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Theory: Extroverted sensing is “making yourself presentable to the world”. And how this is subtly influencing Marvel Spiderman and Ironman

Spiderman-crouching-drawing-fanart
I drew this two months ago. I like Spiderman.

Today I’m going to talk mega nerdy. It’s about something that a smart dude named Carl pulled out of his ass a long time ago. And I’m going to connect it to Spiderman/Marvel because that’s what I do.

Extroverted sensing

Abbreviated as “Se”, extroverted sensing is one tool that every brain is equipped with. It is manipulating the physical world in order to influence the physical sensing of others.

Thus, this will include manipulating one’s physical appearance. Then, this will mean activities such as basic hygiene (bathing, grooming), selection of clothing and the application of makeup/hair styles/facial hair, etc.

Since this is based on a cognitive function, the amount of energy required to undertake the activity will differ among the types.

(Shout out to all the people going “wtf are you talking about BJW I don’t understand”: I’m going to write a primer on all of this sooner or later. This blog is a democracy (sort of, because at the end of the day my mind=collective unconscious=god decides what gets written); nonetheless, vote by commenting. I am the easiest person on earth to manipulate, trust me, ask my boss at work.)

Who’s the best at it?

Theoretically speaking, Se hero types (ESTP, ESFP. Se in the highest position) will require the least amount of energy, and will be good at it without having to try too hard.

It is their top preferred usage of their mind; though this does not neccesarily guarantee that they will be good at it, there is a high chance of them being good at it due to repeated exposure.

Who’s the worst at it?

On the other hand, theoretically speaking, Se demon types (ENTP, ENFP. Se in the eighth position) require the most amount of mental effort to Se properly, and because of the extra effort there will be a tinge of resentment towards the activity.

Spiderman-fanart-Humberto-ramos-style
I completely copied Humberto Ramos for this one. Ramos san is God in the Spidey community.

How Marvel movies interpreted this dynamic: Ironman VS Deadpool VS Spiderman

Though he is a fictional character and his type debatable, as a case study: an ENTP, Tony Stark aka Ironman outsourced the visual design of his Ironman Suit to an AI (Marvel MCU movie “Ironman”, 2008). The instructions he provided were abstract and mainly derivative of a car that he owns (“red, gold, and make it flashy”. Something along these lines).

If he cared more about how his suit looked, the design of the suit could have had an entire story arc to itself (there is an entire sub-genre of movies about artists trying to get one masterpiece “right”). However with Ironman it was brushed off in a few lines, with much more screen time dedicated to him engineering the internal mechanisms of the suit.

To him the functionality and symbolic meaning of the suit is more meaningful than the visual design, but his marketing finesse as a CEO tells him that it must look good for it to be accepted by the general public; that’s why he at least put in the effort to make it visually pleasing by outsourcing the design work to a capable AI.

Deadpool

For comparison, Deadpool, an ESFP Marvel character, designed and crafted his suit himself (Marvel non-MCU movie “Deadpool”, 2016.)

(Note: after I wrote this article I found that he is likely ENTP, not ESFP. But whatever. )

I don’t remember what he did in the comics though (Nicieza or Kelly run). Tell me in the comments if you know.

ESFP Spiderman

As a control, we can look at an ESFP Marvel character that arguably does not design their own suit: Tom Holland Spiderman (Marvel MCU movie, 2017).

He was given a suit from his mentor Tony Stark (the same Ironman as above).

However in this case I will argue that he actually did design the suit: before he was given the suit from Ironman, he came up with the original color scheme of red and blue, which he expressed using articles of clothing that he already owned. The color combination of red and blue is not conventional or orthodox (i.e. He didn’t just throw on some random clothes lying around. It wasn’t a coincidence); thus we can infer that it was Spiderman’s free will/creativity that came up with this color combination, thus we can call it a “design” in this context. (I would also add that Ironman’s red and gold coloring is derivative of a car that he owns).

Tony saw YouTube videos of Spiderman in this “shitty suit”, was influenced by the color scheme, then adapted the idea into something more techy (which he most likely asked his AI to design). Therefore the original design of the suit actually did come from EFSP Spiderman.

Note on other Spidermans (Spidermen?)

The 60’s Spiderman cartoon shows Peter Parker designing and sewing his suit, but we cannot tell his personality type in that series. From my childhood recollections he came off as extroverted and somewhat cocky but again this may be wrong.

