#for reference to potentially use in analyses later

[pikahlua]

Winner Stage-Left, or: Did you know any MHA character’s position in the frame is a spoiler?

(Subtitle: Who’s gonna stop me from converting other old Discord conversations into meta? You? YOU? Doubtful.)

Honestly it’s just embarrassing that I haven’t made this post yet.

I’ve talked before about horizontal and vertical design on the faces of MHA characters, but there’s another visual trick that’s ever-so-present in MHA--nay, in all of shounen manga and anime--that deserves at least a cursory discussion. Ever since I was a wee tyke, I noticed an odd tendency in anime to always place the winner of a fight (or...children’s card game) on the right of the screen. I never thought anything of it for a long time, but a few years ago a friend mentioned something about it to me in passing. This friend was very unfamiliar with anime but had somehow heard something about this phenomenon and its potential origins. Naturally, I had to look into it.

The research I did wasn’t as conclusive as I would have liked, but I did discover something about the topic. What I discovered was that in traditional forms of Japanese theater such as kabuki and noh, stage-left is considered a superior position to stage-right. Someone of a superior ranking to the other would stand stage-left. Sometimes this “superiority” would be as simple as social ranking or whatever.

But then you have various anime with confrontation via martial arts or sports or fights where "stage-left" can take on a different meaning.

As we explore this concept as presented in MHA, I would like to start with this back cover of tankoban #33.

For clarity’s sake, note that Izuku is looking towards the right of the page while Katsuki is looking to the left side. Stage-left is determined by looking to the left of an actor when they stand on stage and face the audience (in other words, from the audience’s perspective, stage-left is to the right). Izuku and Katsuki in the above page are facing each other, and so on-screen Izuku would be standing stage-right and Katsuki would be standing stage-left.

But what does it all mean?

(It means Katsuki is the hero in this moment.)

I wrote above that in anime confrontations "stage-left" can take on a new meaning. Specifically, the concept of what "superior ranking" is can be played with. We end up with the story’s hero often being stage-left. Or sometimes this positioning is broadcasting who will be the winner of the match. Go watch an older anime like Dragonball Z or Yugioh and take note of each match-up: who is standing on the left and who is on the right? Then guess who wins the match. The statistics are pretty clear on this: stage-left is most often (if not always) the winner.

But in many of these older anime, the positioning of the characters remains the same for the entire match. That’s not the case with MHA; Horikoshi loves to change up who is standing where throughout a match (or dialogue, if you will), so it’s important to pay attention to what’s happening when positions get swapped around.

With regards to the above image and the events of Deku vs Class 1-A, consider who is positioned where and when. Just think about these images:

Here in chapter 319, Izuku is stage-left. The depiction is supposed to prime us to believe he is stronger than Class 1-A, which technically he is--in a contest of each individual’s strength.

But then if you read chapter 320, you'll find that once the action starts, Class 1-A is almost always standing stage-left of Izuku, specifically when they're trying to talk him down.

The whole ice ramp chase sequence in chapter 321 shows Izuku fleeing towards stage-right while the others are stage-left and chase after him.

And then you have this moment, where Iida passes Izuku just to get more stage-right of him. This is an interesting way to play with the “winner” side of the stage. In order to save Izuku, Iida is elevating him from the self-destructive “Symbol of Peace" back into Izuku Midoriya their classmate. Izuku, their friend and one piece of class 1-A, is meant to be the “hero” they wish to save, not the loner Deku whom Izuku tried to become.

And then we get to think about what this staging means in the apology.

Katsuki stands stage-left, which we’d expect him to do as the forecast "winner." But this is such an interesting take on staging because Katsuki is essentially debasing himself by bowing to Izuku with his apology--but it’s in order to win, in order to get Izuku back, in order to achieve his goal of saving Izuku. It's almost paradoxical, but it's basically broadcasting to us the reading audience whom we should be cheering for: Katsuki.

This isn’t the first time MHA has played with positioning like this. The sports festival is one of my favorite examples. If you look at how the anime depicts the match-ups and who wins each match, the matches can be listed in stage-right vs stage-left format (bold names are the winners):

Midoriya vs Shinsou Todoroki vs Sero Kaminari vs Ibara Iida vs Hatsume Ashido vs Aoyama Yaoyorozu vs Tokoyami Kirishima vs Tetsutetsu (draw) Uraraka vs Bakugou

Tetsutetsu vs Kirishima (arm-wrestle tiebreaker)

Midoriya vs Todoroki Ibara vs Iida Ashido vs Tokoyami Kirishima vs Bakugou

Iida vs Todoroki Tokoyami vs Bakugou

Bakugou vs Todoroki

And if we take a closer look at the anomalous stage-right winners:

Midoriya vs Shinsou ends with Midoriya's victory, but Shinsou is portrayed as the hero we should sympathize with in the end. Thus, he wins the attention of Aizawa and the audience enough to give him a shot at the hero course, which fulfills his original goal in competing.

Todoroki vs Sero ends with Todoroki's victory, but the end is perceived by Midoriya as "sad," and the audience ends up cheering for Sero when it's all over. Todoroki is still a captive of his hatred for his father, and in that sense he is the loser.

Iida vs Hatsume ends with Iida's win on a technicality. Hatsume clearly has control over the entire match and only loses because she wants to, and even then only after she presents all the gadgets she wanted to, which achieves her goal in competing.

Ashido vs Aoyama can be considered an outlier with Ashido's win until we remember Aoyama as the unwitting traitor may have actually wanted to lose? Either that or this fight is meant as a joke to subvert our expectations because of Mineta's call to see Ashido's underwear at the start. Either way, even if Ashido starts on stage-right, she actually swings her way over to stage-left for her surprise victory at the end.

And then we have Bakugou vs Todoroki, which actually becomes Todoroki vs Bakugou as soon as the story makes it clear to us that Torodoki is wavering on whether or not he'll use his fire. Bakugou switches over to stage-left before the end, and the final non-clash keeps him there, even if that's not how he wants things to play out (he certainly would have a hard time considering himself the “winner.”)

Another one worth rewatching while keeping this positioning phenomenon in mind is absolutely “Deku vs Kacchan, Part 2.” Holy shit, they swap places so damn often, and it's always about what they're saying or doing in the moment.

What’s wild is how in the manga, this sequence is played with Katsuki stage-right...

...but in the anime he’s played as stage-left.

And just think about how that affects the portrayal. In the manga version, is Katsuki being portrayed as a victim who needs saving by hero (stage-left) Izuku? Is Katsuki’s despair the trial for the hero to overcome? In the anime version, is Katsuki’s anxiety meant to be relatable and sympathetic for the audience? Is Izuku’s ignorance of Katsuki’s true feelings the obstacle for hero (stage-left) Katsuki to overcome?

Stage-left is even played with when the boys are airing their grievances! Whoever is speaking gets to occupy the hero spot:

And of course there’s my favorite example from this face-off: the ending where stage-right Katsuki, refusing to lose, grabs Izuku's sleeve and forcefully switches them around to pin Izuku from stage-left.

We have a winner!

These examples, of course, are not the entire list. Read the chapters or watch the episode and count how many times they swap places. It puts that whole sequence in the anime where the camera swoops around the boys as they clash in the sky into a whole new perspective (like the story-boarders just gave up on all the position swaps and pulled out the 3-D graphics in protest.)

So give it a shot next time you read/watch MHA and see if you notice these positions. I obviously pay the most attention to the ones with Izuku and Katsuki (their stage positions get played around with a lot). Consider the first anime opening when they're drawn in one positioning as kids but swap when they hit middle school. And the creek flashback scene? Izuku offers his hand to Katsuki from stage-left. And in the PLW arc? Izuku vs Tomura in the sky? Izuku starts out stage-left, but they swap when Izuku goes feral and Katsuki starts panicking. Katsuki saves Izuku by traveling from stage-left. In the final panel of chapter 285, we see Katsuki still positioned stage-left as he’s stabbed, which highlights his heroism.

Oh, and here’s the new part I’m adding that wasn’t in the Discord conversation that spawned this meta: Katsuki vs TomurAFO. I just find it so telling wherever Katsuki is positioned.

Chapter 359: Katsuki is portrayed as stage-left.

Chapter 360: Katsuki is forced stage-right by TomurAFO...

...but the heroes pluck Katsuki back into stage-left...

...where he stays.

Chapter 362: Katsuki attacks from stage-left and continues to circle around TomurAFO to stage-left.

Katsuki is depicted as stage-left as he meets All Might’s vestige...

...but as soon as he expresses his desire for an autograph, he unexpectedly moves to stage-right...

...and takes a fatal blow.

Talk about a visual plot twist!

(I also happen to think Tomura’s positioning throughout this arc is very curious, and I will continue to pay attention to it.)

Have fun with the new lens!

#my hero academia manga spoilers #final showdown spoilers #meta #izuku midoriya #katsuki bakugou #tenya iida #shouto todoroki #for reference to potentially use in analyses later #just wanted to give y'all SOMETHING yanno?

[morallyinept]

A full character analysis on JAVIER PEÑA from the TV show NARCOS

I've created this as a point of reference when writing for Pedro's characters, and I hope you find it useful. Even if you just want to learn more about the character. 🖤

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO'S CHARACTERS ANALYSED

FULL CHARACTER STUDY:

*Contains some comparisons to the real life Javier Peña, on which Pedro's Javier Peña is based on.

Basic Details:

Full Name: Javier Peña

Nickname(s): Javi, also referred to as "Peña" or "Jav" by Steve Murphy

Appears in: Narcos, 2015 (first appearance on screen in episode 1, season 1 at approx. 31:41)

Age (if known): Unconfirmed, suspected late 30's, possibly early-to-mid 40's

Sexuality: Straight - Javi was previously engaged to a woman named Lorraine back in Laredo, and also regularly sleeps with female hookers. He also hooked up with a female colleague, Katie, and slept with M-19 co-leader Elisa Álvarez, whilst temporarily hiding her in his apartment.

Nationality: Texan, Javi is from Laredo, Texas, with Mexican roots

Family: Father, Chucho Peña. There is brief mention of an aunt.

Spouse/Partner: No mention of a current partner.

Relationship Status: Currently single, was previously engaged to Lorraine.

Current Living Status: Alive

Languages Spoken: Spanish, English

Education: Presumed at least high school educated as he works for the government and the DEA as a Special Agent

Occupation:

Job Role/Title: DEA Special Agent, and later as Country Attaché

Special Skill(s): Combat training, guns and ammo, detective work, undercover work, anti-terrorism, anti-drugs trafficking, tactical

Notable Colleague(s): Steve Murphy, General Carillo

Distinguishing Features:

Tattoo(s): None

Piercings: None

Scar(s): None notable

Other Markings: None notable

Prominent Feature(s): Clean shaven face with a prominent pencil moustache

Injuries: Javi doesn't suffer any serious injuries. He does, however, endure very minor slips and stumbles when chasing down Narcos/suspects, most notably in season 3 when he chases down Franklin Jurado and jumps down a balcony, which leaves him limping for a few moments after as he runs.

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Brown

Personality:

Traits: Determined, persuasive, adept

Javi is purported to be originally from Laredo, Texas. (The real life Javier Pena was born and raised in Hebbronville, Texas.)

Javi starts off as a special agent for the DEA, and then later becomes Country Attaché for Colombia, as titled on his business card we see in season 3. An attaché is normally an official, who serves either as a diplomat or as a member of the support staff, under the authority of an ambassador or other head of a diplomatic mission, mostly in intergovernmental organizations or international non-governmental organisations or agencies.

Narcos is set between the late 1970's until the early 1990's.

Javi appears to type at a slow to medium pace, using both his index fingers on the keys, and uses a typewriter when typing up his reports at his desk.

Whilst Javi tends to skirt the line of morals at times, it's clear that using any means necessary to capture Escobar is something he will entertain, and states himself, even if it means getting close to his enemies and playing on both sides. This is evident when he uses and provides intel to Judy Moncada and Don Berna, which then include the Los Pepe's murders, and ends up working with the Castaño's to get Christina Jurado back.

Javi is seen making the decision to gun down Gacha in the chopper, and states that he'll "sleep tonight" when asked if he's alright. He also shoots a man - who claims he's a politician - in the gut to get answers. This behaviour indicates that Javi will make choices that potentially risk him being the "bad guy" and putting his career at risk, in order to seek justice and bring down Escobar and the Cali Cartel. Subsequently his choices catch up with him when he's fired at the end of season 2, for his involvement with Los Pepes.

Whilst we don't see Javi physically cry during Narcos, he does get watery-eyed when talking to his father Chucho in the car on the way back from the wedding, and also when Carillo shoots a child at point blank range and Steve asks him what's going on. Javi deals with his emotions by either drinking (we see him frequent many bars and drinking what appears to be Whiskey), or by indulging in sex.

Javi appears to have had specialist combat training at some point in his career - we see him descending from a helicopter into the jungle via rope line, which isn't standard training for police or DEA, unless you're in a specialist unit.

The real life Javier Peña served as a deputy sheriff for Webb County sheriff’s office in Laredo from 1975 to 1984, and then continued his service with the DEA until his retirement in 2014. In the show it appears that Javi has his career solely in the DEA as there isn't mention of anything else. Steve states that he is a "lifer" in the DEA when they're both at the airport whilst Javi is waiting for his flight home back to the USA after his dismissal.

Javi is seen drinking coffee regularly, presumed black as he is not seen adding any milk/cream or sugar, and also drinks Whiskey. When Helena asks what drink he can offer her, he replies "Whiskey or water." Javi is seen ordering a Whiskey Dry at the bar in season 3. It appears Whiskey is his drink of choice.

Javi appears to shake and twitch his left hand fingers when he's apparently anxious. He does this a few times throughout the show. (This may actually be a trait that Pedro has himself, as he also does this for his character Joel Miller in The Last Of Us.)

Javi uses flirting as a way of persuading women to help him. He does this with Colleen by complimenting her nails when he needs her signature. He tells the Ambassador she's wearing a beautiful dress when he gets her to agree to his needs in season 1. He also tries it with Christina by flirting and buying her a drink with the intention of getting her to talk, although that goes south pretty quickly due to her loyalty to her husband.

Javi looks "after his own". He demonstrates this several times by telling Steve to say he knows nothing and that it was all Javi if Steve were to be questioned about Los Pepes. He also does this again in season 3 on the plane with Fiestl and his team, telling them that it all comes back on him if it goes awry. This indicates he wants to protect others.

Javi's dad says it means a lot to his "tía" that Javi came to the wedding. Tía is the Spanish word for Aunt.

Javi calls his father "dad", "pop" and "pops". It seems they have a good, close relationship as Chucho seems to know a lot about Javi's career, and they've seemingly had talks about it before. There is no mention of Javi's mother during the show.

Javi is generally a pretty good shot with a gun; he's able to shoot the guerrilla holding Christina hostage - whilst wearing night vision goggles, which is actually harder to do than without, due to depth of field - in the face on a single shot. However, he's not a good shot when shooting the pigeons, missing every one. He claims it's because he's never been duck hunting when Steve jibes him for it.

Javi's Smoking Habits:

Javi is an avid smoker and it appears he smokes from the brand Marlboro, determined by the box shown on Gabriela's bedside table, and glimpses of the red boxes he has throughout the show.

Javi is seen actively smoking - or with a cigarette, even if it's not yet lit - in a total of 44 scenes across all three seasons. (13 scenes in season 1, 25 scenes in season 2 and 6 scenes in season 3.)

In episode 1 of season 3, Javi explains to Lorraine he's quitting smoking as he chews Nicorette gum. However, later at the end of the same episode, he's seen smoking as he wakes up in bed with Katie asleep beside him. Season 3 is the the least amount of times he's seen smoking however, indicating he's possibly trying to stay true to quitting.

Javi mostly smokes using his right hand, holding the cigarette between his thumb and pointer finger.

Javi's Lovers:

Javi has several lovers and appears to know and frequent prostitutes/hookers regularly, using them for information, as well as hook ups. This is more apparent in season 1 and 2 and less seen and mentioned in season 3. Assumed because Javi's job is more senior in season 3 and he has more of a reputation to uphold.

It appears statistically, based off of physical looks alone, that Javi possibly prefers brunettes.

He sleeps with prostitute Helena Sotomayor in season 1 whom he uses and pays for information, and it seems he does have affection for her as he states "we get better each time we practice," indicating he sleeps with her regularly. She is subsequently attacked and viciously raped, before can Javi rescue her. His first sex scene in the show is with Helena on his loveseat in his apartment.

Javi then sleeps with M-19 Militia co-leader, Elisa Álvarez in season 1, when Connie brings her to Javi's apartment to protect and hide. Although they don't have a sex scene, they are shown naked in bed together. Javi is seen discussing getting her somewhere safe, however she states he isn't responsible for her. He nuzzles in and kisses her softly.

Javi has a regular hook-up with a prostitute named Gabriela in season 2. His second sex scene is with Gabriela in her apartment in her bedroom. Prior to that, he is seen wearing his jeans and smoking at the window, whilst she is naked on the bed, assumed after sex between them, and they talk together. Javi is seen rubbing her stomach affectionately.

Javi hooks up with a colleague called Katie in season 3. He doesn't have a sex scene with her, but wakes up in bed naked with her still asleep at dawn, and smokes a cigarette he takes from her purse.

Javi refers to some prostitutes by name and nickname in season 1, "Freckles" and "Vanessa", indicating he knows them quite well when he and Steve arrest McPickle at the private brothel, which Javi swears he doesn't know about with a smirk to Steve.

