#But if the differences are stuff like 'the kids will kill their foils' that's just plain misreading

[puppyeared]

I just skimmed through the art part of your blog and holy bajeebus your LMK art is so beautiful and the headcanon ideas you come up with are so good I wanna steal em-

Kinda wanna see like a part 2 of the little angst you did between MK and Macaque a while ago. It's so interesting and I wanna see Macaque's reaction in your art style. (You don't have to of course, it's just a suggestion [idk if i spelled that right])

Thanks for reading and hope you have a good day/night!

Hope this is to your liking ^^

Part one here

[thyandrawrites]

i was foolish and checked out the bnha subreddit and it’s maybe even worse than twitter. are we even reading the same story? absolutely everyone despises the villains and unquestionably supports the heroes full stop with no criticism. i feel like the majority feel this way and wonder if we are reading too much into the text or if horikoshi is at fault for unclear narrative framing

The framing in bnha is ass bad. I say this objectively and not just because it impacts my faves because the heroes are also given the short end of the stick for a lot of things. Bakugou's arc is one of the things that started out well enough and then ended in a weird direction for the same reason, too.

But anyway. I don't browse reddit because I'm allergic to reddit takes, but from what I've heard it doesn't sound like a great environment for deep analyses, tbh. Tumblr isn't any different unless you follow the right people, but at least here it's much easier to curate your online experience and blacklist and block the topics you don't want to interact with. Following a restricted amount of trusted creators also helps imho

[jq37]

Just to throw my two cents on the Rat Grinder discourse: They weren't worth the Intrepid Heroes' time. We didn't get the full picture of what's going on with the Grinders until the last quarter of the season. Before that they were just this other clique that hate the main characters, so in-character why would the Bad Kids bother giving them so much attention when they've got so much of their own crap going on. Kristens quest to get Cassandra back and her presidential campaign, Gorgugs courseload, Riz's million and one plates that he's been spinning all season, Adaines financial problems, Figs curse and her doubts about what she wants to do with her life. Fabian's the only one who might have had the time, but he had to be Maximum Legend. There genuinely was no time or even an incentive on the IH's side to develop the Rat Grinders characters.

I still think it's fucked up that these teenagers got taken advantage of by adults they trusted, but we didn't learn any of that until we only had two roleplay episodes left. Too little too late to even try anything diplomatic even if they didn't spend all their time after the Last Stand in hiding.

And a thing about Ivy that no one is roasting her about and really should: An elven archer? Really? Wow, never seen that before.

Yeah totally. Like, from a meta level, I see where the players themselves could have been more curious about the Rat Grinders. There are obvious plot threads that could have been teased out there (though, in fairness to the cast, the adult manipulation aspect didn't become clear until way later in the season--the rivalry and foil aspects were more obvious). This final confrontation could look really different if they'd played that all the way out all season.

But in character? The Bad Kids really didn't have a good reason to waste time on the Rat Grinders. They came into this school year already burnt out from their Night Yorb quest and wanting a break. But they don't get that because they immediately are beset by problems they have to deal with--Kristen's god is on death's door from neglect and she's on the brink of expulsion, Riz is running himself ragged trying to boost his resume for college, Fig is having a whole ass existential crisis, Adaine is struggling with money issues she doesn't want to talk about, Gorgug is taking FOUR YEARS of school at the same time, and Fabian is multiclassing and dealing with his empty house/not having parental support (or Cathilda's support) for the first time. They are dealing with SO MUCH high stakes, personal stuff before the plot even kicks in. And, mechanics-wise, this is represented with the downtime system that means that any time they spend on the RG's is time they can't spend on something that matters more to them. IMO, not prioritizing your haters is actually pretty mature. Like, they weren't proactively using their free time to bully them or anything (except for arguably Fig). They were snippy with them when they crossed their paths and that was it. As opposed to the Rat Grinders who literally had to be told by Jace to stop antagonizing the Bad Kids (though they must have been pretty ineffectual at it because the Bad Kids hardly noticed, which I bet stung considering they were so obsessed).

And also, it's not like they didn't try at all with the Rat Grinders. Early Insight checks on Kipperlilly just got, "This is a polished steel orb of a personality" which doesn't sound very worth interacting with in a sympathetic way if at all and then the next big thing they learn is that she had hated Riz since Freshman Year and that she wants Riz and Kristen dead. And that's AFTER we saw her smile and kill her party cleric. In their position I'm not spending further time trying to empathize with this person, I have made my judgement and it's up to the Jawbones of the world to find if there's something in there to be rehabilitated.

And that's not the only case. Adaine straight up saved Ruben from disintegration during the Frosty Folk battle when she easily could have saved the spell slot, but that didn't soften him towards the Bad Kids any. Adaine also was really keen to Scry on the Rat Grinders to find out what was happening at their meetings. But, in scene at least, she was never able to do that so we never got a scene of them, huddled together, clearly unsure about the path they're on but not feeling like they can walk it back or say no to the authority figures in their lives. She didn't get anything humanizing that would cause her to rethink their position on them the way that she did with Aelwyn for instance. So why would they think they're anything but gleeful co-conspirators?

Hell, the one RG Adaine was even slightly curious about was Oisin and now we know that he was feigning interest in her which, man, can you imagine how much worse that would have felt if she'd actually taken the bait and pursued him beyond just thinking he was cute? Of course, it's possible that her interacting with him more along with some good charm rolls could have changed the narrative in some way but we can only go off of what we know to be true in canon and those facts are (1) He tried to get closer to Adaine while actively planning the downfall of her and her friends, (2) he (along with Ivy) was mean to Buddy behind his back while tricking him into a plan that would force him to go against his religious beliefs, and (3) he called his KVX related dragon ancestors to try to kill the Bad Kids and endanger the entire student body population. Three strikes, you're out. If I'm a Bad Kid I'm not super interested in whatever else is going on with him. And again, literally all of Adaine's friends (except Riz) gave her help to do an Insight check on him during their confrontation in the hallway so she was looking for something there worth engaging with, but she didn't get much.

Fig was fully doing CIA, MKUltra, Fantasy Geneva Convention violations on Ruben to try see if she could get information or flip him. I think she did it in an objectively insane way so I'm not entirely shocked that it didn't yield the exact results she was looking for. But she never found the smoking gun (or whatever the opposite of that is) in his head that would absolve him/show the Rat Grinders were being controlled and her messing with his dreams never flared his conscience enough to make him try to break free (as far as we know) which is what I assume she was going for. If I was Ruben looking for a way out but scared of the repercussions, I might go to Adaine who saved me from certain death earlier the same year and has helped saved the world 3 times with her party and their friends in high (and low) places. Maybe that's what Fig thought might happen but it didn't so from Fig's POV? Gave him a chance. Time to start blasting. And again, at that age, if I walked in to the first day of class and the first thing this random boy does is sneer at me and flaunt his musical success, I'm popping up on his Nemesis Alert at that moment. Doubly so after he tries to trick me and my friends into doing drugs so we get expelled. I'm surprised she tried at all with him.

Fabian absolutely tried to interact with Ivy--in large part for self interested reasons of course, but that doesn't change that he did it. And she came across as callous and unkind from the jump. Their final conversation before the latest episode is the one where she talks about wearing Mazey like a sweater and then says that Fabian missed his chance with her before stalking off. That's a pretty open and shut interaction. No way 17 year old me is like, "Hmm, but why is she acting so mean? Perhaps I should examine that more closely to further understand her." Nah, I've decided she sucks.

And Kristen has tried with Buddy literally up until the last moment. She rolled an Insight check on him right before the fight started and she got a 1. She got nothing from him.

Mary Ann is actually the only Rat Grinder who hasn't done anything to make a bad impression on the Bad Kids--the only thing she did was have a really good Bloodrush tryout. So no reason to hate her specifically (and, in fact, she is also the only Rat Grinder that at least half of them are positively obsessed with), but no reason to explore her further. And Kristen still tried giving her a stuffed animal and her response was that she already had that one and that she was going to give it away. What are they supposed to do with that?

Even when they tried, they didn't get information that was worth chasing when they were so busy and had to manage their free time. Gorgug didn't even slot in downtime to talk to his bio parents when they visited. Why would he spend any time on Mary Ann to figure out her deal? Maybe if they were given more explicit opportunities to interact with them in passing. If Mary Ann was shown at Bloodrush Games. If during class time Oisin tried to interact with Adaine. If Kristen ran into Buddy and Bucky talking. If any of their forays into talking to them or looking into them yielded anything actionable or that piqued their interest--they opened the door for Brennan to give them something more than once. But they never got anything that was worth investing more of their limited time into.

