#no but I really do write essays and make power points about whatever for my college classes

[pasta-in-the-pudding]

Warmly greet!🫰 I just came across your blog today and I'm already in love with it!🖤🖤🖤 Could I leave a request here where Puppeteer, Jason, Candy Pop and LJ have a S/O who has insecurities about not being good enough for them? Because, come on...they're supernatural, not quite human, and their S/O is a regular, weak human, at least from the S/O's point of view...

Oooh thank you, friend! Also, i never get to write for Candypop or LJ so i am excited to do it!

Thank you so much for requesting!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Puppeteer

He will just kind of stare at you when you tell him those feelings

Like??? Are you kidding???

He is so obsessively in love with you that the thought of you feeling like you aren't enough for him is wild to him

Instantly he will assure you that you are more than he could ever dream of, and how much he loves you

He doesnt love you for supernatural abilities or powers, he loves you for you

Again, the thought of you not being enough for him doesn't even really comprehend in his mind

it's so insane to him that you, his most favorite person in the world who he couldn't live without, thinks that they aren't enough for him

If anything, he isn't enough for you, in his opinon

you are a literal deity walking on earth, and he is lucky enough to even witness your beauty and you think you arent enough???

Yeah, those thoughts are snuffed out rather quickly by him

He will spend the entire day going over every little thing he adores about you if he has to

Jason The Toymaker

He is just kind of confused when you express your feelings to him

"Now, what's this all about?" he asks with a pitiful look towards you

He honestly thinks that it's kind of weird that those feelings are even something humans are capable of feeling

What does he care that you don't have any weird abilities?

"Even when you are old and grey I will still love you. I will love you when you are in pain, and I will love you when you are happy. You being human makes no difference to me, because I love you. Even when you breathe your last breath, your soul will live on with me in the form of my favorite doll I will keep on a special shelf, pristine and upkept"

He's kind of a helpless romantic lol

Bro gave you a whole essay

anyways, he literally could not care less if you are magical or not, he's just thinks you're neat <33

CandyPop

He kind of thinks its funny that you think that

He will snort and look at you like you're joking "why??"

"You shouldn't feel that way. It's pointless to. Because you and I both know that no matter what, I still love you. I wouldn't be with you if I didn't like you at least a little bit"

He will joke around with you and make you try to feel good about being human

You are allowed to go pretty much wherever you please without being called a demon, he can't

Your squishy flesh human body is quite sustainable on its own, being able to morph and adapt to extreme situations, which he thinks is neat

And his personal favorite about humans, specifically you, you have such a wide array of expressing yourself! You have emotions, art, studies, etc

He loves you being human and you not liking being human is strange to him

Laughing Jack

He understands the insecurity

He can't say he's ever felt it, because he gives literally no fucks, but he understands

He will do whatever you want him to do about it, really

Lord knows he doesn't know what to do

If you wanna rant, he'll listen

If you wanna just be doted on, that's what he'll do

Whatever makes you feel better

Honestly, he does find it a little peculiar that you don't like being human

Like, if he could be 5'10", wear whatever he wants, do whatever he wants, go whatever he wants, etc, he'd be soooo happy

His 7'6" ass could never

#creepypasta #slender mansion #creepypasta x y/n #creepypasta x you #creepypasta x female reader #candy pop x reader #candy pop #laughing jack x you #laughing jack x reader #laughing jack #the puppeteer #the puppeteer x reader #jason the toymaker x reader #jason the toymaker

[sunshine-omega]

hello there! sincere question, why do you think there are so many omegas in miscecanis (I think I misspelled that but close enough) I myself prefer Alpha but I like nests anyway but I never really did traditional things for my first sex why start now with my "second sex" thingy whatever it's called

also I will likely be a reoccurring anon so call me Cumin, I will sign all my asks

Hi!!

I think that there’s a lot of omegas in the miscecanis community because the traits assigned to omegas are really relateable for a lot of us. Here’s some reasons I can think of:

People who enjoy and write a/b/o, for the most part, have been socialized as women. Omegaverse explores topics of power as it relates to gender and bodies. This trope creates a space for a reader to play with those ideas within the safety of fiction! So, it makes sense that those who feel so strongly about these ideas that they’d identify with them (miscecanis) would tend to feel that way about the omega experience. That perspective is so central to the trope that is literally in the name “omegaverse”. (For a great breakdown of this idea, see this video essay)

A HUGE portion of the miscecanis community is trans and nonbinary, especially afab. Of course not every trans person feels the same way, but many of us find safety in or resonate with omega anatomy. Omega anatomy isn’t consistent between verses, but it always breaks the binary norms that society imposes on our bodies. It’s really appealing to self identify with a role that is in agreement with our bodies, rather than in conflict.

Here’s a post where I wrote about this topic before

For me, this last point has been true in various stages of my transition. When I was at my most dysphoric, my omega identity was my greatest refuge. I’m more comfortable now but it’s still very important to my gender.

Neurodivergence and typical omega behaviors is another big one. I mean come on, nesting?!? Heck yeah. I think that people might feel that because they enjoy the features typically attributed to omegas like nesting, sweet scents, nurturing roles in relationships, etc., that must make them an omega. It’s really okay if that’s why someone picks their role! But like you mentioned anon, you’re an alpha who likes to nest, that’s really great too. I think that behaviors are a starting point for many people and that could be another reason why there are more omegas in miscecanis.

(Also omegas are often doted on and yknow what?? who doesn’t want that)

The simplest answer though: most a/b/o is written with omega protagonists. The protagonist is the character you empathize with the most, your window into the world of the story. When most of the omegaverse you read comes from the perspective of omegas, that might end up feeling the most familiar!

#cumin #asks #miscecanis #a/b/o lifestyle #omegaverse lifestyle #misceanimalis #sunny post

[frodo-with-glasses]

More Reading Thoughts: The Shadow of the Past

"The blame was mostly laid on Gandalf." Whatever you did, you've been officially labeled a Disturber of the Peace...

Something about "but the growth of hobbit-sense was not very noticeable" cracks me up

I love the fact that Frodo kept throwing birthday parties for Bilbo after he left. It's so sweet.

I would much rather go to Frodo’s Hundred-weight Feast than Bilbo’s Party of Special Magnificence, actually; twenty guests and several meals “at which it snowed food and rained drink” sounds much more my speed X-D

“Bilbo isn’t dead.” “Where is he then?” “🤷‍♂️”

F in the chat for Folco Boffin, who was mentioned like once in this chapter and never comes into the story again

"Merry and Pippin suspected that [Frodo] visited the Elves at times, as Bilbo had done." TEA???

Frodo's wandering in the autumn has such an evocative and melancholy feeling to it. So much so that I wrote a poem about it last year...

Part Two of me wishing the movies could have shown the Dwarves passing through the Shire on their way to the Blue Mountains

Sam be like "Dragons and Ents are real, I tell you!" and Ted Sandyman like "press X to doubt"

Our first glimpse of Sam's unassailable trust in Frodo and his wisdom 💚

And now! Exposition dumping, with Gandalf.

I hate the fact that I can't see or hear the word Eregion without getting war flashbacks to Amazon's Rings of Poopy

Ooh, remind me to write an essay about the invisibility power of the Ring(s)...

"[Bilbo] would certainly never have passed on to you anything that he thought would be a danger." Oh boy, would you look at the time, it's Crying About Adoptive Relationships O'clock

"'There wasn't any permanent harm done, was there?' asked Frodo anxiously. 'He would get all right in time, wouldn't he? Be able to rest in peace, I mean.'" OH BOY, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE TIME—

Literally Gandalf: "Hobbits are my special interest"

"It is quite cool." It sure is, Gandalf. Wicked. Radical, even.

Low-hanging fruit, I know, but I had to 🤣

Speaking of low-hanging fruit, here's a joke I made two years ago about the "until Spring had passed into Winter" line:

He threw a luau barbecue one breezy summer night/Invited all his turtle pals to come and have a wiki bite/The turtles started walkin' there as Lance began to swing/The one that lived across the street arrived there in the spring...!

"I wish it need not have happened in my time." "So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." Still a line that goes so, so hard, right in the middle of this exposition dump.

I like how in Gandalf's story, he makes Deagol talk normally, but Smeagol still has all those verbal idiosyncrasies that are iconic to Gollum.

I'm still trying to remember who it was that pointed out that the last syllable of Smeagol is the first syllable of Gollum. Blew my mind when I saw that, I tell ya.

"I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought." "It is not." 🤣🤣🤣

The thought of Gollum creeping through a window to snatch a baby from a cradle and eat it is at least seventeen different kinds of Not Fun. Thanks, Tolkien.

