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picturejasper20 · 27 days

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So, i made a recent post about some issues i have with Mabel Pines' character writing in the main Gravity Falls series like how her characters flaws don't get addressed properly and they can be potrayed as something acceptable.

A mutual of mine, @amazingrich101 , told me to check out the graphic novel Gravity Falls Lost Legends since one of the stories (Don't dimension it) acts as a follow up for the Weirdmageddon and it starts Mabel as main character.

And I'm very surprised i haven't seen more people bringing up this story when it comes to Mabel's character because it addresses quite a lot of things the main series brushed off about her character and problems people have with her characterization. Because of this, i would like to do a semi-analysis about this story myself and talk about the things that explores about Mabel's character and the development she gets.

So ¨Don't Dimension It¨ starts with a semi recap of what happened post Weirdmageddon: There are dimension-rifts as consequence of Bill taking over Gravity Falls, the protagonists are going around trying to fix these rifts. In a moment Mabel pulls up Waddles from her bag, partially ignoring how Stanford said these rifts are dangerous and Dipper tells this to Mabel:

Dipper saying this of all other characters is important, since Mabel has the habit of taking advantage of Dipper quite a lot in the series and he more often than not finds himself in situations he has to go with Mabel wants to do regardless of how he feels about it.

So we have the story bringing up from near the start that Mabel can be very self-centered in occasions and ignore the potential danger in serious situations, like Dipper points out. That's a good start.

Mabel accidentally falls into one of these dimensions rifts and ends ups in a dimension that is full of different versions of Mabels that got lost and ended up in that place. One of the Mabels tells protagonist Mabel that Brain Mabel has been trying to build a spaceship to escape but she got bored and got herself distracted with stickers.

Prot Mabel tries asking for help but the rest of the Mabels don't take the situation seriously, ignore her or do their own thing, not caring about taking priority in escaping.

I think these are more extreme versions of prot Mabel but one thing that prot Mabel realizes is how irritating it is to be ignored by well... versions of herself. She wants to espace this dimension, the issue is that other Mabels are too ¨busy¨ doing their own thing that they don't care about helping.

Mabel eventually finds one Mabel that actually is helpful, lets call her ¨Mabel 2¨ for the moment. Mabel tells Mabel 2 how irritating the rest of the Mabels are and the two work together to send a signal for Stanford and Stan to pick them up from the dimension.

When the ship shows up to pick them up, Mabel 2 betrays Mabel and traps her inside a bathroom. She reveals herself to be ¨Anti-Mabel¨, the most evil Mabel in the multiverse.

....I think this writing choice for to have just ¨Mabel but bad¨ without further exploration is pretty shallow but, meh, i want to focus on Mabel's character, not the antagonist.

So prot Mabel manages to escape from the bathroom she was trapped in while Anti-Mabel takes her place in the ship. Mabel asks for help to the other Mabels again, only to be ignored... and that makes her reach her own limit.

She finds herself repeating almost the same things that Dipper told her at the start of the story and she finally realizes how self-centered she can be to others and not see when something is a bigger priority. She tells to herself that ¨i need to work on myself¨, meaning she admits she has some growing to do as person.

She tries asking for help again, which leads her to admit how she messed up by being selfish in ¨Dipper and Mabel vs The Future¨. She talks about how she negleted those around her for being so absorbed in what she wanted to do that she didn't pay enough attention how this could bother people around her. She promises that she is going to try to be a better person from now on and work on to be more caring of other people.

This is very crucial for Mabel's development because, while she learned that changing is part of growing up in Weirdmageddon, her habit of making things about herself, coming off as too self-absorbed and making people do the things she wants without considering much what others want wasn't properly addressed. And this can become a toxic trait of hers, like ignoring things that are a bigger priority and taking advantage of her friends and family.

Mabel isn't a demon because she can be very selfish at times, she is a just 13 year old teenager. However, it still an important lesson she needs to learn to mature as a person over time. This is why in this story having her confronting these problems that she has was good for her character to have.

She manages to escape along with the rest of the Mabels helping her, they stop anti-Mabel and defeat her. Mabel goes back to Gravity Falls with Stanford and Stan while the rest of the Mabels use the ship to find their way back their own homes.

When Dipper asks to Mabel how was her trip in the multiverse, she has this to say.

She apologizes to Dipper for being selfish during this summer and that must have been a lot for Dipper to deal with. Dipper makes a joke about it, implying that he accepts Mabel's apology and forgives her for her behaviour.

It isn't super big but is still really good having Mabel apologize to Dipper for how she would treat him in certain episodes. I have talked about how their dynamic could come off as toxic in certain occasions because Dipper had to do what Mabel wanted and his feelings weren't always taking into consideration. So Mabel apologizing feels proper for the situation.

I have some issues with this story (Anti-Mabel just... being a not interesting antagonist, for some reason having a meta commentary about how Stanford and Stan aren't the best caretakers which is fine but i don't think it suits Gravity Falls imo). However i do appreciate the development that Mabel gets in it, bringing up her character flaws and her realizing that she messed up in some ways, telling to herself that she needs to work on that.

It definitely leaves Mabel in a way better place than the main series did, by her recognizing she has to change her selfish tendencies and acknowledging her mistakes, a lot healthier than just waiting for others to comform to do what she always wants. Her relationship with Dipper is a better place too, apologizing for the way she would sometimes treat him during the summer. It doesn't fix *every* problem with Mabel's character writing in the series but does solve some main issues and it does leave a better conclusion to Mabel's character arc overall.

