Hello!
I'm starting to have a few posts over so here's a masterpost i guess?
My posts are divided by fandoms so enjoy lmao (idk what I'm doing)
(it's under the cut because it's gonna be long af eventually)
be careful for spoilers!

Discoholic šŖ©
KIROKAZE

Janaina Medeiros
Game of Thrones Daily
Monterey Bay Aquarium
trying on a metaphor
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Peter Solarz

@theartofmadeline
YOU ARE THE REASON
Stranger Things
d e v o n
dirt enthusiast
Mike Driver
NASA
No title available
macklin celebrini has autism

No title available

No title available
No title available
seen from France

seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from Türkiye

seen from Malaysia
seen from Türkiye

seen from Nigeria

seen from France
seen from Nigeria
seen from Brazil
seen from Brazil

seen from Brazil

seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
@affogato-analysis
Hello!
I'm starting to have a few posts over so here's a masterpost i guess?
My posts are divided by fandoms so enjoy lmao (idk what I'm doing)
(it's under the cut because it's gonna be long af eventually)
be careful for spoilers!
Jax, human voice and cartoon bunny
Hmmmm ain't i late to the party
There's a discussion to be had about humanity in digital bodies and the complications that ensue! so here goes!
Spoiler for mostly episode 6 but some references to episode 8 too.
Hornet has never done anything halfway
More silksong thoughts!!
Spoilers for the entirety of both games below!
Something about neither Ghost nor Hornet making concessions on their future
Silksong and Hollow Knight spoilers!!
if i had a nickel for every time team cherry created a performance themed red boss who has a flair for dramatics, that you fight twice, who changes hue for his second fight, leaves tracks behind him that deal damage, dances on dying kingdoms' remnants and has a mecanic that deals u damage if u decide to attack him early, I'd have two nickels. which isn't a lot, but it's WEIRD THAT IT HAPPENED TWICE
Heavy is the crown: Arthur and legacy
(puns! anyway lmao)
You know, I was thinking about the Tales from Cazilor, which Iāve been doing a lot as of late.
And like, itās so obvious that Arthurās character is about recognition. This kid grew up in his fatherās shadow and itās so obvious that this is what fucked him up.
He refuses to use his gift even though it has manifested and itād apparently be useful for a climber according to Wyldflower scene 3. He does not bring up his father but the other recruits do and they blame who he is on that family tree.
Like, Arthurās quest is about being himself and not his fatherās son or a prodigy who had everything handed to him. About being seen for himself and to have his strengths acknowledged as what they are: the results of his own work. We donāt know if his father raised him, but I was just thinking about it. How impossible must it be to live when people brush off your accomplishments because, of course youāre the best, youāre Xā son, or Of course you did it, your giftās awakened.
Arthur is essentially shooting himself in the foot just to prove that he can do it anyway and he pushes everyone away so that no one can ever tell him he didnāt earn the glory.
(and, really, gifted kids problems, but when all your mistakes are more seen than your successes, when all your efforts are seen as normal and dismissed but your failures are pinned to you like youāre the failure, it sucks. Ways to ruin a child, I promise.) (And āI donāt get sleepāās lyrics include a very angry āWere you even trying?!ā and the entire song is about running yourself ragged over not being enough, like, this isn't subtle or hard to decipher but it's pretty well executed.)
So, all in all, Captain Oldevitch telling him during the first albumās 3rd scene: āToltagās reignā that āyour squad's all you got in times like thisā and Apollo doubling down is surely a double edged sword. Either it marks a separation between Arthur and his father and allows him a space where he doesnāt have to be his fatherās son, or it brings him again in a situation where heās forced to share his victory with others, where he risks getting lost and not properly acknowledged. Probably both, and he needs to accept that he has new people now and they care for him (because they do, and he cares for them so much in return, Iām going insane).
Calypso, Antinous and consent
Epic has a fairly large cast of characters. Two of them in particular seem to parallel each other by their disregard for the target of their attraction and ambitionās consent: Calypso and Antinous.
Weāll discuss their writing, compare them and draw some analysis in this blog.
Trigger Warning, the following post discusses sexual assault and its authors and consequences. There will be no explicit or detailed retelling of SA and I aim to adopt a more āacademicā tone and therefore less emotionally charged, but I wonāt censor this analysis. Make sure youāre safe and comfortable with this before proceeding, no shame in protecting yourself.
The following post contains spoiler for every saga of Epic.
Susie and freedom
Deltarune is consuming me, the symbolism around her is eating my brain and i love her to death. so, Susie.
spoilers ahead all the way to chapter 4's ending and potential speculations for the future.
