Dilating Pupils

Y'see, no, y'see, what I mean is like

Claus starts the very first battle with 42 HP (the number 42 is associated with death in Japan). He loses his shoes as he ventures to his doom at the Drago Plateau (another piece of Japanese death symbolism). He re-emerges as a nigh-silent, apparently emotionless revenant - with a broken, disjointed heartbeat. Some Tazmilians speak of him as if he's already obviously dead, and even suggest Flint oughtta give up on his lost son. Which is cold and painful to hear, but does reinforce the game's consistent theme of moving on from grief. This perpetual tension between clinging to the past out of love & hope, and coming to terms with a bygone loss.

When Hinawa's ghost speaks to Claus, she says, "You must be so exhausted." Personally, I get the sense this implies a deathly weariness beyond just how overworked n' stressed out the kid is (especially considering the person saying it is a ghost herself). But more importantly, she tells him, "Come to your mother." Which would be… kind of a deranged and horrible thing for her to ask of him, if he wasn't already supposed to be dead. She calls to him from beyond the grave, and asks him to join her at last. And he does, without question. Recognizing he's been kept alive against his will this whole time, a tormented spirit that was never permitted to move on, trapped in a robotic corpse that's been twisted beyond repair.

His three-years-delayed death, though heartwrenching, brings the story's motifs of grief and acceptance to a natural conclusion. Flint has to finally let go, Lucas has to find peace with it. You can't re-animate the past, or fix anything by selfishly pursuing it. In fact, you may just wind up zombifying its image into something corrupt, something hardly recognizable (Porky does this constantly 🤧). Only by letting it lie can you honor it, and begin moving toward a better future.

'Course, this is just my impression of what Itoi's intentions were with Claus. One of a bazillion possible interpretations, and by no means the most definitive. Even on the off chance I'm totally right about what he was goin' for, he's a chill dude who's stated plenty of times he welcomes fans to find their own meaning in these games. That's kinda the point of narrative art, after all. I personally feel like the story hits harder if Claus' suicide was yet another reckless choice he made, rather than a necessary course of fate. Interpreting it instead as a second tragedy all its own - with its own slew of implications - rather than a conclusion to the first. Lettin' the character be more than just a sacrificial symbol. That's just me, though. 🤸‍♂️

But altogether I just love how many ways this game can be read and re-read. How much it has to offer, if you peel back the layers and inspect it a little differently. And how other fans are always drawing my attention to different angles, makin' me reconsider it in new and compelling ways.

autistic denki headcanons 2

denki has hyperempathy, he cares a lot about others and sometimes he feels bad for inanimate objects, one time he apologized to one of his stuffed animals because he accidentally kicked it off the bed

he loves the fluff!! thats one reason why he plays with ojiro's tail so much,,, its just so soft!!!

he listens to the same song over and over on repeat, it confuses his friends but it makes him happy so they dont care much

special interests include pokemon, web design/programming ((the fact that he taught izuku how to make a fully functional website for mr smiley in one night(?) is incredible)), and his favorite bands. he's also into literature + history but he doesn't feel smart enough to make an effort to talk about it ((i mean,, his first thought about jiro's teasing hero name idea for him included a reference to A Farewell to Arms))

he panics over tests and quizzes, this improved drastically when he was allowed to go to a seperate testing environment so he could do whatever he wanted to focus without worrying about distracting others

stimming all the time. never sits still.

he's overexpressive, he tries to make his emotions really really clear which leads to exagurration in vocal tone and facial expressions, but most of the time his feelings are still clear

FATHERHOOD??????

First thing you see after you zoom in is how you die

How you dying 👀

i love when sibling characters are fucked up from the same event but in opposite ways

i made a new little guy!!!

Waiting for the UA students to start treating Denki like a human defibrillator during the war

vintage/retro inspired denki icons!! :)

i legit forgot i had tumblr

okay this may be a hot take, I hate jimmy but it kinda makes me mad when people make posts about all of the mouthwashing characters and just exclude jimmy? like yeah he's a shit person but he's literally the character you play as most of the game. he's awful but he's the *main character* and he's so greatly integral to the plot that just refusing to include him in anything kind of like...I guess undermines all of the effort put into his characterization and how amazingly written he is?

like yes, he's awful, that's the point..he's awful in a way thats meant to make you *think*, (after all it is a psychological horror) and people excluding him from everything ruins the point of that

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