#Caring about animals in itself isn’t bad but shouldn’t come at the cost of having empathy for humans too

[dancingadopteethoughts]

Actions for Palestine [Background]

Actions for Sudan [Background]

also, a friendly reminder, the world we live in now consists of an active genocide.

of warcrimes being posted on twitter by the official account of israeli government.

of people looking at children, women and men being bombed, killed, starved and butchered and saying it is okay because of a single terrorist group, THAT ISRAEL CREATED.

of westerners saying to look away from the slaughter happening in gaza because your mental health is more important than thousands of lives.

of israeli politicians straight up using propaganda from nazi handbooks to dehumanise palestinians, calling them less than human, less than the rest of us, animals.

and what one palestinian man posted on his social media hit me more than anything: “if we actually were animals, people would care.”

[sasukesun]

I am still in shock that Gojo got killed without taking anyone out AND got off screened like that!!! Is Gege underestimating the popularity of this character and how much he carries the show on his back? Cause I don’t understand the shitty treatment he has been getting. I am not opposed to him dying in the series but dying without taking even one guy out?? Dying without at least freeing his student? Without truly accomplishing anything? At least he didn’t end like naruto and sasuke😔(I am still traumatized from the character assassination)

I am gonna miss gojo. Honestly, I kept up with the series because of him and few others but mostly him. Gonna check back in like 1yr from now lol. Knowing gege, he probably gonna take out the few characters that I still care about lmao

i already knew jujutsu kaisen wasn’t typical shonen, but maybe i was too naive to see until now that it is, in fact, a tragedy. however, even being one, i think there are ways to execute it well, and i honestly think gojou’s death, or rather, his character arc left a bad taste in my mouth, lots of good ideas and not enough delivery.

after putting my emotions aside, i understand that sukuna improving cleave wasn’t out of nowhere. and i find it very interesting how op pointed out the contrast between sukuna, kenjaku and kashimo to gojou. how, despite gojou having a passion for jujutsu itself, his “flaw” against sukuna is to have compassion. his wish to change jujutsu society comes from both selfish and selfless reasons and i think those intertwine and overlap, to a point where you can’t actually draw a line what is solely one or the other. but there is also the fact that gojou truly enjoyed fighting against sukuna, it felt good to not hold back (unlike shibuya, because like jougo himself says, gojou can be cold and act rational about fatalities but he will avoid to cause those fatalities himself). and it’s even more interesting when you consider that noble reasons to be a sorcerer aren’t compensated in such society, gojou himself acknowledges that, gojou himself has his own selfish reasons, but he is still “more noble” than sukuna on a scale measure. not that this is what defines every battle, but it’s an interesting point that reinforces the contrast between gojou vs sukuna, kenjaku and kashimo.

as well as for jujutsu kaisen being a tragedy, i think this post explains it better, though i don’t agree wholeheartedly to everything it says. i don’t think gojou is cold the way the post says. gojou took megumi under his wing and respected his wishes, even when he was a small child, he assured megumi and tsumiki wouldn’t be happy in the zenin clan. gojou fought for yuuji’s life just because of megumi’s personal reasons. like i said, he can have both selfish and selfless motivations. what bothers me about this last arc is indeed that it didn’t seem like he cared about megumi that much, or that he was okay with gakukanji all of sudden, but, unlike what the post says, i think it’s just occness... there is no doubt that gojou puts his duties aside to indulge in his desire to fight someone as strong as sukuna, and then is punished by tragedy and rewarded with what he wanted… my question is: why it was done that way? because gege was in a rush to end this battle. it’s no coincidence that gege killed gojou on the same week he was sealed in the anime, you’ve seen how impactful that was, but he had to cut corners imo to make that happen, at the cost of gojou’s character. this leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, really. but the rest of the post though… it’s fine and very well thought.

now, despite all this, what doesn’t sit right with me is that gojou’s character arc isn’t satisfying and jujutsu kaisen being a tragedy shouldn’t exempt the story of such flaw. gojou dying with not only achieving or changing nothing, not only seeming cold towards his students, but also dying with many feelings about his isolation and the weight of being “the strongest” and yet the point of the battle only seems “there was just someone who was stronger” isn’t about tragedy, it’s a flaw. how come the most crucial moment of gojou’s character, the reason gojou changes his goals and motivation has getou questioning “are you gojou satoru because you are the strongest or are you the strongest because you are gojou satoru?” and yet, this never gets an answer. you want to make him suffer gege? take some of his power away and let him answer that question. you want tragedy? let him achieve something he desired and don’t let him see the aftermath. “the shire was saved, but not for me”, there is tragedy in that too. he wasn’t even able to give getou a proper burial, not even the minimum.

