johnmalovartist - Tumblr blog

johnmalovartist · 11 hours

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in the meat timeline, they lost the embodiment of breath, the aspect of freedom, thus the narrative binds them to the narrators wishes, twisting them to his desires

in the candy timeline, they lost the embodiment of heart, the aspect of the soul. they lose their sense of self, becoming more and more detached from who they are as a person

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johnmalovartist · 16 hours

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I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out why Dirk's splinters always end up being manipulative and abusive. Because, as another post on here mentioned, when you look at the actions of Dirk himself in homestuck proper, he's actually just a sweet kid who is very hard on himself and cares about his friends.

Everyone is well aware that one of Dirk's major character motifs is control. But pretty much all of the examples we see of Dirk, himself, being controlling, are all directed inwards, as he attempts to maintain a frankly unhealthy level of self control. There's lots of little examples but the most glaringly obvious one is his reaction to Calliope's juju lollipop. It's also evident in the way he insists on taking person responsibility for his splinters, despite having little to no influence over them, and in many cases, having never even met them.

So what happens, if you take a guy who maintains unhealthy levels of self control, and take away his sense of self?

Because all of Dirk's splinters are well aware that they are not the 'Original' so to speak. Even Bro, I think, is aware that he is not a protagonist in the narrative. It's pretty heavily implied across cannon that the guardians have a certain level of awareness of the game, to varying degrees, and that they are aware that their role is Guardian to the protagonists. The splinters know they're not the 'true' Dirk, and so a huge part of their identity exists outside of the realm of their control.

And I think that's where issues start to come in. The nature of the existence of these splinters forces them to build a sense of self that is defined by other people. And so their attempts at self control can never be fully internalised like Dirk's, and end up as manipulation and abuse of the people they have constructed their identity around.

Brain Ghost Dirk is fundamentally Made Of Jake. Jake is a core part of his sense of self, because he literally doesn't exist outside of Jake's mind. So in order to maintain self control, he manipulates Jake.

Lil hal manages to get involved in a lot of different things, but all of these actions boil down to manipulating Dirk's life. Because his entire sense of self is Dirk. So in order to maintain self control, he needs to control Dirk. I think Dirk was right in that hal was dangerous, but I think he was wrong to think that denying him a physical form would be safer. I think if hal had been allowed to have a physical body at an earlier stage, he could have begun developing his own identity, outside of Dirk, which would lessen his reliance on control over Dirk's life.

Bro is like. The reason I'm making this post basically because I can't stop thinking about it. Obviously Dave is the subject of Bro's control issues. Bro is aware he is not a protagonist in the narrative. His function is to Be Dave's Guardian, and so his sense of self is firmly rooted in Dave. But it's done in such a different way to how we see the other splinters behave. Dirk is a really fucking smart kid, and so his splinters generally tend to be pretty good at calculated manipulation. But Bro isn't particularly calculated as far as we can see. He's kind of a fucking mess. His abuse is far more physical and impulsive and far less wordy. He's controlling Dave, moulding him into the kind of protagonist Bro thinks he should be. But it's not elaborate and calculated. And THAT'S where Lil Cal, and by association, Caliborn come in.

There's obviously huge amount of debate and like 172784 different theories about how much influence Caliborn had over Bro, and how much responsibility he holds for Dave's abuse. Personally, I think Bro would have always ended up manipulating and abusing Dave in some way, in the same way that BGD manipulates Jake and Lil Hal manipulates Dirk. The underlying cause of Bro's abuse comes from the same control issues as the other splinters and I think it does a disservice to Dirk, as a character with flaws, to insist that Bro's abuse was 100% down to puppet manipulation. But I do think that Caliborn influenced the method. The random violence, the Saw style psychological horror, the impulsiveness, the obsession with sex and masculinity. All very Caliborn methods.

What I'm interested in is if Bro knew what Cal was. I think it's very easy, and completely plausible to say that he came across this puppet due to Paradox Space Is Just Like That, and fell under its influence without realising it. But if he's a Dirk splinter I just don't buy it. He doesn't allow himself to fall under the influence of Calliope's Juju, so why should his splinter fall under the influence of Caliborn's?

