#analysisposting

zooming in on that last bit we see of everyone during the outro pan out gives us a lot of insight on their reactions- especially breadhead's and mud's which we don't see during the hatching scene.

based on body posture and the expression I can make out, Mud's obviously PISSED; we'll have to wait and see to what extent. really hard to tell which direction it'll go with him either becoming suspicious or just pissed that it didn't go to plan- possibly not caring about the fake human egg, just that he wasn't in on the lie.

breadhead just looks timid and scared. I know it's already a common hc that he already Knows so his reaction of fear makes sense.

ken is really interesting. he just looks so.. sad and resigned. it'll be really interesting to see how he handles all of this.

all in all intriguing as fuck and I can't wait to see how this plays out.

I'm not literate enough to make this more eloquent but something something Simon's background with the cult, themes of faith and religion in his past with Eden, religion being a coping mechanism for people living under inescapable and unbearable circumstances, and cults thriving in times of chaos where people have nowhere to turn. Simon being groomed into the idea of giving his life for the Father, having no means of escape once he's physically welded into the SM-13 and at the mercy of the Eel, creating a reality in his head where he's a martyr dying to save humanity, where his worthless life could actually mean something, to find peace in his final moments when he never really had a choice in the matter. Because that's what people do when there is no altering a horrible fate; they cope.

Vs. Grace, a staunch atheist, who had the luxury of answers and the science to back it up available to him at every point in his journey, who never lost his mind because there was always a reasonable explanation somewhere in sight, if not already in his possession. He had rationality, he had reason, and he had a choice. Not initially, of course; initially, he was forced to be part of the research team studying Astrophage (one could say he was groomed in a way, becoming invested in saving humanity so he was less likely to say no to the mission). However, his story is unequivocally shaped by his actions. He could've killed himself early on with the myriad of suicide options granted to him for a quick, painless death, he could've refused to go to Tau Ceti, he could've returned to Earth instead of going back for Rocky; he was forced to be aboard the Hail Mary, but the moment he wakes up his decisions are his own.

THE SAME SONG SHE USED TO LISTEN TO WHEN SHE FELT LIKE SHE WAS ALONE AGAINST THE WORLD, as soon as someone comes close to "invading" the one thing, that has always been a constant, that's always brought her comfort, softly calls to her. Not in the angry way it's played in a band but a soft, lonely, melancholic piano, and that lonely feeling isn't uncomfortable to her, because that's the only way she feels safest. When she's alone. AND IT STOPS WHEN SHE'S FORCED TO GO BACK AND FACE SUBARU AND RETURN HER PHONE UGH

Both sent men off to their deaths, bearing the weight of responsibility in the face of extinction. Both had to make the hard call and take the blame, fully willing to do so if it meant saving humanity.

Where Simon and Ryland branch off in their similarities based on the state of crisis of their respective worlds, the exact same analysis can be made for Stratt and Ava. Stratt comes from a world that has not yet been hit by doom, but is fast approaching it enough that action must be taken to preserve what humanity currently has (that being a relatively peaceful, functional society). Meanwhile, Ava's world has already been ravaged by its mass extinction event. It's a world that most would not consider worth living in or attempting to preserve, and Ava's job isn't just to try and save what little there is left of humanity (that again many in the Iron Lung universe don't even consider worth saving), but to try and a find a way out from those conditions. Eva works to save a home worth fighting for, Ava tries to claw her way out of the hellhole she's in. Both are tasked with ensuring the survival of humanity.

The greatest difference, and really the only difference that matters, is that Ava lives in a dystopia and got to make the easier choice. Sentence a convict, a murderer, scum, to his doom to save humanity under conditions in which doing so is more than understandable. Stratt's world can still be salvaged, if she plays her cards right. But she has do be the first to cross the line, and she has to sacrifice a good man who she knows deserves better, one she's perhaps even come to care for. Ava didn't even know Simon's name; she didn't have the luxury of sympathy.

If Simon and Ryland are the victims of their worlds' chaos, survivors but small parts of something greater that they should be willing to sacrifice themselves to serve while being forced to do just that, then Stratt and Ava are the hands that push them towards their fates. The men desperate to live who ran from responsibility, and the women who wore responsibility like a chain, wrapping those chains around the throats of cowards and sending them to their graves to protect the needs of the many. The guilt, the desperate justifications holding just enough truth to it to keep going, and being in the unique position of knowing the weight of a crown that any sane person would avoid; that is the story of Ava and Eva Stratt.

ralph breaks the internet au where things are mostly the same except ralph and vanellope are replaced with gene and felix

intrigued by this concept? want an explanation? well Oh Boy do i have a tangent for you!

(remembers to interrogate why I find that so funny)

interrogation time!! (below the cut because this will be long.)