#A lot of times it can be chalked up to “thinks the animal world is made up of heterosexual nuclear families” mythology but

[hypermascbishounen]

why do so many Christians specifically anthropomorphize animals so much? Like, not in actual just for biblical metaphors way, that makes sense. I always see them specifically dropping bible verses in their comments on animal videos while talking about what they assume is going on, and it's always *wildly* incorrect lol

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

Unpopular Opinion? (And if it is, I don't give a fuck..) but Viv doubling down on how Mimzy couldn't possibly be an antisemitic fatphobic stereotype and no one in their right mind that wasn't just a bad faith critic could possibly read her that way because she "based her off of a chicken" and basically "pointing at her and immediately accusing her of being an antisemitic stereotype makes my white passing latina atheist ass 'uncomfy' so can we stop now? 😬 " and then just giving her a fucking tattoo of the symbol of the greed ring in the final product makes all the antisemitic and fatphobic stereotyping that Medrano claims she's like, totally not doing THAT much worse ...

Especially since they supposedly already kinda admitted to Rosie being Jewish Coded?

And like, I'm not Jewish myself, though I'm also Irish American so I can make this joke, but the fact that the Evil Leprechaun Overlord of the Hazbin fandom who makes his gold off of shitty YouTube clickbait exploiting every bit of "drama" related to Hazbin he can get his sweaty neo nazi gamer simping mits on doesn't agree Mimzy is an antisemitic stereotype ether, doesn't mean shit to me ether but I do think Viv should just put out a statement about him or something, too...

puts him in scenarios puts him in scenarios puts him in scenarios (which is your favorite?)

[another-goblin]

I've seen a lot of interesting opinions about Dr. Ratio. Some of them I disagree with. So I decided to compile a little list of why I disagree with them. The first part will be about things that seem factually incorrect, and the second part is about things that are rather a matter of interpretation and context.

As always, I might be wrong, so feel free to correct me.

1. Things that seem factually incorrect. 

"Ratio is an egoist and does everything for attention and recognition" - I don't remember him ever saying or doing anything that would indicate that. He saved these researchers secretly and made our TB take all the credit. He later even calls himself a "supporting character". He gets angry if we ask him for an autograph.

"He doesn't care about people" - yes, if you skipped his passionate speech to Screwllum about how much he cares about people. But also, everything he does in the game is helping people (saving these researchers on Herta station, offering us his help later in the express dialogues and messages - offering us to enroll in university, participate in devates, turn the express into a weapon, later helping Aventurine with his plan, helping him to find information, and so on).

"He hasn't achieved anything in science" - the list of his scientific achievements is easily available, I wouldn't say it's nothing. But I'll also leave this here:

Even his dedicated hater disagrees with this.

"Ratio's note did nothing to convince Aventurine to stay alive, it was all Acheron" - from how I see it, he was fully determined to end his life up until he read that note. Otherwise, why would they introduce the note at all? Why did Acheron feel the need to remind him of it?

"He never wanted to draw the gaze of Nous" and "He still wants it" - we can deduce that it isn't true from different parts of the game (he actually wanted it in the past but doesn't anymore), but that is a direct confirmation:

(I trust Screwllum's opinion.)

"Everybody hates him in-universe" - this is interesting because I even heard this from his fans. And it might sort of feel intuitive, but I don't remember any evidence of that. He literally has an in-universe fan club. People who knew him closely talk about him warmly in his character stories. The only person I remember ever expressing any negativity towards him was some shcolar in the Simulatred Universe, but I don't think it counts. I'll talk more about his students in particular later, but short version: I don't think they hate him either.

"I hate it when he tells me 'Zero points, get out' and throws chalk at me, that's mean" - that's so weirdly specific, but I've seen it a dozen times already. And, like, why??? He tells it to his enemies, not to us. I mean, nobody's angry at Serval for electrocuting her fans with her guitar just because that's what she does in her fighting animation.

Speaking of combat voice lines, if we wait too long, most characters get irritated and try to hurry us up. Meanwhile Ratio:

'That's okay, take your time, it's a turn-based game after all.'

"He's physically abusive to his students, he throws chalk at them" - similar to the previous point. I don't remember any mention of him doing that. The only case of him using physical force against a (potential) student was when, as a TA, he threw away a rich asshole who tried to buy a degree. And yes, in the boring real world, I wouldn't approve of that, but in the world of the game - well done, good ridance!

"He doesn't tolerate people disagreeing with him, he thinks he's always right"

"He's responsible for the crisis at Herta Station" - how though? I saw this opinion several times, and I'm really curious what people mean by that. Did he himself endanger these researchers by teleporting them who knows where, then faked the video from Duke Inferno, and so on? But why stop here while we're at it , maybe he also impersonated Ruan Mei, left the bug on the station, abandoned the poor cat-creatrures and drugged us with a cake?…

"He's worse than Dottore from Genshin" - technically it's a matter of opinion, but I think nobody will mind if I put it in the 'just wrong' category. But yeah, that's an opinion I've heard. I've got no idea what they meant, but it made me think, how many people did he help and save, both in the game and in his past? Probably more than most of the characters we've met so far. And he doesn't seem to discriminate, it's not 'I'll save my people'. He cured that disease for everybody's benefit, he saved Herta's researchers, he helped TB unravel the events on the station and then proceeded to pester them offering his help, he cosideres some troubled IPC executive 'his responsibility' and so on.

"He actually betrayed Aventurine" - no comments. Come on, play the game, read the dialogues.

1.5. A little intermission.

The thing that's hard to deny is that he definitely doesn't mince his words. Whether you see it as him being a rude asshole, being justifiably angry, brutally honest, sarcastic, or snarky, or showing tough love, or just being incapable of expressing himself in an adequate and socially acceptable way, it's up to you. I can understand how some people might be uncomfortable with that. I personally find it an interesting character trait. (I mean, he isn't even capable of expressing positive feelings in a normal way, what did you expect of him?):

There is also a very interesting (but rather confusing) thing that can be missed if you are unwilling to see further than the initial shallow impression, but it is impossible to unsee once you've noticed it. He sees himself as a teacher in two very different ways. It can be missed at first because both ways are described in very similar words. These ways are: 

a teacher in a traditional sense (let's call it 'academic teacher'); 

and as something akin to a 'life coach', just helping people and making them realize that they shloud (and can) rely on themselves.

The thing is, we never see him in his 'academic teacher' role. As far as we know, he only acts this way with his university students. We never see him teaching anybody any scientific stuff, or berating people for their lack of knowledge and education. Yet he says that he considers everybody his students. But what does he mean if it's not about knowledge? He means it in the second 'life coach' meaning. Therefore, he sees literally everybody as worthy of his help and support.

BTW, I feel like his main problem as a character is that people tend to settle on the first impression they get of him and are unwilling to see further than that. Meanwhile, the game continues to explore his personality, revealing that most things about him are actually the opposite of what they might seem at first. That's why so many people think that he calls everybody idiots for being less smart than him, that he's egoistic and unfeeling, that he values knowledge above all, and so on. So if you actually have interest in him as a character, I'd encourage you to look at him more closely.

2. Now to the things that are more open to interpretation.

"He uses mean words" -to be honest, I'm not a big fan of writers making him use these words (idiots, fools, stupidity, and so on) because, first, they are usually used as just empty insults. (I'm curious whether he uses similar words in Chinese or something more nuanced). So I can understand how it can put some people off. And the second problem is that it feels like he means different things every time he uses these words. It's quite confusing. Here is a post where people helped me find different cases of him using these words; you can check it out yourself.

Let's look closer at some of these cases: 

-'While geniuses wander among the stars, the ordinary can't even trace their footsteps. Those less gifted have no choice but to walk alone, enduring a lifetime of tumbles and triumphs. But even a life marked by failure is a life worth living — it is only in moments of solitude and despair, when help is absent, that fools grasp how to pick themselves up' He seems to contrast geniuses with fools here, so fools are everybody who's not a genius. So if you are inclined to see him this way, if you squint, you can technically see it as him insulting people based on their intellectual abilities, right?… Except, he includes himself among these fools, so no:

So it's basically 'all who are not geniuses are fools, including me'. Which is an interesting way to put it, but it definitely doesn't mean ''you are all fools for not being as smart as me''.

But he mostly uses these words when he talks about his fellow scholars:

-'First, with the headpiece on, isolated from my five senses, I can think without interference. And second, I don't have to set eyes on stupid people' - we only see him wearing the plaster head on Herta's Station, a place full of the most brilliant minds in the universe. We never see him using it again with normal people, so the word 'stupid' here can't be about people's intelligence.

There is also an interesting little detail:

He admires her intelligence (although in a sarcastic manner) in his 'about Herta' voiceline. He doesn't wear his 'anti-stupid' mask when he's with TB or Aventurine, but he always wears it with Herta. Which is very telling, and indicates again what he means by 'stupid'.

Some other examples:

-'(…)the fools from the Guild with ambitions beyond stars should be banished from my sight and thereby mind' -'Don't invert priorities like these dolts from the guild' -'I cannot stand fools, idiots, or imbeciles. Seeing them fills me with dread. Regrettably, this space station is just like the Intelligentsia Guild — devoid of geniuses and filled with mediocrity' -'Ah, the Technology Department. Charming little place, isn't it? Madam Yabuli does possess some semblance of competence, but her subordinates? Oh, they're a riot — brimming with enthusiasm yet utterly devoid of intellect. It's as if evolution halted prematurely for them'

He is absolutely RUTHLESS when he talks about scientists, because he expects a lot from them.

So no, I don't think he'd call you an idiot for not being an A student, or having learning difficulties, or just lacking an interest in learning. He absolutely would though if you were a brilliant scientist, priveledged with great education, resources, and a personal lab, squandering your talents and funds on a useless vanity project, or hoarding potentially life-saving knowledge for yourself, to use as a commodity.

"But he does call people idiots!" - I've noticed that most of the time he uses these 'insults' he talks about some groups of people.

I could only think of 3 times when he called an individual an idiot. He calls Aventurine an idiot because he 'lost' the stones (but it doesn't count because he plays a role and pretends that he hates Aven). A scholar in an event in SU complains of Ratio calling him an idiot (I'm not sure it actually happened, it's just a story in SU).

But there is one case of him calling somebody an idiot and actually meaning it. And who is this poor victim of his terrible verbal abuse? It's himself. Whoops. (speaking of how he's supposedly full of himself and thinks that he's better than the others.)

"He would call me an idiot because of my supposed lack of knowledge/education/intelligence" - I showed in the previous point why I think he wouldn't (he never seems to use these words to mean that).

But also consider this. During his interactions with Aventurine on Penacony Ratio mostly plays a role for Sunday, pretending that he despises Aventurine. That's why we can't draw any conclusions about his personality from most of their dialogues. But the moments when he breaks the role are extremely telling.

Let's look at one of them from the beginning. They argue; Ratio calls Aventurine an idiot for 'ruining their plan'. And then Aventurine mentions that he didn't go to school and lacks formal education. If there ever was a good time to call someone an idiot for being uneducated, that's it! That's what Sunday expects to hear (because his plan hinges on Ratio valuing knowledge above all else).

And what does he do? He fucking apologizes! Even for the role and for the sake of their plan, he can't bring himself to insult someone for being uneducated.