Javi was previously engaged to a woman back in Laredo called Lorraine. He tells Steve that he left her on their wedding day as he couldn't go through with it, and states "she's better off." Later we see Javi talking with her at the wedding they're both guests at in season 3 in Laredo. She has since remarried someone else called Randy. Javi apologizes to her indicating he still feels remorse for what he did. Lorraine says it's taken him "ten years" to apologise, indicating the length of time that has passed between them. Lorraine also appears to have had 2 children with Randy.

Javi's sex is generally affectionate, with lots of kissing, touching and nuzzling. He does this with both Helena and Elisa, and with both these women it's indicated that he possibly feels some genuine affection for them. He has a regular thing with Gabriela in season 2 and is seen talking with her about writing and why she continues to be a prostitute. Later however, he has rough sex with Gabriela after Carillo shoots the child in front of him. He has sex with Gabriela from behind and pulls on her hair.

Javi's Apartment:

Javi's apartment is a government issue apartment in Colombia. It's on the ground floor in an apartment block.

For an in depth look at Javi's apartment, please see these amazing posts already made by @pedropascalito

A look at Javi's Apartment & Another glimpse at the details

Fashion/Outfits:

Outfits - Javi's look is styled predominantly in the time period when Narcos is set - the late 70's, 80's, and into the early 90's. However, Javi's fashion very much clings onto the 70's vibe.

He wears lots of button down shirts in different colours, patterns and fits, with some being more fitted, and other's more square and loose looking on his frame. He often leaves his top few shirt buttons undone.

He wears mostly jeans, blue denim, that are tight fitting and slightly flared/bootcut around the ankle.

When he wears a suit, it's often a dark grey, brown or blue colour or a lighter pale shade, as was the style at the time. The suit jacket often appears a little too big for him, again as was the style back then with large shoulder pads and baggier slacks. He wears a variety of patterned ties when he wears a suit. He'll also leave the top button undone on his shirt and wear his tie slightly loose at the knot.

When he's doing field work, he dresses casually in shirts, jeans, boots and jackets. He wears green camo in the jungle when rescuing Christina.

He has a black, well worn leather jacket, and also several different styles of jacket, including denim and corduroy.

He wears a plaid shirt to the wedding in season 3, in homage to his Southern heritage.

He wears boots that have a small heel, and is seen wearing cowboy boots also in some scenes.

He wears aviator sunglasses with a yellow hue lens, which was a popular look in the 70's.

Accessories: Silver wrist watch worn on left wrist, handguns Beretta & Zoraki, handcuffs, aviator sunglasses, police badge. He uses a large sat phone and then later a smaller mobile phone in season 3. He carries his cigarettes, lighter and car keys in his jacket pockets. Javi has a pager in season 1 that he wears on his belt on his left hip. He also has a brown leather gun holster that he keeps on his left side in season 1, which is seen in a couple of shots.

Javi's Shirts range in colour and pattern, yet he mostly wears short-sleeved button ups. He often leaves the top two buttons open. A selection of some of his shirts:

Javi's Jackets include leather, denim, corduroy and sleeveless styles:

Javi's Suits are a selection of dark colours and pale two-piece combos, usually worn with a white shirt and selection of ties:

Javi's sunglasses are classic yellow lens tinted aviators, as was popular in the 1970's. He wears the same pair throughout all 3 seasons:

Javi's Tac Vest is a green combat military style, issued by the DEA, with a single front holster for his Beretta. He wears it during all three seasons:

Some accessories of Javi's seen in season 2 on Gabriela's bedside table: Marlboro cigarette box & blue lighter, silver watch, handcuffs in leather pouch, police DEA badge and his Beretta:

Weapons Used:

Weapon(s): (Exact weapons pictured below)

Javi has two primary hand guns as his main weapons.

In season 1, he uses a Zoraki 914 pistol, which is a smaller model.

In seasons 2 & 3, his main weapon is a Beretta 9mm magnum 92FS series. He keeps his Beretta in his left side desk drawer when at his desk. He also wears his Beretta tucked into his belt behind his back.

In the scene where Javi & Steve are shooting the pigeons, Javi uses a Benelli M3 Super 90 Shotgun.

Javi also uses a rifle in season 3 in the episode where he rescues Christina from the jungle. It appears to be a carbine rifle, possibly an M16 model, however the exact model is not 100% confirmed anywhere.

Modes of Transport:

Vehicle(s):

Javi owns and drives a Jeep Cherokee during seasons 1 & 2 - License plates are shown as REW-950, B35-17T & MOP-920. The license plate of Javi's Jeep Cherokee changes three times during the first two seasons. This is because private car license plates in Colombia were black and white from 1973 to 1990, while yellow and black plates introduced in 1991.

Javi owns and drives a 1995 Ford Explorer in Silver Grey in season 3 - License Plate BPL-729.

Dialogue:

🗨 See Javi's full dialogue from the show, including deleted scenes.

Further Character Links (if any):

Javier Peña fandom Wiki Page

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO'S CHARACTERS ANALYSED

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #javier peña #javier pena #javier pena narcos #pedro pascal character analysis #pedro pascal character study #javier pena character analysis

[shrinevandal]

Initial thoughts on Double and Neoplasm - Who is guilty? What's true and what's a lie?

Hello! This is a (fairly long, sorry) post analysing the MV for Double, as well as Neoplasm, and what it means for Mikoto, Orekoto, a potential 3rd alter, their relationship as a whole, and Mikoto's judgement.

Note: I am a system myself, I am usually not very open about this so please don't ask about the details. But I think it's important to state that I do struggle with a lot of the same stuff Mikoto* does, and so my perception of it comes from a level of understanding that singlets may not have.

Obviously this contains spoilers for both Double and Neoplasm, I would recommend you watch/listen to both beforehand. This is also just my initial interpretation, I have purposefully avoided any other posts about it to make my theory/interpretation as straightforward and from-the-source as possible.

Some terminology notes: I will be using John to refer to Orekoto, as Es has so thoughtfully dubbed him. Also, if I say MILGRAM in all caps I am referring to the project itself, and if I say Milgram in title case I am referring to the location/entity which Es works for. I also believe the 3koto theory, which will become relevant at various points here. Any translators or sources will be linked at the end.

Alright, let's get into it. Music video analysis:

Double - Visual Motifs

There are a lot of visual elements to Double, which I will break down into different sections.

Phone (& Tarot)

There are two major instances of Mikoto's phone being important in the song: Right at the beginning, when he's getting several texts and then an incoming call from "Chief" (almost certainly his boss), and in the middle of the song, when he gets a call from his mom. In the beginning, Mikoto* doesn't even look at the texts, and when he answers the call, he seems to barely be listening.

Translation of the texts are as follows (thank you rochisama on wordpress!):

- Regarding the first draft you submitted today, I think option B might be the best after all, so can you remake it by morning.

- Also, I forgot to mention, but you made a lot of mistakes with the one we spoke about earlier, so make sure it’s all fixed too. This one also needs to be ready by morning, so I’ll leave it to you to get everything ready.

- Oi, get back here now.

- Are you going to abandon your duties?

There are also two fun little details here with the phone: His lock screen is a picture of the Hanged Man, the same version that was on his shirt in MeMe:

Also, His battery is at 29%.

Two of prisoner nine.

Later in the song, when his mom calls him, he immediately picks up, greets her energetically despite the bags under his eyes, and informs her he's doing well and not to worry.

"Oh, hello? Mom? It’s been a while. Yeah… well, I mean, some days are hard, but… I’m doing alright, don’t worry. How’ve you been? I’ll go home next time I get some time off."

He also hangs up very quickly, as if he doesn't want to talk to her. He gives her placating words and then ends the conversation as soon as he can.

According to his S1 Interrogation questions, Mikoto's family consists of him, his mom, and his younger sister. His parents are divorced. He gets along well with both his mom and sister, but also states that he can't let his mom worry. This checks out with him hiding the truth from her, as letting her know just how badly he's doing would certainly cause concern. Keep all this in mind, it will become important later on.

Eyes

I don't have much of note to say about it right now, but eyes are a pretty heavy visual motif throughout the whole video.

One thing I will say about it, though, is the large eyes across the whole screen show up twice: Once as orange, symbolizing John, and then as a grey-blue, symbolizing Mikoto.

Colors

There are five important colors: Blue, Green, Red/Orange, and Pink.

I'm grouping red and orange because I believe they both symbolize John. Blue is obviously Mikoto.

As I've mentioned, I am a fan of the 3koto theory- The visuals in the MV for MeMe, and even the composition itself, allude to 3 different entities (Music theory nerd here, hehe - I wanna write my own take on the 3koto theory eventually and talk about the way the song itself changes, but that's for another time.) And now in Double, it seems like there is still that imagery, albeit much less strongly than before.

So green, like in MeMe, symbolizes Midori/Midokoto/whatever you wanna call him. Pink is a little bit of a weird one, so I'll get to that in the moment. Anyway, let's start with some John moments.

The red glow in the back shows that John is the one fronting in all three of these shots, with Mikoto being asleep behind him in the second one.

An example of blood splatters with an orange tint. This is part of the reason I think both orange and red symbolize Mikoto, since they're so interconnected here. Also, as mentioned in the eyes section, the eyes there are very orange whereas John is usually associated with red.

Speaking of eyes,

Huge 3koto implications in a few frames from this shot. John's body flashes green at one point, and the background and fire-halo are green when John's eyes are glowing orange. In the next image, the body's eyes are scribbled over in green. This scene in particular is very interesting to me, with both implications of Midori's existence and his connection to the eye motif. It also calls John "savior"

Here's another notable instance of 3koto near the beginning, right after John throws Mikoto's phone. Notice the color progression in the scene. Green background with blue text, down to red background and red text. John is clearly being portrayed as an outsider here, with Midori and Mikoto being a duo.

Going back to blood splatters, there are various points in the video where the "inverse" of the blood is either green or blue. This also checks out with both red and orange being John's colors; Blue is the opposite of orange, and green is the opposite of red. This also doubles (haha) as another example of John being the opposite of MikoMido

The train itself has a lot of green highlights. When John stares out the door into the other train cars, it flashes green a few times. It's not pictured here, but the door also flashes a staticky pink once, and so does Mikoto's body earlier in that same scene I showed where it's fully green.

Alright, more on pink now. I'm actually not entirely sure what it may symbolise, but my main guess is it's Mikoto's victims.

Aside from the instances mentioned above, these are the most prominent pink scenes in the video. Similar to how orange was juxtaposed against both blue and green, here it's against blue. In context, these scene also seems to me like a switch, a realization of what Mikoto has done. A brief instance where his memories coexist with him, and he's horrified at his actions.

Double - Overall Analysis

As pointed out in the colors section above, Midori seems to be very present still. He seems to be haunting the video in a way, lying just underneath the surface.

A really important aspect of DID that hasn't been directly addressed by MILGRAM is the fact that it's caused by childhood trauma, usually around the ages 9 to 10 or younger. For those who don't know, this is because young kids have not fully formed their identity and sense of self yet. Usually, kids will eventually consolidate all their various parts into one, which becomes their sense of self. But trauma literally changes how the brain works on several levels, and for some kids, that interrupts the process of those parts fusing together. (This is also why there's discourse behind the idea of an "original" personality - Which one is the "original" between a pair of identical twins, for example? One cell divided into two, so really neither of them are that first cell.)

My theory for Mikoto's childhood trauma and subsequent DID symptoms, is that Mikoto in his current form is the body's "first" alter, and that Midori was the original host. (I have several reasons for believing it's this and not the other way around, but it's not that important for this post. But do think about, "I'm already the fake one.")

We know that John specifically was created as a result of Mikoto's job stress, meaning he was obviously not around when Mikoto and Midori were kids. By the time the events of MILGRAM roll around, it seems like Midori is completely dormant, or at least very rarely fronts, as John seems to pretty clearly imply just his and Mikoto's existence in both Double and Neoplasm. But if John wasn't around when Mikoto was a kid, there has to have been at least one other alter throughout the course of Mikoto's life. You don't just suddenly develop DID at age 23 without having had it since you were traumatized (Unless the MILGRAM team is just clueless about DID, which is possible too but imo they've done a pretty decent job so far so I would rather believe in 3koto. I have faith in them, maybe that'll bite me in the ass eventually, who knows).

Mikoto's childhood trauma is not very clear, but I think it can be one of two main things, and they are likely connected: Either something to do with his parents' divorce, or the reason he is so against worrying his mom.

Mikoto clearly loves his mother a lot, but it seems like doesn't trust her on some level. He doesn't want her to worry, which is an understandable emotion, especially if she puts a lot of pressure on him to perform well, which I have a feeling is the case. (Full disclosure, I could be projecting my own experiences here, because I have had these same struggles with my own mom pressuring me to do well in school and such. But I think it's worth mentioning)

Mikoto clearly hates his job, but he doesn't get a new one. Referencing the Interrogation again, while he seems to enjoy the career path he's on (ie graphic design), the job he currently has is purely to make money, and not for his enjoyment. He also mentions in the Interrogation that he hopes someday he can start his own indie company. In the real world, it's actually very common for graphic designers to start with jobs in advertising, because it makes a lot of money. Then once they have enough to support themselves, they go on to projects they're more passionate about. So Mikoto's reasons for sticking with his advertising job could be either to make money or to satisfy his mom, or both. Again, I could very much be projecting here.

Now onto his dad and the divorce. I won't lie, I am not at all an expert in Japanese law, but I'm fairly familiar with US law because my mom is a lawyer here. So how it usually how it works in the US is that parents divide custody by either working out a schedule or by simply choosing which kid goes with which parent, unless one parent is abusive, in which case all kids go to the non-abusive parent. In Japan, however, apparently the mom is the default parent that kids go to, regardless of other situations, except in some extreme cases probably. Again, not an expert, but it seems that even if Mikoto's mom was abusive in some way, the court system would still give Mikoto and his sister over to her, especially if her form of abuse is purely psychological with no physical evidence. So this is one possibility, but even if both parents were good people and separated on friendly terms, divorce can be traumatizing for kids. It's unclear at what age Mikoto's parents divorced, but it seems to have been long enough ago that he doesn't even consider his dad part of his family. Meaning it's very possibly the main source of trauma that cause Mikoto's DID.

Neoplasm

Alright, finally it's time for the audio drama! This is a much shorter section, but there's a LOT here and I'm really excited about this one actually, because it seems like a step in the right direction for Mikoto and accepting John. He doesn't know it's DID, nor does Es try to tell him, but he acknowledges it as "sleepwalking", which is still super huge. If Kotoko and Es ever choose to inform him, it seems like they have a much better chance at getting across to him now than when MILGRAM started.

John being much more present and coherent is also big news, as he has a full on conversation with Es, and even receives a name from them. Although he expresses concern about this and "wishes he had stayed a monster", I honestly think this is amazing for both him and Mikoto. Along with the sleepwalking analogy, it's progress on their ability to accept themselves and each other.

John also sheds some light on his and/or Mikoto's murder, claiming that there were several indiscriminate victims, and that his memories are also fuzzy, citing that it's likely because he had only recently been born. To me, the most interesting part of this is the fact that John's memories are not intact. While he seems to think it's just due to not really being used to being alive, I think there's another explanation for it. Fuzzy memories are a very common symptom of DID, and most notably happens when one alter tries to access another alter's memories, often because they're being blocked. Maybe in a similar way to how Mikoto doesn't remember anything? 🤔

Another important thing here is that John claims that he is the one who killed people. But the most pressing question is, is he telling the truth?

We know that Milgram's criteria for what counts as murder and who counts as the perpetrator is very loose; For example, Yuno's abortions are enough to qualify her, and Fuuta doxxing Killcheroy is enough to qualify him. So it's not a stretch to think that maybe John really is the killer, and that Milgram just picked Mikoto as the person to be judged since he's the "main" alter. But this honestly doesn't sit right with me.

If there's one thing we know for certain about John and his dynamic with Mikoto, it's that he would do anything to ensure Mikoto's safety. Notice how he was incredibly nonchalant about the murder until Es pointed out that even with psychological evaluation taken into account, the death penalty is still very likely for Mikoto. As soon as they allude to Mikoto being in danger, John's attitude immediately switches, claiming over and over, very relentlessly, that he was the sole killer, and that Mikoto is innocent. His frantic behaviour is a very clear sign that this is survival mode; why would he tell Es the truth if it could put Mikoto in danger?

All of this really goes back to the major differences between them; Mikoto is honest and uses humor to cope, John avoids being open and lashes out at people. Mikoto straight up blocks all the bad memories, John is aware of them but has a hazy recollection of events.

So while it's a possibility that Mikoto is innocent and that John is the killer, I find it much, much more likely that Mikoto did it and then blocked his own memories, and that John is lying about the situation to protect Mikoto. It's what he's always done, after all.

Final thoughts - Forgiven vs Unforgiven

This may be an unpopular take, but I think as of right now, my first instinct is to vote Mikoto as Unforgiven. I'd like to point out that there's a difference between Innocent vs Guilty, which is how the terms are officially translated, but in Mikoto and John's case I think they are interconnected. There are cases in Milgram where I think they're completely separate ideas and cases where I think the difference is moot, and MikoJohn definitely fall into the latter one.

