#i think her ending is being interpreted as powerlessness

[wherewolf]

the responses i’ve seen to shiv’s ending seem very quick to write her off as just another sad victim of the cycle, which isn’t without truth BUT!!! that is not even remotely the summation of shiv’s story.

i don’t think she votes yes to “save kendall” or to try to finally set her brothers free. and i don’t think her main concern was that ken was becoming their dad. she absolutely noticed and didn’t love it, but that was not her motivation in betraying him. she was thinking about herself.

it’s tempting to make a martyr out of her as she is the only female child and we see her suffer the onslaught of misogyny that comes with that. but to make her into a saintlike figure who got beat takes away the power and intelligence behind her decision.

at this point she’s stuck between two non ideal choices, but she recognizes that they have accidentally made her the single most important player in the game. because while she can’t have the outcome she’d prefer, she has the power to decide the fates of everyone else. the written off lone woman now holds in her hands the fate of every man in her life.

so she thinks about the long term benefits of both options and realizes that one side leaves her completely without any leverage.

her brothers have proven to her multiple times in the last few days alone that they will cut her out and walk all over her the first chance they get. siding with them leaves her nothing to bargain with. she would just have to hope that ken would actually take care of her. and that level of vulnerability is not only unacceptable to her, it’s stupid. and shiv fuckin roy is not stupid.

so she thinks about the other side and about what she actually wants for her life. and against her better judgment, it’s becomes unfortunately clear that she wants tom. the way she wants him is not altogether loving or even good but it is necessary to her. she sees relationships as having winners and losers and she chose this man specifically so that she could be confident in her ability to win. except now he’s grown some balls and made himself unavailable to her.

she may not like the way her husband is evolving but she already placed her bets on him, so she’s sure as hell not losing to him now. there’s also a part of her that feels intrigued by this new man she’s married to. it’s interesting to have a sparring partner in him instead of having to looking for excitement outside of their marriage.

so for maybe the first time ever, she processes what tom has said to her and thinks about what he actually wants.

he needs her to prove that she cares. he needs to know that she is capable of sacrifice. if she can’t find it within herself to do this for him, then she will lose him, and by extension, she will lose.

siding with tom gives her the opportunity to once and for all make a grand-stand gesture of love, but more importantly, it creates leverage for her. never again will he be able to hold the moral high ground over her head. never again can he say she doesn’t love him. never again can he call her selfish or uncaring. above all, he can never betray her again, because she just removed all of his moral justification for turning on her. he doesn’t realize it yet, but she’s just taken back all the power in their relationship. just in a more subtle way than she’s used to operating.

and just like that, she has the ceo of a multi billion dollar company in her pocket, while situating herself as the only descendant of logan roy to still be playing the game, having removed her brothers from the equation permanently. she may still be far from the top but she’s creating a path for herself to climb.

so yes, she’ll let tom play king for a day, and she’ll have his baby and say “congratulations,” and play the gracious wife, but tomorrow is a new day with lots of room to maneuver. and when her husband puts out his hand, she’ll place her own on top. but she won’t grasp it because she doesn’t need to.

#🐺 #shivy’s gonna be just fine #okay this ended up being a very long post but #i feel like someone needed to point out her wins #also i’m fully aware that remaining in the toxic world of the family business is not a win rly but #i think her ending is being interpreted as powerlessness #which it is NOT #she chose her spot. she’s calling shots #she may not have won today but she sure as hell didn’t lose #let’s not work so hard to sanctify her that we remove everything about her that makes her such a brilliant character #succession #shiv roy #siobhan roy #scn #tv

[bentwolioo]

Ok so why did Gerard wear the same costume for 6 shows???

Like a lot of people, I noticed the Aotearoa (NZ) & Australia tour drum head messages seemed to be about 9/11. The costume also tells a very specific story that lines up with this--and there was more to Melbourne Night 2 than Gerard deciding it was casual Friday. I'm gonna go through my personal interpretation and explain why I think MCR did this at the end of their tour. 

TLDR: This Is Not The End.

I will include image credits in the reblog since there are a lot!

AUCKLAND, March 11 2023

Based on the skirt suit and drumhead ‘FIX FAX FUCK YOU’, Gerard is dressed as an office worker. For simplicity I will refer to the costume as the Secretary, I see it as both a character and a metaphor. Auckland establishes the monotony and repetition of daily life prior to 9/11, ‘FIX FAX FUCK YOU’ showing an attitude of boredom unaware of the events to come. 

BRISBANE 1, March 13 2023

The main difference between Auckland and Brisbane 1 is the briefcase. This indicates the point in time--Auckland is the days before 9/11 and Brisbane 1 is the morning before the attacks begin. The secretary travels to work, thinking ‘Everything under Control’.

BRISBANE 2, March 14 2023

The drumhead message ‘Here Comes the AIRPLANE’ marks this as minutes or even seconds before the towers are hit. Brisbane 2 is the first time Gerard wears the coat, representing everyone taking cover. 

MELBOURNE 1, March 16 2023

I unfortunately could not find a good photo of Gerard wearing the coat from this show but you can see it on the floor behind him!

The Melbourne shows are as the towers collapse. Pretty straightforward from the Melbourne 1 drumhead ‘TERROR’. This show also had the only appearance of the umbrella, which I interpret as representing the rubble and destruction raining down. The umbrella is closed, showing the secretary is unprotected and ultimately killed when the towers fall. 

MELBOURNE 2, March 17 2023

It seemed odd at first that Melb 2 was the only show that Gerard didn’t wear a costume for, but I actually believe he still did. This is the key to my interpretation: Gerard is dressed as himself witnessing the towers collapse, on his way to work at Cartoon Network. This the only show on the Oceania leg where they played Skylines and Turnstiles*, the song Gerard wrote immediately after 9/11. The drumhead ‘BARK BARK BARK’ makes you picture, a chained dog, representing the powerless horror of only being able to watch as the destruction unfolds--the deeply personal experience that drove Gerard to form MCR. 

SYDNEY 1, March 19 2023

Blood!!!! At Sydney 1, we see the continuing aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The secretary has died but keeps moving, picking up her briefcase and carrying on. This could be showing how a lot of people’s faith in the US government and in the world died, but life had to find a way to move on. 

SYDNEY 2, March 20 2023

At Sydney 2, the addition of Gerard’s white contacts shows the Secretary decaying--but she has not stopped. Frank changed the drumhead message from ‘UNKILLABLE’ to ‘UNKILLABLES’, expanding the meaning from the context of his accident in Sydney to include the band, the fans, and on a wider level everything MCR represents. 

I think all of this is a metaphor for the band’s career in multiple ways. Firstly, the Secretary being undead of course reflects MCR’s return, and her zombified appearance aligns with the imagery of their new era (decay, swarm, the destroyed buildings of the stage set). Secondly, it is very interesting to me that they did this sequence of costumes and drumheads at the end of their headlining tour, rather that at the start. The story they told seems to imply a rebirth--MCR was ‘born’ out of the trauma, pain and confusion of 9/11, so the fact that they represented the start of the band on stage signifies a second beginning. 

(Thank you for reading to the end and if I got anything wrong please let me know!)

*EDIT 1 (23/03/23): They actually also played Skylines at Brisbane 2. I do think the position of Skylines in the Melb 2 set is still significant. They played it as the first encore song which mirrors it being the first MCR song and written shortly after 9/11.

EDIT 2 (30/03/23): So actually 8 shows of Secretary Gerard when you include Japan! Tokyo and Osaka analysis here

#mcr australia #mcr new zealand #mcr auckland #mcr brisbane 1 #mcr brisbane 2 #mcr melbourne 1 #mcr melbourne 2 #mcr sydney 1 #mcr sydney 2 #mcr tour #my chemical romance #my chem #gerard way #unkillable #unkillables #fix fax fuck you #everything under control #here comes the airplane #mcr

[emblazons]

—woke up from literal sleep to write down the thoughts that clicked for me after I made this post about the Mike/Hopper hug last night, so. Here's the expansion of all of that lmao.

people always talk about the way Mike looked conflicted when El kisses him in S3, on top of the way he seemed fine with them breaking up until she initiated the relationship again (because of the absence of Hopper). I think this is 100% true, and it’s also the start of Mike’s spiral about protecting her we see through S4.

