it wasn't fucking doomed yaoi it was
heres how they met
heres the divorce
heres the childhood trauma

“Doomed yaoi”
Looks inside
Actually religious trauma and the affects of growing up in a cult

I think I’m starting to regret hopping onto that weird elevator

DUDE I THOUGHT HIS FAMILY WAS HOMOPHOBIC BUT INSTEAD ITS A CULT💔

I was surprisingly not expecting Mark to be a part of a cult. It does make sense though, with the secret room and getting killed because you aren't one of them. But y'know, I still wasn't expecting the level of religious trauma Mark has.

i love how mark is led back to the ‘family’ at his most vulnerable point (he’s alone again, even if it’s the addiction that changed wallter. but he’s alone. he’s the one who appears “stuck in the past,” while wallter is “moving on.” he believes that, and he is being treated as if, he took a risk and has finally failed. so he returns to what’s familiar, even if he knows it hurt him before. he forgets why he left because when you’re hurt, you’ll bend the truth to try and find comfort, relief, understanding).

and i love how jim views the family in a positive light (he fits in more naturally, he ingrained their teachings with less resistance) and earnestly tries to guide mark back to it because he believes it’d benefit him and he disagrees with his choices. he wants to see his ‘misguided’ friend have something that he thinks is morally compulsory for a good life.

and when mark does return, the family initially meets him with comfort, before delivering the same shame for non-conformity that they enforced in the past. but this time, it’s after he’s been wounded. the lifetime of progress he made in finding internally-derived self-worth are suddenly jeopardized. all under the guise of love.

it’s a really simple and really niche (roblox lol) story but i love the concepts anyways lmao

Guys…this isn’t just an elevator game anymore

I loved the part where mark said “it’s marking time” then marked everywhere

13:40 I just realised that ultimately Mark listens to Jimmy and goes back to visit the chapel because he was so desperate for a feeling of connection again, but as soon as he's back he gets set up by Glevil into becoming the bearer of the eye. Since the members of the family aren't supposed to interact with the bearer, I don't think even Jimmy will be willing to talk to him now (especially after hearing how he talked about Samson and the family, it seems he still believes them fully and wouldn't make an exception for his brother) -- So effectively, Mark is even more isolated than before. Oh lord ....

Things confirmed in this episode of STICKS & STONES I found interesting

- Wallter used to be made of bricks and cement rather than concrete, and didn't wear his blue scarf back then (I know this was already pretty known information, but I'll still note it)
- Apparently, even before developing an addiction to Gray Stuff (aka Wallter's equivalent of alcoholism), Wallter did not like drinking other fluids
- Mark has a lamp that looks like Lampert, maybe Mark created Lampert out of it (now it could just be a coincidence, but it used to be canon Lampert was Mark's child, so I think NOT)
- Mark seemingly wants to forget Wallter even though he still has feelings for him
- Mark has religious trauma with a cult serving The Great One (aka the tree Folly came from)
- There is a necklace that the cult has that represents "sins" that a member has done, if they are wearing the necklace they are considered a sinner
- Glevil is a priest at the cult, and also Mark's cousin (so...we're overlooking the fact that Mark and Glevil are now canonically related...?)
- Based on his conversation with Mark, Jimmy might actually still be in the cult or at the very least doesn't know the full extent of the harm it really does
- Differentiating thoughts from the cult's beliefs are highly discouraged from it, so much so it's teachers may FORCE HARM on those with conflicting beliefs (with Mark giving a lot of himself, literally)
- Worse, self-harm is literally ENCOURAGED by the cult's teachers, as they want the students to learn how to give parts of themselves to The Great One
- From losing a great friend (possibly lover) to going through serious trauma with a religious cult, Mark is right about himself - he's gone through hell and back.

Knowing this is titled with a "1", it's clear we will get more of these sooner or later.  Maybe the next episode will be more Wallter focused, since this one was where Mannequin Mark got the starring.

Edit: guys that's enough arguing about what is canon and/or important or not why does this always happen to me-

THIS WASN'T DOOMED YAOI AT ALL, THIS WAS WORSE THAN THAT

Dude we know that Mark has worn that eye more times than he can count

If L&K was nuclear this is going to be an atomic fallout dude

HE HAS RELIGIOUS TRAUMA?? NOO POOR BABY

11:36 just a reminder if they weren’t mannequins they’d be skinning each other’s skins.

"doomed yaoi" bro this is such an accurate depiction of religious trauma and yall wanna just water it down 😭

“I can’t wait for my yaoi!” I exclaimed with excitement.
Little did I know…..
Edit: Please read my comment that’s under this one, also I wrote this comment as a joke so please don’t get heated in the comments :,)

This ain’t doomed Yaoi, this is religious trauma wtf

I animated the second half of the chapel! Hope everyone enjoyed the episode! :face-orange-biting-nails:

As someone who’s a long time fan of mark it was so funny seeing people who only care about “haha doomed yaoi” get traumatized by the deeper parts of his lore. Anyways I KNEW HE HAD CULT TRAUMA!!! AND EVERYONE WAS MAKING ME FEEL LIKE I WAS LOSING MY MINDDDD