"He's mean to TB" - it's a matter of interpretation, but his behavior with us didn't strike me as mean or demeaning. He was just being sarcastic and snarky as always (and I understand that it's not everybody's cup of tea).

The situation was time-sensitive and precarious. We don't know how much control he had over it. He tried to make us realize what's going on as fast as possible, pretending that he himself is clueless. Because his goal was to show the recearchers that despite the presence of 2-3 geniuses on board, none of them were able to save them. If he just publicly saved everybody, it would be just another genius appearing out of nowhere and saving the day, which would go against his goals and his philosophy.

And later, our TB seems to regard him with a mix of respect and amusement (calling him Professor, asking for an autograph), no resentment here. So TB didn't think he was mean either.

"He values knowledge above all, he's obsessed with teaching people stuff, and he doesn't understand/accept that other people might have other priorities" - I'd argue that literally the opposite is true. He doesn't impose his knowledge on anybody against their will, and we never see him berate anybody for their lack of knowledge or education.

Sunday isn't the first person to misunderstand him that badly, and he's not having it. Even though at this point in the story, his and Aventurine's plan hinges on Sunday's misunderstanding. But I think his position is very clear: pursuit of knowledge above all is a matter of petty pride.

He says it when we ask him why he doesn't nag us about getting our act together, before a party. So basically "if learning makes you feel bad (doesn't enhance your living) then you are doing it wrong, go and have fun".

This probably isn't considered canon, but it illustrates how he sees knowledge. Here is an analogy. If I had an apple orchard, and I thought my apples were awesome and they'd make a great gift, and you should feel free to ask me if you want some. It doesn't mean that I shove my apples into people's mouths against their will and then call them idiots and spit on them when they don't like it.

"He's a bad person because he didn't help us fight the big bug" - he knew who we are. It's not in his habit to directly involve himself where he's not needed, it would go against his philosophy ('you should count on yourself; you can do it'). It's not like he left us to die; he must have known how capable our TB is. BTW, he was still looking after us, seemingly ready to come to our help:

Besides, currently nothing indicates that (outside of the turn-based gameplay) he's anything more than a normal human being. He would be a hindrance in a fight. 

"He's a bad teacher" - (first, here is an interesting post about this from the point of view of an actual teacher)

So yeah, it's about the 3% passing rate. Yes, it can mean that only 3% of his students end up learning something. It's possible that he's such a bumbling idiot of a teacher that he doesn't even understand how bad he is. It's possible that he's somehow still allowed to teach despite being THAT bad.

But I think it's much more possible (and consistent with his philosophy) that he just has very high standards. A 3% rate doesn't mean that only 3% know anything. Students might benefit enormously from his classes, even without passing. They still have all their valuable skills and knowledge.

But also, let's not forget that he doesn't teach children. He teaches at the university. And I don't think it's some 101 basics; it's likely something related to his research and discoveries, some extremely advanced cutting-edge stuff. So his students are already extremely well educated adults, who want to achieve more. He would probably see lowering his standards as a betrayal of his students.

"His students hate him" - I didn't get that impression. On the contrary, they seem quite interested in him (some times in really creepy ways):

The only indication that they might have something against him is this:

It's either a literal roll-call of actual adults who shed literal tears during his classes, or it's just students being their normal cheeky selves, being overdramatic about a strict teacher. 

An example that came to mind: I can whine about how ruthless my gym trainer is and how I couldn't walk for a week after the last leg day. And his other clients would agree. But everybody understands that it's an expression of approval, not contempt. And maybe a bit of a humble brag.

Besides, if we decide to take that post at face value, then we'll have to take this literally too, meaning that his students consider him an actual God. And I don't think it's true:

-------------------

There are still a lot of hot takes I disagree with that I haven't mentioned, but I'm too tired. This took WAY too long. Other cases are mostly quote-mining and deliberatly taking what he says out of context, which isn't very interesting to argue against (just read the full dialogue and consider the context). And also different variations on 'he's an asshole, he hates people, he thinks he's better than others, he'd call you an idiot for this or that, he's elitist, he only values knowledge and intelligence' and so on, but I think I addressed it sufficiently.

So yeah, that was my little character research. This wasn't written for his haters (I dislike some characters myself, and I wouldn't probably read 3K words about how I should change my mind). It was rather for the people who kind of like him, but who feel sad thinking how he'd probably call them idiots or something. I hope I was able to help you see him in a different way. He wouldn't call you an idiot, he'd support you.

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

Recent chapters of the underrated Fate spinoff Fate/type Redline got me in my feelings so I had to talk about it at lengths, even moreso now that it hasn't updated in months (the mangaka, Ryouji Hirano, has health problems I believe). Spoilers obviously.

Now, when I call type Redline, "underrated", it's more of a subjective than objective assessment. Despite being a manga and thus far more accessible than the untranslated visual novels or light novel series of TYPE-MOON, I see it discussed fairly rarely. At the very least, as far as I know, there hasn't been much big posts analyzing it, so I believe this should be one of the first.

Just don't expect something really deep, these are mostly my musing, rambling observations.

In fact, for a long time, I didn't really have a well-articulated thought about Redline's themes. The contrast of a Holy Grail War taking place in the middle of a world war simply had me chalk it up to the tried and true "war is hell" and not think any deeper (which was a bit intellectually lazy of me). And there is certainly that, but it's a bit more elaborate than that, or else I wouldn't find Redline as interesting. And it all reached a thematic "climax" of sorts in the recent chapter as of the time of writingé

In reality, the story signaled its central theme from the very start, I just wasn't paying attention. One of the first chapters ends with this page:

At first, I thought this was just about Nobunaga. But it turns out this specific page and its text will become the precursor of how the manga is going to present Servants, and how this presentation fits into its larger representation of what war is.

Something you hear somewhat frequently when people mention Redline is "it made Servants scary again". It is only half true, Servants have usually only been "scary" in specific circumstances (Bluebeard in FZ, True Assassin in FSN, and Jackie in Apo come to mind). What they actually mean is that Redline shows Servants as above human again, and it does so by showing them brutally go through lots and lots of human bodies, when Fate is usually about Servants fighting each other. You see Servants vs. humans sometimes, but it's usually 1v1 deals. The only notable exception I can think of is Clan Calatin against Alcides in strange Fake.

There is also Apocrypha, but they are up against armies of homunculi, golems, and animated skeletons, so the dynamic is a bit different than with modern armies. It does however say this.

Indeed, Lancer of Red could burn to ash and crush the stakes with his flames and divine spear. But the Red camp's odds of successfully opposing the Black camp's overwhelming amount of material resources were fifty-fifty. Fighting a force of twenty thousand was beyond the capacities of even a mighty Heroic Spirit. Even then, there would have been no problems if they were alive, but right now they were Servants. The more they consumed prana in great quantities, the closer they approached death. (Apocrypha volume 2 ch.2)

Which is interesting in light of Redline's story, but I digress.

But here, in Redline, because it's during the Second World War, and members of the military are using Servants to do their bidding as well as planning to use them to win the war, there are a lot of interactions between Servants and modern human armies, usually violent ones, to catastrophic results, as Servants go through lots of human meat like cheese. The picture above is after Oda Nobunaga shoots down an entire fleet of American planes heading to Japan.

It's a type of interactions we only ever really saw when Berserker Lancelot in Zero overtook a JSDF fighter jet to fight Gilgamesh on Vimana, while the other plane got eaten by the Lovecraftian horror Caster summoned. The militarized forces of Faldeus in FsF mostly only go after human mages and steer clear of Servants.

And that makes for an interesting contrast that Redline is all too happy to highlight time and time again. When they say "Servants are scary", they mean "Servants are above human", in every sense of terms. No normal human can harm them or even pose a challenge to them, for they are above human strength and capabilities: they are superhuman, they are inhuman.

And that does not just mean inhuman power, but also inhuman thinking.

One of the main conflict throughline of the manga is the relationship between Kanata Akagi, our main protagonist, and his Servant Okita. They don't clash as such, it's not like Fate route Shirou hindering Saber from doing her job, nor is it like Kiritsugu disregarding Saber. It's more low-key, like a misunderstanding that can never be solved. Okita was a warrior in life, and this Holy Grail War in war-torn Japan is just another battlefield to her. Kanata however was born and raised in a Japan long after the war ended, in more peaceful times where he never had to kill. And it's this fundamental difference in lived experiences and mindset that stops them from ever reaching an understanding about how to approach the war:

Even later, as the war goes on, after Okita almost killed potential allies (more on that later), and Kanata reveals to her he comes from the future and what his goals are (ensure his grandma doesn't die and he can come back), and they decide to have a more honest partnership with each other, it's still not enough.

Because when Okita kills a human soldier again, this time a soldier wounded by Berserker who charged Kanata because he was a Master and he blamed magi for how pear-shaped the whole situation has become, this time she does a 180 and instead of convincing Kanata to become ready to kill, she instead wants him to think of her as his tool to kill in his place and take the burden upon herself:

Kanata can only ask her if she's really fine being a sword to be used by someone else and nothing more, to which she replies that's all she needs.

Do note how completely obscured, borderline blank (save for a small, thin-lipped smile), Okita's face is as she says this. As if Kanata and us readers really can't tell how she actually feels about her own words.

This is not the first time the manga does this with Okita.

Coming back to the almost aborted alliance I mentioned earlier, what happened is that, a few chapter before this, the Rider of this war, Sakamoto Ryouma and Oryou, met with Okita to ask her and her Master for an alliance to stop the war from spiraling further and kill more innocents. It would be normal to be suspicious of their intentions, especially since Ryouma initially hides from her that he is a Servant.

But that's not the reasoning Okita uses to reject the alliance and subsequently attack them:

"There is only one path for me (war)." And here it is again: "She's not human."

And it happened even earlier too. When Servant Assassin (Okada Izou) fights Okita, he grows more and more disturbed as he doesn't feel fear, anger, or exaltation as he fights and cuts her, feeling nothing at all from her aside from the scent of blood. Okada's thoughts are interspersed with Kanata's own thoughts about visiting his dying comatose grandmother in the hospital as a kid. And when Kanata touched his grandmother's hand, just like when Okada faces Okita, all it felt like was that:

As you can see, a lot of emphasis, both textually and visually, that Okita does not feel human, and her way of thinking is so alien people can't comprehend her.

And it's not just her, Servants in general are portrayed this way throughout. You saw the pilot's words about Nobunaga at the start of this post, but it occurs later as well. When she was first summoned in the previous war a few years ago by the Imperial Army, her summoner was an arrogant dude who tried to get her to submit and she casually beheaded him. Following that is this page:

Nothing showing on this blood soaked face except for elongated eyes like those of a monster. And after that, everyone in the room prostrate themselves before her like she is a god they worship.

She picks her Master from the crowd, the half-Japanese girl Kaname Asama, and she treats her surprisingly decently from what we see throughout the manga, giving the shrinking violet of a girl respect like she is her attendant, unlike Kaname's boss Magatsu (more on him later) who threatens her and even hits her.