I have very little to say about Gandalf's retelling of the Ring's story—and Frodo's frightened and naive questions—except that it's almost as hard to tear your eyes away from the book as it is for Frodo to throw the Ring into the fire.

"I do really wish to destroy it! Or, well, to have it destroyed. I am not made for perilous quests." Oh, Frodo, bby...

I love how Sam's spying is so artfully foreshadowed here X-D You just go whistling away down that path, buddy! Nobody suspects a thing!

All Frodo has to say is "I suppose I'll have to go running into danger alone to keep everything and everyone I love safe, even if it means never coming home again; it's a pity, but I'll do it" and Gandalf is like "Frodo have I mentioned lately how much I love you and hobbits in general". Which. Mood! Big mood!

SUDDENLY, SAMWISE GAMGEE!

Good gracious did I need Sam and his comic relief after this heavy chapter X-D Bless you, Sam, you loveable dummy

I wonder what hobbit idiom Tolkien "translated" into "Lor bless you, sir". I'm not sure the hobbits have a concept of Eru Illuvatar as a benevolent God who hands out blessings; and if they do, I somehow doubt they'd have quaint little figures of speech like this. But I'm just nitpicking at this point because it's fun.

"There ain't no eaves at Bag End, and that's a fact." SAM 🤣🤣

"Mr. Frodo, sir! Don't let him hurt me, sir! Don't let him turn me into anything unnatural! My old dad would take on so." Have I mentioned that I love the heck out of Sam?

Frodo is "hardly able to keep from laughing", which, MOOD!

Sam heard that Mr. Frodo was going away and audibly choked. GAH I love him so much

Frodo sure knows how to threaten Sam LOL

"If you even breathe a word of what you've heard here, then I hope Gandalf will turn you into a spotted toad and fill the garden full of grass-snakes." 🤣🤣

"'Me, sir!' cried Sam, springing up like a dog invited for a walk. 'Me go and see Elves and all! Hooray!' he shouted, and then burst into tears." Oh, Sam. I love you.

#chapter review #frodo baggins #gandalf #samwise gamgee #lord of the rings #lotr #my writing

[owlhari]

a guide to not being ableist about norman becile

greeterings, fellow steam powered giraffe fans. while browsing becile content, i've unfortunately noticed a lot of ableism, both subtle and not, when it comes to folks talking about norman. i want to write a quick "guide" on how to not do that.

some disclaimers: this was not inspired by any particular post or user. it's a general trend i noticed, and to be fair, there are many years-old posts in this fandom with authors that may have changed since writing them.

don't take it as a personal attack if you realize you've done something mentioned in this post. take it as motivation to learn and grow!

also, i do not have a visible body/facial difference or an intellectual disability, but i am physically disabled and neurodivergent in multiple ways. i may have some "authority" on this topic, but don't take my word as the final say for any of this.

mini-essay starts below the cut.

let's start with language.

when describing norman and the 1950 incident, try to use neutral words. instead of saying he is deformed, disfigured, or crippled... say he was changed or transformed.

of course, if you are writing fic where a character is supposed to be ableist towards him, or maybe norman's feelings about himself immediately after the incident, it might make sense to use language with negative connotations.

but out of character, there's no excuse for using slurs. please don't call norman crippled. there are so many other words you can use.

why is neutral language important? because disability is not a negative thing by default. having a facial difference or a cognitive disability is not inherently bad.

(side note that yes, the official timeline uses language that is... maybe not the best. the official timeline also hasn't been updated since 2015.)

sort of related to language, look at canon for norman's speech patterns.

he appears in pages 11 and 12 of the comic, with plenty of dialogue. he does not speak "like a child" or have any apparent speech difficulties. of course, there's nothing wrong with that (i have a stutter! again, disability is neutral!) but the fact is norman speaks like every other character we see in the comic.

he enunciates himself just fine, he uses vocabulary you would expect an adult to use, he can be sarcastic and make jokes.

don't write dialogue for norman where he talks in the way you believe people with intellectual disabilities "should" talk. it just makes you look like a jerk who makes assumptions.

my last big point: wanda and norman's marriage.

it is canonical information that wanda walter married norman and took his last name. wanda's last name being becile in the timeline was confirmed by bunny bennett as not a typo or a mistake, she really did marry norman.

there is no reasoning given for their marriage, and they are never shown interacting in the comic. we don't even have a date for when they got together, aside from the fact that it was before 2015. however, this does not inherently mean their marriage was forced, that they're unhappy, or that wanda "had no other choice."

norman has been living at walter manor since at least 1956. if wanda truly did not want to be around him, why would he be there at all?

she has clearly forgiven him for what he did, else he wouldn't have been allowed to live with her for over fifty years. there are war-enhanced robots in the manor at all times, and you're telling me if norman made wanda uncomfortable in any drastic way, he wouldn't have been kicked out immediately?

of course, as i said, there is no truly canon reason behind their marriage. you're free to headcanon whatever you like. but if you're dead-set on writing that wanda was coerced or married him out of pity, i'd like you to consider why.

if norman didn't have a facial difference, if he wasn't disabled, would you be making those headcanons?

and finally... why does this matter, if norman's appearance isn't anything a human could possibly look like?

it matters because the way you talk about norman might come across as what you think of actual disabled people and it might make actual disabled people uncomfortable.

if your first thought when seeing norman in the comic (who, despite how little we see of him, seems happy and fulfilled) is that he must be a miserable man, suffering from his disabilities, with a wife who married him out of pity... i encourage you to do some reflecting about that.

thank you for reading. please be nice to disabled people, and have a wonderful day.

#steam powered giraffe #spg #norman becile #wanda becile #wanda walter #disability #sighs. finally had the energy to write this one out #begging people not to be weird in the comments. please

[butchhamlet]

what are your favourite things about king lear? also do you know any really good productions that i can watch online for free? asking because i didn’t really like king lear when i read it (except for edmund. i love edmund) and knowing why other people like it might let me look at it from a different angle. because i know it’s objectively a good play, and there’s a 50% chance of me having to study it next year so i want to like it

so i started writing a response to this ask and then paused to plot out my points (as if writing a goddamn essay) and then i looked at my points and i had written

fucked-up families

apocalypse vibes

women are hot

which. yeah, that's it, isn't it

anyway, to elaborate on that: i will admit that some of this is just personal preference, because i love stories about complicated nuclear-waste-toxic family dynamics, and lear is, like, one of the original Nuclear Waste Family Dynamic plays. (so is the oreisteia, incidentally.) what gets me specifically is that this is a play about power, yeah, but also about love: everybody in lear wants love, and nobody is getting enough of it. and the dynamics of the two families here get immediately more interesting if this isn't JUST a who-inherits-the-throne thing. edmund wants political sway, yeah, but maybe he also wants to be seen as more than a bastard. goneril kills her sister out of jealousy, yeah, but also, has she ever had a person care about her like edmund? (does he care about her? how much of the love triangle is about love vs lust vs calculation? these are questions that could be answered a thousand ways.)

i also read this play counter to old white guy traditional scholarship because i think lear (the guy) sucks. sorry. i think he sucks. i think he's terrifying and tyrannical and his daughters can do whatever they want (imo, his main problem is trying to apply his political power to his personal relationships, and that's not something caused by his senility. goneril and regan state at the end of 1.1 that, while he's going off the deep end a little more these days, "the best and soundest of his time hath been but rash." this guy has always sucked). speaking of goneril and regan, they're not evil hags--they're women trying to live with an unpredictable father, as well as trying to retain the little power they have in a male-dominated world. (notably, regan's husband is on her team, while goneril's isn't, and lear seems to have a lot of hatred for goneril specifically. which colors how both of them interact with power, edmund, and each other.)

i could actually talk about lear family dynamics forever (do cordelia's sisters love her, resent her, or both? how does edgar feel about edmund? how does edmund feel about edgar, for that matter? does he feel guilty at all for doing what he does? does edgar feel guilty about killing him? is the relationship between lear and gloucester entirely professional, or are they friends? can lear even have friends when he sees everything as some sort of zero-sum power love game? is kent gay for lear? <- yes) but i won't. because i have another point to make!

