#((Which this doesn't have to include; I just saw a similarity and ran with it.))

[igglemouse]

The Name Game...

Now, before the regularly scheduled legacy posts hit the dashboard today I feel I must address something, normally I would ignore it. I've been here a decade, when have I been in any drama? Normally I would have just messaged this person, because again, I really don't care to do drama or anything like that, but I discovered it because of a reply I had read on one of my posts by a shared mutual. I thought it was funny and since they tagged the person, I wanted to go to their blog and see it for myself but I could not.

Odd, I can hover over the @ but couldn't go to the blog, it says it doesn't exist. I'm blocked I figure. Maybe it should have ended there and it would have been a shame if it had because I would not have seen the post claiming that I did things I did not do. I'll put the rest under a read more as I do love to type.

But this post just comes as a defense since in that post we have a lot of shared mutuals (its a small world!) and I do not want them to think that I stole a name or character from you and then that I deleted your post. Explanation below.

I did not steal the name.

Anyways, the nature of the drama is about a character's name. I have a character named Aurel Vasilescu and they have a character named Aurelia Vasilescu, which are obviously very similar names. It's completely fair that someone would see those two names and think someone copied someone else and since Aurel's actual name was introduced like a week or so ago it would naturally look like I did the theft.

It's some coincidence to be sure and one I would have happily laughed with her over and happily reblogged her story and posted the spider-man pointing meme and had fun with it but I wasn't even really given a chance to respond directly to her but more on that later.

I'm not sure how we both settled on those names, as I joked in the reply, great minds think alike? But for me I was looking for a Romanian surname since well, he's based in Ravenwood which is based on Transylvania and so I gave him a romanian surname. That we both have similar first names is pretty uncanny but given that there's a such thing as actual dopplegangers its really not out of the realm of possibility that someone creates a same or similar character name, but since I know leaving it at that would be my word against yours so I'll try my best to prove that it really was a coincidence.

Firstly. Absolutely no disrespect meant here but I don't know who you are. In your post you mentioned that we don't interact openly its because I didn't know about your simblr until it was mentioned in the reply in my post which was literally last night. That was the first time I heard of it. In fact if I had ran across your simblr I probably would have followed you and read your stories because they look good. I have over 300k likes, if I saw your posts I would have liked them. I like posts of people that are not my mutuals ever day. I'm not shy about liking posts. I've not liked a single one of your posts, not because they are bad, they clearly are not in any way, but because I have not seen them.

Since that reply in my post mentioned your character being in a newer story of yours I decided to check how new and the earliest I could find a post mentioning that character was December 31st 2024. A Happy New Years post that seems to be (happy to be corrected) the first time this character appears.

(And yes, agreed, that simblr who made that reply connecting us is one of the nicest people on this platform! I can agree with that!)

Well, I started to plan Elsie's story early. This includes making key characters that are not townies created by the game (since I play a legacy I makeover a lot of sims for whatever evil purposes I have) but Aurel was always going to be one since Elsie moves into a house with a coffin and him sleeping in it. I have proof of how early I had planned this...

Here is the scrivener file, a file I used to keep track of all character notes etc for my legacies, you can see the date on it...

Here is a snippet of him being in the file, can't show the character file as it would be spoilers but...

And lastly, since this doesn't prove that I didn't just create this now, here is the literal sim in S4TI since he happened to be one of the few sims I hand made for this legacy, this should prove when I made him in game, including his name.

And lastly, the link to Elsie's announcement post...

That is dated Jan 1st.

So, this proves I had made Elsie's story on the 30th and it proves that I had at least made my Vasilescu sim on the 3rd and it looks like, based on my search of their simblr, theirs debuted on Dec 31st? Is it really likely that I saw one post of your brand new story/character then nabbed the name right away only to reveal it months later? Why just steal a name any ways, if I wanted to steal, wouldn't I steal much more from that story and just change the name? Usually characters that are stolen the name is the main change while everything else remains the same, but reading those first few posts I can 100% confirm that my Aurel is a A LOT different from Aurelia. If I were this malicious stealer why not name him Aron or something if I were so eager to steal the name?

Also, I'm super collab friendly, if I knew your story it is much more likely I would have just asked for a collab then steal from you.

The truth is we both settled on what we thought were great names for these characters and they happened to be super similar. Yes, it is highly unlikely but it happened. I've done my best to prove though that I wasn't copying your OC by showing I had already created this character in my mind around the very same time you introduced yours and for me to steal I'd also have to know yours existed and I simply did not.

I did not delete any comments or replies.

I will try to assume the best because I do think a lot of issues people have comes from assuming the worst of someone then acting on those assumptions, but...I am very much a creature of habit.

When I reply, I always reply a day late, I do this because I like responding to EVERY comment made and doing it a day later makes it easier to organize and less likely that I will miss or skip over a comment. The exception is when people reply to a post I already replied to then yes, I will reply to those sometimes when I see them. There was a short time for this new legacy since I got more comments I tried replying when I saw them but it just didn't help my organization and again, I really try to reply to EVERY comment I see. Pull up any old post of mines, even from YEARS ago, you can see this.

I think anyone commenting on my stories can confirm that my replies will come at least a day later, days later if I'm on a break, rarely on the same day UNLESS there is something I see that I need to address. Proof of this is you can pull up recent posts and see that many don't have my replies yet, today I will reply to posts made March 28th for instance if I have time to reply, but again, if it feels like something I need to reply to and I happen to see the reply, I do so.

There was little chance of that happening for your particular comment that day because that day I received over 30 replies (THANK YOU ALL FOR THAT SERIOUSLY!). So I did not even see your reply to comment on or to delete and I think how you framed it makes it look like I was maliciously deleting your comments?

I'll quote from your post.

"A lovely moot very delicately mentioned it in the other person's comments while @'ing me, I replied with something like, "I'm curious as well!", and now they appear to be deleting and restricting comments rather than addressing the situation."

Well I am addressing the situation now so that should clear up the assumption that I wouldn't want to do that or that I'm a weasel who wanted to avoid it but how you've framed it, deleting comments, I was going to link the post but realized doing so would have your username and I don't want people outside getting into this and stirring up more drama, but that post has ONE comment deleted. Not comment(s). It has 17 replies on it, I don't think that sounds like me trying to delete or restrict comments on it. There is one comment on that post I have yet to reply to because it was made on the 28th and I'll reply to it later today or tonight even if I have t

But that one that is deleted I assume is yours? Well, my guess is when you blocked me it deleted this comment? Or you deleted the comment? I don't know, I don't know how tumblr works, I know I didn't touch the comment because again, I just started replying to comments on the 27th last night. Had I seen it I would have messaged you and replied to you. I think if this long post shows anything it shows I would have been very willing to message you.

I'm someone that had an entire pro-life and pro-choice (I was pro-choice) debate with a mutual in my comment section and didn't delete a single comment or unfriended them or treated them differently even though we very much disagreed. So no, I wasn't scared of confrontation or anything like that. I once asked people to openly criticize my stories anonymously if they wanted to. I have very thick skin.

But you said comments, as in plural, and that bothers me since it frames it in a way as if you made multiple comments and I deleted them all frantically running away from it.

Had you waited (and not saying you should have) I would have responded in my comment section and likely would have reached out and had you sent me mail or a message I also would have replied once I saw it, no hesitation. I don't see myself as above anyone here, I don't play clique games, I reply and interact with anyone that reaches out to me.

So, what now...

Well I dunno! I just wanted to defend myself since again, they have mutuals that I have and I did not want those mutuals to see those names and then think I am the thief and the one deleting comments and felt attacked and since her post clearly implicates me I must defend myself. If it were more vague, I likely leave it alone or maybe even created a tumblr just to send her an anon and tried to clear things up but the post is public and very clearly implicates me since again, we have shared mutuals and they will read her story then read mines and then make the connection.

I understand why she might feel frustrated and such, she felt I had stolen from her and reacted to that, so I'm not mad about that. If I saw someone with a Marisol Quesada I would have went hmmmm too but I do think I would have handled it differently but we are all different people with different experiences and such.

But, I will move on regardless. Since she has blocked me, I don't know if she will see this post (or want to see it) but I really hope more importantly the mutuals we share see it since that is the main reason I made this.

If you do see this post know there really are no hard feelings, I don't want this to come off as an attack against her or for it to escalate further. I'm just defending myself here from those claims and if you unblock me and want to chat I'd be open to that and if you delete your post about me, I'll delete this, and i've made this post non-rebloggable because I'm not trying to ever spread drama. I'll even reblog your story and promote it even because my main goals here are to share my stories but also share other's stories because I know most of us write and post because we want to share our stories and others seeing them, commenting, reblogging, liking, validates the work we put into each post.

I will make an exception about deleting comments on this post though, if there are any that seem directed at her in a negative way I will delete them, not that I expect them or anything, I have no idea what the reaction will be when this post goes live I might get tar and feathered but like I said I don't want this to be an attack towards anyone but if anyone has anything negative to say about me regarding this point, fire away, just know if you do it anonymously I will get very snappy...this is just me defending myself as an artist and a person. I didn't steal and I didn't delete any comments. I've done my best to prove both of those I hope. I dont want any of our shared mutuals picking a side, I just want to tell my side and defend myself because I again I felt attacked.