It sounds counterintuitive but stick with me, I think Bro allowed himself to be influenced by the puppet, because it gave him a sense of control. Being a guardian made him a side character. Side characters are often much less developed than the protagonists. In the case of homestuck, they don't even get to have a face. How do you form a coherent sense of self without any development from the narrative? He can channel that into controlling Dave, but at the end of the day that doesn't allow him any more agency than the other guardians. Bro knows he can't be a protagonist. But allowing himself to be influenced by the puppet places him in proximity to the main antagonist of the entire comic. And Caliborn influences EVERYTHING. He's woven through every part of the narrative, his existence sends ripples through every action we see.

Characters that are influenced by Caliborn tend to be integral to the shape of the narrative. Gamzee being an obvious example, but also those who communicate with Doc Scratch, like Vriska and Rose and even the reader themself. I just think it would be interesting if Bro knew what Lil Cal was, and allowed himself to be influenced by it anyway, in an attempt to gain even a little more control over the narrative, and by extension, himself.

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johnmalovartist · 16 hours

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Personally the amount of people who are either "Jake is a stupid himbo" or "Jake is actively malicious" blow my mind. No, Jake isn't stupid, and he's not evil. He's a sixteen year old who is implied to have a mental disability and/or brain damage (it's not exactly clear, Caliborn claims they have the same developmental disorder and Dirk iirc worries that Jake hit his head too much, I guess you can take either with a grain of salt but I digress), and has not had meaningful real life interactions with other human beings in years. He is in the wrong for his actions, but it feels. Purposefully ignorant to claim he's just stupid or just evil for them.

He's socially stunted. He wants to emulate heroes in movies but lacks self esteem and experience. If the alpha kids had enough time to be more fleshed out (and let's be real, if Hussie cared about Jake) this might have been explored more thoroughly. He'd never had the opportunity to learn how to cope with a relationship, how to communicate his needs, or understand that he can't control how other people perceive him like he can through a computer screen.

He doesn't know healthy boundaries because he's never had to use them, and this goes both ways (allowing his friends to sexualise him and treat him like an object, as well as constantly complaining about his relationship with Dirk to Jane) Like yeah he does run away instead of communicating with Dirk and yeah he does dump all his problems on Jane. I love Jane, but one of her problems is her bottling up her feelings and people pleasing until everything blows up. She should have told him off much sooner, and while he was being a dick, it was partly because she allowed him to feel like it was okay to do, since she never told him it wasn't after the first few times or when she was starting to get aggravated.

His problems with Dirk are a little more complicated because we're never actually shown their relationship or how it broke down, but from what we can gather, Jake felt overwhelmed by Dirk's intensity and decided to ignore him rather than tell him try and avoid confrontation but leading to Dirk being frustrated and breaking up with him. Dirk claims he feels like he bullied Jake into a relationship, and though I personally think that's him making it seem worse than it was, it does mean that Dirk probably was trying to go too fast. I've best heard it is Jake being an introvert pretending to be an extrovert.

This is not to say I don't think people can't dislike or even hate Jake, but it's like. Idk. Misinterpreting a character and disliking that version of them is a little redundant to me.

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johnmalovartist · 16 hours

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The fact that when Jade makes the universe frogs the themes of creation are about the Scientific Aspect of Creating Something Unnatural and Yet Divine Without Any Themes of Motherhood and the fact that when Kanaya and Karkat makes the universe frog the themes of Creation are about the Nurturing A Creature and How Neglecting Your Duties Can Make Things Turn Out Wrong Especially if you Refuse The Role As Mother and also also Mom Lalonde combining both themes in Trying And Failing To Fulfil Her Role As Mother While Trying to Use Science to Bridge The Gap because Motherhood Alone Isnt Enough to Justify Existence and and

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johnmalovartist · 17 hours

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WAIT so yall know this panel of eridan right.

ive seen a lot of ppl comparebit to grimdark, but aside from it being debunked by the Beast, theres also notable differences

grimdark style is characterized by a whispy black outline, while in the above panel, eridan's magic outline is noticably white

so. what else have we seen drawn in a black silhouette with a glowing white outline?

