#relationship analysis

Like, sure, Avid is the one who made Scott question if he was starting to feel things, but Shelby is the one who made him notice. They're the one he went to with those doubts and vulnerability. They're the one he trusted to see him hurt.

And well, out of character, ccShelby has pointed out that Shelby is one of the few who isn't scared of Scott. And that shows. When she lied about turning Avid (and immediately capitulated when Scott insisted a little bit) what she was scared of was Owen's anger, not Scott's.

Also, Shelby is Scott's number 1 apologist. In a "Your honor, he did all of that, but he was very stylish when doing it" kind of way. And I love that for them.

There are other small moments throughout that stood out to me. Like Scott refraining from drinking from Avid when he was spying on his and Shelby's conversation because he didn't want to undermine Shelby's point. Him praising Shelby's impressive self control when it comes to not hurting anyone and never pressuring them to do so. And, on the other side, Shelby mentioning that they don't really care about what Scott's done as much as what Owen's done because "Scott comes from a different time" (paraphrased). Or Scott's description in their fic being the only wholly positive one.

Here’s Why It Matters.

Danny x Valerie wasn’t just a potential romance it was a missed opportunity to deepen both characters and the show.

Valerie had everything Danny wanted and lost it.

Danny wanted popularity, recognition, visibility.

Valerie had those things…until her life fell apart.

They were mirrors of each other at different points in the arc:

-Valerie had the status, then lost it.

-Danny felt invisible, then gained powers.

And yet, both were haunted by their losses.

Both were trying to find themselves after their lives were shattered by ghost powers.

They were on the same emotional level.

Valerie had to grow up fast. She worked. She struggled. She kept secrets.

Danny was still figuring things out, but he could grow if the writing let him.

Together, they could’ve challenged each other.

Balanced each other.

And found connection in the one thing no one else understood: the weight of a double life.

Their potential romance wasn’t just about love. It was about healing.

Valerie didn’t know Danny was Phantom.

Danny didn’t know how to tell her.

That tension? That secrecy? It wasn’t just drama. It was a setup for growth.

When Valerie meets Dani (Danny’s clone), she shows kindness, protectiveness, acceptance.

That’s how we know she would’ve accepted Danny if she had all the facts.

She didn’t hate him she hated being lied to.

Imagine if they had worked through that.

Imagine a slow-burn friendship into love.

Imagine trust, betrayal, truth, forgiveness.

That would’ve been a story.

Pairing them up would’ve also freed Sam and Tucker to grow beyond Danny.

The Sam x Danny romance flattened both characters.

Tucker became comic relief. Sam became the default love interest.

But if Danny and Valerie had been explored more…

-Sam and Tucker could’ve had their own B-plots, growth arcs, maybe even each other.

-Valerie wouldn’t have existed in isolation.

-Danny would’ve matured through tension, not fanservice.

Danny and Valerie weren’t doomed.

They were interrupted.

By poor writing.

By a rushed end.

By a fear of complexity.

Their story was never about “opposites attract.”

It was about two people dealing with trauma in opposite directions, realizing they’re not alone.

They could’ve been the show's emotional anchor.

But instead, they became a “what if.”

And honestly? That’s a loss.

Wolf Hawks The Other Martins Blue Heron All of these episodes have two things in common - Chris being frustrated is a running joke throughout the episode, and they were all written by IRL Martin.

In Wolf Hawks, Martin continued to use the name “wolf hawks” even though he knew Chris hated it, and Chris complained about it the entire time.

In The Other Martins, the entire episode was just Chris being miserable because the narrative is deliberately written in such a way so that bad things constantly happen to Chris the entire time, even though he’d done nothing wrong to deserve it. It goes so far that Chris ends up breaking down in tears about halfway through.

(↑ these pics are in chronological order. Poor baby having the worst time of his life. Also notice the weird animation error on his creature power suit in 3rd pic, the paw icon is drifting away from the center?)

Blue Heron is the least bad of all of them, but it still centers around a blue animal, and Martin keeps talking about how blue it is, much to Chris’s annoyance. Chris also hates that his creature power suit is blue and not green. Chris really wants to find a green heron, but can’t, until the very end when Martin points out a green heron and said it’s been there the whole time and he just never told Chris.

But it NEVER happens in the reverse. Chris has never written an episode to feature Martin's annoyance or discomfort as a running theme through the episode. There’s been opportunities for it to happen, but Chris just never takes that route. (Correct me if I’m wrong) I think that's really interesting insight into their personalities and dynamics.