I also am very conflicted on the concept of Metavoting; for example, Amane being voted Unforgiven was an incredibly stupid decision on the majority's part and I'm not afraid to state that. (Tbf Her mental state is delicate enough that forgiving her would also not end well, but lesser of two evils imo. But all that's for another time.) However, with MikoJohn, again, it actually aligns very well with my actual judgement. John very clearly states that it's his belief that forgiving Mikoto will reduce Mikoto's stress, and allow John to fade away. Whether this is a good or bad thing, or neutral even, is pretty complex honestly, but I think for me personally, I would view it as a bad thing.

Again, I am not very open about my system-isms, but I relate a lot to Mikoto in his current state of being unable to accept John's existence. I was in that exact same position once, and for me, accepting the existence of my alters was very beneficial to all three of us, and we are much closer now and less stressed overall. If John continues to exist, that means Mikoto will have a chance to figure things out and accept John's existence. But if John fades, he may be still caught in that perpetual state of half-existence, with Mikoto being unable to accept him.

So with all these things together; the fact that Mikoto is the one we are judging and I am pretty sure he is the killer, the fact that John may fade if Mikoto is forgiven, and how that isn't a good thing in Mikoto's case, and the fact that - I am pretty damn sure I want to vote Mikoto as Unforgiven. This isn't the be-all, end-all, of course. We don't know if John's prediction is correct about disappearing, we don't know if voting Mikoto Unforgiven will actually have the opposite effect that I hope for and drive him to his breaking point, hell we still don't know who did it. My opinion may change because again, this is just my initial thoughts. I'd love to interact with other systems about this and see their thoughts and opinions. Thank you for reading if you made it this far!!!

Translations, Resources, Etc

Chief's texts, translated by rochisama on wordpress

Interrogation questions, referenced from the MILGRAM Wikia. I'm unsure of the translator, sorry.

A/V of Neoplasm, edited by ac on youtube, featuring translation by onigiriico

kayanomikotoba's Triokoto theory (fun fact, this post is one of the main reasons I got into MILGRAM!)

A quick overview on Japanese divorce law, specifically by the US foreign embassy but it's good enough for my purposes

#milgram #kayano mikoto #this is super long and maybe be disjointed but idk i just had to get it out there #this took almost 4 hours. i havent even had breakfast #roach talk #LMK IF THERES ANY GLARING ERRORS LIKE IF SENETENCE JUST ENDS ABRUPTLY OR SOMETHING ack i did proofread several times but i dont trust mysel #to catch all errors asfdgfhd #3koto #triokoto #how do i tag all that #milgram theory #??

[sirenjose]

Analysis of White Sand Street Asylum - Part 2

Includes Full Character Analyses for: Freddy, Kreacher, Emma, Emily, Leo, Robbie and Dolores, Kurt, Ada and Emil, and Alice.

Previous: Asylum Analysis Part 1

Freddy, in the meantime, has married Martha and only refers to Leo as an “idiot” after learning of the factory fire that likely claimed his life.

However long it’s been, we know Martha is in the “early stages of pregnancy” at the time the fire occurs. She is diagnosed with “mild anxiety” according to Dr. Mesmer (Ada’s father most likely), who recommends “rest supplemented by the prescribed medicine”.

During that same trip, he asks to talk to Freddy later about his “investment in ‘that hospital’ we mentioned previously”. Ada we know worked at White Sand Street Asylum for a time, but we never heard about if her father worked there too. Most we get regarding where he works is Ada says in Emil’s 1st letter that her Charles Mesmer, who is likely her father as well as “Dr. Mesmer” from Freddy’s letter (as well as Keigan’s deductions), has a clinic.

Martha had no need to go to an asylum. It was more of a regular check-up, especially with her being pregnant, so a clinic makes more sense, especially due to the stigma attached to asylums and mental illness back then.

And speaking of asylums, asylums aren’t the same thing as “hospitals”. Yes the church had a clinic, but the orphanage was renovated into an asylum due to the church using the excuse of many of the kids having mental illnesses.

As a result, I think Sacred Heart Hospital is more likely to be the “hospital” Dr. Mesmer aka Charles Mesmer is referring to. But if so, why is it important to note Dr. Mesmer wants investment for it, and in Freddy’s letter of all places? Sacred Heart Hospital isn’t really referenced in many other places besides its backstory (and Hide and Seek due to the dentist, but that’s someone else). But there is 1 time it is mentioned, and to someone connected to Freddy at that: Leo’s 3rd letter.

Yes I want to suggest Charles Mesmer was the one who took Leo to experiment on him.

The author of Leo’s 3rd letter is never specified or really hinted at. We do know that some “mystery man” found out Leo was alive and where, and has been writing to the author of Leo’s 3rd letter “frequently these days”. We know Leo eventually ends up working at the manor for Orpheus as a punisher/hunter. I think it makes more sense that Orpheus aka Baron DeRoss was the one who found out Leo was alive (the same way Orpheus has found out a lot of the sensitive information on other characters). At which point, he potentially asked for Leo or blackmailed the author of Leo’s 3rd letter in order to force the author to hand Leo to him (the same way he blackmails Emily to come to the manor). Considering the person mentions their previous subjects had an “85% chance of dying” during his experiment, that’s likely the sort of thing Orpheus could use to blackmail them over.

Speaking of dying, the only other time “Dr. Mesmer” (likely Charles Mesmer) appears is in Keigan’s deductions. In her deductions, it mentions an “incident” that he was declared “not guilty” for, after which it mentions Keigan getting a “diagnosis” from Dr. Mesmer as well as a prescription.

This medicine is likely what Keigan used to “spike her brother’s meals and control his diet”, which led to “his health slowly begin to deteriorate” so she could take his place. As the “incident” Dr. Mesmer was found “not guilty” for, combined with how in other versions the “incident” is described as “another medical accident”, the “medicine” Dr. Mesmer gave Keigan is potentially the same stuff that caused the “medical accident”.

Based on the 85% chance of death for subjects of the author of Leo’s 3rd letter’s experiments, these deaths could be the “incident” mentioned with Dr. Mesmer, and their chance of death might be caused by the medicine he gives them. Especially since other versions reference that this is “another” medical accident, which implies there’s been more than 1 of these “incidents” with Dr. Mesmer.

We also already know Ada’s father wasn’t exactly a kind man, considering when Ada asked him to help Emil in her 3rd deduction, he refused, and apparently he’s done so more than once. There’s also how Ada wasn’t asked what she wanted to do or given a choice in the matter based on her 1st deduction, and her father was likely part of the reason for this/part of the problem. So it’s not too hard to imagine he could be experimenting on Leo (as well as be the person behind the 85% death rate for experimental subjects).

So if Charles Mesmer was the one experimenting on Leo (and others), this could be why he asked Freddy, a financial advisor, to help with investment for Sacred Heart Hospital, which is where his experiments were carried out.

I wonder then, if this is true, if at least some of the bodies we see all over the hospital, both in the beta and current, could’ve been his previous (failed) experimental subjects? Something unique (static appears on the monitor as well as over the area) does happen when Ada vs any other character is in the hospital, which could hint towards there being some connection.)

Going back to Freddy and Martha following the fire at the Arms Factory, unlike Freddy, when Martha learns what happened, she becomes upset. So much so, she decides to leave him (via a “secret departure” again before he could stop him, just like Martha did with Leo). The reason she gives is because Freddy hadn’t been “completely honest” with her the 1 time she asked him to be honest regarding Leo’s investment into the Arms Factory. Freddy had said it’d be fine “if the investor had sufficient experience and capital”. Martha learned the factory had “an over 4-figure debt. This shows that Freddy had concealed the truth, and while it hadn’t been a complete lie, the fact is he hadn’t been completely honest like she’d asked him to. This reveals to Martha the kind of person Freddy truly was and she decides to leave, and thus why “I wouldn't stay and listen to what you have to say”.

She then explains her intent to take Lisa out of the orphanage, as well as change “Annecy’s” name (Martha and Freddy’s unborn child) and ensure Annecy and Lisa can grow up to “become an honest person”, before warning Freddy that he’ll have to “pay for what we’ve done”.

Last bit regarding Freddy, but his backstory references he is “Trapped by the failed lawsuits of his past”. There is no further info about this, so I’m uncertain if this is before (and why) he became a financial advisor, or if this is after (or as a result of) the Arms Factory fire and Martha leaving him.

Martha seems to show at least some knowledge of financial matters, as she did try to advise Leo against investing in the factory (based on her letter to Leo when she leaves him). With how she was upset enough over this to leave Freddy, make a jab at him by saying she’d raise her daughters to be “honest”, as well as her warning to him that “No one can get away with their responsibilities, Freddy. We all have to pay for what we’ve done”, I wouldn’t be surprised if the lawsuits Freddy faced were because of her and the factory incident, after which he was forced to take a “humble job with a laughable salary” up until he left for the manor.

From here, we don’t get too many more specifics about Martha. What we do know is she eventually goes to the Lydia Jones Clinic.

Lydia Jones was born to a middle-class family, her “ambition and brilliance” allowing her to become a doctor, despite how difficult this was for women to do at this time. As she did this, she always made sure to “practice on herself before using a syringe on a patient”, “prescribed regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability” and promised “never will I harm a patient”.

Upon getting her medical license, she “rented a tiny shop front with the aim of helping as many people as I could”. This “tiny shop” became the “Lydia Jones Clinic”, which is also located on White Sand Street (specifically at 173 White Sand Street).

Along with her desire to help people, Lydia also looked forward to the clinic as a way to “acquire experience that’s impossible to get in medical school”. Unfortunately, the clinic doesn’t do very well: “Records from June to December. Income and expenses are seriously unbalanced. This clinic is losing money”.

Some of the expenses described include: Worm oil and alcohol, Gauze bandages, Chlorodyne, Plantago asiatica and elecampane, and Quinine.

Worm oil was used to expel and kill parasites, alcohol was used as a solvent, antiseptic, and disinfectant in medical preparations, gauze bandages were of course used for wound dressings, chlorodyne was a medicine in the 19th century used to relieve pain, cause sleepiness and euphoria, and improve diarrhea, and plantago asiatica, elecampane, and quinine were plants used for various medicines (plantago asiatica is said to be used to treat things like liver disease, stomach problems, and urinary system inflammation. Elecampane could be used to treat respiratory issues like asthma and bronchitis. Quinine has been used to treat malaria due to its antiparasitic properties).

The ledger shows these expenses were during 1887. Emma was born in 1876 and 22 at the time of her game, which was in July. Emily is 32 at the time of her game with Emma. Therefore, Emily was born in March 1867, and she would’ve been around 20 in 1887 at this time.

In an attempt to increase profits, Lydia advertises her skills as an “obstetrician” to hopefully attract more customers. As an obstetrician, the specialized nature of their work as well as the distinct patient base, this might’ve enabled Lydia to charge higher fees (or open an avenue for profit from services not available for a normal doctor), and thus hopefully help her clinic out of the red.

It’s likely she earned some of the experience and skills she’d need to advertise as an obstetrician during medical school, though I do wonder if she did any additional study at this point to learn what she needed to before selling her services as an obstetrician (as someone who sought experience not found at medical school, and due to her ambition, she sounds like someone interested and willing to learn).

Going back to the original purpose of Lydia’s clinic, which was to “help as many people” as possible, this is likely the same reason why Lydia begins volunteering at “No. 59 White Sand Street”. The deduction does say “Never forget my oath: No matter the time or place, man or woman, the wellbeing of patients is my sole purpose”.

It’s also possible, like with Kreacher, that maybe they promised her some kind of compensation or benefits if she helped them (and considering how her clinic is losing money, this wouldn’t be too unthinkable).

I believe it’s possible that Lydia began volunteering at the church’s clinic before it merged with Kreacher’s orphanage to become the asylum. And while she’s at the asylum, that’s where she’d encounter Lisa.

Going back to Emma after she’s been sent to the orphanage:

According to what Emma says during the Christmas event, she seemed to do similar work outside (gardening) as Robbie. She apparently enjoyed it enough to where she dreams of owning a flower shop when she’s older. Though also similar to Robbie, she describes life back then as not easy.

She says she “watched the plants grow freely outside the fence”, which shows Lisa’s desire to leave the orphanage. And eventually, Lisa does attempt to escape the church’s mental institution (that she’d been sent to from Kreacher’s orphanage). Kreacher said it happened “10 years or so ago”, meaning Lisa would’ve maybe been 12 at the time, and had been at the orphanage for 3-4 years by that point.

It’s possible the reason Lisa was sent to the Church’s clinic or diagnosed with mental illness could relate to the issues we know she has during her game (not to mention, Lisa’s mother did abandon her, her father wasn’t the same after he came to own the arms factory, she was left at an orphanage, and then she had to deal with her father’s seeming death, so she has been through a lot).

Kreacher discovered Lisa’s escape and “notified the nurse at the asylum to bring her back”. He did this because he was concerned for her safety if she wandered the streets on her own and met any of the real undesirables out there (he knew from his own experience how tough it was out there). Despite his actions, Mr. Macallan, Father Duke’s representative, “took credit and ‘generously’ offered me 13 shillings as a reward”. Macallan obviously wasn’t a great person either, considering his actions as well as the fact 13 shillings is apparently equivalent to “two patients’ portions of bread” (which yea he was probably being cheap, but in a way he was also implying Emma is worth 2 portions of bread if that’s all he was giving for her, which could also be a statement regarding how the church saw all the kids in general), which is why Kreacher calls him “stingy”.

Kreacher we know is 30 at the time of Emma’s game, while Emma is 22. This means that Kreacher was around 16 or 17 when Emma joined his orphanage (based on the fact she was 8 or 9 when she was sent there) and would’ve been around 20 or 21 at the time of her attempt to escape the church.

I’m not quite sure where to put this next bit (due to lack of info), but for now I’m putting it here.

Eventually, the church decides they want to take over Kreacher’s orphanage. We don’t know when exactly this happens in relation to everything else, but I’m assuming it was some time after Kreacher ensured Lisa was returned to the church’s facilities (as I assume once they remove him, he’d be out of the picture, and if he’d been removed, I’m not sure he would’ve been there to stop Lisa’s escape).

Either way, it likely happens after they apply some pressure to Kreacher to do so, who agrees, “generously handing over his business and land to the church”. The church thanks him for his “generosity” and informs him “the government will compensate you for all of your financial losses”. Kreacher’s backstory states this compensation was “significant” but “not enough to build a new orphanage”, despite the fact they told him “White Sand Street needs a new orphanage, and I think that you are the most suitable person to handle it”.

The church, publicly, uses the excuse of many of the orphans having “varying degrees of mental illness” to take over the orphanage and transform it into White Sand Street Asylum.

Considering we know the church previously used a “clinic” at an “abandoned church” and then took over Kreacher’s orphanage before renovating it into the asylum, this would explain why the asylum in game has elements of a church, hospital/clinic, and Kreacher’s original orphanage. They seemed to have literally combined all the existing structures and then just added the mental hospital parts to it.

In any case, once the church takes over and starts renovations, they place Mr. Macallan in charge of the orphanage in Kreacher’s place. Things at first seemed to be better without Kreacher, but unfortunately, now that the church has full control over them, they are now able to do with them as they please.

We know the church continues to “treat” Lisa (whether this was before the church completely took over or not, I’m not quite sure). We don’t know how long it was going on for, but we do know she was receiving “electroshock therapy” at least when she was 14, which was 2 years after her 1st escape attempt.

The one to give Lisa this electroshock therapy was Lydia Jones.

Lisa is said to be 14 at this time, meaning Lydia was around 24, which would’ve been maybe 4 years after that accounting ledger showing Lydia’s expenses (and the fact her clinic was losing money).

Unfortunately for Lydia, by giving Lisa this treatment, it breaks Lydia’s oath to “prescribe regiments for the good of my patients” and never “harm a patient”.

This also isn’t the only bad thing happening to the patients at the asylum. Another example is described in Robbie’s deduction 4, which says the “medical personnel” are to “Rinse a patient's head continuously with cold water” to “calm their crazed mind”. This treatment seems to be given for any unruly or “violent” patients (likely those that attempt to resist), especially as the deduction includes “Shock and fear are part of the treatment”.

White Sand Street Asylum is likely based on London's Bethlem Hospital, an insane asylum that grew in infamy due so much, this hospital is the origin of the word “bedlam”, which essentially refers to a scene of chaos, mayhem, and confusion. It was originally founded (on top of a sewer that frequently overflowed) in 1247 by the Italian bishop Goffredo de Prefetti to raise money for the Crusades. Eventually it became an institution for the insane, and later was moved in 1675 to London. At the front gate were 2 statues: one named "Melancholy" who appeared calm and the other named "Raving Madness" who was chained and angry. The facility gradually became overcrowded, causing a deterioration in living conditions as well as malnourishment. At the same time, it slowly became a more and more inhumane place. The death rate became so bad, the hospital had its own graveyard.

Patients here were little more than prisoners. They could even chain patients (iron bands fastened around the neck, abdomen, and arms) to a wall and be left there for years. Even worse was how the asylum allowed visitors, for a fee, to view the “lunatics” to increase bedlam’s profits. The lucky ones were confined, while the unfortunate were subjected to things like leeches, bloodletting, induced blisters, starvation, beatings, submersion in cold water for long periods, or subjected to “rotational therapy”. This involved a patient sitting on a chair suspended from the ceiling and spun, sometimes more than 100 rotations a minute, to induce vomiting and vertigo (as back then, they believed this would expel their illnesses or whatever was wrong with the patient).

Also symbolic was how the building itself, despite the exterior of the building designed to resemble the Royal Tuileries Palace in Paris, was so heavy and the foundation so weak that the load bearing walls in the front cracked almost immediately. These cracks (which grew worse over time) filled with water as soon as it started raining, leading to dampness and unhealthy conditions.

