#'this is all most likely just a plothole' well where you see a plothole i see a GOLDMINE OF TRAUMA AND CHARACTER DYNAMIC EXPLORATION. anywa

[goldiipond]

i adore thinking about the fucked up tpn stuff that was either not considered during the writing process or deliberately left unexplored.

tpn really said 'each house has about 6 shipments and receives about 6 new children to replace them each year. the minimum age a child can be shipped out is 6. tpn begins with conny's shipment in october, after which dominic is the only remaining 6 year-old at the house' without even considering the implications of that. how about 'we know literally nothing about anyone from the age group between anna+nat's and thoma+lanni's groups because theyre all gone by the time the story starts' also literally no one ever brings them up. or my personal favorite of 'isabella painstakingly hand-made little bunny for conny's 6th birthday. conny turned 6 in september, about a month before she was shipped out' like do you think isabella was at least a little pissed about that. i like to think she was

[rayroseu]

Azul was freaking SCARY during this part Ngl lmAO imagine blasting this guy with your most powerful spell and he starts laughing like a maniac with hollow eyes and SHOTS you unexpectedly with an even more POWERFUL spell😂😂😂

I would love more insane Azul ✨✨✨✨ being businessman prim doesnt suit him as much as this lol

Also I FELT this part lol its really nice seeing Rollo get beaten up after his nonsense 💥💥👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Go get him board game club‼️‼️

I love the buildup towards this part. Malleus was written as if he was intimated by Rollo during the fight, but then his mask of being "weak" falls off and its actually revealed that he is not intimidated by Rollo at all, in fact the way this scene's vibes gives off??? He was looking down at him, with his 'plans' and his stupid delusion about antagonizing him.

I love when TWST reminds us that Malleus is a king. ✨✨

He hides off this personality that he truly believes he's too superior than anything, that he's undefeatable.

Not gonna lie y'all, I think Malleus won't be defeated by the flowers, he emphasized this from the start, that he's fighting Rollo because the flowers will be problematic for Briar Valley, but not him yk.

Plus, this is Meleanor's kid😂 Mother didn't birth a weak dragon‼️

I think this part also mirrors in Book 7 where the Silver Owls was convinced they caught Meleanor but she just laughed at them and declared that they'll decimate every human in her sight for being insulting as to think they can ravage her land and defeat her lol.

Also the fact that Henry basically narrates her as if she's the villain of humanity by calling her a witch... It parallels to Rollo seeing Malleus (even though he didn't do anything) as the root of all evil yk.

Also possible theory for the Kind Bellringer and the Just Judge??? We all know that their story is written more peaceful here than the Disney movie.

But one thing that's strange is that No one knows what the Bellringer was fighting for even if he's considered a hero of Fleur City-- at the same time, we don't know how Rollo even got the flowers (aside from studying ancient flora)--- Basically, Fleur City lore has many plotholes and no one knows what it is and why is that-- Its like Briar Valley history...

We know the crimson flowers are a reference to the scene where Quasimodo released lava around the Notre Dame to prevent Frollo from entering....

What if in Fleur City as well,,,, Quasimodo (as the Kind Bellringer here) rebelled as well against the Just Judge (Frollo) as well?? But the Just Judge is instead credited as "the saviour of Fleur City" because the evidence of the Bellringer acrually being the saviour is burned up or smth, thats why Fleur City's history has many gaps in them...

Also the Just Judge being the actual villain in the history but remembered as a hero now because of misinformation.... It matches Rollo's punishment that he'll forever be complimented by the actions he didn't do, and its up to his guilt whether he can stand living as a fraud who actually harmed the same people thats highly regarding him rn.

LMFAO GRIM????? DONT BULLY GRANPA TREIN??? YOU SILLY 😭😭😭😭 I wanna hug Grim he's so cute in this event.... My unruly son 💖💓💖💓🥹

The gargoyles are so cool🥹🥹🥹💖💓💖 How does Malleus differentiate them... 💥

Also this makes me wonder.... Why Briar Valley doesn't have talking gargoyles??? Isn't Briar Valley a magical nation??? Talking non living things should be a norm for them lol

but Malleus feels like its his first time ever with a talking gargoyle lol

ISNWIHBDHIWHID HE REFERRED TO HIMSELF AS "MAL" .... CAN YOU BE MORE CUTER THAN YOU ALREADY ARE 😭😭✨✨🫶🏻✨🫶🏻💓💖💖💖💖

he really loves nicknames rather than "titles" because people who gives him nicknames isnt shackled by the expected decorum of meeting him-- therefore these people are not acting and they are sincere with talking with him, it helps with the connection and feeling like he belongs 🥹🥹💞💞💞

I COULDN'T RESIST COMPLIMENTING GRIM AAGHHH MY CUTE AND ADORABLE AND HANDSOME SON YOU ARE MOST PRECIOUS THE ADORABLE HERO OF FLOWER CITY 💓💞💖💓💞💖

I love how Grim ran the moment he heard that someone is doing a celebratory toss lol The goofy running sfx lol 😂😂

I love how teasing Silver and Sebek was here lol Threatening to toss Idia in the air omg.. He's traumatized already from walking the stairs lol The way Sebek and Silver can be unexpectedly playful... it feels so... "Lilia taught this to them didnt he..." 😂😂😂

WAAAAHHH YUU CENTER ATTENTION YAY YAY 💖💓💞💖💞💖💓 i love how he used his sultry smile here though lol .... He knows we waiting for his undivided attention yiiiee✨✨✨💞💞💞

Also i hate this translation part.... In the twst JP Malleus dialogue shows the specific lyrics of "Make a Wish" hes singing rn but in TWST EN IT DOWNGRADED TO JUST " *SINGING* "l

also on the twistune, twst JP shows the lyrics but on twst en, theres none.... I don't get why they arent translating it... This game is for people who dont understand Japanese?? So its natural youre going to translate everything for us non japanese to yk... Atleast understand without googling for translations???

YEAAA PHOTOGRAPHER YUU HERE THEY SHINE 📸📸📸📸📸😎😎😎😎 be proud your mages still have magic crowley lmfao 💥💥💥

Also i hit the image limit now... But i love the Cinderella reference from Trein's dialogue ✨✨✨ that Yuu taking pictures of the ball can make the other uninvited students more jealous lol

Its a reference to how Lady Tremaine plotted against Cinderella just for her to never attend the ball... ✨

I like this event ngl, but I feel like Rollo's story was kind of rushed ngll jdnfiind we never found out why he's so angry at Malleus, how did he even come to the conclusion that killing Malleus is killing magic, bruh...🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ Malleus is not even the top 1 strongest mage??? 😂😂

Also i feel like this event was made for Idia instead, it felt like Idia was the main character imo...

I just feel like the event couldve given their dynamic more light because its so intriguing that they went to similar trauma but have different outcomes...

In a way Rollo is what Idia wouldve become if he continued tormenting himself for Ortho's death alone...

He said to Rollo that "is removing magic what your brother wouldve wish?" I think thats very telling that even if its tragic that Robot Ortho's creation was fuelled by Idia's grief and defiance that Ortho is forever gone, it was suitable for Idia's pain to remind himself that Ortho wouldve wished he goes on... as is very telling of Book 6's ending about Ortho's refusal on Idia's suicide by going with him on the Underworld...

also because I think Rollo would need some person like Idia whos blunt for regular reality checks just so he wouldn't blinded by his delusion again and ransack the world 😭😭

[indigoraven]

Back from the cinema. Thoughts (Spoilers!!) under the cut, do not expect any particular order to these things

First of, I liked it. More than the second one I think.

Everything with venom and Eddie was fun, they had a lot of goofy moments together that I liked. The dance sequence was so stupid but I loved it. (I will not think about how venoms decision there made 0 sense in the way it was presented)

The lab scenes fell very flat for me. I wanted to care but didn't. Maybe because we already had a lot of disappointing lab scenes in the first films and these ones didn't really add anything. I just don't think these movies make the scientific part of the sybiotes very fun to watch which is why I don't understand why they insist on using them. The lab design was kinda fun with the lights? But still felt very boring in general.

The monster design was great, actually a huge fan of the wood chipper thing and how visceral it feels. They actually commited and had someone lose their legs as well which I feel like we don't see a lot of? Its usually just down right death.

And the "road trip part" was cool too. I actually like the family quite a bit but I probably would have written them in a slightly different way, especially at the end. And the entire thing where venom takes different forms was really nice, I wish we could have seen more of that.

I didn't honestly expect any explicit romance and I like the sort of implied thing they have going on. I am still pissed about it though. Solely because the marketing was so heavily focused on symbrock. Which then makes me feel like it was all queerbaiting. I would not think so otherwise because at that point it would have just been queer coding. But the entire thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth standing as it is.

