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distort-opia · 9 months

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Hello! So I recently got into batman, and I’ve been slowly climbing my way up my reading list while also browsing through tumblr in search for metas about him, which is how I found your blog, and I really enjoy your metas!

I have a question though that won’t leave my mind, yet I also don’t want to stop my current reading list to jump into another series (JL), so I hope you don’t mind me asking this question to you instead 🙏

Basically, I’ve been wondering whether Bruce has opinions about Clark in relation to his self—Bruce’s self? So far from what I’ve read, Dick is (excuse me if the wording isnt exactly accurate, but just as a sums up) “the one that brings the light to Bruce’s darkness & the ideal self—the best of him”, whereas Joker is “the mirror to his self—the him that ‘what could have been’, the him who took different route”, and I wonder if there is a similar thinking/opinion about this self thing from him @ Clark too (like some sort of parallels)? I’m sorry if it sounds confusing 😅 Thank you!

Welcome to the fandom! Thank you for the kind words, glad you've enjoyed what meta I've put out. Hope you're having a fun time with Batman comics.

Oh Bruce definitely has opinions on Clark and Superman in general, in relation to himself. Though I have to make the note that in no way was Superman intended or built as a narrative foil for Batman's character, a "mirror self". Dick and Joker are characters who populated Batman's world from early on and were always meant to say something about the protagonist. Superman is a protagonist onto himself; he was created before Batman, and his popularity was actually a big factor contributing to Batman's creation. But that doesn't mean these two characters haven't grown together and influenced each other in a myriad of ways.

On a surface level, you've got the... grumpy one/sunshine one dichotomy. Superman is brightly colored and more emotional and fights in the light to bring people hope. Batman is enshrouded in darkness and stoically represses his emotions and fights in the night for justice and vengeance. One in the light, one in the shadows, one alien, one human, the "boy scout" and the "bad boy"... Even though they work together and are both on the side of good, these contrasts between Bruce and Clark are easily noticed by both others and themselves, and have led to conflicts on more than one occasion. But the way this translates in Bruce's head, to approach it from the angle you mentioned, is probably best summed up by the following pages... which I'm putting under a cut since this gets a bit long. Spoilers too I guess, for the Rebirth Batman run (if you haven't gotten to it yet).

Batman (2016) #36

"He's a better man than I am. [...] Who am I, compared to him?" And this is no way a new sentiment for Bruce:

Batman: Hush

Bruce doesn't see himself as a good person. He's capable of risking people's lives, of blackmail, lying, torture and manipulation, of unbelievable brutality and violence in the service of what he believes is his Mission. But he sees Clark as an inherently good person; as an ideal that he himself is not capable of ever reaching, of ever being. If I were to summarize only the projection aspect when it comes to Batman and Superman's dynamic, I'd say it's this one-- Superman is the hero Batman wishes he could be, but not one he'd ever try to become, because he believes himself fundamentally incapable of it. If as you said Dick is someone Bruce relates to and sees parts of himself in, but better (in trying to help Dick he retrospectively tries to help his child self), Clark isn't that. Superman is less of a mirror Bruce actively acts on, and more of a... negative. Clark is technically an alien, and yet in many ways he's more "human" than Bruce, having grown up with a loving family that Bruce wishes he had. Where Bruce tries to rise above the humanity he sometimes sees as weakness, both in emotional and physical terms, Clark is someone who's already "above" humanity, and yet yearns to be part of it. Moreso, Bruce envies Clark's sheer god-like power, but he knows that he doesn't have Clark's good character; that if he had this kind of unstoppable power, his need for complete control would drive him mad. Which actually happened one time, in Superman/Batman (2003) #53-56.

That being said, as is noticeable even in the pages above, this can result in Bruce putting Clark up on a pedestal, and idealizing him a bit too much, to the point of forgetting that Clark is a person too, with flaws and weaknesses. And not just that... the more ruthless and calculated side of Bruce never truly stops seeing Clark's power, both as something he can wield and something that can be turned against him (hence the hoarding of kryptonite and the contingency plans, in case Superman went bad). Perhaps Bruce's attitude more generally is illustrated best in this very recent moment:

Batman (2016) #128

Superman as Earth's greatest hero, and its greatest weapon. And Bruce is willing to risk his life to preserve that, because by comparison, he isn't these things. (And because Clark is his friend.)

#there's so much to their dynamic tbh. didn't delve too much into the more Superbat side of things but #this plays a part. they ARE best friends no matter what they say. but it was a complex journey to get there and it's still complicated #anyway. with the disclaimer that these are my personal thoughts of course #perhaps you'll have different interpretations as you make your way through canon #but I hope this was a fun read Anon!#asks #batman #bruce wayne #bruce wayne meta #superman #clark kent #my meta

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thekingofwinterblog · 5 months

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Maka vs Crona episode 20-21

When writing fiction, there are many points that can end up becoming the defining moment where a story peaks as a tale.

The final climax is ideally when this happens, and the amount of times when that is the case aren't exactly rare.

However it is just as common for stories to peak early.