and another thing i wanted to mention and this one i haven’t seen people talking about is that it’s not only about gojou finding a partner that shares “the strongest” title with him, not only about someone stepping up to his level, it’s also about someone bringing him down to earth just as much, treating him like a man, like satoru, something only getou did. no wonder getou is the one to talk to gojou about his loneliness when he dies, no wonder gojou says he would’ve only been satisfied if getou was there with him. gojou had become the strongest while getou was still alive, silently slipping away, but still by his side, and yet, gojou only really changes all his resolves when getou leaves, leaves him specifically. because getou was still the only one to treat him like human. despite his character being defined by his strength and power and all of that, in his last moments we see how much he wanted to be understood.

i understand your feelings of frustration, i feel it too, like i said before, i didn’t mind gojou dying, i expected that actually, as long as it was well executed, but some things just… weren’t, even when i can look more rationally than i did last thursday, i believe it could’ve been done better. gojou might not be the main character but he has an insane impact, and a huge part of why the story exists in the first place unrolled because of him. i feel bad for gege resenting his most charismatic character that much.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

A little epiphany about the moon arcanum

(submitted by @lily-lilou​)

Hello ! I just realised something about the moon arcanum and I wonder what you would think about it:

Remember the other day, when you asked “how do you kill death?” and I answered “death is an emptiness of life, darkness is an emptiness of light”?

And remember in S1ep1 when Rayla said “moon reflect sun, as death reflect life.”, Implied: sun is life, moon is death? 

Well, something bothered me with this last point. Because, if the moon was only death-related, Moonshadow elves would just be “empty” since they are all death and shadow/darkness. No light, no life. It doesn’t make sense. (I mean, we’ve seen in the novel that, indeed, some of them are really dark, as dark as a dark mage like Viren, it seems, but not all of them.)

While looking at Callum’s spellsbook, I saw that the moon arcanum is indeed death-related. But it’s also dual. 

And suddenly, I had my little epiphany: 

The moon has no light in herself, what she reflects is the light of the sun. And the light of the sun is “life”. So indeed, without it, the moon is “empty”.

But that’s my point, she does reflect it, and so: when the moon shines in the night, does she bring life? no. Does she bring death? neither.  What does the moon do, then?

She reflects light when shadows and darkness are surrounding you, she makes them receded, she allows you to see in the dark.

Seeing light in darkness, isn’t this the definition of “hope” itself? 

So now, my little theory about the duality of the moon being “death-hope”, it’s really neat (’>_>), but what about the show, what could prove my idea?

Well: the world is about to be engulfed in an all-out war, darkness and death are on almost every hearts, on the verge to destroy everything. And the moon, with her Moonshadow assassins, reflects “death”. But if my theory is right, shouldn’t she also reflect “life”, shouldn’t she bring “hope”?

And here goes Rayla, bright little light in the dark, sparing her enemies for the greater good, ready to sacrifice her life for a chance for peace. She’s the reason her little team’s adventure was possible to begin with, after all. 

I mean, seriously, if the moon is dual, if one aspect of it is “death” and the other is “hope”, wouldn’t this explain “different” Moonshadow elves like Rayla, Lain and Ethari? 

Just like a lot of sunfire elves are more connected to the destructive aspect of their arcanum and have a “heat mode”, and a few other are connected the more comforting and healing aspect of it with “light mode”. Why wouldn’t Moonshadow elves be like that too? With a lot of them related to the destructive aspect of the Moon (death), and a few others more connected to that other facet of it: hope. 

As for Lain and Ethari, why do I think they’re more “hope-related” than death?

We haven’t seen a lot of them yet (and I’m waiting for S4 to see more of Ethari). However, the few elements we have is already not bad:

Lain literally saw “hope” in the egg’s survival. As for Ethari, even if he wronged Rayla in his grief, he did broke the spell and help her. Without him, they would have never made it in time to the Storm Spire, Rayla wouldn’t have been here to stop Viren, who would have probably killed Zubeia. 