(And also, they didn't learn that Porter was involved until WAY into the last quarter of the episodes. Which absolutely could have changed things since, as far as they knew the RG's were working alone to raise this god which isn't crazy for them to think because Kristen literally did that last year and it was of her own free will. If they knew early that the RG's were smaller players in Porter's plot then maybe they would have been in more of a rescue mindset--especially since Fig has always mistrusted him--but that's not information they had and by the time they got it, the RG's were in deep hiding, like you said.)

And so, coming into the last few episodes, that's who the Rat Grinders are to the Bad Kids. A group of kids who they first heard about in the context of, "they famously hate you," even though they'd never interacted before. A group of kids who they already thought sucked even before they tried to kill the entire study body an hour ago. A group of kids who are trying to doom all of Elmville to eternal rage and who are willing and ready to kill them to do it.

With that context, yeah I think their actions are pretty understandable.

(Also, lmao. Yeah, I think calling Ivy basic would probably hurt her more than most things you could say to her.)

[six-of-cringe]

I think that one of the reasons why people misinterpret Wylan's character and arc, among others, is because they misinterpret the relationship between him and Kaz. This post has kind of mitosised off from the BFWP (Big Fucking Wylan Post) I'm writing because it's a bit of a different focus and constitutes its own post.

A lot of people talk about Wylan's character and development as though it's meant to match Kaz's - starting out as a nice kid who the city forces to become amoral, indifferent to violence, and well-versed in crime. These qualities are usually talked about with a weird reverence as an irrefutable symbol of "badassery", as though it's always a positive development for any character regardless of the story's narrative, which annoys me but is not the topic of this post. That's part of the BFWP's job.

Following Kaz's exact development is not the point of Wylan's character. The point is that Kaz and Wylan narrative foils - very similar in many ways, but with a fundamental difference that creates the "broken mirror" effect/shows how they could have turned out if they'd chosen differently. I think that difference is how they respond when they climb out of the harbor after their respective betrayals. Narratively, Ketterdam represents a very harsh system that presents the people struggling there with very few options. You can either choose to ditch decency, play by the Barrel's rules, and live, or you can hold on to decency and die.

When Kaz returns to the streets after Jordie's death, he chooses the first option. He copes with what happened through ideas of revenge, and to survive long enough to see it he quickly turns to thievery and violence. He thinks to himself after he robs a kid for money and food that it was much easier to survive when you've left decency behind. He survived through violence, creating the Dirtyhands persona around himself for protection.

When Wylan has to fend for himself, he choses the second option. He finds "honest work" at the tannery, where they exploit workers and expose them to toxins. He wonders if he'll live long enough to use his savings to leave the city, or if the chemicals would kill him first. He was smart enough to steal and survive, but he chose decency, and with it, he chose death. There are a number of reasons why he chose differently than Kaz despite their similarities - his older age and thus more developed moral code, having no one to avenge but himself when he believed himself worthless, his more privileged upbringing, and his relatively low drive to live. Alone, he would have died.

Then Kaz steps in. Kaz's role in all the crow's lives is that, intentionally or not, his ruthless rule of the Barrel creates a sort of haven that allows them to survive where they would have died had they stayed alone. Wylan is a really clear example of this, and though Kaz's intentions were at least partly self-serving, his involvement both kept Wylan from dying of exposure or street violence as well as prevented him from needing to do the more terrible things that it takes to survive in the Barrel. Throughout the books, we see Kaz kind of taking the brunt of enacting violence in Wylan's place - traumatizing Smeet's daughter, killing the clerk on the lighthouse. Wylan could get by making explosives in the workshop rather than having to shoot or stab or beat the life out of people. And at the end of the series, Kaz sees to it that he never will have to. Of course Wylan did bad stuff to survive when working with the Dregs, it's the Barrel. But the extent is greatly lessened because of Kaz's involvement.

Wylan's arc was never about becoming comfortable with violence, or becoming just like Kaz - the way people characterize him as some sort of ruthless murder mastermind is inaccurate and redundant with Kaz's character. He isn't nonchalant or celebratory about crime or death or violence by the end of the book. He doesn't HAVE to become like Kaz, because Kaz himself gave him the space to continue being decent, intentionally or otherwise. Understanding that dynamic is important to understanding what Wylan is like as a character and as a person. If you assume Wylan's trajectory is to become "Kaz 2.0", then you're going to mischaracterize him. I've seen posts about how Kaz was the Jordie that he didn't have to Wylan, and I think that makes a lot more sense. Because Kaz is willing to do the horrible things in his stead, Wylan has the third option otherwise impossible in the Barrel - maintaining his decency and surviving.

[sunflowerandstrawberryspice]

Morro: The fandoms favorite ghost

Look what I have for y'all! I heard you liked feral ghost men who are glorified rats? Whelp I've got one for you!

[Before we begin remember this is all for the funsies so be nice]

But in all seriousness I do have many opinions about Morro and his impact on the show and ESPECIALLY on Wu as a character and how we view him. Because yes I do have an English teacher essay for everything lol, anyway moving on.

So Morro is such a complicated character because Young!Morro is very tragic: An orphan who was taken in by a son of this worlds version of GOD and told he was special, shows great promise and potential training his entire childhood for a roll he's been told he's made to fit. Finally the day comes that he's meant to assume his destiny and... nothing, everything he'd ever done and worked for had been for nothing. He's told everything he's ever been told and ever done has been for nothing. And so obviously he doesn't accept this fact doing more and more dangerous stuff until eventually it ends up getting him killed. Which is pretty depressing seeing Morro seemingly wasn't that old when he died.

We obviously know all the stuff he did when he was a ghost, he was a fucking asshole AT BEST a monster at worst. I am NOT excusing the shit he did or saying it was good it wasn't it was reprehensible and awful, but I do kind of understand the mentality he had. He see's this random ass kid get EVERYTHING he ever wanted without trying (we know Lloyd didn't get it without hardship but Morro doesn't) so it's not much of a surprise that he hates Lloyd. Morro is also a pretty good foil/parallel to Lloyd, both were abandoned at a young age before being taken in (by the same person mind you), both trained as children and "lost their childhood" in different ways and both were told they were destined to be the green ninja (only for one that you know wasn't true)

And it's really interesting to me that in the end Morro's death (idk what else to call it) was pretty much a suicide. He gave up. "You can only save those who want to be saved." Were his exact words which are pretty depressing, it's his admittance of final defeat. It's a pretty fitting end for his character, one steeped in a mixture of evil and bad circumstance, after all Wu calls Morro his greatest mistake for a reason.

Honestly Morro is a character I have such mixed feelings on, like i hate him but I also feel kinda bad for him. He make Wu a more interesting character cause we get to see the mistakes Wu makes, which in my opinion very much so mirror the FSM's mistakes with raising Wu and Garmadon. Honestly Wu and Morro are kind of an example of a cycle of bad parenting tbh. Wu was raised with high expectations and still never got his fathers approval (see Spinjitzu Brothers) and so when he was trying to raise Morro he set a high expectation (being the green ninja) and just like Wu Morro also tried to reach this goal he would never be able to achieve. I do NOT think Wu did this intentionally, but ingrained patterns and all that stuff.

But what do I know. I just find these characters interesting and decided to throw my 2 cents in. I hope y'all are doing well, I hope yo have a great day/night! PEACE OUT!

[duhragonball]

I like to think that part of the appeal of Dragon Ball is the fact these random martial artists keep on taking on world-ending threats, because they are the only ones strong enough to do it. For that reason, do you think Dragon Ball would have gotten as good as it did if none of it's villains could blow up the world?

No, I don't think that would have affected the quality of Dragon Ball.

To be sure, blowing up the whole world is a cool way to raise the stakes. It's awesome how Vegeta tried to ragequit his invasion of Earth, and Goku had to stand his ground because the entire planet would have been destroyed if he didn't try to repel that world-ending Gallick Gun. It's also awesome that Frieza tried to destroy Namek because it was easier than fighting a Super Saiyan. It's awesome that Cell had a self-destruct feature, and the only way to foil it was to take him to a different planet with a smaller population. And of course, it's awesome that Majin Buu just went ahead and destroyed the Earth, and no one could stop him, and the story just kept on going anyway. Those are all big impressive story beats, and Dragon Ball might be poorer without them.

All that said, I don't think taking them out would make the story worse. The Red Ribbon Army arc was great, and the height of their power was that they could probably conquer the Earth with the right leadership and resources. The King Piccolo stuff was great, and the most he could do was to subjugate the Earth and perhaps wipe out its population.

