can you elaborate on sasha being a creep? just curious!
Well, I was revisiting every part where Sasha is present in the game with my friends M[x]s. After a lot of thinking we came to conclussions we were kind of holding for some time now. I think I will be finally sharing it now that we kind of sorted them out (even if not completely) and I have my screenshots at hand.
A lot of people will hate me for this take, I think the fandom in general looks at Sasha through a very bright lense: He's quite the strange guy through his interactions in Psychonauts (2005)
But first I want to share some thoughts I have around him pre-Psychonauts, backstory and that sort of stuff.
Without getting too deep into my headcanon on his past, which I still need to polish it (it mostly consists of random physical notes as for now, started likeee 4 months ago)
I will be leaving this disclaimer: disturbing stuff for most people I would guess.
My tumblr already says that this is a Dead Dove account, but I'm more than sure that there will be quite a quantity of people complaining anyway.
Okay! so, to begin with, Sasha's father Never seemed to interact with Sasha as a kid, he was rather a lurker in his life.
I think in general his depression-like demeanor/state could have affected Sasha in various ways, the relevant one here would be a role reversal with his father, where he is the one to take care of some stuff of his environment (before him escaping): both on an emotional and instrumental, meaning he takes care of helping emotionally and with more practical activities like taking care of the house, working along with him, etc etc)
I think in general this could have shaped Sasha's way of being, and without going too deep into what I've been working on along M[x]s we just think that he's way too manipulative.
There are like, a lot of stuff happening with his dialogues:
I think you have to be very dense to not realize the weight of using kids as experiment subjects, as much as we like the character and we deem him as "a caring person who is just too socially inept to show it because [insert excuse , probably something that has to do with having a facade or whatever]."
I think he's just someone who is manipulative, at least as for PN 1, I don't really care that much about Psychonauts 2, they made him be way too dumb for me to take him seriously (which hurts) but I think it still reflects a little of his flaws.
[I will not bore you with more screenshots, you get the drill]
In general we can see a pattern here: He isn't really worrying about his well-being rather than him being an interesting research subject, he constantly seeks to keep his interests safe inside a "I'm going by the rules" legal vacuum sort of thing, he seems to make Raz think that he has choices, later to make a comment remarking how his choices are the right ones, to ones that will get him benefits, or even weirder things when it comes with that rite of passage thing and the general enhancement on weight of his comments; I can't really word it in english, but basically, making him feel special, which Raz indeed is, but quite a weird thing to start with with his wording and gauging it a little further... Oh, wait! he does! He does push him further, which you could say "oh, he's just doing that bc he believes in his full potential!".
For me that's just -one- part of it, he's also interested in meassuring how much he takes from him before running away from the situation.
And once Sasha realizes he isn't afraid as other kids, then Raz becomes -really- his object of interest.
So, how does that relate with his father stuff? I still have to figure out how to word it, but Sasha lacked emotional support and attention. Raz gives him attention and feels better around him because he actually partakes on his interests, which his family don't let him, there's an imbalance between his mind and body centered activities which Sasha can fill the other extreme of his body-centered life at the circus, and Raz has shown in his memory vault and through his dialogues how much he wants to pursue mind stuff... Well, he wants to be a Psychonaut to begin with.
So, Sasha at some point, when explaining to Raz that he "would have done the same thing at his age" when he broke the censor spawner... Bullshit!
His body language tells it all, and also, the fact that he ran away also gives a hint at how him being a rebel (sort of, I have better ways to word it but it implies me going about this the rest of the night) with intruding in stuff he wasn't mean to, gave him a sense of guilt (well, along with the shock of the imagery), so, what better way to avoid the consequences and just run away? He's way too scared, and seems way too shy through it. I know some people will tell me I'm bullshitting or making some kind of mental gymnastics but I seriously don't care.
He would not have done what Raz did.
So, keeping in mind Sashas clairvoyance image of Raz:
This man is projecting so hard at him, and whenever Raz isn't doing what he wants, he acts like he could adapt to being Raz. If he's not in control he will act like he actually is, so they match.
Raz in the second game didn't learn his lesson around not-fucking-up-peoples-minds... This is where I see Sasha acting so much as an (organic) system: If its nucleus dies, the system will seek for the next possible replacement, and dies when it's no longer sustainable to seek a new one; when he isn't in control of Raz, he distorts things so he's still in control... When Raz has his own way of doing things, when he wants to be his own person there's no way Sasha isn't going to be distorting things for Raz to get to the same conclussions as him... He even panicks for such stupid stuff in PN2, he goes to conclussions without actually acting on them, just being heavily dissapointed in very opossite ways! he's always so full of weird non-consistent reactions...
So, basically a manipulative control freak, even with other situations which I have to look through my notes and probably make another post if someone else asks.
Been ranting in my notebook, been thinking a lot about a situation that happened not so long ago, which I don't blame the people involved for thinking the way they do, but it is kind of disappointing sometimes to stumble with people who can't see past appearances, especially within marginalized groups.
Antipsychiatry my most beloved. That's all I'm going to say.
Tbh, whoever that has interacted with me for more than a few messages knows at least half of what my thoughts about SashaMilla as a romantic couple are, but I think I haven't articulated it in a fully sincere way, mostly because it's the most beloved couple of the game afaik.
but tbh? I kind of want to get this out of my system: I don't see them as a couple.
for starters, I just don't buy them as a couple, DoubleFine in general, at least for me, don't know how to write a good romantic couple. Yes, not a single one, and I mean it.