I also liked the two scientists having a sort of romance going on, all that hand holding was very cute on top of the way they interacted. I just wish I would have cared about them even more. But the movie didn't exactly give a lot besides a few small pieces here and there. Maybe they will come up in future projects though. Otherwise the end would be kinda pointless.

The ending is basically the best I could have hoped for given the plot. It just didn't give me the gut punch I was hoping for. I don't know what I would have changed to make it feel more earned right now but maybe I will come up with something at some point. Maybe part of it is that we now know that, canonically, venom was on earth for only a year. That feels like too little time for such a huge comic character. And I'm sorry but the slide show at the end made it feel even cheaper. That's something you can do after 8 seasons of a show. Not after three movies without actually comminting to anything concrete in their relationship AND telling us like 30minutes before that it has "only" been a year.

There are also some plotholes that annoy me (or things that weren'r explained). especially because most of them wouldn't have needed to exist if they went about it a bit differently but the way they did things, stuff just doesn't make sense.

I guess I'll just go back to the comics now

[grouchythefish]

ever since i saw the borderlands movie (yesterday) I keep writing a better Borderlands movie in my head.

Like, I wanna be clear, I'm not against making large, drastic, changes to a story in order to adapt it into a movie, but these changes were made will all of the precision and tact of a hammer thrown at a windshield.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE BORDERLANDS MOVIE

The most egregious and easily fixed change, in my opinion, was the change in narrator. Why have it be Lilith?? The entire movie could have drastically improved if it was Marcus, like it is in the games.

No, for real, listen (this is a post for all 5 other people who have seen this movie and also played the games) Imagine if, instead of Lilith, you get an intro to the universe from Marcus at the beginning. Instead of talking about aliens and a "chosen one", he covers Lilith's new backstory and explains wtf she's doing as a bounty hunter on what I think was Promethea.

"So you wanna hear a story eh? One with heartbreak, betrayal, and lots of explosions? Well this one starts with a little girl. Long ago, on a backwater planet called Pandora...."

remove ALL the other narration, it was pointless. Have actual scenes where these things happen. There was no need for narration of her saying she talked to children, over a silent video clip of her talking to children, just fucking have dialogue between her and the children. What the FUCK was that?

(actually side rant: this could have been an opportunity to show how Lilith acts around children and what her reactions to them are, so we can see some kind of logic to her relationship with Tina, instead of going from pulling a gun on her to becoming her protector in a literally less than 2 minute span)

You don't hear from Marcus again until the bus scene. Now (for people who haven't played the games) you're like "wait, isn't this the voice from the start of the movie?". Take the awkward and stilted circular dialogue between him and Lilith arguing about turning off the tv screens and instead we FOCUS on the tv screens, where Marcus gives a BRIEF overview of Pandora, the vault, and sirens.

(this could also put a bandaid over the plothole which is the entire cast calling Tina the "Daughter of Eridia" only for Tannis to call Lilith a "Siren" when she reveals her powers, despite that word not being used at any other point in the movie)

"...legends say in order to open the vault, you will need help from a powerful being. Some call this the Daughter of Eridia but I call them Sirens..."

Fast forward to the end of the movie and it's revealed that the entire movie is Marcus telling this story to a group of new vault hunters, who look suspiciously like Maya, Axton, Salvador, and Zer0. It's revealed that the entire story was a sales pitch to get them to buy guns. They don't look like they're buying it. How much was true? How much was Marcus' embellishments?

"believe me or not, if you want to survive this planet, you need proper protection, vault hunters. So what's it going to be? No refunds."

This wouldn't have fixed the movie by any means but I do think it would have been a drastic improvement on the pacing and structure. Plus I think it's funny to end a mediocre movie with a character saying "no refunds".

Also in this version of the movie Jack Black plays Marcus instead of Claptrap.

[melonteee]

Oda is really good at foreshadowing because, while him having always had a clear complete backstory for each character from the get go isn't so sure, he clearly has character sheets for each of them that highlight the themes to be explored through them and what logically leads them to become who they are today (finding family in strangers for robin : why not bio fam? -> neglect. why realization at enies lobby and not jaya? -> betrayal in the past, needed proof of truthfulness. why this found fam and not another one? -> criminal lifestyle and previous experience of constant exploitation)

Then when he sets up a scene between characters, he takes all of those sheets into account and specifically choses what would make sense to be "revealed"/said between those characters (and in turn to the audience) at this specific point in time in the plot and in the overall story

Ex: Robin and Law's talk about the Will of D. It makes complete sense for both of them to have this talk in the story between each other specifically. Why didn't Robin ask any other D before Law ? The D clan aren't that plentiful when you think about it to the point Robin met 3 of them in her entire life. She didn't know how important it was back then so she never asked Saul. She probably asked Luffy but Luff-man doesn't care about those matters to the point he only found out he even had a dad at 17yo ("sorry Robin"). In short, Law is perfect for the job. And while his information fits at that point in the plot for Robin to uncover, we as an audience aren't ready for it yet.

Alternatively, when those character themes sometimes coincide between different characters, he simply ties them together to avoid redundancy

Bonney is a funny case to me because she was created in a week like most of the non-Strawhat supernovas but Oda made sure that her and these new characters wouldn't interfere or create plotholes with what he's already had in mind while leaving enough leeway to tie them more into the plot if needed. Bonney has the biggest leeway of any supernova because of her devil fruit powers. The fact it changes her age and we were only ever given an estimation means you could technically have her be born at nearly any point in time as well as be the daughter, mother or grandmother to anyone you wish.

Yet she fits so well as Kuma's daughter for a very simple reason: It makes the scene of Kuma sending Perona to Mihawk's island gain a layer of sense that was kinda missing and easily glossed over on a first read. Other than giving a demonstration of what Kuma's abilities could do pre-Sabaody and emphasize how much bigger of a threat he was compared to Moria even if they shared the same title, we never really got WHY Perona was spared like the strawhats were at Sabaody. There wasn't some grand vision to it, no tie to something he was part of like the Revolutionaries, ... So why ? Especially at that point in time where he was slowly but surely losing himself and any tie left to his humanity

But then Bonney comes in and their backstory is revealed. And that's when you begin to notice. You notice that Perona is a pink haired adult woman with a rather childish personality. Notice that her devil fruit can easily be underestimated and holds a lot of potential. Notice that Kuma mechanically asked her a really strange question which lacked an important key setup for it. Notice that the spot on Mihawk's island where he sent her to was safe from danger. And you realize

Perona might have reminded Kuma of someone very very close to him to the point his mind couldn't even fathom harming a look alike.

And chronologically at the time of this encounter, he's only seen Bonney as an adult once back at the Sorbet Kingdom where he ended up fainting at the sight alone

In a strange turn of events, things just fit and we're all happy for it

I have nothing to say you're just spot on about everything here. I am so desperate to see Oda's notes on when he makes arcs and characters for how he puts everything together. I can only hope he's kept all of them so, when One Piece ends, he can release a book with all his concept sketches and character/story plots to see exactly how he does it. I need to see how the gears turn u know

[conceptmobius]

Staff Recruitment

Greetings! This is a post regarding staff recruitment for Concept: “Mobius”, as you probably surmised. Vertekins and I always looking to add to the ranks and make the site as detailed, informative, and cool as it can be. If you’re interested in joining, great! Let’s find you a spot! Incidentally, you may be able to fill multiple roles, but first things first. You need to run before you can Spin Attack, after all.

Concept: “Mobius” is a Sonic the Hedgehog site dedicated to information about the games within the franchise and the worlds, characters, and events within. While there are multiple wikis and whatnot that serve this purpose, we’re trying to do things differently. We want to enrich the world of the Blue Blur and hopefully make it more cohesive, less muddled, and more fun. Obviously, this is too big a job for a few people, hence the slow trickle of updates over the years.

So, we need a team to tackle this endeavor, and we have many branches for all skill sets. You'll also be asked to help out here, as well, but more on that at another time.

Writers

Arguably one of the most important roles. Writers will be contributing the bulk of the site’s content, from articles and reviews to think pieces and news blurbs. You’ll be expected to be able to spell, know your grammar, and write coherently. If the most writing you’ve done is on Twitter, you may find yourself at a loss here, especially since you’ll probably have to be your own editor, unless you ask your teammates for help (which you can, to be clear).

Artists

Another absolutely crucial role. You’ll be responsible for how the site looks: graphics, character art, zone landscapes, etc. It’ll be a big task, but you’ll always be credited for your work, with links going to whatever platform you choose.

Programmers/Modders

Your job will be to modify the games. Why? Two reasons.

We’ll be using various games for clips and showcases, and we need them to be accurate as possible. Many of them are either missing content, have various inaccuracies between one another, or just don’t look/sound/play right for our purposes. We can’t very well show Sonic’s world if it’s lackluster, can we?