I think it says a lot how the Piccolo Junior arc was such a classic, and yet the stakes were basically the same as the arc before it. Piccolo is back, and if Goku can't stop him then he'll just repeat what he did before. It works. The only real difference there is that Piccolo Junior was stronger and laser focused on eliminating Goku.

Radditz threatened to kill everyone on Earth and sell the empty planet to the highest bidder, which is cool because it goes beyond even what Piccolo had planned for it, which reinforced the notion of Piccolo and Goku teaming up to stop him.

Now you could stop right there, and continue the story with that same limit on "How bad could it get?" and things still work. Frieza planned to destroy Namek after making his wish, so that no one else could use the Dragon Balls, but he needn't have bothered, since killing Guru and the other Namekians would settle that just as easily. Cell's self-destruct could have just been some sort of biological agent that would kill everyone without damaging the planet itself. Kid Buu could have just fought Goku and Vegeta on Earth, though admittedly that's a tough call. You set this guy up as a planet-destroying monster, so it strains credibility that he's stuck on Earth for two days and never goes through with it.

Still, I think there's more to the story than just blowing up planets. Look at Super Hero, where all the major players are much, much stronger than the "planet busters" of Z, and yet it never comes up. Nobody in the story wants to destroy the Earth, so the fact that they can doesn't come into play. Cell Max seems to be nearly mindless, but he also knows how to fight pretty well, so he must have some rudimentary control over his power, which keeps him from wrecking the earth every time he goes berserk. I assume his self-destruct is designed the same way. It's contained to destroy whatever killed him, but it doesn't blow up the whole world because Dr. Hedo isn't as nihilistic as his grandfather was.

"The whole world might be destroyed!" is just a tool, one of many that Akira Toriyama had in his toolbox. The fact is, once he introduced that level of power, he couldn't really raise the stakes much higher. Villains like Buu or Zamasu could destroy every planet, but it basically amounts to the same thing, so Dragon Ball has been on that same level of stakes ever since Vegeta fought Goku for the first time 35 years ago. And if the stories have been all right over those past 35 years, then there really isn't a need to raise the stakes any higher, is there?

Likewise, if he had kept that notion off the table, and the worst Vegeta could do was to render the Earth uninhabitable or something, then we'd have 35 years of that being the worst anyone could do, and I don't think it would make that much of a difference.

To come at it from a different direction, I don't think "villains who can blow up the world" is what made Dragon Ball good. It was already good well before that came into play. And if Toriyama could tell a great story without that angle, then he's no worse off with or without it.

I was thinking the other day about how irritating it gets when fans argue over whether "O.G. Dragon Ball" is better or worse than "Z". They're the same story, after all. It's like arguing over which half of a movie is better. But it struck me that this is a big part of Toriyama's legacy. Dragon Ball is such a classic that fans talk about it like he made two classics and debate which one is the best. That's pretty damn impressive.

I think it proves that there's not some single "special ingredient" that makes the story work. Way back in the beginning, it was made clear that martial artists have a duty to use their special skills to help people, and that's been the through-line of Dragon Ball. Saving the entire planet from some world-busting menace is taking that idea to the extreme, but the idea still works, even if it's just Goku helping a sea turtle get back home, or tackling the Red Ribbon base to wish Upa's dad back to life.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Something Something Phangirl Meets Discworld

Back when I was an undergrad, I had procrastinated a couple of first-year core classes (required stuff that has jack shit to do with your major but is supposed to make you a "well-rounded student" for everyone who wasn't educated in the US) to the point where we were at the beginning of year four, we took a couple over the summer, but now we're staring down having to take Art Appreciation for an entire final term and I did not WANT to. So instead I took a two-week intensive "Wintermester" art appreciation course in a classroom whose carpets squished in Fairbanks, Alaska in December. The fact that it didn't become a horror movie is a miracle. BUT. YOU GUYS. This class introduced me to The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall, and thanks to how awesome that was, I finally went out and got the one Witches novel I hadn't bothered with at that point. Let's talk Maskerade.

Maskerade might be the Discworld book with which I've had the most dynamic relationship because I am currently what I would consider a "fallen" or "lapsed" theatre kid. However, when I picked up Maskerade for the first time, I was a "desperately trying to hold on to theatre with both hands and both feet despite ongoing and worsening health issues and a school theatre that has nearly succeeded in killing me three separate times but I don't want to let go" theatre kid. So on first read, I loved Agnes, I loved Nanny and Granny, Greebo is never not a standout, and I was fully over here like, "YES, THEATRE IS THE MIRACLE OF A THOUSAND THINGS FAILING TO GO WRONG!" I wasn't a huge fan of how Christine was characterized, and frankly I found the art/business dichotomy irksome.

I was barely 22 and an idiot. I have since grown some.

On subsequent reads in and beyond graduate school, I can see the love behind the pointed critiques, and I had run into the odd Christine or two, so I was far more willing to sympathize with Agnes--the single point of sensibility and practicality in a flamboyantly dramatical cats system that is often toxic. And while I liked the Nanny, Granny, and Enrico Basilica subplot on initial reads, now it is perhaps my entirely favorite part of the book. Adding the managed chaos that is the Witches to a theatre is amazing, and we get some really fantastic insights into how Nanny and Granny can leverage witchcraft beyond Lancre. It has a different flavor in Ankh Morpork, and what that ends up meaning for Walter Plinge is literally the difference between life and death.

The loving parodic use of theatrical tropes and traditions is honestly delightful throughout. I realize that saying, "Hey, so Sir Terry Pratchett was kind of amazing" on the internet is the oldest of old news, but honestly it bears repeating because Discworld is incredible.

Nanny Ogg's cookbook manages to be both hilarious and a scathing indictment of how poorly authors are paid--something that honestly just keeps gettting MORE relevant. I also love the low-key Producers-eqsue mixed with Shakespearean twinning aspects of having Nanny be the writer and Granny the accountant foiling off of Salzella and Bucket. Like, had their positions been reversed, the Ankh Morpork Opera House would have been flush with cash practically overnight and the cookbook would have ended up scammed. It's a really lovely, subtle little peice of foiling that 1000% was not required to make this book great, but I love that it's there.

So theatre kid phangirl me wasn't the biggest fan of this book, but grown-ass adult me with a little more life on her claims this as one of her top five all-time favorite Discworld books. I'm going to leave it here and realtively spoiler-free for those of you who might be on the fence about picking up the book. I highly recommend that you do, but I also recommend watching The Phantom of the Opera (either the Royal Albert Hall one or an actual stage production; don't START with the movie) before reading Maskerade, just to fully get the levels of allusion, parody, and homage.

[puhpandas]

so since there's evidence pointing AGAINST garrett being golden Freddy, with the blond brown stripes kid being golden Freddy, here is my next guess

so during the movie "its me" pops up in the office during one of Mike's dream sequences. aka, when he feels closest to garrett and is actively reaching out for him. this of course is a golden Freddy reference.

the thing is that it's me has two different meanings in the gameverse depending on what you believe. the first is that its Evan reaching out to Michael to tell his brother that's its him after not seeing him because hes dead for like 9 years. the second meaning is that cassidy says it's me to Michael because she thinks hes William. they look similar and are related, so she thinks mike is William and says it's me to try to get him to remember the one he should not have killed.

the second meaning wouldnt work. william afton and Mike schmidt in the movie arent related and they dont look similar either. PLUS the kids are actively on William aftons side because of the manipulation and know who he is.

so that's scratched out. leaving the first meaning with Evan reaching out to Michael. or in this case, Garrett reaching out to Mike.

more evidence supports this with post movie credits stuff. the puppets music box melody plays during the credits and im pretty sure scattered words read "come find me." theres no sign of a co-owner or Charlie emily (so far), so my guess is that garrett is the puppet.

its weird but hey whatever. it's just different. I think blond golden Freddy kid is a Cassidy counterpart/foil and Garrett is obviously Evan. so he'll still have that goodness to him that the puppet will bring with give gifts give life

if this is true then it means WE GOT MOVIE COUNTERPART GOLDEN DUO BABEY!!!! they arent really golden duo but they're foils of their game counterparts respectively. and that's good enough for me

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond! Scripting: Let's do this one last time.

One More Hero

OMT!Sonic (represented by a PC game box)

(Find his here.)

Detective Ghost / Kaede Titan (represented by a comic cover)

"Okey-doke! Let's do this one last time. My name is Kaede Titan. I gained my own ability to go at super-speed, and for a couple of years, I've been the one and only Detective Ghost! Sure some of you out there might know the rest. I've foiled Razereye's schemes, fell in love with Luna, adopted Max into my family, and then I saved the island from crooks time and time again!