I did write about that in a reblog like, two days or so ago but i wanted to detail it.
it honestly fucks me up that susie is the optimistic one. enough to be called as having hope crossed on her heart. that SHE brings hope to ralsei, hope that maybe, just maybe, things can be different. that their story and fate isnt predetermined and inevitable. ralsei tries so hard to be the hopeful one, the one filled with optimism, to see the bright side in everything but he cant. he cant! he knows how this story ends. and susie, the mean, sarcastic aggressive person with an attitude is the one to say FUCK THAT. you dont have to be afraid. because im not, and im not going to let it happen. its just so... AUGH. I LOVE THEM!!!
amazing take
i just wanna add
Susie is freedom.
Ralsei is trapped by the prophecy and his status as a darkner.
Kris is trapped by the soul and the promise they've made to the person of the other side of the phone.
Susie is just there. She says "fuck you and fuck this" all the time, she's the one who challenge the prophecy at every turn (refusing to be a hero then shattering the prophecy, that and her refusal to let Kris do the sealing of the titan alone although she can't really do anything about it herself, like, she's always the one who acts out of her own free will) and also everything else! She fights Berdly and Noelle's mother for Noelle's sake, Susie takes freedom in her own hands and brings it to her people.
Might be dramatically reversed in the future, or could fail and be devastating, but up to this point, I absolutely count on her to be the catalyst.
The Circe Saga: misandry and power
aka, why I really like Epicās depiction of Circe!
Greek mythology is highly sexist and misogynistic. This is not up for debate. Therefore, any woman who is shown as powerful in a Greek myth must invite curiosity and some reflection about this power.
Retellings of Greek myths are always confronted with their base material presenting these issues and itās always a bit of a gamble to try and balance it out.
Circeās character isnāt exactly that much of a challenge since she is a powerful woman in the original myths already. The challenge lies in keeping her strong without denaturing her character: Circe is a caring woman, towards her nymphs, ruthless and unforgiving in her quest to protect them and herself. Her story is one linked to menās cruelty and the real difficulty lies in keeping this trauma without defining her entirely around it.
Epic does a good job of this, by defining her first and foremost not as a betrayed, hurt witch but a power to be reckoned with, a queen to the Nymphs, a sorceress. Youād have to ask Jorge how he went about designing his iteration of the character, Iām not in his head. What I know is that Epic!Circe is a good representation of her and Iād like more of it actually.
What I want to tackle is the resolution of the conflict between her and Odysseus and how he convinces her that he should get his crew back. The musical avoids falling into the āman fixing a womanās trust in menā trope to my greatest pleasure.
Odysseus never convinces Circe that his crew are better men: they did fall for her trap after all. He never tries to tell her theyāre not pigs or not dangerous to women or not scarred by war and its violence, therefore carrying it with them. What he tells her isnāt that sheās misunderstanding them, but that Odysseus guarantees that, if she lets them leave, they will not turn back.
This is not about morality but control. Circeās beliefs are not put into question, Odysseus doesnāt prove that his crew are kinder men or even that he is.
See, Circeās character is defined by her power and her control. She is repeatedly referred to as such; her first song is about being a puppeteer; when she tries to seduce Odysseus, it is a power struggle; he begs her for mercy and doesnāt threaten her; when Odysseus and his crew leaves, no one doubts her power. Odysseus got divine help to win against her, and he didnāt win against her, his illusion beat hers.
Odysseus is not powerful. Because āBack at home, my wife awaits for me, she's my everything, my Penelope and she's all my power, all my powerā. When Circe tries to seduce him, he is tempted! Circe is a beautiful woman and the man has been at war for ten years and at sea for an extra two, he is tempted by her advances. But he is first and foremost Penelopeās husband and she is her power. For all that he wants Circe, he has just enough control to not fall to her temptation.
There is no changing her belief or methods, this is about power and where it lies.
This is all a power struggle, and, at the end of the day, Penelope wins.
Odysseus and Penelope are amazing like that, because sheās the power and heās got control. These are the two qualities that Circe values, that and family.
So essentially, Odysseus has enough control to maintain himself throughout her manipulations, and Penelope exerts enough power on him that Circe is fairly confident that he will not hurt her or her nymphs. He also has enough power over his crew to ensure they will not hurt them either.
Therefore, when he tells her Poseidonās after him ā and considering Poseidonās record of violence towards women ā, Circe decides to help him.