Martin loves to mess with Chris, but Chris isn't so big on messing with Martin beyond a simple prank or two. I think the farthest Chris usually goes is that one time in Googly-Eye the Night Guru, (which he wrote) in which the girls mistake a Proboscis monkey for Martin, saying "I'd recognize that nose anywhere!" (see below)

Gonna preface this by saying I don't really ship these two romantically. I don't have anything against the pairing(other then finding the oversaturation of it a tad annoying), I just can't really picture Shmilk in a romantic relationship. Feel free to use this analysis for shipping purposes if you want, I just feel its important to note that thats not the lense Im using to analyze their dynamic. Especially because I'm tagging it as ship to get more eyes on this analysis-

So, the thing that I think is the most important to note about their dynamic right out the gate is that it seems like Shadow Milk, on some level, WANTS to be friends with Pure Vanilla. Shmilk is a deeply lonely person, due to a combination of the circumstances of his creation and his own tendancy to push people away on purpose, so of course he'd want to form some kind of connection with his "other half". Plus, he's the one that INITIATES his and PV's kingdom conversation by saying; "The Cookie Kingdom, huh? This place is really..." This bitch was trying to start small talk! That's not really something you do with someone you don't want to bond with. Likewise, Pure Vanilla also wants to be friends with Shadow Milk. Despite all the shit Shmilk puts him through during the Spire of Deciet episodes, PV still offers him friendship and redemption. Still reaches out to him.

So what's stopping them?

First of all, Shmilk is seemingly allergic to genuine emotional connection. I mean he literally vibrates for like a full minute at the end of his kingdom interaction with PV that's gotta be some kind of allergic reaction. But outside of that, he also very clearly refuses to connect with anyone else in his life beyond the surface level. His relationship with Black Sapphire and Candy Apple, in canon, feels very strictly boss and lackee, despite him honestly being pretty good to them all things considered. He also keeps his fellow Beasts at an arms length, intentionally pissing them off so they don't try to get any closer. Shadow Milk, despite being lonely as fuck, seems like he's genuinely afraid of actual emotional connection, at least to some degree.

Then there's also the fact that Pure Vanilla is constantly striving to be a hero while Shadow Milk is desperate for everyone to see him as a villain. PV's entire motivation is that he wants to help people, make the world a better place, and be someone others can look up to. He uses his magic to heal, to support the people around him. He wants to be everyone's friend. This desire also leads into his biggest flaws; his self sacrificing nature and his deathly fear of conflict. Pure Vanilla's goal of being a hero defines literally everything about him. Meanwhile, Shadow Milk's desparation to be the villain ALSO defines his entire being. I already talked about the way Shmilk villainizes himself in depth in my analysis of him and Silent Salt, but the gist of it is that Shadow Milk does literally everything in his power to make the people around him see him as the villain. Unlike the other Beasts, who kinda just let their actions speak for themselves, Shadow Milk WANTS YOU to see him as evil. He takes his role of the antagonist with so much pride, playing up his villainy constantly despite being the only Beast we've never seen cause any large scale damage directly.

Pure Vanilla and Shadow Milk both want to play opposite roles, even if Shmilk is the only one that would phrase it like that if you asked him. PV is humble, he doesn't want people to see him as a hero so much as he wants to actually be one, while Shadow Milk cares more about being percieved as a villain by individual people then actually being one on a large scale. It's the way they most directly parallel eachother, and it's a big part of why Shadow Milk fucking HATES IT when Pure Vanilla offers to be his friend despite everything he put him through. His villainy is his way of taking control of his life after years of being stuck without any, so to have somebody just disregard that entirely and offer to be his friend? That's terrifying. He is no longer in control of that situation. So he lashes out, trying to take control of his image back by force. It doesn't work very well but yknow-

But wait, there's more! Shadow Milk's hatred of Pure Vanilla actually goes EVEN DEEPER then that, because Pure Vanilla is also a physical manifestation of all of Shadow Milk's Virtue Trauma!