which is that it's somewhat comforting to me, in an era of [gestures at the news and broad state of the world], to read a play where people are like "holy fuck the world's going to shit and all the rules of society are inverted!" i read lear for the first time during pandemic quarantine, so. it felt fitting. your mileage may vary here (maybe you prefer escapism), but i think one could draw a lot of parallels between lear and [gestures out the window again]. this play is bleak in a way that few other shakespeare plays are bleak. (maybe timon of athens.) it's set in pre-christian britain, and the gods are invoked, but they're not really present. no one who appeals to higher powers ever seems to get any help or even comfort. and the original story of king leir didn't end Like That. shakespeare decided his play was going to end with the emotional equivalent of getting bricked in the face. cordelia's death doesn't mean anything at all! it didn't have to happen! edmund tried to stop it! she doesn't die in the original myth! and yet we're left with this horrifying apocalyptic last scene, where all the struggles for love and power come to almost nothing. maybe, if one is concerned about current events, this would make one feel worse. but i fucking love tragic catharsis and i feel bleak about the modern world so this horrible upsetting play is quite close to my heart <3

finally: i've already touched on Hot Women, but . i am a simple butch. i think goneril and regan are soooooo sexy. i love when women are mean and ruthless. i love when women kill with swords. i think conflating the two of them/treating them like two halves of the same Evil Daughter Character is a cardinal sin of shakespeare studies; you have to be reading with your eyes shut not to note stuff like regan's desire to outdo goneril, goneril's comparative lack of fulfilling relationships (re: lear fucking hates her and her husband sucks), or the differences in their dynamic with edmund (regan is still mourning cornwall at this point--does she love edmund at all, or is she just playing the political long game?). and cordelia, too, is more than just the Angelic Good Daughter; she's on stage much less frequently, but she shows a stubborn virtue that honestly borders on naivete and maybe an inclination toward martyrdom. how does she feel about her father? does she really forgive him? how does she feel about her sisters, for that matter? i'm not saying this play is, like, the most feminist shakespeare play ever written; i just really love the lear sisters.

other misc stuff: the themes are tasty! look at the authoritarianism! (is it right for one man to have this much power? see that line about the king being a wheel rolling down a hill destroying everything in his path as he destroys himself, or whatever). look at the gender dynamics! (goneril's dominance over albany and edmund in turn; the question of her womb; the mutual violence of regan and cornwall; cordelia leading an army.) look at the debate about fate and predestination! (#redditatheist edmund i love you). ++ the fact that it's set in some kind of nebulous unclear time period and the fool sings about merlin who wasn't even alive yet. i just think it's neat <3

as far as productions, i have a friend who swears by the bob jones university prod, though i haven't seen it in full (hi @lizardrosen :D). i also hav NTLive and RSC lears somewhere, i think, but shhhhh don't tell

i'd apologize for this ask being this long, but when my parents asked me to explain the plot of lear to them in 2020 i talked for 25 minutes so i guess we're all getting off lucky here

#max.txt #asks #dm me if you want those. i think i have them. #to be clear you do not have to like king lear. you can thikn whatever you want about king lear #but i like it a lot so here are some of the reasons why <3 #lear

[why-is-thinking-so-hard]

okay so au time prologue actually

this gets really long

⚠️spoilers for mean girls, both of them⚠️

fuck okay, I have to remember how this all started hang on...

and the context IS important TO ME

anyway, I think this started with the bus actually. holy shit, this started yesterday? oh my god... I feel like this has been plaguing my brain for weeks.

so my friend and I had just watched both mean girls movies because he had never seen either one before and that needed to be fixed. after he left my place, I saw a post joking about making a legal case for the bus driver speeding through the school zone and my adhd brain took that and ran and I mean RAN. before I knew it I was thinking about how that crash was intentional.

we had just watched both movies so the scene was fresh in my mind, I mean, they had to see regina in the road well before they hit her, but there's no attempt to warn her and get her out of the road or stop the bus until after she's been hit. in both movies the road is clear, not a single car or person-- hell, not even a single piece of trash--, regina's in the road for a minute or so, there are no visible crossroads or corners around the crossings where she's hit so the driver didn't whip around a corner and plausibly not see her, and you don't hear the brakes on the bus until after regina's been hit and buses are big so takes time for the brakes to engage, if they were trying to stop before they hit her, you would've heard the screech and swerving during that scene but there's nothing and the bus is heading straight on.

anybody who follows @butchregina (love their art, literally gave me gender envy and now im shopping for binders) knows they often ask what people are thinking about and so I sent the whole above analysis in and they answered "I think someone put a hit out on her"

what does this have to do with a superhero/spider-man cadina au? im getting there, but wow this is getting long. why is it I can write an essay like its nothing when im no longer in school?

the answer was funny so I sent it to my friend and he said "there is no driver cady just manifests them[...] its why she was homeschooled in the African savannah her prents had to be somewhere with no cheeselog busses for her to teleport to her location within a fifty mile radius or smth," which I also sent in as an ask with the caption "another option," to which the answer was "she is a superhero. She does control the buses."

so this is where we actually get into the how the superhero/spider-man au thoughts came to be. that response got me thinking about superhero cady, not cady summoning buses because that made me lose my mind, but superhero cady. part of me was endeared to the idea of a cadina where cady had powers but regina didn't but how can regina not have powers? when I started thinking about it it truly was just a vague superpower au, like, cady somehow got powers and had to hide them- maybe janis and Damian know and are her Man In The Van TM- and then there's regina who kinda looks down on her but thinks her hero alter ego is the shit it was a whole thing but I feel like I should wrap this essay up.

point being, there are more details, but I will get into them in another post because this was the prologue, the context of why this has been plaguing my mind for... less than 24 hours at last check. I will be posting more about this under superhero cadina or spider-man cadina, it depends on how vague I am about their story and powers.

if you read to the end of this, thank you for indulging my rambling about whatever the hell this was/is going to end up being, best of love and luck to you

#mean girls #mean girls 2024 #cadina #superhero cadina #spider man cadina au #be warned there's not much about the actual au in this #this is a prologue to the au #like its explaining how my brain got there #it felt important to mention

[cursedvibes]

When it comes to the Shinjuku fight it kinda reminds me of how I felt reading Madara during the 4th Shinobi War Arc. Where it’s like “Well I’m not mad that Madara is strong, that he keeps getting stronger, I just wish the battle was better paced and that Madara was better set up.” same with Kaguya.

Also I’ve noticed that the reading comprehension in this community is straight ass. People seem to not really care about the narrative outside of the main main characters. People are willing to overlook flaws in the main characters writing but will be very loud and it flaws outside of them. Vice versa, people are fine with the rest of the narrative being sacrificed if it means an exciting moment featuring their favorite character (cough Gojo cough).

It’s behavior similar to what I see in idol or band communities, which boggles my mind because JJK is a story. And should be read and analyzed like a story, not an idol group or gacha game.

It does feel quite similar to the 4th Shinobi war although thankfully not quite as bad. I think we have way too many people running around to the point that they have to come up with dumb reasons for why Angel, Hana and Inumaki can't participate for example, but that's still way better than the thousands of fodder ninja Kishimoto expected us to care about, while making it clear that only a handful of people could handle Madara, Kabuto and Kaguya anyway. Not to mention killing who was very clearly supposed to be the main villain only to introduce a completely new villain, who hasn't even been so much as mentioned up to that point and needed a total reboot of the world building to make sense. Everyone knows the thing that this series about ninjas desperately needed was aliens...

JJK also has the advantage that while Sukuna is insanely strong and the protagonists only slowly chip away at him, overpowering him isn't the goal here. So it isn't like with Naruto, where the main characters have to unlock some new type of cursed energy to beat him or whatever, it is much more an ideologically driven battle, where what really counts is undermining Sukuna's philosophy, which you can do best by not buying into the obsession with strength. The problem is just that Gege is getting a little too caught up in throwing around techniques than tackling what really matters. Kind of similar to the Gojo vs Sukuna fight, although not as bad yet. Having Yuuji involved has definitely improved things. Still, I think you can again feel that Gege is struggling with writing an overpowered character and finding the balance between showing his strength and focusing on the thematic aspects of the story like they manage to do in pretty much every other fight. Again, the foundation is there, but the formulaic structure of the Shinjuku fight is not really helping. Plus you have some unnecessary intermissions like Yorozu dying to give Sukuna a weapon that does nothing and only serves as a get-out-of-jail-free card (seriously what was the point of all that, it had literally 0 zero consequences and only robbed us of a chance at seeing Sukuna in a scenario where he can't rely on his strength).