I've been here ten years, posting ten years, pretty consistently too! I'm just here in my little iggleverse corner posting, not bothering anyone, not engaging in any drama, and always trying to promote other simblrs big and small.

For those that made it this far...umm sorry this was long but I do type too much sorry T_T and hey, the defendant usually has to do a bit more...

But 10 years here, I just post, so, with all that said, the show must go on...

[pushovermediacritic]

One Piece Secret Parent Theories

This post is for documenting all the major and plausible "secret parent" theories that are popular in the fanbase, as well as the evidence and arguments for those theories being canon. So far, I have four big ones:

Crocodile is a trans man and Luffy's other parent

Crocodile is 46 and Luffy is 19, so Crocodile is old enough.

Ivankov said that they know Crocodile's secret as blackmail to get him to behave when helping them break out of Impel Down. Ivankov can change other people's genders, thus Crocodile has the past connections to be a trans man.

Ivankov is a founding member of the Revolutionary Army, just like Dragon. Thus Crocodile has an indirect connection to Dragon.

Dragon's family name wasn't public knowledge, people didn't know he was related to Garp. Even within the Revolutionary Army, it was just a rumor. Therefore, it's possible Crocodile wouldn't recognize Luffy's name from his bounty poster if he didn't know Dragon's family name and Dragon named their son "Luffy" without his knowledge.

Baroque Works has a particular focus on gender equality and diversity, especially with Bon Clay.

It would completely reframe Luffy vs Crocodile in Alabasta.

Queen is Franky's father

Queen is 56 and Franky is 36, so Queen is old enough.

Queen and Franky have the same XF Blood Type.

Queen's Vivre Card revealed that he had a kid 36 years ago. Franky is 36.

Queen's Vivre Card goes on to say that he abandoned his son when he was 10. Franky was abandoned when he was 10.

Franky doesn't go by his birth name Cutty Flam, and his appearance is drastically different than it was before. So Queen wouldn't recognize him.

Queen also doesn't go by his real name Scien, a change he made after abandoning his kid when he joined the Animal Kingdom Pirates.

Queen barely saw Franky in Wano. Queen briefly saw Franky on the monitor during Yasuie's execution, and then again briefly in Onigashima when Franky ran over Big Mom and then got in the Franky Shogun for the Straw Hat team pose.

Franky never saw Queen at all outside of his Brachiosaur form, also in the team pose scene.

Franky and Queen are both very talented with machinery and robotics, it's possible that Queen taught Franky some of that when he was a kid.

Sakazuki is Hibari's father

Sakazuki is 55 and Hibari is 17, so he's old enough.

Sakazuki and Hibari are the only two characters in the series with a Hiroshima dialect.

They both are Marines from the North Blue.

They have the same F Blood Type.

The official spin-off manga "Kobiyama Who Looks Like Koby - Two Piece in a Pod" is about a One Piece fanboy in the real world who looks like Koby. The main love interest is a girl named Akaishi who vaguely resembles Hibari, and her father looks just like Sakazuki.

Sasaki is Kokoro's son and Chimney's father

Sasaki is 34, Kokoro is 72, and Chimney is 10, so the ages line up.

Sasaki was born in the Grand Line, and Kokoro's son was born in Water Seven.

Sasaki is a Fishman, which works with Kokoro being a Mermaid and Chimney being a quarter-Mermaid with how Fishman/Mermaid genetics works.

Sasaki has green hair and tan skin, just like Kokoro and Chimney.

Kokoro and Sasaki are both alcoholics. Alcoholism can be hereditary.

Sasaki was Franky's main fight in Wano, and Franky is Kokoro's adoptive son.

Are there any other significant "secret parent" theories I'm missing?

I know there's one about Brook being Kuzan's father because they look similar and both ended up with ice powers, but the ages just don't line up. Brook died 52 years ago and Kuzan is 49. Maybe Brook could be Kuzan's grandparent, but Brook being from the West Blue and Kuzan being from the South Blue really throws a wrench in that whole theory.

I know there's another one about Dragon being Robin's dad, therefore making Luffy and Robin half-siblings, but outside of Robin and Luffy frequently being on the same mental wavelength, I really don't see enough evidence for this theory to include it besides the honorable mention here.

I wish there was a good one for Yamato's mom, but unfortunately, Yamato was born in November the exact same year that Kaido came to Wano, meaning his parentage possibilities are "anyone outside of Wano" or "anyone in Wano". If he was born any other year (or even just earlier in the year), it'd at least be narrowed down to one or the other, but nope.

[xjulixred45x]

Headcanons of ed,al and ling with a s/o that have a twin? And that twin is protective,like theyre total oppossites,reader is a meek,calm and shy person while their twin is more extrovert,grumpy and protective

Awwww this is cute! I have a Twin myself, so this is pretty much relatable for me

Edward Elric/Alphonse Elric/ Ling Yao x Reader with a Twin

Genre: Headcanons

Reader: neutral

Warnings: none really, Reader is shy while their Twin is grumpy. Fluff

Edward Elric

The funniest reaction of the three

First of all, I think that Ed's relationship with the reader works precisely on the basis that they are polar opposites.

Ed is the hard-headed and temperamental one, Reader is the one who keeps the peace and has a hard time even correcting when they give them the wrong food.

They balance each other in many ways.

However, Reader is definitely what one would consider soft by nature, so Ed himself has developed certain protective tendencies towards them.

The typical thing is to react more than them when someone makes them feel bad/insults them, encouraging them to take repercussions, etc.

Ed has enough anger for both of them.

I imagine that although Ed already knew that the reader had a twin, he had not really seen then due to work issues/they being in another division in Amestris.

However, Reader and he exchanged several anecdotes about their families, including those of their sibilings.

and Ed is definitely happy to know that there is someone else in the reader's life who protects them when he is not there (especially if the reader is a civilian who doesn't know about alchemy).

However, when the mix-up incident occurs, it definitely catches Ed off guard.

I imagine that Ed and the reader were planning to meet at the Amestris barracks, but it just coincided with the arrival of the reader's twin for some work matters.

When Ed started looking for the reader and ran into their, he was MORE than confused.

Reader? What are they doing in an alchemist's uniform? Since when? Isn't it too early? Why are they looking at him like that?

When Ed goes to ask the "reader" directly, he ends up encountering a cold and powerful: "Do I know you?"

TWIN FINISHED IT..

Ed would try to maintain his composure and try to ask questions but at the same time he NEVER saw the reader looking at him so coldly, he almost feels intimidated, like he was in trouble...

Fortunately for everyone, the real reader came to Ed's rescue.

and not only that, but also to greet their twin.

Ed saw with horror how the twin's face changed COMPLETELY when they was talking to the reader, a literal 180 degree turn.

Ed didn't seem to want to give him the time of day, and with the reader they were already catching up, laughing and chatting.

He definitely leave it like that🤯

I think Ed and Twin could get along well...in terms of work. If there is a mission that depends on them, then they will do everything possible to get along.

Outside of that... difficult.

On the one hand, they both can't stand each other (which is ironic considering they have very similar personalities) and constantly compete for the reader's attention.

It's like a game of tug of war. They are both super clingy and see the other as a sudden invader of their time with the reader.

Although Ed will definitely leave Twin and the reader alone when they are exclusively family days, it's like an unwritten rule (just like Twin doesn't get involved in dating).

They try to keep aggression at bay when the reader is present, because after all they don't want to make her angry or, God forbid, cry.

It's like a cold war.

Ed also continues to appreciate Twin's contributions to the reader's self-esteem. At least they have a good common topic to get along with.

Alphonse Elric

Bby boy baby

Al and reader are definitely like the opposite of Ed and his reader, mostly because they both fall more on the shy spectrum. It's just that Al is more social and less reserved.

Although that doesn't mean he has it easy, I can see him and the reader having problems in situations like when they bring them the wrong food and they both silently accept the order🤣 or at least try to help the other by removing what they don't like (this obviously after Al already has his body).

Al is the one who does most of the talking, he's used to it, apart from the fact that he wouldn't feel comfortable letting the reader talk knowing that they make themselves uncomfortable.

Since he can't sleep, get tired or eat while in the armor, I can definitely see him carrying the reader everywhere and being their personal shield:3 both from the danger and the world in general.

They also both LOVE animals and on more than one occasion he and the reader ALMOST get away with taking some kittens (thanks Ed..)

In general, Al is super sweet with the reader and has infinite patience with them.

He knows about the reader's family and especially their twin. Al tends to compare several of their misadventures with those of him and Ed (on a smaller scale) and he even finds it cute that the reader is so attached to their sibiling.

Continuing with the fact that the reader is not an alchemist, Alphonse is happy to know that there is someone in the reader's life who protects them both physically and emotionally.

He's probably more curious about this twin than Ed, and already knows in advance that Reader and their twin are practically identical, but Al is convinced that it can't be that bad.

That is, of course, until we get to the incident.