Compared to Sonic, I got a whole secret identity thing going on, and though it's tough, I can say with confidence that I've loved helping save the day. And no matter how many times I get hit, I always find my way to keep on moving. Because right now (before OMT!Tails helped her out), the only thing standing between South Island and oblivion... is me.

There's only one Detective Ghost out there. And you're lookin' at her!"

CR!Sonic (represented by a comic cover)

"Alright, people, let's do this one last time. My name is Sonic Maurice Hedgehog. I was transformed by one of Robotnik's machines, and for the last seven years, I thought I was the one and only hero of Mobius. What a day, huh? I'm pretty sure you know the rest.

I saved Mobius, fell in love with Sal, saved Mobius some more, maybe too much, beat the heck out of Exegod and Corrupt, and blah blah blah, saved Mobius again... and again... and again. Fast forward! One of Robuttnik's robots flew at my face and broke my back, my relationships got testy, made some dicey money choices - Don't invest in a Sonic-themed restaurant, by the way. - then, like, 2 more years passed, yada yada yada.

A freaking drone flew at my face, I hurt my back again, entities that want to kill this stupid lemon idiot came around, I buried Uncle Chuck, who passed from old age, I realized I'm reaching adulthood, Sally and I... split up. But I handled it like a champion! (cut to him crying in a shower) 'Cause you know what? No matter how many times I get hit, I always keep on moving without regrets. I also got a lot of time to reflect and work on myself.

Did you know that seahorses mate for life? Could you imagine a seahorse seeing another seahorse and making it work? She wanted a family and kids, and for us both to rule over Mobius... and it scared me. I'm pretty sure I broke her heart. [...] Flash forward, I'm doing my part, doing ab crunches, getting "strong"... when this weird thing happened.

I gotta say, weird things happen to me a lot, given I live in a crossover multiverse and stuff, but this one was especially weird. [...] You see, I was still in Mobius, but... a lot of things were different. I was this... embodiment of hope the island looked up to. Also, I was dead... and young. It felt... nostalgic. It was like going back in time! I got a feeling that, whatever brought me here, it must've been the thing that got him killed.

Wanna know what happened next? [...] Yeah, me too."

Nine (represented by a DVD case)

"*sigh* Alright, then. Let's get it out of the way, one last time, if you will. My name is Nine. In my youth, I engineered seven mechanical tails to defend myself with, and for a couple of years at this point, I've been looking out for myself in this hellscape known only as New Yolk. Kinda sure a few of you will know the rest. [...] I met Sonic, beelined with a Paradox Prism shard, discovered the Grim, and even helped Sonic keep those shards out of the greedy hands of the Chaos Council.

That said, the more recent endeavours are ones I'm not proud of. Turns out, holding a whole Prism in your hands to terraform a Shatterspace is the worst idea I could think of, and it almost killed everyone around me. I... got what I deserved in those days...

[...] After Sonic and Shadow left for good, I ditched my mechanical namesakes and just... gave up. Left the Grim behind, and spent a long time in my workshop just passing the days.

Thankfully, it wasn't all doom and gloom for me. A young rabbit girl, whose name was... Crème Brûlée, I think? She often came down to check up on me, and always let me know how the city was recovering after we sent the Chaos Council's sorry butts into the Shatterverse's depths.

And then one day, something pretty crazy happened. I know I've seen crazy things before, but the fact an entirely different Sonic wound up here confirmed my theory that there were MANY worlds beyond the Shatterverse. [...]

It also had me thinking; with all the times life has knocked me down, even when I've been thrown curveballs, is it really an easy feat to just get back up again? Well, with what's coming next and a chance to look into the further multiverse, not really much point in pondering so much."

OMT!Mina (represented by a SEGA Saturn disc)

"Alright, people. Let's start from the beginning one last time. My name is Mina Mongoose. I gained super-speed in my own fashion, and for a couple of years, I've been the leading star hero of my universe. You guys know the rest. I led a band, saved my buddies... I couldn't save my best friends, Sonic and Tails, so now I save everyone else. And I barely do friends anymore, just to keep distractions to a minimum.

And one day, this weird thing happened. And I mean, like, really weird. When I was leaving my dimension with another Sonic, I ended up getting blown into last week by something. Literally! I landed in Central City, which wasn't my Station Square. [...] My instincts told me to head to Bumper High School, and well, the rest is history with that one! I didn't know why I needed to until I met you."

Mini Sonic (represented by a Nokia phone)

"Okay, let's do it one last time, and cut to the chase. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! Well, arguably smaller than one would expect, of course, but I'm still the hero of my land. Pretty sure you know the rest by now. Freed my animal friends from robots, and fought my Robotnik a couple of dozen times by that point.

In my universe, it's constantly 1992 tops, and I'm pretty quick to leap into action! I like to chow on chilli dogs, and I like fighting robots. A lot. [...] Well, I mean, I have fallen victim to getting knocked out every 10 minutes or so at West Side Island, even when I've already gotten past an area.

Okay, so something weird happened earlier today. How I got here? It's a long story. (cut to a shot of Mini Sonic flying out a portal and being bounced around Balloon Park) Er, okay, maybe not that long, then. But yeah, no matter how many times I get knocked about, I can definitely keep moving each time!"

Mr. Needlemouse (represented by a VHS tape)

(Will come a little later.)

EX!Alice (represented by a SEGA CD/EX disc)

"Okay, then. Let's do this one last time. My name's Alice, and I'm a survivor of the twisted crystalline demon known only as Xenophanes. I don't know if you know the rest, so I'll sum it up for you; I used to work under him, but eventually defected and left for a quiet, isolated life away. I never told my family where I was, but at least it spared them the heartache when he and his new assistant, Caffrin, claimed me and took me into his world, sealing me in a vessel akin to Amy Rose.

But I was soon tired of being a punching bag to them, and so I decided to act. I patched myself up and fought valiantly, but lost. And I lost again. And again and again, and again. However, things changed when Veronica, Caffrin's big sister, wound up in that world solely by choice. And together, we actually made a difference. Caff defected in the end and helped us kill Xeno, but... it cost her her life in the end.

I stayed behind to pick up the pieces that the monster left behind, even after the other souls moved on. It got me dabbling in tech maintenance, and I eventually was able to integrate some of the leftover dark matter into "Sonic 3 - Zone 6: Round 3", or "E4-R6:3", for short. It essentially gave me a psychic link with that modified Big Arms mech, saving me some effort in pulling levers and pushing buttons.

Just today, something weird happened. Yes, the same weird thing that everyone else here ended up in, so it's not really a long story. Good thing I was piloting E4 at the time, so I didn't suffer any injuries on my way here. I was able to figure where I needed to get to from there, and the rest is history."

More than One Universe

Antho (represented by a comic cover)

"Alright, let’s back it up from here. My name is Anthony Miller the Hedgehog, or just "Antho", for short, and for the past year or so, I and a group of friends have become the new heroes of my Mobius. But it wasn’t always like that you see.

You see, I was just your average normal nerdy hedgehog until something with a super collider changed my appearance and gave me some knowledge of a multiverse or something. Oh, and I’m pretty sure there was a T-Rex-. Oh no, wait! That was added to the script to make it more dramatic.

Anyways, aside from that. It was also the day we lost our Sonic… and I saw it with my own eyes… thanks to that monster, Mammoth Mogul. Ever since then, the Dark Ages happened, and I was never the same again. But not until I stood up and took vengeance against Mogul himself and since then, I’ve restored the faith of Mobius, met new friends and allies, some of which I can now consider family, and am now living in our beloved hero’s legacy.

But despite that, it's still kinda hard work, and I sometimes feel like I can’t live up to Sonic’s standards and how he was the saviour of us all. But deep down, I know he's proud of me, and having my friends, family and the main cast by my side has helped.

I can’t be the next Sonic, even if some otherworldly hedgehog says otherwise. But this is my world and my rules. And I’m doing my own thing, whether you like it or not."

Nitro (represented by a comic cover)

"Well, you probably know the drill by this point, so let's do it one last time. Or... is it the SECOND last time? Eh, never mind. My name is Christopher Smith, and for a couple of years, I've been the one and only... Nitro the Hedgehog. I doubt you know the rest, so I'll sum it up; I fled from my old home into Mobius, helped in the war against Eggman, and even saved the multiverse from possible destruction at the hands of Toxinfect. [...]