We want to show what even the worst of the franchise could look/sound/play like if given the TLC they deserve.

I know this doesn’t sound necessary or worthwhile, but I assure you, it will make sense in the future.

Theorists

You’ll be helping with various theories and doing your best to plug up various plotholes in the Sonic universe. Unlike certain other game theorists, however, you’ll be expected to show restraint when speculating and not go off on tangents or grasping at whatever straws you see.

Cartographers

Your job is a doozy: making a single, DEFINITIVE map of Sonic’s Earth. You see, there have been many in the games, and they’ve been different every time, depending on the game or the area it's based in. And each one has been inconsistent. Heck, people don't even know where Green Hill Zone definitively is, despite its number of uses.

THIS.

WILL.

NOT.

DO.

If anyone is going to take Sonic lore seriously (and few people do), we need one map that can be used for every game. That way, there is more consistency in the narrative and people have a more defined view of the world.

Modelers

Your role will be to make various character renders to be used for the cast in the Character Database. You’ll be working with the artists to make the most “true to life” representations of Sonic and the others as you can. You might also find yourself recreating certain areas or scenes from the games, demonstrating various abilities, or just letting the cast style on each other.

News Reporters

You’ll be reporting on everything Sonic-related that is newsworthy, whether it be a game announcement or a funny pic from Sega. Just try not to post any memes.

That'll do for now, although, we're welcoming anyone with a notable skill set. If you think you have something to contribute to Concept: "Mobius" that is or isn't listed here, let us know. Just be aware that we can't afford to pay anyone for their work.

Thank you very much in advance!

~Ryan

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

TOURNAMENT MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

The Chimes of Midnight

Synopsis

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring...

But something must be stirring. Something hidden in the shadows. Something which kills the servants of an old Edwardian mansion in the most brutal and macabre manner possible. Exactly on the chiming of the hour, every hour, as the grandfather clock ticks on towards midnight.

Trapped and afraid, the Doctor and Charley are forced to play detective to murders with no motive, where the victims don't stay dead. Time is running out.

And time itself might well be the killer...

Propaganda

"Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without one of Mrs. Baddeley's plum puddings." And Christmastime wouldn't be Christmastime if I don't re-listen to this audio story at least once each year. (@youremyonlyhope )

It just wouldn't be Christmas without it (anonymous)

Unnatural History

Synopsis

""They called it the Millennium Effect"", said the Doctor. ""But the millennium was only beginning.""

San Francisco has changed since the start of 2000. The laws of physics keep having acid flashbacks. There are sightings of creatures from outside our dimensions, stranded aliens and surrealist street performers. The city has become a mecca for those who revel in impossible creatures — and those who want to see them pinned down and put away.

Sam's past is catching up with her — a past she didn't know she had. The Doctor is in danger of becoming the pièce de résistance in a twisted collection of creatures. And beneath the waters of the Bay, something huge is waiting.

With time running out, the Doctor must choose which to sacrifice — a city of wonders, or the life of an old and dear friend.

Propaganda

You too want to read a full novel explanation of why Dr Who canon is Like That (hint: it's little assholes who opt to look like 10 year olds wearing skull masks). Also unicorns in San Francisco. Unsurprisingly does feature Fitz being astoundingly gay for 8. (@eighthdoctor )

The villain of the week wants the Doctor to have a consistent backstory. This is bad because it’s not Doctor Who without plotholes and inconsistencies. Plus, it was published in 1999 (?) and there’s a line about how Gallifrey is always destroyed and un-destroyed. They didn’t even know… (anonymous)

[alpaca-clouds]

Solarpunk-Review: Soylent Green is People! by Carlos Orsi

Preface: I asked a couple of months ago, whether people would be interested to read reviews of different Solarpunk shortstories, given that I have collected quite a few Solarpunk anthologies. And several people said, they were. (Shoutout to @solarpunkpresentspodcast!) Hence I am going to start posting a review once or twice a week now. I will start by reviewing the stories from Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable world, given that this anthology is very much part of the beginning of Solarpunk as a genre. Though this means too, that certain ideas of Solarpunk might not be quite as thought through yet.

Summary

The nameless protagonist is a private detective. When a well-known and rich engineer dies by suicide and his mother disappears, several people want to either see the mother found or the death confirmed. After all, there is a considerable heritage to speak about. A heritage that both the engineer's girlfriend, and the mother's church want to lay claim to.

General Review

As it is so often with detective stories that hinge on a big mystery, it is quite hard to review this story, without going too far into spoiler territory. And given this story relies on the central mystery to keep you going (especially as it is fairly long for a short story), I will not spoil it.

It was kinda funny how this story very much did feel like a noir story, though I might note that I really could have done without the attractiveness of female characters being a topic that somehow had to be brought up against and again throughout this story. And while the female characters were not exactly sexualized, with each of them (even the missing 90yo mother) attractiveness was a thing that was brought out.

The mystery itself worked really good though. I was invested in it and the final twist was a good one, that I quite enjoyed. Now, I could point out one major plothole in there - but it is not one that I can talk about without spoiling the story. So just know: Something about the end of the story leaves open a big plothole that to me was not properly answered.

The Solarpunk Factor

Let me talk about the aspect, that I want to bring up in all of these reviews: How Solarpunk is this story?

And honestly, to me the point where it lost me in this regard is the very beginning, where the story brings up that the missing mother was disabled, and it goes: "Could you believe that? She totally chose to be disabled!!!" Because we quickly learn, that basically in this world nobody really is disabled, given that with cybertech and genetech most disabilities have been healed. And while the story at times feels at least somewhat critical of this societal pressure to get yourself cured - and also have your looks changed through genetech - it was this fact that really did not make this story feel Solarpunk to me.

Honestly, in general I got to say that for several reasons (some of which again are very essential to the reveal, hence I will not spoil them) this story felt as if it was set more in a very eco-friendly biopunk world, rather than anything I would consider actually Solarpunk. Partly, too, because we also quickly learn that this world is definitely one of capitalism still.

[horizon-verizon]

Why are some people just so unwilling to admit that hotd's writing is BAD. Why do they jump through hoops trying to explain and "analyze" anything the writers make the characters do when at this point it should be impossible to ignore that the writers make the characters so whatever the hell they feel like? It's honestly frustrating because there are some people out there with some genuinely good analysis skills and knowledge about the patriarchy and "time period" but when they refuse to acknowledge bad writing at this level you see how hard they work to strrrrreeeettttch. Which would be one thing but they also tend to insist that they're more enlightened than the people pointing out the issues

I think it's bc people, generally, are not familiar, willing to become so, or deeply in tune with misogyny as it happens when it comes to framing an argument that eventually leads to a sexist or slanderous effect. The most recent example is Daemon (I am not saying we're being sexist against Daemon!) at Harrenhal with Alys. Because a lot of people hate Daemon and attribute lots of their biases against Targaryens more against him than Aemond or Aegon AND how they generalize medieval men into the same degree and persona of "sexist medieval man", they aren't very willing to think about how disengenuously Daemon AND Alys might be written. And they think that bc they understand misogyny as well as Daemon's simpleness of being a sexist, they think the writers' direction of him realizing he really isn't the shit is "complex". A modern regression of a sentimental Victorian play posing as a "deep" drama series. It may even manifest as them feeling that bc people think Daemon is less "evil" than they want to believe him to be, less intrinsically bad for Rhaenyra (themselves bc a lot self insert) both personally and politically, that the show is "making it obvious" that he is evil just for them and for the good of the "toxic ship loving" masses. And bc it is very true that some people will misapply discrimination where there is none and it's just criticism of a person with a marginalized identity (Hyuna of KPop and some people claiming it's sexist to hate her they way a lot of the world does right now), so people become even more defensive of keeping what they immediately perceived as simple misogyny finally getting its ass kicked.

Second, bc they underestimate Daenerys and magic (thus not know the diff b/t greenseeing, warging, Valyrian dragon bonds and blood magic, etc. or at least acknowledge they don't know shit) bc near-magicless Game of Thrones lulled them into an ignorant state where it's a lot easier to chalk up to the smoky, borderless force that is "magic". Daemon is dreaming? Alys is doing magic, she's a greenseer...meanwhile, they can't define or explain the limits and abilities of an actual greenseer when asked. And the lazy habit of attributing everything not properly explained or really explored in the show also goes for Helaena and her non-"dragon dreams". You don't know? Which itself comes from people used to coming up with unsubstantiated headcanons and theories to explain the plotholes the writers leave so they can excuse themselves continuing to enjoy the current show.

