So When My Parents Tell Me “But You Were Able To Do It!” All I Can Feel Is Frustrated Because…

One big shift I noticed in Enter the Florpus that the fandom uses a lot in fanfiction is how the Tallest talk to and about Zim.

I would like the point out, the Tallest never say anything bad about Zim when he’s in earshot.

This isn’t disqualifying the fact that they talk shit about him to each other, and to the other Irkens on the Massive. Just never in front of him. They try very hard to keep his exile a secret, correcting themselves very quickly the few times they do slip up.

For example, most prominently, Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars, where Zim calls them to show off a plan of his and annoys them for three hours straight. When trying to come up with an excuse, the Tallest (Red, at least), make up some story about an enemy ship going up against the Massive, despite knowing that to any other Irken, that would raise doubts. They know Zim’s unbridled, faulty loyalty better than anyone, and know that they need to placate him, no matter how wild those aforementioned placating words are.

Another, much larger example is Battle of the Planets. Zim calls his leaders in a bear suit for seemingly no reason. the Tallest, along with every other Irken, watch him ramble about whatever Zim-like things he talks about, trying to stay completely calm. a noteworthy detail; they were laughing at him and mocking the fact that he wasn’t around to mess Operation Impending Doom 2 just before this. It’s only when Zim calls do they stop, and even then, they’re trying to hide laughter. Zim soaks up the “praise” of his leaders and his fellow Irkens before hanging up. Then the Tallest spill into laughter again. It’s rarely ever been in front of Zim. Ever. Because I’m sure that, as oblivious as they know Zim is, they must also know there’s a point where he’s going to realize they’re not laughing with him (even if this is never the case).

They don’t seem to completely despise him as they could have simply hung up when Zim’s constant yelling of ‘my Tallest’ got too annoying, but that’s a different story entirely.

Purple seems to have less of an issue of bullying the invader to his face, and Red is obviously the more work-focused of the two (which is debatable, as both of them seem to slack off a lot), as well as the one who keeps the secret about Zim’s mission and his disdain for him under wraps.

The movie, while admittedly changing a good few things about characters, butchered the Tallest the most, in my opinion. For Purple, it made complete sense to want to fly straight. he’s been childish a few times, and a lot more open about when he doesn’t like an order or anything else (see Megadoomer). However, Red was always the one that seemed to have things under control, at least a few times. When the Massive flies out of control, his first instinct is to run a diagnostic to find the problem, while his companion tries to save the donuts (this is not to say they differ too drastically in personality, as Red also wanted to save the donuts). For him to insist on flying straight, especially when there’s a very large and dangerous rip in space some miles away that he no doubt knows could hurt him and his companion, is a bit out of character.

When Zim calls, they make no effort to hide the fact that they’re annoyed with him, with Purple outright stating he liked him better when they thought he was dead. Red yells that they really don’t care about whatever he has to say. These are minor things, the only interaction they have with him in the whole film, and admittedly isn’t that telling. But I feel that short five minute was very telling to how they interact with him. Especially for newer fans who didn’t analyze every character in the show in comparison to the movie I’ve watched 20+ times now,

And a lot of fanfictions make the Tallest unnecessarily cruel, even going as far as to tell Zim, unprompted, to his face, that his mission is fake. Understandably, it’s possible for them to reach their limit and blurt it out in anger, but even then, Zim would just laugh it off, never taking it for what it is. Hell, the best example of the Tallest I’ve seen written ever is Forced Perspective, where they stuck to expected behaviors and, even when Zim asked about the legitimacy of his mission, stopped him from finding out. Zim finding out his mission is fake would make him want to go back to Irk, after all. And they can’t have that.

They know keeping the secret of Zim’s mission is crucial for keeping him away from them and causing destruction away from them, yet I feel that’s easily forgotten.

A sketch for my Halloween challenge on Twitter. :D

TERÇO

Behold! This extremely messy sketch of Near!

Two Cartier rabbits, rose quartz, eyes inset with cabochon sapphires and rubies.

Because I have over the years posted it on Xitter, but not on here, another poem by Archy the Cockroach. (He writes in lower case as he is jumping onto the typewriter keyboard head first in order to type, as in this illustration by George Herriman.)

warty bliggens, the toad

i met a toad

the other day by the name

of warty bliggens

he was sitting under

a toadstool

feeling contented

he explained that when the cosmos

was created

that toadstool was especially

planned for his personal

shelter from sun and rain

thought out and prepared

for him

do not tell me

said warty bliggens

that there is not a purpose

in the universe

the thought is blasphemy

a little more

conversation revealed

that warty bliggens

considers himself to be

the center of the said

universe

the earth exists

to grow toadstools for him

to sit under

the sun to give him light

by day and the moon

and wheeling constellations

to make beautiful

the night for the sake of

warty bliggens

to what act of yours

do you impute

this interest on the part

of the creator

of the universe

i asked him

why is it that you

are so greatly favored

ask rather

said warty bliggens

what the universe

has done to deserve me

--Don Marquis 1878-1937

--from Archy & Mehitabel

Is there a list of the books mentioned on Tokyo Ghoul? I don't know if I send the question yesterday. Well thanks. You guys are doing a great job. (´▽｀)

Takatsuki Sen’s Works

Takatsuki’s debut work is titled “Dear Kafka”. It was released when Takatsuki was still a teenager and is a bestseller with 500 000 copies.

“Monochrome Rainbow” is a short story collection. Among others, the collection contains the short stories Summer Diary, Resentments and Showers at Sunset (Sayoshigure).

The seventh work is titled “The Black Goat’s Egg”. It narrates the story of a son and his mother, a cold-hearted serial killer called “The Black Goat”.The protagonist is disgusted by his mother’s depravity, but has to realize that he is developing the same cruel impulses. The book combines brutal descriptions with a delicate portrayal of the main character’s mental state. After the organ transplant, Ken Kaneki likens himself to the story’s protagonist.

Her eighth work is called “The Hanged Man’s MacGuffin”, a collection of stories about the life of death sentenced prisoners. Kaneki reads it after the “Banjou incident”.

Books Mentioned in Tokyo Ghoul

Ogura Hisashi - ”New Book of Ghoul Dismantling”

French Gourmet book

Martial arts book

Books Mentioned in Tokyo Ghoul:Re

Franz Kafka’s - ”A Crossbreed”

Actual Books Reflecting Events in Tokyo Ghoul

Kanou’s role in changing Kaneki into a artificial ghoul and his role in Kaneki’s character development mirrors the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s Monster in Mary Shelley’s book “Frankenstein”

Franz Kafka’s”The Metamorphosis”, a popular story about a man who slowly transforms into an insect. In some ways, the story sounds similar as Ken goes through the same fate as Gregor Samsa, the main character of Kafka’s work.

The Ghoul Restaurant takes inspiration for tales such as The Restaurant of Many Orders by Kenji Miyazawa, with Kaneki even drawing a comparison between himself and the protagonists of that tale.