A Mask Of My Own Face (i’d Wear That)

reigen: i want to be famous and powerful and respected but not for who i am as a person, only so my talents are recognized and make people happy along the way. but i dont actually believe in my own talents even if they prove successful and i have zero self esteem because ive literally just been winging it my whole life to the point where i dont know who the real me is anymore and all thats left is the persona ive accidentally let take my place. and im so scared that all of this could come crumbling down at any moment so i just have to keep pretending like i know what im doing

dimple, immortal fart ghost who might as well not exist, who tried so hard to build a network of positive human connections so he wouldnt be lonely anymore but failed because the only way he knows how to do anything is through spooky ghost possession, looking at this super loud n charismatic dude winning at life by doing nothing: i fucking hate you

im not sure if youve answered this before (ive been scrolling back in your blog but cant find anything?) but do you have any tips on how to write mob?

hmm i have not answered this before, so let me think… writing mob…

keep in mind that i have not written mob, but i have read a lot of mob… in canon.

don’t use verbs that imply very drastic action/expression (e.g. rather than “beamed,” use “smiled,” since mob almost never smiles with enough enthusiasm to qualify as beaming). keep mob’s actions and expressions low-key unless shit is really getting serious. (and actually, re: smiling in particular, remember that he rarely doles out smiles to anyone other than ritsu.)

remember that mob is quite passive– like, he usually isn’t actively engaged in his surroundings. he’s prone to zoning out, deep in thought or just deep in the absence of thought. even when things are relatively intense, he still may feel out of place and hesitate. basically, mob’s default state when things start happening is “not knowing what he should be doing.” when things aren’t happening, he tends to be content with idleness or inactivity.

about mob’s speech: his catchphrase, according to his profile, is “i don’t really get it.” from this, we can tell that he’s not afraid to acknowledge his own ignorance or inability. (iirc he is also wont to drop this line at inopportune times, like after someone gives him a detailed explanation or emotional speech.) he’s not stupid, but he’s not especially quick-witted either. he’s a good listener. if he doesn’t know what to say and isn’t forced to answer, he won’t say anything. he doesn’t crack wise or offer witty comebacks or snark; his words may have that kind of effect at times (e.g. “shut up and eat”), but only as the result of a mistake or failure to read the atmosphere. generally, he isn’t sarcastic. he will carry on a conversation, but generally, he isn’t very talkative unless there’s something on his mind.

when something is on his mind, he usually starts by dwelling on it while zoning out (possibly while doing other things, like eating dinner). 

when he does feel strongly about something, he doesn’t hide it, and he has been known to lecture people about their wrongdoings if he gets really riled up. despite that, don’t forget that he trusts in the goodness of people in general and has plenty of faith in his fellow humans. he strongly feels the importance of things he has learned, and as a result, he wants to make sure others understand what he understands. so like… when it comes to communication, his true strength is his benevolent sincerity.

he and ritsu are on better terms than ever lately, and they may come to each other for advice, but i think they both still prefer to think things over on their own if they can. so mob wouldn’t necessarily go directly to ritsu or reigen for help with something that’s bothering him. he’ll probably have a good long think about it first. pensive boy

he has no fashion sense. i would go ahead and credit any/all of his stylish outfits to ritsu or his parents.

he is Not sassy

he is not dramatic (except unintentionally)

he’s not good at reading other people’s emotional reactions if they don’t come right out and say how they’re feeling. or at least, it takes him a while to catch on if he doesn’t know them well

he calls ritsu “ritsu.” he calls tome “tome-san.” he calls mezato “mezato-san.” he calls reigen “master” or “master reigen.” he calls teru “hanazawa-kun.” he calls tsubomi “tsubomi-chan.” generally, everyone is a -san, -kun, or -senpai according to the typical rules. so don’t have him call anyone any weird nicknames or anything overly familiar unless they ask him to call them that (e.g. he calls tome by her first name because she introduced herself as tome-chan, and even then he changed it to -san). and for the record, i don’t think mob has directly spoken to or about shou, but seeing as how ritsu calls shou “suzuki,” mob would almost certainly call him “suzuki-kun.” 

remember that mob’s default neutral facial expression usually comes off as bored, cold, or distant. it’s hard to even tell when/whether he’s deep in thought or slightly upset. even ritsu, reigen, and teru can’t decipher him especially well. (so instead of reading mob’s face… ritsu asks if anything’s bothering him, teru asks what he’s thinking about, and reigen tries to decipher his face anyway and doesn’t ask anything unless/until it becomes Very clear that mob is having problems.)

note that these points apply specifically to non-100% mob

Losing my god damn mind over the eye symbolism and hand symbolism in Mob psycho 100 and how they reveal true feeling vs intent

i’m upset that part of the Shigeo/Mob conversation that was cut in the anime was Shigeo holding Mob’s face almost lovingly, with Mob being the one to eventually push the hands away. i just feel like that would’ve added a shit-ton of subtext to the confession arc that the anime didn’t really provide.

every once in a while i remember my “???% only appears when mob sustains fatal injuries that otherwise would have killed him because it’s the only time his will supersedes his desire to repress it” theory/headcanon and make myself sad

my predictions for mob’s haircut, if he gets one

mobdonalds (more below the cut)

Can it be considered fanart if it involves the collective effort of 4 almost-uni-students spending 1.5h at a local mcdonalds cutting up nori, arranging fries and artfully using ketchup packets to recreate the faces of mp100 characters?

Further info on our reasoning behind the type of food used for each character:

(All in good fun, we were just goofing around with our food)

Mob is a double cheeseburger while Ritsu is a normal cheeseburger - this is due to Ritsu's feelings of inferiority

Haystack Teru gets some nice fries for his hair for that golden crispy look

Reigen is the plumpest juiciest burger with the nicest bun because. You know.

Shou... I'm so sorry Shou you deserved better (ignore how it looks like a crime scene)

minor MP100 brainrot relapse!

summer = campfire = ghost stories = S&S company outing

I was going over the scene in ep.07 where Reigen is reflecting before telling Mob he has grown, and I finally noticed that Reigen has his clothes torn in his thoughts…exactly like they were torn by the sword when fighting Claw last season. Which was intially weird to me because Reigen’s words here are as negative as possible, despite that moment where he took the hit being one of his best towards Mob.

And then it hit me, Reigen probably doesn’t know he helped Mob. Reigen likely remembers his involvement as a failure.

The audience knows that it was Reigen telling Mob that he could run away that saved Mob, to the point of him becoming 100% grateful and accidently transferring his powers. But the audience knows because the narration told us so, Reigen was never told this.

For Reigen, that whole mess was one where he went to help some kids in danger, tried to put sense into the villains’ minds and it backfired into pissing them off. He failed so badly Mob was terrified and Reigen had to tell him to run away. And then unknowingly began using up Mob’s powers to little success, needing Shou to step in to save them in the very end.

Perhaps Reigen has come to the conclusion Mob gave him powers to protect him due to being slashed in the back. So as far as Reigen ever knew, he turned out to be another liability Mob had to protect, and nearly doomed them by taking Mob’s powers rather than have Mob deal with it all himself.

He was never aware of how much he saved Mob, and now he considers his involvement in that moment a failure where he held Mob back by being there.

She’s in her Dostoyevsky era.