i believe—no, i am convinced!

I think it's worth saying that the reason Flowery turns around so fast from being the worst guy ever to the coolest guy ever is largely because over the course of Chapter 5 you slowly learn that Flowery is actually the pure definition of "cool." He doesn't care if he looks silly. He doesn't care if what he's saying doesn't make any sense or if his entire gimmick is totally fake. He's gonna do whatever he wants anyways, no matter what anyone else thinks about it, and he's going to believe in it 100% even when he knows otherwise, because believing might make it real. And it's that pure and unabashed sincerity that makes him incredibly cool even when he's going on about "jarona" and "nothing is more powerful than a flower's dream." He's just genuinely super awesome actually.

Im gonna be so honest and say the take ive had for a year here. Kris and Susies dynamic is 100% more impactful if it ISN’T romantic

i feel like "feminist" anti-kink sentiment is very tail-wagging-the-dog. like male doms playing out bdsm scenes of abuse are not oppressing their female subs that's acting. you're mad at acting. you're those aliens from galaxy quest. same with fearmongering about "booktok". however an eroticized version of patriarchal dynamics being a popular kink DOES speak to the pervasiveness of sexism, bc eroticizing the oppression is a way of coping with living under it. it's women creating a fantasy world where men being menacing to them is sexy and not scary like it is irl, or where it is still scary but in the fun way like a horror movie bc you can tap out at any time by using a safe word or putting the book down. acting like this sort of kink is oppressing women is like if you assumed the thermometer controlled the weather outside. it might be depressing to look at the thermometer and see the impact of climate change, but it's not the thermometer's fault