That said, with all the times I've been knocked down, I haven't always been able to keep on moving. In an older timeline I came from, I suffered from long-term depression that I hid from everyone. At least, until a mini "Smol" version of myself revealed it, by which point I got some much-needed therapy. [...] But of course, there have been positives. I saved a newer friend from the clutches of a corrupt corporate boss, met amazing friends across the multiverse, and even got girlfriends out of my Amy and Mina. [...]

Just today, of course, something weird happened. A portal opened under my feet, and I had to go to the hospital for a bit after some creatures gnawed at my legs. We waited a little bit, and then we saw that portal open into OMT!Tails's house. Wanna see what comes next now? Same! But before we do..."

CU!Sonic and CU!Sonia (represented by a comic cover)

CU!Sonic: ...It's time for us to do this-

CU!Sonia: -one last time!

CU!Sonic: Heh, knew you'd get the drill, mini-blue! So anyway, I'm Sonic, and this is my little daughter, Sonia. For a while, I've been the hero of my world. Pretty sure you know the rest! I got together with Amy, we had Sonia, and I've continued saving the world countless times. We did get into some tough love at times, but we always sorted it out!

CU!Sonia: Ah, erm... You gonna mention what happened with... mom?

CU!Sonic: Oh, er... I'm... not really sure if I can muster up the courage myself...

CU!Sonia: Come to think of it, I don't really remember what happened, but... she's no longer with us. Ever since, dad's been raising me on his own.

CU!Sonic: Right. Sonia's really the only family I have left, so while looking after her (and a mix of her keeping me right, of course), I've also been helping keep my home safe from criminal organisations trying to take advantage of things. [...] One day, however, something weird happened.

CU!Sonia: We saw a portal just open up in front of us during our walk, and we met other friends on the other side!

CU!Sonic: Sure you wanna know what happens next as much as me, so let's cut it here.

D-Sides Mighty (represented by a SEGA Genesis box art)

"Well, let's get this out of the way once more, and I doubt it'll be the last time. So my name's Mighty the Armadillo. As you can see, I'm not red, but purple. I've been generally going my own route in life, but I'm pretty sure you know the basic gist of it; I've helped defend the world from Maria Robotnik, who IS still living in my universe, before you ask, spent plenty of time with my little bro, Ray, and aspired to do things off-the-script.

Of course, you know about those "EXE" things or whatever you call 'em, right? Well, there's a few of them that take my shape instead of that of Claws, for whatever reason. Shows how inconsistent my whole multiverse is, huh? So, fast-forward a bit, I met a sweet kid named Hefty, he fell in love with my version of Honey... Kinda similar to how EV had it on his end. But even with the script loose and literally no sense of "canon", I always find a way to keep on moving, no matter what tries to knock me down. Even with that... MightMurderer entity.

Trust me, I felt that cosmic tremor as much as anybody else did, and me and my crew felt it warranted some investigation. Claws and Tails picked to hang behind just in case anything broke into our universe, while me, Ray, Honey and Hefty came here to figure out just what was going on. Guess we found the answer quicker than I expected, huh?"

Black Knight Amy (represented by the Sonic & The Black Knight cover art)

More than One Universe Intro

"Well, you know the drill. Let's get this explained, one last time. I'm Amy, Amy Rose! I'm sure you know a lot about me; my love for Sonic, my enjoyment in tarot card reading, and my Piko-Piko Hammer packs a punch against Eggman's tricks. Though, one day, things went pretty crazy for me.

I was dragged into the kingdom of Camelot by a spell Merlina cast, and I gained these amazing amulets that allow me to control water. Using them, I was able to calm the Knights of the Round Table and halt King Arthur in his tracks. However, the sword Merlina was with, Caliburn, revolted immediately after, citing that all mistakes are to be vanquished from the "perfect world" he envisioned. It took us both to stop him, and I showed that everybody is flawed, but mistakes make us who we are in the end.

After that, I was allowed to use the amulets outside of Camelot, and Merlina kept the gateway between those worlds open so I can visit anytime I want! I also started crushing on Honey a lot more, hehe. Well, as for how I got here, I felt the big tremor shaking the area and knew it warranted me to check it out. When I came through that portal, that's when I came across a version of Sonic who looked like he was on drugs, and... yeah!"

Into the Sonic-verse Expanded Explanation

"You know, I've found things pretty easy going to begin with! I even got a daily routine going. I wake up, skip workouts since I'm already naturally strong and I don't want to get any muscles, you know? I don't need to do anything with my wondrous hair...

OMT!Tails: You don't use any product on it?

BK!Amy: I only really need strawberry shampoo and a dash of coconut oil to keep it fresh, hehe!

So anyway, I also read my tarot cards daily to plan out my luck, fight some of Eggy's goons, bring fruit for the local Chao Garden in Station Square... The usual stuff! And I even have a quick break for a cup of chai with Yasmine and Samia in Shamar!

OMT!Tails: Chai tea, huh?

(record scratch)

BK!Amy: Tails! "Chai" means "tea"! It's like you're saying "tea tea"! Would I ask you for a "coffee coffee" with a side of "cream cream"? O-Oh! Sorry, heh. Got a little carried away there.

OMT!Tails: Yeah, sorry about that.

Well, I've started hanging out more with Honey as well. She's a really amazing fashion designer, and she's quite strong to boot! And while helping out Sonic, I also help keep good old Camelot safe from harm! Quick tour for you guys; Misty Lake, Camelot Castle, the Deep Woods, Titanic Plain, the Crystal Caves and Molten Mine, Faraway Avalon, Knight's Passage, Shrouded Forest, Great Megalith, the Cauldron, and the Dragon's Lair! Phew, that sure was a lot, huh?"

Ex-Prince Brian (represented by a SEGA Genesis cartridge)

(Will come a little later.)

Hog (represented by the GIGA console)

"Okay, then. I'm getting this off my chest one last time. I'm a bootleg, yes, but I still got my own super-speed on the table! And for a while, I've been the one and only... Hog the Tenrec! Pretty sure you know the rest; met some cool buddies, defeated ol' Dr. Yolkman dozens of times, and showed my rival Fists who's boss.

Well, that was until... HE struck. I lost control of my body, and this hedgehog who accused me and my friends of "replacing" his world laid torment upon my home, until I broke free. Needless to say, I was furious and itchin' to get back at him. Though, it all came at the cost of my world. I shouldn't've survived that, but I got warped out to CrossRealm Sonic's world before I perished.

It took me some time to recover, but I'm still ready to help protect a world no matter what. Because, no matter how many times I'm knocked down, for the sake of my fallen friends, I'll keep on movin'! I got here with Sonic after we felt that soft tremor and some portals popped up at one spot. So, yeah! That pretty much sums it up for me."

Wacky (represented by a special disc of her own)

"Well, let's do this one last time! I'm Wacky the Erizo, a bootleg just like Hog, and I got my own world to boot. I'm kinda sure you know the rest; I saved my world from Dr. Sunnyside, fell in love with Starburst, saved the land a few more times, blah blah blah. You know how it is. I also got sucked into a new land, and met this creepy broken being that called itself "Bizarro".

They tried to possess me, but as long as I kept my eyes shut, they couldn't take full control of me. I really didn't like them. But other than that, you really expect me to take things seriously all the time? I barely take anything seriously. I still remain curious about that big screen in my world's sky, though. Why is someone new always appearing on it...?

Though, I felt that tremor as much as I imagine anyone else did, and it happened to knock Bizarro right out of me. They faded away soon after. After that, while I was glad I was still in full control for good, I knew something needed to be done about whatever the heck happened.

So, Zanie provided me a way between worlds, using that same tech Dr. Sunnyside used to knock us into next week, quite literally in this case. I've seen crazy things, but nothing could be crazier than trying to get a black and red ghost under control just now."

Devy (represented by a comic strip)

(Will come a little later.)

EV!Sonic (represented by a comic strip)

"Yeah, they figured out the reality, so I'm just gonna do this one last time. My name is Maurice. I gained super-speed in my own fashion, and for some time, I've been the one and only... Sonic the Hedgehog! ...of my universe, I mean. Pretty sure you know the rest.

I overcame depression from fans' harsh criticism on my games, beat Phantom Ruby cases THREE times, fell in love with Nova, and saved my world and surrounding universe countless times. Same here as it was in the old timeline. "Old timeline?", I hear you ask?

Well, in that old timeline, I stepped down and passed on the mantle of protecting Mobius to Nitro, who I trained quite well. Though, I lost a close friend there, and we had to put up with a heartless company replacing people with clones of themselves.