So you would think they have a cordial relationship? Well, maybe they did, but that was until the recent chapter, which has Magatsu's Berserker fight Lancer, and instead of helping their ally, Nobunaga wants to leave, which leads to this exchange:

The same face and eyes again. Kaname doesn't understand her Servant, nor can she tell what she's thinking, just as Nobunaga's face loses all expression, making it impossible for us to tell as well.

(This is not exactly new in regard to Nobu: Keikenchi, the original author of Koha-Ace and the mind behind Redline, already made a Koha-Ace oneshot previously focusing on her, and in it it was shown that, when she was alive, Nobunaga could not "hear" the voices of other people, other humans, and it's her being unable to understand other people that contributed to both her rise and fall)

Another Servant serving as a good example of this is Berserker, which obviously makes sense when it's the Class that from the very start of the Fate franchise in Fate/stay night was there to be impossible to communicate with. But interestingly, everything that surrounds Berserker, not just the Servant itself, reinforces this theme, as if the story employs irony in making the maddest of them all in a war full of mad people the more in-depth examination of the idea instead of being the most obvious.

But I need to scale back a bit to explain.

The Master of Berserker is Major Magatsu, the head of the Imperial Army's magecraft division and one of the main human antagonist. He is kind of interesting in how it's not just his Servant, but his own actions that act as a fulcrum to demonstrate the point. See, in these last stages where it is clear Japan is going to lose, Magatsu wants to keep the war going. His main goal is that he sees the war as not just for the glory of Japan, but as an opportunity to create a world where mages stand at the top, even planning to orchestrate a secret coup within the Japanese military. He is able to amass a great number of men under him, all fanatically loyal to him due to a mixture of his own charisma and appeal to nationalism as well as cigarettes laced with suggestive tobacco making the soldiers smoking it pliable. His followers are so loyal in fact, that when a team of them comes back defeated after facing a Servant trying to deal with Team Kanata, they beat the only survivor up and torture him for his failure and for failing Magatsu, without Magatsu's knowledge or consent (in fact, he is slightly disturbed by this and thinks to reduce the dosage of the tobacco).

But that doesn't deter him from his tactics. Even when he has to hasten his coup after being forced to when pro-war proponents in the war ministry are assassinated, leading to his enraged troops to blame the proponents of suing for peace within the ministry, he still keeps with the easily pliable and fanatical troops even though it is clear he can barely control them. "When the madman runs, any man not mad starts running" is written on a banner hanging on the wall of the magecraft division's headquarters, and Magatsu, who doesn't know who wrote it, finds it a good quote, not knowing how prophetic the words would become. Regardless, Magatsu has made the entire magecraft division and then some fold under his command by making them believe he will be the hero to save Japan. He makes many speeches about saving the nation and how the preservation of the Empire is vital to the preservation of the soul of the nation, and can easily drive crowds into nationalistic frenzy with talks of using Archer and Berserker to fight on mainland Manchuria, and clearly invoking the spirit of complete sacrifice to the nation like in banzai charges and kamikaze, even if not explicitly:

Sometimes, an ordinary and unrefined person will defeat their fear of death and become a noble person with the resolve to throw away their own lives. This phenomenon, which one could call a miracle, is occuring at this very moment, in various places within Japan. War allows all sorts of miracles to exist.

For these reasons, the Colonel, the so far unnamed high-ranked Nazi who is Magatsu's main ally, praises him for "having a knack for understanding human nature", which is why he gives him Berserker, as he believes that, if he experiences the war from the same position as Servants, Magatsu may be able to come to understand them...especially, as he notes, Magatsu completely failed to have Nobunaga pay him any attention:

Magatsu, for all his charisma and servile attitude, completely fails to have Nobunaga pay him any attention even once since her summoning years ago. When summoned, she ignored him in favor of going to Kasame. She doesn't follow his orders nor does she even acknowledge him as a faithful follower: he might as well be air in her eyes. Not only that, she only talks to his subordinate Kaname Asama, whom he disdains for having foreign blood due to being half-Japanese. And the Colonel rightly realizes that Nobunaga's lack of interest makes him seethe. Magatsu seethes so much in fact that he comes to the conclusion that he doesn't need to understand Servants, especially to win when they don't seem to care what he's they're fighting for, so he would rather settle for Berserker than the unruly Archer, believing he can control him thanks to the Heroic Spirit Restraining Device provided by the Nazis. Very predictably, it goes pretty poorly.

As soon as he's summoned and out of the tank he was put in, Berserker immediately begins to indiscriminately kill soldiers of the magecraft division for no reason, and when Magatsu attempts to use his Command Spells on him, he cuts off his arm and crushes it, making the Command Spells disappear. Berserker then engages in a rampage throughout the magecraft division base, gleefully killing every soldier in his way, yet does not kill his Master despite his failed attempt to restrain him:

Magatsu is unwittingly along for the ride as Berserker carries him in his arms as he goes about his "fun".

Naturally, Magatsu's men try to slow down and stop Berserker using "anti-Servant" weapons (lol) that obviously do jack shit. But they use too much firepower and seemingly ignore Magatsu's cries for help, which leads him to believe that they are trying to kill them both. Berserker agrees in his twisted logic, and enacts more violence as he believes his Master is in danger.

The reality is actually different: when Kaname Asama try to get to exercise more caution so they do not accidentally hit and hurt the Major, when he is clearly an hostage, one soldier slaps her and rebukes her, madly stating that there is no way the savior of Japan would ever get hurt by these weapons.

They keep throwing weapons and men at Berserker, which eventually confuses Magatsu, because weren't they trying to kill him? Why then are they wasting their lives against a Servant?

Which is when the point is made.

As this massacre rages on, Magatsu is telepathically contacted by the Colonel, who congratulates him on summoning Berserker and says that the Restraining Device is working wonderfully saying as the major's mana and life are still intact. Magatsu, enraged, accuses the Colonel of having done something to his men, maybe brainwashing them to kill themselves, which is a fair accusation considering it is the Nazis who did assassinate the war hawks and forced Magatsu to accelerate his coup plans.

Except the Colonel says he had nothing to do with it and the reason for the soldiers' actions is far simpler: they admire Magatsu, they truly, genuinely do. The Colonel explains that his accomplishments, from taking control of the war to making a Servant protect the capital from air raids, made him look like a true messiah in the eyes of his men, and Magatsu was too blind to see it. Of course he denies it and calls the Colonel a liar, until he sees one of his men approach and try to reach him, only to be pierced by Berserker's spear for his troubles, and as he lays dying, Magatsu hears his last words on his bloody lips: "Glory to the Major."

As the one-sided battle against the human waves of martyrs continue, the Colonel throws Magatsu's earlier words about the war "allowing miracles" back to his face, bringing the whole arc to its logical conclusion, and I will transcribe the speech in its entirety since it intersperses scenes of the battle and that's too much images to for this post:

How about you open your eyes to reality for once? The only sane person in that battlefield is you. War is cruel. It burdens its victims with a detestable fate. But look at them. They do it for their country, for you. Their madness calls forth even more madness. All these men rush forward, knowing well only death awaits them. War takes these ordinary men, and turn them into martyrs. War allows all sorts of miracles. I thank you. You've allowed me to witness something beautiful. Did seeing people die finally get to you? Feeling remorse? I suppose you didn't have what it takes to be a soldier. This is no time to be losing your mind, Major. It's not everyday you get to experience war from such a safe position. Revel in it a little more. You are at the center of a miracle. That which creates miracles, and gathers people's faith. What do you call that, Major? Do you know? A God. Congratulations, Messiah. In this exact moment and place, you are the one closest to a God.

Just as the voice of God can't reach mortals, your voice can't reach these men. For alas, there are none who can hear it. Raise your head, Major. The curtain has fallen at last. And you should now be able to understand her a little more.

Archer arrives, looking down at Berserker and Magatsu standing on the mountain of corpses of all the men of the magecraft division, and Magatsu tries one last time to get her to look at him by calling for her help, as all he ever wanted was to prove he was worthy to stand at her side...and she laughs in his face. She mocks him for thinking he could ever control a Servant and finds his tear-stained and snotty face hilarious.

And Magatsu, at this last straw after everything, breaks.

As he begins to laugh maniacally, his Servant joins in, and as Archer, Berserker, and him laugh, it's as if the corpses of his men, their mouth frozen in bloody leering rictus by rigor mortis, are laughing with them. Magatsu finally realizes it was wrong to think to use Servants in a war, because they could never be measured by human standards.

It's not that Servants can't be understood, not solely. This sequence of chapters shows it goes deeper than that: it's war that turns everyone mad, and thus makes understanding impossible among humans. And Servants are humanity writ large, the highest of the high and the lowest of the low, because you need to be larger than life to be remembered for eternity in the Throne of Heroes. Which means that, where war turns humans into mad monsters, it makes the Heroic Spirits standing above humans into the embodiments, the apotheosis, the personified concepts of madness.

They are mad gods.

The World War and the Holy Grail War are both founts of insanity, because that's what war does. The average soldier's brain briefly brushes with the eternal sublime, the mysterium tremendum et fascinans that turns humans into figures of worship recorded and enthroned for eternity beyond space and time. And this brief contact with the Absolute gives them the divine language that makes them unintelligible to other men. Their visages, like Moses' after descending the mountain, can no longer be looked upon. They are completely obscured to us who don't live and breathe for war, for violence is their domain now.

War makes Berserkers of us all.

Is it any wonder that the Classes of the Holy Grail War by design favor warriors and warmongers? This war is rife with adepts of violence: a warlord (Nobunaga), a warrior (Mori), a secret police assassin (Okita), a plain assassin (Okada), and a martial artist (Li Shuwen). All of which mad in their own way and choosing the path of violence over any other options.

And I don't think it's a coincidence that the sanest and most "normal" Servants we have seen in Redline not only belong to the Classes less obviously about violence or weaponry, Rider and Caster, but their identities are also not famous for violence: the Rider was a politician and diplomat, while the Caster is a scientific thought experiment about the laws of physics.

I don't know how this will conclude or shake out, but I have my suspicions. Our protagonist Kanata comes from the peaceful post-war Japan and has so far always been repulsed by violence, despite attempts by his Servant and his grandmother to get him to get used to it to be more effective in the war. In fact, he reaffirms that he wants to win the war without becoming a remorseless bloodthirsty killer.

I can see potential routes the story can take depending on whether he slowly succumbs to war's madness or he heroically resists its call. Especially if he is pitted against what seems to be one of the main antagonists, the Nazi Colonel, clearly war's most fervent prophet, whose face is always obscured.

We'll see. The latest chapter as of the time of writing is the fight between Lancer and Berserker. Even the pair that seems to get along the best, Team Lancer, has the Master threatened by her Servant for almost "interrupting" his fight by trying to heal his wounds. And her (current) last words are a perfect encapsulation of the manga and my whole thesis:

[adamworu]

‘When’s the White Haired Anime Boy Going to Appear?’

For awhile, I often wondered about the phenomena of ‘When is the white-haired anime boy going to appear?’ posts during the heyday of Eva content on tumblr (2013-14). If you were around the Eva fandom on tumblr, or new to the show around that time like I was, you were probably bewildered too. It’s part of what got me into the show other than the character struggles and interesting worldbuilding.

