#relationship analysis

[stellocchia]

Shelby's and Scott's relationship in Vampires is surprisingly underappreciated despite how important it clearly is to both characters.

Like, sure, Avid is the one who made Scott question if he was starting to feel things, but Shelby is the one who made him notice. They're the one he went to with those doubts and vulnerability. They're the one he trusted to see him hurt.

And well, out of character, ccShelby has pointed out that Shelby is one of the few who isn't scared of Scott. And that shows. When she lied about turning Avid (and immediately capitulated when Scott insisted a little bit) what she was scared of was Owen's anger, not Scott's.

Also, Shelby is Scott's number 1 apologist. In a "Your honor, he did all of that, but he was very stylish when doing it" kind of way. And I love that for them.

There are other small moments throughout that stood out to me. Like Scott refraining from drinking from Avid when he was spying on his and Shelby's conversation because he didn't want to undermine Shelby's point. Him praising Shelby's impressive self control when it comes to not hurting anyone and never pressuring them to do so. And, on the other side, Shelby mentioning that they don't really care about what Scott's done as much as what Owen's done because "Scott comes from a different time" (paraphrased). Or Scott's description in their fic being the only wholly positive one.

I do think that, while their relationship started off as Scott seeing Shelby as a pet of sorts, and Shelby just being desperate to be like, it is by now a genuine friendship

[rosemarymoodboards]

Danny and Valerie Should’ve Happened.

Here’s Why It Matters.

Danny x Valerie wasn’t just a potential romance it was a missed opportunity to deepen both characters and the show.

Valerie had everything Danny wanted and lost it.

Danny wanted popularity, recognition, visibility.

Valerie had those things…until her life fell apart.

They were mirrors of each other at different points in the arc:

-Valerie had the status, then lost it.

-Danny felt invisible, then gained powers.

And yet, both were haunted by their losses.

Both were trying to find themselves after their lives were shattered by ghost powers.

They were on the same emotional level.

Valerie had to grow up fast. She worked. She struggled. She kept secrets.

Danny was still figuring things out, but he could grow if the writing let him.

Together, they could’ve challenged each other.

Balanced each other.

And found connection in the one thing no one else understood: the weight of a double life.

Their potential romance wasn’t just about love. It was about healing.

Valerie didn’t know Danny was Phantom.

Danny didn’t know how to tell her.

That tension? That secrecy? It wasn’t just drama. It was a setup for growth.

When Valerie meets Dani (Danny’s clone), she shows kindness, protectiveness, acceptance.

That’s how we know she would’ve accepted Danny if she had all the facts.

She didn’t hate him she hated being lied to.

Imagine if they had worked through that.

Imagine a slow-burn friendship into love.

Imagine trust, betrayal, truth, forgiveness.

That would’ve been a story.

Pairing them up would’ve also freed Sam and Tucker to grow beyond Danny.

The Sam x Danny romance flattened both characters.

Tucker became comic relief. Sam became the default love interest.

But if Danny and Valerie had been explored more…

-Sam and Tucker could’ve had their own B-plots, growth arcs, maybe even each other.

-Valerie wouldn’t have existed in isolation.

-Danny would’ve matured through tension, not fanservice.

Danny and Valerie weren’t doomed.

They were interrupted.

By poor writing.

By a rushed end.

By a fear of complexity.

Their story was never about “opposites attract.”

It was about two people dealing with trauma in opposite directions, realizing they’re not alone.

They could’ve been the show's emotional anchor.

But instead, they became a “what if.”

And honestly? That’s a loss.

Do you agree?

YEESSS!!

Nahhhh.

Voting ended onJun 4, 2025

[wildhorizon]

Martin loves tormenting Chris lmao

Wolf Hawks The Other Martins Blue Heron All of these episodes have two things in common - Chris being frustrated is a running joke throughout the episode, and they were all written by IRL Martin.