Then a whole bright light consumed everything and the entire universe underwent a full-blown reset, if you will. Brian's all safe and sound, the Puhoi Curse is now non-existent, Clover's been enjoying life on the surface again with Frisk and Chara and the other ex-fallen humans, and ol' Eggy's been split between his old self and Mr. Tinker. To be honest, I like Tinker a lot more.

EV!Eggman (in the background): I HEARD THAT! ...Wait, what did you say about timelines?

EV!Sonic: Eh, just ignore him.

So anyway, sometime after Eggman Prime got all these supervillains together in one place to try and kill my original self, Sonic Prime, I met Tekno the Canary with my friends, and the two of us started our elite strike force dedicated to protecting the multiverse. It started with eight of us, and by this point, it's pretty much in the hundreds! And better still, I'm still available to actively keep my world safe from harm.

Me and Nitro already knew what was coming when those portals showed up, and that brings us to this point. Wanna know how it continues? Me too!"

OMT!Tails (represented by his own PC game box)

(Find his here.)

Into the Sonic-verse

"Alright, then. Let's do this one last time. This time, I mean it! My name is Miles Prower. One day, my twin tail became my blessing, Sonic saved me from some bullies, and for the last 33 years, I've been the one and only... Tails! Of my universe, of course. And things have been pretty awesome since I strung out on my own a year and 9 months ago. Catching all sorts of bad guys...

I refurbished my nanomachine suit, with a metal sheen to blend in with robots. Kaede and her siblings moved over to Emerald Town, Dr. Robotnik got graduated as a professor at Balloon Park University, I guest-hosted Speed-Three, endorsed in motion sickness prevention classes, developing a new twist on my electric hand thing...

How much longer can I keep things under a steady hold? I mean, would every world get it if I shared my stories? Eh, maybe in another timeline. Sometimes, I just wish me and Detective Ghost weren't the only ones doing this gig. But I haven't been dwelling too much on it. (cut to him doing child-like sketches of the Blur Gang, a LOT of which are of Mina)

I do miss Sonic and Sally a lot, though. Even with everything that went down with them, I try to do what Sally told me... "Enjoy the future for her". But at the end of the day, I am the hero of Mobius. And nobody can take that away from me!"

Many More Heroes (as a taunt to LM!Sonic)

"My name is Miles "Tails" Prower... [...] I inherited my best friend's mantle because he wanted me to. [...] I'm pretty sure you know the rest, jerk!"

Funkinverse Crossover

Benjamin Miku (Boyfriend of Earth-111723)

"Alright! Let's do this one last time! ...again. My name is Benjamin Miku. I dropped out of high-school, got a snazzy microphone, and for the last 2 years, I've been my universe's one and only... Boyfriend! I'm pretty sure you know the rest. I sang with some people, fell in love with Grace Dearest, fought off the Corruption, befriended the other Dearests... you know the drill! And, uh... I did this. (footage of "Really Happy") Yeah, we don't really talk about this.

Of course, one day, a year after my musical career kickstarted, the gateway to our wider universe opened. One minute, I remember being 17 with Grace, then the next, us and our siblings got younger. I remember me being 13 as part of some "age-halt" last I checked. Though it got me more involved in action and helped me achieve new feats, like becoming the hero I know my world needs and deserves.

And through it all, even with the bumps in the road, I've really enjoyed my career as a fellow successor to my big sister, and being the "Boyfriend" as a whole! And to me, being a kind and selfless soul is what I feel should encapsulate any Boyfriend out there. Music is something that's all around us, everywhere in the whole world. And if we share it with each other in harmony, it really brings us all together.

I may not be the exact same Boyfriend my world intended on, but if anyone needs my help, I'll be ready to do my job! And if you expect me to abide by supposed fate? Nah. I'll be doing things my way, whether you like it or not. In my eyes, anyone can wield the microphone if they wish to, and I'm sure as heck not the only one out there by far. I'm the hero of my own story, and nothing can take that from me!"

Many More Heroes

LM!Sonic (during the prologue) (represented by a picture of his fic of origin's artwork on a printed picture)

"I am Sonic the Hedgehog from Dimension SS-2001. I am part of an elite strike force dedicated to the protection of the multiverse-."

OMT!Mina: Actually, forget it.

LEGO Sonic (based on this) (represented by his LEGO Dimensions pack)

"Alright, let's do this one last time! ...again. My name is Sonic. I gained super-speed from being brick-built, and I became the one and only-! (numerous LEGO Sonic figures, including the bootleg ones, appear around him) Okay, scratch that.

After acquiring a keystone device from Baldy McNosehair, I helped heroes across my multiverse take down Joker, Green Goblin, the Cybermen, Lord Business, GLaDOS, the Wicked Witch of the West... You know, the big ones! I even teamed up with some bad guys to take down Lord Vortech that one time! Although... we don't really talk about that. And I even saved the original LEGO HQ from Eggy when he took the place over!

Anyways, that's just me. What about you?"

(cut to show he was talking to an unamused Crimtake)

Pana Der Hejhog (represented by a SEGA Genesis cartridge)

"Aight. My name is Pana. Pana Der Hejhog. I gained my-. Eh, wouldn't you like to know? And for the past 13 years, I've been the one and only... Look, didn't I state my name to you already? C'mon outta it!

That's when I'm not running around Mystic Island, keeping forced winter at bay, chasing off my Robotnik, chilling out in the sunshine, practicing music with Mina or having a laugh at Gust Planet's bar. I'm no role model, but I was briefly a runway model.

I dislike political fronts, I hate slimy companies, and I'm especially not into labels. I don't call myself a hero despite the good deeds I do, because the absolute jerks in society who claim they're in the right are self-mythologizing narcissistic fools!"

[hed-romancer]

epithet erased: prison of plastic thoughts (spoilers)

finished the book! and before i go look at what everyone else thought, here's what i thought. negatives first, then positives.

NEGATIVES

brendan blaber really is a visual storyteller and you can tell reading this. if i read this again i'm making a drinking game out of every time he says someone was acting "like" someone else. 2 shots if it's doing something like a little kid

"also, there's just spontaneous dramatic exposition in places there really shouldn't be. someone should explain "show don't tell" to this guy because he'd randomly cut to paragraphs of a character's serious backstory with how exactly they reacted and felt and why, and it could get pretty awkward and borderline insulting.

I definitely liked Rick Shades more towards the end, but why was his whole character gimmick that he seems like a really creepy guy preying on tween girls, but actually he isn't? Like. I'm glad he does have good intentions, but having to sit through chapters of not knowing that was kinda rough and anxiety-inducing.

Also, the whole "isolated community with its own race of people barely represented in the mainstream society is really barbaric and people need to escape it and join mainstream society" rings some warning bells for me.

Also, while I liked Rick Shades more towards the end, I really do think it was a wasted opportunity having him along on the adventure instead of Sylvie (or Percy). It would've been interesting to examine Molly and Sylvie's parallel but different adult mentalities and actions, while not having to dive into the extremely fantastically-horrible situation Rick had going on.

POSITIVES

not that the rest of this book sucked, cause it was pretty good, but the rest of this book could've completely sucked and i still would've loved it for giovanni "kidnapping" molly at the end

i really liked lorelai's characterization. while her being boy crazy was mentioned a bit too often for me, her latching onto giovanni as someone who actually appreciates her creations was cute, and i like how her whole concept is of someone just completely unwilling to face reality and resenting anyone who tried to make her. this might've been annoying had it been an adult character, but since she was 14-15 when her mom died, this makes total sense and i dig it. the realization that she didn't know if she killed her mom and was going to such lengths to avoid considering it was genius

Molly was also done really well. I liked how she was very understandable but not perfect either. She doesn't appreciate her sister's creations or understand what her sister is trying to do at all, but she's got bigger stuff on her plate and you can't help but feel for her the whole time. (again tho, way too much exposition on how she thinks everything is her job. did not have to spell that out so many times for the readers)

giovanni being completely clueless almost the entire time was hilarious

trixie and feenie were pretty cute

martin blyndeff is written wonderfully. he's a horrible guy but he's genial enough that he can trick himself into thinking he's the good guy. good foil to lorelai

the worldbuilding was great

i loved how it was a magical story that focused on how these two girls cope with a horrible situation. i love that blend of magical and non-magical problems

[thornsent]

Pelle might actually be my saddest elden ring guy?

His story is that he is a descendant of the shamans. His ancestors disagreed with the festivals and their brutality and left the village behind many years ago, meaning none of them were subject to the genocide of Marika's people, but also that a lot of the shaman tradition was lost to his family by the time Pelle was born.