Goku versus Freeza on Namek is generally considered far, far better than Goku's many, many following bouts, Tolkiens battles of Helm's Deep and the Pellenor fields, climaxing with Aragon's sudden appearance with the rest of the Southern Gondor Forces is generally remembered far more than the battle at the black gate or the scouring of the shire, while One Piece has tried, and failed consistently to recapture the glory that was Water 7 and Enies Lobby that together formed the absolute best story in Shonen.

As for Soul Eater, wheter looking at the Anime, or the Manga, it is not exactly a controversial statement that neither qualifies as it's absolute best. The manga ended on a terrible note, while the Anime while sticking true to it's themes, didnt quite hit the landing as good as it could have.

What both have in common though, is the moment where their tales peaked.

The Rematch between Crona Gorgon and Maka Albarn beneath the halls of the school leading up to the ressurection of Kishin Asura.

Rematches are always a fun thing in fiction, for a variety of reasons.

The most obvious is simply seeing how characters have grown or regressed since last time they brawled, but the simple fact is that rematches are baked into stories where there is conflict.

The Hero suffering an early loss, then facing their earlier foe only to emerge thriumphant is baked into the Storytelling DNA of the Human race. It's one of the most important parts of the Hero's journey for a reason, and you will find COUNTLESS examples of it, especially in shonen, which thrives on conflict and battles between individuals.

Ichigo vs Byakuya, Luffy vs Crocodile/Lucci/Katakuri/Kizaru/etc, team 7 vs Zabuza, and so on.

In the case of Soul Eater's rematch, on paper, and how it's set upon it's start, this battle is very much set up as a classic revenge rematch. Crona and Ragnarok obliterated Maka and Soul the last time they met, and now it's time to turn the tables.

It starts off with a kickass action scene where Maka has learned from her mistakes in the earlier fight, and so uses Crona as a punching bag rather than something to cut...

It event has both combatants trash talking the other... Everything is set up for a good grudge match.

The funny thing is though, that this could not be further from what this fight is actually about.

Because after that exciting action opening, that is meant to contrast with the first one sided fight, it almost immediatly switch gears to what it is actually about.

Maka and Crona as people, their flaws, their strenght, how both of them act as foils and mirrors, and brings out sides from the other that the story has not shown us before.

The first such moment is a follow-up to something Crona said in their first match.

"I don't know how to handle pretty girls"

That was a compliment, though obviously not meant as direct flirting, and this new line isnt either.

"S-stop. I can't look directly at people with big, strong eyes."

Crona looks at Maka as, in her own way someone to be admired... Because Maka has something Crona does not, and wants. Confidence, strenght, beauty.

Crona is both terrified of Maka... But also admires her at the same time.

The trash talk has nothing to do with bravery, or even looking down on Maka... Instead it's an attempt at putting up a brave front so the problem at hand will go away... But the moment Maka refuses to do so, and instead stares Crona down, Crona immediatly begins to crumble and instictively back down in front of Maka's cool and confident gaze.

Also while the fight goes on, a lot things happens concurrently. Not much of it is important for the Fight, but the other big battle taking place, is. Medusa vs Stein and Spirit.

This fight has two purposes, in regards to Maka vs Crona. The first is to give us Medusa's opinion and testimony regarding how she raised Crona, and thus we, the audience does not need Crona to make a long monologue about their past while talking to Maka.

The Second is contrast.

Spirit is absolutely certain that his little girl will win this fight. He has the bravery to trust in her, and her capacities, even after what happened the last time she fought Crona.

By contrast Medusa believes Crona will win because of logic, and calls spirit's faith in Maka "Blind Parental Love."

The funny thing is, they are both right.

Crona IS stronger than Maka... Yet Maka will ulimately win.

Their conversation also serves to contrast both of their children, and how they grew up. Medusa raised Crona as a weapon that is desperate for her approval and love. This will in turn be hammered in by Crona's own rather depressing flashback.

Meanwhile Maka was raised with love and care. It was not a perfect home by any stretch, brought down by adultery, abandonment and the blame game as everyone blames someone else, rather than accept the bigger picture(Maka blames her dad for everything rather than fully accept that her mother abandoned her, Spirit blames himself for his weakness rather than lay any blame at his exwife for abandoning his daughter and running off rather than take the parental responsibility she took claim too by fighting for Maka's custody, while mrs Albarn used her husband's infidelity as an excuse/justification to in turn abandon her own child).

Ultimately what this fight is all about, is both of these children finally beginning their journey to healing from the wounds left behind by their childhoods.

It also shows the values both Medusa and Spirit passed on to their children. Medusa twisted her child by instilling values like not killing... Then deliberatly forced her child to either break those values, or lose her affection, speciffically to emotionally break Crona down into an obedient weapon.

By contrast, Spirit, upon hearing Crona's backstory reacts with compassion, empathy, and understanding. And as the fight between Maka and Crona rages on, Maka will make it clear, that despite all of her protestantions to the contrary, she is her father's child.

The fight that follows between the next generation is a nice spectacle, but the next important development comes as both of the two meisters soul ressonance with their weapons, with Maka betting it all on her Witch Hunter, her strongest move...