Third, they overestimate how GRRM creates and sets up that mystery vs this mystery. There are mysteries that are unlikely to ever be "solved", like what exactly is going on in the 4th continent--Ulthos-- of the world and knowledge of all the living creatures of Sothoryos. And then there are mysteries like the wyverns vs dragons and the blood magic of Valyrians that were made that will eventually be revealed bc it will give us specific clues as to explain how Dany is bonded w/her dragons. And people tend to lazily attribute any mystery like these as unworthy of speculation (thus they never find out any possible connections and weight them against each other for likelihood of truth); and all mysteries feel like they are the exact same kind.

Fourth, they are feening for a live representation--any live thing--for any ASoIaF story. So they underestimate the story GRRM is telling about the Dance and hot it relates to Daenerys like all the F&B stories inevitably do.

Fifth, there are "enough" genuinely well written scenes that "makes up" or misleads them into not really thinking about the implications.

Sixth, I think that people like the whole Gothic romance thing show!Rhaenyra and Daemon seem to be on...but the book likely wasn't like that, least not after they married. And they can't conceptualize that with all the incest and Daemon being so willing to have a moral value system that rests entirely on his family's existence and legacy and Rhaenyra being very proud of her standing, so they want to stick to the seemingly counter-Gothic writing. It's more digestable, people don't like gothic/gothic-inspired stories, therefore it's more "believable" that way.

Seventh, as this TikToker states, HotD loves to create character from parallel that is actually replicas rather than character from personal action. The constant contrasting and making characters when (most) of them [Helaena-Rhaena; Aegon-Jace; Rhaenyra-Alicent, but specifically that part of epi 5 where they faced men around them shutting them down] don't make sense as parallels-actually-replicas and already had foils set up in F&B. foils are different from what these writers are doing. These writers are making it such that, for example, Daemon is a negative presence in the Riverlands as well as incompetent; Aemond is also a second son and will seemingly do anything to get it, so that must mean that Daemon must have lingering feelings about the same and has the same desires....No, Daemon raised at least 2 armies for people when he didn't have to or when he easily could have used them himself and he mustered many Riverland houses without any real incidents--only the Tullys and Brackens were issues and they were taken care of. Aemond? He is the one who caused--and DIRECTLY!--many noble and peasant families' deaths when he chose to fire on them all after losing KL in Daemon's trick. Rhaena may have been something like the "odd one out" for not having a dragon, but she was hardly as on the fringes of her own family as show!Helaena was and likely kinda was in the orig story. She was actually very much an "It" girl and inherited her confidence from both Daemon and Rhaenyra, but used it in a different way from Baela. Specifically in a way that is perceived as inaccessible to men. Baela was fiery and a bit tempermental (so was Rhaena but she "reigned it in" better), down to fight, able to climb walls, not afraid of dragonfight, which are all attributed more to masculinity under a Western/Westerosi gender paradigm. Whereas Rhaena's schmoozing with lords and ladies while looking cute, Rhaenys the Conqueror-style, is seen as more "feminine" and undesirable, yet it can't be understated how her doing all this enabled her to keep important connections in the Vale and utilize Arryn/Corbray support for her brother later on so her and her family could continue to have some sort of backup against the rising Peakes. So either people never realized this, OR they saw this and resented how this brought more power in such a "unmasculine" way, a way men are not expected or cannot access or use for themselves, that they pretend/convince themselves it's not important. Which helps them to convince others totally ignorant has no value, and the writers, I fell, do not understand Rhaena's purpose at the Vale OR they have no plans to show how she and Baela work towards their family's survival and freedom away from the Hightowers 2.0. Meanwhile, book!Helaena is essentially a breeding machine for her side of the family who kills herself from her kid getting killed and being forced to essentially participate in destroying her own tiny nucleus of a family.

That bring me to the eighth thing. The bk!greens are pretty simple in terms of characterization. Now, I actually love what they did with Aegon for the most part. Have some gripes with Aemond's and many with Helaena and esp with Alicent and love Otto's. But because people have this idea of parallels the same way they thought of constant subverting in GoT, some believe that bc the greens have had rounder characters, the blacks must also...as if it were automatic without them actually thinking of how the show has actually shown that.

Ninth, people are very used to stories that do a lot of telling and not enough of showing, and underestimate how important and different that looks in high fantasy adult fiction vs virtually everything else.

Tenth, people love a female protagonist who is very simply bad vs good imbued with liberal anti-violent-no-matter-what sentiment (that was meant to protect the 1%ers interests), like Rhaenys-Hilary-Clinton, and they don't link anti-militance to privilege specifically in a modern, neoliberal capitalist world. Instead misapplying such a thing to feudal women. Even as they also like to say that Alicent and Rhaenys are like "ordinary" medieval noble women in terms of their internalized misogyny...which doesn't match their definition of "wise" and is both contradictory & reductive bc:

real medieval noblewomen frequently waged/plotted/initiated war and when they did peace calls it was either bc they didn't think they'd win/get out with the right sort of lives intact OR bc they were, they just aren't very much featured as fighters or political strategizers themselves unless it's in the name of a son, husband, etc., and then this works to make people ignore that these women directly participate at all----so Rhaenys and Alicent can't be nonnegotiably wary of violence while also being a "typical" medieval noblewoman

Alicent & Rhaenys frequently show how much they really care about smallfolk/vulnerable people like women, or keep them in their thoughts when they talk about "peace"....it's all ideological, not substantial, but it's played-framed as if they are being for real; the same tool of leveraging stability of male dominance that Gyldayn uses against BOTH Alicent and Rhaenyra, the show Alicent and Rhaenys but Rhaenys esp, uses against Rhaenyra as to why she should rule or have support while trying for her claim, and it's really just so false!

It's so weird, bc they say the nobles this, this, and that shouldn't be killing each other and in lieu the helpless smallfolk, but they refuse to recognize how both women still rely on violence against those ranked below them for their own ends, whether psychological or physical. And it really comes down to who is licensed to dole out and use violence and when and against who, which always turns out to be the nonconforming "instigator" of this particular ASoIaF story, Rhaenyra. And that esp comes from this bias against Targs and the belief that they somehow bring out the worst in nobles, when its actually that nobles fight for land, power, survival all the time and have since before the Targs. And there is this strange moral-victim heroine complex that people want to see in their female protagonist and mistake in as a meet replacement and worthy copy of Daenerys, the childbride/exiled princess turned self-made Queen and protector of the masses.

As for why they "insist that they're more enlightened than the people pointing out the issues", the first reason I pointed out.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Jubilation

So far, Season 5 has been pretty decent for the most part. Sure, there have already been a handful of plotholes and retcons (to the point where I'm honestly thinking of starting a retcon counter in the future), but at the very worse, the first three episodes were below average at worst. But now we have to see how the Akuma of the day formula will play out now. Can it bring new life to this show, or is that nothing more than a pipe dream?

Let's get into the fourth (chronologically the fourth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Jubilation

The episode starts off with Marinette going for a jog, and shockingly, it isn't in her pajamas, but rather, clothing appropriate for running. She stops to see an advertisement for the Alliance rings, and reminds the audience that she's totally not in love with Adrien anymore because it cost her most of the Miraculous. Marinette is about to continue running, when she sees her principal, Mr. Damocles, dressing up at the superhero, the Owl, while attempting to save a cat from a billboard... even though he learned his lesson all the way back in his spotlight episode, “The Dark Owl”. Before Marinette has the chance to save him from his incompetence, another girl dressed as Ladybug saves Mr. Damocles, though Marinette recognizes her as an old friend. Both “heroes” run off, but Marinette has an idea of who the fake Ladybug is.

Marinette: That fake Ladybug from this morning, I think it was Socqueline, a school friend from last year. Knowing her, I’m sure she means well. But I have to convince her to stop putting herself in danger like that.

So basically, we're repeating the civilian plotline of “The Dark Owl”, but this time, with two different heroes. I'm also confused as to why we've never heard of Socqueline until Season 5, especially if Marinette already knows her. It's not as egregious or forced as Zoe's introduction, but it's weird that Marinette has never brought her up, not even to Tikki or Alya.

Also, why the hell does she look like Marinette? It was at least understandable to reuse Adrien's character model for Felix because they were related, but these two are just friends, and Socqueline doesn’t even have the same name most fans use for the PV Ladybug, Bridgette. What, did you think changing her name would make the reference more subtle? Oh yeah, and even though we already have two Asian characters with the same surname, Socqueline’s last name is also Wang. Because just like the mayor and ice cream man sharing the same first name, this isn’t confusing in the slightest.

Socqueline works at a local arts and crafts store, and before Marinette can ask her for why she's pretending to be Ladybug, she pretends to be buying paint first... even though she could just transform into Ladybug, walk in and say “Hey, I heard you've been impersonating me, so stop it before you get yourself killed, idiot”. But then I guess we wouldn't get an explanation as to what Alliance can do. Like we saw in “Multiplication”, it's basically an Alexa in ring form that totally isn't a front for supervillain activity. Marinette and Socqueline talk about Adrien, and Socqueline assumes the two are a couple after Marinette talks about how close they are, when all Marinette does is recap the whole thing about his mother “disappearing” and that he doesn't want to be a model. Wow, you really know him, don't you?