He is trans and transitioned shortly before his story truly begins, meaning he WAS taught the tiny bit of stuff that his parents would've known (the shaman culture and tradition seems VERY pointedly matriarchal) For all intents and purposes, he lived a pretty happy childhood for someone in the Lands Between, in a small village far, far away from the windmills in Altus.

But he always felt a sense of disconnect from his family, and his parents. After stumbling upon some old texts his family had hidden as the Golden Order arose, he somehow got it in his head that he was actually hornsent- just... no horns (yet!) and that's why he always felt so different!

He then becomes convinced that he needs to become basically an ascetic warrior-monk and then his horns will grow in. And, without telling them a word, he leaves his family behind to pursue this.

But he's completely wrong. He's related to the shamans and, however distantly, to Marika herself. His horns are never going to come in, no matter how many he kills or how much of himself he wittles away. And he's kind of foolish too, so who does he think he is to achieve enlightenment anyhow?

His companions thus far are Frenzied Marga, a woman burning from the inside with the Frenzy Flame, and The Gloam-Touched Girl.

We're playing a randomizer run with seamless coop and it's inadvertantly building a narrative, so we decided to paint it as a decrepit and dying and crumbling version of the Lands Between wherein the shattering had even more devastating effects.... It's like a really canon-noncompliant AU at this point. Marga sees how wrong the world is and wants to burn and melt it all away with Frenzy. Pelle has no idea what the Frenzy Flame even IS and thinks it's basically the crucible but a funny color, so he's been helping her achieve her literal world-ending goal haplessly because he's sure it'll bring about an abundance of hornsent and other horn-blessed individuals.

The Gloam-Eyed Girl is the daughter of the Putrescent Knight, First Elden Lord and Marika. (I told you it was a randomizer run, it made things weeeeird) She's basically Marga's opposite and foil. Instead of a haggard ol' butch she's literally a young girl, full of joy and conviction that this world is a beautiful one, however wrong or strange or shattered indeed it is. Pelle and Marga got lost in the Sewers under Leyndell and got separated, where he ran into this weird fucking kid who has since led him to the roots where Godwyn lay buried. Maybe he'll figure out that Frenzy Flame is NOT Funy Crucible 2.0 from her and decide to not end the world?

[beardedmrbean]

Just wanted to clarify on another ask I sent; I never said Johnny Depp SHOULD be the face of male abuse victims, nor was I saying he will be or he wanted to. Just to clarify.

Though it sounds like he cares.

I was saying haters were quick to say he shouldn't be the new face of male victims from here on. But they don't mean that in a compassionate or "don't give him an ego" sense. More so, "we hate to acknowledge that we lost," sense if that's clear enough.

Which is funny when many of those haters also try to twist him winning as something you should thank feminism for. MeToo says, "go to hell," to most victims of female on male abuse/rape and still sides with Heard over Depp, yet they still think Feminism has a monopoly on what to do with a gender they don't believe can be victims.

What a planet we live on.

Love this blog!

agree and disagree, hear me out

It would be great to have him out there doing all of that, and I hope he does come out and do some different things to aid abused men, there's just too many people who firmly believe that he's the abuser in that situation and it's not just the misandrists who will claim that a woman who broke her hand punching a random dude is the real victim either.

Part of that can be summed up by looking at if people even believe men can be abused.

the first 4 here when I search 'woman assaults man social experiment' are what I looked for, the rest are all about men assaulting in some way or another and a few kidnappings, there's a lot more as you scroll too.

the butt pinching one is in there twice.

inb4 bing, ya they're better than google is by a long stretch since they're not running a algorithm that can be manipulated.

I think if they want to do a PR campaign for male victims of domestic violence a good option would be using pictures of the perpetrators of that violence looking like they would in every day life and then listing their crimes underneath it.

Here's another example, from the A Voice For Men wiki page

Very roundabout way for the author to say that men should suck it up and let women abuse them and not fight back.

That's showcased in video 3 up there.

Male DV victims got a good boost from his very public ordeal, but it's insane how far we still have to go.

It'd be nice to be able to have the guy come round and do some PSA's that's for sure, but if you really want to get the point driven home there's gonna be other ways that will likely be more effective.

Posters or billboards with the kids of male victims of DV who were killed by their abuser with something like 'It doesn't just hurt men' up there with a statement about male DV victims.

Since society doesn't really give a shit about men anyhow so pointing at the children and saying it deprives them might actually do some good.

I'm gonna cut it here, since it's getting a bit heavy in my head but I will end with a website suggestion.

The Art Of Manliness is a good website, lot of good stuff for guys there, some good tongue in cheek stuff too.

It's a foil to people like andrew tate because TAOM doesn't go with the misogyny bs he does, it's just a really good site to hit up every once in a while for guy things.

I went through to find beard oil reviews and such at one point and got way more info than I bargained for.

Which was super nice

[thyandrawrites]

it might seem like beating a dead horse at this point, the whole shouji stuff, so sorry if this ask seems like it.

It's just the part where shouji says the mutant group's children might be targeted next, implying that their actions might cause that, is honestly the worst part I think.

Because they're already targets, just for being mutants, in literally shouji's generation, he knows this based on his own experiences. It comes off in completely the wrong way in how it's supposed to sound, 'don't fight back this way' even though fighting back the 'right' way might get them killed (and are currently being killed in rural areas), 'and if you do your children might be next!'

with all context it sounds like more of a threat than anything else, and in no way heroic. Do you feel differently or similarly?

I just find it bad writing.

In much the same way he's been handling all the major villain arcs (and by that I mean just the Lov), Horikoshi introduced some heavy foiling between the villains protesting against the system and the hero kids facing them. But then he framed their conflict as a matter of fighting back "the right way" or "the wrong way," and in the process made victims fight other victims instead of letting them... maybe realize they shouldn't have been victimized in the first place. Yet, because Horikoshi doesn't seem interested in addressing social change, he's making the villains out to be the only problem that needs "stopping." Basically, the writing for the past arc has been blaming the villains for problems that existed before them, and using their violence as an excuse to brush off their critique of the status quo.

Shouji is blaming Spinner and his followers for the backlash that heteromorphs will face after this attack. In doing so, Horikoshi is framing it like Spinner's actions are the reason behind the worsening of the heteromorphic condition, instead of addressing how there is an existing prejudice that makes it possible to exploit this battle as an excuse to justify oppression. In simpler terms, Spinner is not responsible for the existence of bigoted and heteromorphobic people. But he's being cited as the one poking a "sleeping" bear, like the bear hasn't been awake the entire time. Spinner isn't any more responsible for provoking it than Shouji is, because the reason why heteromorphs are so hated isn't whether or not they can accept their oppression in silence. They're hated because they exist. They're seen as inferior, creepy, carriers of infected blood—like a disease.

So discussing this from the perspective of which victim is more valid for the way they chose to fight back is pointless. The problem is the fucking bear swiping its claws at them as they're busy arguing about morality.

[cinemacentral666]

Nymphomaniac (2013)

Movie #1,150 • Ranking Lars von Trier #3

By way of its shear gargantuan size (almost 5 ½ hours), and its position as the final entry of his most polarizing era (the Depression trilogy), Nymphomaniac seems to be screaming for — if not only striving to achieve — magnum opus status in the Lars von Trier filmography. The inclusion of hardcore porn is all many (probably too many) are gonna remember about this, but not me. I'll remember all the asinine and overly complicated metaphors intertwined throughout and Christian Slater's atrocious attempt at an English accent. Just kidding. I'll remember the sex stuff.

It’s ugly and sick and I’m sure ‘problematic’ and so on, and yet it ranks among von Trier’s very best because all of those things are part of the human experience, and he hasn’t just made a film about them here: he’s made a film that literally and physically invokes them in the viewer. The difference between a piece of art like this and some scrap of torture porn (or regular porn sometimes) is that, in spite of the vileness of these characters and the full-view, unfiltered look into their actions, it’s rendered beautifully and thoughtfully (the latter almost to a fault, with the plentiful and sometimes lengthy off-kilter digressions into metaphor, though I appreciated those too).

It feels like the spiritual successor, in a way, to 1996’s Breaking the Waves. Where, for better or worse, that film remained tied down to a traditional narrative structure, the setup here (especially with its conversational framing device and use of found footage) is allowed to burst free. Where Emily Watson's Bess became a nymphomaniac out of duty and real human love, Charlotte Gainsbourg's Joe became one out of compulsion and a personified inner rage. It's fitting that Stellan Skarsgård played the central counterpart in each movie, too: the injured, impotent husband in Wave s and the asexual intellectual foil here, Seligman. They would make a lovely double feature if you have half a day to kill.

