Drew the Shelley thing from memory! I know he probably wouldnt bleed this much considering the worms sucking all the life out of him but hey- blood is very fun to draw. This also isnt final stage Shelley Thing considering he isnt scuttling around like a spider, has his teeth and (some) hair, and his eye hasnt popped out. And whatever else happened to that dude
I encourage you to zoom in and look at what an awfully gross thing Ive created
can we talk about how the hydatids make their hosts act so unlike themselves?
tim, throughout the novel, was characterized as very caring and empathetic, in fact this all happened because he couldn’t turn away a sick man. but after he’s infected, he begins to feel this anger and resentment towards the boys he was shown to care deeply about. he even regrets giving the boys the rest of the food
and then with kent, it’s very clear that he harbors this hidden insecurity when it comes to his strength and worrying that he is unable to meet his father’s high expectations for him. then when he’s infected, he begins having these delusions that he’s a godlike figure
finally with shelley, who lacked any kind of sympathy in the extreme and saw all living things as empty meat husks to be used for his interest, felt maternal towards the parasites inside him and was genuinely scared to lose them
idk i just think it’s interesting uhhhh yap yap conclusion paragraph might add more later
i think we as a fandom should agree shelley is implied to be gay IN SOME WAY (and aroace but thats straight up canon) as a direct line from the book mentions "he wasnt to attracted to girls, or boys in the traditional sense"
smth smth guys im not crazy hear me out. im aware him feeling any genuine attraction to people in itself is highly unlikely but again i have ways of viewing this that makes sense. yall gotta hear me out
An UNcritical analysis of The Troop and how Newton Thornton and Max Kirkwood were insane about eachother
So i said in the tags of my last post that I’d make a stupid text post about why I shipped Newt and Max, because I thought it was really obvious that they were totally normal for eachother during the book (at the VERY least Newt was) so here is that stupid text post
Before we start PLEASE don’t take any of this seriously lol. Im absolutely grasping at straws here! This is just a bit of fun ^_^
From the very beginning of the book it can be read that Newt has somewhat of a larger level of trust in Max than in anyone else. Before things even go to shit, Max is always Newt’s go to person. Max is his immediate first port to call when something happens or he’s a little stressed. He clearly cares about him.
Exhibit A
So like, thats gay (pretty sure theres a few other examples of this but hey i aint looking)
Also also he’s constantly tugging on Max’s arm. So like, thats gay
Exhibit’s B&C
But you might be thinking, ‘Jude who cares, Max is still an asshole to Newt at the beginning of the book, even in the scenes you’re using here!!’ And like yeah absolutely, once again I’m grasping at straws but LISTEN. It’s still gay. This can be read in a couple ways (if you want it to be gay); one is that Max just doesn’t realise he has feelings yet and grows them over the course of the book, or he already knows he has a crush but he doesn’t feel he can in any way act on that. The other boys in the group are, lets be honest, awful and shitty to Newton! If Max switched up and randomly started being this clingy and kind back you just know the other boys would rag on him for that. Some of the boys already say lowkey homophobic stuff canonically and theres just no way Max would risk losing his friends over his new boycrush.
But the fact that Newt clearly trusts him already is evidence enough to me that something has happened between them in the past to build up some form of mutual respect.
Over the course of the book Max seriously softens up to him, but there’s only really one scene where he seems surprised about it. Here:
Exhibit D
Tbh by this point he’s already kinda being gay as hell. Max cares about him and worries about him, more than the rest of the other boy’s do really. Even in the scene where Newt head back into the cabin it’s evident:
Exhibit E
So like, thats gay.
Jumping ahead a bit, I think it’s important to consider the fact that really, Max is the only person who leaves the book with a good, clear and positive view of Newton. Yes, that’s because they spent so much time together, but it’s still utterly tragic. Kent, Shelley and to some extent Ephraim all died thinking the exact same about Newton, that he wasn’t worth their time. Max thinks so highly of him up until the very end. :(
Other points to quickly mention before I talk about the final act of the book (buckle in). Max is more than happy to be on his own with Newt, and he’s on his own with Newt alot.
The first and second third of the book (before everyone is else is either dead or Shelley) the two go off on their own jolly’s plenty. They’re alone together after Tim is locked up, Max goes with him instead of Ephraim to help Kent, and he leaves Ephraim again to go with Newt to find food. They do a whole lot of stuff together even before they were the locked in final boys (let me pretend Newt is a final boy). Is most of this just based on the fact that they were desperate to find food? Yes, but let me believe that it’s gay!
And now, the final third of the book. Oh boy this was gay. So already they’re together constantly in the final third because everyone else is now either dead or Shelley.
Just gonna put these two moments here. No, they are in no way gay but they are making contact so i am telling you that it’s gay.
Exhibit’s F&G
(Please ignore the changing page layouts. I had to change the theme of the ebook to make sure it all fit on one page lol).
So like, thats kinda gay!
Okayy here it is. On first reading I wasn’t really shipping these two seriously, just for fun, but then this scene happened and now I’m here writing this.
Exhibit H
Oh Max. Oh you sweet Summer child. You just finally processed that Newt is someone you love and that Newt is about to die all in the space of a few lines. This is, to me, like… a bit gay.
Then after this it just stays this level of queer.
Like in:
Exhibit’s I&J
Oh theres so much queerness to unpack here. So much. One, Max immediately freaking out at the idea of leaving Newton even though he probably only has days left anyway, he’s ‘afraid’ that nobody will come back to save him and of the idea that Newton would die alone which is just so sad. Of course it would be sad no matter what but it’s just the fact that Max refuses to even slightly acknowledge that Newton is going to die. He understood for everyone else, but not for Newt.
Two, Max just straight up making physical contact with an infested (even through clothing) and saying that his rotting decomp smell aint that bad and is actually pretty nice is kind of romantic as fuck? They make me SICK.
Max’s fear of leaving Newt is worse than being in the cave with the Shelley creature. Do I even have to say anything?
Also Max loves to dwell on the idea of Newt getting married and having a family. I know this is like a theme of Newt’s character but Max are you sure you aren’t projecting?
Im posting this from the app and im only allowed 10 photos so.. youre gonna have to take my word for the rest of this.
In the final chapters Max thinks about his friends but ‘Newt, especially’. Someone give this child his crush back hello???
Okay i think that’s everything! Overall, I think that Max and Newton are a solid queer out of ten duo! Maximilian Kirkwood and Newton ‘I can say that about another boy, it’s not weird’ Thornton, i know what you are!
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