(The gate for the real building, at least to me, feels at least slightly reminiscent to the orphanage gate we see Lisa standing in front of before it became the asylum.)

White Sand Street Asylum wasn’t any better than Bedlam. Especially as they performed experiments on their patients. As part of these experiments, they gave their patients a type of “medicine” using the excuse that they were “sick” (even though they weren’t). In Robbie’s 2nd letter, it is described as “bitter”, and it seems it causes the kids to feel “dizzy and tired”, so much so that it’s a bit challenging to “hold this piece of charcoal to write”. It also seems to affect their memories, as one of the other kids says “Oh, no, Dolores has started shrieking, too. Can it be that... she doesn't recognize her little crybaby anymore? Hasn't she been throwing out the medicine?”

Speaking of Dolores, it seems she knew the medicine wasn’t actually a good thing, and would pour Robbie’s medicine out the window, then she’d drink hers while Robbie was asleep. Robbie found out and tried Dolores’ “soup” once, but “it wasn’t very good”.

Earlier in the letter, the author of Robbie’s 2nd letter mentions a “viscous metallic liquid”. It’s possible this could be referring to mercury, a metallic element that is liquid at room temperature. Some doctors even had mercury pills. In the past, mercury was believed to have therapeutic properties and thus used in various medical treatments. It could be used to induce sweating or purging, and was a method back then they used to remove toxins from the body or to stimulate the digestive system, and doctors also used it to treat mania. Unfortunately, mercury is highly toxic and can cause severe damage to the nervous system and other organs. Prolonged exposure to mercury can lead to neurological disorders, including tremors, memory loss, and behavioral changes.

Some other effects of mercury poisoning (or mad hatter’s disease) I found included: delirium, hallucinations, loss of memory, loss of consciousness, vivid dreams, depression, suicidal tendency, insomnia, a severe and constant burning sensation and pain in various areas, tremors, dizziness, fever, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea, hypovolemic shock, headaches, paresthesia, ataxia, dysarthria (motor speech disorder), visual field constriction, blindness, and hearing impairment, and emotional disturbances, mental confusion, and behavioral changes (like excessive shyness, marked irritability, excitability), and death.

In fact, calomel, which was seen as a “wonder drug” or “panacea” was commonly used during the 19th century to treat a variety of issues, actually had mercury in it, and could cause mercury poisoning.

In Ada and Emil’s 10 Day Memories event, it includes medicine instructions, which mentions effects of “prolonged and excessive dosages can result in dizziness, hallucinations, loss of consciousness, and other side effects”. Mercury also causes more/worse side effects when a person is dealing with “prolonged” exposure or due to “excessive dosages”, like the Calomel.

Considering how the medicine is described to affect the asylum patients, especially Dolores, this seems to fit.

This also fits with Lydia’s deduction 6, which implies she may have been giving “poisonous drugs” to others while she volunteered at White Sand Street, despite her oath.

Unfortunately, besides this and the electroshock therapy to Lisa, these aren’t the only instances of her breaking her oath. In her desperation to ensure her clinic (the Lydia Jones Clinic) was earning enough money to stay out of the red, she decides to provide “private medical services for female patients”.

Since she was earlier listed as an obstetrician, these “private” only for “females” services that are hinted to be not good based on her deduction saying “Sounds like something strange is going on”, Lydia was likely offering/performing abortions, which were illegal back in the day. Lydia’s reasoning for doing this being “Sometimes, when confronted with life's struggles, you have to compromise” and “Sometimes, you have to break the rules to get what you want”. As we see in Lydia’s 4th letter, she knows she was breaking her oath, but used the excuse of “I had no other choice” to say she wasn’t at fault. It’s not until later that she realizes the truth.

To ensure she wasn’t caught, she threw out anything she acquired after performing an abortion into a bag and let “hungry dogs” rip the bag apart.

Fortunately for Lydia, after beginning to offer these services, she sees “Income has dramatically increased” in just 3 months, and her clinic is finally “turning a profit”.

Unfortunately, these good times don’t last forever for Lydia. It all changes the day Martha Remington comes to Lydia’s clinic.

Despite how we know Martha told Freddy that she’d keep Annecy, their unborn child, it seems she went to Lydia to have an abortion done considering Lyda’s deduction 10 says she (likely the “woman” described here) “underwent an illegal surgery”.

One thought as to why she changed her mind could be because, when she went to pick up Lisa from the orphanage, she saw the horrible conditions there. After which, maybe she felt unfit or unworthy to be a mother and decided to abort Annecy (as well as unable to remove Lisa from the asylum). Another thought is it might have to do with the “mild anxiety” Martha was said to have in Freddy’s 2nd letter. Maybe she didn’t take the “prescribed medicine” when she left, and thus her anxiety might’ve gotten worse.

One last crack theory I had about why the change of heart involves my questions regarding what “medicine” she was given. Considering my earlier theory that Dr. Mesmer aka Charles Mesmer was the person experimenting on Leo as well as how Keigan’s deductions imply Dr. Mesmer was the one who gave Keigan a type of medicine she could use to cause her brother’s health to deteriorate, with this medicine likely being the one from the deduction before that one that caused him to be involved in multiple medical accidents (yet declared not guilty in each). If this is the same medicine being used to weaken/poison her brother, I wonder if this was the same stuff Charles Mesmer could’ve given Martha Remington and potentially maybe why she changed her mind in the end about Annecy and maybe Lisa too.

In any case, she goes to Lydia’s, but the operation/surgery doesn’t go well. According to Lydia’s beta deduction 10, it says the female that is presumably Martha suffered “excessive bleeding” aka hemorrhaging. Hemorrhaging (as well as serious infection) is rare following an abortion but can indicate an incomplete abortion or other complications. In a study of 11,319 medication abortions in 2009 and 2010, hemorrhage occurred in 16 cases (0.14 percent). The need for a blood transfusion – an uncommon occurrence – is an indication of clinically significant hemorrhage.

Most doctors who performed illegal abortions cared only for being well rewarded for their trouble. In the 1960s, these doctors often turned women away if they couldn’t pay $1000 or more in cash. These same doctors also emphasized speed and their own protection. They often didn't use anesthesia because it took too long for women to recover, and they wanted women out of the office as quickly as possible. Almost no one took adequate precautions against hemorrhage or infection.

Typically, the abortionist would forbid the woman to contact him or her again. Often she wouldn't know his or her real name. If a complication occurred, harassment by the law was a frightening possibility. The need for secrecy isolated women having abortions and those providing them.

Given this context, this would explain why, upon Lydia noticing Martha’s excessive bleeding, would’ve fled from the clinic while Martha was still on the operating table.

This is when Lydia writes to Lorraine, stating her inability to continue volunteering at the asylum, and then discussing the “mistakes” being performed at the asylum. This being the fact the children aren’t insane or suffering from mental illness as the church said they were for so long. Lydia states she found this out during her “treatment and evaluation” of Lisa, referring to her electroshock therapy, which Lisa didn’t actually need and likely only did her harm.

After this, Lydia is forced to go on the run, as the punishment for abortions, which were illegal back then, could mean life imprisonment. This is why Lydia changes her name to Emily Dyer. This is also likely why Emily in her backstory is said to eventually/later on be “tired of constantly moving around” and wants to “find a place she can call ‘home’ and ultimately enjoy a life of security and stability”.

One issue I want to call out involves when this (Martha’s operation and death) happens. Based on my attempts, I just can’t get it to make perfect sense.

The factory fire happened when Lisa was 11. Martha leaves Freddy as soon as she hears about the factory’s “4-figure debt” (which is all that is referenced in Freddy’s 1st letter, but it’s likely referring to right after the news of the fire spreads). Martha is already pregnant, meaning if she went to Lydia’s for an abortion, she has less than a year to do so (how long it takes to give birth).

The problem? If the fire was when Lisa was 11, and Martha left Freddy right after she learned of it, meaning she had to have gone to Lydia while Lisa was 11-12, that’s impossible as we know Lydia was still at the asylum performing electroshock therapy on Lisa when Lisa was 14.

It’s possible the public (and Martha) didn’t know about the debt until years after the fire. I’m a bit doubtful of this idea but that doesn’t mean it’s not impossible. Though if this isn’t the answer, I wonder if Netease just made a mistake with the timing here?

Before Martha’s death that forces Lydia to leave the asylum, Lydia seems to have been there the day Robbie died. I believe this is based on Emily’s 4th letter, which includes a mention of “that wailing night in the orphanage”.

Going back to Robbie and Dolores, we know Dolores was tossing Robbie’s medicine so he wouldn’t be affected by it, though Dolores herself kept taking her medicine. This leads to her starting to “shriek”. She isn’t the only one as Robbie’s 2nd letter, when it says she’s “started shrieking, too” implies other children have started doing that, likely because of the “medicine”. As we described earlier, the medicine did include “hallucinations” as an effect, and if the stuff does include mercury, we already described all the possible effects caused by that, and altogether, these things would explain the “shrieking” and why the kid in Robbie’s 2nd letter wonders if Dolores doesn’t recognize Robbie.

Due to Dolores’ mental state continuing to deteriorate as a result of the medicine, she is taken away somewhere else, likely by the asylum doctors. The kid mentions she’s located in an area/room with a “heavy pull-out window there, although it’s always locked” and uses a knife to “pry it open” so he can peek at what’s happening to Dolores.

Robbie’s deduction 7 is a bit different from his letter, though the end result is essentially the same.

His letter implies Dolores got moved to her room the day before due to her deteriorating mental state. Deduction 7 implies she’s been in whatever room she’s in for some time, as Robbie has visited her “after curfew” more than once.

The letter seems to imply he attempted to visit her once (due to this happening between the 24th and 25th) after the move, likely because he could hear her screaming and he wanted to either check on her or make her feel better and died due to the kid from the letter leaving the “heavy pull-out window” open (with the kid blaming himself). Deduction 7 implies the window has been broken for awhile, specifically that the “screws of the window were loose”, as it has already almost chopped off Robbie’s fingers once, and he just got unlucky the day it finally took his head, with Dolores blaming herself for not fixing the window she knew was broken.

For now, I’m assuming the letter is the best version of events to use (mostly just because the 2nd letter is newer than the deductions, and Netease may have tweaked events/story later on for a reason). So maybe Dolores and Robbie were still separated into different rooms even before Dolores was dragged away to the room she was put in on the 24th. Robbie would sneak in “after curfew” and have Dolores tell him the story of the juniper tree because he wants her company. Dolores, who wants to be with her brother, asks why they have to be separated, but Lorraine won’t respond, likely unable to tell her the real reason (because Dolores is particularly unwell, likely because of the medicine). Dolores is later moved when her mental state worsens due to the medicine. The kid unlocks the window with a knife so he can peek at Dolores and what they’re doing to her, but leaves it open when he leaves. That way, on the 25th, Robbie, seeing the open window, attempts to climb in, but is decapitated in the attempt, potentially also because the window frame has a few loose screws.

That same day, volunteers are made to clean up the mess by the window. During this, the volunteer mentions hearing about “a deranged patient attempted to hit the doctors on duty with an axe”. This was likely Dolores upon finding Robbie’s decapitated body, causing her to go out of control, and use his axe to attack the doctors in her room.

Later on, they seem to allow Dolores out, who spends her time “pacing beneath the juniper tree”.

This could be around when Robbie’s 3rd letter happens. In this letter, Dolores is talking to Robbie. She says she finally found a quiet day to visit him. She is likely visiting his grave, considering Robbie’s 4th letter mentions a “mound of soil” under the juniper tree. She warmly remembers the days when “the four of us were together as a family”, even now “when my senses are fading” (due to the “medicine”). She refers to her life as “insignificant” but talks well about her parents and Robbie.

This really shows that, to Dolores, her family was her entire life. She did everything for them, and likely thought of it as her responsibility to take care of everyone, especially Robbie. Unfortunately, when their parents die, her opinion of herself decreases. She might believe she somehow failed, but especially punishes herself for being unable to explain to Robbie what happened. Now Robbie becomes her entire life, almost like a lifeline. She wants to care for him. She does her best. Unfortunately, just like with her parents, events outside of her control lead to his death. And just like with her parents’ deaths, she faults herself. It was her responsibility to keep him safe, and she failed. Without her family, who was her entire life, she feels empty, like nothing matters. All she can do is continue to tear herself apart with thoughts about Robbie’s death.

Dolores feels “desperate” like “my world is being buried”. She’s further upset with how despite what has happened, no one else seems to care, just “business as usual”. She describes everything as “suffocatingly cold. There are no feelings, no thoughts in there. Everything repeats mechanically and lifelessly”.

She also mentions the asylum staff were “wary” of her initially but she acted like a “cheerful and obedient fool” to ensure she wouldn’t be “turned down”.

We also see here hints as to Dolores’ future plans when she says “Since they've long lost their humanity and the asylum is basically hell, I may as well bury everything here!” Though, I do wonder if by the way Dolores says “Don't worry, I'll come and see you. If that makes you less lonely, I'll be happy to do so”, if she means more than to just visit his grave again. As in she plans to die to be with him.

Actually, even an earlier line implies she may plan to die, as she talks about worrying she’ll do enough for him “before I see you”. This combined with how she says “Yet now that the chance is here, whatever humiliation in the past was worth it” backs up the idea she’s been planning this for some time.

This feels similar to how Freddy’s final line in his diary for Martha implies what he’s planning to do now that he’s figured out who Emily is: “It’s almost over, this long, gloomy journey. Martha, see you in hell.”

(Actually, both Dolores and Freddy lose a loved one they can’t live without, sort of lose control over them, formulate plans that involve at least attempting to kill other people in revenge, and include a line that could imply they may be willing to die to be with the person they love again. In that case, it feels like a pretty good parallel and thus could further imply that is what Dolores means.)

Back to Robbie’s 4th letter, we see Dolores had attempted to dig up Robbie’s body apparently before a nurse pulled her away, causing Dolores to “scratch and bite the nuns and even let out chilling laughter”. Lorraine says that Dolores’ “insanity has worsened”, but the volunteer who saw Dolores taken away doesn’t quite believe this and asks where her brother is. This is to show Dolores’ actions aren’t because of Dolores having “mental illness” but just because of Robbie’s death, which the asylum seems to be trying to avoid acknowledging.

It seems Dolores is targeting asylum doctors and staff. She eventually goes after the volunteer writing Robbie’s 4th letter, but other people (based on other versions of the letter) rescue the volunteer from being killed by Dolores, who is likely killed in return (“Dolores’ face that was warped by pain” and “Dolores wasn’t coming back”).

I do want to mention 1 crack theory.

I wasn’t able to be confident enough to suggest it is what actually happened, but there was enough to it that I still wanted to summarize it.

Ok so, Dolores said she essentially pretended to be obedient (likely to drop the guard of the asylum staff and give her an opportunity to do what she needed to). I wondered if this could’ve been why she kept taking the medicine even though she tossed out Robbie’s medicine. She may have even pretended to be more insane or unwell than she actually was (meaning she may have only been “shrieking” as part of her act). But more importantly, while she was still acting “obedient”, she found out a “secret”, something about the asylum or those running it that the doctors and staff didn’t want her to know.

Before this, Robbie’s deductions 3 and 5 make it sound like Robbie and Dolores’ lives improved once Macallan and the church took over ownership of the orphanage. Everyone “looked kind”, they had “plenty of bread and milk, brand new books and clean clothes”, and they no longer had to beg. Dolores even said “things have been so good that I’m anxious”.

The reason I bring this up is because I think it’s possible the secret Dolores learned was involving the truth of the asylum and all the terrible things (and experiments) they were doing in its walls to its patients. Things weren’t as good as they seemed. It’s possible she learned something else, like if the asylum wasn’t actually concerned with the well being of its patients, and instead was primarily interested in profit (similar to Bethlem aka Bedlam asylum, the place White Sand Street is based on).

In any case, this could’ve been why she was separated from Robbie in deduction 7. It could also be why she was dragged away in Robbie’s 2nd letter. Considering the mention of the “water healing” in Robbie’s deduction 4, I wonder if this was what she was being subjected to on the 24th and 25th (maybe they also were trying to stop her from telling anyone else what she learned), though there are plenty of other methods of torture they could’ve used on Dolores.

Robbie, hearing her screaming, enters the window left open by another kid to the room Dolores is in with his axe and might’ve ended up being the “deranged patient” that “attempted to hit the doctors on duty” with his axe (like he does to survivors in game).

Anyways, the axe is his before it becomes Dolores’ and he is a kid so, similar to his inability to understand what happened to his parents, he might not understand the full reality of his actions when he attacks the doctors and thus not think much of it or have a problem doing it.

The doctors stop him (the same way they later stop Dolores during her killing spree) and end up killing him (like they do her later).

After this, I think they fake his cause of death to make it look like he died because of the broken window to hide what they did (similar to how Scrooge attempts to fake Bella’s cause of death during Atropos’ Ropes aka Golden Rose Theater).

The volunteer in Robbie’s 4th letter, after being told to clean up the mess around the window, is only given the explanation “a deranged patient attempted to hit the doctors on duty with an axe”, which sounds more like an excuse for self-defense (and why they’d attack the patient), instead of just saying the patient died in an accident involving a broken window (which sounds a lot simpler and less suspicious. The explanation they gave sounds like they’re hiding something, especially with how the volunteer says “that’s all I need to know” as if she was threatened by superiors not to ask too many questions).

