i will say that i’ve heard somewhere that jane could be talking about ectobiology here. and she could be. but i think her comments on jake’s body give it a sexual meaning, and also, if the roles were reversed and it was a guy saying, “your only value is being hot and i’m going to force you to have children with me,” it would not be ambiguous.
(also the prime time of jake’s life was after the brobot was in it which reveals that he never really found the robot more of an annoyance and inconvenience at times and certainly not as a sexual threat. because jake is scared right now, and i posit that if the robot really had been that kind of threat, jake would not be wishing to return to a time where it was in his life but i digress.)
“no, why does everyone want to kiss me? aranea, stop!”
context: this is after the conversation with crockertier jane. aranea has said before that she knows jake is attracted to her. she is about to “heal” jake and turn his hope powers up to maximum radiance and was going to do it by kissing him. jake Does Not Want to be kissed.
this is brain ghost dirk, during jake and crockertier jane’s conversation.
“look at our god tier pajamas. i look really stupid and it’s weird that my leg hair is gone! but i think your pajamas are decent.”
(and then like twenty minutes later brain ghost dirk, who canonically represents jake’s subconscious desires and understanding, calls himself jake’s boyfriend.)
like you don’t have to care or believe me. i’m sure i skipped some things but these conversations which all happen really close together have always really stuck out to me. but i’m just saying, please listen to what jake is actually saying and thinking. he’s not scared of dirk.
Yeah I keep hearing people say “It’s common to want to be protected by someone you’re scared of it’s a common facet of abuse” which is great and all except Jake…literally never once makes a comment even remotely implying he’s scared of Dirk, or really the Brobot for that matter.
Also worth noting Jake wants to go back to when he was dealing with “being tackled by a feisty robot”, not, say, back to when he was with his Grandma. The way Jake reacts to Jane and Aranea and describes Brobot also casts a lot of doubt on the idea that the Brobot’s “tender” behavior was anything other than some pretty chaste romantic overtures.
Also: People have argued this is Jane line is about ectobiology? Sorry to burst bubbles, but it’s not. She references the trickster mode “zillion babies” thing, which explicitly describes sexual relations. This is Jake being threated with sexual assault. It’s not particularly ambiguous.
I’m glad you wrote this out cause I’ve been meaning to write a post about how Jake literally never implies being scared of Dirk even a little. Thanks
Flying through Storytelling 