Mike’s “care” in lieu of "love" for El (and lack of ability to tell her he loves he romantically) is directly correlated to Hopper telling him to BE CAREFUL re: El right before he died. Almost as though Mike didn’t even have space to think of El as a true romantic partner— he was too busy trying to hold up the end of her missing “dad," and why he didn't know what to do when she started talking about how she didn't belong (because he's fourteen and not capable of filling the shoes of her father lmao).

the reason why Mike said “I was worried too much about El” is because he was—he was worried in a way suited for a father, not a boyfriend (thank you @emily-tumbles-on for that tag lol).

It’s also why he was so willing to let El go back to Owens—it’s a trusted (-ish) adult figure who could help El in a way his 14 year old self could not. It’s also why he immediately seems okay with letting her go once she says she wants to + throwing away her letter, right up until he realizes where El went is dangerous again, which meant he has to restart the protector-in-Hop’s place worry (which he doesn’t want, but feels powerless to step away from in his paladin-oath-responsibility mind).

When Mike & Will get into it at Rink O Mania over Will not telling Mike what was going on, Will interprets it as romantic attachment when it’s really giving “worried parent” not boyfriend.

That entire “you should have told me” also DIRECTLY REFLECTS the way Mike sees Will as his actual partner and equal no matter the time or distance (like in S2)—and expects him to help shoulder leadership responsibilities the way romantic/life partners would by helping him look after his charge (El).

The whole painting is confusing af for Mike because he does not see El as his partner or lover, but his responsibility in Hop’s absence—and Will, in his projection, is conflating his romantic love for Mike into the familial one between Mike & El. That's also why Mike feels so insecure about not being responsible enough (!!!) and why he looks dejected the way a parent would when you tell them you want do something they used to think was fun before having a kid when Will says “we could just play DnD and Nintendo for the rest of our lives.”

The van scene takes on a whole new meaning when you think about how the second Will made it about El, it forced Mike into a mental conundrum because he felt loved as himself at first…only to have it thrown back in with this wildly inappropriate parental responsibility he has for El because of Hop’s loss. (I watched the van scene again with this in mind and...lmao. Mike's expressions make absolute sense once you keep this conflation / confusion in mind)!

Yet another reason Mike and Jonathan need to have another conversation is because both of them have been suffering from a severe parentification—Jonathan for Will, and Mike for Eleven.

Hopper returning leaves space for both of them to move back into age-appropriate selfishness/relationships (aka think about their own wants and needs with Nancy and Will for a change) because Joyce doesn’t need Jonathan to fill the “man of the house” space, Will is going to “come of age” and have Mike, and El is gonna have her dad.

....all that to say these (and probably a million more things) become WAY clearer when you realize Mike is carrying the burden of Hopper's absence not as a boyfriend, but as 14 year old boy filling a parent space...which makes me really glad Hop didn't really die in S3 all of a sudden lmao. And also...Duffers. FREE MIKE WHEELER 2025

#anti mlvn #byler #jim hopper #mike wheeler #will byers #jonathan byers #LET HOPPER BE HOP INSTEAD OF MIKE 2025 #and also for jonathan! #free the byler duos to love as they please instead of being over responsible! lmao #my st commentary #stranger things #parentified mike

[himehomu]

Homura did nothing wrong. And I stand by that. Because, she didn't do anything wrong towards anyone nor did she do anything with malicious intent. The only thing she did wrong is entirely in regards to herself. Rather than basing Homura's entire character around an act she made out of love or reduce her character to an evildoer with no morals nor love in her heart like some people still do to this day under the poor facade of “valid criticism,” I'm going to explain what Homura actually did wrong in Rebellion and her what her act of selfishness actually was.

What Homura did wrong was condemn herself to suffering as an immortal deity, the Devil whom acts as a rebellion against God, The Law of Cycles, strict laws of the original universe, which included Madoka Kaname not existing. That is what she did wrong, but not in the black and white, Good-vs-Evil way most people interpret this as. Yes, they are meant to be enemies one day, but because God favors rules and always doing the right thing, whereas the Devil favors her desire to stay in a world where Madoka is happy, where her friends are happy, where they are safe and have a chance at a life. A desire for happiness vs maintaining order of a broken world for the greater good, even if maintaining order means making sacrifices and making hard choices that directly rebel against that desire and yearning for happiness.

But, here is why Homura is wrong in dooming herself to her fate as the Devil. It's very subtle, but seconds before the Flower Field scene, as they are walking, Madoka turns and tells Homura that it really hurts her seeing her in so much pain and not being able to do anything about it. This may seem like a simple thing a friend would say, but remember that Madoka lost her memories as a goddess. And, as a goddess, she was stuck alone in Heaven having to watch life go by, Homura's life go by, and wasn't able to interfere. Think about that for a second. Think about being Madokami.

Think about when she could finally understand just how much Homura did for her, just how much Homura fought for her in all those time loops; the moment she's able to reciprocate her feelings, she fades from existence as the consequence. Wanting so badly to comfort Homura as she bears the psychological burden of being the only person to remember her, to know her, to miss her, to grieve and mourn her. Thinking the only time she’ll ever be able to see let alone talk to Homura again is when she’s essentially dying from all the grief, the pain, the guilt, the sadness of not being able to save her from her fate of being a goddess trapped in isolation. Think about that, then look at what she says here again. Of course it hurts Madoka seeing Homura hurting so badly and feeling powerless to do anything about it. Because that's what she's been doing as The Law of Cycles. Much like how she said she'd never make the decision to become a Goddess in the first place a few seconds later, she says this because this is the real Madoka who loves and cherishes Homura, who hates to see her hurt.

Take that into consideration when looking at what Homura turns herself into at the end of Rebellion, how she's suffering and you can see the exhaustion on her face and in her eyes, how you can see the immortality essentially sucking the humanity out of her to the point where she herself believes she is evil. This was never about Good vs. Evil. This is about Homura hating herself so much not only for being unable to save Madoka, but possibly even for loving her in the first place considering her love is what made her powerful enough to condemn herself to her fate as a Goddess trapped in Heaven with her wish. This is about Madoka hating herself so much to where she only deems herself worthy so long as she's helping others, her self-loathing making her reduce herself to a sacrificial lamb and throwing away her life for the better of everyone else, caring so little for herself and being unable to even fathom that she'd be mourned or grieved if she were to die, thus sacrificing herself over and over, seeing herself as a means to an end if it means freedom for everyone she loves. Madoka has always been there to comfort Homura and protect her since the first timeline. How can she do that if her memories and powers to do so are locked away? She can't. Because Homura doesn't believe she deserves Madoka's love.

Homura doesn't believe she's worth Madoka's sacrifice in becoming a God and Madoka doesn't believe she's worth Homura's sacrifice in becoming the Devil. Madoka cannot understand that she is so so much more than what she can give to other people whilst Homura is the only one that does. Homura can't understand that dooming herself to immortality pains and hurts Madoka because she can't do anything about it thus she can't save her from her suffering like how Homura ceased her suffering. It's a cycle. A snake eating it's own tail. A pumpkin that spins round and round and round. They're both selfish and they're both selfless. Homura is selfish in the sense that she's not taking into consideration how Madoka would feel if she knew how much she were suffering as the Devil for her sake yet she is being selfless because she's only suffering as the Devil for Madoka and her family and their friends to have a happy life. Madoka is selfish in the same sense that she's not taking into consideration just how psychologically damaging it is for Homura to not only have to watch her die over and over again throughout 100 timelines but to then erase herself from existence with Homura being the only one to remember her and she is selfless by of course only sacrificing herself so much because she cares for everyone and all Magical Girls, Homura especially included. They both love each other enough to sacrifice themselves for the other but they both hate themselves so much to where they believe they are undeserving of the other's love hence they keep dooming themselves to suffering in isolation and in turn dooming each other.

#pmmm #puella magi madoka magica #puella magi madoka magica rebellion #mahou shoujo madoka magica #madoka magica #madomagi #pmmm rebellion #madoka magica rebellion #madoka kaname #homura akemi #madohomu #i dont wanna say they invented doomed yuri but at the same time.... #did homura do anything morally wrong? no. she did something wrong in terms of dooming herself to internal psychological suffering #which is something madoka outright says hurts her to see homura go through whilst not being able to do anything about it #homura took away madoka's agency to help her because she feels she deserves this for madoka's sake #homura didn't trap madoka she trapped herself and locked madoka out so that she can't interfere bc she wants her to have a normal life #homura is really not the abusive monster y'all make her out to be the only person she's abusing is herself #she's my self destructive pookie bear and what about it #cw long post

[crystallizedday]

Mkay, so I just woke up & I feel like spitting some facts today while I’m still in my BATDR hyperfix, especially since I’m pretty sure not a lot of people have this idea as well & I wanna get it out there somehow.