THE FUCKING ANGELS!!!!

BUT THERES MORE

the angels dont always look like that, in fact they only ever appear that way on lowaa

THE HOPE FIELD AROUND LOWAA OBSCURES THE ANGELS

BECAUSE. ERIDAN PERCIEVES THEM AS A THREAT. BECAUSE HIS BELIEF IN HIS WAYS PREVENTED HIM FROM SEEING THE SITUATION CLEARLY

AND. IN THE END. THAT STRICT BELIEF DELUDES HIM TO THE POINT OF KILLING HIS FRIENDS WITH HOPE MAGIC. BECAUSE TO HIM THEY WERE ALL ALREADY DEAD. BECAUSE. THEIR SITUATION WAS HOPELESS

AND THE. AND THE!!!!!

oh my god i am so abnormal abt this comic

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johnmalovartist · 2 days

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💖 The Fairy Godmother’s Apprentice - a sapphic fairy tale Visual Novel and Dating Sim. 💖

When the fairy godmother goes away on vacation leaving you in charge , will you make sure stories stay on their paths? or will you change your fate and risk it all for romance….

This is a fake dating game, its not real unfortunately. But maybe some day, in the future! I just love womens, and fairytales, and dating sims; so this is a culmination of all three! (with a fun emphasis on hot butch ladies, we need more of them okay! the mermaid is muscular and hot too okay, i swear).

Any Australian game devs wanna make this happen? Come at me, I’m ready to go batshit bananas working on this as a real game,.

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johnmalovartist · 2 days

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La marcha tuvo el objetivo de garantizar el presupuesto universitario y la continuidad de las universidades públicas, y los días que vienen dirán su éxito. Por ahora, Milei que anoche posteaba todo altivo memes hechos con IA con "lágrimas de zurdos" hoy tuvo que recular y admitir entre puteadas y regañadientes ideológicos que fue una "causa noble" y que "va a garantizar el financiamiento". Veremos que tanto cumple con su palabra, pero él sabe algo: si no lo hace, va a volver a tener esta marcha una y otra vez. Mientras tanto, los diputados que se iban a reunir a discutir el tema se encuentran sin quorúm por parte de la derecha (LLA, Pro, y Hacemos Coalición Federal, con la UCR dividida por la mitad). Existe cosa más cobarde que negar la voluntad de cientos de miles, si no millones, de argentinos que se manifestaron ayer? No hay que dejar que queden olvidados, tienen que sufrir la condena social que corresponde.

Pero más importante que todo esto, estas marchas generan un nuevo consenso de defensa de lo público y lo social. Ante la peor embestida de la extrema derecha desde la dictadura, se genera un nuevo espacio que ya vimos que tiene apoyo masivo de la sociedad. Los trabajadores apoyando a los estudiantes y a los docentes, como se vio en todo el país. Es ahí donde pongo mi esperanza que va a surgir el nuevo consenso que empezará con la defensa de los derechos conquistados, pero seguirá con la transformación de la sociedad hacia un país más justo. El sueño de la patria grande liberada que por un momento, otra vez, volví a ver.

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johnmalovartist · 3 days

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Emancipated duels. Photo by Pavel Kurmilev

Baroness Lubinska who presided over the famous duel between Princess Pauline Metternich and the Countess Kielmannsegg in 1892, insisted that the duelists remove their clothing above their waists to avoid infection in the event that a sword pushed clothing into the wound it caused. Being a doctor, the baroness had seen many instances of septic infection in soldiers for this very reason throughout her years of medical training.

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johnmalovartist · 3 days

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Byam Shaw (1872-1919), ‘The Blind Folding of Truth - An Allegory’, “The Studio”, Vol. 48, 1910 Source

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johnmalovartist · 5 days

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nobuddy feels like they have a sharp attention span these days, right? and we all just click “agree on terms of service” because its hard to love yourself sometimes, well

enter Terms of Service, Didn’t Read: a website and a browser addon that streamlines the terms of service of many popular web services to be read by the tech sunday drivers.