#gravity falls #mabel pines #gravity falls lost legends #dipper pines #GF analysis #I would have prefer this to be in the main series but ehh it is better than nothing #And it mostly does a good job at it

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venlo · 2 years

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you can't tell me I'm wrong

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double--blind · 8 months

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(SPOILERS) breaking down how obsessed Andrew is w/his sister bc he's a repressed lil liar and I'm going insane

This post got longer than I intended it to

1. He claims they don't spend enough time apart from each other to even begin missing her so he doesn't even know if he would, but just earlier in the game he was apart from her for probs like 30 mins tops to investigates some cultists and guess what???? He was already missing her 😒

2. Says "I thought you grew out of this touchy-feely crap" when Ashley asks for a hug, but earlier when he was cooking dinner, he was the one with the inexplicable urge to "pull this broody bitch into [his] arms and force her to stay until she smiles" 😒

3. Piggy-backing off the last screenshot: WHAT OTHER THOUGHTS, ANDREW??? yOU WERE JUST THINKING ABT HUGGING HER. WHAT DO YOU EVEN MEAN. THESE ARE SIMPLY INNOCENT BROTHERLY THOUGHTS ARE THEY NOT????? 🤨🤨🤨

4. Bro just can't keep his hands off her. And everyone thinks Ashley's the clingy one jeez (lol the way he springs apart from her when Mom catches them is definitely definitelyyyy not worth analyzing. nope. not even when it happens a second time on the couch. nope. nooope)

5. What. What is he thinking here. Don't think I don't see those grey lil blush lines. Is this connected to my third point somehow bc like... 🤨😬 Is "Andrew" is gonna start doing and being what "Andy" was too spineless and afraid of doing?? That's what the vow was partly abt right?? Does that include—

5. WHEWWW BOY that little flashback with his gf has so much baggage in it I just wanna dissect. His girlfriend's tryna have a serious discussion with him abt his weird sister for the sake of bettering their relationship bc she genuinely loves him, but he just gets caught up in fondly talking abt said weird sister instead??

6. He's awfully hesitant abt Ashley learning some independence, bc y'know what?? I think he doesn't really want her to stop relying on him. But what do I know y'know

6. Wants his gf to put tie her hair up in a ponytail, then when she refuses bc he'll pull on it, says it's just "how boys express their love". Well. You know who else puts there hair up in a ponytail??? You know who else's hair he's always pulling on and touching???

7. The voicemails in his gf's phone left by Ashley are heard by him in his dreams, and his dreams are a construction of his mind utilizing his memories, personal hangups, and knowledge of Ashley. The voicemails irl were left on his gf's phone, and for all we know, he never actually listened to them in person. Bearing this in mind... odds are the things Ashley's saying contain bits of truths he believes within himself, filtered thru her crude, hateful dialogue.

Here. I transcribed one of them...

"DO YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME!? Just because you can fuck him and I can't? You think that's love?! Are you fucking delusional?? Cumdumpsters like you are just that. He will never love you. Not like he loves me. I am the only one. I am everything. I am the secrets you'll never hear. When he lies in bed at night, and when he needs someone to hold on to… It's not you he seeks out. It is me."

8. Claims Ashley's the one with the jealous streak, not him, but I think he's just as bad. The only difference is that Ashley's never given him reason to act on it since all she's ever wanted was him, but at the slightest mention of her gettin it on w/someone else, even as a joke, he gets mad. "OVER MY DEAD BODY!!" he says, when she's jokingly contemplating getting knocked up via the neighbor so an ambulance would come for her. "I wouldn't let them," he says, when she's complaining abt not being pretty enough for the wardens to bang her

9. Going hand-in-hand with that fact, he's intensely protective of her. Didn't hesitate to cleaver the warden who found her in the closet (probs didn't even BLINK lmaooo he chose VIOLENCE), and when the cake-stealing cultist insulted her just once, he stepped forward just like that

10. In their apt, when they were lying on the floor talking abt jumping off the balcony, he was really caught up in the "romantic" fantasy of them committing a double suicide and dying with their bodies entwined so irreparably by the impact they form one unified corpse "never to be separated!" and they get buried in the same coffin together. UM??? Bro fr thought he was the sane one of the two. That wasn't even true before the cannibalism and demon summoning 😭😭😭

BONUS:

11. This might just be me, but his reaction to seeing the post-sex vision doesn't strike me as someone who's inherently opposed to the idea. Instead of disgusted, he was... flustered?? He acted like she walked in mid-guilty pleasure wet dream. This wasn't a "GROSS THATS INCEST" reaction which is... the most normal reaction to have. That's the face of a man that got CAUGHT bro.