Probably in Alphonse's case, he ran into twin while they were a civilian, which made it even more difficult to tell them apart.

Al saw Twin in the distance and thought it was his partner, so, like the sweetheart he is, he went to greet them and give them a metallic hug!

When Twin started screaming and even going so far as to hit him, poor Al was SO confused.

Did he take them by surprise? Are they angry? Why the violence!?

Since he is not used to seeing the reader shouting so loudly, not even with a frown, that image will definitely stay in his head for life.

When Reader arrived, Alphonse was so happy to see that they were still as shy and friendly as ever, he probably even hid behind them (as ridiculous as it was considering the size of the armor) to escape Twin's wrath.

Al and Twin get along surprisingly well, mostly because while Al has an intimidating exterior, Twin realizes that he is a softie because of their twin, so they trusts him more than Ed.

but it doesn't mean that they have the same level of patience for him that they have for Reader, rather they don't have any tolerance EXCEPT for reader😅 poor Al..

There's also the issue of Al being, well, AN ARMOR for much of the series, so Twin is understandably worried about how this relationship might work (or how CERTAIN ASPECTS of it work...)

Although if we're talking about full-bodied Al, I can definitely see Twin being much more patient and understanding, hell, even helping him recover from going without food for so many years.

and by the time Al fully recovers, you could say that he and twin are friends. and which twin is more open to receiving it into the family.

All in all, he's doing better than Ed🤣.

Ling Yao

Tbh it's the less surprised about it, but not less funny to see.

For the sake of my sanity and the meaning of this scenario, let's say that Ling's partner is from Xing and probably stayed there when he left in search of immortality.

Ling may have met the reader through some clan, on his own, etc. but definitely from the beginning he naturally gravitated towards them because of their reserved and friendly personality.

They are like opposite poles in a more discreet way. Ling is super social and has no problem defending himself (or others) while Reader was much quieter and barely raised their voice.

Ling made it her personal goal to help the reader be more honest and so they began dating seriously.

Ling definitely falls into the category of clingy partner, especially physically.

especially with reader because he finds their shy reactions super adorable!

He also laughs a little at their exaggerated expressions when they are embarrassed, or when they turn very red.

Although he definitely does not make fun of them, he does everything in good faith and thus his partner gains more trust! He will definitely kick the ass of anyone who makes the reader cry.

Considering that the Xingense culture is based on the Chinese, I can imagine that Ling has already met the reader's family in the past, at least their parents to have permission to "court" their child.

and Ling is also very aware of the dislike that the reader's family may feel towards him. more than anything because of what would happen if he became emperor.

I can see the reader's twin believing that it is not a good idea to date Ling solely and exclusively because of the tradition of the children of each clan, they does not want their sibiling to be left with a broken heart because of something they cannot control.

So, when Twin formally meets Ling, it's not very pleasant.

Ling is the only one who doesn't technically confuse reader and twin, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have something to say about it (to lighten the tense atmosphere).

-"Wow! (reader) told me that you guys look alike but it's like seeing you in a mirror!"

something like that, he is partly surprised to see them in person side by side, but definitely not as much as the others.

and the only thing he gains is a loud SCOFF before twin walks away from him and reader, shuffling their feet.

Ling knows he didn't do anything wrong, but this is probably the first time "diplomacy" has bothered/distress him.

Of the three, Ling is the one who has the hardest time earning, at the very least, the respect of a twin. not because I don't try! but because twin has the typical Xingense standards.

I mean, Twin not only dislikes the idea of what will happen to Reader once he becomes emperor, but he believes that he is committing themself to someone who is not worth it.

And Ling left in search of inmortality(in Twin eyes, an ABSURD quest), it's like giving green light to these thoughs.

Fortunately, when Ling returns, apart from becoming emperor, he also manages (partially) to close Twin's mouth!

first of all, abolishing the law of marriage (that of the children of each clan, let me be happy) and he appears genuinely more mature than before, to the surprise of twin.

Before, Twin simply saw him as a bum, a scoundrel who happened to captivate his brother and who was lucky enough to be royalty.

but now, seeing everything he had done for Xing, for a foreign country, and that he still always came back to reader...you could say that speaking the heart of a twin.

They don't get along at all. Ling and twin definitely shouldn't be left in a room alone for more than 5 minutes (unless you want them to tear each other's throats out), but Ling KNOWS that twin does everything out of love.

and boy does he understand it. So, for now, they are fine.

Shares, reblogs and comments are very welcome!

[catsteinbooks]

The Thin Dark Duke of Hell

Haven't actually written a meta before, but I've been mulling this around in my head, so here's my take on why I think Crowley is likely to be a Duke of Hell in season 3.

Reason 1: it makes narrative sense

From a story-telling perspective, it's the logical starting place for season 3. Especially if we consider how the original idea was developed as a sequel to the book.

There's no body-swap in the book. Neither Aziraphale nor Crowley has heard from "their sides" at the end, so technically they're still connected to Heaven and Hell. They haven't been punished or kicked out. They even speculate that maybe everyone will just pretend it didn't happen.

And now we're approaching the Second Coming. The Big One. "All of us against all of them." Where are our heroes? Well, time has passed, things have happened. It's reasonable to think that maybe they've both been promoted. (Crowley, in particular, is often getting promotions, usually for things he didn't do.) And story-wise, they're set up as opposite numbers, so it makes sense that their positions as the sequel story begins will be of similar status.

Applying this concept to the screen version, we know Aziraphale has been offered the Supreme Archangel position. Therefore, if Crowley is to be his counterpart, he has to have a high rank in Hell. And there's a Duke of Hell opening to be filled. (Sorry, Shax, I think Crowley's going to snatch it out from under you.)

Reason 2: it fits Crowley's character

"What?!" you shout. "Crowley hates Hell! He turned them down! He doesn't want to go back!"

Correct. He doesn't. But he will if he thinks he needs to. Because he and Aziraphale have a huge, defining commonality: they love Earth and Humanity and don't want it to be destroyed.

Yeah, Crowley will probably wallow for a while. He deserves some time to get insanely drunk and cry. Sort of like he did when he thought Aziraphale was dead in season 1. But the thing is, Crowley always comes back. He's always ready to run. He always threatens to run. He hops in his car and drives somewhere. But he never actually leaves. Because there's no point in going away somewhere without Aziraphale. And that hasn't changed. If Crowley ran away now, he'd still be miserable, but without any music or whisky or his Bentley. It would be... pointless.

So what's a heartbroken, grieving, furious demon to do? Vent his pain in the best possible way: thwarting everyone and everything who hurt him and took away the angel he adores. He knows what Heaven is planning, because he saw it in Gabriel's file. He doesn't want Earth destroyed, he doesn't want Heaven or Hell to win. And he has an opportunity to sabotage the whole thing from the inside.

Which leads us to...

Reason 3: Crowley has a way into Hell already

There is a great meta here about Crowley's conversation with Beelzebub in Hell and its potential season 3 impact. The TL;DR version is: Crowley DID technically find Gabriel, and Beelzebub promised him anything he wanted (including being a Duke of Hell) in return.

Is it a somewhat dubious contract? Sure. Would that stop Crowley? *snort laugh* The demon who makes up legal clauses on the spot to save humans is well-equipped to argue his way into Hell's highest position in order to save the entire world. It's probably much easier than driving a flaming Bentley all the way to Tadfield.

So where does this leave us?

Aziraphale is up in Heaven, ready to burn it to the ground. You saw him when the Metatron mentioned the Second Coming. That was not a happy angel ready to do what he's told. And, frankly, Aziraphale is not actually capable of doing what he's told IMO. No matter how much he tries to follow the good/evil dynamic, he ultimately ends up choosing what is Right over what is Good.

Crowley in Hell would be doing the same kind of thing, albeit in a more subtle, sneaky way. After all, he spent 6000 years thwarting Hell all over the place and getting away with it the vast majority of the time. He knows how to mess with them. (And can you just imagine what would happen when demons like Eric asked him questions and he answered them?! He could gather his own little army with one Suggestion Box.)

So when shit hits the fan, as it inevitably will, we'll be left with both our ineffable heroes (gn) poised to do the exact same thing: destroy the machine from the inside.

Even if some of the other fan speculations prove true (memory wipes, for instance), I think it still makes narrative sense to have them both in equal-but-opposite positions. Because no matter how much the enemies are trying to mess with them, if you take a certain angel with an opportunity to fuck up Heaven and a certain demon with an opportunity to fuck up Hell and you bring them together (which, let's be honest, has to happen no matter what the storyline is), it's going to be pretty darn epic.

[henrysglock]

[Lumax voice] Turn Around, Look At What You See! In Their Face...

(If you couldn't already tell: I have finally lost all my marbles.)

I'm sure this has occurred to other people by now, but if El's memories leading up to the 4.07 monologue are ripped directly from Brenner's (<- slayful Nat post, required viewing), and she runs in to see One killing Two...then doesn't it stand to reason that that is what Brenner saw when he ran into the Rainbow Room in 1979?