So…

The Ink Demon is like… written SO fucking well in this game, or at least as I interpret it.

& I figured this shit out like GRADUALLY.

The first tid bit that hit me like a fucking truck was how CANONICALLY the Ink Demon is in DESPERATE need of any kind of love and affection. While it’s hinted at a little bit in the games, the smoking gun comes from the VOICE ACTOR FOR INKY HIMSELF Sean Crisden.

Yes, I looked through his entire Twitter to find this again just to prove I’m not insane.

Like… even if Sean isn’t caught up entirely on the lore, there’s no reason he would say this only knowing the Ink Demon through his lines. After all, my guy has to be told about the character to voice him, so for him to address this pretty much makes it as close to being confirmed officially as we can.

The second thing that hit me like a truck was the YouTuber Pastra’s review video on the game, where he details how the Ink Demon’s mocking in the last chapter is towards HIMSELF, not Audrey, & he’s just projecting all HIS shit onto her.

Not even I caught this, since I always thought Inky was right about the “your life is a lie” thing due to her not being fully human.

But then Pastra emphasized the “mistake” bit. Audrey wasn’t a mistake, far from it. The Ink Demon, BENDY, was. HE was a mistake, born solely to be a living mascot to entertain, & when he came out WRONG, he was locked away, neglected, abandoned by the man who created him.

So he looks at Audrey, someone who was made by the same man who made him, someone who was treated so much better because of how she came out “perfect”, & tries to bring her down on the same level as he is by berating her.

& while this is stretching a bit, him comforting her at the end feels a bit like he’s trying to comfort himself, tricking himself to believe there is SOMEONE like him, someone who was ABANDONED & lied to, & thus giving Audrey the opportunity to live so he can indulge in that comfort.

It’s a BIG stretch, but god DAMN is it a gut puncher!

Like I’m sure he also did it to manipulate her & shit, but like… he can have MORE than one reason to do shit, & if he really did try to comfort himself like that, if that really is true… then I’m gonna fucking sob, man.

BUT THAT IS NOT FUCKING ALL!!

Cause I got ONE MORE mind blower I had, mainly (but not entirely) on my own after that one!!

& it has to do with Baby Bendy.

A LOT of people think Inky got his mind split in two when he was imprisoned as Baby Bendy due to how different he acts around Audrey.

But I beg to differ.

I think the Ink Demon is ABSOLUTELY still conscious & in control as Baby Bendy. He just couldn’t do shit to anyone before Audrey came about & accidentally freed him (cause I am ALSO subscribed to that theory Pastra addressed in his video), so he just minded his own business.

Perhaps his new emotional responses spoken of in the Keepers’ tapes come from him being more powerless & vulnerable where the only thing he COULD do was cry.

& the reason he acts so friendly towards Audrey once she meets up with him near the city? Because she was kind to him, she actually gave a shit about him. She apologized to him about hurting him & wanted to take care of him.

NEVER in Inky’s life has he EVER had someone genuinely care about him & his well being, something he always wanted from ANYONE but never got. So when he finally has that opportunity with Audrey, he jumps to it, going along with it, even if he desperately didn’t want to visit the Gent labs again.

More evidence of this is detailed in a post by @jupiter-jellies titled “Ink Demon VS Vesty” which I really like (I apologize for the tag, I don’t know if there’s an easier option to showcase the post itself, but I still wanna credit you nonetheless) as it makes sense of the sequences of events that happen from when Baby Bendy first joins your party to when he disappears & the Ink Demon comes to stop you from entering the Keepers’ area. Seriously, that shit blew my mind when I read it cause it explains WHY Baby Bendy went missing & why the Ink Demon would try to stop Audrey from going THERE in particular.

It just makes sense that the Ink Demon was still HIMSELF in both forms, he just acts differently to compensate for his lack of powers & to be given the love & affection he always wanted.

… But then it gets sad.

Cause the more I thought about it, the more fucked up it became. The ONLY time the Ink Demon EVER got someone to reach out to him & make him feel cared for… is when he’s in a “perfect” form. Only when he was cute & innocent & TRAPPED against his WILL could he be EVER loved, that if only he came out RIGHT in the first place, then he would DESERVE all the love that Audrey offers him.

If Joey & the others neglecting & abusing him when he came out wrong when he was JUST created didn’t solidify this idea in his head, Audrey treating him like a friend in his “perfect” form & an enemy in his true form DEFINITELY sealed the deal to him.

& it only gets worse.

I was re-listening to Joey talking to Audrey at the tail-end of the game to try & snap her out of the dark mindset Inky put her in when I realized something.

The Ink Demon was RIGHT THERE, listening to his abuser talk directly to AUDREY the ENTIRE TIME, telling her how she was loved & how she’s not this monster, that she was his pride & joy, his ONLY success…

& that PISSES Inky off.

In INKY’s point of view, only after Joey had a creation that WASN’T an abomination did he suddenly have a change of heart, that all it took was to get something he always wanted to be a better person as he completely ignores his biggest mistake that was RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM.

That… has GOT to sting, really bad, to feel abandoned AGAIN in favor of the “better sibling” that Audrey was.

I have a feeling that he didn’t crush Joey SOLELY so he couldn’t get through to Audrey. I think he also did it because he couldn’t take LISTENING to him talk like this anymore, to be reminded that he was a failure that didn’t deserve the love that Audrey got, & lashed out to shut Joey up.

This is ALL very headcanon-y, but… it really does paint the Ink Demon in a more complex & tragic light.

The Ink Demon was NEVER just a mindless monster that killed whatever it wanted on sight. He was capable of emotion, & he could’ve potentially been capable of being something so much more if only he got the proper care & reassurance he DESPERATELY needed.

& GOD I love his character for it, he’s my favorite character in the game BY FAR because of this, GOD I hope this is canon so I can give massive props to the writers for this game!!

#bendy and the dark revival #batdr #batdr spoilers #bendy and the dark revival spoilers #ink demon #ink bendy #bendy #baby bendy #audrey #batdr audrey #audrey drew #joey drew #sean crisden #ink demon character studies #day’s morning ramblings #thank you for reading my essay XDDD #I apologize for the shitty quality for the cutscenes #i just wanted to throw some images in here to spice up the rambling & compliment it a bit #hope ya don’t mind

[cardboardheartss]

omg since leaks are going around about huh yunjin possibly being on jhope's special album are the rumors true and if so what was the behind for this collaboration?

like how do they both feel about this exchange because personally im SUPER stoked

J-Hope x Yunjin Collaboration?

⚠️DISCLAIMER! TAROT CARDS ARE NOT 100% ACCURATE! TAKE EVERYTHING WITH A GRAIN OF SALT! IF MY INTERPRETATIONS ARE INCORRECT FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME!⚠️

⚠️ this reading was so difficult to read on… the energies were really blocked and guarded. yunjin did not want to respond and I literally had to ask soooo many times for her thoughts… hopefully the song will be loved because all these cards and energies are something else…🤷🏽‍♀️⚠️

Will they collab : The Emperor

Yes

Yunjins thoughts : The Hierophant rx, World, 5oC, 10oC rx, 2oS rx & AoC rx

Well…Yunjin firstly Yunjin is happy about the collaboration. She believes it will boost her career and popularity internationally. She thinks the sound feels brand new and fresh, and is a completely different sound that she’s not used to. She believes that new horizons are coming soon but she could also be quite scared and worried about the publics opininon on the song.

She believes this song would lead to fan wars and disharmony amongst the fandoms, and just overall disapprovement from fans. Yunjin will try to block out the negativity and probably avoid her phone, just to avoid seeing all the comments. Yunjin will feel really emotionally overwhelmed and really upset to be honest.

J-Hopes thoughts : 7oP, KNoS rx, QoP, AoS rx, 9oW rx

Well J-Hope on the other hand will feel quite confident about this. He thinks that the song is really good and that him and yunjins hard work really paid off. J-Hope could also think that the song will lead to spiteful and unnecessary arguments on social media, and just everything will be a mess to be honest.

Apart from this for now, he really did want Yunjin to be in the song, he thinks she’s really talented who’s really career oriented and is also well established! (he seems to be a fan of LSFM to be honest lol)

Once again, J-Hope thinks there will be a ton of judgements towards the song. He could probably feel really powerless to be honest, and if the reaction to the songs ends up turning out negatively, I don’t think there will be collabs anymore…☹️

Publics thoughts : AoW, PoP, 8oC rx, 9oW rx, 5oS, 8oS and Wheel of Fortune rx

Well… on the positive note. People like you anon, are all looking forward to fhe collab and are literally just over the moon lol! Everyone feels really confident about this! The public believes that the song will be a success and a good listen.