And just so weāre extra clear, this is not Circe stepping back and considering men as ānot that badā. She thinks that there might be room for men to improve if they learn respect and to perceive women as powerful as well, but that doesnāt disprove her current opinion. Men could get better but they are not better than she thought.
All in all, this is a struggle over power and control and Circe is challenged by Odysseus and Penelope.
And yeah, he does get a dagger at her neck. But she does not lose, nor is she rendered powerless and fearful when that happens, she just switches strategies. She is not just powerful, she is resourceful and constantly in control.
I really like this saga because itās a genuinely very respectful depiction of Circe as a woman. And yeah, the femme fatale isnāt an uncommon trope, but itās still a nice iteration of it, and a really spot on take on it. Femme fatale are not about being hot but in control in a world of men, and Circeās a really good representation of it.
Hi Prideknights!
You're based in Europe, right? Could you help out signal-boosting this European citizens initiative to ban conversion therapy in the EU?
https://eci.ec.europa.eu/043/public/#/screen/home
I don't think I have to explain the horrors of conversion therapy to you, so let me explain how this initiative works.
For it to get taken seriously by the EU, we need two things:
7 countries need to reach the minimum threshold of signatures for their country. We're currently at 6 out of 7! Slovenia only needs 300 more signatures to become country number 7!
We need a total of 1 million signatures. This might look daunting, but there days ago we were still at 200.000. Yesterday we were at 450.00. We are at 535.000 right now. So we have a long way to go, but we are moving fast!
The deadline is in a few days, on May 17.
Anybody with a European citizenship can add their name to the pile! If we reach the right amount, the official citizen initiative will be put before the EU Commission.
With lgbtq+ rights getting rolled back across the world, including Europe, there is no time to lose to demand stronger protections.
Give your support !
MAY 14, 2025 (VERY RELEVANT) SPREAD. THIS. LIKE. WILDFIRE!!!
Is Jinx a terrorist?
A dive into definitions, political science and arcane.
Hello there! Time to get controversial about some of the least controversial aspects of Arcane! Why am I picking an umpteenth fight that no one cared for? Because I can, thank you.
Jinx has been called a terrorist unequivocally by the entire fandom and I havenāt seen anyone ā hardcore fans or arcane criticals ā discuss the accuracy of that claim.
Iām gonna have to put a couple disclaimers in there already.
1- Iām a master student in political science. While that gives me some credibility in what iām saying (that, and the fact that I'll be quoting my sources), that does not immediately make me right, this blog is not peer-reviewed (lmao) and you should have critical thinking while reading.
2- This is not me promoting or endorsing terrorism. I aim to have a neutral take on it, following the methods of scientific writing. I do have my own moral judgement on the matter, but itās not the focal point of this blog. Just because I will write in a very neutral manner does not mean terrorism stops being terrorism.
3- My incoming points are argued towards a work of fiction, and you must be careful if you decide to translate that reading to the real world. It certainly isnāt a complete and exhaustive view of terrorism and politics certainly require you to have critical thinking and better source than a tumblr blog (hence the quoting my sources part).
4- The goal here is to give various ways to read Jinxās actions, not to give a definite name and judgement on them. This text is entirely subject to your criticism.
With this out of the way! Spoilers ahead for the entire show (and while we wonāt really discuss season 2 act 3 here, there will be spoilers anyway) and letās get into it.
Athena, Odysseus, mirror arcs and parallels
We like parallels in this fandom, so let me explore this one.
Iāve seen and read a lot of people talking about various parallels in the musical but iāve yet to see about these two: Athena and Odysseus constantly mirror each other in a way. Both their arcs and stories across EPIC are constantly intertwined and they always meet in some way.
The first time they meet, they both try to trick each other: she disguises herself, he bluffs and it works. Sheās looking for a student, he wants a mentor, their stories and ambition meet for the first time.
He convinced her because he knew who she was, he called her by her name. And when they split up, itās when he fumbles his trap by revealing his own name to the cyclops after discarding her advice. So, when he steps away from her and her teachings ā for decent reasons in Epic, he wants less bloodshed and he wants his men remembered ā, she steps away from him.
They donāt see eye to eye because, when Odysseus thinks mercy and a kinder world are good, she sees it as weakness and calls him sentimental in a derogatory way. She wants him to finish the cyclops for he is still a threat, Odysseus can not bring himself to kill anymore, especially not an already injured and weak foe.