In Wolf Hawks, Martin continued to use the name “wolf hawks” even though he knew Chris hated it, and Chris complained about it the entire time.

In The Other Martins, the entire episode was just Chris being miserable because the narrative is deliberately written in such a way so that bad things constantly happen to Chris the entire time, even though he’d done nothing wrong to deserve it. It goes so far that Chris ends up breaking down in tears about halfway through.

(↑ these pics are in chronological order. Poor baby having the worst time of his life. Also notice the weird animation error on his creature power suit in 3rd pic, the paw icon is drifting away from the center?)

Blue Heron is the least bad of all of them, but it still centers around a blue animal, and Martin keeps talking about how blue it is, much to Chris’s annoyance. Chris also hates that his creature power suit is blue and not green. Chris really wants to find a green heron, but can’t, until the very end when Martin points out a green heron and said it’s been there the whole time and he just never told Chris.

But it NEVER happens in the reverse. Chris has never written an episode to feature Martin's annoyance or discomfort as a running theme through the episode. There’s been opportunities for it to happen, but Chris just never takes that route. (Correct me if I’m wrong) I think that's really interesting insight into their personalities and dynamics.

Martin loves to mess with Chris, but Chris isn't so big on messing with Martin beyond a simple prank or two. I think the farthest Chris usually goes is that one time in Googly-Eye the Night Guru, (which he wrote) in which the girls mistake a Proboscis monkey for Martin, saying "I'd recognize that nose anywhere!" (see below)

Post by @wildhorizon · 1 video

💬 3  🔁 9  ❤️ 97 · This scene becomes significantly funnier to me when I remember that IRL Chris was the one who wrote this episode. (Googly-

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

Shadow Milk and Pure Vanilla's new Kingdom/Battle interactions have had me turning their dynamic around in my brain, and as the guy that made the fuckin. Shmilk and Silent Salt are narrative foils essay. I feel semi-obligated to write down my analysis of their dynamic too. So uh. Time for another essay yippee!!!

Gonna preface this by saying I don't really ship these two romantically. I don't have anything against the pairing(other then finding the oversaturation of it a tad annoying), I just can't really picture Shmilk in a romantic relationship. Feel free to use this analysis for shipping purposes if you want, I just feel its important to note that thats not the lense Im using to analyze their dynamic. Especially because I'm tagging it as ship to get more eyes on this analysis-

So, the thing that I think is the most important to note about their dynamic right out the gate is that it seems like Shadow Milk, on some level, WANTS to be friends with Pure Vanilla. Shmilk is a deeply lonely person, due to a combination of the circumstances of his creation and his own tendancy to push people away on purpose, so of course he'd want to form some kind of connection with his "other half". Plus, he's the one that INITIATES his and PV's kingdom conversation by saying; "The Cookie Kingdom, huh? This place is really..." This bitch was trying to start small talk! That's not really something you do with someone you don't want to bond with. Likewise, Pure Vanilla also wants to be friends with Shadow Milk. Despite all the shit Shmilk puts him through during the Spire of Deciet episodes, PV still offers him friendship and redemption. Still reaches out to him.

So what's stopping them?

First of all, Shmilk is seemingly allergic to genuine emotional connection. I mean he literally vibrates for like a full minute at the end of his kingdom interaction with PV that's gotta be some kind of allergic reaction. But outside of that, he also very clearly refuses to connect with anyone else in his life beyond the surface level. His relationship with Black Sapphire and Candy Apple, in canon, feels very strictly boss and lackee, despite him honestly being pretty good to them all things considered. He also keeps his fellow Beasts at an arms length, intentionally pissing them off so they don't try to get any closer. Shadow Milk, despite being lonely as fuck, seems like he's genuinely afraid of actual emotional connection, at least to some degree.