Eventually, the conversation goes back to Socqueline dressing up as Ladybug.

Marinette: Well, it’s a good thing you’re not trying to be a superhero, because it’s very dangerous to do the same thing they do when you don’t have magical powers and supersuits!

Socqueline: Yeah… Well, what if it’s a relief for Ladybug to have people help her?

Marinette: No way would she want that. It’s too risky!

Socqueline: Yes, but you gotta know when to step in. That’s the only way you can change things in life!

Marinette: I know. You told me that last year, but in this circumstance, it’s Ladybug’s job to take risks, and no one else’s! Because if everyone takes risks, then Ladybug may have to take more risks in order to deal with their risks, which is even riskier!

Mr. Damocles: Sounds like someone’s jealous because she wants to be a superhero.

Marinette: I do not! I’m Marinette! I’m very happy to be a normal girl, with a normal life, AND SO SHOULD EVERYONE ELSE!

Admittedly, this is a decent argument for Marinette and Socqueline to have, but I feel like they're kind of oversimplifying it. Yes, it's obvious that Socqueline and Mr. Damocles can't do much to help Ladybug without any powers, but that doesn't rule out Ladybug getting other allies in the form of local law enforcement or even other heroes with high-tech gadgets like Batman. It's also strange that the whole deal with Marinette last season was that she wasn't willing to trust anyone like Cat Noir, so wouldn't it make sense to call back to that, and consider getting help from people in other ways, like moral support?

While Socqueline tries to console Mr. Damocles, some of the dinosaurs from “Rocketear” break out, so Marinette quickly transforms into Ladybug to catch them again, but while she does so, she accidentally brings Socqueline's Alliance ring with her. Turns out that, shock of all shocks, Gabriel is secretly monitoring the Alliance rings, and the data gathered from the step counter app registers the user as moving around far beyond human capabilities. Gabriel obviously assumes that Socqueline is Ladybug, and transforms into Monarch, where we see how the new Akuma routine will go for the season. Sensing Mr. Damocles' negative emotions from believing he can't be a superhero, Monarch uses Kaalki's Voyage to send his Akuma towards one of his masks. When it reaches Mr. Damocles, Monarch uses his Alliance ring to grant him Daizzi's Gift, turning him into Darker Owl.

Darker Owl is basically just the same as Dark Owl, but with some shinier parts, and instead of the campier Batman he was originally themed after, he has a sightly deeper voice, not unlike Christian Bale's interpretation of the character. Nothing special, but compared to reusing past Akuma designs, at least an effort was made to make him look different.

Darker Owl breaks into the paint shop, believing Monarch's claim that Socqueline is Ladybug. Using one of his gadgets with the Pig Miraculous' gift, he traps Socqueline in her fantasy to be recognized as a hero by the real Ladybug and Cat Noir. Before she was trapped however, she secretly used her Alliance ring to trick Darker Owl into revealing where the Akuma is.

Of course, like a concerning amount of episodes before it, we finally get Adrien's first scene, where he's just playing video games until he learns about the Akuma, transforming into Cat Noir. Both heroes arrive to stop Darker Owl, who has taken Socqueline as a hostage, and while Cat Noir saves Socqueline, Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, an old fashioned alarm clock.

After Cat Noir saves Socqueline, both him and Ladybug are hit by Gift, where their shared fantasy is beating Darker Owl and finding Monarch's business card in Mr. Damocles' jacket. After the two defeat Monarch and get the Miraculous back, they grow closer together, and eventually... get married... even though they're still teenagers.

Okay, that's very concerning, especially since Cat Noir's “suit” is just the Cat Blanc model with green eyes, but it's not like they're going to become parents too, right?

Oh.

Ohhhhhh....

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooo.....

Yep. The writers REALLY didn't think this through. I get that it didn't really happen, but I don't get why they had to make the fantasy of Ladybug and Cat Noir being all about them starting a family when they can't even afford new models to show that they're older so they could avoid these implications.

Putting that aside, the fantasy is decently put together, but it's nothing special compared to something like “Perchance to Dream” from Batman: The Animated Series. I like the recurring surreal imagery with the alarm clocks, and the babies looking like dolls could be seen as a way to show how fake this all is. On the other hand, I don't get whose fantasy this is exactly. Yeah, it's implied that since the same Gift bullet was fired at both Ladybug and Cat Noir, they're sharing an amalgamation of their fantasies (Ladybug defeating Monarch and getting the Miraculous back and Cat Noir starting a family with Ladybug), but it feels like more focus is given to Cat Noir's fantasy even though he didn't even get to do anything before the Akuma showed up. They even have the scene with him hesitating to leave the fantasy when it should have been Ladybug struggling to reject it. In fact, I think the reason this fantasy sequence rings hollow for me is because it doesn't really connect to the idea that Marinette wants a normal life. Wouldn't it make more sense for Marinette's fantasy to be a world where Socqueline or Alya is Ladybug instead of her? You could easily alternate between Marinette's fantasy where she lives a mundane life and alternate it with Cat Noir's fantasy where he embraces the superhero lifestyle. It would have made more sense given that this was a Marinette-centric episode,

Even after the two heroes break out, it's Cat Noir who snaps at Darker Owl, not Ladybug. You could have easily had a scene where Cat Noir is the one who has to restrain Ladybug from getting too aggressive while fighting Darker Owl to show how reliable of a partner he is. Instead, well... remember how last episode, Cat Noir felt a lot of guilt for accidentally Cataclysming Monarch when Monarch let himself take the hit? Yeah, he almost Cataclysms Darker Owl out of anger. Yeah, he’s not thinking straight, and he stops at the last minute, but it makes him look like a real hypocrite. It also doesn’t really reassure the audience that he's now the only ally Ladybug has at the moment. This moment would have made more sense if the roles were reversed, with Cat Noir begging Ladybug to not hurt Darker Owl because Monarch was the one who taunted them with their ideal lives.

Ladybug purifies the Akuma, gives Mr. Damocles a useless Magical Charm, fixes the minor damage Darker Owl caused, Daizzi is sent back to Monarch's lair, and nobody ever acknowledges that Cat Noir almost killed a man.

After Socqueline apologizes to Ladybug, and Ladybug gives a vague statement of wanting Socqueline to find another way to help, she goes back home as Marinette. Sabine offers her an Alliance ring, but Marinette decides against it, mostly because of what happened earlier.

The episode then ends to Ladybug talking with Cat Noir about what happened with Darker Owl, how he got the power of the Pig Miraculous, and what happened in their fantasy.

Cat Noir: Ladybug, that power of Jubilation... it’s supposed to show us our deepest desires, isn’t it?

Ladybug: Yes.

Cat Noir: But that was... that wasn’t real, right?

Ladybug: Tell me about it. The wedding, babies, totally… fake.

Cat Noir: Are you sure?

Ladybug: Monarch… must’ve altered it somehow, to trick us. Yeah, that’s got to be it.

Cat Noir: Of course, otherwise, it would be totally super weird, wouldn’t it?

Ladybug: Right. Totally… super… weird.

Yeah, calling what you two lived through “weird” is an understatement.

Overall, this episode was just mediocre, and other than the climax, there wasn't much for me to talk about.

Socqueline as a character confuses me. Do we really need another member of Marinette's friend group, especially when you could have easily replaced Socqueline with another character? Seriously, someone like Alya, Mylene, Kagami, Zoe, or even Chloe would have worked better, as their personalities and motivations would fit a story like this. She's just an unnecessary addition to an already bloated cast of characters.

I will say I liked how the villain side of things was handled. In a world where the use of technology in our daily lives is more common, the idea of the Alliance rings being a way for Gabriel to monitor the public is pretty clever. I’m still confused as to why he even needs to use a Miraculous to give Akumas more powers when he can already do that with Akumas in the first place, but I like how the conflict seems to be ramping up.

I also don't get the point of this conflict, especially since we already did it three seasons ago. Back in “The Dark Owl”, it was unnecessary because Ladybug and Cat Noir were already doing a good job at fighting Hawkmoth's Akumas, but now, he's stronger than ever, and they need all the help they can get. Yeah, Mr. Damocles and Socqueline were endangering themselves by trying to help others, but at least they're doing something after everyone just gave up preparing for Monarch's new wave of Akumas in “Multiplication”. But then again, at least Ladybug didn't call either of them entitled for actually wanting to help people instead of focusing on their own selfish desires like the “hero” in Kamen Rider Geats.