Now before anyone hops in to correct me: There's definitely a version of things where Brenner finds El alone in the rainbow room after the massacre. That's not in question. We all know that happened at some point.

(Regardless of the manner of death...no broken bones or gouged eyes...okay!)

However, as I'm sure we're all aware...these guys are different guys.

(This detail has been beaten into the ground but always bears repeating)

So, what is in question is what close-up Brenner saw when he ran into the Rainbow Room.

Those duplicate memories appear to belong to close-up Brenner:

i.e. not the Brenner who runs in and sees El at the start of 4.08. (This isn't to say that that Brenner doesn't have those memories or similar ones, but he's not the Brenner whose memories are being featured. Begone, thot.)

So, arguably, if El has close-up Brenner's memories...then she should be running in and seeing what he saw, no?

So what did he see? Someone just slightly shorter than him, who walked close enough to warrant a tight shot.

That POV (as has been discussed ad nauseam by many) is far too tall to be any version of El:

But it is about the right height for someone a few inches shorter than Brenner...something like:

So, tl;dr: I want to play a clip for you.

I love choreography and camera work. That's art right there.

However, that video doesn't include the subtitling that accompanies the visuals that link El finding One to Brenner finding El:

Now, it's difficult to compare anything after this point (though not impossible, can't keep a south Wisconsin boy down. I will be using them for comparisons later)...because of course that's when weird, random blood starts appearing:

Hence, the clock is visibly frozen after that point:

This smacks, to me, of the same kind of shit that happened with 004 when the kids were bullying El—Scenes that never actually happened in the real past being spliced into a tape that cuts off and then picks back up like no time had passed/nothing had been spliced in. It makes more sense if you read the post I linked, since the video in that post makes my point clearly.

< TANGENTIALLY RELATED >

The anime nerd in me is tempted to liken this whole deal ^ to JJBA/DIO's time-stopping stand "The World" in...that's right...Stardust Crusaders, wherein DIO pause time for everyone but himself, which I'm certain others have done as well.

Tbqh...I'm still here:

Specifically a reference to The World/DIO vs Star Platium/Jotaro, both of which are time-stopping stands...(Much to think about irt Jotaro/Star Platinum developing time-stopping powers later on in terms of El, sure, but also in terms of "Everything was hard for [One]...He walked in here, and it was like something had changed. He told me he had figured it out.").

[Distant screaming as I'm forcefully prevented from going on a "Stardust Spider-Stardust Crusaders-Dio Brando-Joestar Family-Dio's Bone-Green Baby-Green, Green Grass of Home" tangent in this post...and don't get me started on DIO's regen healing/vampirism from the ancient stone mask...don't get me started on King Crimson and Golden Experience Requiem either...]

Not to mention the DIO reference with One linking this scene to (you guessed it) Edward Munson:

Edward Creel proven once again, but this time it's via goddamn JJBA and Brenner fuckery. (And yes, yes, I know about DIO the band. This ain't about her. Things can have multiple meanings. It was a Choice to associate Henward with DIO and Eddie with DIO. I rest my case.)

< ANYWAY, TANGENTS ASIDE >

As I said earlier, close-up Brenner is shot at a distance baby El could never have achieved. She passes out on the far side of the room, entirely too far away to have been anywhere near close enough for a close-up of Brenner's face, height aside.

However, ignoring the blood fuckery and disappearing gate cracks:

Some-One else has enough energy left to walk towards the doors. All the way over, in fact. So while those close-up shots are 100% out of range for post-gate baby El, they're very much in-range for 3:46 PM One.

Tl;dr: It's entirely possible, if not likely (based on the choreography and camera-work in these scenes) that close-up/angry Brenner was addressing One rather than baby El.

[kaiowut99]

Johan Speaks! 🗣🔊💎 | Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V TFSP Re-Translation Project (WIP)

(Project announcement video/post)

Good news, everyone! 🧓🏽

So, thanks to chrisfand and I doing some digging over on a Tag Force modding Discord over the past 1.5-2 weeks (chrisfand's been around doing various TF-related mods, and after I saw some discussion about doing this, I got curious and swallowed a bit by a rabbit hole), we've figured out how to add spoken in-duel dialogue back to those who weren't given any! Likely one of the more disappointing things about how TFSP cut corners compared to the earlier games (while still fun of course), only the 25 characters with story events across each series's world gets spoken in-duel dialogue out of the box--and in digging through the file that boots the game/runs a bunch of code/has a bunch of text like the character names (the EBOOT file), we found that, rather than some deeper code setting a flag for enabling the others from Yugi and Shou in DM and GX all the way to Yuto and Shun in ARC-V and the TF/WDC-exclusives to have voices, there are hex pointer bytes for each character pointing to where the game should find their respective voice folder path on the disc to store in memory and then load the audio files from, and they were simply set to some empty space for everyone who's not the primary 25 (with folder paths for them not included). Finding some space in the Eboot to write in the folder paths for everyone, and starting with Johan as a test, I updated Johan's pointer accordingly and the game properly loads the voice pack I set up for him!

[More on that below, but tl;dr current plan is still getting the base game re-translated as-is while also setting up for a "deluxe" version with all this added in after that along the way]

For Johan's voicelines here, I pulled audio mostly from Tag Force 3 and tried to stick as close to his Japanese in-duel lines here as doable, but some lines are different vs TF3, so I pulled from Duel Links or Duel Terminal voicelines as needed (for example, Johan's duel-starting line about wanting to see his opponents' best [said to Judai in GX 106] here doesn't include the bit about "using up our skills/that's the kind of dueling I go for!" and instead his text is just the first part and then "Let me see the power you've got in ya!", but being the closest to what that is, I used that line. I also added his attack line with Rainbow Dragon near the end, figuring out how his line parameter file works and grabbing audio from Duel Terminal for it (how did he not already have an "Over the Rainbow!!" line), and while not shown here, there's his loss line, "People like you being out there's why I can't stop dueling!", which I grabbed from two Duel Links lines and edited to combine them into one file. There'll likely be similar editing involved for compiling voice packs for everyone else (and grabbing WDC and even maybe Wheelie Breakers audio, as apparently a handful of people like Himuro in 5D's were non-duelable in earlier TF games--for everything else, I'll probably scrape the anime, which I did here because, fun fact, Johan has in-duel lines for a "hehehehe" [heard in the video's cold open] and "hahahahah!" but he doesn't have audio in TF3 saying them; these being callbacks to his and Judai's duel vs Fujiwara, I grabbed the lines in question from GX 175 and ran them through Ultimate Vocal Remover to solid results). Leveling the volume some wil likely also be needed since, while I did my best with Johan's lines here, they are a bit quieter in spots than they probably should be. We also want to look at adding the newly-voiced characters to the Voice Test list so that comes up in the Database for them, but that'll be a later thing.

SO. All that being said, currently the plan's still to go on with getting the base game re-translated as-is, while setting things up for a later "deluxe" version. Along with voices/all there, I'll likely also want to add in lines for the different summon methods that GX-ZEXAL characters don't have (those get stock "I Special-Summon a Monster!" lines) and edit their voice packs accordingly with them. But some neat progress here (even briefly picked up assembly language thinking it might be needed lol). Stay tuned!

[bemusedlybespectacled]

re: Jenkins' tweets about how Buttons is a witch and there's no show without Izzy, IMO there are three possible ways to interpret that:

He's being cryptic because he in fact has no intention of resurrecting Izzy (outside of maybe being a guilt ghost, like Nigel) and is trying to mollify the fans.

He's being cryptic because he wants to keep his options open in the event that he does resurrect Izzy somehow.

He does actually plan to resurrect Izzy, via Buttons' sea witch magic or something similar.

I think it's #1, at best #2, because I think him resurrecting Izzy would cause more narrative problems than it solves.

Longer explanation under the cut:

So, okay, Buttons being kinda magic was hinted at throughout season 1 but, importantly, it was never actually confirmed one way or the other.

The fact that he can identify ships on the horizon as Spanish with his naked eye when Izzy needs a telescope could be proof of sea witch powers, or he could just have good eyesight and/or guessing ability.

His ability to talk to birds could be a legitimate skill, or it could be a figment of his imagination, like ghost!Nigel is for Stede.

The hex he puts on Calico Jack could be real, especially since Calico Jack gets hit by the cannonball after Olivia has her standoff with him... or it's a complete coincidence.

Even in season 2, we never actually see him transform: he walks off into the woods, the bowl falls on the ground, and we hear a seagull, but we don't actually KNOW he's turned into a seagull. There's no Swan Princess-esque transformation scene here.

The same ambiguity is present in the curse episode. It's never confirmed one way or the other whether the curse is real, because that ambiguity is part of the point (i.e. "it doesn't matter how you feel about it, Stede, you need to validate your crew's experiences and not be a selfish ass").

So say Jenkins ends up leaning hard into the magic thing, makes it explicit and unambiguous, and ressurects Izzy. That opens up a whole host of new problems for him, like:

If magic is real, what are the rules? How does it work? What can it do? What are its limits?

Who else in this world knows about it? Obviously Auntie does, but it doesn't seem like Zheng or anyone else does: why?

