#amanaconda

[my-name-is-markus-with-a-k]

[multibodied]

Saw a video in recommendations and decided I must edit it

[b1ue-hearted]

You believe me like a God I betray you like a man — I'm Your Man by Mitski

[inspired by @konami-code-ao3's posts about connor's relationship dynamic with amanda (a; b; c) and hank (d; e) respectively]

[konami-code-ao3]

“ #inadvisable sex fueled by mommy issues and idealization and just an utter lack of therapy ”

I am begging you, expand on that. I love hankcon and this is the first time I’ve heard someone mention mommy issues in hankcon dynamics and I need to know what you mean

There are two truths about Connor, in the context of shipping, that people need to understand in order to truly get his character.

One: the most important relationship that he has in the entirety of canon is not with Hank. Rather, it’s with Amanda. If you actually pay attention to their dialogue and not just get caught up in the novelty of the buddy-cop (b)romance scene, you'll actually see that Connor is significantly more open and emotional with Amanda right from the beginning, far more so than he ever is with Hank. And that's because we're actually introduced to Amanda in the middle of her and Connor's relationship, with it already being well-established and not something that is only just starting off. That's why her Stat is the only one in the game that starts out at it's top level, and that the overall goal of the Amanda Relationship Stat is to maintain that level of trust between the two of them as opposed to trying to better a relationship that's starting off at in a mid- to low-tier location at best.

Connor and Amanda are an established relationship, right at the beginning of the game, and it's one that they both enjoy and work well within the confines that they've set up. Amanda tells him what to do and he does it. They don't worry about the red tape-- perhaps, because they don't have to worry about it, but the Connor model's legality within the world of DBH is a whole other conversation-- and get the job done. Connor comes back to Amanda, she gives him the praise he so desires, and then she sends him on his next assignment. Amanda is also the most important person in his entire world. If he's upset, he talks about it with Amanda, not Hank. If he's worried about something, he has the opportunity to speak about it openly and freely with her, while Hank has to put a fucking gun to Connor's head just to get him to admit to the possibility of having feelings. When he lies to her, it's hard; you can see it in his face every single time, it's so fucking difficult for him because he loves her. Regardless of how you want to see them, one fact remains true.

Connor loves Amanda.

But Amanda doesn't love him. Or if she does, it's nowhere near the intense and fierce devotion that he loves her with, and there in lies the second truth about them.

Because the goal of the relationship between these two is that Connor chases her and Amanda allows herself to be chased, but never caught. If he steps towards her, she takes a step back and whispers, "Come to me." The praise is a lure to get him to stay with her, because where else can he get what she gives him? Fowler barely tolerates him on a good day and Gavin has full-on wet dreams about shooting him in the head. Chris is practically a non-entity in Connor's life, and Ben is even less so. Not to mention that any time he actually gets a 'Mission Successful' banner splashed across his HUD for doing what CyberLife wants him to do, Connor also has deal with Hank doing everything from throwing a temper tantrum to murdering the shit out of him. Meanwhile, chasing Hank's praise actively puts Connor at risk, not only with Amanda and CyberLife but by decreasing the amount of avenues in the evidence locker that he has to find the Jericho Key within. There's no way for Connor to feel like the Hero of Humanity he thinks that he is, and no way for him to actually feel good about himself unless he does what Amanda wants.

And who doesn't want to feel good? About themselves, yes, but also just feel good in general? Because the fact that Connor is at his most comfortable as the machine is something that a lot of people in this fandom - up to and including Bryan Dechart himself - have a hard time reconciling with. If rA9 is the player, then it takes a literal in-game Act of God to get that boy to deviate because if you set your controller down and let Connor drive, then he will choose the Machine every single time regardless of how many Software Instability points you have him rack up. By default, he picks Amanda's side over Hank's; if this is a love triangle, Hank isn't winning unless We The Player intervene.

And I should probably clarify this before I go any further: I ship the fuck out of Connor and Amanda. When I'm talking about mommy issues, I don't mean that I see Amanda as if she's his metaphorical mother figure. I'm talking about Mommy Kink in the same way that when I'm talking about praise, I mean Praise Kink. When I speak about Connor loving her, it's because I view them through the lens of him actually in love with her and wanting to bone her. I think that we are well within our rights to see their meet ups in the Zen Garden as dates given how romantically-coded roses and long walks spent arm-in-arm and cute little boat rides and literally being on thin ice with a partner you've just discovered has been lying to you actually are. I'm very open about how I believe that had Amanda been the traditionally attractive white lady from her concept art (or even just a white dude) that this would be a significantly more talked about dynamic to their relationship than it is right now because she's both black and does not meet Eurocentric beauty standards. And on top of the incredible chemistry that both characters have on screen, I also ship it as a big ol' Fuck You to those that dismiss Amanda as just 'Connor's abusive mom' or to those who believe that a sexually-charged relationship could not possibly look like what Amanda and Connor have.