But unfortunately… the public who are fans of the two idols will not share their honest opinions on the song and not share their thoughts. They’ll think the song is not good enough?! They could thinks it’s a flop or the disliked song on the album?

On the other hand… people who really like the song will have to be HIGHLY defensive, they will be fighting tooth and nail to prove to people that the song is actually good.

As per usual! There will be fan wars for DAYSSS! People attacking each other for hours, bullying, disagreements, arguments. And to be honest, this all stems from jealousy and selfishness.

I believe Yunjin and J-Hope and probably the whole company and groups are the 8oS, they will feel really insecure. A lot of worry, anxiety and just feeling trapped overall.

They could be terrified of having to speak up about because they are aware of the mess it could create.

Unfortunately the WoF rx shows to prove that this will be quite unlucky toward the general public and artists themselves. This whole discourse will probably never be forgotten to be honest, because the fan wars that are going to happen…😬

And I really hope that won’t happen because yea… it’s not a good thing for one (Yunjin) to experience for collaborating with one of the idols who inspired her to be who she is today.

#black tarot readers #tarot reading #tarot #kpop tarot #celeb tarot #tarotcommunity #kpop #tarot master list #le sserafim tarot #bts tarot #kpoptarotcommunity #bts jhope #lesserafimyunjin #sourcemusic #bighit #hybe labels #hybe family

[thelunarfairy]

Hi! Awesome theories, I had a question and I wanted to ask if you have anything to add to it! In chapter 106 or 107 I think, Hanako burst into tears after Tsukasa kissed Nene and took her with him. Why do you think he had that reaction and not something like rage? When I first read the chap I would've thought that would be his reaction.

Also why did Tsukasa even kiss Nene in the first place? I guess to just mock him for his powerlessness to stop him or maybe just to get him riled up? Maybe thats why he asked if Hanako was angry and why Hanako told him he's not? What do you think?

This scene made me think of many possibilities, but from the beginning I already had the idea that Hanako wouldn't do anything against Tsukasa, I had even made a fun post about how Hanako would act when he met Tsukasa.

It's interesting that we notice something subtle in their reunion, when Tsukasa asks Amane if he's going to kiss Nene too, he asks as if it were something so common and simple.

You kissed Nene once, I'm going to kiss her too, oh! were you angry because I kissed her Amane?

No.

So, are you going to kiss her too?

In other words, it's okay for Tsukasa to share the girl between them, and Tsukasa seemed to WANT Amane to see that it's okay for him. He purposely kissed Nene in front of him.

Shall we share girlfriend Amane?

Hanako doesn't like sharing, and that includes Nene, but look at his reaction. When Hanako thought about the possibility of Tsuchigomori becoming a cat and doing "erotic" things with Nene, he was ready to threaten him with death, albeit in a comical way.

When he thinks about the possibility of Nene going out with Kou at the festival, he fights with all his will to get in their way and in the end he actually finds a way to prevent the two of them from being together.

When it comes to Tsukasa he simply says he's not angry, even though he clearly is, he cried like the world was ending, but he didn't do ANYTHING about it, he didn't even scold Tsukasa.

"Mommy! Tsukasa got my girl!" cry Cry

"But, we can share Amane!"

Something like this here:

Initially I thought that Tsukasa did this to force Amane to do what he wants, but we saw that this is not the case.

So, Tsukasa wanted Amane to know that it's okay for him to share a girlfriend? What can we interpret from this?

Hmm…. Is that really why? Oh, there are so many possibilities that I still don't know if I should talk about it 👀

#jibaku shounen hanako kun #toilet bound hanako kun #hanako kun #amane yugi #jshk #hanakokun #tbhk #yugi twins #aidairo #jshk spoilers #yugi tsukasa #tsukasa yugi #tsunene #tsumane #hanene #hanako x yashiro #hanako x nene #tsukasa x nene #jshk amane #jshk tsukasa #jshk hanako #jshk theories #tbhk nene #tbhk spoilers

[skelebellie]

say hello to the rebirth of my hazbin hotel hyperfixation!!!! (this is definitely not related to severe trauma to the church i swear officer)

introducing Cecil (sona) and Petra (oc). i put some info on the images if you want to look their but if you want to here my manic rambling click the spoiler below. but i do have the other four horsemen designs lined up, as well as another oc (this is basically bible fanfiction).

i have so many sketches i have been planning this for too long

CECIL OF PESTILENCE

LIVING LIFE

Cecil grew up during the 1930’s and 40’s, and by today’s standards, was autistic. Their ‘strange’ mannerisms and fixation on understanding how the body worked lead them to being labeled as ‘insane’. Despite that, their father had enough wealth to force them into an arranged marriage, where the few interactions they had with the man lead to abuse and arguments. A proverbial echo of their own father. Luckily for them their husband got his lustful fixings from other woman, and Cecil was able to avoid any intimate interaction with him. However, they found solstice and safety as working as a Mortician to their grandmothers funeral home. There they honed their knowledge. Nonetheless, they desired more, and the raving concept of a 1950’s nuclear family did nothing to help them attain a higher education. So, in a desperate attempt to satiate the itch, they turned to disposing of bodies for local crime organizations. This allowed them to run experiments and explore areas they typically weren’t allowed to as a plain mortician.

In 1951, they met Petra, an albino woman who came into funeral home to organize a funeral for her (certainly not first) deceased husband. She was surprised to see that the head of the funeral home was a woman, and the two hit it off. Petra was delighted to meet someone who had such a strange interpretation of death, illness, and sickness. However, their time in the living world was cut short. One night, after performing an autopsy on a ‘donated’ body, Cecil’s husband discovered what they were doing. In a rage he killed them before using the funeral homes tools to dismember them and disposed of their body in a local landfill. Their body has never been found.

TIME IN HELL

Cecil landed in hell in 1957 following their death. Body stitched together like a makeshift zombie, an echo of the illegal cadavers they obtained as well as the dismemberment that took place. They fell down clutching a 1950’s gas mask, almost like a comfort from the living world. While initially scared, they knew how to avoid confrontation. They had spent their life dealing with members of the mafia and gangs, so they knew how to pass off as a frail woman. Nonetheless, they were happy to have not ended up in heaven. After being raised with god as a reason for abuse and discipline, they couldn’t dare think of staying in such a hypocrital paradise. Cecil was delighted to see all these new ‘specimens’, their anatomy much different than the cadavers they had previously worked on.

However, they still were very powerless upon arrival. It’s fortunate that the friend they called Petra was actually Pestilence, one of the Four Horsemen of the (currently on-hold) Apocalypse. Despite Petras responsibilities, they came to Hell and tried to make sure they one and only friend survived and could live semi-comfortably. Their friendship being as strong as to form a deal between souls. The two promised that they would always be there for each other, even in death (litterally). Heaven, upon finding out that one of the ‘neutral’ celestial bodies was spending time in Hell got increasingly nervous. So, as to not allow Hell to have an upper hand, they killed Petra during an annual extermination. However, their deal remained, and the title of Pestilence transferred to Cecil, though severely weakened.

Over the last 40 years the name Cecil has been spreading, albeit only to a small sect of desperate sinners. ‘On Clarence Street, in the south side of Hell is a small store known as Cecils Curiosities and Oddities. If you ever find yourself at the end of your rope, go there.’ Though, be careful. Cecil is rarely one to make deals for a soul, but dont be surprised if you end up with a missing body part. You wont die- but the higher the ask the higher the cost. Cecil loves to explore demon kind.

At the beginning of the Hazbin Hotel timeline, Cecil found themselves passing a Vox Tech store. A small add ran- one for a hotel for the rehabilitation of sinners. To their surprise, they saw a flash of a certain black, white, and red cat in the background. One which they were far too familiar with and had been missing for months. It didnt take long for them to stomp their way to the hotel, looking for who they called ‘Huskert’. Much to the annoyance of Husk, a certain lab-coated sinner had found him once more. One who had saved his life during the disappearance of Alastor, and begrudgingly, stuck around.

While Cecil doesn’t want to be redeemed, they admire Charlies ambition. They have been pretty bored, and can only let Rosie dress them up for so long before they need new stimulation. Husk, not 100% certain as to what the Radio Demon had planned for him, asked Cecil to stick around. ‘As fucked up as you may be, I know if I got shot you could patch me right up.’ So, after some convincing (and begging from Charlie), they decided to stay as an impromptu doctor. As long as they were at the hotel no one would die of grave injuries, internal or external.