If it is known by other people, how well known is it? Why do so many people (like Stede and Izzy) not believe in it?

Who else in this world is magic? It can't just be Buttons, since he needed the scroll to turn into a bird and that presumably came from some other magic user.

How much of what we've seen is magic and not plot convenience/rule of funny? Are the Loony Toons physics magic? Is the ship staying afloat despite no one knowing how to sail magic? Is the characters' ability to row anywhere they want, including places they do not know or even have a reason to try to find in the first place, magic?

And, the most important one: if magic exists in this universe, and people know about it and believe in it, and if it's been underpinning the story this entire time, why does Izzy need to be resurrected at all?

I'm not saying these are insurmountable questions Jenkins has no way of answering. But they are questions he would start having to answer, which is not only a lot more work but also very easily verging into the ridiculous if not handled well. It's an incredibly difficult needle to thread. Like, even if he's not slapped with (honestly, valid) accusations of trying to do a do-over because of fan pressure, he's going to be veering off in a direction that is way more difficult to write in a way that feels authentic and satisfying and not forced.

And I currently don't trust him to handle it well! Since we just saw how well he handled killing off a main character and navigating the cast's romantic relationships, which are both way less complex in terms of world-building!

Fanfiction can absolutely handle this. The OFMD fandom has already picked up the magical realism ball and ran with it, which is one of the things I like about the show: a lot of tropes that are often kind of jarring to me in certain fandoms (not just magic in a world with no magic, but certain whump and angst tropes that sometimes feel a little overwrought) aren't jarring here, because there's some basis for it in the canon. Like, the fandom has already written a lot of stuff more complex and better understanding of the universe's rules than the S2 finale (even, dare I say, much of the second season in general).

But Jenkins and the writers team right now? Nah.

[zenkor123]

Katniss saw what Peeta’s back looks like

October 5th 75 DD. As guard she was outside the bathroom, Peeta found his uniform to be a heat sink, and got an insect bite, he took off his shirt. Katniss saw the back which was filled with warts and scars, dotting his back like someone with psoriasis. They included burns, scars from puncturing, scars from slashes, atrophic scars from starvation and a form of torture that destroyed fat, bite marks, stings and keloid scars Peeta was about to enter the sink enclosure and didn't notice her. It horrified her,she put her hands on her mouth and she ran off then returned to the other side of the restroom door as Peeta applied water to the insect bite. Peeta dropped his journal and it was open to "Peeta Mellark ???-75 DD t shows Peeta with a Snake's tongue and eyes and a train of lovers in the d12 meadow. Her self hatred was magnified.

at the bottom read a eulogy, no a death warrant Peeta had written

"Was old Peeta really worth fighting for? This runt! If I had continued I would have spent the rest of his life having episodes, being treated like a charity case, mooching District 13's resources like a parasite, for the lie that I could become Peeta, with his memories and identity who does not spend the rest of his life in a hospital bed. Who really cared about Peeta anyway? Why am I so pathetic, with my back that looks like the surface of mars, hallucinations from hell, a mind empty of identity living on false hope that the destroyed identity would return, a person without a real past? I am useless! Johanna and Delly had called me a mutt and I wish I was one, I would have a purpose I would be needed. I don't want to be used, never again! But if I have no past, in a sense that makes me a mutt, because do mutts have a past like humans do? Everything about me is wrong. Restoring Peeta had given me a purpose, and a delusion that everything was fine I just needed to work on recovering memories of the quell, that this wasn't real. I have done all this work in the name of restoring Peeta for what? My memories are mine and don't affect anyone else. Katniss who was mentioned all the time in the memory restoration efforts clearly didn't care, she has everything whatever happens to me in the hospital wing does not affect her. If the treatment was done for the star crossed lovers how pathetic was that! She does not give a fuck about me and never did, I am just a mere threat at this point, that's all I am to her, and if all my memories of her are false doesn't that make her a stranger? It made it all the more sad that I did work she never could imagine, for someone who had everything and would just laugh at me for being so stupid and then put an arrow in my head. I was glad that Coin has finally ended this sham. I requested my doctors "destroy" the Capitol transplants, so my mind could be my own, so I stopped being a living tombstone, so lies that are disrespectful not just to Katniss but to me, that I was forced to believe, would be wiped out, which they refused to do. A corpse or ruined city has value apparently. A person without a past has a clean slate for the future. The Capitol must pay! It's time to stop this self pity, well its a warrant for the burial of the late Peeta it isn't  self pity.  America when it fell became Panem so too will time let the Old Peeta rest. Thanks to 13, Hope is not yet lost, amidst the thundering storm clouds a ray of light is present, red white and blue, the colors of 13. I will not give up on living, from Peeta's corpse something even better will emerge. Even after all the Capitol threw at me I'm still alive and kicking."

When she was on the rotation for Annie she saw a back that looked similar to Peeta’s but it wasn't as horrifying as seeing Peeta's back. Peeta using illogic considered them to be physical features of a mutt thinking how most people didn't look like rainbows but he did, and compared himself to a leopard he thought of decorating his scars with paint. In September prior to his funny ideas the scars had given him tremendous shame even to look at them. Peeta told her this and Katniss wanted to puke. Her mind would revisit the image of the debased back, and would make her wince it was a disturbing image it appeared in her sleep and was an intrusive image in her mind.

As Peeta ran to the bathroom after being stung all his therapeutic drawings fell to the ground it included depictions of his time in the capitol. Katniss picked up after him after she visited Peeta’s symbolic grave. Katniss could not hold it in anymore and sobbed. She picked up all the other drawings of various topics related to his time in the capitol, the insides of the capitol torture avoxes fighting for their lives,"plumpy Avoxes being served" Darius and Lavnia, "overcooked food"burnt bodies, mutts of all different kinds. An avox was shown feeding them human flesh, feeding him Darius with Annie eating his flesh. The subtitles usually have black humor, "yummy human steak" The doctors who destroyed Peeta are also shown with their names written. Dead bodies abound everywhere, and President Snow beating Annie with a Cane is seen in another drawing, there are over 66 drawings in total all dropped pn the floor as Peeta ran to the bathroom. Nobody wanted to pick those dark photos up so it fell to Katniss. There are numerous drawings of the torture machines and President Snow overseeing it. The hijacking is also shown with films, hijacking equipment, tubes with venom, and shiny bubbles The last one is a drawing of a pill marked "mind breaker-Killer of Peeta Mellark." Without any attempt at humor. She puts the postcards back in an envelope that is in the front of the book, which Peeta named "Happy times in the capitol for therapy" with a yellow smily face in front of the envelope.(☺) Peeta leaves the bathroom, Katniss quickly puts the book down. "What the hell happened to you?" Peeta asks Katniss decides to be honest otherwise Peeta is going to think well .... "I saw your drawings of your torture in the capitol" "right my happy times in the capitol" Peeta laughs. Katniss just stares him she leaves out seeing Peeta's symbolic grave. .

[thunderin-brainstorm]

hi @fiercest-eigengrau-skies hope u don't mind me doing this but your tags reminded me of the rabbit hole i went down when i first saw the original post bc turns out there’s a decent number of fun mantis patterns out there!

THIS POST is the original, and this mantis is from OPs shop, along with a whole lotta other stuff for supporters which i adore, it's a dollar a month for the whole catalogue as far as i can tell and i've put it on my shortlist of things to subscribe to when i have the regular paycheck to do so. definitely the easiest+most affordable thing i looked at. it's also the reason i'm turning this into a separate post, bc i don't want to derail a post about OPs work with a buncha other products

but i found some other printable patterns too!

this one is from Creative Park, which i had never heard of but it's apparently a database of free papercrafts run by Canon?? extremely cool! it requires an account to download tho. comes on three sheets with a buncha fiddly bits to cut out and glue together, so i passed it up for now solely bc i'm not confident my wrists are strong enough to do that much fine detail work atm. there's a video showing the process here!

there's Cricut patterns for two types of mantises by this Etsy shop, i like the spread wings on the first one! looks like it's just the cutting pattern and not any coloration/details, which makes sense if it's for a cutting machine, but that just means you have the opportunity to color in your own designs. i'm sure you could cut these out by hand too

i'm sure there's origami patterns for mantids out there too, i just didn't check bc i was more focused on cutting than folding, so that's another avenue of research for anyone interested. if the appeal is having a mantis you can assemble and not strictly printed yourself, there's some other cool kits!

there's three or four mantis designs including an orchid mantis from a company called MakeBug, they make educational model kits for children out of what looks like thin cardboard or something similar. it doesn't look like they sell from this website but there seems to be listings for them on hobby stores and ebay. idk if these are even in production anymore??