Even the resolution feels tacked on. In “The Dark Owl”, the ending was similar, with Mr. Damocles choosing to stop trying to be a hero, but instead focusing on doing community service, helping people in his own way. Here? Ladybug tells Socqueline to help someone without endangering herself, and we don't get any follow-up on that, not even with Mr. Damocles. It feels more tacked on than anything else.

It doesn't help that despite the episode hinting at Marinette wanting a normal life, the actual highlight of the episode, the fantasy sequence, doesn't really connect to those wishes, as Marinette stays transformed the whole time. From an out of universe perspective, it's obviously because Cat Noir and Monarch can't find out who Ladybug is, but it's not clear why her fantasy is like that. You could have easily thrown in something like that rule they established last episode of Miraculous magic not being able to interfere with other Miraculous, so Monarch and Darker Owl have to make up their own ideal fantasy for Ladybug and Cat Noir to live in because they can't completely read their minds. Well that, and also, DON'T SHOW TWO TEENAGERS BECOMING PARENTS WITHOUT EVEN AGING, BECAUSE IT GIVES OFF THE VIBE THAT THEY HAD SEX.

This episode wasn't really terrible, more boring than anything else. At least I had something to talk about with the past three episodes, but here? Outside of the fantasy, there's not much else to say.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... MR. DAMOCLES

Even though he already learned his lesson three seasons ago, he still didn't get that a man of his age and physique wasn't fit to be a superhero. At least Socqueline was established to be in good shape for her age. On top of that, he easily gave away his cover (even if it was obvious, the joke before was that everyone else pretended to not know who he is) at the drop of a hat, and when he was supposedly confronted with Ladybug's civilian identity, he didn't think to just rip her earrings off, and spent way too much time talking before he zapped her with a Gift bullet.

[marinerainbow]

I know that the fandom isn't big, but after rewatching the movie, I have something to share with the... 5 people who like this movie XD

Happily N'Ever After Headcannons

Actually, considering how little lore we have for this world, I guess this is more of a 'if I directed the movie' post? Or me just projecting my love for hidden lore onto this movie? XD

Alright, let's get the biggest plothole out of the way; how come some characters seem to know what's going on (Rick, possibly the prince), while others don't (Frieda, Cinderella, etc)? Well, I think that since the Wizard lives above the castle, I'm guessing that the royal family, and those connected to them like the servants, know that their fates are intertwined with Fairytales and scales, and that these stories have played out over and over again. Some know more than others, but still.

The royalty of Cinderella's story, in particular, knows most I think. The royal portrait we see the bad guys throwing swords at shows the prince flanked by who I'm guessing are his parents. And it looks like they are passing onto him the same instruction manual that he's practically glued to. When you connect this to how... Dead eyed the other royals are (Rapunzel in particular. Did anybody notice how she's just... Staring off into space all the time? Only showing emotion when her prince shows up?), my guess is that since these stories have played out so many times, some of the characters have basically become brain dead- or are on auto pilot at best- and the King and Queen saw this in their son, and tried to make it easier for him to stay on track. Even though they knew that the wizard would ensure he married his Cinderella.

We don't see much of the bad guys in this movie. However, since that one troll said "I've never seen that before!" When Frieda summoned her beacon, I'm guessing the majority of them are aware of the rules of Fairytale Land. Or at least that they keep finding themselves repeating history. Since these villains can get gruesome ends (especially since these seem to be Grimms Fairytales. If you know, you know 💀), my guess is that their endings make it really stick with them. And maybe since they aren't dead eyed, they're the ones constantly trying to change their endings (being more aggressive, trying new tactics, etc), but since they couldn't temper with the scales like Frieda, none of them were successful before.

So tldr; the royals know what's going on because they're neighbors with the wizard, the majority of Fairytale Land is suffering from numb braincells since their lives are being carried out for them, and the villains are trying to fight the scales that are literally tipped against them. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's move onto other aspects of the movie.

I know the wizard barely has 2 minutes if screen time, but I like to think he's one of the Grimm Brothers. I mean, it's right there! No Fairytale Flip Media is complete without utilizing the Brothers Grimm being the guys in charge. But if that's the case, where's the other brother? I think he might be on our side of the world. Maybe The Wizard was meeting his brother in Scotland? Maybe his brother is making sure that the Fairytales are still loved- and in turn, alive- by us? That's what I'm thinking.

That could explain how Fairytale Land has some modern influence/technology. The Dwarves' defenses and the witches' motorcycle-esque brooms, for instance. The second brother brought some technology from our world to Fairytale Land at some point, and The Wizard just had to make it roll with the stories... Which shouldn't be too far fetched considering he was completely cool with Ella staying with Rick in the end (assuming he didn't reset her story as usual).

It is hard to say for sure whether everyone is immortal, or the stories are passed down onto the next generation. However, I'm thinking that, as long as your story doesn't end with your death, you won't die (I mean, Jack survived being squashed into a pancake. I know this is a kids movie, but I need to make lore here-). And if you do die, you are ressurected for the sake of the story repeating itself.

The Wizard does have other assistants outside of Munk and Mambo. The Fairy Godmother is one of them. However, since she gets Cinderella confused with Pinocchio at first, I'm thinking maybe she's in charge of all the 'magic fairy' roles in the stories. As such, she's kind of... Got her mind wrapped around other stuff 😅 not to mention she's pretty old. Overworked, probably as old as Fairytale Land itself, is it any wonder she spends her downtime singing and dancing with mice?

There aren't much, but these are all I got so far about the world itself rather than the individual characters. I hope you guys like these! (And for those who love them just as much as I do, don't worry. I'm gonna make a HC set for the three big Bad wolves too. They were the highlight of the film next to Frieda)

[princess-of-the-corner]

MLP Rewrite AU - Forgotten Friendship (if you didn't do it already)

OKAY SO UH

I absolutely rewrote this as a whole Thing in the universe and a chunk of things got changed so let's go over those before I get deep into the actual rewrite

1.) I had a separate fic in the AU where Sunset went back to Equestria and talked to Celestia already. Though it /was/ unfinished I remember most of my plans for it? So I skipped that here.

2.) Clover and the Memory Stone..... Clover already had completely different Lore surrounding her, both in-canon and thanks to my 'Hearth's Warming Cover Up' conspiracy theory, and the Memory Stone gave me a plothole headache. So I scrapped both.

3.) I made Wallflower's motivations a touch more relatable and out of her control.

4.) Unfortunately no Trixie in this but I've had fun with her elsewhere and should probably write her into something else lmao

SO ANYWAY

When Sunset gets to the beach and realizes no one remembers her having become their friend, she does manage to out-logic them. Pointing out inconsistencies and where they /should/ remember her being there because, looking into their memory, she's just erased out but not replaced well.

The biggest one being asking how they contacted Twilight when the Sirens were causing problems. The group pauses for a moment, but realizes that there was a journal but they can't remember where they got it. Sunset pulls out said journal, which gets them to listen a bit more.

She asks what they remember about the friendship games, to which Sci-Twi mentions remembering Sunset yelling at her for disrupting the games with portals. She says that it was harsh, but considering the whole event could've hurt her since it knocked her off the motorbike she understands in hindsight.

The rest of the group are like 'wait, what?' because they don't remember Sunset being in the games and couldn't fathom 'mean bully Sunset' being part of the games with them. But when asked who was paired with Rainbow for the motocross portion of the games, no one remembers. Except Sci-Twi, who says it was Sunset.

Sunset tests this and prompts further with- okay so I had a Thing™ in my rewrites that in the previous school year Pinkie and Sunset had been in the school play together. So as an inside joke they casually quote their lines at one another. Sunset kicks the habit off, reciting one of her lines. Pinkie answers, but stops. Her mind trying to remember, but all she can see is herself alone on stage, reading lines to no one.

Pinkie is Not Handling This Well™ and has dropped into straight hair mode and is hugging the fuck out of Sunset at this point. She forgot a friend! How dare she forget a friend?!

She asks them about after the games, because I had a fic re: finding Sunset's Human counterpart. And they remember her, but why would they look for her without prompting from their Sunset?

Sunset tests how far this goes by calling Flash. Just to see if it's an 'everyone' or a 'just the main characters' thing. He also doesn't remember making up with her. But with a little prompting of 'who gave you a sword for Christmas'(long story lmao), she gets him to listen. And he thinks about it more and says he remembers everything from when they 'broke up' and were fighting, but nothing about their friendship before that. Even though they would've been friends and hanging out before the 'break up', right?