PESTILENCE (PETRA)

The Four Horsemen are one of the few celestial bodies which can travel between the realms of Heaven, Hell, and Earth. Though, they typically spend most of their time on the mortal realm, often indulging in observation as they watch humanity go through stages of sickness, war, famine, and death. Petra, however, was seemingly obsessed with humanity. They were never one to visit Heaven or Hell unless one of their siblings called for them. After the whole ‘Apocalypse’ was put on-hold, they’ve spent their immortal life as a married wife to whatever old-human was festering with illness before they died, resulting in a long line of fortune. Though, it seems as if no one can remember them for long. At the height of the Polio pandemic, and after another entertaining show of sickness, Petra stepped into the closest funeral home in order to burry the man. As much as they didnt mind throwing the old sap into a river, their older sister Death would give them quite the earful.

However, they were delighted to see a small human woman running the funeral home. A rarity in the 1950’s, especially with everyone wanting that disgustingly perfect family life. A glimpse into their soul showed something a tad bit different than the typical human. A person obsessed with thinking that they have a sickness and should be cured, but enamored with death and illness. Though, Petra knew this ‘sickness’ was just a swap of wires, they were fascinated with this double bladed human. The two, much to Petras surprise, hit it off. Unlike most humans Petra could talk for hours about the spread of plagues, the sweep of civilizations, end of life through a simple rat, and this little thing known as ‘Cecil’ looked enamoured.

For the first time since their creation, they felt understood, looked at.

But their time was cut short, upon finding that their one and only friend was ‘missing’. It didnt take them long to realize they had been disposed of. Much to their despair, they couldn’t kill the shitty husband, rules put in place to prevent the Four Hoursmen from interfering with humanity. But they knew Cecil wouldn’t be in heaven, no- that higher realm wouldn’t be able to handle that. So despite their better judgement, they went to Hell. It was a bit of a surprise, but Cecil seemed surprisingly okay with it, as long as Petra remained their friend. Petra spent the next 20 years guiding Cecil, making sure they lived semi-comfortably and teaching them about the intricacies of sinners lest they loose their soul. While they may go months apart, Petra was always there at the yearly exterminations to make sure their friend wouldn’t perish.

However, Heaven did not stand idly by as one of the powerful ‘neutral’ celestial bodies began spending more and more time in Hell. So soon after the stomped out uprising of Hell as well? Fear gripped the heavenly body, a Horseman could not take sides with Hell. Thus during the next extermination, Petra was killed, a shaking Cecil hidden in an alleyway forced to watch the one person they loved ripped from them. Though, their deal remained. They would remain with each other, even in death.

With a Horseman gone, tides began to shift in the mortal realm. So, as to prevent this from happening again, a new Horseman was created, known as Conquest. Made from the ashes of angels and humans, Conquest took the place of Pestilence. But they seemed… weaker than the original Horseman. Nonetheless, Heaven was to blind to see their hypocrisy, and the remaning three original siblings of the apocalypse have stayed in the mortal realm.

#goreguttdrabbles #bonebuddiesart #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel persona #hazbin hotel oc #hazbin persona #person #oc #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #husk #husk hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel art

[esther-dot]

"You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the North. You told me you could be strong. You have the wolf blood in you." (Arya X ASOS)

The old gods legitimately spoke to Arya using Ned's voice in order to give her strength to leave Harrenhal. So the gods of the North is using the former Lord of Winterfell's voice while calling Arya a "daughter of the North" apparently means nothing ? Seriously though, if Sansa had a similar scene Stansas would never shut up about it and claim it's proof for Sansa ruling the North, but apparently when it's Arya it means nothing ? Typical. Just how Arya naming her direwolf after a queen and said direwolf is leading a huge pack of wolves also means nothing even though we know the direwolves names are foreshadowing for their owners, means nothing as well. And this isn't even accounting the fact that Arya fits Varys' ideal ruler speech, and all of the other rulership/queen foreshadowing Arya has which is way more than what Sansa has. Arya has also expressed wanting to build castles, is the current Lady of Winterfell by proxy, has enacted Northern Justice, has offered protection and food to a man of the Night's Watch, and has major themes of mercy, justice, and service/humility, which are all essential to being a good ruler. Stansas could only dream that Sansa had all of this, but she doesn't, and I think GRRM has put so much in Sansa's way of ever ruling the North that it has to mean something. So unless Sansa jumps through twenty complicated hoops and changes who she is fundamentally than it's highly unlikely she'll ever rule the North.

(about this ask)

"I think GRRM has put so much in Sansa's way of ever ruling the North...."

Let's sit and think about this for a moment. LF, the evil mastermind, is currently scheming how to retake Winterfell with Sansa, is working to get her the great fighting force of the KotV, and you're telling me that Martin is placing obstacles in Sansa's path re: getting North/ruling it? We have a character who has successfully schemed his way from nothing to positions of great power working to install Sansa as leader of the North and you want me to believe there's nothing to indicate she's gonna be in a position of power? We have a prophecy about Sansa slapping LF's head on Winterfell's Wall, so we know the girl goes North, we know she out-maneuvers that bastard, and you're telling me that's Martin's way of indicating it’s impossible for her to end up ruling the North?

I deliberately didn't use general tags on my other posts because I know y'all screenshot anything in the anti tags to harass us, and I don't like arguing anymore because it's such a waste of time. I politely disagreed with you, I told you your effort is wasted on me, I don't know why you're persisting. In my last message, I tried to explain that all of our beloved POVs are used to discuss certain themes. I stipulated that a large chunk of Arya's story involves justice/mercy, but explained that since so many characters examine the same idea, we can't say "hey, hey! Justice=leadership=endgame queen!" I mean, Dany and Cersei are the women with experience ruling and both of them are gonna end the series dead (regardless of how you interpret Dany, tragic hero/fall arc etc, everyone knows it ends badly for her). 🤷🏻‍♀️

"Stansas could only dream...."

I don't need to dream. Sansa watched Ned handle things at court while hand, she's learning how to work people from LF, she is running a household, she's taking care of a kid, she's now being forced to charm a loser....honestly, this is stuff that is just as important for a woman to know if she is to be LoW or a queen, and let's not even get into how, while a prisoner herself she intervenes to save a life, how, although she is powerless, Martin writes her to inspire people to be more, to be better, to loyalty and protection. Don't try to pretend that Sansa doesn't have gobs of stuff that are just as easily used to defend spec she ends up in a leadership role in the North. In addition to LF’s plans we even have the other smartpants Tyrion thinking about what a great queen she would be. We’re meant to draw some conclusions from that. 😅 And, considering Martin's anti war/anti violence stance, her compassion for her enemies and her mercy are why thematically she would be part of a better future for the North.

But, we have the revelation that King Bran is Martin's endgame to factor in. I thought Sansa was destined to be a queen, King Bran has made me question it (why would Westerosi Lords select a Stark to lead them if the North goes free/has it's own queen?). So, I now look at what we might otherwise call foreshadowing with a little more skepticism. Jon literally has a raven screeching, "King" in his ear and we have arguments about a) his legitimacy and b) whether or not he will be a ruler of any kind pretty routinely, so I'm not targeting Arya when I say, nah, that's not foreshadowing. My favs are Jon and Sansa, and I now rethink what certain passages indicate for them.

Maybe it would help if you think of it this way. This isn't some sort of competition in which whoever has the more popular theory will magically manifest it or if you harass people into silence their theory will be wrong. Martin has known his ending for decades, I don't think I will ever get a chance to read it, so the only "winning" there is for us is to enjoy the fandom experience. It is a waste of your time (and mine!) to harass strangers on the internet when none of us will ever be right or proven wrong. Make your peace with us all disagreeing, forever being dissatisfied, and go have fun! The only ending I will ever get is not one that made me happy, but you don't see me making that other people's problem.