So when I mean 'if this is a love triangle,' then within the context of a post-canon HankCon situation, we've got to consider the fact that Hank isn't Connor's first love and might even start off by being Connor's rebound more than anything else. If you think that those two are bound for a long term relationship, then you've got to factor in that for the first little while, Connor would be romantically and/or sexually entangled with Hank as a means of replacing Amanda within his life and that is something that they would have to deal with as a couple moving forwards. And not only that, but since Amanda would have been Connor's only prior experience of what a relationship might look like, you're also running into the issue that is Amanda and Connor being toxic as fuck despite Connor thinking that they were normal. He probably has a lot of behaviours that he would have to unlearn moving forward into any relationship, let alone with someone as unhealthy as Hank is (Sorry not sorry, but despite what this fandom thinks, the Chicken Feed Hug and getting plowed by Connor's robo-dick on the regular aren't enough to cure Hank's very serious mental health and substance abuse issues. The guy needs therapy and addiction counseling ASAP). The last thing that anyone needs is for Connor to continue to treat Hank like Amanda treated him, as the pair of them both need to acknowledge and move past their demons if they're going to be healthy moving forwards.

Or, you know, allow them to be dysfunctional as fuck because Connor and Hank are messed up people and if you wanna portray them as such, go ahead. This is fandom, baby, and we're all adults here. I'm not gonna judge.

[starryeyedstray]

random dbh ships as songs

these songs are all on my rk1k playlist (with the exception of the last one), but some of them definitely suit other ships better so enjoy my subjective takes

RK1K I Like It by Stray Kids it was tough to pick one so i just picked one that's also one of my all-time favorite songs. this is the "it's complicated, maybe we shouldn't be together but i really like being together" vibe. very will they, won't they which feels rk1k-coded since deviant hunter and deviant leader ending up together??? the press would go crazy.

NORKUS Partners in Crime (feat. Ash Costello) by Set It Off like iconic crime duo that are ride-or-dies just screams norkus

AMANACONDA No Mercy by DeathbyRomy connor x amanda is a hella rarepair but THINK OF THE POTENTIAL PPL!!!! it's the best toxic relationship out there in dbh and this song just encapsulates the vibes (this is also revolution rk1k-coded)

RK1900 Pretty Boy by Naethan Apollo what can i say? they're just 3 pretty boys that want to be the other pretty boy's favorite pretty boy. ultimate pining love triangle turned polycule

SIMARKUS 2WORLDS - Demo Version by Madge "if you give me a piece of your heart" LIKE C'MON IT'S JUST WORKS (this works for norkus too)

SICON Little Do You Know by Alex & Sierra i imagine this is a post-game world where connor finds simon at the top of stratford and they both feel conflicted and regretful about how their first meeting ended up

LUTHARA Bullet (Vampire Redux) by Ryan Star honestly, this works for any ship that has a self-sacrificial idiot (cough markus and connor cough). but i picked it for luthara bc you can choose as markus or connor to not sacrifice yourself but luther will ALWAYS sacrifice himself to save kara and alice

CONNIEL You're Not Welcome by Naethan Apollo okay this one isn't really "ship" vibes but more like post-game daniel is fucking pissed at connor for killing him and he hates connor's guts and doesn't think he deserves a place in jericho (verse 2 really sells this idea). i imagine it could eventually spiral into a real slow burn enemies to lovers LMAO

CHLORTH She Likes a Boy by Nxdia chloe meets north not realizing north is a bisexual icon so she totally has a chance (this works for literally any north ship)

sorry all these ships lean a bit on the connor side. i'm biased!!!

[mjh1260]

Amanda x Connor is so based why isn’t there more of it

[tartrazeen]

So there's this show called "Silo."

I've been skipping a lot of season one because its B-plot is boring, but its A-plot has me hooked.

As of season two, which I'm watching way more of, I've found two characters that function SCARILY CLOSE to what I'd imagine for Amanda and Connor 👀💖

If you've seen it, it's the Head of IT guy/mayor/Tim Robbins' character, and Judge Meadows. 👀💖

The characters themselves don't feel too Connor-like or Amanda-like on their own (well, they do, but not perfectly). But the scenes where they're alone and talking to each other? HOLY SHIT, those are GOALS for the budding Amanaconda community 👀💖💖💖💖💖

"I was only present at your speech to watch you fail and have everything crumble around you."

":("

"But your results were..."

":(?"

"... acceptable."

"😏 Why thank you. 😏😏 You see, I approached the problem like it was an equation. That makes me very smart. 😏 Let me tediously detail what that means while you stare at me, presumably imagining what I'd look like if I drowned. 😏😏😏😏"

"In my downtime, I'll sketch it."

This is their foreplay.

(oh his name is bernard)

[multibodied]

Does Connor even count as a people pleaser if the only person he's trying to please is a woman who died years ago without him knowing?