Okay I'm going on a tangent trying to set up how the memory thing works lmao but anyway

The Rainbooms decide that they need more help than this and decide to talk to Princess Twilight about it. This includes everyone going through the portal because they're freaked and paranoid they'll forget again! (will be using 'Twilight' for pony and Sci-Twi for Human for now)

After some shenanigans of most of them getting used to Horse Mode™, Twilight does some prodding and questioning and experimenting. She actually /does/ know a spell that might cause this, but it's one she's not an expert on. Thankfully she can just do a quick teleport across town and grab someone who knows the spell a lot more.

Rarity my darling it's time for you to shine!

After quickly updating her, Twilight suggests that it may be the spell she used on the chandelier. Which Rairty agrees.

She elaborates, saying she had found the spell in a book up in the Crystal Empire. Technically it's a Crystal Pony spell, but Unicorns can replicate other Magics.

Anyway: The spell is used to copy a memory into a gemstone. She used this to make the tree root chandelier that's in the Castle of Friendship. There was a chunk of trial and error as she got the spell right. She gives examples of what went wrong, like her initial trials on Rainbow volunteering 'erase my memory of the Daring Do books so I can read them for the first time again'. Sometimes it erased her memory of the books, sometimes it erased her memory of the pony. The spell is even specific enough to differentiate different 'versions' of someone, such as 'Twilight as a Unicorn' vs. 'Twilight as an Alicorn'.

Now, the spell isn't /supposed/ to erase memories, just make a copy. But it can fuck up and erase. And unfortunately, Rarity can't reverse the spell without having whatever gemstone holds the memories.

Ofc this means they have to figure out who did this! Clearly since more Humans are getting their Pony Magics, it should be a counterpart to a Unicorn or Crystal Pony. They just have to figure out who. Rarity muses that, as the spell is an incomplete version, it's likely they tested it out and had it backfire on them a lot. Backfired spells can cause low-energy and even some pain, but also it means the person may have accidentally erased memories of themselves.

They go back to the Human World, leaving Twilight and Rarity in Equestria and keeping them updated in case something goes wrong, and decide to flip through the previous year's yearbook to look for someone they don't remember. Pinkie eventually points out Wallflower, and everyone knows that Pinkie's memory for people is very good so if she doesn't remember....

They lure Wallflower to the school gardens, and Sunset does the memory dive to look into it. She sees that Wallflower had been accidentally activating the spell, erasing herself from people's memory. Had been getting more and more hurt from the unfinished spell. But since she didn't know how to fix it, why not use it?

This causes a bit of a fight because Sunset's like 'the FUCK do you have against me?!' and Wallflower yells back about how it's unfair that someone like Sunset can just 'be nice' after so much meanness and get super popular while people like Wallflower who were always nice get entirely forgotten.

Pinkie calls her out on this of like 'hey! I consider you a friend why not come to me!'. Wallflower is very cynical on this because Pinkie considers everyone a friend but there's no way in hell she knows /everyone/ as intimately as a friend should. Which, yeah, Pinkie can do some wild shit but there's people she's closer to than others. But she's always open to being closer to someone! Or to helping someone out, including helping them find someone they may find a true friendship in! Wallflower still could've come to her!

Wallflower is starting to see that she fucked up, but she can't return their memories of Sunset. She doesn't know how. So she does the one thing she thinks she can do, give them a fresh start!

Ofc Sunset tries to block this and gets hit and. well.

It erased memory of the 'Human-esque' Sunset. Which means, as far as Sunset's aware, she just ran through the portal after her fight with Celestia and is mid-breakdown.

Not a fun experience!

Sunset has no idea what's going on. All the others are mad at Wallflower. They try to fix it and explain that there should be a gemstone. Wallflower offers her necklace but.... there's nothing in it. No memories, no Magic whatsoever.

Sunset is VERY confused but trying to help. the others are getting more upset and worried because 'oh shit she doesn't remember jack shit of the last six years and we still don't know how to fix it!!

But since they tell Wallflower to stop zapping everyone goddamn it they drag the Pony!Twilight and Rarity over to try and fix this shit.

Wallflower: "Oh god I'm sorry I don't deserve friends after all I've done how could anyone ever forgive the awful things I did???"

The Rainbooms+2: "Well. You didn't try destroying the world so you're really not even in the top 10 of wildest people we've befriended. Also we may have a Problem™."

Anyway! Rarity manages to figure out what crystal the Memories are hiding in! They're hiding in Wallflower herself. Crystal Pony bodies mimic crystals/gems so they can do the same thing.

Now knowing where the Memories are, Rarity can channel the spell and return the memories to where they should be.

Sunset and Wallflower get to talk for a bit about Hey That Was Fucked™.

But also like. Sunset knows what it's like to be alone. She left her home when she was still a kid, and wound up in a whole other dimension. One where, even if she makes some friends, she could never fully befirend them because she couldn't tell them /what/ exactly she was. It's different now, but she'd faced that before. She knows lonliness.

And Wallflower feels guilty because she never really put together how alone Sunset was. Thought she'd just skated by so easily in the friends department.

And Sunset helps her realize that there's more to friendship than just kindness. Being nice helps, of course. But you need to reach out. You need to put in an effort.

But at the same time, everyone you meet holds the potential to become your best friend.

[kalinara]

I did think I would feel a bit more satisfied when an actor finally confirmed what, I think, most of us knew about Kylo Ren's intended arc in the Sequel Trilogy.

Blah, blah, the redemption arc wasn't supposed to happen. Kylo was supposed to be a villain throughout. Where's that Captain Holt vindication gif when you want it?

I'd agree, personally, that it would have made for a better movie if Kylo had remained the big bad. Adam Driver, I think, is the one who really missed out. I feel like he missed out on his chance to go full out, balls to the wall evil overlord. He'd have killed it, I suspect. And I say that as someone who isn't particularly a fan of the guy.

I do think though I get why they went with a half-assed redemption arc, though. I don't think it had anything to do with the Reylos (the kiss maybe, but I'd like to think they're smart enough to realize that rabid shippers generally don't go for the romantic - die for your love type of ending. At least not if the hot guy is doing the dying...)

I think it's because of Carrie Fisher's death.

They'd said for a while that the third movie was supposed to be Leia's, in the way that TFA was Han's, and TLJ was Luke's. Whether or not this made you optimistic probably depends on how much you liked the fates of those characters in those movies. I didn't hate them, personally.

I'm not going to speculate too hard on what the original story would have been. I certainly can imagine some pretty epic stuff with Princess Leia as the Big Good set against her son as the Big Bad. But...well...when you lose one of your primary actors before you get a chance to actually film anything...well, that limits what you can do.

I suppose that's why I'm willing to give Rise of Skywalker a bit more slack than a lot of folk. They were kind of stuck. Ultra-evil Kylo Ren is a more satisfying story with the set up they had, but it's also a tragedy. For what it's worth, the man does have a mother, who will grieve him if no one else does.

Except...we can't actually film the grieving, can we? We can't film the confrontation between despairing mother and lost son - whatever resolution was likely to happen. We can, at least, use some lost footage to TRY to build the relationship between Leia and Rey that needs to happen for that side of the story, but even then, we'll need Force Ghost Luke to help with the more reactive parts.

And of course, they need to write Leia herself out as gracefully as possible. In a way that doesn't require a lot of new footage and still gives the character a sense of accomplishment. Otherwise, you might as well have just blown her up with Hosnian Prime.

So...half assed redemption arc. With not-exactly-force-ghost Han to help there. I do feel like they could have done a better job with Kylo's part there. You know, made it look like he was at least interested in doing something OTHER than violating a woman's mind and terrorizing her for a good third of the movie. But well. No one's ever completely happy with things.

I don't know. In the end, I think the folks behind the Sequel Trilogy did what they could to give us a final, reasonably satisfying conclusion. There were fuck ups along the way (see: Finn, see: Poe. Though that fuckery started with TLJ, IMO) but, I think if we sat down and watched all nine movies in a row, and got to Rise of Skywalker's closing scene...I think we would end it feeling like we'd reached a workable ending to the Skywalker Saga.

Probably because we'd be too exhausted to notice the plotholes at that point. C'est la vie.

[bbnibini]

Unhinged Obey Me Nightbringer Thought: Solomon's Dream Paradox

I've been having some thoughts about Nightbringer lately, and this in particular won't leave my mind (to call it a theory is a stretch, more of an AU or what if but it's fun!)

(spoilers for S4 onwards in OG Obey me under the cut:)

What if all of the events in Nightbringer were a product of Solomon's dream? What if all this time, we were never spirited away, never disappeared, but had just...never awoken ever again?

Worse of all...what if we don't even exist? What if we actually died in Chapter 16? What if the timelines weren't actually ever merged and there was an actual timeline where we died and our death had left everyone a mess?What if the we the brothers had come to know were someone (who loves us very much)'s very much embellished idea of us?

I've been seeing a lot of speculation in the fandom lately, discussing one of the most noticeable plotholes in the current story:

Where the hell is Solomon (NB timeline)?