(Maybe this could’ve been the “secret” Dolores discovered. Maybe she initially blamed herself for not fixing the window, but then found out how he actually died.)

Later, after Dolores is dragged from Robbie’s grave, the volunteer mentions Lorraine said Dolores’ insanity is worsening as the excuse for her actions, though the volunteer brings up Dolores’ brother being gone.

It’s possible this could be the volunteer Lorraine references in Robbie’s 1st letter, and the incident Lorraine mentions is actually Robbie’s death, just like the volunteer was asking about. Lorraine in Robbie’s 1st letter mentions “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” aka don’t lie. This may imply Lorraine has been lying, and it’s possible this could also include the lie regarding how Robbie died, as well as the lie that Dolores is insane (when she and the other children never actually were).

Then, when Dolores starts her killing spree, rather than attacking and killing indiscriminately, if Robbie had been killed by the asylum doctors/staff, that would give Dolores motivation for starting her attack in the first place and why she’d be particularly interested in killing and targeting the asylum staff.

Ok, crack theory over.

Anyways, after this incident is likely when Kreacher’s 1st letter happens, when he writes to Father Duke offering “condolences” and asking for him to transfer the kids to his “new asylum”. He uses money to attempt to reason with Duke to give him the kids, as the “chemicals” the asylum is always “brewing” is resulting in the kids being “driven to insanity or reduced to dullards”, meaning they can’t make money.

Speaking of Kreacher, based on how he says in a later letter that Macallan “didn’t last long”, I wonder if this could mean he was 1 of those killed by Dolores (which is possible if she really was targeting asylum staff in revenge).

Kreacher never does get the kids back, nor does the compensation he receives from Duke/the government amount to enough for a new orphanage, which is why he goes to the manor.

What does happen to the kids is, based on the letter Emily asking Lorraine to “evaluate the patients in the asylum once more” and “seek help from a third party professional” for “your own safety”, Lorraine requests for Baron DeRoss’ “medical advice” in Robbie’s 1st letter to help with a “diagnosis”.

This is essentially to undo the church’s initial claim that many of the kids had mental illnesses, a claim they used to create White Sand Street Asylum, this is likely why Emily emphasizes Lorraine use a 3rd party, and why she emphasizes Lorraine’s safety as the rest of the church (like Duke) likely wouldn’t be happy over this.

As part of the “upcoming consultations” and to ensure “smooth operation”, she introduces Baron DeRoss to “Father Duke as a donor”.

Soon after, the evaluations begin.

Next: Asylum Analysis Part 3

#idv #identity v #freddy riley #kreacher pierson #emma woods #emily dyer #leo beck #robbie white #ada mesmer #emil #kurt frank #alice deross #idv freddy #idv kreacher #idv emma #idv emily #idv robbie #idv leo #idv ada #idv emil #idv kurt #idv alice #idv lawyer #idv thief #idv gardener #idv doctor #idv hell ember #idv axe boy #idv psychologist #idv patient

[out-of-context-aro-ace]

How would you describe platonic attraction? For reference I am aplatonic.

Thank you for the ask! Had to think a bit about this hehe

Till I did a bit of research about platonic attraction and the aplatonic identity, and thought about it, I wasn't sure if I was aplatonic too or not

For most of my life, I didn't have friends, didn't know how important friends were, and didn't know how to make friends

And of the people around me (read: classmates) they weren't my "type", so I didn't even imagine them as potential best friends

So I didn't really want to be friends with anyone irl in particular (except for 3 people ig but I didn't know how to go about that so we never became friends)

It was only when someone showed some kindness to me or someone else, or showed some interest in my interests, or I just thought they were cool, did I want to be friends with them, but didn't know how. I assumed the opposite gender one was a crush but thinking about romance icked me out so that was confusing

But even that isn't tried and true. Some people are kind but too loud and energetic for me so they don't unlock my platonic attraction. I can call them my friend to get my parents off my back and not make the "friend" feel bad. But I would rather be alone and we'll definitely never get to best friend level

I'd say platonic attraction is when you want to be friends with this one person and "get butterflies in your stomach" thinking about being friends some day

Maybe you like their energy or confidence. Maybe you like reading their fandom analyses. Maybe you love discussing a show with them even though you both have differing opinions, and your discussions are just playful banter of why X is better. Maybe you both joke around like you're fighting but it's over a very ridiculous or fictional thing.

And, because of that,

You want to give them book and show recommendations. You want to share a post or series you think they'd like. You found this perfect post of their fandom and you want to share it with them.

You're planning on what to get them as a birthday gift even though you don't know their birthday yet. You think you find the perfect gift or have the idea for one, but you don't wanna weird them out because you're not at that stage yet.

You can imagine the two of you being best friends, or best friends in that niche (i.e. Diff types of friends: an irl friend, a writeblr friend, an artblr friend, a fandom friend, etc)

I don't think I'm aplatonic anymore.

These are the feelings I have when I find someone I want to be friends with (not always all of them).

Sometimes, I want to be friends but they don't keep the convo going right so it stops right there. The platonic attraction dies out and then I don't mind if I become friends with them or not but I defo won't be able to give them the same amount of energy and effort.

Sometimes, I'll want to be friends with someone, or I'll already be friends with them, and I'll just be really excited to hang out with them. Each message of theirs puts a smile on my face and I can't wait to read it. I think that's platonic attraction.

You don't need to feel this way for everyone or all your friends, you can still be friends without experiencing platonic attraction, and, theoretically, you can not be aplatonic and still go life without finding anyone who you feel platonic attraction towards.

I know my irl platonic attraction is 0, except for those 3 people I mentioned above, but I haven't felt platonic attraction with irl people in years because no one's my type.

I'm using "type" because it's easier. What I mean is most people irl are too social/loud/overstimulating for me, don't share an interest with me, or don't match my energy or lack of it.

You could have your own standards. Or irl might not be the medium for you. Like, messages from my online friends can get overwhelming sometimes, but I can just go offline and/or reply later. I can find someone who shares an interest with me relatively easily, and sometimes they'll share my excitement in their replies and the friendship blossoms. Sometimes they don't and so I just stick to the questions I had for them and only message them when needed.

Theoretically, you could go your whole life without feeling platonic attraction because you just naturally make friends and/or don't have a reason to not be friends with everyone

I assume that if I was aplatonic, I wouldn't feel such strong feelings about being friends with people

TL;DR ig: imo platonic attraction is when just thinking about hanging out and being friends with the other person gets you excited and you actively want to try to be friends with them. But maybe you don't because you're shy or don't know how

#platonic attraction #aplatonic #friendship #my asks #my thoughts

[lesboygamzee]

ACT ONE - PART ONE

in reading homestuck again im going to try my best to analyse it to my fullest potential ; while i definitely like to enjoy homestuck Casually i think that doesnt necessarily mean i need to abandon fullblown analysis . i can acknowledge Hard Canon and The Implications in the same way i can acknowledge silly stuff + how im usually going to write characters . something something you have to know the rules to break them . thisll be half rambling half ( poor ) attempts at analysis and a bit of me going Hehe joke funny also i will use the characterses canon names and pronouns for simplicity + i feel its most suited . the exception is tavros because i have tried to not she/her tavros before and it was difficult and Painful i would never do that to her ... anyway .

[…] My intent was always to make the start date a very significant number in the story, recurring frequently. Consequently, I decided to make him thirteen years old, thus making the story about four thirteen-year-old kids. There are more references to this number than can be mentioned casually, some of which are serendipitous. Playing cards, which have a good deal of relevance later, are comprised of four suits of thirteen cards each, for instance.

(page 1 author commentary)

i wont point out every case of 413 occurring but i will point out cases i find particularly interesting or fun :o) the suit of cards thing isnt something i picked up on at first but thats interesting to know ! on page two john is incorrectly named ' zoosmell pooplord ' . zoosmell being a reference to an older comic ( series of comics ? ) of hussies . i read it to see if theres anything of value i can find in there ; even in the silliest and least plot driven media you can find some sort of significance to an authors later work . maybe an idea , a character archetype , or just the plot structure . zoosmells holds no value at all and is stupid though so

im not sure if i talk about it much but i do really like how each main characterses room is in homestuck . not only are they typically really good at getting across a characters basic interests but early on with the beta kids they really sold the whole ' webcomic pretending to be a game ( that is actually a game pretending to be a webcomic ) ' thing . the simplicity of it all , the items of interest scattered around in sometimes nonsensical places , even shit like how the walls are drawn just gives the impression of a guy who you can walk around and play as . and you can ! eventually .

Your name is JOHN. As was previously mentioned it is your BIRTHDAY. A number of CAKES are scattered about your room. You have a variety of INTERESTS. You have a passion for REALLY TERRIBLE MOVIES. You like to program computers but you are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT. You have a fondness for PARANORMAL LORE, and are an aspiring AMATEUR MAGICIAN. You also like to play GAMES sometimes. What will you do?

(page 4) time for analysing interests . while characterses interests definitely dont mean NOTHING in the greater scheme of things theyre probably not as important as most other shit . i find them fun to look into , though :o3

really terrible movies - i need to actually watch these , and i plan to ! im not much of a movie guy unfortunately . i dont think theyll be the end all be all of john analysis but i doubt theyll hold NO value . apparently theyre quite shit but i willing watch the big bang theory so i think ill be fine programming computers - john is the ' player character ' in a story that is currently quite programming-joke-heavy . the fact that hes kind of dogshit at it adds to this . guy doesnt know what hes doing yet and neither do you ! simple enough . paranormal lore - johns interest in ghosts is relatively significant but id consider it more ' iconic ' . the guy likes ghostbusters , his tshirt is a knockoff slimer , etc. i think all of the kids have one of these . it doesnt matter much in the greater scheme of things but i think its cool to see what interest a character is sort of built off of even if it gets overshadowed by other shit quickly ameteur magician - im a little lost on this one honestly . it can kind of go hand in hand with pranks i guess ? maybe theres something worth looking into with regards to characters and their relationship with magic . john seems to specifically focus on magic tricks which is opposed to roses interest in Real Fucking Magic . probably not though thats stupid

on page six is a rare appearence of the cursor . its a remnant from the homestuck beta where every panel was going to be a flash panel . it was ditched for good reason

its also one of the most blatant parts of the video game feel of early homestuck . thats a reader input interacting with a fictional world ! thats all there really is to say on it though i just thought it was neat

biggest plot twist in fucking history

You stow the SMOKE PELLETS on one of your CAPTCHALOGUE CARDS in your SYLLADEX.

(page 9)

i love sylladexes . johns is obviously based off a stack data structure . john rose and dave all have data structure inspsired moduses which i appreciate but i kind of like the silly ones that come into play later on too !!! like all of jades . unfortunate that they get dropped almost entirely eventually :o(

i should give characters that dont get one them . theyre pretty awesome i think

John: Examine Problem Sleuth Poster.

PROBLEM SLEUTH MENTION !!!!!!!!!!!

John: Read note on drawer. This note is rich with the aromas of FATHERLY AFTERSHAVES AND COLOGNES.

(page 12)

i made a seperate post awhile back on how dadbert is a sort of symbol of masculinity of fatherhood of manhood etc etc and more specifically how this interacts with reading jeggbert as transfem or otherwise Not A Dude . i still think that holds some decent value

In any case, you now feel like you have gathered enough things to get down to business and do some really important stuff. The next thing you do will probably be exceptionally meaningful. John: Squawk like an imbecile and shit on your desk.

(page 15)

snrk . anyway , since it reminded me : regarding analysis that strongly take timelines into consideration when i look at a lot of homestuck character analysis i see a lot of people try and make a point of ' oh the homestuck characters dont actually HAVE these specific character traits because in ANOTHER TIMELINE they did so and so ' and while i get that , timelines are interesting as a concept and its fun to think about , it doesnt exactly have a place in character analysis . homestuck is ultimately a story and the characters are less like people and moreso tools to tell that story . this is simple shit i am well aware i am not acting like what i am saying is revolutionary but it does lead to people losing the plot a little ( literally lol ) but like .. character a doing something instead of character b or character c sparing character d or whatever blah blah blah . did these all happen ? yeah sure probably . hell you can explore that in an au and ill probably go ' woah , cool ! ' because again its fun to think about . but it doesnt matter .. homestuck tells a story and while it focuses on multiple timelines . just because john took a shit on his desk in one timeline doesnt mean i need to be factoring in ' probably took a shit on his desk at least once ' to how i write him as a character . he would not fucking do that because he does not do that in homestuck . go and write your shit-on-desk-taker!john au but it has no place in canon analysis and you dont really need to think about it all that much

typheus is a wind god etc etc basic observation . i would really like to read more on the denizens and what gods theyre inspired by but the sources i find are really long and hard to parse .. ill have to look at other peopleses analysis if i want to understand anything i will be honest

on page 25 is the first pesterlog to appear in homestuck , between john and some loser nobody cares about . in a post i unfortunately dont have the link to , said loser is compared to a sort of tutorial character for early homestuck , similarly to johns status as the player character . obviously as homestuck goes on more characters become ' playable ' , as in you see the story through their perspective . but its a pretty neat observation for the early comic !

TG: but who cares about this lets stop talking about it TG: did you get the beta yet EB: no. EB: did you? TG: man i got two copies already [...] TG: why dont you go check your mail maybe its there now EB: alright.

(page 26)

^ classic tutorial conversation . go do your objective !!! your first quest !!!!

[...] The red flippy-lever thing means you have new mail. And that means the beta might be here!

(page 28)

FACT CHECK : this is false === SHITTY ASCII 'BANNER' THAT OF WE ARE DONE HERE ===

anyway it is day two of me working on twenty eight fucking pages and it just hit midnight which means i am going to play miitopia . this is likely going to be one of the shorter posts but i hope i get less rambly as i go on so i can read more than an average of fourteen pages a day jesus fucking christ . Anyway

#homestuck #gamzreread

[i-stand-with-survivors]

I know you mean well, and Johnny is NO saint, but Amber is not innocent either. I really did want to believe her, but there are so many inconsistencies in her story. Many of her ex partners have restraining orders against her and she even had a DV charge before Johnny. She was abusive to her personal assistant and even stole her rape story. You can also clearly see her posing for the camera in the court footage. Please pay attention to objective facts, not Vox articles.

I've watched dozens of hours of court footage as well as gone through many court transcripts and pieces of evidence (photos, text messages, audios, etc.) submitted by both teams. Given I've posted and reblogged many of these (many can be seen in my evidence tag, alongside some analyses and out of court statements and the like), I have no idea how you concluded I based my stance off Vox articles.

Since I do make a point to seek out objective facts, I'm happy to speak to the debunked myths you've named here. With the one caveat that I would need examples of these inconsistencies to speak to them specifically since I don't know what you're referring to (e.g. certain things may be a misunderstanding, or her forgetting a detail).

"Many of her ex partners have restraining orders against her"

This claim is new to me. Please send me your source. I tried googling it, but all of the results I could find (I went a few pages in) only talked about her TRO against Johnny, so I'm unable to evaluate this.

"[S]he even had a DV charge before Johnny."

She was arrested for DV and spent one night in jail, however no charges were actually filed (source, source). Tasya, who is still friends with Amber to this day and is on her witness list (source), has issued a statement:

Amber was wrongfully accused for an incident that was misinterpreted and over-sensationalized by two individuals in a power position. I recount hints of misogynistic attitudes toward us which later appeared to be homophobic when they found out we were domestic partners and not just ‘friends.’ Charges were quickly dropped and she was released moments later,” Van Ree told Us. “It’s disheartening that Amber’s integrity and story are being questioned yet again. Amber is a brilliant, honest and beautiful woman and I have the utmost respect for her. We shared 5 wonderful years together and remain close to this day.

(source -- also quoted in UK trial documents, which also give further evidence of the two's continued friendship)

A cop has come forward and said that she was the one who arrested Amber and she couldn't be misogynistic or homophobic because she is a lesbian (source). However, in the UK trial, Amber testified that the officer who put her in handcuffs is a man (source), which would fit with Tasya's statement. Granted, Amber obviously would have had a motive to lie there, so that's where we need to consider what makes the most sense, because something isn't adding up.

What would Tasya's motive be for lying? We don't have any evidence to suggest she is afraid of Amber. If Amber had abused her, it's possible we can't entirely rule out trauma bonding and as a result trying to cover for her, but that doesn't seem very likely a decade later (they were together 2008-2012) -- not impossible, but unlikely.

Ok, so what would the cop's motive be for lying? Well, we know there's an expectation for cops to cover for one another (collection of sources here). We can't prove to what extent Leonard specifically feels that pressure, but it is a potential influence. I also don't consider the police to be the most trustworthy source in general (given their tendency to murder People of Color, murder people with mental health conditions or other disabilities, and higher than average rates of DV). We don't know Leonard's specific stances; sure, there is a possibility she had good intentions and wanted to change the police force from within and was not complicit in the system. However, without evidence to prove that she was trying to be a change agent in the force, it seems entirely probable she would have reason to lie to cover for the other officer

We can't say with 100% certainty what happened until when or if additional evidence is presented. However, after evaluating the evidence, it seems to me more likely that Tasya was the one telling the truth.

"She was abusive to her personal assistant [Kate James]"

I'll set aside Amber's description of James as difficult to work with and drinking on the job (which we don't have proof of other than Amber's word), as well as my own thoughts about James' demeanor (which isn't evidence), but I do think it's relevant to mention Depp's text to James inviting her over to "fix her [Amber's] flabby ass, nice and good" (source) which suggests she may have motive to lie (to support Depp).