He asks "we're not like that, are we?" and "why are you like this?" and questions the veracity of the vision, but he never actually explicitly denies wanting the vision to happen, more focused on Ashley and her reaction. He buries the elephant under the rug as fast as he can, bc yeah, it struck a landmine, but it probably wasn't a landmine for the reason Ashley thinks it is. I bet the vision just hit a little too close... :P

#the coffin of andy and leyley #coffincest #andrew x ashley #tcoaal #txt post #character analysis #andrew graves #bro is MESSED UP and I'm only scratching the surface #half of this post is analyzing his gf and I'm not even done man I didn't even mention how Julia is both a foil for Ashley and a lookalike #he both chose a girl completely different from her (mfer's compensating) and someone who reminds him of her

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sodafrog13 · 5 months

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ok but the way gf and jacket's relationship genuinely seemed to make them better and help them heal. that's what makes me insane. like i know people have mentioned it a thousand times, but seeing how the apartment changes was such a charming way of realizing how their relationship changed over time, it will always be like. a pinnacle of background storytelling to me

the way that jacket actually starts caring abt himself, because he obviously hadn't been before she'd come into the picture. how he actually bothers to clean up the apartment and keep it that way and stops keeping his ""trophies"" because he doesn't want to reminder her of what he's capable of, wants to show her that he can be a real, living, human person too, because she deserves to know that she's living with one.

the way that gf was obviously wary of him, how she stays away whenever she can after she's first rescued because she has no reason to trust him. why should she, after all she had been through? and yet she chooses to stay. she chooses to stay know what he'd done in order to get her there. and she buys new clothes and watches TV and plays video games and makes food and sleeps on his couch and shares a (newly bought!) hamper with him knowing that he's capable of terrible things but knows that he'd never do any of them to her.

and then they start sleeping in the same room. not in the same bed, twins don't make much room for two, after all. but what a show of trust that has to be!! for jacket, who's lived alone for who knows how long and, as far as we're aware, has no living close friends to speak of!! for gf, who'd recently been removed from an abusive environment and who'd probably been initially just as, if not more, wary of any sort of affection as he was!! to willingly surrender your safety to someone like that after your life for however long has been a waking nightmare!!! to declare not only to them but to yourself that you are finally ready to let someone new into your life because you enjoy them being there!!!! fuck!!!!!

i've joked about it before but genuinely, i think gf could have fixed him. if there truly was a way out, if 50B had been willing to let jacket leave, he would have left for her. i just know it.

girlfriend really was willing to wait for jacket to get his shit together and jacket was willing to get it together just so he could have a shot at living a ""normal"" life with her. sobs

#hotline miami #the trash speaks #trashcan's analysis #those two love each other man. cries #gf deserves everything club 2024

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abyssalzones · 5 months

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C-PTSD as a diagnosis makes so much sense for Ford because he really does fit almost all of the criteria, ESPECIALLY if you take the stuff in J3 into account in conjunction with his traumatic childhood (bullying, bad dad, etc.). It just makes sense in regards to his motivations and his issues with interpersonal relationships (like with Stan). Also buring yourself in your work (like he does) is a very common 'flight' coping mechanism to trauma in adults

I'm smiling like this right now

ford's whole.... mental health deal is extremely interesting to examine because Oh my god this man is the textbook image for "reacting to ongoing, continuous trauma". intentional or otherwise (I'm inclined to believe it's both).

like. okay hang on I'm about to get very in depth with it

I feel like there's no way this entire guy's life and in some ways his lasting identity haven't been defined by and constructed around various forms of trauma, maybe the most obvious and true-to-canon-intent being peer abuse/bullying from childhood. a lot of people downplay the impact of this type of abuse but it's... responsible for a lot of social ills in shocking ways. (if you're more interested in this topic here is an article my friend mer linked me a while back, it gets into it very deeply)

(a lot of this is going to be sourced from the wikipedia page for CPTSD [and my own experience Living with it] which I realize isn't very professional of me but Whatever this is tumblr)

one of the core tenets of ford's personality is that he's Different. he owns it, sure- his six fingers become a point of pride rather than something to be ashamed of- but they make it extremely clear that from a young age he associated being different with being a social pariah. ford's generation was characterized by notoriously cruel bullying, and anything that remotely made you stand out rendered you a target. ford could've been bullied for being nerdy and jewish (and failing to perform socially, ie dating) alone, having such an obvious mutation definitely was not winning him any points.

so it's honestly no surprise, when from childhood ford feels like he has One person in the world to trust and confide in, that he would go on to form very unhealthy attachment patterns typical of CPTSD. as you elaborated on regarding AvPD (which I know far less about but seems to have comorbidity with CPTSD): if you're hard-wired to believe socializing with others results in failure or betrayal, then you're not going to make an effort. but what does end up happening is that you're going to pour all of your trust and dependency into one person at a time, one person who is "safe".

previously, that was his brother. and it's not really hard to draw the conclusion from there that fiddleford was a subject of ford's attachment style, considering he was his One friend from college, and... one of Maybe two people ford is friends with at all who he isn't related to. he cites him as the only person he can possibly trust to work on the portal project alongside him, and he still can't bring himself to tell him the full truth, because he's terrified of losing him. I love their dynamic (I do think they were mutual best friends, and there was no small amount of trust reciprocated between them. "fiddleford was weird as hell too" is something I keep coming back to) and I don't think it's built on entirely unhealthy terms, but that kind of pressure is... setting things up to crash and burn.

enter bill stage left. back to "continuous yearning to be liked and accepted"- this guy knew that and made every effort to prey on ford's insecurities to reel him in as close as possible. this is what really pisses me off about the idea that bill was just "inflating ford's ego", because it's way, way more insidious than that. throughout the entirety of journal 3 we see ford reintroduce someone to his life he has a very positive relationship with (fiddleford) and how that trust gets gradually broken down by bill's influence "winning out" over their friendship. I think it's safe to say ford was already vulnerable: from the start, he'd been isolated in his research for six years (and it's unclear for how long he'd known bill by 1982), and bill proved time and time again to be someone who wouldn't judge him, someone who would praise him for his hard work, and perhaps most critically, make him feel like being different was something special.

like that's... that's really not good!!!! and that kind of thing works wonders on someone who has already settled with the idea that they're inclined to be alone just by design.

trying to put a cap on this. in relationships like the one he's had with his brother or fiddleford it doesn't even necessarily have to be ""toxic"" (vague term anyway) or outwardly bad to be built on unhealthy attachment patterns, and considering for a good chunk of ford's life his attachment to others can be characterized as "I can only trust ONE person at a time" it feels essential to any discussion of his CPTSD or canon trust issues. That is something that happens a lot in Real cases of CPTSD (hi) and only further snowballs into More trauma by leaving you vulnerable to manipulation and abuse (see: bill.)