Sure, you could chalk it up to people wanting to see more of Kaworu’s cute, but awkward mannerisms coupled with cryptic, though nonthreatening words. The bath scene of episode 24 is heavily quotable. There was also the influx of ‘headless’ memes (see: Pop Goes My Heart!).

But Eva was watched during many people’s adolescent years. High and low years. Critical years.

Evangelion itself is no stranger to struggles in formative years.

(talks about abuse under the cut)

I’ve always read Shinji as an audience surrogate because of how he’s at the center of these issues. Many of us have a Gendo: We hate them, yet we seek their validation, because unfortunately, they’re all we have. And yet they’re so emotionally cold and self-serving. 

Much of the series sees Shinji in less than optimal environments. His father is cold and distant. While Misato takes him in, she also makes him (and Asuka) fight angels due to her issues with her own father. Shinji and Asuka’s relationship within the household isn’t the greatest, either. They’re both emotionally damaged kids who can’t really properly sort through the baggage due to their environment. They’re mainly shouldering the burden of adult issues during their early teen years. 

They’re face to face with the open horrors of war. 

Kaworu comes in toward the tail end of the series. He asks nothing of Shinji but the narrative hardly portrays him as the sudden, immaculate savior. They get to know each other, and due to his deep traumas, Shinji is of course wary because being open means getting hurt again. So he puts his guard up. The more they interact, the more they both get to know each other. 

‘Why am I telling all this to Kaworu?’

This is less of a wariness of who Kaworu is and more of Shinji realizing he spilled part of his heart about his strained relationship with his father. Shinji realizes that he feels open, but not vulnerable. Kaworu feels the same way, replying to Shinji’s answers with ‘I think I may have been born to meet you, Shinji-kun.’

I sound like a broken record saying this but, Kaworu isn’t just his own person. He represents an ideal. This is a point I’m totally partisan to. That tinges of kindness can and do exist, even when one’s world is hell. 

On that end, I believe that, at least in the original series, that Hikari is Asuka’s Kaworu. Asuka’s guarded persona manifests as being proud and somewhat brash, but it’s a product of neglect. This worsens when she comes to understand in her environment that her accomplishments mean next to nothing. That she’s replaceable. 

The adults in Eva, even the adults of the adults get away with murder and seeing that as a victim of abuse drives a visceral rage I haven’t felt in years. And I’m sure this ire, this rising embitterment stirs in you too, if you ever lived in such an environment.

A lot of us were forced to wade through toxic environments for years while growing up. Had our share of bad relationships that still leave marks to this day.  A lot of us are victims chasing the closure that will sadly, never come because many of the people who hurt you walk away when they have much to answer for. Even if they do answer, is there any guarantee that they’ll be genuine?

When Shinji is with Kaworu and when Asuka is around Hikari they’re far less guarded. For the latter, we see a side of Asuka not seen before: one that’s tender. One that doesn’t feel burdened and otherwise ignored.

And that too, could describe that someone in our lives. The world doesn’t feel as daunting. You realize your worth and that you can be yourself when you’re around them. The barriers come down slowly and you stop saying sorry. You don’t feel as if they’re demanding that that happens. It simply just. Does. The people you hate or ignore your grievances seem insignificant in your life, even if for a moment. 

When we ask ‘When’s the white haired anime boy going to appear?’ what we actually mean is ‘When is our support system going to appear?’

I know that one day you will find your Kaworu. You deserve better than an apology. You deserve peace.

[totaltrauma]

Congrats on total trauma's 5-year anniversary! If it's ok, i have been wondering about your writing technique. Ive read a lot of stories where you can tell the creator is too attached to the characters, and it makes for a very weird reading experience. theres this one webtoon in particular that tries to mash in edgy grimdark with lolrandom humor and it gives me whiplash but they act like their writing is god's gift to the world. However, ive noticed with total trauma that you (in my opinion) are able to achieve what so many creators seem to yearn for in terms of balance between humor vs some really heavy topics. In particular, the scene where Duncan gets hospitalized and everyone's getting phone calls, even Lindsay, but when she picks up the phone in the phone booth shes like "how did you get this number?" that made me snort so hard my throat ached for days afterward. You have many scenes like this where i giggle as i remember them, yet it doesnt take away from the sensitivity and respect with which you treat the heavy topics. Ive also noticed you seem to break the expectation i had in my mind in regard to your level of attachment to the characters; ive been following you since dA and so i've seen how important characters like Heather are to you. My experience, my own writing included, is that usually when creators write about a character they are very attached to, the bias is very obvious to the audience, and so weird writing decisions are made in favor of propping up that character. But again, this wasnt the impression i got from reading Heather in your work. So i guess my question is, how tf do you balance all this? Were there jokes you had to cut out, aspects of Heather's character you had to shave, in order to make your writing more appealing to a wider audience? What is your technique for blending humor and heavy topics in a way that enhances both? Ive wondered this for awhile and im really interested in hearing your journey of how you got to such a compelling storytelling style

First of all, this is so incredibly flattering, so thank you so much.

Not everyone agrees with you though, I must say! I’ve caught a lot of flack for my use of humor during dark moments. Specifically I saw a tweet about the comic where Noah and Owen are gawking over Justin stretching at the hospital, and the person was like “Duncan is literally dying.” Which, fair, HAHA. I thought it was a nice moment of levity, but not everyone sees it the way I do— I’m glad that you do!

At the risk of sounding full of myself, I think I’ve just always had a good natural sense of where to put comedy beats. There aren’t really any rules or guidelines I follow, I just feel it out. I’ve been writing comedy since I was a little kid. As a child I had a YouTube channel with two thousand followers (which felt like a million to a child.) I had a narrative comedy series that I made by dubbing over clips of The Sims 2, which I still think is very funny to this day. I learned a lot about writing jokes from spending 10 years making that series.

Still, some jokes don’t land the way I hoped. I thought it would be really funny if, during a very melodramatic serious scene, Cody was wearing an anime hoodie the whole time. If I knew just how much hatred and cruelty would be lobbed my direction because of that anime hoodie, I would’ve second guessed that decision.

I’m happy you think my obsession with Heather hasn’t tainted the way I write her! That I chalk up mostly to the fact that I’ve had distance from her. My real Heather obsessed years were around 2016 when I was in community college. By the time I was writing TT, I had moved on from my Heather obsession to an obsession with a different character (shout out to DDADDS, you were there for me when no one else was.) I think the fact that I had that space away from my obsessed years allowed me to write her with more fairness and clarity. Heather still, clearly, means the world to me, but it’s not like it was. I used to cry about her on the daily. Let’s be glad it’s not like that anymore.

Also, I’ve honestly never really been concerned with making my work appeal to a wide audience — at least, that wasn’t my concern in V1.

(My original plan for V2 was centered around a lawsuit against Chris for sexual assault against a certain Pahkitew character. THAT I deemed too dark and removed to make my work more appealing to a wider audience.)

I can’t think of an example of a joke that I’ve been like “I can’t do that, not here, not now.” But I’m sure there has been a couple.

Sorry if this answer wasn’t extremely informative. I’ll think on it some more and reblog this ask with more information if I think of some!

[homestuckreplay]

Shrinking Wormholes; Transferring Syllogism Twine

(page 134-137)

Homestuck is my worst enemy. These past couple days without updates left me time to transcribe the video on page 137, which took long enough that I never want to look at it again. Which is a shame, because it's a cool video, the shifting colors and the twisting spirograph are good to look at and I like the irregularity of the movement. And I do respect the attention to detail - the fact that Hussie took the time to write out 231 meaningless phrases about DIY and spread them unevenly throughout the video shows a real dedication to recreating the video game experience. It feels very real, I can sense the anticipation when the video gets stuck on a particular phrase for a full second, that feeling of just wanting to play the game but having to wait.

Below the cut at the end I've listed all the phrases in the video, but it's LONG, so be warned. I'm also not sure this was a good use of time, there's not loads here that seems relevant. We get a broad overall sense of the game, which seems to be a building/DIY simulator, maybe something like digital Lego, maybe something more like having to maintain a house day to day, perform repairs and give it 'upgrades' like new lighting or a new garage, as most of the nouns are tools you could buy in a Home Depot.

Here's a few exceptions that jumped out to me:

Observing Avenues, Analyzing Eyes - both of these relate to surveillance

Transferring Syllogism Twine, Auditing Nescience Passages - relate to knowledge/logic or the lack of it

Anticipating Gateways, Shrinking Wormholes, Referring Time Spools, Retrofitting Aesthetics Portals - these relate to time and space, perhaps to messing with the laws of physics

Transcribing Existence Rivets, Finalizing Atma Augers - relate to life and the soul

It's interesting to me how these phrases are hidden within a barrage of far more mundane ones. I think this game will seem on its surface to be very normal and simply a reflection of John's existing life, playing in a digital house not too different to his very real one, but that it has more and weirder stuff going on below the surface. The game will present opportunities to escape the trap of the suburbs in ways that John can't yet figure out in real life - but will be able to in the game, because he has experience with gaming and coding. It might take some mild hacking and exploiting loopholes in the mechanics, but these possibilities are clearly coded into the game, or they wouldn't be in the loading screen. It's a game that wants the players to push its limits and see what's possible, and rewards a player who tries to go beyond the mechanics as presented.

John's had a lot of practice messing with his sylladex for 130+ pages, and I think that's really going to pay off when he starts using a similar skillset in game. It's interesting, because most characters (or people) would have an arc of learning a skill in a game and then exporting it to real life, while I think John's going to have the opposite, with the supposed constraints of the game actually giving him freedom, and the supposed open world of real life just closing doors to him.

Anyway, no wonder TT is excited to play this game. I bet she's eating up all these long words.

Transcript of Flash animation, p.137. Spelling mistakes come from the original.