#dot chat #I’m also not in the mood to be insulted or have my words misrepresented so if this persists I will block you #it’s possible to disagree without being obnoxious 😐 #qitn sansa

[lyinginthesnow]

What makes me lose my mind a bit about Season 2 Kendall is that like— Logan is trying to fully break his will and control him, and Kendall is trying to break his own will in a lot of ways through guilt and self-destructive behaviours, but there’s this tiny stubborn part of him, this desire for self-preservation, that they can’t kill no matter how hard they try. There’s this little instinctual, human voice inside him saying no, I want to live, I want to fight back, I don’t want to be his puppet, I don’t want to drown. Like initially he wants to save Vaulter, and oppose Logan on buying Pierce. Each time he goes up to the roof in “Safe Room”, he comes back down. He confronts Logan when Logan’s getting too cozy with Rhea in “Return”. He seeks out some form of happiness with Naomi (obviously that is self-destructive too given that he knows her presence will enable his drug abuse, but he also does seek connection and joy out of their relationship). But every time this desire to care about himself and fight back rears its head, either he or Logan smothers it. He submits to Logan’s orders regarding Vaulter (“because my dad told me to”) and Pierce. He goes back up onto the roof multiple times. After the confrontation about Rhea, Logan takes him to the waiter’s house, reminding him of his guilt and powerlessness. Seeing that Kendall finds escape in his relationship with Naomi, Logan sends her off the yacht.

So when Logan tells Kendall he is going to be sacrificed in “This Is Not for Tears”, Kendall has reached a point where he obeys without a single protest. “I deserve it. Maybe I deserve it”. But — crucially — Logan disagrees, saying that Kendall has nothing to be guilty about regarding the waiter’s death. Logan’s lines here are really important, because (in my interpretation??) they ignite Kendall’s repressed urge to fight back that has been slowly eroded this entire season, which leads to his decision at the end of the episode. If Logan had responded “yes, you do deserve it”, then Kendall would have walked to his own destruction willingly, giving up, maybe even feeling a sense of righteousness that he was being punished. But Logan doesn’t say that. Instead, he says: “Nah, nah. Not that. NRPI. You’re the best. Don’t beat yourself up. No real person involved. You know, it’s… it’s nothing.“ It’s nothing.

I think Kendall has a realization in this moment which is very similar to the one Rhea has in “DC”, when she says to Logan, “I can’t see the bottom of the pool. I don’t know if you care about anything. And that scares me”. Kendall’s conscience has been eating him up from the inside — but Logan doesn’t have it. He just doesn’t care. The waiter’s death has been weighing on Kendall as the basis for his self-destructiveness (and submission to Logan’s control), but Logan dismisses it so flippantly, almost as if it is irrelevant, since the moral value of that event is currently not related to his own self-interest in using Kendall as a tool. Which is all this ever was. To Logan, it was never about the waiter. It was never some form of “deserved” punishment. It was always just a part of Logan’s game, convenient to him, serving his aims.

So that tiny stubborn part of Kendall comes to life a bit inside him. It says no, no I don’t want to lie down and let you do this to me. I’m not sure he listens to it right away. But it’s there, and it grows bit by bit. No I want to live, no I want to escape, no I want to fight back, no my father is a malignant presence, a bully, and a liar, and this is the day his reign ends

#and obv this is all just my personal interpretation since logan and Kendall’s decision making is soooo subjective — #what is their reasoning?? #and at what point/based on what do they make those choices?? #u could look at it a million ways… #stopping myself from writing ‘in my opinion’ before every sentence of this post was a harrowing experience #anyway #i am very normal about kendall roy daily affirmation #i watched 2x10 recently and. yeah ughghmm it was immensely distressing #logan roy #kendall roy #succession season 2 #succession 2x10 #succession #ruby (unfortunately) watches succession #suicidal thoughts tw #addiction tw

[transmutationisms]

Sorry if this is kind of a loaded or unorganized question but I'm interested in seeing your observations: similar to how you've talked about how some viewers tried to absolve Kendall of his responsibility in the waiter's death, do you feel the scene with shiv and the threesome gets interpreted too 'sympathetically' as shiv trying to deal with her own orientation in a straight marriage instead of the more prominent power dynamics in that scene? I don't discount her as being attracted to women especially since the show plays with gender dynamics but I feel like focusing solely on that, makes her seem more powerless than how she actually is in that context.

And as you said before, Shiv is backed into corners and has less power than her brothers' due to misogyny, but coupled with some takes about her ending on the show I think this 'zero agency' interpretation is too unquestioned, not helped probably that the mainstream audience has also mostly unquestioned ideas about feminism and imperialism/capitalism (and also related to that, and on a more personal note, I find the meta posts people make about Shiv coupled with Andrea Dworkin excerpts a bit silly)

yeah i talked a bit about shiv's threesome here; to me it's very clearly supposed to recall other examples on the show of homoeroticism and homosexual desire that are only able to be expressed through power-bound relationships: tom and greg, roman and the personal trainer, the way kendall talks to lawrence. the violence and imbalance of these relationships (employer–employee; more to the point, capitalist–labourer) are the necessary preconditions for homosexuality to exist. it's the explicitly erotic extension of how logan can talk about 'fucking' someone in a business sense, even though the thought of actual homosexuality disgusts him.

specifically, shiv pursuing a yacht employee is supposed to recall the cruises scandal, which we know involved covering up sexual violence and the deaths of sex workers and migrant workers, and is pretty heavily implied to have also involved the 'wolf pack' engaging in outright sex tourism. shiv chooses a yacht employee specifically for this threesome because, like the others in the upper echelons of power at waystar, she sees this woman as disposable and as a tool for shiv to use as she wishes. the woman's 'consent' becomes ambiguous with this framing, and with the fact that the show excludes her perspective to indicate how shiv and tom take into account their own desires but not her agency. to them, she's a body, to be used for their sexual gratification; again, this deliberately echoes the way the cruises scandal involved the use, violence against, and then discarding of vulnerable bodies: those of dancers, sex workers, migrant workers, &c.

so, there is homosexual subtext in this scene, the same way there's homosexual subtext between roman and the personal trainer. and in both of these cases, the expression of homosexual desire is specifically enabled by these relationships being made structurally continuous with the larger patterns of violence and exploitation that the show discusses: capitalist exploitation, racism, misogyny, and so forth. homosexuality can exist if it's an articulation of violence; to analyse these scenes without reference to the violence of the social forms is missing their central function in the story.

in regards to the second half of your question: i really haven't spent enough time with dworkin's work to have a confident opinion on it, besides disliking the obvious issues (her anti-porn stance, transmisogyny / bioessentialism, &c). what i can say about shiv the character is that, whilst the show does portray her as being subjected to misogyny in her family and in the company, it also portrays her as benefitting from capitalist patriarchy insofar as she can leverage her wealth and whiteness. a lot of analysis of shiv fails to take this second part into account, or to contextualise the roys generally as capitalists (not just 'rich people') who are trying to consolidate a 21st-century empire. also, i don't think a framework like dworkin's is really capable of accounting for the way patriarchy deals with, eg, roman's effeminacy; the figure of the 'sissy' and the functioning of transmisogyny are actually, i would argue, critical to understanding how gender functions for the roys, waystar, and capitalism writ large.

#he doesn't even trust water

[lavender-wiitch]

If honura is a wiling avatar of the web then she coerced madoka into unknowingly becoming an avatar of the extinction, in this essay you already have

DAMN THAT'S SO INTERESTING WAIT A SEC

(for those who aren't aware this is further exploration on something i wrote based on a @wouldtheybecomeafearavatar poll where some people are categorically incorrect in labeling homura as an extinction avatar rather than a web one)

i began thinking further on what you said, and 1) the nature of madoka's powers, 2) her goals and 3) what would feed an entity through her — makes it particularly tricky to pintpoint which fear she'd serve. i was making an entire essay here exploring the possibilities (mainly through an extinction, end, eye and desolation lens) and my brain hurt.

we know that one of homura's main goals is for madoka to NOT engage with the horrors™ much less become a part of them, but her rewinds inadvertently make madoka more and more powerful each loop, which could translate into madoka being marked by a fear more intensely each time. a fear strongly characterized by inevitability, which is what homura is trying to prevent.

madoka's powers as a god are very intrinsically related to the dichotomies of death and rebirth, hope and despair. the way she finds to prevent magical girls from becoming witches is to welcome them to their end before they get the chance to transform. she absorbs their despair, which could mean feeding off of fear and torment, even if it means taking it away from others and placing the burden on her. paradoxically, since she is also a magical girl, that means she'd have to absorb her own misery, which is what prompts the reinvention of reality. magical girls themselves aren't erased, but witches are technically replaced by wraiths as the beings magical girls must fight. they are distortions of madoka's cause and effect of her wish.