I don’t remember what he did in the comics. Correct me if I’m wrong but in the original Stan Lee run, iirc he was inspired by a Mexican wrestling mask? But I don’t remember where the color scheme came from.

Andrew Garfield Spiderman in the trilogy starting in 2012 was an homage to the Stan Lee run, so the Mexican wrestling mask inspiration stayed the same. Again I don’t remember where the color scheme came from.

I haven’t watched the Toby Maguire series. He’s cute tho.

But there’s a twist

Though theoretically speaking the Se demon types (ENTP, ENFP) would be the worst at visual manipulation, I would propose that in actuality, the Se Trickster (7th position, INTP and INFP) are the worst.

This is because with the Se demon types, while their capability is low, there is emotional attachment to the function: resentment. This unpleasant emotion makes them aware of Se. They hate it, and they know that they’re bad at it, so they’re going to try to compensate for it.

Whereas with the Se Trickster types (INTP, INFP), there is no emotional attachment, AND they are bad at it. So that will give you somebody who dresses horribly, and does not even know that they are bad at it, and doesn’t give a damn.

That’s why you will see forum posts by young INTPs complaining about showering and grooming. It is because to them, they are being nagged for something that they have no emotional attachment to, have no awareness that they are bad at, and takes a lot of mental energy to perform.

If my personal experience as an (assumed) INTP means anything,

I loathe showering and bathing. I sincerely wish for someone to come up with a machine that will automate this procedure. It’s kind of nice sometimes, I guess, but 90% a waste of time to me.

But at same time, I’m aware enough to know that me smelling/looking bad is extremely unpleasant to some people, enough so to negatively influence their judgement, so to prevent this, I’m going to shower and groom and put on makeup and everything.

This is the price you pay for having a physical body, and a pretty okay one at that if you ask me.//

Do you hate bathing? Or love it? (If you love it, please give me a magical tip to make it better. I’m desperate.)

Any thoughts on Deadpool/Ironman/Spider-Man’s type?

Is it possible to type a fictional character?

Possible future articles (if there’s one that gets you hyped let me know)

  • How to have brain sex with a fictional character
  • What BJW watched on YouTube this year, from the best to the worst
  • My weird sexual attraction to ISTP males (Eminem, Levi from AOT)
  • Domine: A NSFW erotic gay Latin story for beginning learners

26 thoughts on “Theory: Extroverted sensing is “making yourself presentable to the world”. And how this is subtly influencing Marvel Spiderman and Ironman”

  1. I basically squealed in Japanese at “no this isn’t a hug I’m opening the door” LOL
    For real though, there are crayon/soaps for kids to scribble on the tiles with.

    Like

  2. Your art is so awesome 😀
    In my headcanon Spidey totally sketched the designs for his suit and Tony found them and used them to make the suit he gave him. (Spiderman is probably my favourite ever!)
    I find shower/bath time is good for thinking about characters and plot, and it’s where I get my best ideas. The only bad thing is trying to remember said ideas afterwards!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oooh MCU spiderman fam! Thank u!
      Plz dont tell anyone that I creepily invested 70 USD on red and blue copic markers just for the purpose of drawing spidey LOL

      OMG your head cannon Tony is adorable, and so ENTP when you think about it😍😍😍(bad at expressing affection so he does it more discreetly)

      Lol Bring a permanent marker into the bath with you. Bam, solved🤣

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Your secret’s safe with me lol (and in my opinion it was a worthwhile investment :D)

        Thanks 😀 I always saw Tony as an awkward adorable guy!

        I’d forever be answering questions about all the notes scribbled on the tiles 🤣 Maybe non permanent markers would work, hmm…

        Liked by 1 person

  3. I love bathing! I always include some music while I bathe (either in shower or bath! Invest in a cheap-o waterproof Bluetooth speaker). If I’ve got the time I’ll bath and enjoy some bath salts and candles with a good book.

    I’d LOVE to see the list of YouTube videos you watched this year from bad to good. I’ve been known to go down the YouTube rabbit hole and I’d like to see other people’s rabbit holes.

    I’m going to take this MB test and see what I’m classified as right now. Loved the article (even though I had NO idea what each category meant).