Transforming Soffits Reorganizing Keys Formalizing Immersion Joints Justifying Kick Extractors Advising Aggregates Managing Elbows Recasting Connectors Achieving Aluminum Trowels Officiating Disks Exhibiting Absolute Spigots Progressing Coil Hydrants Jerry-building Reflectors Informing Casters Inventing Rubber Hoists Performing Wrenches Judging Chalk Adapters Upgrading Ignition Paths Regrowing Flashing Recommending Ratchets Approving Barriers Sweeping Impact Fillers Sewing Mirrors Detailing Collectors Enforcing Measures Distributing Systems Presenting Plugs Interwinding Registers Piloting Ash Diffusers Gathering Cranks Supplying Eave Pockets Undertaking Scroll Stops Accelerating Straps Designing Fittings Protecting Diamond Boilers Logging Downspouts Correlating Shingles Uniting Mallets Qualifying Electrostatic Lifts Sharing Clamps Obtaining Circular Fluids Ranking Foundation Gauges Sensing Miter Brackets Originating Space Networks Translating Drills Regulating Guards Selecting Gable Padding Utilizing Pellet Dowels Reconciling Artifacts Altering Pulleys Shedding Space Filters Determining Vents Representing Mortar Remaking Flash Rakers Supporting Funnels Typecasting Rotary Chocks Expressing Junctures Resetting Auxiliary Vises Professing Strip Treads Inlaying Matter Trowels Questioning Drivers Forming Edge Fittings Sketching Blanks Overshooting Spark Breakers Rewriting Controls Playing Tunnels Inventorying Buttons Enduring Joist Handles Effecting Ratchet Bibbs Unwinding Couplings Forsaking Vapor Conduits Defining Sockets Calculating Heaters Raising Grids Administering Tiles Measuring Resources Installing Ignition Remotes Extracting Corners Manufacturing Ventilators Delegating Consoles Treating Mounting Stones Enacting Jig Deflectors Intensifying Alloys Improvising Cargo Pinpointing Bobs Prescribing Arc Masonry Structuring Metal Chocks Symbolizing Lathes Activating Plumb Kits Adapting Coatings Fixing Channels Expediting Cordage Planning Compressors Enlisting Hangers Restructuring Keyhole Augers Shearing Ridge Hardware Collecting Reciprocating Bolts Maintaining Corrugated Dimmers Whetting Hole Collars Conducting Mandrels Comparing Assets Compiling Sealants Completing Paths Composing Equivocation Wheels Computing Dampers Conceiving Electrostatic Treatment Ordering Cotter Grates Organizing Ties Orienting Ladders Exceeding Materials Targeting Thermocouples Demonstrating Emery Stock Expanding Latch Bases Training Wardrobe Adhesives Overcomming Fasteners Streamlining Storm Anchors Navigating Springs Perfecting Turnbuckles Verifying Gate Pegs Arbitrating Arithmetic Lifts Negotiating Outlets Normalizing Strips Building Surface Foggers Checking Key Torches Knitting Grinders Mowing Planers Offsetting Stencils Acquiring Bulbs Adopting Rivets Observing Avenues Ascertaining Coaxial Grommets Slinging Wing Winches Instituting Circuit Generators Instructing Wicks Integrating Pry Shutters Interpreting Immersion Lumber Clarifying Coils Classifying Wood Bits Closing Cogs Cataloging Matter Strips Charting Holders Conceptualizing Push Terminals Stimulating Supports Overthrowing Shaft Spacers Quick-freezing Connectors Unbinding Ground Hooks Analyzing Eyes Anticipating Gateways Controlling Proposition Rollers [blank bar momentarily]

Converting Power Angles Coordinating Staples Correcting Benders Counseling Joist Gaskets Recording Gutter Pipes Recruiting Drains Rehabilitating Rafter Tubes Reinforcing Washers Reporting Guard Valves Naming Freize Sprues Nominating Rings Noting Straps Doubling Nailers Drafting Circuit Hoses Dramatizing Flanges Splitting Framing Compounds Refitting Stems Interweaving Patch Unions Placing Sillcocks Sorting Slot Threads Securing Mode Cutters Diverting Catharsis Plates Procuring Load Thresholds Transferring Syllogism Twine Directing Switch Nuts Referring Time Spools Diagnosing Knobs Discovering Locks Dispensing Hinges Displaying Hasps Resending Arc Binders Retreading Grooves Retrofitting Aesthetics Portals Seeking Stocks Shrinking Wormholes Assembling Blocks Assessing Divets Attaining Lug Boxes Auditing Nescience Passages Conserving Strikes Constructing Braces Contracting Saw Catches Serving Instantiation Irons Recognizing Fluxes Consolidating Fuse Calipers Mapping Shims Reviewing Chop Groovers Scheduling Lag Drives Simplifying Hoists Engineering Levels Enhancing Tack Hollows Establishing Finishing Blocks Estimating Adhesives Evaluating Mortar Examining Auto Turnbuckles Processing Foggers Servicing Avenues Transcribing Existence Rivets Revising Consoles Separating Absolute Stencils Budgeting Sheet Grommets Preparing Kits Realigning Cartesian Mandrels Painting Fasteners Filing Grout Hangers Finalizing Atma Augers Formulating Couplings Identifying Sillcocks Imagining Materials Inducing Shutters Influencing Wheels Licensing Chocks Lifting Extrinsic Mallets Overdrawing Ratchets Overlaying Ventilators Overriding Cardinal Soffits Specifying Element Aggregates Systemizing Divets Shaping Pockets Publicizing Aether Remotes Governing Archetype Dimmers Monitoring Assets Launching Manifestation Systems

[kiawren]

Okay I wanted to study math but I got so distracted by important kiawren thoughts..

You know how some time ago I posted this about the fire-crested wren's story making me think about kiawren (I realised there was a typo, I didn't type out the 'wren' after 'fire-crested' woops.)

Today I realised I didn't dwell on the other part of the chapter I read this at. One of the hawaiian stories of Maui finding fire relates to him learning from birds who could make fire. (you can read the full thing here, it's cool I found it online after reading this in person but my new phone doesn't have the pics of the pages)

And like..... ... I was thinking how it is birds that first alight fire in this folklore. And Kiawe... Maybe his fire burns passionately becuz of Wren. Yes he's always had the drive in him, but a new sort of fire was kindled after he met Wren. It's a new sort of love and passion. Especially becuz he talks about feeling down and unsure about the future until but he says talking to (the player) helps.

Similar to this Pokemon Masters storyline:

He can and does feel burnt out (haha) sometimes and it really helps to know the people and pokemon around him care for him and want to achieve their goals together. So, I think with Wren around he'd have a new sort of motivation and looking forward to show them his progress. (Becuz he does all this for pokemon and people in the first place, to learn about the connections between the natural world and people through this cultural art.)

Wow ok I'm going off tangent. Uhm basically he needs a bird to keep his fire alive. (The bird meaning me)

Something else,

I find it comforting that he'd also know Banyan trees becuz they also have stories where I'm from: (there are more apart from these)

I think Kiawe would like that the former myth relates to music (the kompang drum) since he's a traditional dancer that also appreciates traditional music.

This is the same sccreenshot as the second picture on this post but I was quite glad to read they were baking bananas. Becuz I love goreng pisang that you can find in my region🤤🤤🤤 (fried banana)

Like! We could tell each other these stories and remark about their similarities (also, the snake in the Banyan was killed and Maui broke a neck and burned the head of the birds in the earlier story, but I didn't screenshot that part. Interestingly they have the animals on the losing end lol) and find parts of it that relates to us, even though these stories were shaped in different places.

The main thing I wanted to say is that Kiawren is so special to me for relating our love to the stories and symbols of the world, so that it goes past just "haha us" to wow I'm learning a lot of things because of you, and it's a larger than life feeling.

Also I remembered this silly drawing I did last time. If you asked Kiawe about loving Wren he'd probably remark that he loves them simply, becuz he cares for them and likes learning with and spending time with them. And if you ask me about loving him, I'd tell you about the fire-crested wren, the birds that made fire on trees that led Maui to bring fire to people, the way the Pacific Ring of Fire and the way tectonic plates subduct to form volcanoes reminds me of him and us. The Dragon and Phoenix in Chinese myth are celestial beings and when paired together represent marriage and prosperity. (He reminds me of reptilians, hardy and seemingly fierce but can be gentle. The dragon is formidable. He also has dragon, charizard, that used to be his grandfather's, the ex island kahuna and yes I'm following the pokeani story here cuz i like incorporating it with his game character. So yes I associate him with the dragon. And I'm the phoenix becuz bird. And also he loves fire. The dragon and the fire-bird. ) Chalk it up to age-old mythologies and natural phenomena that is a symbol of us before we even met, and even if we part.

[itzrafee]

One Piece Chapter Discussion (Chapter 1128)

This week the adventure in Elbaf continues but our cover story takes a hiatus as we get a fun and vibrant colour spread of the Straw Hats on brooms made of bamboo flying alongside a dragon. Luffy and Robin get a special emphasis which is nice since Robin’s taken a bit of a back seat to Nami in the last few spreads. The dynamism of the spread is great too as it feels like Luffy is leaping off of the page. The witch theme is also quite curious as it reminds me of a theory I heard a long time ago that the Emerald City would be in Elbaf. And that Nami would take on both the role of a witch, owing to her burgeoning weather witch powers, and Dorothy. Ussop would be the Cowardly Lion, Sanji the Tin Man, Zoro as the Scarecrow, which would leave Chopper or Luffy to be Toto. But that theory also supposed Vegapunk as this Oz-like charlatan, which we now know can’t be the case so maybe that’s all it was; just a fun theory… Or was it? We’ll get into that in a spoiler filled discussion below the cut!

In the last chapter, people had noticed many many inconsistencies, with people thinking a devil fruit or some kind of magic or trickery at play. With the named character of Loki in the back of everyone’s mind, a lot of people’s minds went to him, thinking that he resembled his namesake, The Trickster God, at least in his proclivities. But with this chapter, some of those minds have changed and chalked it up to Oda’s age and hard work having him make mistakes. I am of a different mind. 

It’s interesting that this chapter is called RPG, the acronym for Role Playing Games. A friend of mine recently remarked that it was odd how much of a crybaby Nami was in the last chapter. While Nami is usually a coward and a crybaby, she usually isn’t this much of a mess. Neither is Ussop as Luffy later remarks. As a Table-top role playing gamer and one of those forever Dungeon Master’s you hear about if you ever dip your toes into the hobby, I got heavy TTRPG vibes from these past few chapters. From waking up with amnesia to over exaggerated interpretations of characters to needing to go to town for information to some things just being off… it screams a TTRPG campaign. Moreover what I think might be happening is that some giants who are fans of the straw hats are role playing them in some kind of table top role playing game. It would be quite a novel way to introduce some new characters. Also is it just me or does Luffy not have his Straw Hat on him anywhere? Wouldn’t he be freaking out if he was missing it?

The counterpoint to that idea of it being a representation of a TTRPG game though is that I am not quite sure what end it would achieve rather than being a cool framing device. On the other hand, taking what’s happening at face value does lend more towards One Piece’s themes and central ideas. And the title of the chapter could refer to the Giant at the end of the chapter, who I will refer to from now on as the “Sun God”, and how they basically created a game out of people’s lives. And it would go along with One Piece’s commentary about how those in power try to maintain the status quo through violence and oppression as it benefits them. They use symbols like how this Sun God uses gigantified animals, to represent unquestionable symbols of powers in the shape of gods. I would also love to learn how the series’ view on gods and dieties squares with Luffy as Nika at the end of the day. I feel like there’s a lot more to the story there. Maybe how the same symbols that can bring hope can also be used to oppress people. 

Those in power make it seem to those that they’re ruling over that the world that they live in is inevitable and the only one that can exist. And much like how the Straw Hats have shattered that illusion in each and every island they go to, they too shatter that illusion here, through the literal breaking of the boundaries of the world. This also gives some credence to Wizard of Oz parallels as it’s akin to Dorothy pulling the curtain on the deception of the wizard. Alongside that, they’re also told that there’s a road that leads to the Sun God, much like how the yellow brick road led to the Wizard. It definitely fits with One Piece’s themes of the secrets and lies versus truths and revelations. As far back as Crocodile’s deceptions to as recent as Vegapunk revealing the truth about the world sinking, this has always been a constant theme. 

But beyond the fact of keeping people in a country like that, it doesn’t seem too much like the Sun God is totally awful. Seeing as they’re skilled at making clothes and really about their “Temple”, it could be that they’re a shut in who enjoys creating models and dioramas and just doesn’t know how to interact with the world in a better way, much like Shirahoshi who was trapped inside and a giant crybaby. The Sun God also being a giant and finding intruders in their home also calls to mind, quite obviously for you all I’m sure, the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. It’s really cool to see how Oda ties all these influences together but isn’t beholden to them in a way where it ever feels like it’s someone else’s story. It’s always Oda’s and it’s always One Piece. One Piece has just got that superpower of being able to work almost anything inside of it.