Agree that there has been unfortunately very little good analysis on these chapters. I don't know how it looks on reddit, but it's getting quite hard to find some good meta on tumblr and twitter on this fight. A lot of commentary I see boils down to either "why can't Sukuna just die already??" and "Gojo has to come back to fix everything, here's a 38 page essay on all the foreshadowing of his return that will happen any day now". I can understand the first point, these people mostly just seem fatigued by the structure of this fight (new character pops up, gets killed/gravely injured by Sukuna, someone else takes their place) and they just want it to be over. The problem is just that killing Sukuna here would for one not make sense for his power level because while it is true that the protagonists have thrown a lot of force at him and tried different strategies, he's clearly not been trying very hard ever since Gojo died (which frustrates me a lot). That has to change first. And also if he died now that would make for a very unsatisfying, premature end of this story. Nothing would be gained with that, no character arc properly resolved. It would hurt especially Sukuna's character because it would mean he really was just a strong big bad with not much motivation besides wanting death and destruction for its own sake, who had to be killed to avoid further danger and go back to status quo. Far too easy and all the setup for Sukuna being a more nuanced character gets cut off. Like I set before, it would be worse than Kenjaku's death, since that at least had meaning and found some kind of end for Kenjaku's character arc. Kenjaku changed, while Sukuna has very firmly been the same this whole time with only a very brief moment of reflection on what he is even doing here. So yeah, more needs to happen before Sukuna can die and first of all he needs to take Yuuji seriously already and be pushed to his limits, challenged. That would vastly improve the tension of the fight as well.

And Gojo coming back is just...I understand wanting your favourite character back, but even if for some reason he was revived, he shouldn't help in the fight. Him overpowering Sukuna would mean exactly nothing, contradict the whole message of the story and also means the characters regress to letting Gojo solve everything again and direct their decisions after what he wants. That's why it was so important for Gojo to die or get depowered, so the other characters could progress and make real change in the world. He was a necessary stepping stone they had to overcome. He can't defeat Sukuna because he is essentially Sukuna, but in a different, slightly more humane font.

And as for your last point, I don't think it's bad to have a character you really like, are even obsessed with, that's why we have another popularity poll coming up after all. Engaging characters are very important, it's just a problem if people warp the story in their head to revolve around this character and then get seriously upset when the story doesn't follow their headcanon and blame the author for that. I like headcanons, I like writing fanfiction, but you have to differentiate that from what is actually happening in canon and accept that canon plays by different rules. Liking your fanfics more than the actual story is fine too, you just can't mesh these two together and lose sight of what is actually happening in the manga. As long as the story follows its own premises and rules/events it has set up, it is perfectly fine. There is legitimate criticism to make about jjk, I do it plenty, but things like wanting Sukuna dead and Gojo alive and getting mad at Gege for it not happening the way they want are just not it.

#asks #jjk spoilers

[raayllum]

not really appreciating or understanding still the whole purity culture accusation for pointing out that people are well in their right to find a unhealthy power dynamic ship between Aaravos and a 19 yr old more uncomfortable than Aaravos and a middle aged guy well into adulthood - this isn't purity culture, this is, like, a really normal perspective and perfectly fine for the fanbase of primarily young people (if not children) to have, I don't understand what's worth getting upset about, is this just rehashed proship discourse or what

and I don't think you're really in the mindset to be having this discussion, considering I've said your main point of contention - that it is understandable and ofc absolutely allowed for the age gap to be what people find off putting about Claudia and Aaravos - over and over again:

like to be clear whatever makes you uncomfortable makes you uncomfortable, nothing wrong with that, block tags/people and curate your experience all you want

and I'm gonna be honest with you, on tumblr? TDP is an extremely adult heavy fandom. To the point that when I first joined the fandom back in 2018, I was one of the youngest, and still am, even in my early 20s now. And tumblr is a 17+ age site anyway, so young children shouldn't even be on here (and if they are, they had to sign a button saying they were older, and it's on them and their parents to figure out how to curate their online experience, soo).

So let me reiterate:

People are allowed to be squicked out by Claudia and Aaravos' age gap. But to act like there's a moral slant to it - Viren/Aaravos being better/fine/less morally problematic - is a facet of purity culture and culturally Christian attitudes towards sex. The issue isn't the discomfort, that's something that's often very personal and subjective, the issue is the moralization of that discomfort. Which, as a queer person, is very very similar to how discomfort and morality are utilized and weaponized against queer people and 'taboo' literature in general. Which again, as someone with a degree in English who also teaches the humanities for a living, is something I'm acutely familiar with.

"We have to be careful about what we portray in art because impressionable people may get confused between art and reality" is not a new take. It's the backbone of Plato's The Republic. It's what essays were written in opposition of in the 1600s. It's what 19th century British grammarians were concerned with when codifying 'proper' English down into the first real dictionaries. It's the same mindset curbing portrayals of LGBTQ+ people in media today, because when you moralize certain things, you put up emotional barriers than get in the way of actually dismantling the thing you're talking about in the first place. It's all the same shit. It's all the same moralized thought crime. And to say you should never question WHY something is uncomfortable is a surefire way to never question any bias you may or may not have - because biases aren't always bad, but they should absolutely always be examined so you can see where it's coming from. Yours and others personal discomfort is not a Standard, the same way what I'm personally comfortable with or discomforted by is not a Standard, but I'm not acting like mine is, and you are

'Rehashed proship discourse' is what helped cultivate the environment that led to a massive wave of harassment of the aro and ace communities online from 2013ish to 2017ish (which I saw first hand). It's also what led to me, a 16 year old, being harassed by grown adults and called a pedophile somewhat regularly for what cartoon characters I wanted to kiss, because I had the same opinions on not moralizing what people do in fandom as I did at thirteen, and as I do now.

If you look at any ship or dynamic with a large age gap and write it off solely because of the age gap, you're not engaging in critical thinking. It's a "you don't need to know why this thing is bad, you just need to know it has a label of Bad". It's as simple as that, and that's precisely the problem.

If you want to do more reading and to expand your horizons on the subjects I'm talking about (literary analysis, societal purity culture, upacking biases, etc.) I suggest this tag on my main blog, and feel free to come back and discuss. If not, have a good day, but I don't feel like continuing this conversation any further, simply because unsurprisingly, it seems that critical thinking is something you are struggling to apply, and I don't think we're going to get very far without it.

#thanks for asking #anonymous #bangs head against a wall #fandom nonsense

[unfortunatelycake]

20 Questions Writer Meme

Tagged by @snarkivistfic ! Thank you!

How many works do you have on AO3? 173 across 3 pseuds

What's your total AO3 word count? 3,600846

What fandoms do you write for? At present, mostly TGCF with a little MDZS. Previously One Punch Man, boueibu, plus random other anime

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Anon One Punch Man, Genos/Saitama, Rated M Genos has feelings for his sensei, and blogs about it 100 First Kisses One Punch Man, Genos/Saitama, Rated E Like it says on the tin. This one's 100k. Found in Silence, These Things Unheard One Punch Man, Genos/Saitama, Rated M A getting together fic, based around Genos coping with temporary deafness. Foolish Pretenders Heaven Official's Blessing, Feng Xin/Mu Qing, Rated E Fake dating with added idiocy. Begin Again Tokyo Ghoul, Hide/Sasaki + others, Rated E Hide happens to see Sasaki, and is certain he's Kaneki. Set during canon and written whilst the manga was still being published; this is my 'I fucking called it' fic because certain plot points ended up actually being canon lol

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes! Comments bring me life! The way I see it, if someone takes a moment to leave a comment - be it an emoji, a few words, or an entire essay, in any language - there's no reason I shouldn't take the time to show my appreciation for that by replying.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Love is Over Boueibu, Akoya/Arima, Rated T It's not all that angsty in comparison to angsty scenes in other fics I've written, but it's the angstiest ending.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? No idea. Most of my fics have happy endings lol

Do you get hate on fics? Only once. I ignored it.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes if the plot needs it. It isn't very good smut lmao

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I've only written one-- Love is Not a Subroutine! Boueibu/One Punch Man crossover, Genos/Saitama, En/Atsushi, Io/Ryuu, Rated T Genos and Saitama get zapped into the Boueibu universe, where they have to fight monsters with the power of love, rather than fists.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge

Have you ever had a fic translated? Someone asked to translate one of my fics once but I never heard anything about it after that. So no, I guess.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Started one with @anonymousedward but it kind of fell by the wayside and we both fell into different fandoms. It was a banger of an idea though!

What's your all-time favorite ship? This changes according to whatever fandom I'm in, so I'll pass on this question lol

What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? There are 31 files in my 'abandoned wips' folder. I would very much like to finish all of them, but that's unlikely to happen. I guess I'd most like to finish a OPM soulmate AU, it's just a huge project and I haven't found the right kind of writing mojo to continue working on it.

What are your writing strengths? No shortage of ideas, I guess?

What are your writing weaknesses? They aren't always the right ideas. Also lack of discipline. I make a plan and don't stick to it. And many one-shots have ended up as multi-chaptered fics lmao

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I don't do it.