I've been going on for way too long now and I feel like I've only scratched the surface of the thing I wanted to elaborate on sorry. that post traumatic stress disorder can complex

#lab notes #I woke up and had to answer this before anything else but I really need to Eat so apologies if this is all over the place. running on empty #edit: this is ok to reblog ! all of my gf theorizing/analysis is unless I clarify it isn't for whatever reason #lab discussion

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oh-allie · 2 months

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i know its been said before but what the fuck ford. 😇😇 your brother, known dumbass, spent over half his life fixing his mistake, SAVING you, without knowing if it'd work, or if you were even alive, and then the first thing you do is SOCK HIM IN THE FACE. i love you babygirl but stan is literal saint dont touch my ANGEL..........

started thinking of this when i was rewatching of AToTS rn and how when stan first sees ford he opens his arms to hug him (and then ford punches him) but when mabel was telling them to "hug it out" ford actually looks back at stan like Wow alex hirsch i am going to END IT ALL....

anyway i Love my angels stanley Pines and STANFORD FILBRICK PINES (even if theyre a Little gay)

#gravity falls #gf #stanford pines #stanley pines #a tale of two stans #AToTS #FREAKING OUT #beating up my ford plushie rn #i love u bookie bear ford but i’ll acyually fuck you up if youre mean2 stan again.....#ON SITE BUDDY..#all jokes i have a serious analysis of AToTS that im not fully done with #allies blurbs

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monstrousmuse · 4 months

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*rubs hands together* Right. We're doing this.

or, My Very Serious Attempt At Analysing The Billentines.

"BILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?" - Gods, he's even worse than Stan. Jack of NO Trades, Master of PUN. (Not the actual intent here, but if you add a comma, it almost sounds like someone else is asking him out. In cute-sy speak. "Bill, you go out with me?!?! Pwease?")

"I'VE GOT MY ❤️EYE❤️ ON YOU" - Aww, his eye is so expressive. Also love the way he's just... sitting on the ground like that. His base is so thin, it's no wonder why he needs to prop himself up with his little noodle leg. Like a reverse kickstand.

"YOU'RE ACUTE-Y" - Bill torments his friends with terrible, nerdy geometry puns Confirmed. Stanford Filbrick Pines PhD x 12's dream partner amiright？

"I LIKE YOU FOR SOME REASON" - *apologetically glances towards Ford* What reason, Bill? You can confide in us. Or perhaps you don't know...

"LET'S GET ILLUMINAUGHTY" - HE REMOVED HIS BOWTIE WTF-I-I didn't even think that was possible. Welp, you learn something new every day. ...And, are those his cheeks? I’ve always assumed that his whole surface changes colour whenever he is feeling a particularly strong emotion. Huh.

"I'M BROKEN. WANNA FIX ME?" - ...now you're just mocking us. If this ends up spreading to the wider fandom- Oh. Oh dear. It already has. Well played, Hirsch. In all seriousness though, this one is surprisingly introspective of Bill. Has he been doing some postmortem soul-searching? Read a few self-help books? Perhaps Frills was the one who first suggested that he write his own book as a means of reaching a state of inner catharsis...Or maybe it’s just a reference to how Stan literally shattered his face before killing him.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE ALONE" - See my previous post. Long story short, he stopped time for a reason. But. Also. He looks depressed. No offence, of course. (Is the floor comfortable? From data gathered during the period of my life that I spent as a Weird Human Child With Weird Human Quirks, I have come to the conclusion that the floor is not, in fact, the most comfortable of places to lie down and ponder one’s existence, but you do you I guess.)

"I SECRETLY COLLECTED YOUR SWEAT IN A JAR AND ACCORDING TO EXTENSIVE LAB TESTING. WE HAVE AN 88.3% PHEROMONE COMPATIBILITY MATCH" - Bill has pheromones. 88.3%...Is there a significance to this number? Does Bill Cipher even know, or care, about basic lab safety and scientific accuracy these days? The answer is a resounding “No. Definitely not. Absolutely not.”

"THEY CALL ME...THE LOVE TRIANGLE" - How To Become Besties With Mabel Pines In One (1) Quick & Easy Step. But you better watch out Bill, the Love God will probably be filing a lawsuit against you for Stealing His Look...and a minor case of Very Intentional And Blasphemous Blasphemy.

…

Whew. Done. Overanalysis is to me what Ichor is to the Greek Gods.