I really like that, although their actions mirror each other, the musical doesnāt forget Odysseus is a man and Athena a goddess. When he steps away from her, he ignores her advice once. When she steps away from him, she doesnāt talk to him for ten years.
Then, as Odysseus goes missing from the surface of Earth, stuck on Calypsoās island, Athena goes to check on his son. He wants to go home but he canāt, but she is free. They are far away but, through their affection for Ithaca and Telemachus, they still meet in a way.
(We could expand on the parallels Athena draws between father and son and how Telemachus recontextualizes Odysseusā actions and allows her better understanding, therefore leading her to grant forgiveness but well, itās been done before and itās not the point right now.)
Then, both reach for each other at the same time.
Iāve seen talks about āhow long had Odysseus been calling for her before she came to answer him?ā, my own take on the matter is itās the first time. He calls her because sheās here. He can feel her presence, thatās literally how they met. And even if he doesnāt realize it, even if itās unconscious, even if he thought she hadnāt answered him, he calls for her and she reaches for him at the same moment.
(part of why I think that is absolutely because I like it more, yes)
And then, Thunderbringer.
Athena and Odysseus both face Zeus, are met with a challenge and face the Thunderbringer.
But when Zeus shows up to Ody, he is a very unwelcome addition to an already bad situation. When Athena faces him, itās because she walked into his house asking a favor from him.
When Odysseus brings the lightning to his crew so he can live, Athena faces it head on so she can rescue her friend.
For both of them itās a trial, and a painful one. But Odysseus comes out of the Underworld and the sirensā territory and Scyllaās lair willing to be a monster, ready to torture Poseidon until he calls back the storm. Athena just left Ithaca and Telemachus, and defeats Zeus by calling to his mercy and kindness.
When they meet again, heās fighting to reconquer his palace, she is by his sonās side to defend him. (sword and shield metaphors anyone?)
And he calls to her again, and she reveals herself. And now, sheās the one wishing the world would be kinder and heās not willing to fight for it. (Forgive the man, he had still the suitorsā blood all over him when he hugged his son, heās yet to see his wife again, heās allowed to be too tired to care about changing the world.)
So yeah, I think theyāre neat. They keep on meeting and mirroring each other, learning from each other and from their time apart.
Insert here some commentary about undying friendship and all.
Eurylochus, responsibility and cowardice
Never thought Iād actually make an EPIC rant but here we are! Eurylochus is a character iāve seen quite a few takes on, but i didnāt agree with any of them so lmao, here goes!
Eurylochus, as Odysseusā second in command, should have been the incarnation of loyalty. Either to his captain or to the crew, both would be fine (standing with your ruler and not your people doesnāt make you a good person) (but it does make for interesting character tropes, looking at you, Dark souls II). But Eurylochus is as reliable as a burning rope bridge above a precipice, for both the crew and Odysseus.
Essentially, the deal with Eurylochus is a lack of will. He gets carried by whatever wind is the most comfortable on a given day and never makes a stand against the current ā unlike, idk, Odysseus who literally stabs Poseidon.
And, you know, staying perched on your position without ever moving isn't a healthy or safe behavior, āopen armsā would have killed Odysseus and even Telemacheus brings himself to violence.
But choosing a hill to kill and die on can be mandatory for survival. Radicality is something to be careful with, but when facing radical dangers, taking the middle ground every time means losing over and over again.
Refusing free will to hide behind a leader is how you get yourself in a sect, refusing free will to follow a wave is how you get yourself complicit to atrocities after all. (oh, politics, when did you get there?) (haha anyway)
So! Eurylochus.
Eurylochus is a character I've seen apologists for, haters, lovers⦠I argue here that he is primarily defined by his cowardice and refusal of responsibility.
I have to make a quick stop here to define cowardice: theĀ behaviorĀ of someone who is not at all brave and tries to avoid danger (thatās from the Cambridge dictionary). It has a very negative connotation but i only use it here to define someone who fears danger and tries to avoid it. there's no moral judgment on my end on eurylochus' behavior.
Odysseus asks him to follow his lead without question in Luck Runs Out, and he does. When he opens the windbag, he does so under the pressure of the crew, because he can not make a stand for himself and prove his loyalty. He gets scared when Circe invites them in and runs away. When Ody tells him āyou'd go back for meā, he's quiet. āLet's cut our losses and leaveā, he says. But Odysseus goes back and wins. He wins on his own too, he didnāt ask Eury to follow him.