And Crona completely blocks it with no problems, with a simple armguard, breaking the technique.

This moment is important for two reasons.

The first is the way it hammers in the point and themes that will later be repeated beat for beat during the climax of the series where Asura does this exact same thing to Maka's strongest technique in terms of raw power in either the manga or the anime, the Kishin Hunter, the same move that Shinigami used to beat and batter Asura around with ease.

Strength and Power will NOT beat madness and fear.

You cannot defeat fear, lonliness and depression by strength of arms, no matter how strong you are.

That is why ultimately Black Star and Kid will all ultimately fail to defeat Asura, and why Shinigami at his prime ultimately could not do it either, being forced to simply seal Asura away instead. Because every one of them faced this problem of trying to conquer their fears by using overwhelming force.

And they failed. Just like Maka fails here.

To defeat it you need something more, something completely different than might and power.

The second thing, and why this specific moment is what prompts Crona into going into a flashback right now, is that upon blocking Maka's best attack with ease, Crona suddenly has a spike of confidence, and lashes out, and brings Maka to her knees.

And it brings us into the next section of the fight, as we explore another aspect of fear, madness, and bravery.

"Weakness can imitate strength if bound properly, just as cowardice can imitate heroism if given nowhere to flee."

This is not a quote from Soul Eater, instead being from the Stormlight Archives, but it encapsulates the Theme of the next section of the fight perfectly.

Crona is not brave. The sudden burst of confidence did not lead to a turn around where Crona confidently and bravely defeated Maka in combat.

It was the lashing out of a scared child with nowhere to run, who HAS to win this fight, even if Crona does not want to be here at all. That one moment simply gave Crona the push to unleash an overwhelming assault of power that Maka could not match.

Weakness can masquarade as strength, and Cowardice can pretend to be bravery if it has nowhere to flee.

Which is why this in turn leads Crona compares Maka to the first creature Medusa forced Crona to kill.

The Fact is Crona has no idea how to interact with Maka, either as an enemy, a rival, someone who Crona finds Attractive and cool, or just a human being in general... So it sorta just jumbles together into a mess.

But Crona has not had the option of running away from either of their two fights, and so has been forced to actually interact with Maka, and so is completely all over the map in how to deal with her. Sometimes it sounds like Crona is hitting on her, cause she's an attractive girl as far as Crona is concerned, sometimes Crona puts up a brave face, sometimes tries to decisively kill her, and so on.

Which is why this in turn leads Crona compares Maka to the first creature Medusa forced Crona to kill.

We don't really know exactly how Medusa raised Crona before this point, but there are several important points to note here.

Crona understands at some level here that killing is, fundamentally wrong. When Medusa tells Crona to murder this thing, Crona does not want to do it, nor how to actually muster the will to actually kill.

That tells us 2. things.

1. is that Medusa deliberately raised Crona to be unprepared for this task. As Crona's mother, it would have been incredibly easy for her to raise her child with a far, far more viscious and brutal attitude against killing other living things.

But that is not what Medusa wanted. She wanted a broken and obedient weapon, an experiment she wanted to test and prod to see the reactions out of.

She WANTS Crona to not go through with it, and to be reluctant to do it at all, in order for the subsequent "Lesson" regarding obeying her speciffically no matter what, would hit as hard as it possibly could.

Upon little Crona's refusal to go through with it, she then locks Crona in a dark room with no food or water for days, alone with Ragnarok that bullies and beats Crona up for failing at the "task".

And when Crona still doesnt immidiatly go through with it, she throws Crona right back in, and blames it on her own kid again, hammering in the "lesson" that this Crona's own fault for being a "Bad kid".

this is all brutal, but it leads us into the second point to take from the way she raised Crona before this.

Crona WANTS affection from other people... But Medusa only gives it on a conditional basis, but also very deliberatly isolates Crona from ANYONE ELSE to the point where Crona doesnt even have contact with animals.

In the end, this does lead to Crona finally going through with it.

There is a very deliberate difference at this point between Manga and Anime though.

In the Manga, the animal that Medusa wanted Crona to kill was a defenseless, cute bunny, to further hammer in just how defenceless it is. The anime though, probably for censorship reasons was forced to drop this imagery... So they did something better instead, that connects it to what Maka and Soul are about to do.

in the anime, the animal is a small, dragon, unicorn thing that breathes fire, and upon first meeting it, Crona is for obvious reasons terrified of this thing, flinching away as it unleashes a jet of flame.

But after being starved, denied water, and physically abused by Ragnarok, Crona is let out from the room a third time. And this time, the reality that if Crona does not murder this thing, it will be right back to the room has set in... So when the dragon thing breathes fire right at Crona's face again, Crona doesnt even Flinch.

The fear is not gone though. it's just that with nowhere to flee, Crona mimics bravery, by embraces madness in order to not have to deal with the very real fear at facing the fire.

Crona is able to pretend to be both strong, and brave, by giving all in to madness.

The funny thing is though... Maka and Soul do the EXACT same thing.