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Prarie Chick, unfortunately I can’t listen to music when I’m bathing under my current living conditions (it’s complicated 😅)

      Ok, cool, one vote for the YouTube roundup!

      A note on the test though, they’re usually not very accurate (it’s not really the test’s fault, it’s just that it’s really hard to test something complicated like someone’s personality in an online test).
      If you can come back to me with what type you got, I can provide additional info to double check that you have the right one👍

      Like

  4. I often find grooming and appearance related chores to be onerous, but knowing they serve a specific, logical purpose offsets that, as long as I find the purpose to be a worthy one or something that suits my personal tastes.

    For example: I don’t want to smell body odor from other people, I don’t want to smell it from myself, and I don’t like the feel of oily, sweaty or dirty skin so showering has never really been an issue though I try to keep them as short as possible – this is therefore a logical, worthy purpose that also suits my personal tastes.

    On the other hand, I had to start taking baths after spraining my ankle, in order to soak in epsom salt, and I found that it had a side benefit for my mental health – an excuse to do nothing but relax, and be alone. This is a very personal benefit, as I wouldn’t pick a bath as my way to be alone and relax if not for living in a household with 5 other people and no real space to call my own.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You think exactly like me😂 except we have different standards/personal tastes/living conditions is the differentiating factor here I think.
      Bathing is something I do for a logical purpose…but in the winter it falls apart because say, if I weren’t seeing anyone the next day, and if I had stayed home the entire day and didn’t smell, what’s the point of bathing?
      I think this is where personal standards plays in: while having greasy skin is unpleasant, getting up from my book/game and bathing is even more unpleasant to me, so I’m not going to. (This sounds so horrible in writing I’m literally laughing at myself)

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Oh no if it’s valid I’m screwed for life.
          Maybe date/marry a sexually attractive ENTJ kind of person that likes intercourse in the bath then? Honestly, that doesn’t sound too bad 😂

          Liked by 1 person

              1. Yes, as long as you’re both healthy and secure enough to have separate activities and time apart, the E/I divide won’t matter – but an I that’s forced into lots of activities will resent the E, or the E might resent the I for not joining them all the time. Not a recipe for happiness in a relationship!

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              2. Oh yes, and you have to be secure enough that you won’t feel threatened by them spending time away from you socializing with people you may or may not know!

                Liked by 1 person

                1. Okay I will take your advice.
                  But man, extroverts really really do not make sense to me. How in the world can you gain energy by being around other people? I don’t think I’ll ever figure this one out 😑

                  Liked by 1 person

                  1. That means you haven’t met the right people! I think for introverts it’s just REALLY rare for us to meet people that we have that kind of synergy with. (And even then, we’ll still need time alone to recharge from all the other sources of stress in our life.)

                    Liked by 1 person

                    1. When I’m around a female INTJ I like, I’m super giggly and happy all the time. I can randomly talk about anything on my mind and she would be 100% okay (and she asks super logical questions that are sooo fun to answer😂)
                      So I can see how some people would be energizing but from what I’ve heard, extroverts can get energy from anybody. That is bewildering to me.

                      Liked by 1 person

  6. You got me curious, so I took the MB test. I took it a long time ago and was classified as introverted but interestingly, I am now ENFJ-A. It could be due to becoming more of an “adult” in sobriety.

    I don’t HATE bathing but I do find it inconvenient. I usually just take a quick shower to wash my hair and “crevasses” lol. Sometimes, though, after a long day I do enjoy just lying in a hot bath. Not when I have things to do.

    This is a very interesting article! You’re a talented writer and very smart. I wasn’t ever a big Spiderman fan, I read mostly X-Men comics or some of the more indie ones. But I didn’t read as many comics as my friends did either. Maybe 3 or 4 a year!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Does this video ring true to you?
      He’s known for his accurate type descriptions.

      >”crevasses” LMFAO XD

      Thank you!
      I never read anything X-men before but I’m really curious about Wolverine. He’s hot. (Wait, he is an X-men right?)

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Haha yes he’s the most famous of the X-Men. One of my friends is obsessed with him and has a tattoo of him on his back

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Didn’t mean to click send yet. lol. I’ll watch that video in a bit and let you know, I’m at work but will have a break soon.

          Liked by 1 person

            1. Most of this does seem like me, there were a couple things that aren’t… such as being more willing to fight someone. But pretty much everything else was!

              Liked by 1 person

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