That aside though, whether real or fake, the dynamics between the Straw Hats have been excellent, with the casual slapstick comedy reaching heights it hasn’t reached in quite a while. With Chopper being found, it accounts for the whereabouts of all the Straw Hats, those on the giants ship and those in this current predicament. I’m excited to see where this goes so I’ll see you all in the next chapter!

[melishade]

amazing chapter!!! Firstly enjoy the bit with Primus giving there weapon and them freaking out, I’m glad that Primus help them made peace, wish there was a bit with Lara. Love how Primus is still keep the level of disdain with Eren, also thank you!! With the trio’s discussion, like damn Eren is his worst enemy. Glad that Mikasa and armin came to terms and stopped defending him, also f*ck, he loved her but want freedom more (imagine what happened if they know what he did to his mother😬)

I’d figure that founder yimr and Mikasa will be in the touched. And armin discussion with Primus jeez the brass on this kid. Interesting that Primus showed armin the other and original timeline. ( I figured he would have a mental breakdown on predetermined fate)

liked pieck’s moment, the emotional goodbye. Returning to the living world the burning of the scarf was good. Finally the segment with Optimus and Megatron short but gut wrenching. Ratchet and bulk only saw prime scream in frustration but this… nah. Over all this chapter gave what wanted and what I did think I want 😁

Firstly, thank you so much for the praise. Secondly, let's go in depth.

I do wish that I could have talked more about Lara, re-introduce other characters and have more emotional reunions, but it just would have derailed the whole chapter and it would have taken so much longer. I can't bring everyone back. I did figure Hanji asking Primus to

I'll probably have Primus talking to other people in prompts asks or a mini anthology. I'm not sure yet. We'll see what happens.

And yes, Primus still hates Eren's guts because Primus gave Eren and option and Eren chose genocide. He's not going to forgive that. Despite the fact that he refers to Unicron as brother and feels lament over their degraded relationship, Primus acknowledged he was committing genocide and took action. There's no exception with Eren. And yes, Eren is a slave to freedom and it ends up destroying him and the relationships that he had!

But in regards to Eren taking out his own mom in the manga and anime, it just felt like both a plot hole and one final twist that Isayama was trying to make and we only had one hint towards Eren's interference, but that could easily be chalked up to Dina's titan being an abnormal. Carla's death is strictly happenstance in AOP.

Mikasa and Ymir's connection in AOT was...weird. Because many of us were led to believe that Ymir was waiting for Eren to release her from the power of the titans, but it turned out she was waiting for Mikasa to release her because she saw how Mikasa was able to let go of Eren, allowing Ymir to let go of Fritz because she was in love with him and served him because she loved him. The analysis and criticism has already been done, but it definitely felt rushed and out of nowhere for me. I do have Ymir look at Mikasa letting Eren go, implying Ymir's feelings towards Fritz, but just didn't outright say it.

And Armin and Primus' conversation, oh boy! That's a can of worms there! The conversation was going to go very differently, but as I was writing this chapter, I got creative and I thought that Armin, dealing with both Optimus and Megatron, and the loss of Eren, while also learning that Primus had a hand in the Rumbling happening, deserved to know what Primus saw. There were also a lot of people in the comments calling out Primus and calling him hypocritical for letting genocide happen. So I have to explain that things are not that simple. Primus doesn't want to impose control and take away freewill to obtain peace. Even if he did do that, he would only be able to affect the Eldian people, not everyone else. He can't change the minds of the Marleyans. Additionally, altering the fabric of time puts the whole universe at risk and he can't do that. If Primus had the opportunity to make the Peaceful Timeline a reality, he would do it in a heartbeat. Also additionally, Primus showed Armin glimpses of these alternate timelines, not the whole thing.

But the reason why Armin didn't break when shown alternate timelines was simply how he reacted in the anime. When Eren told Armin the truth, Armin was understandably angry at Eren, and as he wept, he still clung onto the idea of hope. That hope does exist and it could be used to change the heart and minds of the people into creating a peaceful world. And the fact that Primus with his all seeing power still can't find another solution to the madness he claims he wants to stop? What does that make him? Also, Armin has been dealing with Megatron's bullshit for four years along with immense amounts of trauma. He's not about to buckle to god when he's been through hell.

Also, Pieck deserved an explanation for everything Primus unintentionally put her through. And Primus of course has to make a grand gesture when ending the power of the titans. And in regards to the end, if you haven't seen this ask telling you to listen to the song while reading the ending, I recommend that you do.

[loopyren]

giving proper thought to the timeskip in inuyasha (part 1/2)

I've been thinking a lot about the three years Inuyasha and Kagome were apart, bc as you know... three years is a LONG time. The person I was three years ago is different from the person I am now. So I remember thinking it felt too fast to process (both anime and manga), bc the timeskip was sorta sped through in like a chapter/10 mins lol

How were Kagome and Inuyasha feeling during those three years? After being with each other practically 24/7, fighting a literal war, saving each other's lives, falling in love, Kagome almost trapped in the jewel... just to be wrenched apart at the end with no time to say goodbye. Jeez, that's practically trauma fuel.

There was no way Kagome didn't want to see Inuyasha again. So why did it take three years for the Well open for her?

part 1: kagome part 2: inuyasha

+

Kagome said when she returned, her purpose in the Sengoku era, to destroy the jewel, was done.

There is no reason to go back now. Well is closed. Bye Inuyasha.

Three years. Three years is enough time to be sad, to heal, and to think. I can imagine Kagome being a little down sometimes and her family noticing that. From how much she loved Inuyasha, I don't think Kagome could hide that she misses that doggie boi on the other side of the well. Because her family cares so much for her, I'm sure it didn't make them happy to see her sad.

However, it seemed pretty convincing that she couldn't go back. So it probably felt like a helpless situation to all of them.

Now, that doesn't explain why the well suddenly opened for Kagome one day. After all, it seemed like Kagome just willed the well to open... and there had to have been a time where she wanted to see Inuyasha, right? So why couldn't it open before?

I could just chalk it off as "the Well wanting Kagome to meet the legal age to marry Inuyasha" lol. That's valid enough I guess.

But, I want to bulk that justification up a little more... so here's what I think:

The Well was testing Kagome's desire to see Inuyasha again. Her job to destroy the Jewel is done, so it sealed itself up real good, forcing Kagome to focus on her life back home, go to school, meet new people, and weigh all her options for her future. If she STILL wants to see Inuyasha after all of that, then she will have proven herself to the Well that her desire to see him and go back to that era is genuine, not just some whim of the wind. (The Well isn't some plaything.)

In the meantime, the Well is adamant. Until then, it is sealed. I'm sure Kagome visited it many times, wishing to see Inuyasha. But she knows very well by her third year that the Well does not work.

When I think about it, after high school is when Kagome's life truly starts. That is when she gets to decide for the first time, for herself, what she might want to do with her life going forward.

To prepare for that, Kagome gets to weigh her options in high school about her future. In Japan, I think 1st-2nd year is when they start "university planning" called 進路希望調査 (shinro kibou chousa). 3rd year is when they take entrance exams. The closer she creeps to graduation, the more she is forced to think about her future.

That future without Inuyasha. Can she live in it?

When she graduates, she faces herself head on. "Look, I have to live in this world without Inuyasha. The well is BROKEN af. This is it." But she realizes, even still... EVEN STILL... gosh she just wants to see Inuyasha again. :(

In that moment, she proved herself to the Well. Kagome thought about this for three darn years. She went to school, stayed with friends and family, and she knows her options. Yet, her feelings for Inuyasha did not waver. She STILL wants to see him, thus proving that her desire is not superficial.

So finally, the Well's like, "Alright, I hear you now hunny. I'll open the portal."

When the Sengoku era sky appears in the Well, Kagome looks at it with such yearning eyes, her voice wavering with such longing... Her mom finds her, and knowing Mama, she probably has had a hunch all along that Kagome's happiness is not here in the modern era.

So in a true act of love, Mama lets her go.

GAWD MAMA HIGURASHI MVP MOM OF THE CENTURY I WANT TO GIVE YOU A HUGGGG

Thinking about Kagome's family always makes my heart break, seriously. Though, the timeskip feels sudden to me as a reader/watcher, but three years is still quite a bit of time. (Like, imagine from now, 2023 to 2026.) They had time together... I'm sure it was understood. It still must've been hard tho.

This got too long, so I'll explore Inuyasha's side in Part 2. -> I will link here if you want!

[cloudypinkblink]

you know sayuri kinda looks like she has the dead mom hairstyle, kinda

so time to give masaru (and chika) some angst

aka sayuri dying and Masaru drops out of school to get a job and raise his sister, over working himself and having bad habits of caring more about others health than his own

Chika worries about her brother and the changed that happened to him since their mom death

Satsuma didn't know that sayuri died and when he finds that out plus masaru joining DATS he tries to be a parental figuur to him (like a dad or uncle)

I'm so glad someone finally mentioned this bc I've always thought that abt her hair LMAO Anyways I will give u my perspective w/ Sayuri's death, tho it's a LIL different from some of what you suggested, but I like the idea a lot and have thought about it before.

Firstly, I think Masaru and Chika do get financial support; Sayuri is a stay-at-home mom with two kids in the anime; I'm assuming DATS gave her money in compensation for Suguru's disappearance, especially considering Captain Satsuma and Suguru were friends, as well. So with her death (I'm just chalking it up to illness), the financial support fell to the kids- they get to keep their house and I think they both stubbornly want to so when Dad comes back, he knows where they are (bc mind u canon masaru is only 14; he's still just a kid, and is bound to have some childlike hope/logic) Masaru does drop out and start working- for two reasons. One - His temper and behavior is pretty bad in school- he struggles dealing with his grief, and eventually just can't deal with it anymore; he's getting into more serious fights and hurting other kids, and it has a negative effect on Chika so he just drops out. He was also failing because he almost never studied, just too stressed. Two - Part of him is afraid of what will happen if he doesn't provide or take care of Chika on his own; yes they've got the money, but what if it's limited? Furthermore- he wants her to have nice things. They're given enough to survive, but after losing both their parents, he wants Chika to be happy. Sure, he can't spoil her, but he likes being able to buy her nice things when he can.