what we also know is that fear entities do not give a rat's ass about bringing the peace madoka wishes for humanity. in one way or another, her wish could be warped for the sake of spreading fear. perhaps, in a TMA world, no matter what entity she'd serve, the implications of madoka's wish are even more tragic (as if PMMM wasn't tragic enough!). her unwilling transformation into an avatar inplies the loss/corruption of her humanity and of the very compassion that she feels for the world and its denizens. her hope, which is something so embedded in her core, could get corrupted into something worse (perhaps an extinction interpretation would imply worse consequences for her actions and what magical girls could end up becoming; and a desolation interpretation would reinforce the law of cycles — creating more hope means creating greater grief to absorb and feed on). maybe it would prompt her to seek out more misery, despair and grief to feed on, even if she doesn't want to be an agent of pain, at least not initially. jon didn't want to become someone who takes pleasure and nourishment from violating people's privacy. maybe becoming a concept means a near total loss of what used to make her human, and her motivations would merely become twisted echoes of what they used to be.

imagine the guilt and pain homura would feel. damn all of this would make an awesome AU.

from this point on we can ask a few questions: what her motivations and struggles are (i.e. granting people hope, comfort and release from further eternal misery in life / feeling powerless to stop the horrors™ from dooming the magical girls' fate) and which fear would she cause or feed off of through her motivation and powers, which would have to be warped in some way for them to work for the main purpose of an entity: spreading fear.

an extinction approach would lean more on the rebirth themes and the aspect of replacing witches with wraiths, whether their creation was intentional or not from madoka's part. a terminus route would touch on her new role as this cosmic magical girl grim reaper/psychopomp of sorts, the comfort she offers being twisted somehow into something horrible. a desolation approach would have plenty of dramatic irony, as it highlights how madokami absorbs despair and grief and would feed on the exact feelings of devastation and loss that magical girls are doomed to feel as a consequence of the hope deposited in their wishes. her self-sacrificial nature becomes her downfall as she carries this burden, burns for the sake of others and becomes the most powerful witch (source of despair and torment) of all.

all of these aspects of her powers could be warped into something in favor of these fears and that could corrupt or destroy her as we know her. the thing would be knowing which one would claim her against her will.

what i'm certain of is that the story that would come out of TMA madohomu would be absolutely DEVASTATING and i am HERE for it.

#this is such a cursed AU #as it should be #but anyways i'm so curious as to what people could think about this it intrigued me thank you and sorry for the ramble #my brain hurts so bad from thinking and i didn't even reach a definitive conclusion ffs ughh #doomed yuri got even more doomed #web!homura #homura akemi #akemi homura #madoka kaname #kaname madoka #madokami #madohomu #the magnus archives #tma #the magnus pod #puella magi madoka magica #madoka magica #pmmm #madoka magica rebellion #the mother of puppets #the web #the extinction #the end #terminus #the desolation #the lightless flame #doomed by the narrative #lavenderwiitch asks #long post

[jenatwork]

Thinking about my Utena post about the story from Akio's perspective, I've been thinking also about the final arc from Anthy's position and whether there's anything that we missed - I don't think I'd really thought fully before about what 'the power to revolutionise the world' means to each of them.

That's what Akio/World's End tells the duelists they're fighting for, and they each interpret it differently, which is I think why he keeps it all so vague and shrouded in mystery because it's probably an empty promise. Sayonji wants the Rose Bride first and foremost, for the status she will give him; Mikki wants a power that he associates with art and creativity; Juri wants to prove that her cynical world view is justified; Nanami and Touga both seem to want power for the sake of having power, because it gets them whatever they want in life, because they're used to getting what they want.

But for Akio? It's the power to revolutionise his own world, i.e. to regain the power of Dios, to stop being a human man and to return to being a hero, elevated above mortal men. What power he has in the time of the story comes either from projecting illusions or from pressuring Anthy into using her real power to manipulate others. His world is the one that will be revolutionised, and the duelists are merely the tools he uses to get there, so he has no intention of giving them anything tangible.

Anthy didn't set out to make Dios a powerless mortal man: she sought to protect her brother from the world that wanted to work him to death, and to make people stop relying on him and learn to solve their own problems. But over time, as Akio returns to the world, it's as if he almost grows to resent being powerless - he feels entitled to that power, and at the start of Utena's story, we meet a very human man with the entitlement of a man accustomed to power, entirely separated from the noble Dios.

From Anthy's perspective, allowing that now-entitled and arrogant man to have the power of a sort of demi-god would be disastrous. The chances of him becoming a noble and honourable hero, after decades of living as a man in a patriarchal environment, are slim to none. He would rage, and he would see humans as less than him, and he would not be anyone's hero. He might even kill her for trapping him in the first place. So when Utena comes close to freeing that power, of course Anthy will do what it takes to stop her, even stabbing her in the back. She has been doing what she can to keep Akio in check and keep Utena from progressing through the duels by manipulating others into fighting her. The student council wouldn't have posted themselves beyond their breaking point if they'd reached the final duel - Sayonji never seemed to care about doing anything beyond having the Rose Bride on his arm, and Mikki wouldn't have defied Akio. Juri and Touga might have, but out of spite or arrogance, not out of a genuine desire to protect and free Anthy.

Akio's abuse of Anthy is difficult to explore in this light without coming across as victim-blaming, and that's absolutely not how I read this narrative. But I am also aware that this story is a product of the 1990s, when 'victim blaming' wasn't in most people's vernacular. It is possible to read Anthy acquiescing to Akio's abuse as a means of placating him - keeping him subdued out of fear of what he might do to others if he doesn't get his way. She would rather throw herself off a building to end the duels than openly defy Akio. It's only when she sees Akio throw Utena aside to go after a sword to open the Rose Gate that she realises he's effectively trapped himself, focused on his 'might makes right' obsession with swords and their power rather than stopping to look for alternative ways to open the Gate.

She realises that Akio will never 'revolutionise' his own world because he isn't open to alternative ways of existing - all he knows is swords and duels and physical strength. Her world has focused only on his, and her own 'revolution' happens when she steps away from him and is ready to explore what else the world has to offer besides keeping a power-hungry man in check.

There's tons more to explore here, but that would require going back and rewatching again, which I'm not in a position to do. Maybe the movie? Everyone is different in the movie, so there's likely more Anthy-perspective to take into account. But I am enjoying writing meta again for the first time in ages!

#revolutionary girl utena #meta #anthy himemiya

[myjustice]

spoilers for pt. 4 of lantern rite, thoughts mainly focused on furina.

at first i was concerned that her & hu tao meeting was going to be another little jab at furina's trauma concerning the floods & the people that were lost to the waters & other things ( because she genuinely carries a lot of guilt with her over it & the powerlessness she felt for the last 500 years & just making false promises that she herself as she was had the power to help them when that wasn't the truth ), so i'm really glad that it didn't end up being the case & it ended up being an entirely different thing.

by the sounds of it furina might be testing her wit on making a horror film which i would love to see personally. i hope this comes back full circle in a later patch - would love to see who she thinks would make perfect actors to star in her horror film, it'll probably be characters from liyue since liyue folklore seems to have been the source of inspiration for this film idea she's trying to iron out.

i'm glad that we caught the fontaine cast as they were leaving liyue because i really wanted the lantern rite to be more heavily focused on the liyue cast. i love the implication that the fontaine characters were there enjoying the lantern rite as well though!

i can't express just how happy i am that furina got to meet zhongli first out of the seven & that she got to spend time with him in the company of hu tao. she genuinely enjoyed their company & i adore & i'm so happy that she did because it emphasizes that her isolation isn't something she does with pleasure. furina doesn't like to be alone, she doesn't want to anymore. being on her own is just something she was forced to live with, self-isolation to cope with what may come her way & threaten her spirit. the fact that she can kick it off with others so well is wonderful & that she feels so at ease & comfortable to just be herself around them.

furina being able to tell there's more to zhongli than meets the eye by a mere conversation was awesome. the exhaustion i feel when people want to discredit her ability to critically think on her own or that she's too "childish" to connect two & two on her own is ridiculous. also this one shot of zhongli looking so happy to see her in person is very cute to me.

it gets glossed over that the seven see furina & her expelled divinity as one entity ( individual interpretations from the fandom/fanon aside ), so betwixt them they hold her at a very high esteem for being able to successfully deceive the heavenly principles which is an entity that they all fear ( for good reason ). they don't see furina &/or focalors, they just see furina who has simply destroyed her throne & is now like zhongli & venti are, they're just three retired tired & exhausted ex-archons. furina, however, does not fully have her memories intact, she only has vague recollections of her very old life. should that ever return to her in full swing or not is still very much in the air. it's neither a yes or a no.