Upon their tactic of just throw themselves in to the fight and hope to crush Crona with overwhelming force and power doesnt work, they instead decide to try to beat Crona and Ragnarok at their own game, by giving all in to the power of the black blood that makes Crona so powerful, with no heed of the dangers of embracing madness.

This moment, and the subsequent beatdown that Maka delivers is probably the single most iconic moment in the soul eater franchise.

Maka going completely nuts, completely unheeding of danger or any sense of tactics or morality, as she kicks Crona's ass, is Soul Eater's best action scene as it not only is visually stunning and entertaining to watch... but PERFECTLY encapsulates the stories Themes.

Maka wants to win this fight, and so she throws herself into a course of action that at first glance might seem to be brave... Giving up your sanity for power to win.

If Soul Eater was a story about people sacrificing themselves for the greater good, this might work, but it's not.

Soul Eater is ultimately a story about bravery, and bonds. About how it's people coming together despite all their differences, that makes life so worth living.

Sacrificing yourself... or others, is the cowards way out. It solves nothing.

Maka is not brave as she faces Crona withouth a hint of fear. Just like Crona prentended to be brave in order to have the capacity to kill that dragon thing, so Maka pretends to be brave by throwing away all her fears and sanity for power.

And in the end, embracing Madness only leads to Maka munching and gnawing on Crona's skull, having completely lost her marbles.

It's a different kind of defeat, but it still harkens back to her previous failure.

You cannot defeat fear by removing it, and pretending it isn't there... no more than you can do it with power.

Having completely lost herself to madness at this point, the only possibility left for Maka at this point, is to reassess her surroundings, and pull herself back from the edge.

And so, pulling on her speciality as a meister, her ability to sense and read souls, she begins that journey by reconnecting to her own soul, noting how it's such a small and fragile thing... surrounded by madness, it's so easy to fall in... And that's withouth jumping head first like she and Soul did.

And of course, being directly connected to her through the black blood currently steeping her very being, she also feels the soul of her best friend and partner Soul Eater Evans, a twisted, yet great guy who is always willing to listen to her, even when she's being selfish.

It is then though that Maka is drawn to another soul, one that fascinates her far more than either her own, or Soul Eater's soul.

Now the anime doesnt fully make it clear why Maka is immediatly so facinated by this soul... Crona's soul, but it's very clear that she is immediatly drawn to seek it out.

The manga however, makes the reasoning abundantly clear. She finds the soul beautiful for reasons she probably doesnt fully understand herself.

Regardless, she bonds with it, embracing it, and what it holds inside just like she did with her own soul, craddling it to her heart as she delves into it's mysteries.

It's mysteries is a beach with no water, an unatural thing, where there should be beauty and life, and yet is as as devoid of both as the desert it so resembles.

This is Crona's soulscape, the defining mental landscape of the young Demon swordmaster's psyche, as defining for Crona as Soul's jazz and piano room is for him.

It is here that we meet Crona's inner self, a young child, who deliberately draws a circle to be separate from the world... And yet so, so badly wants there to be someone, ANYONE else there.

And yet, when a companion appears, Crona's own shadow, Crona rejects it in a sad, yet resigned way, refusing to answer questions, passing on every one of them, until finally driving the shadow away as it becomes frustrated.

Now the questions are important in how Crona feels, but the actual takeaway isnt the answers, but how Crona refuses to respond to any of them, even completely obvious ones.

Crona does not know how to do so. Medusa's parenting and deliberate isolating her own child from any form of interactions besides her has completely and totally stunted Crona's growth, hence why here, inside Crona's own head it's back to the childhood self, not the teenage years Crona has entered into.

Which brings us to Crona's relationship with Maka. As bizarre as it might seem, Crona's interactions with Maka is the closest thing to actual socialization with another human being besides Medusa that Crona has ever had.

Because Maka by virtue of opposing Crona and refusing to back down has forced Crona out of that figurative sand circle, and actually had to interact with someone else. It was all over the place, but it was real, genuine, human interaction.

Hence why Crona thinks back to Maka in this moment as the shadow leaves, yet another lost opportunity that Crona let slip for interaction.

it's at this point that Maka, having now fully connected to Crona's soul, makes her appearance, in the form of her younger self with an adorable, lion's roar, scaring Crona, who protests that nobody else can be here, that this is where Crona is supposed to be alone from anyone else.

Maka does not care, and instead, upon being told of the circle's supposed purpose, destroys it by literarily stamping it out.

This completely destabilzes Crona's entire soul.

And upon returning to the physical plane, having left behind the Black blood and it's madness, Maka is face to face to a Crona who is having a form of seizure. All the methaphysical and psycological barriers that Crona has put up against the world have now been broken by Maka's actions, and is currently taking the form of the black blood inside of Crona's body shooting out everywhere in the form of spikes.

From a tactical perspective, this is a great development. Crona is wide open and immobilized, so now is either the perfect time to take another shot with Witch Hunter, or to just leave Crona behind to go join Kid and Black Star.

However, things have changed.

instead of doing either of those, Maka leaves Soul behind(much to his suprise and confusion), and withouth a weapon, completely calmly, walks up towards Crona, while talking in a kind, calm tone... The kind one does to someone who is freaking out and needs help.