First fandom you wrote for? Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Favorite fic you've written? Aaaa I don't know. I was pleased with the vibe of Nightmare for All Seasons (Lost Souls, Steve/Ghost, Post-Canon, Rated T) and I have a soft spot for a whole bunch of my MDZS and OPM fics, but I was also super proud of Love is Sung in a Minor Key (Boueibu, Io/Ryuu + Akoya/Arima, Post-Canon/Bandman AU, Rated E) because I ended up not just writing fic, but lyrics too lol ...Neither of these fics are really good examples of the shit I usually write hahaha

Tagging: @mostlikelytofangirl @anonymousedward @batneko @rayadraws @10holmes @km-birdie @butterfliesandresistance if you wish to do it, no pressure though!

#someone tagged me in the thing #thank you for tagging me in the thing #long post i guess

[emblazons]

i'm struggling to see how the script has anything in our favour... pls give me a hand you're my fav st blog and i always reread your posts when i have doubts but nothing is working rn lol

Okay—first off, and probably most importantly: scripts are not law. You cannot and should not take the script more seriously than anything you see on screen, given that its more a starting document that has to be edited and brought to life, not the show in and of itself.

Taking what is in a script and saying "oh no, we lost because THE SCRIPT said" would be like your professor throwing out your final paper, pulling out one of your earlier rough drafts, and saying "THIS is what I need to take most seriously and grade for concepts and final ideation...rather than their final product," with all your incomplete notions, underdeveloped concepts, and even things you realize later didn't work for making your final (actual) points included...which is what people are doing when they take a script more seriously than what they see on screen.

Just like it would make no goddamn sense to do that with an essay, so there's no reason to do it with a script....ESPECIALLY when we know that The Duffers are 1) more collaborative than a lot of creators (there are some directors where the script is law...Matt & Ross just aren't those directors), 2) there are quite literal obvious changes that happened between script and screen between The Piggyback script and The Piggyback itself, and 3) WRITING is not the medium this story is being told in—its television and film.

Scripts should only ever been looked at for the sake of understanding the starting concepts and ideas that M&R were trying to convey + learning their style/tone of writing, given that what was on that page eventually evolved through collaboration & editing to better convey a more cohesive, thematically comprehensive and even complex story on the screen (and the several mediums other than writing that make up a show that aren't writing) itself. Period full stop.

NOW. (cut because image heavy/script breakdown)

Maybe i'm just inoculated to any true doubt at this point, but: I fail to see what happened in this script that we didn't already know? Or...what would inspire so much doubt?

If its about the monologue, we knew already that Mike said he loved her, and if you read the script back in the version we got...El was literally pale, covered in blood, and losing consciousness as Mike was speaking...and holding onto his words like a lifeline because that's what you do when you're being choked to death. The cues in the moments around what Mike says make that clear as day:

Trying to imagine this scene holds any romantic connotations (in the form in the script, because, again, the script is not what ended up on screen) with these cues is like saying someone drowning in a pool wouldn't cling to the words of person trying to save them from the water, or "find strength" to keep trying to live...even if that person was a stranger.

There's nothing inherently romantic about holding onto someone like a lifeline, which is what this script delineates El doing...with a complete absence of positive "romantic" connotations in her or Mike's (or even ANYONE ELSE'S) responses to what's going on in the moment. Everybody literally thinks she's gonna die—and Mike is just saying whatever motivational thing he thinks is gonna get her to use her powers to stop herself from dying...after Will encourages him to use his leadership ability to help her out.

That...is what happened, both in the script and on screen (though the screen version is arguably WAY worse for romantic mlvn...which is a "good" thing if you choose phrase it like that)—

—and given that we have not one, but two different "romantic (or sexual) tension" moments written in this script as well, its really clear that the intention of the monologue was different than the others.

Even the scene where Argyle calls mike "Romeo" is more romantic-coded than that little monologue...and instead of lovebirds who get their moment like Lucas and Max, we immediately cut to Will being sad about it, which means we weren't allowed to just be happy about their little "flirty" moment anyway.

....like? This is just an ask so I'm not gonna go hard in on it (or comb over 127 pages again) but??? If the script gave you any doubt over what we've spent an entire year breaking down the show itself, the most important thing you can do is put it back in its correct context.

We're fine. Nothing changed. Everything is the same as it was yesterday morning, the canon of the show is still the canon, and the release of this was a rough ideation draft shared for the Emmys and not the final product we all drew our conclusions from.

I just. I guess I hope that helps you lmao. Also, I probably won't be doing any further breakdowns of this script though I did already pull some things I enjoyed before.

Thanks for the ask!

#i'll be so real and say I don't understand doubt coming off this script at all but. Like I hope this helps even on iota lmao #asks

[movedtodykedvonte]

your tags said to send asks or you would post spamton essays but what if i Want the essays

anyway how do you think his attitude and behavior would change once he started to develop a crush on someone? does he hide it well or is it obvious somethings up? And how does this crush behavior differ between addispam, big shot, and current spam?

The essays are more or less random ramblings. I like writing them but the brain power to do so is absurd. As per Spamton’s behavior when developing a crush I feel like no matter what he’s the most incompetent love sick guy but in an endearing way. Overall I 100% think what initially makes him attracted to you is any patience, kindness or support you’d give him. Anyway my ideas under the cut

Addison Spamton

Addisons are a materialistic species at heart and so I feel his courtship starts by business favors. You’d notice a change when more off brand versions of your favorite stuff appear in his shop.

Or when he cuts his already dirt cheap prices even lower for you. He insists it just a perk for always supporting him despite being the perpetually unluckiest addison

He’d be pretty vague and shy about admitting anything. His business ventures rarely work out for him and he does not wanna risk the same when it comes to romantic ones

Still Addispam would go out of his way to hang around you, asking you for advice on flyers, products or lingering in low sale areas just to encounter you. 

If your a fellow ad I bet he’d go out of his way to only shop at your store

He thinks he’s slick and that you don’t notice how he seemingly values your opinion more than anyone's or how he constantly invades your space when practicing pitches or the thinly veiled flirts in the “drafts” of emails he plans to send out

He’s emotionally ooey gooey and like a love sick puppy and if you called him out he’d deny it all and his shop would be closed for a few days to emotionally recover

He either confesses through an email just so he doesn’t lose any courage in person or he sputters something incomprehensible out that you have to piece together as a confession. 

That or you’d have to make a deal to date him cause there’s no way I believe he’d not try and pitch himself to you like some black friday valentine sales

Big Shot Spamton

This guy may be successful now but he still sucks at romance and flirting.

He’s a lot more open about liking you but is still lacks that social confidence that would allow him to be suave.

I bet he asked the phone for advice trying to court you

If you knew him before bigshotification, he’d buy you a lot of everything he knows you like. He insists its just to repay all the years you supported and helped him before but it’s def a weird courtship thing

If he didn’t know you before he’d listen to whatever you remotely mention liking and buy you it in bulk. It’s anonymous in this case but it’s still obvious because he like hounds you if you liked the gift your secret admirer got you

He’s not trying to buy your affection but everyone around him seems to like him better when he splurges on them and he hopes it’ll make you really like him

Really shitty flirting and compliments, they just don’t make sense but he says them like they are the coolest thing. Some make you cringe but most make you giggle. Spamton thinks that means they’re working <:)

Would try to have hang outs with you that are just lavish dates. Drags you around by the hand, just to not lose you but it’s def an excuse to hold your hand

For whatever reason he considers bringing you on business meetings as dates/hanging out. You’re really just emotional support and something to look at

He’d try and confess like you hadn’t realized he’s had the fattest crush on you but make sure you have room to say no without worrying he’d stop pampering you.

The moment you even show any sort of reciprocation he starts showing you off like one of his new cungadero model

Current Spamton

I don’t think he’d truly hide it all at this point but he’s very vague on if it’s exactly a crush on you or just trying to butter you up for a con. Like if you ask he’ll just flirt then try to sell you trash

He insists on giving you minitons as like little helpers as like a business trade for your help/company. However, they just cling to you or swarm around you like let annoying and cuter gnats

He’s less sleazy towards you, he tries to scam you still but he gives you hints so you can back out, you let yourself get conned just for the banter

Talks about how he could treat you if he was a big shot still and all the places/things he’d show you. If you insist you could take him out he just laughs and says he’s not that easy

You are a hundred percent sure you see more stray pipis the closer to your home despite Spamton never agreeing to come to your home. Maybe you catch light reflecting off something pink and yellow before disappearing behind a corner. It’s cute in a stalkerish way

I feel like he has no shame now and outright says he finds you nice or cute or attractive but he never goes farther than a weird compliment or dirty joke.

