ESPECIALLY your character analysis you have going on in the tags of that gifset of dollman's backstory because you're SO RIGHT !!!! he seems to embrace being othered as a way to cope with his losses, he doesn't see himself as truly human anymore... because if he were still human, he'd be the man who lost his wife, who was distraught with grief, and made decisions in that grief that led to losing his daughter as well. he'd be the man who lost not only his family but even his claim to humanity in the eyes of everyone. and so he wants to be something else !!!!
and.... I wonder if that makes him especially perfect to understand Sam's position... Sam, who is so consumed with grief from losing his daughter, that he experiences breaks away from reality in his inability to process the depth of his own loss. AHRGHRHHHHH
ITS JUST SO GOOD and i am completely obsessed. and I feel like you get it. so... many, many kudos to you.
KEEP ON KEEPING ON 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
This is such wonderful ask oh my god, thank you!!I absolutely love your analysis too!!!!! First of all, I will say, I like DS2, but it pains me SO bad how so many of the themes I really liked and I thought they were gonna dig into deeper...they just never did!?!?! The amount of missed potential and lack of character exploration!?!? So I'm happy to be able to analyze the chatacters and play with them like dolls(haha) at least 😭😭 Please feel free to come talk to me about them any time !!!! 🙏🙏🙏
I love the point you made about how he can relate to Sam's position! In a way, they're both dehumanizing themselves, turning themselves into tools in the service of the Magellan, with Dollman literally being purely at Sam's disposal, eager to help in whatever way he can, even if that means literally being thrown around with no warning. Dollman has seemingly come to terms with the death of his family, and the mistakes he made, and is obviously way more at peace than Sam is. However it kinda bugs me that seemingly no one really acknowledges that Dollman's engaging in self harm in a way too, through this avoidance, and self- objectification/dehumanization. You can say, of course, that like with every other crewmember on the Magellan, he's turning a new page in life, and wants to leave his past life behind, and that's great! But there's something about how he's fully leaned into his role as a doll, as a little guy, as a tool. Its cute but it also makes me sad, and I don't know to feel about it sometimes.
I think he relishes in his newfound ability to be a little cutiepie, but I also think its so clearly a way to completely separate himself from his former self, like you said! And I don't think its necessarily healthy.
I saw some analysis the other day I didn't completely agree with, but I like some of the points from it. They had made the point that its fucked up that the crew of the Magellan are completely fine with Dollman objectifying himself, in the most literal meaning of the word. How they don't take the initiative to make any progress to help him cope with the reality of being a doll that can barely move. It really does kill me how he's so desperate to be useful in any way at all, since he had at one point come to terms that he'd just rot in a bog for all eternity augh!! But I really like how you pointed out that him letting himself be used as a tool, escaping into his newfound role as a little cutie, actually helps him a way. He doesn’t want to long for more, to be human again, because then that would mean reopening the wound, reminding him of everything he lost when he ceased to be a human being anymore! But I just wish that we could've helped him realize that he is still a human, but in a different form, and that's okay too. He can still be useful, can still accompany Sam on his journey, but as an equal companion, rather than just another tool. It really makes me wish we could have directly interacted with him more, aside from all the private debriefs(which I loved btw!)
It drives me crazy how literally HALF the crew of the Magellan at one point are all grieving fathers??? Lets explore that more?? Group therapy sesh?? Grieving fathers book club??? But I like that you can subtly see the differences between how they're coping. And its interesting Dollman was chosen as the one to help with Sam's grief particularly. I know as a medium, he has experience helping people deal with the passing of their loved ones. However, again, he's also committed himself to being practically a whole new person, not even a person, a doll! He's been able to move on, sure, but a lot of his grief moreso seems repressed, than fully dealt with. Especially bugs me when this game seems to be more about grief and acceptance compared to the first game, yet the first had such satisfying narratives about that same theme, which were properly explored!
It kills me how Dollman and Tarman's backstories are completely optional and easily missable, because they're honestly so essential at showing how grief can be dealt with, how you can suffer and lose everything, but still be able to move on and reinvent yourself. They don't really have any impact on Sam's greater story, when they really should, because they can be used both as character building exposition, but also as a lesson to Sam. Cmon let us all be grieving papas together !!!! But seriously there is a lesson there, where Dollman has completely left his past behind, he can still reminisce about it, but he doesn't cling to it, and has completely reinvented himself, has been able to make use of what hes become, and that has changed him entirely. Whereas Tarman retains multiple connections to his past(his missing hand, Tarcat) and just like Dollman, he's been able to make use of them and appreciate them, but he hasn't completely changed himself because of it, and that's okay too! Sam can look to them, and the other crewmembers, to try to find his own balance in dealing with grief.
I think Tarman, and Heartman, have probably been the best at coping, though its a shame the latter isn't explored anymore. I like that Tarman still has a connection to his son through Tarcat, but he's not clinging to them(him?) in the same way that Sam was clinging to the pod. He recognizes that the cat has an inherent connection with his son, is his son even, but treats it as a different entity, however just as fondly and lovingly!! Now that I'm writing this, I'm realizing how they totally missed the potential parallels there with Sam and Tomorrow. Even if your kid is now in a different form and completely unrecognizable from what you once knew, you can still learn to love them just as much, even if its different.
Okay okay, I could talk endlessly about this, but I should end it here haha!!
inspired by briony’s amazing regency fic, I would lovee to see your take on regency era lance for the ask game 🥹
I like how these keep unintentionally showing more and more body 😭 its not even like I planned it and its kinda annoying cause it's made me worse at drawing the face LOL, but cmon it's regency, I gotta show off that tight little waist. This era of clothes w the really high-cut waist is probably my favorite, so ty for requesting this!!! I wish I could have given him a frockcoat, but I like the waistcoat look too much ;;;;
Okay well let me first disregard regular red bull, since that's the one I drink all the time. I will say though, this list definitely has a time bias since its been literal years since I've been able to drink certain flavors(gone but not forgotten 🫡)
do you have that pic of mark and jenson clasping hands but seb’s hand is just… in the middle??? bc i’ve been wracking tumblr trying to find it but i can’t!!!
Anon, I am so honored that you came and asked me 🙏 So I instinctively thought of Singapore 2011 because I remembered Seb standing btwn them, and I really hope this is what you're looking for BECAUSE I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS PIC BEFORE OHMYGODDDDD
I'm staring at this.....the size difference..........I appreciate you asking me this bcs I never even realized that this happened when I was watching this post-race
Do you have a cobra-inspired OC yet? Not sure what planet that would best fit in but I’m kind of obsessed w the idea after seeing your new drawing
Aaaaaaaa ty 🥺 I have an anaconda oc, but not a cobra! Originally I put them on Venus, cause nagas, but I think I now put them on Mars(confusing, I know!) If you have a region in mind, certainly feel free to send me another request, I'm definitely interested!! In the meantime, here is my anaconda girl :)
