So Instead Of Working On The "We Really Minded All That" Act Story Or A Fight To Remember, I Start A

well, just explored the "mabel pines defense squad" tag

there were a lot of strongly worded posts

Nearly every time I've rewatched Infinity Train Book 3 since I first saw it in February, I saw more parallels and narrative echos, and infodumping my friends about them isn't enough anymore

I figured I should do a post about this one because I don't think I've seen a post about that specific thing yet, and I love this show's writing, and. idk. I just need to praise it I guess

So, the most obvious part first:

Grace became everything she hated about her parents

When Grace mentions her mother in the Debutante Ball Car, it's made pretty clear she's trying to distance herself from her mother as much as possible, and at this point, we realise retrospectively that Grace's room in the Mall Car in episode one was full of sports clothes - it seems she tries to avoid things reminding her of her life before the train. And of her mother. And yet-

She tries to control everyone and everything around her, and makes people do what she doesn't want to do

And she decides what's cool and what isn't

She makes people kneel in her presence, like her mother towers over her in her mind's eye

Obviously she constantly lies to get what she wants, and her dad does that in her tape

When her younger self looks up, she looks right through adult Grace, and it's actually her parents she's looking at! Her younger self is metaphorically seeing her parents where her adult self is standing!! I still can't get over this shot

Also I feel the need to mention her mother has the same voice actor as her in her tape and even if it might be to cut corners in the budget, that feels significant (and to be fair, sometimes you can cut corners while making meaningful choices at the same time)

Now you might think I'd have nothing to say about Simon on that matter, since we don't see any flashback of his life before the Train, and we know next to nothing about his parents. But I think it's very telling that the only actual backstory we get for him is his backstory with The Cat.

Because-

Simon became everything he hated about The Cat

Ok I never see anyone mentioning this, but hear me out

First, we have no idea if Simon knew The Cat was routinely invading people's privacy through their memory tapes, but he sure has no issue doing the exact same thing

But that doesn't stop there. He also collects things obsessively

And makes kids collect things for him as well, by the way

He thinks he's above others, but he immediately switches to victim mode when it comes back to bite him

HE. ABANDONS. A CHILD. WHO WAS UNDER HIS CARE!!

And. Uh. They both dig their heels instead of trying to change, too

Don't get me wrong, on some level I would have liked to know what Simon's parents were like too. I would have liked that a lot. But there's a good chance it wouldn't change anything, because everything we need to know about his background to understand why he's Like That™ is already in the show

But yeah, Grace and Simon both pretend they found freedom on the Train, and both distance themselves from parental figures who are at the source of their trauma, claiming they're different and better than them - and yet they are both subconsciously repeating patterns that caused at least part of their problems and/or trauma in the first place

And since they decided that making numbers go up was good, as long as they stick to that idea, they are bound to never escape from that self-perpetuating loop of harm and trauma

And I love it

And I hate it

would zuko give the blue spirit a full pardon after the war is over or do you think he would mess with everyone and raise the bounty even higher

don't know much about enneagram but this is an interesting look at their personalities!

What Enneagram types are the main cast? I've been thinking about this for some time and here's my two cents. If anyone has ideas/corrections about any mistypes I'd love to hear them. This is mostly coming at it from the 'core fear' aspect rather than outward displays of personality, but I think it could inform potential character arcs.

*Jesse: 2, Helper. Fears being unwanted/unworthy of love. 2 empathetic, self-sacrificing type fits the optimistic protagonist role Jesse plays, and the fears can really be pushed in dire situations where her friends end up throwing in the towel and leaving. Potential backstories for this root fear include (as one anon mentioned a while ago) being an unmoored orphan.

Olivia: 5, Investigator. The fear of being useless/incapable adds depth to her self-worth issues over not being good enough in her abilities (building competition, redstone, etc.) and can be maximized for profit with Ellegaard's death, whereby Olivia can step into her shoes as a kind of successor.

Axel: 9, Peacemaker. Fears separation and conflict, which manifests as a passivity and resignation of the state of things. Axel is dissatisfied with their—the Treehouse Trio's—situation, but has convinced himself that it's just the way it is. Growth would be following his passion when the opportunity arises (finding Magnus and becoming the King of Boomtown)

Petra: 8, Challenger. Fears being harmed or controlled. This one may be a stretch but the rest of Petra's personality (self-reliance, resisting weakness and the need to stay in control (e.g. her conflict with Jesse in S1E7) seems to fit this. Could be explained by a really shitty childhood. Growth is learning to take a back-seat and show vulnerability (which is excellent fodder for a romantic subplot)

Lukas: 6, Loyalist. Fears not having stability. Very loyal and cooperative: Lukas is repeatedly loyal to his friends, shown when he goes back for the Ocelots or even Jesse in S2 if you ended things on bad terms earlier. Growth is abandoning his old post (The Ocelots), finding his own way and taking the risk to join Jesse's gang instead.

Bonus Aiden just for sillies: 3, Achiever. Shares a similar basic fear of worthlessness with Jesse, but manifests it outwardly with ladder-climbing and hunger for fame instead. Hangs around the negative levels of Type 3, with growth being accepting his inherent self-worth and actually doing some good instead of endlessly chasing Jesse's shadow.

*This is written with F!Jesse in mind, at least. I haven't seen an M!Jesse playthrough so I can't determine whether it's accurate or not.

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One of my fics has zero hits and one bookmark and I love that for it

Am I the only one who gets annoyed that dipper and Mabel don’t submit the photos of the goblewonker?

uhhh I’d just like to say because I keep getting asks about this that requests (asks or messages) for donations will be ignored, sorry!

I’ve read two different one shots with the premise that people at Dipper’s school don’t believe Pacifica exists lol

"alright dude, so you're flirting with a cute girl... who lives up in the pacific northwest... named pacifica northwest... and she's a rich teen pageant queen? she doesn't come visit you because her parents don't like you, right? even though she's got a private plane? no, no, dude we totally believe you, just making sure we have all the facts straight --"

“Get this on tape in case I die or whatever.”

Ugh, I love them so much…

I mean my username is sort of a huge inside joke that no one gets. But I DO like cake . . .

Reblog this post to ask mutuals to tell you their weirdest theory about u