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lizzibennet · 3 months

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idk what the boy and the heron is Actually™️ about i know it’s supposed to be a really personal work for miyazaki but personally to me it was just. something about the idea of the magical world being untrustworthy and dangerous and Wrong and yet so beautiful and for some reason so attractive. why are you following the heron? because i have no choice. but aren’t you scared? that’s besides the point. and the idea of the ideal outcome being just outside of reach in that magical realm becoming something you accept, going back to your world knowing not everything is gonna work out perfectly because it’s okay, in the magic world didn’t either, in fact it was magical and otherworldly and yet it crumbled but we were fine and so we will be fine in this one too. the idea of the magical realm being just the “other” one and the original one with its flaws and its beauty and its arms wide open being the one you're excited to come back to. idk something about the inevitability of both tragic outcomes not being a bittersweet thing but just a sweet thing. a gentle, heartwarming tale to retell again and again because that's the only way to revisit it. why am i crying!!!!! WHY AM I CRYING

#i was sitting there like 😭😭😭 wow this is about trauma and grief and legacy and my gf sitting there like: i’m bored.#like girl i went to the tjlc school of media analysis this is about trauma!!!!#the boy and the heron #ghibli

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givehimthemedicine · 9 months

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🛹🛼

lots of talk about why Mike reacted so negatively to this when he reacted so positively to this:

can we talk about how the Rinkomania reaction started in between those two things? right here:

at mid-season-2, all the times Mike has seen El use force against people have been super justified because there were lives at stake (or at very least, like in the case of tossing Lucas in the junkyard, she thought there were)

then Max wipes out, and goes "ooh it was like a magnet pulled on my board" and instead of taking that the way anyone would - that this annoying girl fell due to lack of skill and is trying to save face with a stupid excuse - INSTANTLY Mike suspects El. El, who's currently dead or lost in another dimension or whatever, must actually be lurking around here with nothing better to do than trip Max.

ok 100% accurate but I'm offended nonetheless

why did he jump to that conclusion?

the last time some inexplicable, physical but nonlethal hijinks befell someone he was talking to, he turned around and saw who was responsible:

so when Max fell, in that same gym btw, of course his brain goes turn around, look at what you seee

this was Mike learning that, oh, El isn't Superman and doesn't reserve her powers only for perfectly morally justified situations, but can in fact lash out about anything that bothers her, like the disturbed child she is.

BUT I don't think he actually processed that at that moment. he wasn't thinking about how Max did absolutely nothing that could be misinterpreted as a threat, and didn't deserve this. at that moment, any thought of justice for Max, or scrutiny of El's motives, was easily and completely drowned out by excitement that El might be there.

so later Mike sees Angela screaming on the ground with El standing over her, and remembers he has already seen El respond to a non-life-threatening situation with a level of force that didn't make sense to him.

plus he has that whole protection thing and I think seeing anyone get hurt is paladin catnip to him (see him rushing to Max's aid two seconds after telling her she's annoying). he has that instinct to support whoever's been knocked down undeservedly - yeah he knows Angela is an asshole, but El's response seems overboard to him, so while he doesn't go as far as rushing to Angela's side, he doesn't rush to El's side either.

he keeps distance between himself and El at the rink and leaves her sitting alone in the most literal demonstration of not wanting to take her side. he seems irritated in the car and downright pissed at the dinner table. I think it's true that he was overwhelmed in the moment and scared not of El but of the situation, but I don't think that's all of it, because then why would he be pissed.

maybe he's seeing patterns and thinking back on how Max didn't deserve that at all, and how neither of these things were very Superman of El and he's a bit disillusioned that she doesn't live up to the flawless superhero moral code he assigns her in his mind.

while the Angela thing seems WAY harsher than the Max thing, can I also say that a lot of that is due to circumstances?

Angela's pouring blood, wailing, an ambulance has to come, there's lots of witnesses. it looks baaaad. Max isn't injured, isn't too bothered, and there are no witnesses or real consequences. shrug. but it easily could've gone down much more like Angela. you can absolutely break a bone or get a concussion from a spill like Max's.

Max isn't hurt, so Mike just leaves the room, and nothing ever comes of it. compare to Mike watching an inevitably-to-be-arrested El sit stewing in the aftermath as dozens of Angela's sympathizers watch her get checked for brain damage by EMTs.

it's little wonder Mike has such a different reaction in the moment, even though El's actions in these two scenes actually isn't totally night and day.

El's force was more deliberately focused on Angela, and I think El did intend to hurt Angela in a way she didn't intend to hurt Max (El yoinked the skateboard rather than bodily targeting Max herself, but her intent was still to make Max fall, and she could have been comparably injured as a result).

like, up til the point of "El gets mad and lashes out" these are similar - the way the aftermath unfolds just happens to take the best and worst possible paths, respectively.

and before you want to point out that the Angela thing was a reaction of anger and the Max was just about puppy love jealousy, no, that was anger. Max is literally the first thing El thinks of when Kali says to think of something that angers her.

tldr; rinkomania is just a nightmare remix of the gym scene to Mike

#tfw you find out your gf is in fact just some girl with massive psychological issues and not superman (sad trombone)#forgot what my point was halfway as usual but here are my brain crumbs about the situation #analysis #mine #eleven #mike wheeler #like. haven't we all done something wrong that was nbd just because nobody got hurt and nobody saw it #but if it had gone down differently it could have been an extremely big deal #imagine: Max falls breaks her arm screams teachers run in Mike has to stay with her til medics arrive a small crowd gathers #El feels bad and homerbushes.gifs outta there. the hand Max tries to shake hers with later has a cast on it #also rinko is so funny because Mike thought til 1 minute ago that El and Angela were besties #so he sees her bash her face in and is like 'girl your friendmaking skills are so questionable but ig it works for you. max misses you btw'

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purpleshadow-star · 2 years

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Here's the actual analysis as to why El is just as bad of a romantic partner to Mike as Mike is to her (and why they just don’t work romantically in general).