I think giving them the romantic partners status is just lazy. In general I think the fandom is lazy with both analizing Milla and Sasha (both separatedly and together) in a very standard way. It doesn't go further than "they trauma, also Milla bubbly and sexy and mommy and feminine, Sasha attracted to her but hides his feelings, everyone happy"
I think they have something way more important than a romantic partnership, but in general I can't really complain that much: is a fact that language holds a very limited spectrum of words for relationships, and they're usually hierarchized by society.
Which saddens me, and it saddens me that people don't seem to question that.
I think their friendship can be as meaningful as if they were just coworkers that, from time to time, share a beverage and take turns to ramble about bs and that's about it. Damn, even small talk can tell you so much about the other person, it's not only about these two, but a general view on things that people seem to not aknowledge.
Sasha isn't one to actually hear about whatever people say about him; he's constantly clueless about his status as someone looked upon by the rest. Milla, on the other hand, is more onto the social aspect of things. And she KNOWS how people think about them.
For me Milla obviously has this bubbly facade that she might or might not consciously hold to avoid giving impressions she doesn't really want as someone that is just "a victim of her trauma", that helps her to keep her intrussive thoughts away from her outer life; at the same time, ironically, it just backfires on places that just feel wrong: Her just being an unidimensional person, maybe superficial or just badass even when showing her strenght, looked upon for the motherly figure she gives... And a person who is dumb enough to hold a relationship while she has so much guilt and other things on her head.
It almost feel as if she's a victim both from herself and the people in her environment to struggle on pushing her with amatonormativity and other gender spectations. She doesn't need to give a name to something that lowers her further into being just a stereotype! just to what she shows! she must be so tired to hide herself both from her and others! why would she be hiding her relationship with Sasha? Do y'all think it's just Sasha being secretive about it? it being a source of a conflict of interest in an organization which we can see on PN2 that Human Resources probably holds no value? and which don't even have a dedicated class to psychic abilities ethics? are you kidding me? They wouldn't care! they just DON'T want that for themselves.
And don't y'all think of how she would feel being in a relationship? How if she's giving onto amatonormativity she would probably be fearing being pushed further on societal relationship hierarchy structures and traditional values regarding said relationships? what if she's pushed as far as being told to have kids?
All of these are such good questions that I don't see the fandom making! at least not outside of their thoughts. Maybe I'm just yapping to y'all, but seriously, I think they just care heavily about eachother and even if they just share a cup of coffee and tea after missions and during lunch time it means a lot to be listened to on a sincere way, being real with each other. It isn't less important than being romantic partners.
I have so much more stuff to say but I think this is what I want to articulate as for now.
This is just me being biased bc I just don't like PNs couples, thanks.
I feel heavily tempted to just stop working on Psychonauts stuff, not because I stopped loving Sasha but rather because I don't think I'm giving any good or new interpretation on things anymore. I had plans for a lot of little projects regarding Psychonauts but I think I'm not in the right mindset to just get anything out there + I hate the fandom with a burning soul it even makes me wonder if I should leave, lol.
Anyway, take a little Alva sketch, and let me know if you have any encouraging words or something.
same anon as before thank you for clarifying!! i feel like your take on him is so refreshing because i feel like (absolutely no shade to anyone who thinks of sasha this way) the father figure thing gets redundant after a whlle, its nice to explore this fucked up side to him
Thanks anon, it's nice to see that someone appreciates the vision I have of him :) I think every interpretation of him is nice but it sometimes feels like people don't acknowledge how Psychonauts has so much potential to explore in canon! The things happening there are so fucked up from a not-so-conventional (inside the fandom) point of view me thinks, I really enjoy everyone takes on him, I truly do, but I also enjoy literally looking at things from another perspective/angle (sitting on the floor or having your head upside down or tilted is a good exercise! At least for me it really makes you start wondering about what's happening in other ways) and try my hardest to consider as much stuff as I can.
And also, thanks for taking interest in this, it really means the world to me! :')
ohh i see! sorry about that. i think i was also confused since i remembered you made a post about drawing her sasha in the tag once a long time ago. have you read tgc and if you did did you like it at all? the most recent part was especially interesting i thought
I did enjoy TGC.
And I'd appreciate it if you took this to DMs instead of sending me more questions, as I try to avoid having more textpost than drawings, just a personal preference.
oh my mistake!didn't you work with her on some of her old psychonauts stuff though? your art is almost identical to hers and you have so many of the same fandoms i figured you were friends :o
We aren't friends and I doubt I would make any good company.
I do think my style is quite similar, but not as polished as hers; I guess it's natural to get us mixed up, and it makes me kind of insecure about my own creativity if I'm being completely honest. The fandoms I think is a thing of the generations we're from, the kind of places we could have grown up near the internet would be a decent explanation for that phenomena.
hi your art style is incredible. haven't seen much like it before, it reminds me of books i read as a child. correct me if i'm wrong but you worked on tgc right? did the way you view sasha/raz inspire the relationship between lynn and cam at all?
Hi, sorry, I didn't work in TGC, if anything I was just inspired by Lucy's work, but that's as far as it gets.