And she keeps going forwards, despite the spikes that keep shooting forward almost impaling her every time.

In many ways, it resembles the kind of just abandoning fear to try to overcome it that she just tried to use to win this fight... But it's not.

Maka UNDERSTANDS Crona now. She knows what drives Crona to the core... And so she believes that Crona does not want to hurt her.

She doesnt know this. She fully understands that Crona might just kill her on accident... But she does it anyway.

She takes the risk that comes with this march forward, because she WANTS to connect further with Crona. Crona needs help, and maka wants to give that help.

That is bravery. True bravery, not the kind of bravado that drove her to take Crona on to begin with because she wanted to avenge her previous loss.

It is also insane. Pure madness... And yet it works.

Once more, she connects her soul to Crona, but this time, it's the opposite way, instead of delving into Crona's soul, she instead opens her own heart to Crona, to show that she understands.

Crona in response completely calms down, and after Maka lays out that she finally understands how Crona has never had anyone reach out and offer human contact before, Crona is... suprisingly at peace.

Crona still thinks that Medusa will now move and and that the time has come for mom to make good on her promises that Crona is expendable... And yet it somehow doesnt matter anymore.

Crona long ago gave up hope for physical, and emotional human contact with anyone, and now that someone finally has given Crona just that... That's enough.

It's time for Crona to just dissapear into the ether... To which Maka, very softly, but firmly delivers one of her book chops to get Crona's attention and out of the ending it all mindset.

Rather than let Crona continue on in this suicidal mindset, Maka instead takes the next step, and offers Crona the one thing that surpasses even the low, low bar of basic human contact and compassion. Her hand in friendship.

An offer that brings Crona to total tears of happiness and joy, and as the two of them grabs the others hands, they once more bare their souls to the other, while Soul Eater Evans looks on, and addmits to himself that Crona's great fear, of contact with other people is a fear that he too shares.

Just like Crona... And just like Maka, he too ran away from that very thing... But as the Manga shows in his thoughts, despite running away from his brother, he managed to find the very thing he ran away here at this school, in the form of Maka, blair, black star, tsubaki, death the kid, liz and patty... just like Crona now found Maka.

It's an astonishingly strong and powerful fight that encapsulates absolutely every theme and idea about bravery, madness, human companionship that the story had, while utilizing it's cast to the fullest, while also making use of it's power system to forge one of the strongest bonds in Manga.

However, we still have one final thing to discuss before we're done.

as we get as shot of Maka and Crona in Crona's soul scape once again, this time happy and smiling, hand in hand, the ocean finally begins, turning the desolate sands into beauty, washing over and then pulling back again, leaving the landscape actually alive, rather than the desolate, and lifeless void it was, and we end the episode on a special animation for the ending credit song.

That song is Soul Eater's second ending Theme, Style, and as we do a deep dive over Maka and Crona's development, we need to also go over it, and what it means, while also answering another question.

Why did Maka appear in the form of her kid self when she dove into Crona's soul scape?

the answer ties into why Maka and Crona made such incredible good foils and parallels for each other in this episode, and why both of them ultimately forged such a powerfull bond from these events.

Style you see, is a story told from the point of view of a child who is just making a new best friend by taking a risk and opening their door. It's about adults desperate to forge a "perfect future" like cogs in a machine, rather living in the moment, embracing everything as it comes, and asking god to make sure to record every one of the memories so they would be able to look back at these moments forever.

It is very much a soul eater styled song, but more importantly, it's a song that was very much chosen speciffically for Maka and Crona.

in a meta sense their relationship is DEFINED by this song, given how the episode ends with a special ending just for the two of them.

Maka and Crona's growth as people, are both defined by going forward... By going back and embracing their childhoods. More speciffically, what they both lost during it.

Crona lost both Childhood innocence, kindness and seemingly any chance to ever have friends and make normal, healthy human bond ever again.

Maka lost her ability to trust easily, became spiteful, hyperagressive, and lost her natural childhood kindness to others.

And both of them lost all of it, because of their parents. Crona lost it because of abuse, victim blaming, grooming and being treated as a weapon, rather than a child to be loved and nurtured.

Maka meanwhile lost all of the kinder, gentler, and trusting aspects of herself because of having to grow up and constantly see the dad she loved and looked up to cheat on her mother, and then subsequently being abandoned by that same mother, rather than have her serve as a source of strenght in her hour of need.

And through this newfound bond, both of them are able to regain all of it. That is the true beauty of Maka and Crona's relationship.

It's not as if all their problems go away, or their personalities go back to from before... the past, and how it has affected both of them is not ignored, or backtracked. but the path forward is a blend of what came before, and what they have become... while hopefully leaving behind the worst aspects of what they became at their worst.

Maka thinks Crona's soul is beautiful because deep down Crona is someone who wants to be kind and who thinks of others before themselves. all encapsulated by Crona's cute smile. That in turn brings out all of those feelings and emotions that Maka has tried so, so hard to bury to never be hurt again.