(this is going to include both reasons why El is not a good romantic partner and just general observations as to why Mike and El don’t work romantically)

Relationships work two ways. Mike and El don't work not only because Mike can't love El the way she wants to be loved but also because El hasn't ever proved that Mike can confide in her and be vulnerable with her, which is important for a relationship. We have literally never seen El comfort Mike about anything, or even ask if he’s okay or how he’s doing. We've seen Mike try to comfort El in S4, but we've never seen it the other way, not even in the slightest.

Let's start at the beginning.

This lack of mutual trust and this weariness to be vulnerable with each other stems from the fact that Mike and El never established a proper friendship before getting together. Friendship is where people get to know each other and learn to trust each other. Friendship is the foundation to any good romantic relationship.

Mike has proved that he can be there for El from the beginning. He took her in when they found her, he gave her a place to stay, and he protected her, despite the fact that it was dangerous for him to do any of this.

Mike and El met, knew each other for a week, and then were separated. During that week, Mike did his part to establish the beginning of a friendship. El didn't even know what it was to have friends, so obviously, she was slower in reciprocating the friendship completely.

El was able to establish the beginnings of a true friendship with everyone in the party, so they all considered her their friend, and she considered them her friends, but they never really got to know each other. Mike and El in particular were torn apart before they could get to know each other well enough to develop true romantic feelings, and it didn't help that people such as Lucas and Nancy gave Mike the idea that he should be interested in El romantically. The fact that Mike kissed El was a major setback for their platonic relationship.

Because they were never able to establish a good, strong, platonic relationship first, and since they never really go to know each other, this set up a very shaky foundation for any other relationship they tried to build.

During their year apart, El watched a lot of romance shows and movies, to the point where she could quote the TV. She gained this idea of love that isn't realistic, but since she and Mike kissed, and the people in love on the TV kissed, and she cared for Mike, she probably rationalized that her positive feelings for him must be romantic, just like the people on TV.

Because of this, when they reunited in season 2, El already had it in her mind that their relationship should be romantic. She wasn’t trying to be his friend anymore, not like with the rest of the party. She thought that they should be romantic. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Like the people on TV. This is shown when she tried to kiss him before she left with Hopper to go to the lab in season 2. El made that move, not Mike. Mike didn’t even lean forward. And then the Snowball happened, and Mike kissed El once again, and (presumably) that night, they established their romantic relationship.

(It is important to note that Max and Lucas also got together at the Snowball, and they had the same amount of time to get to know each other (About a week and the one month time skip at the end of season 2). The only difference is that we saw Lucas and Max actually talking about themselves and getting to know each other. We didn’t see that with Mike and El in season 1)

We really start to see the result of that shaky foundation in season 3. In the beginning, we saw Mike and El make out and seemingly have a good time together. Mike left, and then we saw that their make-out session caused Mike to be late to meet up with the rest of the party.

As the season went on, we saw how Mike and El’s relationship affected everyone else. We learn that they’d been ditching their friends (causing Will and Dustin to be noticeably upset), and they’re being disrespectful to Hopper.

We also saw that El didn’t really like Mike’s idea of fun. He tried to be silly and have fun in the first make-out scene, and she stopped him and pulled him back into making out. We learned through Will that they hadn't played DnD in a while, and he implied that they hadn’t really been doing anything fun lately. Mike had essentially given up the things he liked to do in order to hang out with El.

As far as we saw, Mike and El spend most of their time making out and not actually doing anything else that the two of them enjoy together, such as listening to music (to enjoy it, not just as background noise while making out), playing games (like El and Max do later), reading comics (also like El and Max do later), watching TV together, or even just talking. It’s almost like making out is the only thing they both know the other likes to do.

(Also note that a lot of this has to do with their age. For the most part, dating is the stage to get to know someone before making it official, but because Mike and El are so young, they don’t know this. They have a set idea of what dating and relationships means in their minds, and they don’t have the life experience to know that dating means getting to know one another, not just spending all your time together making out (especially El, who was in a lab for almost her whole life and mostly learned about other people and the world through romance TV). Usually, you go on dates, then, if you like each other, you enter a relationship. Dating people who you didn’t know before is basically the “being friends” stage. They seem to skip the dating part entirely, and they go straight into a relationship. For anyone, but especially kids that young, a good relationship needs to be built on a good friendship)

When Mike lied to El, she broke up with him, which was completely fair since he kept on lying. Then, she went on with Max and didn’t think about him too much after that. We saw that the breakup didn’t really affect her.

During the rest of the season, we saw Mike in danger multiple times. We saw Mike get concerned for El, but we never once saw El ask Mike how he was doing. We never saw El check up on Mike. Not like how Jonathan checked up on Nancy after she was attacked by the Mind Flayer, despite him having been injured to the point that he almost passed out only a few minutes prior. Not like how Joyce was concerned about and took care of Hopper after he was beat up by the Russian soldier.

At the end of season 3, El told Mike that she loved him and it was heavily implied that she said this because she overheard Mike say it in the other room earlier in the season, but Mike didn’t say it back.

Mike never told El he loved her to her face. She was the first (and only) one to say it face-to-face.

Remember that.

In season 4, we learn from El’s letter that she was lying to Mike. She was completely lying, not just leaving out the bad parts of her life in California. When Mike arrived in California, we saw that El was a bit upset with Mike for writing “From Mike” on the flowers instead of “Love Mike,” but she brushed it off. Then, the roller rink happened, and El’s lies were exposed. Instead of coming clean, she even tried to convince Angela to play it off as a joke. Then, later that night, she retreated, and she isolated herself.