He also keeps you way past the time you try to leave the trash zone. Weird pitches where he doesn’t even know what he’s selling to you. Just wants you to stay a little longer

He’s really scared of confirming anything cause he’s scared if his intentions are clear you’ll be disgusted and stop hanging out and he’s too attention starved to lose that

Despite all his boldness with hitting on you, you’d have to ask him... multiple times... and bribe him... and possibly drag him into your house. 

He wouldn’t make it easy but he’s grateful he didn’t have to humiliate himself trying to ask you in a sweet none glitched way.

Surprisingly I don’t think he’d be that bad or hopeless but he acts like the minitons don’t try to kiss you every time he summons them. Any version.

#these aren't about him and you in a relationship #just the build up part #i think a lot of how hed probs behave in relationship #ask #anon #spamton #addispam #addison spamton #big shot era #big shot spamton #spamton g spamton #spamton g addison #spamton x reader #spamton x viewer #utdr #undertale #deltarune

[horce-divorce]

I'm researching a bunch of stuff for an essay I'm writing, basically the more polished version of my post going around about the power imbalances in being homeless. And the more research I do the more angry I get. Like, none of this is news to me. It wasn't news to me 12 years ago before I became homeless, or at any point during the last 10 years when I've been alternating between homeless and wildly housing insecure. Just to be clear.

Specifically I'm looking for perspectives from homeless people and, unsurprisingly, there isn't much of that sort of thing out there. Homeless people are online and talking about our experiences plenty, but I guess we're more fun as a thought experiment when it comes to actual researchers, or posts that are clickable, or whatever.

There's a TON of stuff, however, about how housing first works, about how homelessness itself is traumatic and happens more often to abuse victims, yet the overall lack of trauma-informed care that exists for homeless resources, about how we KNOW homelessness happens to more marginalized groups because we also know WHY homelessness happens and it's NOT because of mental illness or substance abuse or because all homeless people are shitty, it's because housing and healthcare are too expensive for what people are getting paid. There are dozens upon dozens upon dozens of sources and studies that point to these facts spanning back decades. This isn't news to anyone.

And the more I read about this, the more angry I get. Its not just the fucking government, and my communities, I've BEEN angry at them. I could expound for hours on the ways I've been failed by social connections that were supposed to hold and nourish me. But the more I read about this, the angrier I get at my parents and my affluent, neoliberal family members who have sat by and watched me be homeless for a decade knowing full well that I'm disabled. People who told me to pitch a tent while they lived in luxury, who can't even be bothered to buy my art, people who speculate from the comfort of their multiple homes that I need the character building, and they wouldn't want to "rob me of my accomplishments."

And the longer it goes on for the more ridiculous it is. I don't think I want to be in contact with any of these fucking people tbqh. These are "well educated" liberals who know how to do research. They know how to fucking read. They KNOW all of this, if you said it in conversation, they wouldn't act surprised. They just don't actually internalize any of it. Because the shit I'm talking about would inconvenience them and thier lifestyle and it would also force them to confront their own biases about poor people and they don't wanna :( they're comfy :(

The fact of the matter is, I'm queer and disabled and mentally ill and radical and I don't live a normal lifestyle and my parents, no matter how ~wacky granola crunchy hippie leftist pagan~ they were at one point, are deeply ashamed of me for not fitting the mold they had in mind. This is what it means to "fall through the cracks" - not that people forget about you. you are swept to the small, unseen place on purpose because you are unsightly and it makes People Who Actually Matter uncomfys to acknowledge you. Because if they admit that it's not your fault and it really could happen to anyone, then everything they built thier life on was just an exhausting lie. Their whole sense of self tied to all of their work and the things they're able to buy and consume, if all of that can be taken away in an instant, then what was the point of giving so much of yourself to it? What was the point, indeed.

#me #prsnl #homelessness #liberal is a meaningless word #kill them. but politely.

[croik]

what do you dislike about Kayne/the butcher in terms of writing?

Everything 😌

No but really I'll share my thoughts under the cut.

I could probably write an essay about how the introduction of Kayne has already irreparably damaged the show's narrative, but the short version is that by existing, he has erased virtually all stakes, imo. He appeared basically out of nowhere, deflated all tension leading up to the final confrontation with the King in Yellow (who was the main antagonist at the time), and following that confrontation removed all the consequences of it. By undoing Arthur's broken bones and returning John, everything about Arthur's and John's choices on the plateu were invalidated, as well as the choice we the Patrons had made, despite it being billed as a very significant vote. He replaced them with entirely new and completely arbitrary consequences (the memory loss, whatever John's deal is).

His motives may or may not become clear later on, but in the meantime, we're left with a villain who seems to be reshaping the story just for his own amusement, with no regard for the characters' agency or consequences. If Kayne can bring Arthur back from literal death whenever he wants, why should I ever be worried for his safety? Why should I care if John is losing his memory again, when Kayne has full control over his mind and existence? There's no point even wondering what he's after or what the conditions of his deal are until he reveals them himself, and even then, it might just get undone again.

It's contrived, imo. It's lazy. It's a get out of jail free card when you snap a character's femur and then realize you don't want spend time on healing, or come up with some other explanation to get rid of the injury so the plot can barrel forward. He's too powerful, and until he tips his hand, we can't trust that anything else will stick or matter.

Butcher is different, but the problem I have with him is the writing trying too hard to convince us that he's smart/good at this. Him clocking Arthur as blind after a few minutes, after personally watching him READ THE NOTE he himself gave him, and despite none of the other people who spent longer with Arthur noticing, is a desperate bid for us to think he's smart. Him climbing on top of the moving train, where he can't see or hear his quarry, and dropping in exactly when Arthur is next to the specific window, is very dramatic but nonsensical. He chats on and on with the officers, basically shouting at the audience how scary and important he is for far too long.

And he just happened to chase Arthur into an apartment building with a chair and rope set up in the basement. Again it's all a little too convenient. There's a lot about the current scenario that doesn't make much sense logistically, but it doesn't matter because we're just supposed to take the Butcher at his word that he's very good at this.

And hey, I'm not looking for realism. That's not my issue. I just don't like a story telling me that the villain is the best in his field, and then showing him rely on happenstance and luck while he prattles on and on, and sometimes magically intuits something unearned.

(I'm also not a fan of his "oo I'm in love with my victims" shtick, but someone else explained that better already)

Disclaimer these are all my personal feelings and I'm not trying to convince anyone or say you shouldn't like these characters, I fully admit I also have strong personal reasons for disliking them unrelated to the writing so I can't be 100% objective. But who even can be, amirite?

#malevolent blah #masked #not trying to be a hater #ok a little hate #but its okay to not like parts of a show #bring back Yellow plz #much more interesting

[fumifooms]

Mozu character analysis - Power & Security

[pics: first is from here, second is from here. First is the official translation but second can also reinforce details imo]  Tw for: extensive discussion of parental physical abuse and trauma. Violent demeanor and also implied sexism & objectification.

Mozu’s a really interesting character that Dr. Stone barely scratched the surface of with the prodigy discussion with Hyoga, and I’m just unhinged enough (and my college semester just ended) so that I’m going to write an essay about his psychology. Rejoice, autism be upon ye. It’s under a cut bc buckle up everyone this is gonna be long. Oh also, this is just a fan analysis so of course I can’t and don’t claim that this is the ultimate universal “right” reading of his character, but I do think it’s a solid reading with what canon gave us. Also I have to confess that I didn’t read all of the Treasure Island arc… I mostly skipped chapters except the ones Mozu was in lol, for that reason I might very well be unaware of some aspects.

The way his backstory affects him

Here are the main points of canon to keep in mind for this:

1: His father was abusive, and when he started being violent with him, Mozu almost killed him when he retaliated. 

2: He’s lived all his life on Treasure Island, and is its lead warrior, very high-ranked.

3: He’s a prodigy that supposedly was born with an innate incredible physical strength. 

Now I’m a nurture over nature kinda gal, so we’ll spend a long time talking about how his environment shaped him. We’ll start of by clarifying the father situation as much as we can: it’s rare that someone/a relationship goes from 0 to 100 like that, I think it’s safe to assume that even before he started hitting him his father was still very much unpleasant and abusive in various ways.