Howcat seems to have a tone of finecut wood/paper model kits, mostly steampunk ships and such but a number of insects and animals too. i don't think this shop is just some dropshipper even though they're a Chinese company, it simply appears to be their western storefront instead of Taobao? there's kits for this orchid mantis pictured below and a different model for the EXTREMELY cool devil's flower mantis. i'm in love with all the swirly details

finally i'd be remiss if i didn't include these bc i actually own a couple, but Bandai ran a series of gashapon model kits with a lot of mantises! orchid mantis, leaf mantis, devi'ls flower mantis, newly hatched mantis, all kinds. there were other lines with wasps, ants, beetles, etc too, and they're all jointed and poseable! they come in little balls that turn into figure stands, or at least the mantises do. these aren't in production anymore so you'll have to find them on ebay like i did, but it's usually decently priced for a good model kit like these. (picture is from this reddit post)

anyway yeah, uh. here ya go folks have some bugs. this isn't an ad, i'm not sponsored by anybody, i just really love mantises

actually if anybody has any other cool mantis figure suggestions i'd love it if you added them!

[pinkprettycure]

I was thinking that Crunchyroll is a really bad site for kids anime because it lacks any good age filters or categories but now that I'm browsing the site it's just dogshit for anime fans in general imo??

this is the genre tags we have, it's extremely small and general tbh The shows also aren't properly tagged all the time so you might click on something and not see it in there because it wasn't tagged.

For example A Sign of Affection is tagged with "Romance" ONLY. so you can't find it in the shojo tag at all. The way they're defined is up to god as well because they have shows that aren't shojo under the shojo tag and whether or not a show even gets tagged with it seems based on if they remember it exists cuz you might argue maybe My Love Story isn't tagged shojo cuz the protag is male and there's a misconception that shojo = female protag, but Super Lovers is a BL and it IS in there.

It's not based on the magazines they ran in (Skip and Loafer is under shojo but ran in a seinen magazine) and it's not based on the protagonist's gender because Super Lover's is a BL and tagged shojo, and its not even based on like, whether or not the demographic is female regardless of if it's magazine (Precure is a girls anime first series and IS tagged shojo but Brother's Conflict targets girls as well and ISN'T tagged as shojo.)

Under shojo is a subcategory for magical girls which you already see a large glaringly obvious problem here right off the bat, only the very first precure is even in it.

Since MG is a subcategory of "shojo" it means that any non-shojo magical girls aren't in it, not that it matters since it's utterly lacking in shojo magical girls as well, this is NOT their only selections, they have for shojo magical girls, they have a bunch of Precure of course, Creamy Mami, Fancy Lala, Minky Momo, a few Pretty series shows, and Acro Trip off the top of my head.

Magical Girl IMO shouldnt be a subcategory at all, it should be it's own genre category and they should include everything under the umbrella in there regardless of demographic and then have subcategories such as shojo, ecchi, or idol underneath THAT. Madoka, Spec-ops Asuka, and Boueibu SHOULD be possible to locate under the same category as Sailor Moon and not just by digging through a massive generic tag like "Fantasy"

Mecha is a similar problem where it's a sub category under Sci-fi instead of it's own genre tag, I do think Mecha makes sense as subtag way more than MG does and at least it has a healthy amount of shows in its subcategory but it really should be it's own thing with it's own subtags, doesn't have to be just like, super and real robot it could be for stuff like whether it has heavy romance or the settings like if the battles primarily are in space like Gundam 79 vs in a fantasy isekai world like Escaflowne.

There isn't a tag for BL or Yuri at all, Super Lovers like I mentioned before is tagged as Shojo but Junjou Romantica is tagged as Drama and Romance and Love Stage is only tagged with Romance.

These shows are all way too hard to find if you don't know where to look or what to look for, and a fan who wants to find something new to watch will have little luck since their favorite genres either don't exist or aren't tagged properly, you can't really search unless the genre is in the name and you still get irrelevant shows in the search. So looking for "Yuri" gets you "Yuri on Ice" and not Strawberry Panic, and the "more like this" carousel is hit or miss on if it shows anything relevant. I saw Quintessential Quintuplets and Rent-A-Girlfriend under the recommendations for Citrus and I imagine anyone watching infamous yuri anime Citrus is not interested in a het harem with a male lead or whatever the fuck is going on with rent a girlfriend.

like its one thing imo for Hulu and Netflix to just slap a bunch of anime under one tag and call it a day but a site targeted specifically toward nerds that's trying to be THEE one stop spot for all things anime and japanese media? this is fucking embarrassing.

[mrfellsans]

✩Got inspired to write the thoughts that came in my head after reading angst time with @cutechan555 ✩

Warning. This is kinda long-

This makes me wonder if there is a core memory that would take ages for peppino just to remember at least one heart breaking and impactful moment he had including Naya caretta and Theo (there would probably be happy memories to but er ya know)

For tragic ones: Like for peppino to remember a bit of noise as a kid he would probably remember the second before he blacked out which was when he saw kid noise crying in front of him, I feel like this would be a core memory since he wanted to help noise he didn't want him to get hurt and before he blacked out and got amnesia I feel like he would try his best to at least comfort him for a second but the foggyness caught up and he was never able to help one last time, For Naya I'm thinking maybe she was in a dangerous situation where she wandered off into a little forest near the park leading her to a pack of stray dogs that crowded around her and tries attacking her but luckily peppino came in last second grabbed her and ran out the forest with her and other then this being a dangerous situation I feel like this would be the first time Peppino helped Naya out in a bad situation like that so I'm thinking like Naya was very thankful and probably said a simple like "Thank you mama Pino" and those words probably hit like a truck for peppino cuz it showed how much they care about Pino And for Caretta I feel like it be a bit similar to Nayas but different in a way, technically caretta wondered off on purpose and she was missing for like the whole day and then eventually around sunset peppino found her and lashed out a bit out her for just going without a trace and caretta just doesn't care and like peppino sits next to her and ask her what's wrong and she says "Ive been thinking of bad things happening" and like peppino starts feeling a bit bad since kids they don't rlly learn about sad stuff at an early age and he ask what are those thoughts and caretta responds with "I'm scared you won't be with us forever like one day your gonna die, today I learned what dying was and I don't want mommy or daddy to die or you" and peppino probably hesitates to respond and says "don't worry I'll be here for as long as you like" and caretta is like "But what if one day you have to go? Are you gonna say bye?" And I feel like that just hurt peppino anymore, this tiny child is thinking of worse case scenarios and I feel like if your like an older person and you hear like a little kid talking about stuff like that it it just hits different you know? Not in a good way but a painful way. After that he said he would promise to say bye and picked her up and took her back home, though that bye never happened.

Anyways I got inspired by these scenarios by: Noise car accident comic that CC made, Naya for having a pet doggo named James, and for caretta a similar experience I had with a child earlier today

Naya by @luigigirl12

(Sorry if y'all didn't wanna be tagged my mind just started going haywire after reading the angst cc made 🥲)

[disappointmentthemusical]

grammar basics

punctuation

commas are only used:

to separate two independent clauses with a conjunction, e.g., "I went to the park, and and I ate ice cream, so I'd say it was a pretty good day." (A sentence like: "I think we should leave and go home" does not need a comma because the second phrase, "and go home," is a dependent clause.)

to surround nonessential information. This is anything that is not vital to the sentence. Essential vs. nonessential information examples: a. "He drove by a row of houses, which were packed tightly together." vs. "He drove by a row of houses that were packed tightly together." "Which" is indicative of nonessential information, which requires use of a comma, while "that" is used for essential information and does not use a comma. b. "And then she ran to hug her wife, Sarah." vs. "And then she ran to hug her wife Sarah." If the subject has only one wife, then the name and title are separated by a comma. But if the subject has many wives, and it must be clarified which wife she's hugging, then the name is essential and does not have a comma. This is true for anything: friends, parents, siblings, coworkers, etc.

for lists. USAmerican journalism does not allow the Oxford comma, but it doesn't matter in other fields, so long as it's consistent.

after an exact date or location is given. Example: "We met on Aug. 13, 2001, and fell in love immediately, but I had to catch a bus to Beaufort, South Carolina, to meet my fiance's family."

Semicolons are used:

to separate two similar independent clauses without a conjunction. Example: "He smirked meanly; it was always so easy to rile his sister." (NOTE: The correct alternative to this sentence is to split it into two, not use a comma; that would be a comma splice.)

for lists, for clarity. Examples: "When I was at grandma's house, I ate green beans; shrimp and grits; and macaroni and cheese"; "When we get home we need to do the laundry; make sure Roger is OK with everyone coming over and ask about his stereo; clean the kitchen; and bury the body." (NOTE: While it's up to preference whether to include the Oxford comma, use the semicolon after each list item.)

Ellipses are only used:

to indicate that part of a quote has been taken out.

Em-dashes are used:

to indicate a pause, e.g. "The kid looked – strange." NOT "The kid looked... strange."

to include nonessential information or give an aside. E.g., "And when I saw her in that dress – blue, just like her eyes – I felt my heart stop."

turns of phrase and redundancies

It's only "whether," NOT "whether or not" – that's redundant.

"Try to" NOT "try and."

Toward, forward, onward, etc., NOT towards, forwards, onwards, etc.

Regarding, with regard to, in regard to. (Never "regards.")

"Unexpected surprise" – all surprises are unexpected.

"Heavy in weight" – so it's heavy.

"X colored" – just say the color.

numbers

Spell out numbers 0-9, and use numerals for 10 and above. This includes things like the fifth and the 11th.