Crona thinks Maka is beautiful because she is a confident, brave, kind girl, who was willing to give even someone like Crona love, friendship, support and help even while being enemies. And in turn that makes Crona somehow reawaken the hopes, dreams and Values that Medusa cultivated just to deliberately murder for her own ends.

They both help the other to eventually get over their trauma in their own way and embrace their best selves... Despite the insane chance that Maka took to forge this relationship with someone she had no reason to even like, they were both so much stronger for it.

because they had the bravery, and madness to try.

Bravery and Madness, two sides to one coin.

And it all began here, over the course of two episodes.

#soul eater #soul eater anime #maka albarn #crona gorgon #spirit albarn #medusa gorgon #episode 20 #episode 21 #maka's mother #meta #croma

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bleekay · 2 months

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anyone who cares about the me hating my room layout saga........come along w me...... no img descriptions im so sorry..... i can only describe these images as "2d bedroom/office poorly laid out in various ways"

sorry im using inches not cm. so here is my room's current layout:

it's a small room, less than 10'x11'. that window on the side is 6'x6' and the window sill sticks out 2 inches from the wall, and it starts 1 foot up from the floor. im using my desk as a bedside table rn. why do i want to rearrange this? why does it kill me that this is what i'm stuck with?

SICK OF MY MOM DOING THIS SHIT. just silently standing in my doorway whenever she walks past my room and i have something interesting to her on my screen. she wont even announce she's there, she just stands there. one time i was watching some stupid funny video and i found out she was behind me because she LAUGHED and it scared the shit out of me. yes i have talked to her about it. yes she knows i don't like it. she says she "doesn't do it on purpose" just sometimes she'll walk past and see something on the screen and can't help but look. girl.

but like heres the thing... what if friends have drawn nice porn??? ideally let's not let my mom look at it. I want to draw porn??? lol, lmao even. imagine what i could make if i were free. no but fr even aside from that, just day to day, it'd be nice to feel like an adult and not a kid whose parent is looking over their shoulder all the time, even past the invasion of privacy issue, having my back to the door means im always on edge... so that is goal number 1.

("why dont you just close your door?" dogs ok shut up)

(also wanted to say that step 1 in preventing my mom from just Doing That was to get a door curtain, which i have now, but it does not change my desire to move my desk. it isnt enough.)

goal number 2 is giving the dogs a pathway equal in flow to the current one. the dog seat next to my chair is 26 inches high, so the dogs can only get there from the bed, not the floor. you can see right now, it's easy peasy for them, step up, bed, seat. that blue circle is where i initially put the dog seat, and it was lower at the time so the dogs could reach it from the floor. alas, katze hated it on that side even though it was easier for me to get out of my chair when it was on the left of me instead of the right.

ok, so we've got the two big goals. desk against right-side wall. easy layout for dogs.

i need you to know i've tried a lot of different layouts ok. i am showing you a FRACTION of the attempts. a fraction!!!! i tried a layout with my bed at a 45 degree angle, don't "have you tried--" me

the left side wont work bc the dresser and bed overlap by 2 inches and it simply won't fit. the right one solved that problem. but both of these have two other problems: 1, dogs falling into window gap lol -- easily solvable, i'll just fill in the window with pillows or something -- and 2, i have to choose whether to give the dogs a step over to their seat or to have a bedside table. can't have both. and i need a bedside table so the dog seat would have to go on the other side with a step up, which would block me in. also unacceptable. both of these are out.

thats what led me to this layout, which i made a post about. so the dresser would work as a bedside table for me, the dogs have decent flow up the step, to the bed, over onto the dog seat. but ah. the space between the desk and the bed is about 20 inches. maybe a little less if the window sill pushes the bed out an inch or two from the wall. am trapped. probably difficult to get in and out. i am not teeny tiny.

and now we are here:

if i just scoot the desk down i have room to move, dogs still have flow, everything's good..... except. you see it right. just a. large gap in the corner. nothing there. surrounded by things that are all 2 feet high or taller. so, a pit really. but, ah, what's this????

a free table exactly the length and width of the gap, stopping any chance of the dogs falling down there and hurting themselves or being unable to get out???

wow, i can move my printer from on top of the dresser to on that table! i can put my mini shelves there which are currently sitting on my desk! i can maybe even set some little trinkets and doodads there!! ah, table that is perfectly sized for my corner pit and that i got totally for free and is in really good shape and not falling apart, wow you're so great! :)

is what i would say if i had a table that fit there and was free and worked well

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thedeafprophet · 4 months

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Now.... on the topic of wanting to draw something for the royal Bethlehem for the tourism project, i go to what it would look like from the exterior. cuz see, on the map its displayed here like this

(which... all things considered isnt that large of a building....)

The hotel is clearly based on/is the Royal Bethlehem hospital from irl London, and its... long and less ideal history. ive already gathered historical photos from it more during the time period

Bethlehem was rebuilt in the early 1800s, after the prior building of it was falling apart. The construction did not go smoothly to say the least

This was an engraving of the building from 1828 ( at least according to wikipedia)

Further images also gathered from there from the victorian period:

Obviously, its transistion from 'hospital' to 'hotel' is a very interesting concept to me tbh. I could certainly make the argument that its still better than what it was on the surface given the history of the specific place, and mental health treatment in the period in general.