The next day, we saw Mike try to comfort El. He didn’t get upset about the fact that she had lied to him. He simply asked for an explanation. He tried to help her feel more comfortable telling the truth by reminding her that he’s been bullied his whole life. He told her he understood, and he opened up to her and reminded her about his own traumatic memories, only for her to tell him that he didn’t understand. She disregarded his experiences and said that he didn't understand, even though she literally watched him almost kill himself because of a bully.

And still, even after she dismissed his experiences with bullying, he didn’t get mad. He asked for her to explain. Then, she opened up about her own insecurities, and she said that she thought everyone, including him, looked at her like she’s a monster. When Mike tried to reassure her, when he told her he cared for her, El decided to move the conversation off of herself and onto Mike.

Mike is understandably taken off guard by this. El then proceeds to insist that, just because Mike didn’t write the word “love” in his letters, that meant he didn’t love her, despite his reassurances.

Now, obviously, Mike is also in the wrong in this conversation. He lied and said that he did say that he loved her when he didn’t, and he really didn’t handle the situation well after they moved onto the topic of him loving her (ex: saying she was being ridiculous, etc.), but that doesn’t change the fact that El continued pushing this topic that he clearly wasn’t comfortable with. She never considered that maybe he wasn’t ready to say it yet. Again, remember, Mike hadn’t actually said he loved her to her face yet, so really, there should not be any expectation that he should be saying it to her face, or even writing it, right now.

All in all, so far, we’ve seen El lie to Mike, not apologize for lying for months, invalidate his bullying experiences, and get upset with him for not saying something that really shouldn’t have been an expectation yet.

None of this got resolved.

El got arrested. Then, when they reunited, there was no time to really talk about the fight until they made it to Surfer Boy’s Pizza. That little talk they had before Argyle came with the pizza would have been the perfect time for El to apologize for lying and for what she said about his bullying during the fight, but that didn’t happen. So, El never apologized for lying, even after Mike apologized for not saying he loved her more.

None of this means that El is a bad person. El and Mike just don't work romantically because they aren't able to be vulnerable around each other. The one time they talk about how they feel with each other, they end up with a fight that never truly gets resolved. It wasn't resolved with the monologue, not only because Mike’s truthfulness in the monologue was questionable, but also because the argument started with the fact that El lied to Mike, not the issue of Mike not saying he loved her, and that never got resolved.

El hasn’t once shown Mike that he can confide in her, and that, along with many other factors, is why their relationship isn’t going to work out. They needed to establish that platonic bond first. They needed to establish a friendship to fall back on when things in the romantic aspect of their relationship got shaky. If they had established that friendship first, they would be more comfortable going to each other and opening up about their troubles.

With a more solid friendship, they would have been able to go to each other for comfort or reassurance, the same way Mike was able to go to Will, his best friend first and foremost, and talk to him when he was upset and feeling insecure. Also, the same way Max went to Dustin, her friend, when she was worried about the Eddie/Chrissy situation instead of trying to go to Lucas.

Max and Lucas had the same amount of friendship time as Mike and El, and even though they had a better pre-romance friendship, it ultimately wasn't enough to save their relationship. The difference is that Max and Lucas spent season 4 building their friendship back up and solidifying that foundation so that when they do get back together, they’ll be stronger than ever. Mike and El (well, mostly Mike) spent season 4 trying to save their romantic relationship, which is why it still isn’t very strong, even at the end of the season.

Again, this doesn’t make either of them awful people. This all just shows that they are not good for each other romantically, and they never really have been.

So, to conclude my long rambling, as much as Mike idolizes El and her powers, as much as Mike can’t tell El he loves her to her face or without being prompted, as much as Mike can’t show El that he loves her and make her feel loved, El also is completely uninterested in the things that make Mike happy, El never apologized for lying to Mike for months, El invalidated Mike’s traumatic experiences with bullying, and El has never shown Mike that he can go to her for comfort and reassurance.

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anti-transphobia · 1 month

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Everyone posts about how Stardew Valley is a cozy LGBT+ inclusive game but NO ONE mentions the lack of a platonic option for the bachelors/bachelorettes. Which would be good for aspec people and also just more pleasant for many casual players I believe but that's not even the point. I just want to become best friends with everyone and not only does that require me dating everyone at once and feeling like a sleazebag because of it (ik the bad cutscene can be avoided but I know in my heart they'd be hurt if they knew) BUT it also means the women flirt with me!!!!! Constantly!!!!!!! It makes me sick to my stomach. Truly ruining the characters I liked

#this post is not that serious or meant to be an Analysis or a Discourse Post or a Hot Take or whatever #i just think the dating thing needs to be handled differently #i should be able to Not Date characters and still get 10 hearts with them #also ive never made it far enough in stardew valley to marry someone and this is the first time i could even date someone #and ive heard that the flirtatious comments dont stop once you're married which is. really awkward for me #i mean i could probably handle the guys flirting with me while im married but id hope being married would be an off switch for it #its just awkward to have ppl im not actually dating and only gave a bouquet to so i can be their friend be called my bf/gf when. they're Not #i seriously need to find some kind of mod to fix this once i finish getting all the girls up to ten hearts #i will deal with the stomach churning grossness of the flirting for a while so i can see everything #but then I'm DONE!!! I'm DONE!!!! I just want my friends back!!!!#maru and abigail and haley !!! my buds!!!#NOT emily shes scary and NOT leah because we just didn't click and DEFINITELY not penny because i fucking hate her #penny sucks. penny dni #but yeah the flirting feels gross because im gay and repulsed by women romantically/sexually #and even though i did open myself up to this by playing the game. because i dont want it it feels like its being forced on me #which makes it feel even WORSE than normal #and its like. not only do i feel like I'm stringing along these characters #but i feel like my friendship with my favourites is ruined :(