We don't have proof Amber abused James aside from James' own claims, and we don't have proof Amber did not abuse James aside from Amber's own claims. Since they both could be argued to have motive to lie, let's look for other evidence.

The UK trial judgment says, "I am afraid that I did not find Ms James a satisfactory witness. She had been dismissed by Ms Heard in February 2015 and the circumstances of her termination still appeared to be a cause of rancour with Ms James." So a judge already determined that it is unlikely James' testimony can be trusted. It doesn't guarantee her to be lying, but it definitely tips the scales more toward doubt.

Amber "stole her [James'] rape story"

James' story (from her second witness statement, UK trial): "When I was 26 years old and traveling in Brazil, I was violently raped by an unknown male at Machete point, having been woken by the perpetrator whilst sleeping alone in my dwelling. This ordeal went on for 5-6 hours and I narrowly escaped with my life."

Amber has recounted three instances of sexual assault: one in Hicksville in which she says Depp claimed he was conducting a "cavity search", one in the Bahamas in which she says he "shoved his fingers inside" her, and one in Australia in which she says he used a bottle to assault her.

The only similarities I can identify would be that both involve rape (obviously), both perpetrators are male, and both feared for their lives (extremely common during rape). I do not see any basis on which to conclude that Amber stole James' story.

In the aforementioned witness statement (dated July 12, 2020), James makes the claim that she became aware of Amber's story on June 25, 2020 when reading documents she received in preparation for her participation in the hearing.

It should be noted that the allegations of sexual assault were confidential in the UK trial, as we can infer in the judgment linked above, with sections on Hicksville, the Bahamas, and Australia all saying that "Further details of this incident are contained in the Confidential Schedule to the Re-Amended Defence." (There are other references to the confidential schedule, such as in Amber's 5th witness statement, however this is the most clear tie I've seen because all three locations match.)

On day 7 of the UK trial (July 15, 2020 -- 3 days after her second witness statement), James is asked, "Have you seen any confidential statements that Ms. Heard has made in these proceedings?" and she answers, "No, sir" (page 1229). This means that at the time she alleged Amber had stolen her story, she hadn't even read Amber's allegations.

The other possibility would be that James did hear Amber's allegations in some way, but lied about how she heard of them. We can't prove that either way with the evidence at hand, however it remains relevant that their stories have nothing significant in common aside from the topic (sexual assault). I'm not sure how one could compare the stories and argue that Amber "stole" James' story.

"You can also clearly see her posing for the camera in the court footage"

I assume you're talking about this. Well, I don't know about you but if I was blowing my nose and realized someone was about to take a picture of me, I would probably not want to pull the tissue away until after. Would you want to risk someone photographing you with snot hanging out of your nose or something??? Obviously I can't say for certain that was her intention, but neither can we say for certain her intention was to seek sympathy/publicity, because we aren't mind readers. As such, this doesn't go very far as evidence.

I have also heard that Amber didn't want the trial televised in the first place, however I am not using that as evidence because I haven't been able to find a primary source for that. If anyone has one, please link it to me.

.

Hope that helps! Of course given she is human, Amber is not perfect, but she should not need to be perfect to be believed.

#answered #i stand with amber heard #justice for amber heard #ah evidence #amber heard

[bookouvre]

Intriguing things amaze us all!

Have you ever read about Carl Jung's interesting theory of personality? Moreover, have you ever analysed the whole point of it or doubted the whole logic of it? Let me take you to this amazing and interesting topic you might hop into!

Think of yourself. I didn't mean to think about your MBTI! It's completely different.

Don't you ever get that eerie feeling when you try to suppress your insecurities within yourself? Don't you feel a voice saying something at the back of your head? Why do you even feel like that? What's the use of it? Have you ever wondered?

Carl Gustav Jung was born in 1875, on July 26 in Kesswil, a town on Lake Constance in Switzerland. His father, Johann Paul Jung was a minister in the Swiss Reform Church and his mother, Emilie Preiswerk Jung, was the daughter of a theologian.

Psychological criteria or levels of state

Conscious: Conscious mind is the one that is altered or sensed by ego. It is not the core of the personality but remains as the sub-character in the back of our mind. Self is the ultimate core of personality but it remains inactive or unconscious most of the time. Individuals or silhouettes are generally in contact with their conscious mind, however this cannot be ascertained that they're always attached with it. Sometimes they just let their unconscious self delve into them and enjoy the time of the being. An individual dive into such state to acquire individuation.

Personal unconscious: Reminisces all the suppressed, forgotten or perceived experiences in one's life. It's unique for everyone and it fascinates oneself. Contents of the personal unconscious are called complexes. It's one's habitual or toned experience which develops the core of emotions and feelings.

Collective unconscious: Has roots in the ancestral past of the entire species. Inherited and pass from one generation to the next as psychic potential. Distant ancestors’ experiences with universal concepts such as God, mother, water, earth, and so forth have been transmitted through the generations so that people in every clime and time have been influenced by their primitive ancestors’ primordial experiences (Jung, 1937/1959). More or less the same for people in all cultures (Jung, 1934/1959). Responsible for people’s many myths, legends, and religious beliefs. Humans, like other animals, come into the world with inherited predispositions to act or react in certain ways if their present experiences touch on these biologically based predispositions.

Archetypes

Persona: The side of the personality that people show to the world. Refers to the mask worn by actors in the early theater. No.1 personality (Jung’s life), should project a particular role that society dictates to us to become psychologically healthy, must balance between the demands of society and what we truly are.

Shadow: Archetype of darkness and repression, qualities we do not wish to acknowledge but attempt to hide from ourselves and others. Morally objectionable tendencies, it is easier to project the dark side of our personality onto others, to see in them the ugliness and evil that we refuse to see in ourselves. Achieve the “realization of the shadow”.

Anima: Feminine archetype in men. Represents irrational moods and feelings. To master the projections of the anima, men must realize the feminine side of their personality. Originated from early men’s experiences with women—mothers, sisters, and lovers. Source of misunderstanding in male-female relationships, but also be responsible for the alluring mystique woman has in the psyche of men. In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Jung vividly described this experience. Intrigued by this “woman from within,” Jung (1961) concluded that

she must be the “soul,” in the primitive sense, and I began to speculate on the reasons why the name “anima” was given to the soul. Why was it thought of as feminine? Later I came to see that this inner feminine figure plays a typical, or archetypal, role in the unconscious of a man, and I called her the “anima.” The corresponding figure in the unconscious of woman called the “animus.” (p. 186 of his analytical book of psychology)

Animus: Masculine archetype in women. Represent symbolic of thinking and reasoning. Like the anima, the animus appears in dreams, visions, and fantasies in a personified form. In every female-male relationship, the woman runs a risk of projecting her distant ancestors’ experiences with fathers, brothers, lovers, and sons onto the unsuspecting man.

Self: Each person possesses an inherited tendency to move toward growth, perfection, and completion, and he called this innate disposition the self. Archetype of archetypes because it pulls together the other archetypes and unites them in the process of self-realization. Symbolized by a person’s ideas of perfection, completion, and wholeness, but its ultimate symbol is the mandala, which is depicted as a circle within a square, a square within a circle, or any other concentric figure. It represents the strivings of the collective unconscious for unity, balance, and wholeness.The self includes both the conscious and unconscious mind, and it unites the opposing elements of psyche—male and female, good and evil, light and dark forces.

There are more archetypes, psychological characteristics and levels that I have yet to cover but these are some of the main and essential features that help everyone to know their states of minds and have a spiritual connection with their inner self. I may have left out some criterias so please pardon me.

All these features and criterias are from the renowned sources and books so credit goes to all these amazing analysts. I have just researched and added my perspective into this post.

I hope you find this helpful! :)

Do support me for my work!

#book review #booklr #bookworm #currently reading #my post #spilled thoughts #writers and poets #psychology #pyschic reading #pyschosis #psychic #carl jung #original post #research #new books #books #book blog #book lover #bookish #books and reading #bookblr #spirituality #spiritual awakening #spiritualgrowth #inner peace #inner thoughts #innerstrength #deep thoughts #mindfulness #bibliophile

[goldenpinof]

I think a small part of it is that the show itself is not that great. It’s fun, and you see Dan live, experience new content, etc, but it’s basically II (as in, the exact same structure) minus Phil, and it’s hard to explain without the theme of “giving the people what they want” to justify what it’s about or why there are so many things happening. He should have created his own unique piece to fit his theme, but he went w what ig he knew worked (keyword being, with Phil). There’s definitely a way to market it, but idk that his marketing team is that creative (like there’s no reason for the pornhub/grindr branding other than “lol sex”, if the branding was to reference a website it should have been tiktok, bc of how fast tiktok it, how it plays w your emotions etc. I thought of that in 2 seconds, it’s not amazing but definitely not worse lol). His team isn’t good enough to market his difficult to market show, and he’s not a natural irt marketing or communications and if he’s having to do so much of it himself that might explain some of it. I agree that DD is not good marketing for the tour, it’s too long and unrelated. I’d also love to hear more of your thoughts about Phil! Btw I still recommend going, it’s fun, just not an amazing piece of theatre.

"not an amazing piece of theatre" maybe because it's not a theatre :)) and that's what i mean by it's hard to tell what it is. transferring an internet personality to a stage is hard. especially if you're doing it after 3 years of silence. people don't know what he wants to show them. damn, they don't even know if they still relate to him (gay stuff apart).

an essay incoming..

ii was based on our interaction with dnp before and during the tour. we were really invested in it, we wanted dnp to see what we tought about them, their content, and us as an audience. because that was the whole point: to fuck with dnp, it was the funniest thing. eventually, we really saw each other. both parties benefited a lot from both the shows and m&gs. wad structure doesn't have that part of interaction. Dan isn't giving us what we want because he didn't ask about what we wanted. i understand that the screen elements are almost identical to ii concept, but i don't think it's a good thing (also, you're the 1st person i see saying that it's like ii minus Phil. very interesting observation).

re marketing: i don't mind the color theme. but your idea of comparing the pace of Dan's show to tiktok as a platform is definitely better than just the colors association that people pointed out immediately. the whole thing with marketing is hard to analyse because we don't know the terms. 2 parties involved, both of them have ideas and want to push them. one party (Dan) knows the audience, another party (the marketing team) doesn't know us but has experience of other similar events (i sure fucking hope so). and now looks like Dan let the marketing team navigate the narrative and they are failing pretty hard. it doesn't seem like Dan wants to fix it, or reduce losses. either because he is fed up with the whole thing, accepted that promo hasn't been working and let go of it, or because contractually it's not his job, he delegated that part to a company and paid them, so why would he intervene if he can potentially sue them later (oh, that would depend on what they promised him. marketing strategy should be presented with expected KPI among other things). OR the key points of this marketing strategy were Dan's idea and for some reason, he still doesn't wanna fix this mess. because the main promo clip is definitely Dan's idea and it's not bad. apocalypse theme can be interesting. the execution just isn't IT. but that's also a budget question, so whatever. that promo clip is like only 10% of all problems.

re Phil: his presence could save the tour. i know, Dan wanted to do a separate thing blah blah blah. Phil doesn't need to touch the fucking show to make it work. he just needs to be there on the internet to give us an alternative to all Dan's content. to give us ins and outs of their experience of this tour. he could also go with Dan to at least some places on each tour leg, and not just as a backstage bitch (no shade to those!) but to show Dan's tour from Phil's perspective. that could be a part of marketing strategy as natural marketing. people are excited to see them together in one place, to see them experience things together and react to them. London confirmed it yet again. Phil wandering around and showing bits and pieces could balance things out. it could be like dnp travel show only with Dan having to perform in the evenings.

someone in the tags said that the promo didn't reach the audience outside the phandom. the problem is, i don't think it reached the whole phandom or Dan's fandom separately either. tour dates promo isn't loud and precise enough for people to pay attention to it.

#poor rephrasing of what i wrote to katie but WHATEVER #if i missed something let me know #also. i know that phil has health problems. that's why i'm saying some places and also. #if it was that bad dan wouldn't leave him for 2 months in a huge penthouse #answered #wad 2022 #lonelygrocerystore

[thedarklinkfell]

The Turning: Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn

In The Turning, I believe that Miles responds with both the fight and fawn responses to trauma, whereas Flora responds to it with flight and freeze. I’m going to be using the terms somewhat loosely but the general gist is still there. 

Obviously tw for canon associated discussions of abuse etc

Miles: Fawn and Fight

I think it’s easy for Miles to not come off as fawn off of the bat, so we’re going to start there. Miles absolutely fawned when it came to Quint. Even with the negative emotions he expresses towards Quint these days, he still refers to him as his friend. He still wears Quint’s jumpers and refers to him as his special friend (which in itself has certain connotations). It’s not uncommon for people to feel affection towards their abusers, especially if they don’t fully understand what happened to them.

This fawn behaviour continues when Miles attempts to kiss Kate. He does this immediately after apologising, as if he believes that the kiss is the apology. Then he instantly flinches back. Lack of boundaries is another common theme in fawning.

Miles’ fight response is far more obvious. From physically fighting people at school who upset him to yelling at Kate when she scares Flora. I think it’s notable that Miles is at his most aggressive when Flora asks Kate to stop and she ignores her - it implies very much that his boundaries have been broken before that and he won’t let it happen to Flora. The song playing in the background has the line “I get angry when I’m nervous like a bad dog” and that in itself is very telling for this response. This anger comes from fear. His protectiveness is another extension of that protective fight. He’s stopping either of them from being hurt ever again.

I think it’s interesting that Miles is equated with a broken in/tamed horse (will analyse that further later) and therefore complies. “He was a brute. He was disgusting. He used to take miles and disappear with him for hours“ is a fairly unnerving quote.

Flora: Freeze and Flight

Flora’s freeze and flight work very much hand in hand. She’s terrified of going over the property line or returning to where her parents died. She seems to be very much caught in that time, unable to move on from it or fully process that. When they approach the edge of the property, she isn’t capable of asking for it to stop fully by herself, and yells out for Miles to protect her. She’s anxious and nervous about anything that relates to this potential area of her trauma.

I think her general evasiveness when it comes to this situations is similar. She seems to block out the situations as if they’re not happening. Flora seems genuinely scared of the East Wing but is completely reluctant to tell Kate why she feels so uncomfortable about it.

Her abandonment issues are also a big part of this - she assumes that everyone is going to leave her, and she associates them leaving with fairly extreme trauma. Nearly everyone who’s left her has died.

#The Turning #The Turning 2020 #Miles Fairchild #Flora Fairchild #analysis #abuse tw

[morallyinept]

A full character analysis on JOEL MILLER from the TV show THE LAST OF US.

I've created this as a point of reference when writing for Pedro's characters, and I hope you find it useful. Even if you just want to learn more about the character. 🖤

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO'S CHARACTERS ANALYSED

FULL CHARACTER STUDY:

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2/THE GAME!

Basic Details:

☝️This character study focuses primarily on TV series Joel, but draws on some comparisons from the game version of Joel.

*I made a previous error with regards to Outbreak Day in the game & Joel's age - so this version is now correct.

Full Name: Joel Miller

Nickname(s): None mentioned

Appears in: The Last Of Us, 2023 (first appearance on screen in episode 1, season 1, seen at approx. 04:56)

Age (if known): Joel is seen in the TV series at both the ages of 36 (Outbreak Day happens on his 36th birthday) and we catch up with him 20 years after Outbreak Day at the age of 56, where he's based in the Boston QZ

Sexuality: Straight - Joel has a 14 year-old daughter, Sarah, from a previous relationship with her mother, however it's not confirmed if he was married to her mother or not in the TV show. It's implied that Joel is in some kind of relationship with Tess Servopoulos, although never actually confirmed.

Nationality: American. Joel is from Texas originally

Family: 1 daughter, Sarah. 1 younger brother, Tommy. No other family mentioned.

Spouse/Partner: Joel appears to be currently single at the age of 36, and in a potential relationship of some kind with Tess Servopoulos (before she dies) at age 56

Relationship Status: Currently single

Current Living Status: Deceased - In the video game's sequel, The Last of Us Part II, Joel is shockingly murdered in the first act of the game by Abby, the daughter of the Firefly surgeon Joel killed in order to let Ellie live. Joel is killed by Abby after she beats him to death with a golf club. As of creating this character analysis, it is yet to be determined if Joel will be killed off in Season 2 of the TV series.

Languages Spoken: English

Education: It would be prudent to assume that Joel would have attended high school as a minimum based on his intelligence and skills etc... In the game, it mentions he was unable to attend college due to having Sarah at such a young age, however in the TV series he is older when he had her, so therefore could have attended college/further education, although it is never confirmed.

Occupation:

Job Role/Title: Before the Outbreak, Joel was a contractor in the construction/carpentry industry

Special Skill(s): Building and fixing things, hunting, use of guns and ammo, smuggler, survivalist skills

Notable Colleague(s): Ellie, Tommy, Tess

Distinguishing Features:

Tattoo(s): None

Piercings: None

Scar(s): Scar on his right side temple due to a failed suicide attempt when Joel tried to shoot himself after Sarah's death. Joel also suffers a bullet graze on the left side of his abdomen/hip, in episode one where the soldier shoots at him and Sarah. This scar is later seen briefly in the scene where Ellie stitches him up after he is stabbed by David's men, from which he is also left with a scar.