So let’s get into it. 1: Do I even have to talk about how much having an abusive parent fucks you up. That kid probably developed hypervigilance and survival instincts early on at home, that tends to happen when you have to make sure your father isn’t going to take out his anger on you, and calculate what you can do to not get punished, more on that later. You know, like that post of someone talking about how someone angrily folding a sock at you makes you tense and adrenaline rush. Things become warning signs to defend against, anyways I’m getting slightly sidetracked- I’m sure his father taught him a bunch of shit ideology by his actions and words. Just even how he sees himself being a prodigy: being as strong as he was is how he was able to defend himself when his father became physically abusive, maybe he could have even died. That alone could explain for me why he values the innate qualities such as strength and beauty in people instead of training and earned skills, because in his case if he hadn’t been born strong or whatever he wouldn’t have been able to come through the way he has. He’d be in deep shit. And that’s why he sees innate strength as the only thing that distinguish people of value. Just getting beatings alone, without the extra backstory of retaliating, could have very well “taught” him that strength is the way the world runs, making him see it as the ultimate thing to possess. The human brain focuses first of all on survival and safety, whatever wrong things you learn or do come in second to that, especially when you’re in a developmental stage like a kid.

2: I think we can all agree the system on Treasure Island is hella tyrannical. Ibara can pretty much do whatever he wants, and the only untouchable people are the one who are high-ranked (pretty much only warriors) and… Yep no that’s it. Mozu became the highest ranking warrior besides Kirisame thanks to his strength and that’s what keeps him secure and generally comfortable, with his access to the harem girls and ressources, as well as being generally respected and feared. His strength is what gave him that, and his strength is what ensures he’s safe in the hierarchy and in general. Once again, his world view about innate strength being the most important thing is reinforced by the whole Treasure Island system and society he lives in. What can he do, flee Treasure Island? Hah, good joke. So he follows the system and takes advantage of it as much as he can, even shooting for becoming the chief at some point.

3: Soo the reason he’s 1: alive and safe, and 2: in a good place in the society hierarchy, ensuring him safety and comfort, is that he’s a prodigy, that he was born with that strength. I’ve already mentioned it in the other points, but yeah at this point there’s nothing that can prove to him that his world view, about innate strength meaning you deserve everything you want and deserve to rule over the weaker, is wrong. It’s very much a "survival of the fittest" mindset with a focus on eugenics. That’s where Hyoga comes in, kicking his ass, but that’s for later on.

I do feel like the way he deals with conflict is very telling as well. When Mozu realized he knew who the invaders were, he sat back and watched over to see how the chaos would unfold. He stepped to the sideline and let things happen, so he could later strike when the opportunity presented itself and he could side with whoever is going to win in the end. That *cough* sounds like *cough* a strategy someone who lived in an abusive home would instinctively develop, make yourself scarce so no attention is placed on you when things are bad and shit is brewing, then take the opportunity to grab power if it’s safely presented to you. 

So. I think it’s pretty much canon subtext that Mozu seeks power as a trauma response. Power in his life has meant safety and control of his life. Literally just self-defense and survival instinct/self-preservation. Not only power in status, but also innate, believing that the attributes with which you were born are what gets you to where you deserve to be in life, strength (and beauty just as a collateral product of what he considers to be innate qualities). In that sense, like any other unhealthy trauma response, it’s something he should unlearn to heal, and to stop being a piece of shit also.

There are also other aspects of his character that support this, that’s kind of all his character tbh, but for example there’s just how much he doesn’t blink at, and even thrives in, violence. There’s how he was very trigger-happy when it came to killing the science crew, almost playful in the way he treated their lives like lottery. He’s cold hearted and sees killing someone you can defeat as a right, and he doesn’t assign value to lives at all, except when he can get something out of it, power mostly (letting the science crew live so they can get the medusa out of the picture, with Kohaku getting informations on the invaders). 

If you think about it, he’s also a lot like Denji from Chainsaw Man… Just look at this post. He just seeks quick instant gratification through sexual affection. Has he ever even had any positive relationships? Does he even know how to express and receive affection? It is after all well known that hypersexuality can be a coping mechanism born from trauma.  All of the relationships and interactions we see him have with others on Treasure Island (apart from the harem girls) are professional in nature. It’s implied he has no friends from the lack of counter evidence. We don’t see him just hanging out with anyone, no one speaks of him with any sort of fondness. It’s also lowkey implied he doesn’t seek out the same harem girl multiple times, so there’s very low chances of him having formed a connection or friendship with any of them. So, he’s got no friends, no family, no romance. The only validation and affection he gets is in a professional sense because of his feats (which is in turn due to his innate strength) and from the “special time” spent with harem girls. Iirc we don’t even know if the harem girls like him or not, they might just be doing their job… So, like. Yeah, the only positive attention he gets is from maiming people and from sex, so that already paints a pretty picture doesn’t it.  Edit: Ok so I found it too much of an assumption to put it in initially but I always think about it again so, with the way Treasure Island guards frequently have to turn dissident people to stone or worse, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mozu’s apathy when it comes to killing or even murderous tendencies kinda come from the fact that he was pushed to do them + it’s very normalized there. Like… Mozu lowkey dissociating to get into a killing mood or when thinking back on it and trying his best not to dwell on it is a concept that has got me going. Not mentioning the systematic murdering and how that might affect him negatively being the one that has to carry it out would just be a missed opportunity from me. 

Motives & other traits

His biggest motivation for becoming chief of Treasure Island, if we’re to believe his own words on the matter, is that he wants the harem…? Yeah well, I’m sure that’s part of it, gratification and possessions for a type of pleasure that he does value, but I do think the power part of it is understated a lot. He’s obviously a character that cares a lot about power, and so I think he just didn’t talk about that part much because it’s just obvious. He wants to become chief because chiefs are at the top of the hierarchy, and why would he not want that. In part, I do think he doesn’t realize just how much the chase for power drives him. He seems to kinda just be doing whatever he wants to do at the moment, which to me seems like it means that Mozu’s craving of power is a subconscious thing to him. To him, it probably all just sounds like the natural thing to seek. Oh and that does bring me to another point, I think freedom is really important to him. The freedom to meet with harem girls, the freedom to be at the top of hierarchy, the freedom that comes with being the strongest around, the freedom that comes with everyone having to listen to you if they don’t want you to kill them, he wants to have no limits and be fully unrestrained. Comes with living on a small island you can’t leave that has a super strict system that treats you like shit, tbh. The negotiations with Gen were very interesting for me because of this, when he had the knee-jerk reaction to demand he keeps the medusa after their alliance because Gen said he couldn’t. He wants the freedom to choose to keep the medusa or not, even if he doesn’t actually really gives a shit about it because he’s the strongest without it anyways, so he decides he’ll keep the medusa as a show of power, simply because he can and the science gang can’t go against him. Phrased differently, the negotiations with Gen also confirm he’s pretty contrarian in general, wanting freedom and pushing for it thoughtlessly regardless of the practicality of it (he didn’t seem like he cared about getting the petrification beam. It’s just a power move, because that’s what he wanted: unconditional power).

He’s a veryyy proud character, we we know this, big ego that thinks he’s hit shit with the ladies and the strongest and that means he deserves everything he wants on a whim, but he does react very badly when someone talks about him negatively or otherwise challenge him (Kohaku when she said he had no integrity or appeal lol, making him go “you’re no longer cute, let’s fight to the death now”). He takes rejection really bad. Maybe that can show that his self-esteem is less strong than we think. Not that it’s completely a front, boy no actor is that good, but certainly, Mozu could get triggered by someone insulting him or confronting him with his flaws, insinuating that he’s anything less than worthy of his success or whatever else. His strength and, eh, beauty, are the only things he has going for him after all, he might get touchy with them being put into question, or rather having their worth put into question the way Hyoga does by claiming people can train and become better than Mozu if they have enough trained talent. It can also be less personal, that just as someone who hasn’t been used to people refusing him anything for a long while and being contrarian himself having someone just straight up provoking him or insulting him makes him see red. Whatever, cool excuse for bloodlust, bro.

He’s also not as impulsive as one would assume with his horny jock archetype tbh. Rather, he’s very observant and calculating, which was pointed out a significant amount of times. I do feel like it’s often overlooked that he didn’t just want to keep Kohaku alive because he wanted to sleep with her, but that his end goal was for her to spill the beans. It’s a threat as much as it’s unappealing flirting, a power move once again. He likes to do a lot of them, to be sure. That’s why he bragged about lowkey wanting to kill the science crew in front of them. Anyways- Yeah, in the end even with Kohaku, everything he did from A to Z in the Treasure Island arc was to actively further his own agenda. Also he’s sneaky and light in his feet, rather than being super loud or even attention seeking tbh. (Watching people quietly & noticing things/spying, sneaking into the cave without anyone hearing or seeing him arrive, the whole cloaked surprise attacks thing)

Redemption & healing

So. How did this fucking murderous selfish piece of shit become this?

Well… Errr, an off-screen redemption arc?