anyway, i'm glad that it can't be argued that furina cares so much about neuvillette. he means a lot to her. & that she thinks of his wellbeing & is hopeful about him giving himself a chance in this world even with his lack of interest for it which she has known he has for the longest time. she knows him so well it's actually so lovely to see it play out how it does. she's using the traveler as her middle man, to pass on her message to him but i'm hopeful for the day where these two will get to talk to each other again & reconcile as she continues to find a healthy way to sort through her traumas & her woes to where it's not entirely consuming her anymore. having her see that she's deserving of love & is worthy of it & that it's genuine is the day i'm so excited to be able to see & witness for myself. for hundreds of years furina encouraged neuvillette to integrate himself more & more into the human world so that he for himself can see the beauty she saw in it even through the struggles & pains that come with it so i'm sure hearing the advice furina told the traveler to pass on to him was a song he was all too familiar with. him admitting & coming to terms with that is very important to that part of their relationship.

hearing clorinde regard furina as her friend no doubt meant the absolute world to furina & given how familiar furina is with clorinde it was important to me that she heard it from clorinde the most because furina knows clorinde wouldn't just say & toss the word friend around so lightly & so mindlessly. it really strengthened the foundation afterwards for furina to call them both her friends as well a few moments later because that was reassurance to furina. clorinde just saying this is what friends do for each other was letting her know that they really see her as their friend & that it's okay for furina to consider & see them as her friends as well because they already consider her as part of their group. it made me so happy. they all came separately but they all depart together.

in general i was pretty happy. it was so nice to see furina again. she means everything to me.

some tid bits that i found so funny were the implications that zhongli really did avoid neuvillette which the conflict in that is something i love because there really is a deep rooted conflict there by relation that needs to get addressed & ironed over & not fixed by the power of friendship.

hu tao saying that neuvillette was a friend of furina's that still had a lot of growing up to do because it's true, hu tao isn't wrong but it's just so funny that it came from hu tao, not because i believe her immature, but because her saying it out of anybody else is implying something.

& then the fact that furina vaguely recalls neuvillette's age as a result of hu tao saying that neuvillette has so much room to grow. i didn't know there was so much controversy around it because from the very beginning it was made clear that furina knew he was the sovereign. you may interpret the text as you want. both cn/jp say that he's at least a thousand years old while the english translation say he's several thousands which, both in essence, are not wrong. furina counting his previous dragon incarnations into his current one isn't anything new, at least to me.

regardless, i'm happy furina got to spend time with zhongli. they're good friends now.

#ooc. ( ready...action! ) #hc. ( don't look at me... ) #genshin spoilers / #genshin impact spoilers / #i'm not going to go too into the age thing because i've been informed #it's a shipping discourse thing which i'm not going to humor that's ridiculous

[hagnanimous]

Tess of the d’Urbervilles is one of my favorite classic books, so as a huge Ice Nine Kills fan I have to talk about Tess-timony at least once a month or else I melt. Spoilers for Tess of the d’Urbervilles ahead! Also mentions of fictional murder.

I always found it so strange that after spending an entire book following Tess and her experience, her perspective suddenly drops out of the narrative near the end. In the final moments of her story - Alec’s murder, her escape, her death - we completely lose access to her thoughts and emotions about the events. It places her as a passive receiver of the narrative.

This is why I find it so interesting that Tess-timony focuses on that exact period of the book. Intentional or not, INK chooses to tell her story during the moments in the novel when she is silenced. The song gives her a voice when she was denied one by the narrative.

Another part I love is the surprisingly nuanced understanding of Tess’s power over the story. I’ve read and heard two different interpretations that I disagree with. One reading assumes that she is totally powerless over her life, unable to change her circumstances. This assumption, coupled with her absence from the narrative at the end, implies that Tess doesn’t even form reactions to her experiences. This analysis reduces her from a character to a symbol: instead of being an agent within her own story, she’s merely an embodied metaphor for innocence and naïvety. She’s an instructive device.

The other reading that I dislike is the one that assigns her too much power - the “Tess is a girlboss” reading. This assumes that Tess’s revenge on Alec means she somehow wins in the end. As empowering as her revenge is for her as a character, she still suffered for years, and Alec’s murder doesn’t erase that for her. It only leads to her death, a fate that was always coming for her.

Tess is an active participant in her story, but she doesn’t have the power to change her fate. That’s what I think Tess-timony captures really elegantly. Tess has power, but she is still doomed. Even as she finally gains the voice that was denied to her by the novel, the impending tragedy still looms over her. This is captured so well by the end of the song:

“So officer please, that's the man who's destroyed my existence / Yeah, he begged and he screamed just like I did / And for this I was willing to die / It was all I could do to survive.”

The version of Tess we hear in the song has fought tooth and nail for every scrap of agency she could get, but it still wasn’t enough. (And she never should’ve had to fight like that in the first place.)

I don’t even know if any of this was an intentional choice by INK when writing the song. Regardless, I think Tess-timony is a deeply meaningful reception of the novel.

#ice nine kills #every trick in the book #tess of the d'urbervilles #thoughts #music #classic literature

[wibble-wobbegong]

thesis— if it’s something mike thinks will hurt el, he would never do it.

“she didn’t look fine.”

that was when he felt lost, powerless, frustrated, and resentful about his relationship, and caught up in those emotions. all things he could very well be when kissing will in a heat of a moment, especially if he’d just found out his real feelings are requited.

okay so this is actually a very interesting point to make because rink-o-mania is pretty much our only example of el trying to start conflict with el (other than the body scene in s1 but that wasnt really about el so i dont count it)

rink-o-mania’s events are very interesting because, in terms of mike, i think two major things are going down in his head regarding el:

1. one thing mike holds to himself is that violence should only be used in defense of others.

we never see him use it for himself, and the only time he ever instigates violence is in the gym with troy after watching will get made fun of (which is a great example of how his will isn’t absolute and it has bent for will in the past, so i won’t deny that the cheating scenario is possible because of stuff like this). later on, what we see from mike is that he recognizes el’s situation in rink-o-mania, and in general, as something he understands and has experiences but he never went so far as to hurt someone

here’s the thing though: mike didn’t hear angela’s comment about hopper. with fighting for will, we see that there’s some leniency to this internal rule he has and he’d probably be a lot more understanding of what happened if he knew that what caused her to snap wasn’t the being pushed down and teased but rather having her dead father made fun of. i’ve talked about it before, but mike’s route to understanding others is through connecting their experiences to his own. mike saw himself in el at rink-o-mania but he doesn’t understand how she’d resort to violence, but if he knew about what they’d said afterwards he’d be able to recognize much more clearly why she snapped the way she did

2. el had broken this preconceived image mike has of her.

a lot of mike’s admiration and dedication to el comes from the way she was able to protect him and his friends in s1 and that her sense of justice seemed to match up with his own but she was a superhero who could do the things he found himself unable to. in doing everything i just said above, she broke that image of herself in mike’s mind because mike doesn’t really know her. he’s living in an image of her, which may have some truth to it, but he also internally holds her to very high standards as a result.

when he goes to make amends with her (before it turns into a fight) he’s not really asking about rink-o-mania. it sorta seems like he’s brushing that part of the day under the rug, but he does ask why she felt like she had to hide her genuine situation from him. i think he tries to move past it because he eventually gets over his own initial reaction

what all that means is that a certain part of mike’s morality took the forefront when he saw what el did because she also broke his internal concept of who she is and why she does things the way she does. the extremes she went to with angela were not even things he would go to with troy, but in el’s world the scale of violence looks so incredibly different that their interpretations of such a thing aren’t even comparable.

because all of this lines up for mike to be willing to be bitchy with el, i don’t really see a situation like you described where cheating would work. a different type of morality took the forefront at rink-o-mania alongside his image of el being cracked, but that wouldn’t be the case in a situation with will

i did say earlier, however, that we have seen mike break his own code over his love for will. that, imo, is a better example of him falling into the hands of emotion. so it’s definitely possible, but we have seen mike choose el’s happiness over a potential relationship with will before at the end of s3. he’s had chances to be with will before when he thought his feelings were requited but when el kissed him that possibility flew out of the window (and i know this doesn’t make sense if you don’t follow my posts but it’s an entirely separate analysis that i’ll gladly make if you’d like). i just don’t think we’ve been built in the direction of canon cheating and i think mike’s internal pressure to make el happy has been around so intensely and constantly for so long it would be sort of strange for it to just break because of his own desires when we know that isn’t something that motivates his actions

BUT again i could see it as a possibility if the writers did things a little differently

#asks #mike wheeler #elmike #byler #mike analysis #im also writing this very early in the morning so sorry if this isnt the most well written response