Shadow Milk is, of all the Beasts, the most angry about the way they've all been collectively treated. This is another thing I talk about in depth in my other essay, but I think Shmilk's rage is the most obvious in his relationship to the Silver Tree. He clearly fucking HATED his time being trapped in there. Like, it made him so fucking angry. His official introduction is him breaking out of tree jail, and then he literally kills the warden. He also has this line:

Which I think speaks for itself here. All this, combined with the fact that he's the only Beast besides Silent Salt to ever comment on their imprisonment at all, makes it very clear that he is Especially Pissed about it. Shadow Milk is the way he is because of the ways he was dehumanized as a virtue. He's desperate to forge his own identity because the one he was given by the witches caused him so much pain. So of course, he would be the most angry about their imprisonment, the most angry about the way they were discarded and replaced. Like broken toys. Or microwaves.

And to him, Pure Vanilla is the physical representation of all of that. Pure Vanilla is not only the one who took away half his power, he's also his REPLACEMENT. Living proof that he was only ever meant to be an object. Proof that he is not a person. And what makes it worse is that Pure Vanilla is exactly what the Fount was supposed to be!!! All of the statues we see of Fount depict him as very similar to Pure Vanilla. Eyes closed, a calm, benevolent expression on his face. Even his outfit looks more like Pure Vanilla's then it does Shadow Milk's!

Pure Vanilla is kind, he's honest, he's an amazing leader, and most importantly; people fucking love him. He is exactly what the Witches wanted when they created Shadow Milk, and still got the respect Shadow Milk never could. And I think Shmilk knows that. And it drives him fucking insane, because if his replacement is better then him in every possible way then... what does that mean for him? What does that say about his place in the world?

That is, I think, the key to understanding his dynamic with Pure Vanilla. It's not just about Shadow Milk's allergy to emotional connection, and it's not just about opposing beliefs. Shadow Milk can't be friends with Pure Vanilla, because that would mean admitting that PV is right, and if he admits that PV is right... to him, it would mean admitting that his treatment as a Virtue was right. That all the abuse he suffered, the years of being forced into an identity that just didn't fit, years of dehumanization, and subsequent imprisonment in sensory deprivation hell were all justified. Because Pure Vanilla is, to him, the physical manifestation of everything he was supposed to be. A man who is better at the thing Shmilk was LITERALLY CREATED FOR then he could ever be. The one he was discarded for. If Pure Vanilla is right and Shadow Milk is wrong, that would mean the Fount of Knowledge was right too.

Obviously, none of that is true. No matter how much better PV would've been as the Fount of Knowledge then Shmilk was, it does not mean that Shmilk is inherently a useless failure. But I think Shadow Milk still believes that, at least subconciously, and it's the biggest obstacle in the way of his redemption. Shadow Milk can not and will not accept help so long as he feels he is under threat of having his personhood taken away again. It's also probably a big part of why he tried to turn PV over to deciet! It wasn't just that he wanted to prove his way is better, it was also about proving to HIMSELF that his way is INEVITABLE. That he isn't a failure, because even his seemingly perfect replacement gave up the way he did.

The last shared scene where Kim sees Jimmy — his real self — is their breakup. It’s painful because he is completely open and vulnerable in front of her. His heart is entirely exposed, and yet it still isn’t enough. He still loses her.

And then the grief never really comes. Jimmy isn’t someone who knows how to process sadness, how to properly mourn… so he hides completely inside Saul. Not just in moments where it’s useful, not just when he needs to perform for others. It becomes a full replacement of himself. He retreats into the shell of someone who doesn’t attach, someone who cannot lose, someone who only cares about material things because those things cannot hurt him again.

Then comes the divorce papers scene. Before Kim arrives, we briefly see Jimmy alone with the papers, and he clearly isn’t okay. And then, before she even walks in, he puts the mask on. When she enters, he barely acknowledges her, still playing on his phone as if none of it really matters.

Once she hands them to him, he puts his phone down and even gives the table a small theatrical double tap, a kind of “alright, let’s do this.” But when he actually holds the documents, you might notice his hands trembling slightly. He starts flipping through the pages and moving them around more than necessary, almost like he’s trying to bury the shaking inside the motion so it won’t be obvious to her. And then the performance returns, the casual tone and the “I’m totally fine” act. Not out of disrespect, but because if he dropped it, it would reveal how much it actually hurts.

Oooo this; I like this—observe:

Danny: Dan, you gotta meet my boyfriend

Dan: Alright, but you have meet mine, too!