I am so ever curious on how exactly one lead to the other and when the manager first started acting as so...

....all that is to say when i get around to building it in the sims for reference i will be combining the irl building design with the little ingame model (im wondering if parts of the building didnt make the fall...?), and of course making it more 'hotel' like interior wise lol.

#would love to hear others thoughts on the matter. im not fully versed in this area of history #this was just from a basic read throughs ive done in the past #and obviously more wants to focus on the horrid treatment of the patients rather than the architecture #prophet's fl nonsense

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skelaxo · 10 months

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I’ll do a separate post about Charles Eyler and aromanticism because that is always on my mind but I’m having fresh thoughts about femininity and his character around that but it’ll be kinda long so elaboration under the cut >:)

(Note: I’ll still be using he/him since those are his canonical pronouns and he also is canonically genderfluid so this isn’t really a transfemme headcanon, more he wants to present more femme/possibly some level of dysphoria)

I get the impression Charles wants to present more femme but due to a lot of circumstances he’s not able to—

For one he presents his online self femininely with the username “Charlotte” and using a pfp of her. Many people sort of “test out” gender expression online with different names or pronouns before ever coming out irl, so I think Charles reflects this experience. In addition, he projects his insecurities of not living up to his online persona onto Vincent, assuming he is disappointed coming face to face with someone who didn’t match themselves online saying

“Its you who should be disappointed in me, mr C”

“Charlotte turned out to be Charles, whoops”

“Bet you wanted to see the girl of your dreams”

When Vincent himself says “names and bodies dont matter”

But then again, irl he wouldn’t feel comfortable with completely free gender expression because of all the Mother and Scarlett stuff— “youre a good girl” isnt so gender affirming when its in the context of your mother convinced youre her aborted daughter who’s way more successful than you are and is kinda messing up your whole mental state.

Ok now this is somewhat of a stretch but evidence nonetheless—

Charlotte. All the Charlottes. Trust me on this one. So Charlotte is Charles’ OC/self insert/persona type deal. Perfect protagonist and all that fun stuff. Projection of an ideal Charles. Scarlett. Also Charles. Ideal Charles projected in a fucked up way. So. Here’s where I’m going with this. Charles=Scarlett who=Charlotte more specifically ep1/2 Charlotte who can be considered transfemme coded mostly due to the scene she and Frei look over memories in the mirror room, specifically the one titled “Femininity”

And I’ll just paraphrase it but young Charlotte was unconfident in her femininity feeling unsuited for feminine things until Aiden encourages her to embrace it anyways and feel comfortable in it—

Charles=Scarlett=Charlotte=transfemme ITS A CONNECTION OK.

If Charles writes the story of the perfect protagonist in which the protag is an idealized self and she is living the same experience of not being able go express femininity YEAH CHARLES IS GONNA GIVE HER THE HAPPY CONCLUSION HE DIDNT ok there’s some plot holes in that ep2 is not exactly derivative of Charles’ writing buy leg me have this

There wasnt a convenient spot to slip these in but also some ep3 false realm stuff leans into gender non conformity with 1. Evidence Charles will sometimes pick a femme student vessel over Vincent and 2. Q84 rejecting traditional femininity which is opposite of this whole post but Q84 is that “what I never could be” for Charles WHICH IS A WHOLE OTHER RAMBLE ON ITS OWN so it makes sense the script is flipped here

#hello charlotte #charles eyler #hc #skel rambles

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ms-all-sunday · 4 months

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the thing about pudding is that she both kins sanji and is in love with him. shes literally just abuse victim/mentally ill girl wish fulfillment she loves sanji because she admires all of the traits he has that lead him to becoming a more independent person because she wants them for herself. therefore liking him lead to character development on her part. sanji inherently unlocked for her "i love you therefore i love myself" and that relationship is so compelling to me.

sanji i think recognizes this and swims in the praise which is why hes like sooo objectively normal while obviously giving her special attention in wci. like hes like "ah how i thought about ace" and because of that hes not romantically attracted to her but does recognize the important relationship they have enough to deliberately be nice to her with no expectation of anything beyond that.

WCI is about romance as a construct, it's about romance as a tool and romance as a reflection of what you yourself want. in WCI oda begs you to question how romance is used to convey things and the societal construct of hetero-normative relationships. sanji and puddings relationship is a DIRECT criticism of these constructs (they dont actually like eachother and are fake to eachother all the time) but also an acknowledgement that once heteronormativity and romance as a construct isn't expected then we can truly connect as people. and theres validity and importance and deep emotion tied to puddings feelings for sanji, that are not fake. but cannot exist within the construct of traditional romance, because traditional romance is a transaction between men and women. not an expression of your identity, your wants, your desires, your hopes. (which is exactly what puddings feelings towards sanji are. a reflection of herself)

i know inherently the age gap between them is weird and to be honest it isnt ideal but i dont inherently dislike the kiss in wci because it validates puddings relationship towards sanji which is so important for her. not only validating her romantic feelings but validating that as an extension of what she wants for herself which is like really realistic for a teenaged girl and also like pudding is me. pudding is fucking me. you have to understand how important this is pudding is me.