Then there's also the fact that Pure Vanilla is constantly striving to be a hero while Shadow Milk is desperate for everyone to see him as a villain. PV's entire motivation is that he wants to help people, make the world a better place, and be someone others can look up to. He uses his magic to heal, to support the people around him. He wants to be everyone's friend. This desire also leads into his biggest flaws; his self sacrificing nature and his deathly fear of conflict. Pure Vanilla's goal of being a hero defines literally everything about him. Meanwhile, Shadow Milk's desparation to be the villain ALSO defines his entire being. I already talked about the way Shmilk villainizes himself in depth in my analysis of him and Silent Salt, but the gist of it is that Shadow Milk does literally everything in his power to make the people around him see him as the villain. Unlike the other Beasts, who kinda just let their actions speak for themselves, Shadow Milk WANTS YOU to see him as evil. He takes his role of the antagonist with so much pride, playing up his villainy constantly despite being the only Beast we've never seen cause any large scale damage directly.

Pure Vanilla and Shadow Milk both want to play opposite roles, even if Shmilk is the only one that would phrase it like that if you asked him. PV is humble, he doesn't want people to see him as a hero so much as he wants to actually be one, while Shadow Milk cares more about being percieved as a villain by individual people then actually being one on a large scale. It's the way they most directly parallel eachother, and it's a big part of why Shadow Milk fucking HATES IT when Pure Vanilla offers to be his friend despite everything he put him through. His villainy is his way of taking control of his life after years of being stuck without any, so to have somebody just disregard that entirely and offer to be his friend? That's terrifying. He is no longer in control of that situation. So he lashes out, trying to take control of his image back by force. It doesn't work very well but yknow-

But wait, there's more! Shadow Milk's hatred of Pure Vanilla actually goes EVEN DEEPER then that, because Pure Vanilla is also a physical manifestation of all of Shadow Milk's Virtue Trauma!

Shadow Milk is, of all the Beasts, the most angry about the way they've all been collectively treated. This is another thing I talk about in depth in my other essay, but I think Shmilk's rage is the most obvious in his relationship to the Silver Tree. He clearly fucking HATED his time being trapped in there. Like, it made him so fucking angry. His official introduction is him breaking out of tree jail, and then he literally kills the warden. He also has this line:

Which I think speaks for itself here. All this, combined with the fact that he's the only Beast besides Silent Salt to ever comment on their imprisonment at all, makes it very clear that he is Especially Pissed about it. Shadow Milk is the way he is because of the ways he was dehumanized as a virtue. He's desperate to forge his own identity because the one he was given by the witches caused him so much pain. So of course, he would be the most angry about their imprisonment, the most angry about the way they were discarded and replaced. Like broken toys. Or microwaves.

And to him, Pure Vanilla is the physical representation of all of that. Pure Vanilla is not only the one who took away half his power, he's also his REPLACEMENT. Living proof that he was only ever meant to be an object. Proof that he is not a person. And what makes it worse is that Pure Vanilla is exactly what the Fount was supposed to be!!! All of the statues we see of Fount depict him as very similar to Pure Vanilla. Eyes closed, a calm, benevolent expression on his face. Even his outfit looks more like Pure Vanilla's then it does Shadow Milk's!

Pure Vanilla is kind, he's honest, he's an amazing leader, and most importantly; people fucking love him. He is exactly what the Witches wanted when they created Shadow Milk, and still got the respect Shadow Milk never could. And I think Shmilk knows that. And it drives him fucking insane, because if his replacement is better then him in every possible way then... what does that mean for him? What does that say about his place in the world?

That is, I think, the key to understanding his dynamic with Pure Vanilla. It's not just about Shadow Milk's allergy to emotional connection, and it's not just about opposing beliefs. Shadow Milk can't be friends with Pure Vanilla, because that would mean admitting that PV is right, and if he admits that PV is right... to him, it would mean admitting that his treatment as a Virtue was right. That all the abuse he suffered, the years of being forced into an identity that just didn't fit, years of dehumanization, and subsequent imprisonment in sensory deprivation hell were all justified. Because Pure Vanilla is, to him, the physical manifestation of everything he was supposed to be. A man who is better at the thing Shmilk was LITERALLY CREATED FOR then he could ever be. The one he was discarded for. If Pure Vanilla is right and Shadow Milk is wrong, that would mean the Fount of Knowledge was right too.