So sorry, it’s a little longer than I thought, but I hope you’ll be interested. (if not, sorry for waisting your time - and sorry if my english isn’t… arf, sorry if it’s torture, I have no one to check on it)

good night :)

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

Hey, thank you for this! I love seeing other people’s ideas! I’ve spent plenty of time pondering Moonshadow culture and philosophy because its duality is so fascinating. But the way you’ve put it gives it a beautiful new spin: hope in the dark. And I do agree with you, because I can think of several times when Moonshadow elves acted as that hope when things got dark--and not just Lain and Ethari, either.

You said that the moon acts like a kind of mirror, reflecting the light (and life) of the sun even in the darkest places. Like she’s encouraging everyone to hold on, because the day is coming back again. In such darkness, even the smallest bits of light make a big difference. And I think that’s exactly what we get from the Moonshadow elves.

Tiadrin and Lain left their daughter behind because duty was so important to them. That’s noble, but also sad. Yet Tiadrin valued life so highly that she tricked Viren into sparing the egg, just on the odd chance that someone could rescue it later somehow. I bet she was betting on Runaan right then. Saving the egg was her light in the dark, and so was hope that her good friend might rescue it when she couldn’t. And he did try once he saw it, but neither of them could’ve predicted that Rayla would find it before they did.

Ethari did ghost his daughter while he was suffocating in his own grief. He couldn’t stand up to the whole village in that moment. That was a very dark time, for him and for who he might’ve turned into. But then Rayla came home, innocent of the crime spoken against her, and Ethari knew he’d been wrong. He broke through his own darkness and became the hope that she needed.

Lujanne straight-up told Callum that humans can’t do magic, while sitting in the seat of her own power. That was all she knew, even as an experienced mage, and though she was kind, she definitely had her people’s misinformation and prejudices against humans and dark magic. And yet, when Claudia and Soren came, and Rayla asked for her help to escape safely back toward Xadia, Lujanne used that special exclusive magic, and her own personal Moon Phoenix to help test the intentions of Claudia and Soren, and it helped them stay safe.

Even Runaan has some very bright spots in his dark story. He saved Rayla’s life once he realized he’d endangered it. That cost him dearly, but he paid it willingly. And despite all of his broody loner tendencies, he lets his extended family drag him out on his own birthday. He does special things for Rayla on her birthday. He definitely does something special for Ethari on his, too. He’s a stabby dark angel of death, and probably the darkest Moonshadow elf we’ll ever meet, But he knows what love is, and it makes him break the rules, just like Ethari did. He let Rayla live when the conventions of his profession demanded otherwise. We never got to see what kind of trouble that might’ve gotten him into. But I bet it wouldn’t have been a hit back home.

And don’t get me started on Rayla. She’s very grumpy and rule-oriented much of the time, but her soft heart can’t resist doing what’s right if it clashes with what’s expected. She learned that from all her parents, and she can’t help being their daughter at every turn, acting as she’s seen them all act, following the rules right up until her heart tells her otherwise.

See the pattern? All of these elves live in a society that’s strict and ordered with very clear rules. But they’re still people, still individuals with hearts and minds. And they keep finding little ways to be soft despite their hard world. They are the night, and the night is very black and white. But they all live for the light of the moon, and for its hope, its love, and its promise.

Moonshadow elves have a rough job. They guard the dark and the dead and all things scary and creepy. They are what’s in the dark. That fits well with why they’re not supposed to be afraid: they’re supposed to be the scary ones. 

In a way, I see Moonshadow elves as the recycling of Xadia. Part of a bigger cycle, like day and night, part of an endless cycle that will never stop. 

They deal with death and spirits. Usually people don’t like to think about those things. They’re unnerving. Just like we humans don’t really like to think about our garbage bins. But when you recycle, you take old gross dead things and you turn them into something new and useful again. 

When we trim shrubbery, it’s so that the plant can grow more healthy. When we separate our glass and metal and cardboard, it’s so we don’t pollute the planet and kill life unnecessarily. When something dies in the forest, the itty bitty creatures come out and take care of it, reusing all those nutrients, passing them on and turning them back into life and health. Even mushrooms and molds are recycling. You may not like their job. It may seem icky to you. But imagine a world where everything that died or was discarded just. Sat there. Stinking forever. Would that be better? No, it wouldn’t, eew. 

