Effervescent🐍

xenos always so fun to draw dramatic looking lmao

I know, I know that these statements are always taken as boundless confidence in Stan's abilities, but that's just not quite what they are.

They're boundless confidence in Stan's judgment.

It feels so much more powerful than blind faith/assuming capabilities to me personally. He trusts Stanley's evaluation of the situation, and he trusts Stan to tell him the truth.

It's never "Stan can do it because I've seen what he's capable of," or even, "It can be done, Stan can do it." It's "Stan can do it, because he said he can, and I trust his word."

He is outsourcing his assessment to Stanley and he is completely, unflinchingly comfortable with that. He has no need to form his own opinions or judgment on the matter because Stanley already has.

And that is trust.

I do think there's additionally something to be said about that meaning that if Stan can't do something, he would both be able to tell, and he would say so without losing any of his self-confidence. As I've said, when he's offered help, he takes it.

But truly this is the strongest piece of their two-bodies-one-soul situation.

They already introduced the political aspect so why not resolve it? Not one, but TWO villains were driven to become villains because of political issues but they were not resolved. From the moment tsukasa was introduced it's almost like the political aspect became a core theme of the show, albeit badly executed. It reminds me of spiderman where the villain makes valid points and hates the mayor but just also happens to be killing people so theyre bad and the hero has to stop them. But after the villain is stopped, the hero doesnt resolve the political issues that caused the villain to become a villain in the first place. And i've seen people complain how this sort of propaganda in spiderman is so very harmful because of its popularity towards children and how easily propaganda can leech into their minds.

Then after all that, they revive capitalism and frame it as a big advancement in society "progressing" and "going back to normal like in the modern ages" but why go back to this kind of corrupt society when you can advance past it and the show acknowledges the existence of these corrupt governments (Just Tsukasa existing). Didnt xeno point out how the US government is holding back scientific progress? And the US basically upholds capitalism worldwide because you know what happens when you try to defy them. So why bring it back and frame it as a good heavenly thing while the victims opposing that kind of goverment are either just morally confused (tsukasa) or plain evil and dark and their stance just shouldnt be considered because of that (xeno, even if being a dictator definitely isnt a good thing, there were reasons for his villain arc).

Then mr. Capitalist himself (ryusui) mentions and idolises Christopher Columbus??? In this day and age??? Hello. What is the reason genuinely. It wasnt necessary at all. The whole of season 3 is called "new world" in reference to that scene and Christopher Columbus too which is just disappointing.

It seems that the author believing that everyone being apolitical is the only way science can advance more than leaked through the show. But in this very very sour way that put down anybody defying the current government system and wanting the government gone, even though ig he acknowledges the government isnt perfect cuz i mean he literally wrote tsukasa and xeno. I hard disagree with the author obviously because being politically neutral isnt real and just gives the far right leeway while certain demographics are put down and thus all societal and hence scientific progress slows. I havent seen the ending yet and as much as i love dr stone, this all seems like clear as day centralist propaganda, intentionally or not.

#tropes #I know this sounds like a kink thing #and it likely is #but also outside of the kink there are probably a lot of people among protagonists who would welcome the relief #of not having to worry about whether or not they're making the right choices #the relief of knowing that the world isn't in their hands anymore. the relief of being freed from all their self-imposed restrictions #I'm just saying #people who treat mind control as ONLY the scary thing fail to understand that it's MORE scary BECAUSE it's appealing #that a lot of people crave even just a brief moment of not having to make hard choices #and that craving can be exploited or fed by someone with a mind control power who spends a thought for making it feel good to obey #and so you want it. and you know you shouldn't. but it was the best thing you've ever felt. but they're the bad guy. #and if you don't have another outlet. some way to feel like you can just BE instead of having to be the HERO

#eventually you'll have a bad enough day that you stop caring about the consequences #because you know the sense of consequence is the first thing that leaves when you're brainwashed #the fear of mind control is not only the fear of being under the thumb of someone who forces you to do bad things #the fear of mind control is also the fear of realizing that it's preferable to be controlled #than it is to be your own free agent in a world that pulls you in dozens of directions at once #at least with the mind control only one thing matters #at least with the mind control you don't feel lost or scared or paralyzed #at least with the mind control you can find simplicity in a complicated world #and knowing you're weak enough to go back even knowing it's not good for you? that has its own enthralling horror to it too #and people don't play with that horror enough outside of kink spaces

#all of this to say: yes. if your hero doesn't have lasting side effects from remembering what it was like not to have to care? #you're leaving free character development on the table #because there are so so so many things you can do with this if you're not afraid to explore your character's internal conflicts #you can decry the mind control as fake relief if you feel the need to #or you can say "the fact that you need this is a cry for help we didn't interpret in time" #you can even say "there's nothing wrong with needing this. just... don't go to the villain for this. there are other ways." -my personal fa #if you're really not afraid to explore character dynamics say that the villain is surprised to see the hero come back #and that by itself opens so many potential story directions with the hero-villain dynamic

#this is a great case in point for how kink and sex are separate things

#kink is a roleplay involving purposefully shifting your headspace #to access feelings and sensations that you can't normally access (in a negotiated space with guard rails)