*Later*

Tim:

GunBatman!Tim:

Dan:

Danny: …wait a minute

Ranpo is under the responsibility of knowing something that he should not know. Yokomizo wanted his death to be unsolvable, it was his dying wish, and Ranpo solved it. I’m quite sure that Ranpo does feel guilty about this and it’s why he is so sympathetic with Mushitarō. He ruined the dying wish of the most important person to his new friend.

Poe is where most similarities are obvious. They’re both mystery authors with a blatant fascination with the murder method and the goal of an unsolvable mystery. It can also be seen in how they interact with Mushitarō, they both really annoy Mushitarō with simply enjoying their passion and find it endearing when he gets mad at them. It can and sometimes does come across as outwardly teasing him.

A fun little tidbit is also the fact that no one knows how the irl Edgar Allan Poe died! Most believe it to be alcohol poisoning but that was proven false, others think it was suicide. There are many different ways people speculate his death, but so far no one knows.He was simply found one day in another persons clothing out in the street. No injuries or anything to prove the truth of his death, similar to Yokomizo in bsd.

I really don’t think I need to get into Yokomizo and Mushitarō’s relationship, I’m sure you get the point.

Obviously these copies are creepy fakes, but they're bringing up things that have been either old wounds from both their pasts, real doubts and questions they've both had, and forcing them to face it. And they both think they're talking to the real deal.

Amy used to be somewhat frustrated by Sonic because she loved him, but he wasn't the romantic knight in shining armor type that she dreamed of. He didn't listen to her for a while and didn't let her come with him on his adventures. Now, as they've gotten older and become real friends, he has willingly let her join him, and he doesn't mind following her lead a lot of the time. (Not always, but a lot.) And Amy doesn't mind at all that he's not a romantic like her. She's accepted him for who he is. And yet, a strange reminder that he's not always going to do what she wants? Straight from who she thinks is really him? A little hurtful.

Sonic took a while to understand that his friends, y'know, actually wanted to spend time with him and be with him. He's been an independent soul for probably as long as he can remember, and had an oddball streak of social awkwardness that manifested in him just not picking up on how much he was loved. And not in a self-depreciating way, either. He just didn't think about it.

Amy specifically struggled to keep up with him back in the day, constantly trying to make herself useful to him so he'd let her tag along. Of course, that's not why they're such close friends today. They're best friends now because they've both matured a lot since then, and have been through a ton of genuine stuff together. But it was an insecurity that she carried for a long time.

Amy started working on herself because of Sonic. Not just to impress him, but he was an inspiration to her to become her own hero, become strong, become someone he could rely on. Through that journey, she became a leader and more of her own person (while still keeping her love for him in a more healthy way, I should add). She never boasts about this, though. It's just part of how she's grown.

But there's that streak of doubt, still. The idea that she's only doing what she's doing to impress others, impress him, whatever. It definitely started that way, but nowadays it's a part of her. And yet...

Through all this creepy mess, the mastermind is using their faces to worm his way into their heads. Trying to reopen past wounds. Make them question themselves.

Even Sonic, normally so hard to shake up, is freaked out by this. He was unsettled and on his guard this whole issue (to the point Amy asked if he was okay twice). And now he thinks one of his closest friends is challenging him on whether he cares about her and the others. He even stammers here. If it was coming from a villain, he would brush this off.

Not when he thinks it's one of his friends.

To my knowledge, no Sonic villain has done this before. Because it's insanely genius; Sonic is confident, unshakeable, and uncompromising on how he behaves— unless one of his inner circle questions him. I'd go as far as to say that Tails and Amy are the only people whose opinions could possibly affect him (I'd say Knuckles too, but something's a little different there). Remember that time in Sonic Frontiers when the real Amy challenged him on leaving the Koco behind? If it was anyone else, he wouldn't have cared what they thought he was doing. But it was Amy. He got defensive (briefly) but decided to explain himself to her. (And it was because he cared about her so much that he was doing what he was doing, as the cherry on top!)

Amy is obviously the most emotionally vulnerable when it comes to Sonic's opinion of her. She's stopped letting it define her, but he's still the most important person in her world, and she still loves him to death; of course his thoughts matter a huge deal to her. So if she thinks he's mocking her for the person she's become, of course she's gonna be a lot more confused and hurt than if it was most other people.

AND THIS PANEL...

They both recognize that these aren't things the other would usually say. But just KILL ME NOW with how he's reaching out for her and she's wanting to but she's scared to touch "him" 😭😭😭😭