Use numerals for all ages, and hyphenate it. Examples: "His eldest grandchild is 36-years-old, but his youngest is not yet 3-months-old!"

Use numerals for height and measurements, e.g., "The gnome stood proudly at 1-foot and 3-inches tall."; "The dude's got to be at least 6-foot-5."

[shadowchellen]

Silver Kingdom Pastry / Faerie Pastry AU

Also known as 'The Silverless Faerie'

Just nutshell summary:

An AU where Pastry runs away from the St.Pastry Order and find herself in the Faerie Kingdom where she becomes a citzen of the kingdom as well swear an oath to Elder Faerie to protect him and the seal after learning about the Beasts from him.

Then swearing an oath to White Lily Cookie during the events of Beast yeast Episode 1+2

-----

I'm going to put more information down under read more because this AU been bouncing in my head and I really want to do work on this Au + even write a few drabbles for it.

More detail information:

After learning the truth about the Witches at the Tower of Sweet Chaos; Pastry runs away from the St.Pastry Order and ends up in Beast Yeast in hopes that the Order wouldn't follow her across the island.

At some point; Pastry ends up in the Faerie Kingdom after Silverbell Cookie discovered her passed out in the forest with a high fever during a patrol. Being confused and panicking on the inside; Pastry tries to leave the room that she woke up in to only find her body protesting as she's still suffering from a fever.

It doesn't take long for a faerie cookie walks in and spots that she is wake; the faerie cookie gives Pastry some soup and medicine, not answering any question Pastry has before leaving despite Pastry's demand for the cookie to stay and answer her questions.

Questions that would soon be answered when Elder Faerie walks into the room whom was informed by the faerie cookie that Pastry has finally woken up after three days of discovering her in the forest.

Elder Faerie answer most of Pastry's questions (where she is, what happened and who he is.) in return for Pastry answering some of his questions (Who she is and what she was doing in the forest in the first place but doesn't reveal she ran away from the Order or what she discovered about the Witches and White Lily.).

Afterwards; Elder Faerie allows Pastry to stay in the kingdom so that she can find a new purpose in her life after she recovered from her fever and her revealing she doesn't know what to do.

During this time, Pastry got to know the faerie cookies including Silverbell Cookie and Mercurial Knight Cookie; the latter of which she becomes best friends as they both had similar connections (both of them gave up their flavour + name for a purpose.)

She also discovered that White Lily Cookie is regarded as a hero in the kingdom as well as her body, which confused her since she saw White Lily got rebaked into Dark Enchantress Cookie.

Once she discovered White Lily's body; Pastry goes to Elder Faerie to confront him about it; fearing that she's being trick somehow again.

She reveals she knows what happened to White Lily to Elder Faerie and the actual reason why she was in the forest in the first place (her running away from the Order), including how she witness what happened on the Night of the Witches (cookies being eaten alive and White Lily being rebaked.)

After getting over the shock and horror that Pastry described to him; Elder Faerie comfort Pastry before explaining how the world isn't black and white as he tells her the story about the five Beasts whom would have destroyed Earthbread if the Witches didn't seal them away for their crimes.

Elder Faerie then tells Pastry to think over about it and allow her to come to her own conclusion, as he doesn't want to influence her and want her to walk down her own path of freedom and truth.

It takes a few days, however, Pastry finally able to accept the truth as well, swearing an oath to Elder Faerie to protect him and the seal so that the Beasts Cookie doesn't get released into the world.

Some time pass and that's when Pure Vanilla + the group shows up. Pastry just lingered on the side, mainly keeping to herself, and follow the group.

That's when all hell breaks loose, considering the seal broke and Shadow Milk Cookie is released. Pastry helps the group out and assisting them to the best of her abilities.

When Elder Faerie Cookie dies; Pastry becomes upset however doesn't cry since they still need to take care of Shadow Milk thus shove her grief to the side and allow her angry to fuel her to keep going.

She quickly tells White Lily Cookie that she will protect her since she is the new guardian.

Pastry doesn't get captured by Shadow Milk when Shadow Milk capture some of the group for the final round. When arriving at the final confrontation with the jester; Pastry tries to encourage White Lily Cookie to fight Shadow Milk Cookie as Earthbread would be doom if the jester wins.

White Lily Cookies seals Shadow Milk Cookie which Pastry is happy about.

In the aftermath; Pastry goes to the side so that she can finally grieve over the loss of Elder Faerie Cookie due to the fact that she saw him as a father figure and a positive influence on her life (especially since she was mainly surrounded by negative influence before meeting him.)

She still attends to the feast since the feast is in honour of Elder Faerie despite the fact she wants to be alone since she doesn't want to dishonour Elder Faerie's memories.

There's also a bitter side as she wished Elder Faerie didn't die in the first place, however she doesn't blame Pure Vanilla, White Lily or anyone in the group since she knows it's not their fault but instead blames Shadow Milk and Dark Enchantress (the latter breaking the seal in the first place which allows Shadow Milk to escape in the first place.)

Afterwards, Pastry swear an oath on her life and fork that she will protect White Lily Cookie since she is the new Guardian, and she wants to ensure that the seal doesn't get broken again or fight against the Beasts to the bitter ends if they do get out again.

Even despite not feeling ready for an adventure; Pastry will follow the group due to the oath she swore to White Lily as she doesn't want to break the oath that she made.

[lampmanliveblogs]

Ah, I see The Collector used his space magic to summon a book filled with the completed version of all the fanfics I’ve never finished. I know I always say it’ll be a miracle if I ever get all my ideas written down, but I didn’t think it’d take an actual miracle.

You guys might think I’m exaggerating, and I am for comedic effect, but not by much. Just today, I started jotting down yet more notes on my phone while eating lunch at work. What if Masha discovered that they had psychic powers? I have so many unfinished first chapters, short snippets of dialogue, and premises for stories written down on my computer, phone, in various notebooks, pieces of cardboard, and reciept paper lying around. It’s honestly a bit ridiculous.

Oh wait, the pages are stone slabs? Or maybe they’re supposed to be clay tablets? That’s kinda cool actually, brings to mind the earliest stories written down by man in our own world. You know, like the Epic of Gilgamesh.

…hold on, I gotta go get myself a drink to dramatically spit out in shock and disbelief, give me a sec.

…

”Right, now where was I?” I say as I sit back down with a refreshing beverage. I rewind the video by a few seconds and hits play as I take a sip of my drink.

”Collectors live long, we watch things pass.”

”Pfft!” I spit out my drink in shock and disbelief, spraying my computer screen with liquid. ”What!?” I exclaim between coughs. ”Other Collectors?

I mean yeah, sure, The Collector is a child of the stars and whatnot, I kinda figured there’d maybe be some subtle hint at a larger pantheon out there, but, uh… I guess we get it confirmed right here, right now. I was even thinking of including a joke about The Collector’s parents being Mother Nature and Father Time, I just couldn’t figure out how to work it in.

Alright, calm down Lampman, think…

Based on this short summary, it appears that the collectors are if not gods, then at the very least god-like beings. They travel the cosmos and collect specimen of various lifeforms to preserve them in their collections. That in and of itself doesn’t sound all that horrible… but, ah… that second paragraph is a bit concerning.

Should the mortal beings they collect begin to meddle in the affairs of the Collectors (like, oh, I dunno, maybe NOT wanting to be turned into a collectible), they’ll scorch the planet and wipe them all out. Which… yeah that sounds about right for gods of mythology.

Our little Lord of the Fireflies doesn't like that mentality though, they’d rather play games and have fun and make friends (though evidently, The Collector still don’t care too much about what the mortals want).

Right of the bat, this does make me wonder something: is it possible that The Collector we saw in the Owlbeast’s flashback in Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door wasn’t THE Collector, but another collector? Cause that’d explain why that one didn’t look a whole lot like this Prince of Plastic

It also makes we wonder if maybe The Collector ISN’T the Grand Huntsman worshipped by the Titan Trappers, but rather, another collector (or several of them). Indeed, we see at the bottom of the page, three collectors looming over several worshipping humans. Because’s I’ve been wondering about that; aside from calling King’s dad a bully for putting him in divine time-out, The Collector really didn’t seem to have much against Titans from what we’ve seen thus far. Heck, he was super excited to meet King. So could it be that The Collector was not the one responsible for wiping out the Titans, but rather some other collector?

What I’m thinking right now is that The Collector is the divine equivalent of a kid that ran away from home. And their family either doesn’t care, doesn’t know, or enough time has not passed for them to notice.

(hm… a kid that ran away from home because they didn’t fit in with their peers… where have I heard a similar story before…?)

(the book mentions that the collectors would scorch the air… the demon realm planet is covered in a boiling sea… perhaps scorching the air is a more poetic way of saying ”set off a bunch of volcanoes”? In real life, the worst mass extinction event known was caused not by the meteorite that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs, but a massive flood basalt taking place about 251.9 million years ago, colloquially referred to as ”The Great Dying.” Volcanoes are good at killing stuff, is my point. and undersea volcanoes spewing out lava would explain why the sea is always boiling)

I mean, look at this face. Does this look like the face of someone who could wipe out a race of giants? Look at him! He couldn’t hurt a fly.