Obviously, none of that is true. No matter how much better PV would've been as the Fount of Knowledge then Shmilk was, it does not mean that Shmilk is inherently a useless failure. But I think Shadow Milk still believes that, at least subconciously, and it's the biggest obstacle in the way of his redemption. Shadow Milk can not and will not accept help so long as he feels he is under threat of having his personhood taken away again. It's also probably a big part of why he tried to turn PV over to deciet! It wasn't just that he wanted to prove his way is better, it was also about proving to HIMSELF that his way is INEVITABLE. That he isn't a failure, because even his seemingly perfect replacement gave up the way he did.

Anyway uuuhhhhhh sorry if that was super rambly, I just have. A lot of feelings about Shadow Milk Cookie. I don't think I put enougb focus on PV's side of things, but tbf he isn't going into this dynamic with the same type of baggage Shmilk is, like he literally had no idea the Beasts even existed before Shmilk broke out, so his side of things is relatively less complicated. I also just have a lot more passion for Shmilk as a character because I find him significantly more relatable- but yeah uh. That about raps up this essay I suppose. I don't have much else to say except Ig that I hope u liked it :)

[justbwilde]

I’ve never really been a fan of angst-heavy scenes. But I have to admit — the post-breakup scenes with Jimmy and Kim have a strangely… delicious kind of angst to them. It’s not only about two people who love each other breaking up, but about what that loss does to their identities, and it’s incredibly fascinating to watch.

The last shared scene where Kim sees Jimmy — his real self — is their breakup. It’s painful because he is completely open and vulnerable in front of her. His heart is entirely exposed, and yet it still isn’t enough. He still loses her.

And then the grief never really comes. Jimmy isn’t someone who knows how to process sadness, how to properly mourn… so he hides completely inside Saul. Not just in moments where it’s useful, not just when he needs to perform for others. It becomes a full replacement of himself. He retreats into the shell of someone who doesn’t attach, someone who cannot lose, someone who only cares about material things because those things cannot hurt him again.

Then comes the divorce papers scene. Before Kim arrives, we briefly see Jimmy alone with the papers, and he clearly isn’t okay. And then, before she even walks in, he puts the mask on. When she enters, he barely acknowledges her, still playing on his phone as if none of it really matters.

Once she hands them to him, he puts his phone down and even gives the table a small theatrical double tap, a kind of “alright, let’s do this.” But when he actually holds the documents, you might notice his hands trembling slightly. He starts flipping through the pages and moving them around more than necessary, almost like he’s trying to bury the shaking inside the motion so it won’t be obvious to her. And then the performance returns, the casual tone and the “I’m totally fine” act. Not out of disrespect, but because if he dropped it, it would reveal how much it actually hurts.

And then there is Gene — the time when he could be neither Jimmy nor Saul anymore. He becomes someone afraid to be seen, living alone in a dull grey existence. Much like Kim, who doesn’t become someone else, but instead turns into a shadow of her former self. Both of them have to let a part of themselves disappear, whether behind a mask or without one.

Then comes the phone call after six years — the moment Gene learns that Kim asked about him, that she still cared enough to check. And we see the shell slowly crack, Jimmy briefly visible again, real emotion returning. First in him, and later in Kim, with her confession and then the bus scene.

When Gene’s shell falls away and Saul returns to negotiate the best possible deal, a single mention of Kim is enough to fracture that shell too.

And when he finally sees her in the courtroom, it all falls away completely — until the person standing there is no longer Saul Goodman, but Jimmy McGill. The moment Kim can once again see the man she fell in love with years ago. Once again, he was seen as Jimmy and not as Saul by someone who mattered.