He works a few odd jobs- I think the last job he really worked before he ended up meeting Agumon and getting to DATS was at his friends shop- the one there is an episode about? But when it closed he lost it, and was inbetween work. He meets Agumon and Satsuma does recognize Masaru; he is aware of his situation, as Sayuri had asked him to make sure they're taken care of, but I guess he didn't realize how bad things had gotten on Masaru. Instead of Yoshino going to seek Masaru out, the Captain does personally, and tells him a bit about his dad and his relationship with Sayuri. He outright offers a job for Masaru at DATS, and it only gets solidified after Masaru is able to get Agumon to evolve. Satsuma also does this personally to allow Masaru to keep his privacy; it's his choice if he wants the others to know his personal situation. (Masaru doesn't outright talk about it, but he doesn't keep it a secret, either. It is what it is, but he does appreciate being able to tell them on his own)

(I believe in giving Masaru different hairstyle supremacy)

Masaru ofc takes it because he's able to work, and the pay is ggood enough that he feels a bit better about spending more time at home. Satsuma gives him mornings/early afternoons off, allowing Masaru to do housework, cook, etc., Masaru is also very grateful to Agumon- and instead of being hungry af for Sayuri's fried eggs, he obsesses over Masaru's. The companionship and someone to chat with while he does stuff helps Masaru, and he doesn't get nearly as restless anymore given his fights with Digimon make him feel more fulfilled. (There is a part of him that's terrified of something happening, leading him to leave Chika behind; I think he's very much more hesitant about going to the digital world, and needs her encouragement before he goes. As much as Masaru the son wants to find his dad and have a parent, Masaru the brother doesn't want to abandon Chika. I also don't think he goes to the digital world at the end of the series; sure their dad is back, but Masaru's been Chika's main parent figure. I don't think he has it in him to leave her.) While I didn't draw her, Yoshino is definitely really sympathetic, and often buys Masaru and Chika snacks, and gives him rides to places if she's not busy. It becomes a little routine for her and Masaru to go grocery shopping together, and Lalamon often points out how much better Masaru is at housework than Yoshino- obviously to tease and fluster her. She also tries to be there when Masaru has his off and down days- but they all kinda learn pretty quick to just... let him simmer for a bit, and he comes around on his own. Masaru is probably depressed, and it manifests as quiet, slow days, or in angry bursts where he doesn't understand his sadness. Touma and Masaru of course buttheads at first, though Touma is fairly shocked and surprised when he hears Masaru say he takes care of Chika himself because his parents are gone. Masaru doesn't beat around the bush, saying Mom passed away and Dad went missing. Of course they kinda butt heads still when the ever proud and abrasive Masaru doesn't like pity, but Touma, I think, opens up a bit and explains his "pity" is empathy, because his mom died, and his little sister is sick, so he gets it. While I definitely feel thats information Touma doesn't give lightly, I think it's because Touma is rather caring towards Chika too, and at least he had others to take care of him and take care of Relena in his absence. Satsuma does enlist in Touma's help in tutoring Masaru- it's soemthing they'll do in quiet evenings, though Yoshino often has to butt in to get Touma to tone down his genius speak to something a bit less overwhelming. This will be dubbed orphan AU in tags. I will definitely come back, but please ask/prompt more as well hehehe. I definitely want to explore Masaru's relationships w/ some of the adult figures in his life- Satsuma, Yoshino. And ofc how Ikuto would be different given it was Sayuri's motherly affection that had a big effect on him.

[aiura-stan]

0-7, this one for sure isn’t Saiki heaven!

More evidence for the “saiki just uses low level hypnosis to make people believe whatever they want about him” theory. Actually, I think someone on Tumblr proposed this, kind of going off of his mind erasing power, where the mind just fills in a blank spot with a plausible story. I don’t remember who first brought up this theory. Make some noise if it was you.

I will be completely honest, I don’t remember this chapter at all. Maybe I skipped it or something. More likely, I read it half asleep at 3am.

I don’t understand why the spirit of the person is the thing that retains the dazed status effect, but then again, this is fiction, and we are pretending that souls exist in the first place in a way that can be separated from the body.

…okay. Another thing that really could have been put in the manga proper and also the anime. Nendou is being scouted as a PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYER?? HELLO???? That makes him at least 200% more impressive as a character.

Um… Saiki… those aren’t lies…

Hello??? SAIKI??? He’s really about to just leave Nendou’s body and wander around… I’m glad they added a definitive (rather short) time limit to the animanga before the soul has to go somewhere. It does bring up more questions about ghosts, and the religious belief system portrayed in Saiki k, but let’s not think about that right now. From the chapter thus far, seems like Saiki really enjoys taking otherwise purposeless strolls. Old man behavior.

Yeah, Saiki really is on another level.

This makes me kind of sad actually?? I’d explain but I’m sure you all can guess my thoughts here. Gah…

Also, it’s kind of nice to see glasses-less and limiter-less Saiki. He’s actually quite pretty. His limiters do a lot to detract from his looks overall, on account of being highly ridiculous accessories. And his glasses hide his eye color (speaking more of the anime, but you know.)

I have so many questions about this scene. How does a soul “wake up”? What happens when it does; does Saiki’s soul just automatically get kicked back into his proper body? Why did it take so long?? People can’t (rather: really shouldn’t) pass out for much longer than a few seconds. I’ll chalk it up to another Saikiverse modification where Saiki made real life more like a fictional story (and less harrowing. A world where fastballs are not potentially lethal.) And all of that crap about souls just doesn’t get explained. Okay. So much of this story is left up to readers to fill in the blanks with their own assumptions. Maybe that’s part of what makes it so good. Sidenote: I envy Nendou's superior ability to go with the flow. 'Oh, looks like I fell alseep while taking a shit.' <- Fantastic.

Jfc Saiki, so little faith in people. (Understandably.)

Saiki, I fail to see what the spinach has to do with you getting published in Jump.

XD

In all seriousness, the amount of times that people refer to Saiki’s powers as creepy or monstrous really is… a lot. Like, those baseball guys were calling Nendou (Saiki) a monster just for being (freakishly) good at baseball. Anyways

Yeah, that’s about what I figured. They’re designed to be read independently. XD. Yeah, sorry, I’m one of those people apparently. Well, I’m sure Asou never expected his manga to be read quickly via scans by English speakers some years after the fact.

I am so glad that Asou sensei got serialized. And that he didn’t let his self doubt stop him from creating Saiki k. Yeah, that’s right. Can’t let the fans down!

よし！that'll do it. See you all next time. 💫

[firestorm09890]

Kingdom Hearts: Nobody Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology, Ontology??? headcanons

saw people talking about more monstrous Nobodies a bit ago (okay it was a long while ago at this point, this has been in drafts for ages) and that reminded me to share some of my thoughts. it spiraled kind of out of control and now this post is ridiculously long. three parts: the physical side, the less physical side, and other thoughts. most of it’s under the cut. enjoy

The physical side

All of these apply to ALL Nobodies, not just the funny squiggly ones.

Alrighty, here’s my proposal: Nobodies don’t have any internal organs. Even the ones that retain their human form. They may look and act like they’ve got regular human body processes, but I like to think that it’s just a hollow imitation. This is why every single Nobody has an absolutely snatched waist

So they’d lack both their metaphysical hearts and their real hearts!

The Organization was founded by a bunch of researchers who got into this mess via unethical human experimentation so you know they tried to pin down the specifics of Nobody biology early on, but every time they tried to use any medical equipment it would come up empty or just straight up not work. And then none of them were willing to get vivisected for the cause lmao

I think the greater Nobodies (human-shaped ones) are made up of the same weird, rubbery flexible stuff that lesser Nobodies are, but just don’t have that flexibility because hey! They’ve got a human form to maintain! They may seem human, but on a biological level, they’re closer to the squiggly guys than an actual human. This is why it’s possible for Xemnas to turn greater Nobodies into Dusks. We never see him do it, but I doubt it’s an empty threat. I don’t think there were any other greater Nobodies in the Organization in the past, but he’s probably transformed one of the specialized Nobodies, like a Dancer or Dragoon, into one of the lowest-ranked ones, like Dusks or Creepers or something.

All Nobodies have the Nobody sigil somewhere on them. For lesser Nobodies it’s easily visible, but for greater Nobodies, it’s on their backs, and since they’re always wearing those coats, no one ever sees it.

If a Nobody is cut, they don’t bleed- instead, little wisps of darkness leak out of the wound, like what happens in the Org’s death animations but on a smaller scale. They can heal faster than regular humans thanks to ✨something something darkness and nothingness✨.

Though Nobodies are supposedly shunned by both light and darkness, they are more aligned with dark than light. Any Nobody can wield light, not just Roxas (as shown by Zexion in Chain of Memories), but it takes great difficulty. However, they can wield darkness with ease.

Nobodies do need to sleep as regularly as humans, but can last much longer without food or water. Rest? Yes! Nutrience? Unimportant

They have no body heat- that’s a corpse, baby!!! That does bring up some questions about thermoregulation. I don’t feel like thinking about it tbh. There’s lots of questions in this vein: can Nobodies get drunk? I think they probably can’t. In 358/2 Days, Demyx says “Wait, training!? That sounds like work, which means sweating. Which is gross.” and that... complicates things! I could chalk it up to how a lot of people in Organization XIII have a tendency to keep acting like they’re humans and nothing’s changed, even though it has.

Nobodies are “born” in any world in the Realm Between. Roxas first appeared in Twilight Town, but some might have shown up by Castle Oblivion, or even the Mysterious Tower (god bless). Showing up in The World That Never Was is probably the most common.

The less physical side

It’s quite an unlikely coincidence that every apprentice of Ansem the Wise had a standout, super strong heart that allowed them to retain their human forms as Nobodies. I think it had something to do with being stabbed by a keyblade, not just their wills alone. That would also align with 9-12 being tied to a keyblade legacy. A strong will is important, yes, but you only get to be human-looking if there was a keyblade involved.

In a Nobody, the most important part of this will is the will to live. Should that ever wane, they Nobody will begin to destabilize, and eventually, they will return to nothingness.

Nobodies have hearts, and they do not have hearts. They have feelings, and they do not have feelings. It’s like the observer effect in quantum mechanics. Anyone who can sense hearts or feelings or whatever will not be able to sense anything from a Nobody, no matter how far along in development that heart may be, reinforcing the belief that yeah there’s nothing there. But there is... and also there isn’t. Both statements are true. A friend described it as “Schrödinger’s Feelings” and it’s the most accurate “Schrodinger’s ____” joke I’ve ever seen made. Someone else described it as depression which is also accurate (source: i’ve had depression). There are bouts of emotion occasionally, but those emotions are dulled (and usually negative) and most of the time there’s only suffocating apathy.

There is some truth to the statement that Nobodies’ feelings are simply recreations of what they might’ve felt back when they had hearts, but it’s also bogus. Memories are important to the makeup of a Nobody, but that statement is often used as an excuse that covers up the reality that there was a feeling there. It’s very easy to lie to yourself when there’s mostly data supporting your argument and any evidence against is less common and easily disputed by “logic” like this.

The most prominent “feelings” in Nobodies are an intense sense of longing and dissatisfaction. For some, the longing is for a heart, but for others it is aimless. That was the idea behind all the Nobodies having little hobbies like cooking and puzzles and reading magazines in the manga. They’re trying to fill that void with anything they can.

In one of the novels, Demyx, #1 proponent of the idea that Nobodies do have hearts actually, gives us this:

I play and play, but I can’t make a satisfying sound.

In truth, I know I won’t be satisfied in all eternity.

If you don’t have a heart, there’s no such thing as satisfaction.

You don’t even think you want to be satisfied.

And yeah, the novels aren’t canon, but it’s still interesting to see and think about. Nothing you do is good enough to fill that emptiness, but you can barely bring yourself to care about it anyway. Yep, depression!