Other Markings: Joel has a scratch/gash on the right side of his face in episode two, and throughout the series he sustains several other minor injuries resulting in temporary abrasions, cuts, bruises etc... Also has a gash on the left side of his neck in episode 8/9.

Prominent Feature(s): Greying curled hair, facial scruff also greying

Injuries: Several. Joel hairline fractures his right hand after punching out the FEDRA guard - he punches him 15 times in the face/skull. Joel is pistol-whipped with a rifle in the back of his head in episode 9, knocking him out and suffering a concussion. Joel is scarred from a failed suicide attempt on his temple, has scars on his stomach/abdomen from being shot at and stabbed. Joel suffers several cuts/abrasions and bruises from general surviving and fighting. Joel also appears to have bad knees when he's older, and walks with a limped gait.

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Brown/greying

The scar on the side of Joel's right temple above his eye, from where he tried to shoot himself:

Personality:

Traits: Brave, protective, strong

Joel speaks with a prominent Texan accent. In the show it appears he's living in or just outside of Travis County, Austin, Texas.

In the game, Joel was born on 26th September, 1981 in Arlington, Texas. In the TV series however, Joel would have been born on 26th September, 1967.

The majority of the game play is set 20 years after the opening scene. Which means Joel is 32 when Sarah is alive. Sarah is 12 in the game before she dies, so that means Joel was a father at age 20 in the game. In the TV series however, Sarah is 14 at the time of her death and Joel is 36, meaning he would have had her at the age of 21/22. In the game, Joel was born in 1981 and Outbreak Day happens in 2013, meaning Joel is 32 in the game, and not 36 like in the show, on Outbreak Day. As Joel is 36 in 2003 in the TV show on Outbreak Day, it means he would have been born in 1967, counting backwards from 2003 by 36 years.

The time on Joel's watch in the TV series when it stops, after the bullet ricochets off his watch and hits Sarah, reads on or around 02:40AM. (Sarah woke up at 11:03pm, and between that and the time of her death a few hours would have passed with them trying to escape etc...)

It is implied that Joel and Tess are in a relationship to some extent in the TV series, although it's never actually confirmed romantically between them. Joel explains to Ellie they met when they were in a group together, and are smugglers when we meet them in the show. They are seen living together in an apartment in the Boston QZ and sharing the same bed. Tess also states that she never asked Joel to feel the same way she did, before she dies, implying some possible unrequited love there.

Joel is a self-employed contractor in the construction trade before Outbreak Day. He and his brother Tommy appear to work together and drive to the site together in Tommy's truck.

In the game, Joel is murdered by Abby in revenge for killing her father, who turned out to be the surgeon who was going to operate on Ellie to find a cure. She brutally beats him to death with a golf club. It is yet to be determined whether the TV series will follow this same story arc for Joel and kill his character off, or if they will re-work another story arc for him. For now, it is widely assumed/speculated Joel will die at some point in the TV series too.

In the TV series, Joel is hard of hearing in his right ear, however in the game, Joel's hearing is completely fine. Joel attributes his hearing loss to gunshots, but later explains to Ellie he tried to take his life after Sarah died, so it's also presumed that doing that possibly affected his hearing.

It's not confirmed if Sarah's mother and Joel were married in the TV series, or why she left, and nor do we learn the name of Sarah's mother. In the game however, Joel mentions he was briefly married to Sarah's mother.

In the TV series, Joel is much more of a softer character than in the game. Craig Mazin stated that they wanted Joel to appear more "frail" which would coincide with a real life 56 year-old who "can't crouch for more than three minutes otherwise their back would give out." In the TV series Joel is seen to suffer with panic attacks indicating he feels much more emotion than the game version of Joel, who is more hardened.

Joel reveals to Ellie he would have liked to have been a singer and can play the guitar. Although in season 1 we don't hear or see Joel singing or playing guitar. Joel has an acoustic guitar poster on his wall in his bedroom on the TV series.

The time shown stopped on Joel's watch in the TV Series:

Fashion/Outfits:

Outfit 1 - (Opening scene) Black round neck t-shirt, denim jeans

Outfits - (Remainder of series) - Joel's overall look consists mostly of plaid shirts and denim looking shirts, worn-in denim jeans and boots, that are all in various stages of wear and tear. He is seen duct taping his boots together. He sports various jackets and coats throughout the seasons, weather dependent.

Joel's green plaid shirt is actually Frank's/worn by Frank before Joel even meets Bill and Frank when he's younger with Tess. Later after their deaths, Joel showers and dresses in a clean shirt, which is the green plaid shirt that Joel is synonymous for wearing. He is dressed very similarly to Frank, even wearing similar jeans, boots, just like Frank did.

Joel has a red backpack when he is younger with Tess. Then later, he has a brown one which he then leaves behind during the attack in Kansas City. When Henry dies, Joel takes Henry's backpack as his own which is a lighter sandy brown colour.

Accessories: Watch on left wrist, brown/sand coloured backpack, rifle sling with holster

Weapons Used:

Weapon(s): (Exact weapons pictured below)

Joel's primary weapon is a pistol. A Taurus Model 66 with blue finished 4-inch barrel and rubber grip. This is the same pistol that Joel uses in the game too. He keeps it hidden under the floorboards of his apartment in the Boston QZ until needed.

Joel uses a variety of guns in the TV series, mostly those that he finds or takes from others, including a Beretta M92FS, Colt M4A1 Carbine rifle, Remington 700 BDL rifle and a Rugler mini-14.

Joel also uses switchblades and knives too.

Joel uses a piece of metal piping to bash in the head one of David's men when looking for Ellie.

Modes of Transport:

Vehicle(s):

In the TV series, we don't actually see Joel drive, or potentially own, a vehicle of his own. He rides in Tommy's pickup truck, which is a 2001 Chevrolet Silverado 1500HD Crew Cab. He is seen as a passenger in it when leaving for work in the morning, and later when he, Sarah and Tommy try to flee the city.

Joel drives various vehicles in the series, including a 2004 Dodge Durango, the car he uses to take Ellie from the hospital in episode 9. And most notably, Bill's blue and white 2001 Chevrolet S-10 for which Bill leaves the keys for Joel in episode 3.

Dialogue:

🗨 See Joel's full dialogue from the show, including deleted scenes.

Further Character Links (if any):

Joel Miller Game Version Wiki Page, Joel Miller TV Series Version Wiki Page, Making of The Last Of Us - BTS

Samples of Joel's wardrobe via styleofpascal IG

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO'S CHARACTERS ANALYSED

#joel miller #pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #joel miller tlou #joel miller character analysis #pedro pascal character database #joel miller the last of us #joel miller character study

[mariacallous]

In July 1993, Branimir Tucak reported to his superior, a high-ranking official of the unrecognised Bosnian Croat-created wartime quasi-state of Herzeg-Bosnia, that five detainees had died at the Dretelj detention camp near the city of Capljina.

Tucak, the assistant chief for security of Herzeg-Bosnia’s Military Police Directorate, sent his written report to Valentin Coric, who was chief of Military Police Directorate and the interior minister of the self-proclaimed Herzeg-Bosnia.

“So far, five detainees have died in the prison: three were killed while pushing at the outer doors and the two others died of natural causes, most probably a heart attack,” said the report sent to Coric, who was later jailed by the Hague Tribunal for war crimes committed at the Dretelj detention camp and other offences.

Dretelj was a former Yugoslav People’s Army barracks that became one of the most notorious detention sites in the Herzegovina region, established by Herzeg-Bosnia’s military force, the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, in 1993.

The Hague Tribunal verdict convicting Valentin Coric and five other Herzeg-Bosnia military and political officials of wartime crimes stated that six people were killed or passed away at the Dretelj detention camp. The last detainees left the facility 29 years ago, in October 1993.

Of the six deaths at Dretelj, one was particularly unpleasant – a prisoner identified only by his surname Plavuskic died of dehydration on July 16, 1993, according to one witness at the Herzeg-Bosnia trial at the Hague Tribunal, nurse Denis Saric.

Asked by BIRN if he knew that one inmate died of dehydration, Tucak said he was not aware of it. He said he remembers one person dying but not what caused the death. He insisted that he “never touched anyone” at the detention camp.

In a report to his superior Coric, Tucak wrote that detainees were receiving rations of water and food. He told BIRN that the amounts given to detainees were those specified by the regulations for inmates and prison staff. “I went round, I looked. Where there was water, I saw they had water, that food was being cooked and distributed within the complex,” he said. However, he admitted: “It was summertime and I didn’t enter the premises.”

The Dretelj camp held Bosnian Army troops, HVO soldiers who were Bosniaks, and male civilian Bosniaks of military age. Tucak told Coric in one report that there were 2,270 detainees at the camp and that there was an urgent need to increase the number of military policemen guarding the facility.

Despite the references to him in the trial of the six Herzeg-Bosnia military and political officials, Tucak has never been indicted in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He is one of at least eight people connected to Dretelj who have not been prosecuted for the deaths and abuses at the detention camp even though they are mentioned in the Hague Tribunal’s verdict in the Herzeg-Bosnia trial.

Two of these potential suspects are believed to have died, two have been indicted but can’t be brought to court in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one’s case has been taken over by the Croatian judicial authorities, and three others have never been charged.

For this investigation, BIRN analysed the Herzeg-Bosnia verdict and documents used in the Hague case in order to identify those who signed official reports about the conditions at the camp and about the murders of detainees, and spoke to two potential suspects who have never been tried.

[shanemcretro]

GAHT Blood Test Results February 2024

A few milestones have been achieved this month. I’ve reached my third month of gender affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) and was able to get an estradiol implant (200mg, compounded). I kicked pregabalin as it wasn’t helping with my anxiety symptoms – but was helping with sleep… I also ceased indometacin successfully. Hemicrania continua is not being so continua now.

My phosphates, calcium and ALT levels. Ahhh yes. Let’s start with the ALT. My ALT was easy to fix, cease indometacin. I also took some milk thistle to help keep the old liver in tip top shape – with interesting consequences. I’ll circle back to this one later!

Phosphates and calcium, I do wonder if this is actually a bad thing to have lower numbers on these. A ionised calcium test was ordered and found to be in range, but so were my other calcium stats – this time. I’d only changed my calcium vitamin to a non-plant-based formula as I don’t get much calcium from milk. i.e. I don’t drink milk. End result – calcium levels are OK for now.

Now phosphates are in everything, it should be difficult to ingest this in low amounts. Thankfully, I have a good history owing to low blood iron and phosphate levels were ordered as a complementary test most of the time. Using this data we can see that I tend to be on the lower side of things. But since starting GAHT, record new lows. Some potential answers could be here and here.

My theory is either my spirulina (cyanobacteria) infused multivitamin is causing lowered calcium and phosphate levels leading to improved bone density. This could perhaps explain the historically lower phosphate levels as I’ve taken this particular multivitamin for a few years now. Then we have this (potato) gem from the second article.

Estrogen therapy (ET) is associated with lower serum calcium and phosphorus concentrations and is known to increase bone mineral density (BMD).

Estrogen and progesterone are very good at not causing osteoporosis. Menopause is a great example of what happens when hormones are absent and why hormone replacement therapy exists for older assigned female at birth (AFAB) people. This puts my mind at ease and we’ll be rechecking in three months.

Oh iron, sweet, sweet iron. I mean each blood test takes five vials of blood? I’ve given up on blood donations so we can rule that one out and it’s nothing cancer-related so… diet? To keep my ferritin (iron stores) up I’ll be taking 210 mg of elemental iron every other morning one hour before food. This maximises absorption as hepcidin, the enzyme that tells the iron to stay or go, is still sleepy.

Of course vitamin C can override this too if daily dosing was needed. As my levels haven’t reached critical yet, and I don’t enjoy the undesirable GI side effects of iron therapy, every other day gives me roughly half the issues! 😅

Onto hormones! Errrrr… why did prolactin double and zip outside the reference range in the space of two months. The GP wasn’t sure why and the endocrinologist said it’s not an issue unless it’s triple that number. I had a peek into some literature and pregnant women can have this level between 1000 and 8000 mIU/L. Remembering that pregnant women are not going to have those levels forever.

So what caused mine to spike? I believe it might have been the milk thistle I was taking to fix that pesky liver up from the indometacin damage. Information here, here and here. This has been ceased now so it should drop back within the reference range next blood test. Hold up, I was just reading this again.

In animals, milk thistle has been shown to stimulate bone mineralization. However, how it affects humans is currently unknown.

Hmmm, I wonder if my calcium and phosphate levels will also increase on next blood test without milk thistle supplementation. Something to look forward to as I was only on milk thistle for two weeks.

Ahh yes traditional sex hormones. One of the more interesting to look analyse. Keep in mind that all my blood tests are done in the trough – which should indicate the lowest concentrations.

On 6 mg oral estradiol valerate (2 mg thrice daily) and estradiol gel (Sandrena brand estradiol 0.1% gel 1g sachets twice daily) I scored a lovely 764 pmol/L. Previously with pill therapy (6 mg) it came in at 364 pmol/L. So a decent jump for just a bit of gel. Good result, so good in fact, I now I have two pellet implants (100mg each) in my left buttock for 200 mg of estradiol. It will be interesting to see how that stabilises over the next three months as they can fluctuate a bit early on.

On the progesterone (P4) front, folks tend to take it after being on estradiol for around 12 months. My endocrinologist doesn’t see any issue with starting it earlier. In AFAB puberty, estradiol peaks before progesterone even appears on the scene. Then again I am not exactly AFAB, so past performance may not be indicative of future performance.

For me, I see progesterone a counterweight against what is intended to be high-dose estrogen. With progesterone in the mix my skin is less dry which was one of my biggest gripes about estrogen monotherapy.

At least one of the metabolites produced, allopregnanolone, is a neurosteroid that acts on the GABAnergic system when taken orally – in a good way, I think. Interestingly enough in a similar way to alcohol, benzodiazepines and even to a lesser degree, pregabalin. Lesser degree in that pregabalin doesn’t touch the GABA receptors themselves, and instead mess with other systems that have a flow on effect to the GABAnergic system.

Oh I could ramble on for days about this sort of thing. Let’s look at the level itself. 9.1 nmol/L. Alright, that’s in the trough still so that’s quite good. Last dose would have been 12 hours ago. It puts me somewhere between pre-ovulation and mid-cycle. I have since doubled the dose on my endocrinologists recommendation.

There are other routes of administration (ROA) for progesterone, butt (ha!), my current compounded powder (200mg twice daily) is not compatible. I would need to purchase the non-compounded version to do that, and it’s not on my radar at this point in time as it is quite expensive.

Converting my 9.1 nmol/L to a US-friendly unit of 2.6 ng/mL helps locate where I am on these charts, you can see where I fit in. You’ll also maybe note that progesterone via the rectal ROA results in markedly different levels of progesterone, allopregnanolone and pregnanolone.

Which leads us onto finasteride which is a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor (5ARI). It stops this particular enzyme (5-alpha reductase) from doing what it wants to do. This is primarily used to stop testosterone (T) conversion to Dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

For assigned male at birth (AMAB) people, DHT gives you the gift of male pattern baldness provided you have the correct set of genes. As a transgender woman, I don’t really want to be bald if I can avoid it. So I started taking finasteride early on. However progesterone and finasteride both inhibit the 5-alpha reductase enzyme. And the finasteride, as it turns out affects a little more than just the 5AR enzyme.

Remember our little friend allopregnanolone from earlier? Blocked. What about isopregnanolone. Blocked. Finasteride is really quite a dirty drug with lots of off-target activity.

I’ve deemed it as unnecessary for the same reason I don’t take any testosterone blockers, such as cyproterone acetate or spironolactone. We’re going for estrogen dominance here. Women do have testosterone, but it isn’t the dominant sex hormone.

It is unclear if there is any added benefit to taking one of these medicines once your testosterone levels have been reduced into the female range through the use of other blockers.

The science behind it all is always a work in progress. But for now let’s keep that key phrase – estrogen dominance; the female hormone range, at the front of our minds.

If the presence of DHT makes male pattern baldness progress… what happens once I cease finasteride, will it also resume? Well, that’s where the next set of blood results come in.

Oh there it is, estrogen dominance achieved! Testosterone levels in AFAB have a reference range of less than 2.0 nmol/L (pre-menopause). And there I am sitting pretty at 1.1 nmol/L. My sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) is heading up and up. I can’t find the document I had, I am sure it said above 115 nmol/L can result in estrogens being bound. In lieu of that article, from Wikipedia.

The relative binding affinity of various sex steroids for SHBG is dihydrotestosterone (DHT) > testosterone > androstenediol > estradiol > estrone. DHT binds to SHBG with about 5 times the affinity of testosterone and about 20 times the affinity of estradiol.

So having a high SHBG level is a good thing, the higher the better. Bind all the sex hormones so they can’t be used – male ones are lost first, then the female ones. That means goodbye any DHT generated by the mere 1.1 nmol/L of T.

The calculated free testosterone being below 25 pmol/L is also a great sign things are heading in the right direction. This is why testosterone blocking isn’t required for me. I really do enjoy delving into this sort of data and getting a better understanding of what it all means. So that’s it for now. I look forward to my next set of results sometime in May. 🙃

https://mcretro.net/blood-test-results-february-2024/

#estrogen monotherapy #estradiol #GAHT #trans hrt #mtf #transgender #transfem #blood work #blood results #SHBG #pregabalin #milk thistle #DHT #90 days #finasteride #progesterone #spironolactone #cyproterone acetate #i spent too much time writing this up

[actowiz-123]

How to Scrape Tweets Data by Location Using Python and snscrape?