There is a kind of beauty inside the tragedy. Because Kim was, in many ways, the reason Jimmy became Saul… and also the reason Saul was able to become Jimmy again. And I loved that.

[theladyphantom]

since dan is dating tim... how ironic would it be if danny dated gun batman? Like by some miracle they both get together (aged up danny just in case gun batman is a adult cus I dont read the comics and all my knowlage of dc comes from google or dpxdc prompts)

Oooo this; I like this—observe:

Danny: Dan, you gotta meet my boyfriend

Dan: Alright, but you have meet mine, too!

*Later*

Tim:

GunBatman!Tim:

Dan:

Danny: …wait a minute

[wiltq]

I really enjoy the connections between Yokomizo and the rest of the perfect crime trio. He somehow haunts Mushitarō so much that he haunts all three.

Ranpo is under the responsibility of knowing something that he should not know. Yokomizo wanted his death to be unsolvable, it was his dying wish, and Ranpo solved it. I’m quite sure that Ranpo does feel guilty about this and it’s why he is so sympathetic with Mushitarō. He ruined the dying wish of the most important person to his new friend.

Poe is where most similarities are obvious. They’re both mystery authors with a blatant fascination with the murder method and the goal of an unsolvable mystery. It can also be seen in how they interact with Mushitarō, they both really annoy Mushitarō with simply enjoying their passion and find it endearing when he gets mad at them. It can and sometimes does come across as outwardly teasing him.

A fun little tidbit is also the fact that no one knows how the irl Edgar Allan Poe died! Most believe it to be alcohol poisoning but that was proven false, others think it was suicide. There are many different ways people speculate his death, but so far no one knows.He was simply found one day in another persons clothing out in the street. No injuries or anything to prove the truth of his death, similar to Yokomizo in bsd.

I really don’t think I need to get into Yokomizo and Mushitarō’s relationship, I’m sure you get the point.

The beautiful trio meant to be a quartet.

[loosescrewslefty]

This interaction explains a LOT about Aira's character, and why her feelings for Okarun feel so unserious when compared to the likes of Jiji. Aira didn't enjoy playing piano, but she cannot STAND losing to someone else, leading to her obsessively working to win. But after winning, she lost interest in piano altogether because she 'won,' and no longer had the drive to play.

For a long time now, Aira's place in the story feels way more like she is invested in Momo. Momo is the one who inspires character growth in Aira on at least two different occasions I remember (confessing to spreading rumors after the fight with Nessie, and becoming more serious about fighting when she accidentally caused the Evil Eye to attack Momo), but while Jiji is slowly moving into a position where his feelings for Momo can no longer be ignored by the other characters, Aira's interest in Okarun is basically a hamster wheel. It spins and spins, but it doesn't go anywhere. But Aira clings to it out of stubbornness because she doesn't want to admit defeat, while at the same time never making serious effort to get Okarun to see her as a viable romantic partner.

From the start, the majority of Aira's focus has been on Momo. First by convincing herself Momo was a demon that needed to be defeated. Then trying to insist that she needed to save Okarun from Momo. And now she has fallen into a comfortable pattern of throwing herself at Okarun any time Momo is around to incite Momo into arguing with her. But she ONLY does that when Momo is around, and then loses interest in Okarun the moment she and Momo start throwing hands. I suspect that's the real reason she isn't doing anything to either try and seriously progress her relationship with Okarun or bowing out the way Rin and Vamola did once they realized that they were better as friends rather than trying to get between Momo and Okarun. Because she is afraid that if she doesn't push the idea of liking Okarun or makes a serious effort and either 'wins' or gets turned down and can't justify pushing herself on him any longer, she'll lose the frienemy relationship she developed with Momo.

And in the end, what keeps Aira going is the competition, not the trophy she earns when she wins.