#modposts #op #one piece #meta #charlotte pudding #black leg sanji #stories are all so obsessed with romance as a construct that i love when op deals in romance because its so self aware about the flaws in #expectations of romance #and if a character is flirting with another character it means something deeper about them #than this girl is a girl and this boy is a boy #which is why i really connect with it #whole cake island

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meatsex · 4 months

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No pressure nor ill will, but as someone who has had past bad experiences with vinesauce fanartists, I'd like to know if you could possibly talk about your intent when you draw vinesauce art in such niche themes, large quantities, as well as basically drawing gore of real people. I like your art in general, but with some VS art, I don't know how to feel about it, due to the lack of insight to the author's intent, so that is all I'd like to have clarified, if possible.

im going to reply to this because you asked nicely, otherwise i wouldnt and ill say why at the end

i dont know what exactly falls in "niche theme", but these are things you will find not just in my VS art but in any kind of art i do: crossovers (vocaloid songs), parodies (shared line with crossovers), violent acts put on a comedic spotlight or in the reverse case, situations that are violent in nature but presented as comedic put through a more realistically violent light (literally see gen loss vinny anvil scene)

also see: my t/rent reznor art, my t/im and e/ric art

saying "basically drawing gore of real people" is strange, while i wont deny the definiton of gore applies to something as "blood covered person", its usually a term thats always been reserved and used for way more lethal things, like dismembering and maiming. with subjects and media that doesnt have an "established limit of how much you can put someone in a violent situation", ill top it to just drawing things like what i first mentioned, how does this judgement apply to what i draw then? let's use vlinny which seems like a good example with lots of fandom history too:

(taken from his vinesauce wiki page) "his clone flesh will dissolve", while this isnt a vinesauce licensed trademarked (tm) description of a character, but rather a fanmade one, it still applies to what makes his basis, so, therefore: drawing vlinny with melting skin is okay because this is literally something that has been established by the person who came up with it, HOWEVER, anything farther or more violent than that while could still be true to the nature of the character, is something id preferably not to draw because it would cross the boundary of what has been visibly established by the source. this would be the same as me drawing joel ripping apart a demon from doom

BUT WAIT, what about the "hereditary" drawings? ill hand you the benefit of doubt and worry for these ones, because while they are a parody of one of the main characters (dont look this up if you dont want spoilers), i cant just draw a streamer dismembered and say "well duh its okay cuz its a parody", thats not how anyone's ideals should work, but i bring up the point again of limiting myself to what i consider is fair game established by either the source or general consensus, and i have yet to see people telling me OR others leaving commentary questioning stuff like blood

the type of art i make of VS is not a specific type of art id make only of this, but rather a type of style i already do by default and just apply to the topic im fixated on at the moment, if its something that is, like i already said, considered okay to do

its obviously a very blurred line what is the "limit" and how much you can stretch it, since none of the streamers are actors in a movie full of action, or characters in a videogame put in a fantasy setting, so unless its a "character" (vlinny, genloss vinny, joel as doom) my limit will always be "just cover the guy in ketchup" because this is, to me, the okay-est limit that doesnt cross the line to "now this is just getting borderline weird", im sure for someone else the line could be the guy having a small cut in their hand, and to someone else the line could be the guy being amputated completely (if this is your line get away from me, seriously)

now, at the end, why wouldnt i have replied to this if it wasnt asked nicely? while i dont think its a bad thing to ask (i will always be very open to discussion of my art) and i dont know how long you have been here and i dont expect you to tell me, i think if you have been around long enough or did a bit of research on my socials, you can see i hate a specific type of fan of media, especially media which involves irl people, and while it isnt a catch-all to say "hey im not a weirdo!", i think it helps make clear and establish that i dont have weirdo intentions at the very least. i am sorry that you have had bad experiences with fanartists of the community in the past, i cannot say because i hadnt been there (as a fanartist at least), so i cant blame you for being wary of what you might see drawn by me, and i am glad that despite these bad experiences you could have a grounded way to ask me instead of just accusing me, so that i really appreciate. id like to think i have made my "author's intent" clear with this reply, i have tried to be as descriptive yet clear as possible, but with some people you might not be able to ever clear your mind on what their intent is, and this is just my opinion but you wont be able to go knocking on every person's door asking if they are normal or not, and id never force someone to look at my art, if they dont like it or have stopped liking it, it is absolutely okay and its their right to curate their own online experience however they like, as i have curated mine

i also feel like this is something other people might have going around in their minds, but wont ask or dont want to ask, for whatever reason, and i dont think its something id suddenly begin randomly typing about one day. especially now that id like to be less talkative in social media for personal reasons

again, i hope this is clear enough, whether you keep looking at my art or not, i again appreciate that you enjoy or enjoyed it and that you could ask this in a grounded way

(edit) something i forgot to clarify, regarding why i draw such large quantities of art: i draw very fast so i can draw a lot, and VS is my current fixation, that's about it. a lot of the art you see posted regarding that is usually warmups prior to paid or personal work

#po/box

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