Nobodies are prone to a high amount of introspection. It’s an inherited trait all Nobodies share- if you manage to survive past humanity in a bizarre fucked up state like this, you’re naturally going to be thinking about it. However, they’re all also incredibly bad at it, and generally do a horrible job at self-reflection. This is just an unfortunate coincidence

A Nobody can regrow a heart if they make connections, and are seen and acknowledged by others. Pretty sure that’s just canon. HOWEVER, Nobodies cannot help each other grow hearts- this is why none of the Organization regrew hearts after 10 years of being around each other, and despite connections within the group. 0+0 is still 0, after all. That’s what makes the policy of going undetected on missions so insidious. They’re never allowed the chance to regrow a heart. I’ve already talked about it somewhere else, but this is why Roxas grows a heart so fast- he ignores that rule, for the most part. Axel’s interactions with Sora are also what kickstarts his heart growth.

Hypothetically, since someone doesn’t have to remember a memory for Castle Oblivion to draw on it, the mechanics with the cards and the rooms could have been used to help Xemnas recall his past- considering how much time he spent talking to Aqua’s armor, I think that’s something he might’ve been interested in. HOWEVER! Since the Twilight Town card came from the memories on the other side of Sora’s heart, I propose that the properties of Castle Oblivion would have no effect on Nobodies. RIP.

Other thoughts

I’m not saying Ansem the Wise and Yensid were right about Nobodies! I do think they’re different from humans on a fundamental level, but demonizing them is Not Cool

On the idea that Nobodies aren’t meant to exist: Well. Just like before it’s total bogus bc the main perpetrators of that idea were either bigoted about it or liars or both but I think it’s a little more complicated than “everyone is flat wrong about this”. Nobodies are essentially naturally-occurring byproducts of Heartless. Most Nobodies (or, at least, the lesser ones, based on that one cutscene in kh2 where hearts rain down on The World That Never Was and we see a bunch of Dusks grasping for them) seem to have a drive to reclaim the heart they’ve lost- if reclaimed, that would mean they wouldn’t be a Nobody anymore. Creatures born in worlds of neither light nor darkness, created only through the destruction of another and only some of the time, who don’t even want to exist like this themselves... that’s what “Nobodies aren’t meant to exist” means to me, I think. BEAR IN MIND “MEANT” IS NOT THE SAME AS “DESERVE”

And then! There’s Nobodies who defy that! Or, uh, Nobody, singular. Roxas goes “bro I don’t care I want to exist as I am” and he does that (Naminé... didn’t really seem to share that opinion, if I’m remembering correctly. Probably because DiZ hammered it into her head that she didn’t deserve to exist). I wish we had seen something like that from one of the regular Nobodies- why should recompletion and/or regaining a heart be the ideal? Why do they have to die again in order to be “right”? It just further perpetuates that idea DiZ and Yensid pushed in kh2: Nobodies are Wrong and shouldn’t be around. Unless you’re special like Roxas or Naminé in which case it’s okay. But for everyone else it’s recomplete or bust... anyway this is a tangent I did not mean to go on with this post-

I think it’s interesting, how they’re made of nothingness and their existence is “nonexistent”. Nothingness is, as an element, something, as opposed to true nothing, which is the absence of anything. Nonexistence implies existence. It’s like how in math, sometimes an answer to a problem will be DNE-- that’s Nobodies, and “nothingness”. “Does not exist”, but in writing the answer, it does exist, as a nonexistent entity. As opposed to just... not having a math problem at all, and therefore not having a place to write a solution. That is true nothingness- all the Nobodies of people whose hearts weren’t strong enough to create Nobodies fall under this category. They don’t exist for real. Nothing as something vs nothing as nothing- ah fuck I just realized this is the second time I’ve used a math analogy for kingdom hearts. shit

in conclusion

that’s all of it. probably. i like nobodies a whole lot. now that i’m thinking about it i should’ve made this multiple posts instead of one huge one. if you read all of this you earn my undying love

[romancomicsblog]

How Blue Beetle is the Hero James Gunn's DCU Needs

It is no secret the DC Universe has had its fair share of setbacks when it has come to live action films.

From trying to start a universe with Green Lantern, to Man of Steel starting the inconsistent DCEU, it has been hard to watch so many heroes wasted by studio interference, failed universe building, and let's just say, unorthodoxed takes on famous characters (I'm looking at you Joker and Lex).

Now we have an opportunity for a fresh start.

Director James Gunn has a new lineup of films consisting of big swings and fan favorite characters, hoping to build up the DCU we know and love.

In this new marriage between Warner Bros and Gunn, he has inherited 4 children from the previous marriage. The previous box office bomb Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the current box office bomb The Flash, the sequel to one of the biggest DCEU movies Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Blue Beetle, the attempt at a new hero for the DCEU franchise who is somewhat left up in the air between DCEU and DCU.

While some have already chalked this up as another potential bomb, of the 4 movies, this has been my most anticipated.

Unlike the others, Blue Beetle I believe is in a prime slot as the right character, right time, not only to the general public, but to the DCU. Here's why:

1. The Flexibility of Blue Beetle

Unlike the characters Shazam, Flash, and Aquaman, Blue Beetle is not directly attached the DCEU.

Besides a mention of Batman, and the gear of (the probably late) Ted Kord, Blue Beetle doesn't have many connections to a wider DC Universe. He can exist in either, if they wish to continue one or both.

2. The World Building Potential

Blue Beetle opens up another part of the DC Universe in multiple different ways EARLY.

As the Scarab is a part of The Reach, this opens up a whole other side of DCU we have never seen, and potentially sets up an invasion storyline.

The Reach also have a deal with The Guardians of the Universe of Oa, setting him up for a potential Green Lantern crossover nicely.

But unlike many other heroes, Jaime Reyes isn't just a member of the Justice League...

He's a TEEN TITAN!

Jaime opens the door to young heroes existing already! The Teen Titans are a fan favorite, but he is also a member of Young Justice, who are equally as fun.

This is currently an untapped market for both DC and Marvel (though I'm sure the Young Avengers are coming). Jaime can act as a door between both, offering a perspective as the youngest member of the Justice League, and the senior member of the Titans.

3. Legacy Characters are IN

A particular kind at least.

If I had a nickel for every legacy character who is (vaguely) attached to a hero they admire, who take on that hero's name, with a similar but different set of powers, who then makes their old costume better, and who happen to be a person of color, I'd have three nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it has happened thrice.

The most famous of course is Miles Morales AKA Spider-Man, who has headed two incredible movies and a pretty sweet video game, along with several appearances in animation.

The second is fan favorite Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel, who had a pretty solid show and also headed up a video game. While these are not as good as Mile's, they are both in the zeitgeist, and with her big film debut coming up in The Marvels, Iman Vellani has a bright future ahead of herself in and out of the MCU.

And finally, we have Blue Beetle! While he is a legacy character by name, he becomes Blue Beetle AFTER Ted Kord dies in comics, similar to Miles and Peter Parker. He carries the weight and legacy of a hero he never knew, and tries to do it his own way.

That is something audiences are loving right now, and Blue Beetle can tell a similar story.

and finally...

4. Xolo Maridueña is Perfect

You think I'm overselling him, but I'm not.

If you don't know his name yet, you will soon. As the star of Cobra Kai, Xolo plays Miguel, a kid from nowhere trying to live up to the legacy of man he deems great. If that isn't Jaime, I don't know what is.

Xolo plays every role he has with heart, charm, and has comedic timing to beat. As one of its leads, Xolo helped take Cobra Kai from a YouTube Red Series to one of Netflix's BIGGEST Shows.

And at only 22, he is young enough to play a late teen, and to be in this role for years to come.

In Marvel talk, we can very much be looking at DC's Tom Holland, and Blue Beetle could be Spider-Man Homecoming.

The bottomline is, I am beyond stoked for Blue Beetle, and as a Latinx fan, I know I'm gonna be there day 1, rooting for its success.

I hope to look back on this 10 years later, as the Justice League unite with Jaime up there with em, three movies under Xolo's belt, a fan favorite, with more to come.

Thank you for reading! If you'd like to support me you can follow me on socials here!

[cheapsweets]

The resolute Ilyecham

My response to this weeks Bestiary Posting challenge, from The Maniculum!

I've been vaguelly considering how to tackle this one all week (and trying to avoid seeing others' interpretations as much as possible). Again, we have a lot of behaviours, but nothing in terms of a physical description... Did the author just thing 'everyone knows what birds look like', was this just a bird that the reader was expected to be familiar with, or were they all like 'I'm not describing yet another bird... :p'?

It's a pen and ink drawing (dark sepia ink, and a sailor fude nib) over a pencil sketch; the fude nib is interesting as it's meant to give the impression of using a brush - the nib is bent to allow transition from thin to thick lines - I've got a lot of practice to go to get that transition right though (I'm tempted to try an actual brush pen for next week's challenge...)!

This time, I actually used some references! Well, I briefly glanced at some, anyhow... I feel like it has made a difference, particularly in terms of the anatomy (though there are several things I'd go back and change if I was doing this over), but I still need to work a bit more on consistency (and maybe not tackling any too-awkward perpectives...!). I had a lot of fun with this one :)

Reasoning below the cut...

"The Ilyecham is a bird armed rather with spirit than with claws, having great courage in its small body. [Etymology redacted]. For it greedily seizes other birds. [Etymology redacted.]" - So, carnivorous bird, emphasis away from it's claws... I had to double check this, but falcons kill prey with their beak (a sharply projecting 'tomial tooth' on their upper beak), whereas hawks use their claws. I tried to show this, but it's such a small details it might not be obvious. Did you know that falcons are more closely related to passerines (perching birds, like sparrows) than they are to hawks/eagles? I always find that absolutely mind-blowing :)

"It is said that the Ilyecham is lacking in parental care towards its young, for when it sees that they are able and trying to fly, it does not feed them but beats them with its wings, throws them from the nest and forces them from a tender age to catch prey for themselves lest, when they are fully grown, they should become lazy." - Hey, chalk up another one to that old adage 'birds are jerks'... I'm starting to think that bestiary authors were not the biggest birb fans... In the top right of the picture, we have a mama ilyecham pushing the baby out of the nest with her wing. Time to find your own way in the world, baby bird! I tried to distinguish the younger bird's plumage with a different pattern (spotted/dotted); the adult plumage was inspired by goshawks (I know, hawk vs falcon), more because it would show up as distinctive in black and white than any other reason.

As an aside, I really struggled with how to draw a slightly stylised bird nest!

"It takes care lest in their childhood they grow idle, or are given up to pleasure, or grow weak from inactivity, or learn to expect food rather than to seek it for themselves, or abandon their natural vigour. Ilyechams stop bothering to feed their young in order to make them bold enough to seize food for themselves." - Hang on, this is going to be some kind of inspirational virtuous animal thing, isn't is... :p I can imagine some medieval scribe writing 'and so, the ilyecham represents the cardinal virtue of fortitude' or something...

"It is the custom of Ilyechams in the wild to spread their wings when the south wind blows, so that their limbs are warmed by the wind to release their old feathers. When there is no wind, they create a breeze by spreading their wings to face the rays of the sun and beating them; and thus, as the pores of their body open, either their old plumage falls out, or new feathers grow in." - In the top left, we have an ilyecham spreading its wings, facing towards the sun, and doing just that! The feathers blowing away were fun to draw!