It’s very much swept under the rug, the difference between the climactic battle he had with Hyoga and later on after he got unpetrified to become a part of the science kingdom is staggering, and unexplained. The manga wants you to assume that his last conversation with Hyoga explains his change of heart enough. Which… It kind of does? Like, canon if you could have spent like 1 panel telling us that Mozu has been training with Hyoga and getting along well with the crew and acclimating peacefully it’d have been cool but whatever, we can piece it out pretty well on our own.  My best guess for his off-screen redemption arc is that the whole Hyoga speech and defeat humbled him enough to reconsider some of his life philosophies (pretty much the canon reading, especially since he confirmed he’d like to train, aka an acknowledgement that he’s not the best he could be + shows him learning some work ethics). But, I like to think that what makes him become much more of a team guy rather than wanting to be above everyone, is that being away from Treasure Island and the tyrannical system that was there, his agression and need for hierarchy subsided because in Senku’s group there is safety. There is no struggle for power, working for one guy that just wants to be powerful and take advantage of that (Ibara. Which ironicalky is what Mozu himself wanted to become, since he had no example of what else there is than exploiting and being exploited), instead there is a community that is very open and humane, one that values the life of even their worst enemies, one that doesn’t treat you like shit even if you contribute less to the working force or have unconventional qualities. He got fricking humbled, and he found that there were other ways to live. So, he mellowed out. That’s kind of the only realistic explanation I can make for it, so in the end I do think that supports my reading that his resorting to violence so automatically and all o’ that is a trauma response. The epilogue chapter showed he got a happy ending with plenty of chicks so like, lol, things are working out for him ig. 

And that’s how you turn an horrible irredeemable-seeming villain into a comedy relief character with minimal exposition and redemption arc. 

In conclusion

[last pic source: https://www.tumblr.com/9009l3/658963831138238464/mozu-flower :) 💖]

Also I made a spotify playlist for him bc I’m cringe, here it is if ya want it: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/79AEoXTRT3GTYVGlUONGol?si=ag6wl-CnT569OCM5CGWnhw

#dr stone #dr. Stone #manga spoilers #mozu #moz #dcst moz #dcst mozu #dcst #character analysis #analysis #dcst analysis #trying out new tags idk #character playlist #spotify playlist #it’s at the bottom of the post

[liam-summers]

can i jump on the spuffy/spike hate train real quick and say buffy's romantic life just nosedived after season 3? like we had 2 lost souls finding each other and falling in love, fighting together and listening to each other when they had a problem, communicating and caring all around, saving each other, protecting each other, list goes on. just healthy and fulfilling all around. and all of that just went away and we got f*bois in the military or whatever, ghost flings, and the cherry on top: we wrapped the show up with an abusive and violent incel with mommy issues whose only "bad boy" traits are throwing temper tantrums 😵😵😵 not even mentioning the mental, emotional scars he left on buffy but i really could write an essay on this and probably will cause I cant wrap my head around it

Hey there! Of course you can jump on that train any day any time over here LOL. I agree with parts of what you wrote and disagree with other parts. It’s a bit of a complicated situation, I think, but in my opinion, Buffy's love life was always a hot mess!

I do agree with the way you described Buffy and Angel’s relationship, and I think it was the most balanced out of all her relationships. They shared a deep mutual love, respect, support, they allowed each other the space to be flawed and to make mistakes but when all was said and done, they were always forgiving, kind, and communicative with each other; their dynamic was never one sided or unbalanced, and you never questioned their love and devotion to each other. But I do think that their relationship wasn’t the most healthy at certain points due to the external obstacles constantly being thrown at them, both of them being inexperienced in love, and also experiencing their first true love in each other. The show doesn’t shy away from addressing the issues/obstacles: he’s a vampire, she’s a slayer, he’s older than her (although in practice, I don’t believe that the age gap is an issue in terms of a power imbalance between them but it is presented as a road block for them getting together initially in terms of his vampirism/the star crossed-ness of it all), the curse, everything that happened with Angelus, etc. Ultimately, we have to remember that these are two people who have gone through a lot of trauma together (and apart), and it’s completely realistic and understandable that their relationship isn’t going to be 100% healthy all the time but that’s also what makes it so interesting and that’s why we get so invested; we want them to make it despite all the issues. The tragedy of Buffy and Angel is that they work so well together as people but they can’t be together due to external forces! THE star-crossed lovers! Also, let’s be completely honest here, none of the relationships on both BTVS or ATS are truly healthy lol 

Now in terms of Buffy’s other relationships, I do think that Riley made complete sense as a boyfriend, narratively speaking. He was the rebound, the normal boyfriend, the guy you date in college when your life is changing and you want to try something new. I do believe that Buffy was happy with him and that she cared about him deeply, even loved him in a way, but ultimately, it wasn’t a relationship that was going to last due to his toxic insecurities and their fundamental differences. I think the way that relationship played out was realistic and I think he was what Buffy needed at that time in her life. Unpopular opinion but I don’t think that Riley gets enough credit in fandom discourse for the space that he held in Buffy’s life and heart (regardless of how problematic he was). He was technically her boyfriend for the longest period of uninterrupted time and she shared things with him that she couldn’t share with Angel or Spike (because they're vampires). 

As for sp*ffy, I completely agree with everything you wrote lol

Sp*ffy could have been an interesting exploration of a toxic and destructive relationship as a result of Buffy’s resurrection but the way the show went about it was so terrible. The introduction of Spike’s feelings in S5 was so creepy but the creepiness was just played off for laughs (I wasn’t laughing), it also served no purpose other than being an excuse to make him relevant on a show he clearly didn’t fit in. The way that in S6, the narrative heavily implies that Buffy is the one in the wrong for engaging in an abusive relationship with him and the way this narrative continues into S7, after he sexually assaults her, is despicable. The way they have to strip her of everything in her life to make sp*ffy even happen. What’s even worse is how it’s handled in S7. The way the story becomes completely about Spike and his “redemption”, leaving no room for Buffy to process her trauma, once again isolating her from everyone in her life and making her defend her abuser all season. The biggest problem with sp*ffy is that it’s all about Spike….Buffy gets nothing positive out of it. I'm watching BTVS for BUFFY, I truly do not give a shit about Spike lol. It’s really not surprising that a story revolving around a petulant misogynist who can’t take no for an answer from the women he’s obsessed with, would be so terrible. 

I’m so sorry this got so long lol I got a little carried away!

Thanks for the ask 😊

#bangel #anti spuffy #ask #jammarammaxxx

[userlando]

hii x I know it’s been a couple of days already but I’m still yet to talk about watch you watch me. and yes I need to talk about it, I just needed a while and we as a society cannot move on so quickly from this!

maybe it’s because I literally folded in public when those plane photos came out, because to now have a fic based on them by one of my faves.. it’s just beyond amazing. I thought I’d be rereading it as soon as I finished but I get too emotional (how does one get that emo over a smut, god knows)

I love the way you add those tiny little details to the story, (the boardgames, the banter afterwards sksj). somehow the fic never feels like smut. I mean, it DOES feel like smut (😵‍💫🥵) but your writing makes it seem like truly part of the bigger picture every goddamn time. like, you take some time to build up the characters so that when the smut happens it’s just always more powerful to me.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again - this Lando of yours is McDreamy! 🧡 god I love him so much. how do you come up with so many versions of this silly little guy and it works so well!

can I also mention how those pictures you put before every fic undo me? you choose them so well that even looking at them sometimes makes me feel the whole vibe of the fic and idk I think that’s also a real skill and I wanted to show some appreciation for this Art™️

god this really turned into an essay while all could’ve been summed up with: I adore your writing, thank you for putting out this amazing stuff for us 🧡🌟 I know that whatever next month is throwing at you, you’re gonna be great. I’ll be here, looking like this every time you post

this is actually the cutest thing I’ve ever read and truly lifted my spirits so high that I’m afraid I’ll never come down 😭 thank you so so much, I wish I could’ve written in the part where he accidentally posted one of the more spicy pics along with his selfies but I honestly cba to flesh out that entire convo.

sometimes writing pwp is nice and you get straight to the point, but I feel like I need to write some details and little tidbits into my fics to hopefully make them more realistic in a way, if that makes sense? I’m just so so happy that it’s appreciated because I always fear that people wanna jump straight to the smut - not that anyone’s made me feel like that, I just have irrational fears. but then I get messages like these and it’s all just so worth it 🥹

thank you thank you thank you, you truly notice the little things and I’m so thankful that you appreciate them enough to let me know. I always LOVE seeing you in my mentions, you’re a gem and I love you for it!! and also extra brownie points for the hilariously adorable picture, I’ll save that and keep it because it’s just too funny 😭🤍🫶🏼

#zee’s asks 💌