Hualian To Me Is Like The Only Tolerable Example Of "he's Mean To Everyone Except For Me" Bc What It

GAY POWER!

Stanley Snyder has the funniest character concept in Dr Stone:

He's a special ops soldier. He's a marine. He's a sniper. He's a pilot. He's somehow in his twenties.

He's the world's greatest marksman. He can fly a plane and shoot a machine gun at the same time. He looks like a supermodel, lipstick and mascara included.

The protagonists spent three volumes just running away from him. He turned the most overpowered character in the series into Swiss-cheese. The only way to stop him is to petrify the entire planet.

He's a queer-coded villain. It's the least problematic thing about him. He slaughtered the entire main cast. At the end of the series they give him a medal.

There is this one troupe that keeps cropping up with Stanley & Xeno that I absolutely love and I'm living for it. It's that Xeno without Stanley is actually worse off whereas Stanley without Xeno is better.

They split ways after graduation and Stanley enlists. The military is harsh and stressful but not only does he survive; he thrives. In only a few years, he climbed the ranks. He commands a special unit and the whole unit puts their full faith in Stanley fucking Snyder. 

Xeno goes to school and is faced with not only immense stress and pressure to succeed, but he has to do all of it without his only support: Stanley. We can assume this based on the heavy parallels between him and Senku. Stanley is the equivalent of Senku’s full friend group since he’s the one who’s got great stamina, brute force, and talent in skill heavy tasks. Xeno finds kinship with Senku because he sees himself in the kid, except he didn’t have a mentor to guide him. Due to the heavy parallels we can also assume he had a situation like Senku where his parental figure wasn’t around much in his life. 

All that stress, a major lack of support, and finding himself trying to make up for the sudden hole left by Stanley who's shown to be a caretaker type to him? Xeno fucking cracks. He gets through school but he’s already changed. He’s got a malice that he brings with him to NASA and it only grows with the constant pressures placed on him by those who hold him back. Those cracks start to widen. His mentality falters and we see him go from the happier, innocent, science-loving doctor who started messaging with a talented boy to a man who’s ready to sell out the whole world in order to progress. 

The manga even alludes to this quick mental degeneration as the first few times he’s shown in the flashback chapter as being dressed in all white with a more relaxed demeanor.

The first panel that shows him touting the power of science is the first time in the flashback where he’s dressed in something black.

When it cuts to him giving the dictatorship speech we see him now dressed in a black coat entrenched in shadows. Even his eyebags get more and more noticeable during this change signifying the on-going stress in his life. 

What makes this the best troupe to me is that its importance hinges on one solid aspect of Stanley and Xeno’s relationship: Stanley needs Xeno. He can command his unit as needed but goes off of the orders given by Xeno. Xeno gets kidnapped? Stanley is the only one who actually cares enough to not only chase him halfway around the world but to conduct a full on operation just to save him. Even after he’s reanimated a second time, Stanley is *always* by Xeno’s side.

There’s something silently bittersweet about the whole situation. Xeno’s the only one who makes mention that *he* holds *Stanley* back and Stanley ignores it, opting instead to continue on his path. 

“I’ll never be the same” - jayvik

since tumblr does like edits i bring a new offering

Boy/guy/mandarling!

A gender related to being a boy/guy/man and a darling; a gender related to boy/guy/men darlings; a boy/guy/mandarling

Coined by me. Requested by no one. Tagging @hypnosiacon

Spider Themes: The illusion of false gods or why the Spider is problematic regardless of morality

Can a cause be worth dying for? Or is it the sacrifice for the sake of something that proves the thing valuable?

There’s two ways to look at the members of the Phantom Troupe, by looking at the things they do to other people,and at the things they do to themselves and each other.

Seeing how much they identify with the Spider,we can throw the theory of them just being selfish psychopaths out of the windows. Neither do they seem manic or crazy,and yet..in a way they remind us of a cult. Besides that,I’ve also found them to have qualities or the following: rebels,revolutionaries,soldiers,robinhoods,martyrs.

Despite committing so much undeniable evil,and despite them never really saying it,there’s clearly a greater good involved. This idea of something bigger is exactly what the story is subverting,and seemingly critiquing. Or is it?

It might be what makes those characters so captivating and interesting-their unquestioning devotion to the entity that is more than just the sum of themselves,what they live trough and die for - The Spider. Why would the proof of criminals like them having principles and loyalty to something be a problem? In a weird way, the Spider has an almost redeeming function - after all it’s a reason and a potential excuse for all their horrible actions. At the same time,isn’t that what makes it a bad thing? If all those people are killing because of that one cause,isn’t it what turned them into who they are now? Isn’t it what makes them do all this evil? “I wouldn’t kill for something that requires murder.” typa issue is what we got here.