I think it genuinely is a turning point for Eurylochus, who is then willing to follow Odysseus without question. He's fine with going to the Underworld, he's fine with slaughtering the sirens, he's fine entrusting his life and future to Odysseus (because he does fill his ears with cotton in order not to hear the sirens, leaving every information in Odysseusā hands).
He asks for reassurance when they reach the lair of Scylla, because he can probably tell something's off, Odysseus is not his normal self, he's silent and probably mourning already.
He confesses to opening the wind bag because he can not stand the guilt (and we could argue that he wants the responsibility of the consequences of that to go to Odysseus but also thatās prob overreaching).
Then, Odysseus makes the one mistake that cost him 7 years of his life.
He asks Eurylochus to light the torches and to distribute them among the crew.
This is what makes Eurylochus responsible for who died. And, for all that he's fine following a murderer and a dangerous man, he will not share the blame. āIf you want all the power, you must carry all the blameā. Suddenly, the blood is on his hands and he chose whose blood, he had some margin of power and now she carries that blame. He is not only obedient and an accomplice by his silence, he has made a decision that resulted in death. And Eurylochus does not like that.
Blind obedience and silent compliance is comfortable, because it's not really his fault, is it. But now, because he chose who died, it is. So, Eurylochus is overwhelmed by his anger and guilt (and I believe he's honest in his distress) and, therefore, takes it out on Odysseus.
I'm not gonna bring politics into this but actually I am, it's easy to pretend it's not real when someone else is in charge, it's easy to pretend you're innocent when there's a hierarchy to protect you. It's easy to say āI was following ordersā but the blood doesn't care who it stains. It doesnāt matter if youāre shedding it directly or through a ballot either.
Anyway.
Eurylochus.
When confronted with the blood he shed, he lashes out on Odysseus. And then, the crew and Eurylochus are hungry. And, well, there's food. And there's no listening to Odysseus, Odysseus betrayed him once already (i know, the irony. but, āif you want all the power, you must carry all the blameā, in his mind, he's innocent). And he's hungry, and there's food and the crew, the last entity he can hide into to avoid his responsibility, the crew is hungry.
And there's food. And so, for his own comfort and under peer pressure, he kills the cow.
When Zeus makes Odysseus choose, and we get the ever haunting: āCaptain?ā / āI have to see her.ā / āBut we'll die.ā / āI know.ā, I argue we're beyond every betrayal, guilt, resentment. This is not a captain and his crew, this is Odysseus and Eurylochus. The friends. Fear, betrayal, loyalty, none of these matter. Odysseus must go home. Eurylochus wants to go home. Only one of them is willing to make the terrible choice.
When facing overly powerful, violent and unforgiving entities, Odysseus chooses violence as an answer. Eurylochus, defined by cowardice and his want for comfortable obedience, his refusal of choice, dies by the hands of a god in need of entertainment.
And just so weāre clear: that does not make him evil, or bad, or more morally reprehensible than the next guy, or whatever. It makes him, essentially, a normal dude. Weād all be scared shitless in front of Gods, and making drastic choices and sacrifices does not make Odysseus a better person.
Eurylochus is essentially a middle ground: heāll trust Odysseus but only until a literal god tells him his captain is hiding a treasure. And to be fair, wouldnāt we doubt too. He trusts him again later when he proves himself, but when he finds out heās been fooled and the blood is on his hands too ā I saw someone say Eury had probably given the torches to men he trusted and cared for ā, he fights Odysseus. When it becomes obvious to him that they will not be able to come home, Eurylochus decides to stop chasing an impossible dream and goes for a very easily fulfilled need: food.
But choosing a middle ground in the face of absolute, violent and dominating power just means managing losses one after the other. If you choose to stay in this fight ā keep pursuing Ithaca in this case ā you have to opt for radicality yourself.
(also, come on man, these cows were literally the divineās property, hunger must have made you so stupid lmao)
Eurylochus never stood a chance in Epic. Not when he found himself unable to follow either his captain or his crew and ended up being a discardable pawn in some godsā game.
War as the great equalizer and Arcane
War is often defined at the greatest equalizer: everyone bleeds and dies the same after all. Having a common enemy is also often a rallying factor and helps create community despite conflicts.
However, in real life, not everyone is in fact equal in the face of war. There is a gendered experience of armed conflicts, an ethnic experience too and economic status also impacts oneās journey through war. Identities donāt disappear entirely and they still play a role in war time.
So, Arcane.
Spoilers ahead for the entire show.
also i get heated throughout this post.
Stray thought about Caitlyn in S2 arc 3
spoilers and all that jazz!
I really, really like Mel's arc actually!
I'm back on my defending hated character arcs bs!
spoilers for the entirety of Arcane.