In this blog, we will take a comprehensive look into scraping Python wrapper and its functionality and specifically focus on using it to search for tweets based on location. We will also delve into why the wrapper may not always perform as expected. Let's dive in

snscrape is a remarkable Python library that enables users to scrape tweets from Twitter without the need for personal API keys. With its lightning-fast performance, it can retrieve thousands of tweets within seconds. Moreover, snscrape offers powerful search capabilities, allowing for highly customizable queries. While the documentation for scraping tweets by location is currently limited, this blog aims to comprehensively introduce this topic. Let's delve into the details:

Introduction to Snscrape: Snscrape is a feature-rich Python library that simplifies scraping tweets from Twitter. Unlike traditional methods that require API keys, snscrape bypasses this requirement, making it accessible to users without prior authorization. Its speed and efficiency make it an ideal choice for various applications, from research and analysis to data collection.

The Power of Location-Based Tweet Scraping: Location-based tweet scraping allows users to filter tweets based on geographical coordinates or place names. This functionality is handy for conducting location-specific analyses, monitoring regional trends, or extracting data relevant to specific areas. By leveraging Snscrape's capabilities, users can gain valuable insights from tweets originating in their desired locations.

Exploring Snscrape's Location-Based Search Tools: Snscrape provides several powerful tools for conducting location-based tweet searches. Users can effectively narrow their search results to tweets from a particular location by utilizing specific parameters and syntax. This includes defining the search query, specifying the geographical coordinates or place names, setting search limits, and configuring the desired output format. Understanding and correctly using these tools is crucial for successful location-based tweet scraping.

Overcoming Documentation Gaps: While snscrape is a powerful library, its documentation on scraping tweets by location is currently limited. This article will provide a comprehensive introduction to the topic to bridge this gap, covering the necessary syntax, parameters, and strategies for effective location-based searches. Following the step-by-step guidelines, users can overcome the lack of documentation and successfully utilize snscrape for their location-specific scraping needs.

Best Practices and Tips: Alongside exploring Snscrape's location-based scraping capabilities, this article will also offer best practices and tips for maximizing the efficiency and reliability of your scraping tasks. This includes handling rate limits, implementing error-handling mechanisms, ensuring data consistency, and staying updated with any changes or updates in Snscrape's functionality.

Introduction of snscrape Using Python

In this blog, we’ll use tahe development version of snscrape that can be installed withpip install git+https://github.com/JustAnotherArchivist/snscrape.git

Note: this needs Python 3.8 or latest

Some familiarity of the Pandas module is needed.

We encourage you to explore and experiment with the various features of snscrape to better understand its capabilities. Additionally, you can refer to the mentioned article for more in-depth information on the subject. Later in this blog, we will delve deeper into the user field and its significance in tweet scraping. By gaining a deeper understanding of these concepts, you can harness the full potential of snscrape for your scraping tasks.

Advanced Search Features

In this code snippet, we define the search query as "pizza near:Los Angeles within:10km", which specifies that we want to search for tweets containing the word "pizza" near Los Angeles within a radius of 10 km. The TwitterSearchScraper object is created with the search query, and then we iterate over the retrieved tweets and print their content.

Feel free to adjust the search query and radius per your specific requirements.

For comparing results, we can utilize an inner merging on two DataFrames:common_rows = df_coord.merge(df_city, how='inner')

That returns 50 , for example, they both have the same rows.

What precisely is this place or location?

When determining the location of tweets on Twitter, there are two primary sources: the geo-tag associated with a specific tweet and the user's location mentioned in their profile. However, it's important to note that only a small percentage of tweets (approximately 1-2%) are geo-tagged, making it an unreliable metric for location-based searches. On the other hand, many users include a location in their profile, but it's worth noting that these locations can be arbitrary and inaccurate. Some users provide helpful information like "London, England," while others might use humorous or irrelevant descriptions like "My Parents' Basement."

Despite the limited availability and potential inaccuracies of geo-tagged tweets and user profile locations, Twitter employs algorithms as part of its advanced search functionality to interpret a user's location based on their profile. This means that when you look for tweets through coordinates or city names, the search results will include tweets geotagged from the location and tweets posted by users who have that location (or a location nearby) mentioned in their profile.

To illustrate the usage of location-based searching on Twitter, let's consider an example. Suppose we perform a search for tweets near "London." Here are two examples of tweets that were found using different methods:

The first tweet is geo-tagged, which means it contains specific geographic coordinates indicating its location. In this case, the tweet was found because of its geo-tag, regardless of whether the user has a location mentioned in their profile or not.

The following tweet isn’t geo-tagged, which means that it doesn't have explicit geographic coordinates associated with it. However, it was still included in the search results because a user has given a location in the profile that matches or is closely associated with London.

When performing a location-based search on Twitter, you can come across tweets that are either geo-tagged or have users with matching or relevant locations mentioned in their profiles. This allows for a more comprehensive search, capturing tweets from specific geographic locations and users who have declared their association with those locations.

Get Location From Scraped Tweets

If you're using snscrape to scrape tweets and want to extract the user's location from the scraped data, you can do so by following these steps. In the example below, we scrape 50 tweets within a 10km radius of Los Angeles, store the data in a DataFrame, and then create a new column to capture the user's location.

If It Doesn’t Work According to Your Expectations

The use of the near: and geocode: tags in Twitter's advanced search can sometimes yield inconsistent results, especially when searching for specific towns, villages, or countries. For instance, while searching for tweets nearby Lewisham, the results may show tweets from a completely different location, such as Hobart, Australia, which is over 17,000 km away.

To ensure more accurate results when scraping tweets by locations using snscrape, it is recommended to use the geocode tag having longitude & latitude coordinates, along with a specified radius, to narrow down the search area. This approach will provide more reliable and precise results based on the available data and features.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the snscrape Python module is a valuable tool for conducting specific and powerful searches on Twitter. Twitter has made significant efforts to convert user input locations into real places, enabling easy searching by name or coordinates. By leveraging its capabilities, users can extract relevant information from tweets based on various criteria.

For research, analysis, or other purposes, snscrape empowers users to extract valuable insights from Twitter data. Tweets serve as a valuable source of information. When combined with the capabilities of snscrape, even individuals with limited experience in Data Science or subject knowledge can undertake exciting projects.

Happy scrapping!

For more details, you can contact Actowiz Solutions anytime! Call us for all your mobile app scraping and web scraping services requirements.

#ScrapeTweetsDataUsingPython #ScrapeTweetsDataUsingsnscrape #ExtractingTweetsusingSnscrape #Tweets Data Collection #Scraped Tweets Data

[actowiz1]

Scrape Tweets Data by Location Using Python and snscrap

In this blog, we will take a comprehensive look into scraping Python wrapper and its functionality and specifically focus on using it to search for tweets based on location. We will also delve into why the wrapper may not always perform as expected. Let's dive in

snscrape is a remarkable Python library that enables users to scrape tweets from Twitter without the need for personal API keys. With its lightning-fast performance, it can retrieve thousands of tweets within seconds. Moreover, snscrape offers powerful search capabilities, allowing for highly customizable queries. While the documentation for scraping tweets by location is currently limited, this blog aims to comprehensively introduce this topic. Let's delve into the details:

Introduction to Snscrape: Snscrape is a feature-rich Python library that simplifies scraping tweets from Twitter. Unlike traditional methods that require API keys, snscrape bypasses this requirement, making it accessible to users without prior authorization. Its speed and efficiency make it an ideal choice for various applications, from research and analysis to data collection.

The Power of Location-Based Tweet Scraping: Location-based tweet scraping allows users to filter tweets based on geographical coordinates or place names. This functionality is handy for conducting location-specific analyses, monitoring regional trends, or extracting data relevant to specific areas. By leveraging Snscrape's capabilities, users can gain valuable insights from tweets originating in their desired locations.

Exploring Snscrape's Location-Based Search Tools: Snscrape provides several powerful tools for conducting location-based tweet searches. Users can effectively narrow their search results to tweets from a particular location by utilizing specific parameters and syntax. This includes defining the search query, specifying the geographical coordinates or place names, setting search limits, and configuring the desired output format. Understanding and correctly using these tools is crucial for successful location-based tweet scraping.

Overcoming Documentation Gaps: While snscrape is a powerful library, its documentation on scraping tweets by location is currently limited. This article will provide a comprehensive introduction to the topic to bridge this gap, covering the necessary syntax, parameters, and strategies for effective location-based searches. Following the step-by-step guidelines, users can overcome the lack of documentation and successfully utilize snscrape for their location-specific scraping needs.

Best Practices and Tips: Alongside exploring Snscrape's location-based scraping capabilities, this article will also offer best practices and tips for maximizing the efficiency and reliability of your scraping tasks. This includes handling rate limits, implementing error-handling mechanisms, ensuring data consistency, and staying updated with any changes or updates in Snscrape's functionality.

Introduction of snscrape Using Python

In this blog, we’ll use tahe development version of snscrape that can be installed withpip install git+https://github.com/JustAnotherArchivist/snscrape.git

Note: this needs Python 3.8 or latest

Some familiarity of the Pandas module is needed.

We encourage you to explore and experiment with the various features of snscrape to better understand its capabilities. Additionally, you can refer to the mentioned article for more in-depth information on the subject. Later in this blog, we will delve deeper into the user field and its significance in tweet scraping. By gaining a deeper understanding of these concepts, you can harness the full potential of snscrape for your scraping tasks.

Advanced Search Features

In this code snippet, we define the search query as "pizza near:Los Angeles within:10km", which specifies that we want to search for tweets containing the word "pizza" near Los Angeles within a radius of 10 km. The TwitterSearchScraper object is created with the search query, and then we iterate over the retrieved tweets and print their content.

Feel free to adjust the search query and radius per your specific requirements.

For comparing results, we can utilize an inner merging on two DataFrames:common_rows = df_coord.merge(df_city, how='inner')

That returns 50 , for example, they both have the same rows.

What precisely is this place or location?

When determining the location of tweets on Twitter, there are two primary sources: the geo-tag associated with a specific tweet and the user's location mentioned in their profile. However, it's important to note that only a small percentage of tweets (approximately 1-2%) are geo-tagged, making it an unreliable metric for location-based searches. On the other hand, many users include a location in their profile, but it's worth noting that these locations can be arbitrary and inaccurate. Some users provide helpful information like "London, England," while others might use humorous or irrelevant descriptions like "My Parents' Basement."

Despite the limited availability and potential inaccuracies of geo-tagged tweets and user profile locations, Twitter employs algorithms as part of its advanced search functionality to interpret a user's location based on their profile. This means that when you look for tweets through coordinates or city names, the search results will include tweets geotagged from the location and tweets posted by users who have that location (or a location nearby) mentioned in their profile.

To illustrate the usage of location-based searching on Twitter, let's consider an example. Suppose we perform a search for tweets near "London." Here are two examples of tweets that were found using different methods:

The first tweet is geo-tagged, which means it contains specific geographic coordinates indicating its location. In this case, the tweet was found because of its geo-tag, regardless of whether the user has a location mentioned in their profile or not.

The following tweet isn’t geo-tagged, which means that it doesn't have explicit geographic coordinates associated with it. However, it was still included in the search results because a user has given a location in the profile that matches or is closely associated with London.

When performing a location-based search on Twitter, you can come across tweets that are either geo-tagged or have users with matching or relevant locations mentioned in their profiles. This allows for a more comprehensive search, capturing tweets from specific geographic locations and users who have declared their association with those locations.

Get Location From Scraped Tweets

If you're using snscrape to scrape tweets and want to extract the user's location from the scraped data, you can do so by following these steps. In the example below, we scrape 50 tweets within a 10km radius of Los Angeles, store the data in a DataFrame, and then create a new column to capture the user's location.

If It Doesn’t Work According to Your Expectations

The use of the near: and geocode: tags in Twitter's advanced search can sometimes yield inconsistent results, especially when searching for specific towns, villages, or countries. For instance, while searching for tweets nearby Lewisham, the results may show tweets from a completely different location, such as Hobart, Australia, which is over 17,000 km away.

To ensure more accurate results when scraping tweets by locations using snscrape, it is recommended to use the geocode tag having longitude & latitude coordinates, along with a specified radius, to narrow down the search area. This approach will provide more reliable and precise results based on the available data and features.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the snscrape Python module is a valuable tool for conducting specific and powerful searches on Twitter. Twitter has made significant efforts to convert user input locations into real places, enabling easy searching by name or coordinates. By leveraging its capabilities, users can extract relevant information from tweets based on various criteria.

For research, analysis, or other purposes, snscrape empowers users to extract valuable insights from Twitter data. Tweets serve as a valuable source of information. When combined with the capabilities of snscrape, even individuals with limited experience in Data Science or subject knowledge can undertake exciting projects.

Happy scrapping!

For more details, you can contact Actowiz Solutions anytime! Call us for all your mobile app scraping and web scraping services requirements.

know more https://www.actowizsolutions.com/scrape-tweets-data-by-location-python-snscrape.php

#ScrapeTweetsDataUsingPython #ScrapeTweetsDataUsingSnscrap #TweetsDataCollection #TweetsDataScraping #TweetsDataExtractor

[goodmanlantern]

In-House vs Outsourced – Which Type of Law Firm Content Writing Is Best?

Law firm content writing is key for attracting new clients and retaining current ones. But how you go about creating your law firm’s website content is an important decision. You can choose whether to use in-house writers or outsourced legal content writing services. When choosing between these options, it is worth considering quality, cost, expertise and consistency. Our analysis will help break this down later in the blog.

For context, recent HubSpot data reveals businesses are continuing to invest highly in content creation services. This is largely due to the flexibility of content writing in helping achieve a range of marketing goals. Expanding your customer base or changing your brand image, for example. As such, it is worth investing in legal content writing solutions if you’re looking to take your law firm to the next level.

Read more to help inform your decision.

In-House Legal Content Writing Services

As the term suggests, in-house legal content writing services refer to content created by those within your law firm. This might be a dedicated content writing team, staff pulled from your existing marketing department, or new staff altogether.

Pros

Control: When you outsource your legal content writing services, you relinquish control as an external agency provides the content. With in-house content, you can keep a close tab on the process. As a business leader, this is valuable as it allows you to communicate and manage your resources more effectively. Having greater control also means you can implement the changes more quickly.

Personalisation: Having long-standing staff create content for your law firm gives it authenticity. They’re familiar with your brand, making it easier for them to create content that aligns with your values. In-house legal content writing services are, therefore, more likely to have a consistent tone of voice and style. You should note, however, that an experienced content writing agency, such as Goodman Lantern, will be able to provide personalised legal content writing solutions for your specific law firm.

Skills Investment: By upskilling your staff and investing in them, your team will become better and better at providing legal content writing solutions. 

Cons

Time-Consuming: Creating effective marketing content requires a significant diversion of a business’s resources. This is particularly true for the legal industry, as forming meaningful connections with potential customers has the potential to result in conversions. In-house legal content writing services can take resources away from your firm that you can use to support day-to-day activities.

Limited Skill Sets: While those within a firm will possess lots of industry knowledge, they may lack the skills to create effective content and acquiring them can take time and money.

Cost: Law firm content writing can be expensive in-house because it’s linked to overhead costs such as salaries, insurance, benefits, and more. 

Outsourced Professional Legal Content Writing Solutions

When outsourcing your law firm’s website or social media content, there are many options. Using contacts, freelancer platforms and seeking out content writing agencies are all ways to find third parties that can provide legal content writing solutions. Data shows that the demand for outsourced process services across the board has been rising in the UK. Between 2018-23, the number of outsourcing businesses grew by an average of 2.5% a year. Creating effective marketing content is one of these valuable business processes.

Choosing between agencies and freelancers is another consideration, which you can read more about here.

Pros

Diverse Content: Outsourcing brings in writers with a fresh perspective. This not only means your firm’s content can become more diverse, but external writers can also be unbiased when analysing your overall content approach.

Large Talent Pool: One of the pros of legal content writing services is that they can be fully remote. As such, your choice of potential third parties to outsource to is vast. This allows you to pick the freelancer or agency that’ll be the best fit for your law firm.

Scaling Potential: You aren’t limited to outsourcing just writers. Goodman Lantern’s legal content writing solutions offer researchers, editors, videographers, designers, SEO strategists, and more. The result is content crafted specifically for your law firm and the intended audience.

Expertise: By outsourcing to a reputable and experienced team, you can rest assured that industry professionals are undertaking your law firm’s content writing. Agencies such as Goodman Lantern comprise experienced, qualified and skilled individuals.

Cons

Lack of Control: When outsourcing any process, there is an element of ‘letting go’. At Goodman Lantern, we prefer to call it ‘trusting the process’. While we might not involve you in every element of the content creation, you will be consulted every step of the way.  We also offer technical and content audits.

Sourcing the Right Experts:  With such a breadth of choice, finding the experts that are most suited to your law firm can be difficult. Sourcing legal content writing solutions is now more challenging when it comes to freelancers, as there can often be less indication of their service’s quality. This is why outsourcing to a content agency comes highly recommended. 

What Goodman Lantern’s Legal Content Writing Services Can Do for Your Firm

As an experienced content writing agency, we’re able to offer you all the above benefits of outsourced legal content writing solutions. What’s more, certain aspects negate the cons of outsourcing. Goodman Lantern’s content professionals are dedicated to understanding the pain points of your firm’s target audience, as well as the importance of accurate and concise information. Our team will craft content solutions that will attract, grow and retain your client base. Your brand growth is our priority.