The Spider as The Cause

Whether the Spider’s existence itself is what’s most important or if it is still fulfilling a purpose like it did when it was created is up for debate,in fact it’s implied that this is exactly what causes Chrollo to feel lost and unable to understand his own motives. Another reason is that rather than standing for A cause,it merely stands for THE CAUSE,much like how “god” can stand for whatever a person cares about most.

We might wonder endlessly for what reasons exactly the Spiders are doing all of that,and while there are tangible reasons given in their backstory,they work just as well to represent people who are dedicating themselves to whatever,emphasis on dedication. Regardless of specific goals,there will be sacrifices,suffering and pain following whoever cares about anything too much.

The Spider as A Team

Besides loyalty to an idea or principle,there’s also one towards one’s group,regardless of that group’s purpose or function. Without knowing anything at all about motives,backstories,aims,etc we can still see how seriously the members take it. It’s definitely a friend group,one that can’t afford to be a found family,even if that’s what they might be naturally gravitating towards.

The group or team as the greater good is even more fundamental than any additional purpose of said group,as it stays even when the purpose changes. In that regard the Spider is like any other gang,it’s in- vs outrgoup,a small team of partners in crime vs the world.

This “one for all,all for one” dynamic could exist outside of any broader context,even if since the start the Spider was meant as an opportunity for personal fulfilment (as we know now,it was quite the opposite)

The issue comes up when seeing how much the Spider setup hurts its members (as I discussed in the post about their utilitarian approach)

Since the Spider is a villain group,it’s no wonder it’s damaging to the people involved - why would it even be good for their mental health to kill that many people? Of course they’d make enemies and eventually die because of their dangerous lifestyle. But what would really change if they never walked down the path of darkness?

Beyond Morality

Had the Troupe managed to end up as not villains but heroes,would they risk their lives any less? Could they make a bigger change? Would the dynamics within the Spider even change,if it was a more benevolent organisation? Probably not,as there would still be a goal to achieve at any cost and a collective that’s worth more than the individual. Given that it’s taken seriously enough,none of the members would avoid “giving up their lives” anyway. No,they have to give everything up for something,and there we go again.

It’s tragic that Chrollo deemed it necessary to become a villain of all things,but had he decided to protect Meter City in a less brutal way,he would’ve still lost himself in this mission and Pakunoda would’ve followed him,all while vowing to never touch him and never see inside his soul💔🥀

The other side of the coin

^from the 1999 version yorknew opening

Of course it’s the people closest to one that are meant here(I think the song is talking both to Kurapika and Chrollo telling them to value their friends over their cause)

This theme runs all through hxh,it’s present from the very start as characters on a dangerous journey have to constantly chose between reaching their goal or prioritising the safety of themselves and the people around them.

Gon and Killua’s friendship and the fun they have together >> finding Ging

Meruem spending time with Komugi >> grand plans of world domination

Bonds between individual Spiders >> The entity that is the Spider

It’s as if the series is saying “purpose and happiness lies in the here and now,not in what is grand and unreachable”

Another thing supporting this interpretation is this panel from the chimera ant arc:

The tragedy stems from human inability to “just live”,instead we require a greater narrative. It’s neither virtuous nor selfish to devote one’s life to some unreachable goal or mission, but it’s shown as irresistible,as the only way to cope with extreme circumstances.

I wouldn’t say that Togashi is outright condemning hunters,Spiders and assassins in their pursuit of meaning through extreme means, but there is shown to be great harm resulting from that.

Everyone is chasing something,and there’s really no other choice. As much as we want to determine whether the cause is worthy or not (yes because outsiders shouldn’t get away with kidnapping Meteor City’s children,no because it’s no longer about that) the actual reason the Troupe exists is because none of those kids could continue their normal life as voice actors,instead starting a life of a way different format.

There’s technically nothing stopping anyone from just “retiring” in favour of peace and quiet, but in the case of the Spiders especially that’s not even an option,it will never be enough for them.

Chrollo and his friends couldn’t have continued to live normally back then,let alone do that now,but wouldn’t it be nice?

༉‧₊˚. Livrefraisic . ˚₊‧༉

A gender related to libraries, breaths of fresh air, old books, wooden flooring and high windows, lanterns dying out, and a peaceful afternoon inside. Can be a collectic gender but doesn’t have to be.

Suggested pronouns:

book/books/bookself

novel/novels/novelself

story/storys/storyself

page/pages/pageself

📖/📖s/📖self

🖊/🖊s/🖊self

🍂/🍂s/🍂self

🌤/🌤s/🌤self

Suggested names:

Fleur

Sage

Basil

Elias

Quinn

Theo

Vincent

August

Coined by me, requested by anon!! :]

[Regular flag on left, collectic flag on right]

🔬

uhoh

another morning [phone ddl]

All y'all fuckers when you say you ain't gonna vote