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fastbreakpoints · 1 year

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#I truly have no words today is the greatest day ever much like Brain windhorst it is 1:32 AM where I live and my gf is #going to divorce me if I don't go to sleep so I will leave analysis of this monumental moment to my able mutuals of tumblr dot com #but oh my GOD..oh my god #the jays #*

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fumifooms · 3 months

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Can you imagine marchil as "The Kiss" by Klimt? But with some differences: Marcille is gently kissing and Chilchuck is all like "Ugh, if you want..." (secretly loves it. Also blushing). Golden couple of (ex-)Golden Kingdom, ha!

Yes… YES… Honestly I feel like I’d thought of doing it some time ago but I never started so ty for giving me the push I needed. The Kiss is such a redraw staple for any ship ever. A gold motif with marchil bc of her blonde hair and the importance of money for Chil is like RIGHT THEREE, the golden kingdom fr fr… They have sm material to play with

It’s gonna take me a while, I’ll post it over at @fuumiku when they’re done as always. Have some extra kiss-themed wips that have been in my files for so long. Marchil be upon ye

#That second one was supposed to be finished for valentine’s day… Help #It’s gonna be simple though so I’m kinda halfway through lineart and render #That weird cat-clown-mushroom thing in the last one is my sona I panicked bc showing this wip is literally so embarrassing. I am not used t #Drawing kisses seriously HELPP not to be a Laios but this feels like exposing my fleshy bits to the wolves #Sigh what I wouldn’t do for marchil #Stop distracting me with marchil positivityyyy I have non-ship analysis to write up…#… With that said hmu anytime if it’s for marchil feel free to send me requests #Anyways Marcille is gonna slay a black dress in this. Gotta give Chil his goth gf #Ask #marchil #Fanart wips

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tequiilasunriise · 2 years

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A lot of y’all seemed to have REALLY enjoyed my ‘Enid is a lesbian because she says howdy’ shitpost so here’s another round of me performing Olympic god medal level mental gymnastics in order to explain how Wenclair works:

Okay so, as taught by my Bumbleby roots, names can have SIGNIFICANT have power. So to see if that applied here, I looked up the meanings of Wenclair’s names.

Enid: life, spirit

Sinclair: saintly, pure

Wednesday: Originates from the Norse god Woden (Woden’s Day) who was associated with death

Addams: The creator, Charles Addams, clearly inserted his own surname here, but it’s interesting to note that Addams means earth

Wenclair really are polar opposites aren’t they? Sun and Moon Girlfriends™️ not just aesthetically, but even down to their names (giggles in BB giggles in BB giggles in BB-). It’s almost like they were meant to parallel and compliment the other from the moment they were born.

The Sun- warm, pure, full of spirit and energy and a giver of Life.

The Moon- dark, shadowy, a blanket of cover for Death as she calmly overlooks her star-studded realm.

Did y’all know that Life and Death can not exist without the other? They are perfect equal-yet-opposites foils of one other that are in this grand cycle of balance. One is not inherently better than the other, mind you. Furthermore, I love the idea of inverting these tropes. The Sun may be associated with Life, but do not underestimate her- she can just as easily take this life away. Scorching wildfires, droughts, a rage like a sleeping wolf now awakened by her lover’s call. The Moon may be associated with Death, but she is also a symbol for change. The ever-shifting tides she controls, the phases she cycles through, the way Wednesday helps Enid change for the better. Sun & Moon, Life & Death, two halves of a rather lovely whole.

That being said, there’s also something sweet to be said about Addams meaning earth. The Earth is often associated with feelings of welcoming because, well, above all else, Earth means home (see the goddess Gaia for example). Like, yes, being celestial beings on a grand scale of equality and eternal devotion is amazing, but there’s also a charm to Addams meaning earth, of Addams meaning home. Enid is not accepted by her own family, but that’s alright, because she’s made a home in the loving arms of another. I like to imagine that on that on the flipside, there’s the symbolism of ‘earth’ not in the sense of the whole world, but earth like the soil beneath our feet. Wednesday seeing ‘earth’ as the ground we trodden upon and going, “Would you really want to settle for some dirt like I?”. Enid, with no hesitation, replying, “I like this dirt, it’s great for growing beautiful flowers. I wouldn’t want any other home but you, Willa.” Enid Addams does have quite the ring to it, wouldn’t you agree?

#if I made any of yall cry sorry not sorry #i fucken LOVE symbolism analysis and ofc imma bring it here to the wenclair fandom #sun and moon life and death gfs so TRUE #home as not a place but rather a person supremacy #some of yall might think im crazy fer such in depth name analysis but lemme just say #being in the rwby fandom fer several long years will get to you like this #again sorry not sorry #if theres any HINT of more symbolism in the show yall already know imma be on that shit like a mf bloodhound #anything fer yall anything fer yall #wenclair warriors moment #wenclair #wednesday addams #enid sinclair #do i tag bumbleby #yes I do #bumbleby #rwby

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