Here are some of my speculations(to correlate with the dream theory)

1. NB Solomon isn't around because he is currently in a slumber, much like the Demon King.

In season 4, we come to know that Solomon had willingly placed himself inside a dream world and was not seen for several years. He just...vanished and was never heard from again. Sound familiar?

For some reason, Solomon's reasoning didn't really...sound right to me if that makes sense? While I don't doubt that he is ready and willing to jump into timelines for us...and can be quite shortsighted and one-track minded even (to the point he seemed almost uncaring and flippant in this scene):

There are obvious variables that were overlooked in what he said:

What happened to the Demon Brothers?

Why was he able to use Barbatos' powers WITHOUT Diavolo's permission? (When OG Obm said that Barbatos couldn't use his powers without Diavolo's permission?)

Which brings me to the conclusion that there was possibly something that went wrong when Solomon had jumped into spacetime. And for continuity's sake in this "theory", let's just say, it has cost him your life. And he could never bring himself to accept your death.

Which brings us to:

2. NB Solomon jumped into timelines to try and save you several times but failed.

This is where...things become complicated. Assuming that the second bullet point is true, then this explains Solomon's sense of urgency in his first call with us.

The sense of urgency is because he knows the consequences of his several failures. It had gone to the point where his recklessness becomes more apparent and he had become more upfront in protecting us because:

3. The NB Timeline is all a dream, and it's a dream Solomon is having over and over to quell his regrets.

The more I think about it, the more I feel like NB is too...pandering or maybe too... indulgent and wish-fulfilling if we look at it at Solomon's perspective:

He gets to have you as his apprentice

You live together with him

You have a stronger bond in the NB timeline and you trust each other.

He gets to have pacts with his own demons much earlier than the original timeline.

He has a chance to revisit locations from his past that might have significantly changed in the previous timeline (like the Otherworld and the Realm of Knowledge)

If everything in NB is just Solomon's dream, this would also explain why Barbatos is very upset with him. Because:

Solomon made him use his powers without Diavolo's permission

He had stuck himself inside a dream and refused to wake up and bear the responsibility of your loss

Inevitably, this theory would almost make him the likeliest candidate for Nightbringer because of these scenes:

Notice that he said YOU SEEK TO FORGE PACTS WITH ALL THE BROTHERS and that is precisely what HE WOULD LIKE AS WELL.

Wasn't it Solomon who told us we should forge pacts to "go back to the original timeline"?

Nightbringer's words are very on-brand with Solomon's well-meaning yet out-of-touch way of him of showing affection.

He is immortal, so his way of describing time also checks out. This is the same man who told us that he used to live in a colourless world before we arrived.

And why he always writes himself out of scenarios where everyone seems to bond and get closer because NB is written in his perspective and in his own opinion, he feels like he doesn't deserve to share the happiness with you because he had failed you. So he can only live on in a dream.

There is another angle that I can take from this ridiculous thought and that would be even more ridiculous:

There are two Solomons. NB Solomon in a slumber and the other, our OG Solomon. Barbatos does not like OG Solomon because he assumes he is an impostor.

This is again an unhinged thought that I wouldn't even call it a theory. I doubt this will ever be canon but does it explain so much lmao.

[yuri-ray]

No-Spoilers Review #1: Otherside Picnic (Urasekai Picnic)

Content Warnings: guns, general horror genre themes and visuals

Starting with a series I own in print, it's Otherside Picnic by Iori Miyazawa, a novel series with manga and anime adaptations. This series is half horror and half yuri romance, about two university students exploring and being harrowed by a world full of urban legend horrors.

Is it good? Yes! I recommend it very highly to anybody who can take a little horror.

After all... as the author said himself... "This too is yuri."

Before I start, yes, it's THAT Iori Miyazawa who popularized the concept of "yuri of absence" in a batshit crazy pair of interviews. I think a lot of people would read that and assume that his actual work, Otherside Picnic, is full of bait and subtext. It's not. It's a slow-burn, sure, but it's legitimately canon and it's really good, OK? This guy knows what he's doing.

Anyway...

Our two leads are two university students, Sorawo Kamikoshi (the brown-haired girl in the art) and Toriko Nishina (the blonde girl). All of Otherside Picnic is told from Sorawo's perspective. While urban exploring, Sorawo stumbles upon a portal to the Otherside, a dangerous realm of urban legends and internet horrors (imagine famous Japanese creepypastas). She meets Toriko and they explore the Otherside and how its horrors leak into the real world and their perceptions, pulling them in and becoming more dangerous over time.

What I love most about Otherside Picnic is how complicated Sorawo and Toriko are as people. Sorawo is both extremely relatable at times and also extremely unrelatable at others. She is not a self-insert protagonist in the slightest, and she's not even a good person. She doesn't care about others very much. Meanwhile, Toriko has some difficulties with social situations and is overall a pretty normal (in comparison) likeable person with realistic worries. The two of them become closer organically and, yes, they do kiss eventually. No one is an idiot and all of their conflicts make sense.

The horror is also good and well-executed. It's decently scary and the world of the Otherside is intriguing and unpredictable, but not in any bullshit way. The horror drives the plot just as much as the romance does, and the manga does an amazing job bringing the novel's descriptions to life with creative paneling and art.

A supporting character, Kozakura, is that classic maligned trope of an adult that looks very young because she's short. However, Kozakura genuinely acts like a normal independent adult, and is a very likeable character who is the voice of reason.

As a side note, Iori Miyazawa also happens to like guns. The leads carry them as defense against malicious Otherside entities and there's a scene where Sorawo expresses pretty abject disgust at a tank designed to kill civilians, so it's not pro-military or whatever. It doesn't go in-depth because neither Sorawo nor Toriko care for them.

Final thoughts:

THE ANIME IS REALLY BAD. It totally misses the point and all of the things that really makes this series stand out--the episodes got shuffled for no reason which caused plotholes and character progression issues galore, and it cuts out all of the scenes where Sorawo and Toriko actually talk properly to each other. Plus the budget is like, one corn chip.

THE MANGA IS REALLY GOOD. It takes a lot of care to really adapt everything from the novel, which means that although updates are slow, you get to see everything Sorawo feels and thinks.

This series is one of my top favorite yuris, which I recommend to basically anyone who likes romance and doesn't mind some spooky visuals (or anyone who likes horror and doesn't mind some girls navigating complex feelings). It has close to no explicit gore. I'm currently up to date on everything... I can write a lot more on this, but these are my spoiler-free thoughts. The title references Roadside Picnic (the inspiration for the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) which is an inspiration for the series, but as I've never read it, I can't say more than that.

[chzdavmpr]

Delicious in Dungeon Reading Diary Vol 3

Spoilers, obviously

So they confirm that dog guy on the B team IS a kobold, and not a different species.

You can tell the author has actually played DnD, cause a debate on what does and does not count as cannibalism is very authentic.

Since they are focusing on the kraken having eaten too many mid-size monsters, I wonder if it's an invasive species, or just grew too big for the ecosystem to support it. It seems to be the later, since they don't seems surprised to see it there.

1x1 lego brick

Oooh Marcille backstory.

I wrote in my notes that it's interesting that they have Falin be seen as a worse student then Marcille, cause in the present the opposite is true. But then they show that not only does falin have much better practical knowledge, it's shown at the end that Marcille likely exaggerated how good she was in school, so that clears that up.

What ISN'T cleared up is how it makes no sense that Falin and Marcille were in school at the same time. Marcille is WAY older then Falin, this much was confirmed in the mimic chapter. There is a slight chance they explain this, but for now it seems like a plothole, albeit on that doesn't really matter.

Oh crap, SHE'S here, from the first chapter.

I was wondering how death worked in this setting ever since they mentioned resurrection magic, to the point where I considered typing up a bit about it, asking questions like "do people just live forever if they can consistently get rezed? Does it not work on death of old age?" So it's neat to get an explanation that it's a dungeon thing, plus it helps explain things like ghosts and zombies.

This is wrong. He's practically naked without his helmet. Also how I won't be able to help but notice whenever his eyebrows should be visible under his helmet.

Hmm. So mana doesn't come back passively, or at least not in the dungeon. In a way that almost makes it another nutrient that needs to be balanced in their food.

Excuse me? Propose? That should be very interesting when next we meet him.

Makes me wonder why he of all people chose to leave Laios' party. Like surely saving her would be easier with the others.

Well this is just adorable. Especially how Chilchuck's doesn't line up so it's patchwork.

Overall another good volume. I would say it gave me less to chew on then volume 2, but we're talking individual volumes of manga here so and difference in quality is very small. (Plus most of my thinking and theorizing last volume was because of one chapter). I have already checked out the next volume from my library and saw it has the red dragon on the cover, so that is very exciting. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.