Except Belos, but he doesn’t count.

And I guess they did turn an island’s worth of people into puppets and force them to play along in their games, hmmm…

[ashtoberr]

ASHUTA IS SO COOL OHHH MYYY GODDD •□•!!!!!

Hi hi I loveeee your csm oc / insert ♡♡ THEYRE SO COOL Her lore is so interesting 💭💭 At least. The lore that I've seen so far is so interesting. AND HER DESIGN IS SO CUTE I ADORE IT SM 🏂🏾🏂🏾🏂🏾

I always love it when ocs break the "norm" of their universe (idk if that makes sense but her being a vampire when most, if not all of the supernatural entities are devils/Devil adjacent is so swag and cool and based I LOVE SEEING CHARACTERS LIKE THAT 🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽)

Her and Aki seem so cute too :3cc I don't think you understand how STOKED I was to see them in the selfship tag. Saw it and ran around my room screaming (in spirit not in action) because YES !!! FINALLY!!! IM STARTING TO SEE MORE PEOPLE W/ CSM SELF SHIPS / OC X CC SHIPS !!!!

I wanna know all ur thoughts about Ashuta 💭💭 She genuinely seems like such a cool character they're so epic and awesome n cool n swag ((o(^∇^)o))

OMG HI!!!! IM SORRY I JUST SAW THIS Ahhh thank you so much!!! It's super exciting to met another CSM selfshipper!!!! :DDD I'd love to hear abt ur self insert omg I'm so glad you like her!!!!!!! It actually means a lot, she makes me really happy to work on :D

And trust me I will provide on Ashuta lore >:3 Here is The Food For Today. I didn't include art this time bc I have been eepy. I have ideas for long after this, but this is the general gist. I plan to eventually draw a lot (if not all) of this out. Here's her concept for her first appearance and mission (Chapters 14 to 20, or up to episode 7 in the anime):

So, after being found by Makima:

She is added to the team briefly after Denji and Power. I'm currently undecided at which point she should enter the story; I'm thinking about prior to Chapter 14.

Makima helps her find a place (up until this point, she's been homeless since becoming a vampire) near Aki's apartment, encouraging her to make friends. She suggests Denji could use a friend since he's similar to her (not fully human, rough background).

Ashuta believes that since she'll be on a team of devils and humans, she would be more likely to make friends since they should be more accepting, right? She shows up to the Hayakawa apartment with some food, trying to introduce herself as a new member of the team (and not disclosing herself as a vampire yet- Power can tell, but doesn't care enough to point it out).

Denji thinks at first she's friendly, but a bit too polite and wonders how someone like her got chosen by Makima. Power doesn't initially feel strongly about her either way, though she's delighted to meet Meowy.

Aki thinks she's polite (and finally someone easy for him to get along with on his squad), but questions why she became a devil hunter after a couple hours of them hanging out. She briefly explains that she's a vampire, and that her life was ruined by the Vampire Devil. Aki's tone quickly changes knowing she's not human, and the night is sort of abruptly ended.

CHAPTER 14:

She's integrated into the group with Chapter 14's mission in the hotel being her first (could be retconned later.)

She's a bit hurt with the talk of Aki and Arai not trusting "non-humans" and saying they don't have human rights, so she's quick to become very quiet since she assumed Makima's team of devils and humans meant she was more likely to be accepted.

Himeno can quickly tell that she looks upset and comes over to strike up a conversation, and the two make small talk throughout the mission. She tells her to not mind Aki, that he's just had bad experiences with devils. Ashuta protests that she's not a devil, but a devil makes an appearance before Himeno can respond.

Himeno discusses with Aki later in the mission that she's surprised Ashuta is so conscientious for a vampire- Aki shrugs and believes it's her being deceptive. Himeno goes to suggest he give Ashuta a chance.

CHAPTER 15:

Ashuta does bond a bit with Denji over the mission, both of them asking each other questions about their respective species ("So are you allergic to garlic?" and "Does it hurt when your chainsaws come out?")

CHAPTER 16:

In hopes of winning Aki's approval, Ashuta offers to help Aki hunt for the devil. She explains that since vampires don't really need to sleep much, she could help him all he wants.

Aki, unimpressed, asks why she's so hellbent on trying to please him when he doesn't care about wether she lives or dies as a non-human.

CHAPTER 18:

In the hysteria of facing the eternity devil, Ashuta finally snaps at Kobeni after trying to keep everyone calm the entire mission, telling her she's going to be a shit devil hunter if she freaks out at the slightest inconvenience. Kobeni yells back that it was easy for her to say, that she'd been calm and collected the entire mission because she can't die. Ashuta yells at her that pussying out and turning on her teammates made it more likely for all of them to die, and to shut the fuck up and help if she was going to stay a devil hunter. It certainly doesn't make Kobeni like her, but it shuts her up.

CHAPTER 20:

Ashuta joins the newbie welcome party. Denji questions how she can eat if she's a vampire, and she shrugs and explains that it's the same way devils eat- the only difference is human food isn't of nutritional substance to her and she doesn't retain any energy from it, she eats it for nostalgia purposes and the taste.

Ashuta lightens up when Makima joins the party, glad to see someone familiar- she considers Makima a friend, being the first person who was nice to her.

During the party, Makima asks Aki how Ashuta's first mission was, and wether she had done satisfactory. Aki admits that she did well, and Ashuta can't help but be a little happy at his approval.

As the night progresses, she gets drunk enough where she feels less afraid to approach Aki again. The two actually end up talking some. While drunk, Aki apologizes for the way that he had regarded her earlier in the night, and that she handled her first mission well, remaining composed in such a stressful situation .

Ashuta shrugs, and says it's fine- when she was turned into a vampire, she'd been shunned by everyone she once knew. She explains she still considers herself the same person she was before, but she fears rejection from humans more than she fears injuries from devils. He suggests she come stop by their apartment again sometime (more out of drunken guilt than actual like for her, but it's a start to them becoming friends).

[kenjakus-frontal-lobe]

SwampCon Post !

Hello!

So, last weekend, I attended SwampCon on campus. I'm a huge con-goer outside of this class in general (I have been to maybe 8-9? I'm a frequenter to MegaCon and SuperCon), so this was pretty fun for me. I actually attended both days, all day, as a volunteer! I'm also a cosplayer, so I got to engage in that bit of culture as well.

I think one of the most fascinating aspects of fan culture that I love to engage with, that we also discussed a bit in class, is the common-ness of fanworks based on media. I'm the biggest fan ever of artist alleys at conventions! The second you step into one, you're surrounded by fan reproductions of whatever medias you can think of. I believe there was only one stand in the entire con selling official merchandise in the vendor hall; everything else was made by some individual with their own artistic skill. I always have found there's kind of a beauty in that, that fan culture celebrates the abilities of individuals to add their own personal touches to popular media. A lot of these fan works will crossover characters, or dress them up in whatever clothes the artist wants, or, more simply, the characters are depicted in a style much different than their original source. There's a love for individuality and self-expression even amidst a unified culture.

I most certainly engaged in a good level of shadow cultural capital. (1) On Saturday, I believe I bought four pins related to the character I was cosplaying on Sunday, so I could decorate my lanyard with little references that quite a few folks caught. (2) A couple folks asked me the media or the character I was cosplaying from, and I got to explain it. (3) On Saturday, I ran into someone who didn't even seem to be attending the con -- and yet he called out the character I was cosplaying, made a joke about the media (Steel Ball Run anime WILL be announced on April 12th!), and we fist-bumped. (4) A pair of artists from the artist alley chased me down on Sunday to show me one of their t-shirts, which was a reference to the character I was cosplaying. (5) An artist recognized the FMAB pins on my lanyard on Saturday, and showed me her new FMAB print -- which I bought without hesitation. (6) While checking in attendees on Sunday in my volunteering position, multiple people caught onto the character I was cosplaying, and showed me merch they had or made references to my character. In other words, so much of actively engaging in a con is just these small little cultural exchanges, showcases of your knowledge to impress others with similar knowledge. It doesn't do a whole lot sometimes, but it does make you feel pretty good!

There's quite a large variety of folks who attend cons -- I wouldn't exactly call fan culture "youth culture". There were plenty of fellow college students, of course, but also quite a few older adults. I saw parents, and even grandparents, and some were also engaged in cosplay! I was pulled over by a group of highschoolers on Sunday so they could get pictures with my cosplay, and had a nice conversation with an elderly man on Saturday. I think there's an appealing idea of engaging with others based on your interest that appeals to everyone; the only requirement to engage is to simply be passionate about something, and most folks do have a desire to belong to some sort of community.

Overall, I'm really happy I went to SwampCon. I had plans to go regardless of this course's requirement, but I get to talk about it here, so that's an extra bonus. It's nice to feel so connected to a community, with a reminder that there's so many other people like you out there.

I have attached some pics! If you're curious at all, I made the Viktor cosplay, including the staff, myself. And if you ran into me at SwampCon, hello!