening on screen, and you are to make assumptions about those things within their inclusion or omission from a scene.

Ultrakill is playing you a scene completely separate from the main play. There’s probably two plays going on here actually, what happens in Heaven and what you see as V1. You are always playing the terminals’ games, always giving them the entertainment they want and led you into. But there is always something else happening, there is always something bigger than you. You are exploring a world in the past, present, and future tense simultaneously by interacting with it as not the catalyst of major everythings, but as the byproduct of it. It’s a really unique story-telling perspective.

#ultrakill #v1 #v1 ultrakill #gabriel ultrakill #ultrakill gabriel #gabriel #ultrakill v1 #personal post #analysis post

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lilyginnyblackv2 · 1 year

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Hmm, this is interesting to think about:

In Episode 7, we see how Yuzuko and Kazuki first met.

She found him in a field of hydrangeas during the rainy season, holding an umbrella. He was at a low point here, in the sense of being very badly wounded and in need of physical help, which I am going to assume Yuzuko provided for him.

We also get the full picture of her death in this week’s episode as well.

It is, once again, the rainy season and she is holding the same umbrella. So Kazuki met her and lost her around the same time of year. This adds even more depth and emotion to Karin’s words to Kazuki:

“So the thought that you only remember her looking sad...”

Since it is highlighting her later sentiment that “memories aren’t prisons.” Kazuki was locking himself in the memory of her death during this time of the year, rather than the memory of his meeting her.

Now, when it comes to Rei, we don’t know when exactly it was that the two of them met. But it was likely a good bit before the events of Episode 1, since there was a familiarity between the two of them already. The interesting thing here though is that Rei didn’t find Kazuki like Yuzuko did, it seems more like Kazuki found him. This is based off of the February Animedia interview where the producer, Toba says:

Kazuki is very family-oriented; he's the so-called maternal type. The reason why he started living together with Rei is that he saw the complete shambles of Rei's lifestyle, went, 'This won't do!' and started fussing over him.

And we know from Rei’s general personality and the dynamic they have going on that Rei follows Kazuki, not the other way around. So, at his lowest he sought out someone to care for. But when it was just him and Rei, they were still at their lowest, diving deep into their bad habits and styles of living.

They were both just in survival mode. They weren’t really living though.

The one who finds Kazuki this time though is Miri.

She finds him when he is at his lowest, and her existence in his life gives him the motivation to start changing and to start actually living again. This was in the middle of the winter, when everything is dead. And then this little ball of energy and sunshine entered his life. She provided him the same chance at a family that Yuzuko did, though obviously in a very different way than her (through being a daughter as opposed to a romantic partner and wife like Yuzuko).

And he jumped at the chance. We see him accepting her into his life slowly, bit by bit and through various different aspects and areas. But he still has boundaries set up, he still has a part of himself that is holding back, and he still sees Miri as something that was given to him in a way, then something he actively sought out. At the end of Episode 7, though we see him “find” Miri.

He chooses to go back to her.

He also chooses to go back to Rei too. When he looks softly at the end of Episode 7, it is a look directed at both Miri and Rei. He’s proud and happy to see that Rei actually stepped up and took care of Miri. His warm smile is at the thought of him having a true second chance at a family again, without past memories blocking emotional bonds and connections.

And the thing is, this all happens, again, during the rainy season. Kazuki was, imo, seriously contemplating not returning at various points in this episode. But, he decided to go back to this unexpected family instead of losing the chance again, during the rainy season.

Episode 7 was a great leap in Kazuki’s character development. He’s finally starting to allow himself to properly heal, and like how Yuzuko found him when he was at a low point and in bad shape during the rainy season 5 years ago, Kazuki is here now, in the rainy season, actively returning to Rei when Rei is at his lowest point (in terms of caring for Miri).

It almost feels like Kazuki is being to Rei what Yuzuko was for him, like taking on that same kind of role, though maybe not with the same kind of dynamic, more so just being the helping hand needed when in a bad place.

That’s lovely in a way, but it does keep Kazuki in a sort of perpetual “giving” position in the relationship that he has with Rei. Since Rei grew up without love, we haven’t really seen him reaching out for it. Not in the same way it seems Yuzuko may have done with Kazuki or in the way that Kazuki seems to instinctually do with Miri or in the way Kazuki has done with Rei now. The gasp at realizing Miri was sick, then the confused stare for a moment, and finally the soft stare when he realized Rei stepped up and everything was fine.. That’s us seeing him making an emotional connection with the both of them at that moment, even if they were both asleep.

Something clicked there and we can see that a proper shift has happened, and that while Kazuki has always been more of an animated personality type than Rei, there is something much more true and genuine about this smile than the ones he has given in the past:

I think it’s because Kazuki has finally found himself and the obvious weight that he was carrying around has lifted. I feel like Kazuki maybe doesn’t feel like he needs to be found anymore and needs to reach out to Rei and Miri like he was doing in the past - to survive and deal with his trauma, but now he just wants to be with them and reach out to them and connect with them (we can see this through him saying he’ll teach them what good French toast actually is).

With Rei, we see that he has literally reached out to Miri in this episode:

And he is reaching out to Kazuki too. Usually Rei just goes with Kazuki’s flow, but he doesn’t actively seek anything out from Kazuki. At the end of this week’s episode though, he is actively seeking some kind of approval from Kazuki in regards to his French toast.

Kazuki may no longer need to be found or reached out to, but I hope we see Rei still try and do that, not so he can continue to take, but so that he can start to give back.

#KazuRei #Kazuki Kurusu #Rei Suwa #Miri Unasaka #Buddy Daddies #BD #Karin Izumi #Yuzuko Kurusu #bd spoilers #Buddy Daddies Spoilers #long post #meta post #image heavy post #speculation post #analysis post

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