Also, on that point, its length is a crucial if not necessary asset in terms of its success. Where the grotesque elements of Antichrist felt like cheap genre riffs unloaded in its final act, the audience is inundated from the get-go here with a variety of “hard to watch” scenes and sequences of all stripes and duration. And they come steadily for FIVE hours. It’s an endurance test, perhaps, but a rewarding one — particularly in the middle stretch of Vol. II.

It’s also the rare movie where you don’t need to relate to, sympathize with, or even totally understand the motives of the protagonist. The film is set with up a question: is Joe good or bad? This query is batted back and forth ad nauseam in Vol. I but it slowly dissipates over the course of the second part. In the end, it's more about humanity at large and Joe is just an avatar for our evil urges.

And Seligman's heel turn in the end is the ultimate von Trierian joke. Of course he was just listening to get into her pants. What is a woman like Joe without the thousands (millions, billions) of men? There are, naturally, touchy concepts about gender swirling all around here and, in the beginning, it felt like this was subtly leaning into the misogynist territory of Antichrist (I don't necessarily see that film as stridently anti-women but that sentiment is definitely out there). The wonderful thing about Nymphomaniac is that, by its conclusion, we do register some sympathy for Joe, if not even viewing her as miraculously heroic. And because of its structure, constantly presenting both sides of every moment and idea, and playing devil's advocate, via the Monday Morning Quarterbacking session with Joe and Seligman, we're allowed an even further detachment from moral judgment. It's like LVT is hedging his bets while also staying ahead of the curve. It's pretty brilliant. I don't think this is von Trier's best movie but in a career full of audacious maneuvers and good taste/faith boundary pushing, it's by far his most daring and provocative. And that's saying something.

SCORE: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ll be counting down all of Lars Von Trier’s movies right here at @cinemacentral666 every Thursday through September 2023

[yj-98]

Ok can I be a hater too. Just for a sec.

Yeah fanon Tim and Jason can be pretty bad. But you know what the worse fucking thing is? Fanon Cass and Jason.

First of all the way some of them think that Cass and Jason gets along? At all? If Tim at most feels distant disdain and co-workership for Jason, Cass would straight up hate that bitch.

The thing is that Cass does not hate killers. She is pro-redemption. She does not care that you killed she believes that you can stop and be better. But I think what would set Jason out from the others is that he wants to make others kill as well. Mainly, Batman.

Cass would hate that. So much. Because Batman? Who is this big symbol for her that stands for everything she believes in? In helping people, in saving people, in giving it your all to do better and find another way.

It is different with Jason because I totally believe that Cass is down to work with people who think that in some occasions, you can do nothing but kill (Helena.... God I am so insane about the potential of a Cass and Helena relationship) but Jason fully believes that you should take the power of killing and direct it towards someone. To choose and paint a target on someone's back and shoot.

I do think that Jason's relationship is very complex and interesting and more than just "I kill people bc they deserve it" but for Cass it does not matter.

(Ok this is very long apologies 😣😣😣)

CAS UR ALWAYS WELCOME TO BE A HATER WITH ME!! u dont have to apologize ... ur so right . youll have 2 forgive me because i do tend to avoid fanon cass because the . rampant racism and misogyny makes me want to die. and i have not Yet read a whole lot w/ cass in it

this is related to what rus and i were talking abt in the replies to a post, esp what she was saying about like. especially cass would not stand his ass

i really do think that jasons ability to get along w/ cass (and tim) would hinge on his own journey. one that they have not rly given him in any meaningful way. bc ur right unless jason was working towards the change (ill be so real idk what theyre doing w/ him rn. i stopped paying attention to a lot of what dc writes w/ him post-resurrection) aside from the rubber bullets thing, it just.... does not respect her character motivations to have them just. Get along.

this is all also hinging of course on the direction of batfamily/wayne family writing. and like. whether or not you WANT them to get along eventually or for jason to have any sort of meaningful divergence from the motivations he had like. over a decade ago LOL............

this chasm between cass and him within the family could have a lot of weight if dc cared! the writing could be fun. if dc cared. like i said w/ the other stuff. there could be interesting arcs to be had if the characters had to work for some kind of resolution or common ground. in the meantime (or just as a baseline) i really feel like there should be someone who is the foil to jason amongst the 'kids' who can be the counter. it would just make for better writing overall

idk if any of that made sense but. i am shaking your hand.

[sketching-shark]

I was wondering if you like the emphasis on the relationship between macaque n wukong. In which it seem its more prevalent in lmk? We dont know what happened but considering how much its push towards us the audience then say the actual messy relationship wukong has w dbk.

Like in the novel we see so much of wukong interesting relationship with dbk n his family yet its seem greatly downplay in lmk?? Lmk sure do a lot of liberty w jttw but it does seem the brotherhood of dbk n swk is not as important. Especially when dbk n the other sages was basically swk first found family swk had besides his monkey fam n puti.

Like even dbk has his version of a giant monster form (just a giant white bull w sharp teeth) i cant recall but very few characters has that ability in the novel..it just well kinda off putting to see it b well put on a back burner when it can b put as like sort of foil for mk n red boy. Sorry if this became a little bit of ramble

No worries about rambling anon it's always fun to hear people's opinions about monkeys both mythological, real, and lego :). And sadfasdfsa I have joked before about how it seems Macaque wasn't content with stealing Sun Wukong's entire identity so he snatched the Demon Bull King's backstory too. But in all honestly (HATER OPINIONS AHOY SO AVERT THINE EYES IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ SUCH THINGS) I'm getting increasingly annoyed at the way Flying Bark & the fandom keeps shoving the relationship between Sun Wukong & the Six Eared Macaque to the forefront to the exclusion of like literally everything else in the lego show, especially with the way it keeps getting framed as yet another example of why SWK is a horrible person (monkey king is pretty relentlessly characterized as the guy who ruins Everything) even with this weird insistence that the two monkeys HAVE to completely reconcile and they HAVE to become each other's most important person ever even though SWK in all honestly doesn't seem to care that much about LEMH unless he's going out of his way to hurt SWK's actual loved ones & LEMH seems to have been so violently obsessed with SWK that he has literally no identity outside of his burning hatred to get one over on the monkey king. I've said this elsewhere, but one of the things that I really liked about the relationship between SWK and the Demon Bull King in the og classic is that even while they were obviously very important to each other and even though the shattering of their once rock-strong friendship is presented as a tragedy they BOTH have a lot of stuff defining them as unique individuals outside of each other. As you noted anon, Monkie Kid may have started with the Demon Bull Family as the central villains but it's been pulling away from that more and more & putting more and more emphasis on the Six Eared Macaque and strangely enough that does mirror some elements of JTTW in a weird way because og classic DBK and Princess Iron Fan wouldn't have even started anything with the pilgrim group if they hadn't had put out that fire with PIF's magical palm leaf fan; they're two yao who seem to have been pretty content to rule over their corners of the earth & not get super involved with everyone else's drama. Hell, DBK even calls time-out on one of his fights with SWK because he wants to go attend a party hosted by his dragon friends! That really doesn't speak to a yao who's all that concerned with killing SWK no matter what because of feelings of betrayal. Red Boy is of course a completely different story because he deliberately went after the Tang monk, & then everything that went down with him gave his parents even more of a reason to go after SWK when he asks for the palm leaf fan. But either way DBK was SWK's closest sworn brother and he does indeed get captured by heaven because he allows his newly-formed burning hatred against the monkey king to completely overtake him, but all signs point to him having a very rich and involved life outside of his relationship to the monkey king, and even in Monkie Kid he now seems much more interested in spending time with his family and improving his relationship with his son than in conquering anything or getting revenge on SWK. Personally I think that could make DBK a pretty interesting foil to LEMH in a kind of "dude who ruined his life because he can't/won't move forward vs. dude who almost ruined his life for the same reason but he's trying to live more in the present and is much happier for it" kind of way. And YEA hard agree anon I would love an arc starring SWK, Qi Xiaotian, Red Boy, and DBK that ends with something like "maybe we'll never forgive each other my once-dearest friend. But at least our kids can be happy in each other's company the way we once were."

Also yea it would really and truly be a massive L for everyone is Flying Bark doesn't take advantage of the fact that both SWK & DBK canonically have gigantic war forms that seem to be just as powerful as each other. Like come ON give us the gargantuan white bull with swords for teeth & the 3-headed six-armed monkey colossus!!!