The recycling that happens in the natural processes of the world is mostly invisible to us. It happens on a very small scale, or underground, or in the dark. But it happens. It’s happening right now, all around us. Invisible, if you will. And from that slightly distasteful, invisible, endless process, we will get fresh leaves on our trees, new flowers, new generations of helpful insects and animals, and a lot fewer gross smells on the breeze. You’re welcome!

The moon is the hope in the dark. But that hope is borne out by the individual choices of the elves we know and love. When they choose to be soft, to be heroic, to be selfless or sacrificing, they’re acknowledging that they are part of a bigger whole, an entire ecosystem of elves and dragons and even humans, and they act for a cause bigger than themselves. No one has a better sense of their place in the bigger scheme of things than Moonshadows, I think.

I’m eager to see what Rayla’s arc will be like from here, because it’s looking more and more likely that she’ll literally arc away from her Moonshadow upbringing instead of cycling back to it. She is the hope in the dark of her people. Will she save them, will she step away from them, will anyone come with her? Will it go smoothly does ghosting count as smooth, or will there be trouble?

All good thoughts, @lily-lilou​, all good thoughts. Thank you for sharing your ideas!

[cosmiciaria]

Assassin’s Creed Unity Review/honest thoughts/discussion - SPOILERS (long post)

So I decided to finally settle on a proper review – although this one is going to be more of what here in Argentina we call a "sincericidio": basically I will spit my guts out and cry in one corner, while being completely honest about my feelings. I will try to keep most spoilers at bay, like I always do, but there's just one thing I cannot not talk about which is THE spoiler so – I want you to be considered warned.

Before I start, I should state, since this is my review and reviews are quite personal actually, why this game is so important to me and why I wanted to play it so bad. There's a combination of factors, and obviously this game isn't going to strike the same chords with everyone, so bear in mind that this is strictly subjective and, right now, personal.

First factor and I think the most important one: I like writing. Wait, don't leave the review just yet. I like writing and creating characters. I have many. Lately I've been revisiting a character that had a very sad backstory and added quite long happy ending for him. I made him fall in love again. He's black haired, wears a short pony tail… his new love interest is a redhead with wavy hair… ok, you get me now, don't you? And what's worse, is that their story takes place in a fictional world that resembles quite much Europe of 1800's. So clothes and ballrooms and palaces and big, fluffy dresses are a thing in this story of mine. I think that, if you've ever created a character, to find another fictional, similar character in any medium is going to draw your attention to that product right away. It did happen to me with Cal Kestis from SW Jedi: Fallen Order, I have another redhead baby boy that needs to be protected at all costs. It's a way for us to 'see', let's say, or imagine our characters being brought to life.

Second factor: I love Paris. I visited Versailles and Paris back in late 2018, and I went there with zero expectations, only to fall in love with France. I love the Château de Versailles. I love palaces. I love the Seine. I love the Louvre. I love it. All of it. If I could, I'd live there. Sadly, I'm poor and speak little to no French at all.

Third Factor: I'm learning French! I dream with the day I can speak like five languages as well as I speak English (I studied it for ten years so… it kinda makes sense that I feel comfortable with it). I'm still struggling with French, but I will get there someday. I will. Because I love it. I love the language. Oui.

Fourth factor: I also really really, really like the French Revolution, and I've never, much to my surprise, watched or played any series, videogame, movie or anything that takes place in such a context (if you have recommendations, please drop them right away!). And I say "to my surprise" because I really like that part of History! So, to live in almost first person how the French Revolution unfolded – to hear the chansons and to see people gathered in crowds at every corner, listening to a liberty preacher wielding the French flag – that was glorious.

Fifth and yeah we're done: I love Les Misérables. I know it happens way later than the French Revolution, but since this musical (and the 2012 movie) became my 'home', I can't help but feel a stronger connection with everything I said above. I can watch that movie over and over and I will still sing Empty chairs and empty tables with tears in my eyes, despite its flaws.

I had like every reason to play this game. And it paid off.

Before plunging into it, I did read the novelization. Sadly, it was only to satisfy my soon-to-be-fulfilled obsession with the game, since I don't think the quality of the narration was, uhm, that good – it felt like you needed to have played the game before reading it. And I get it, it's a videogame adaptation, that's fine, but when you look at it as standalone book, it doesn't stand alone that good. What disappointed me, though, wasn't the narration, which was what I totally expected it to be, nor the dialogues or the ending – it was Élise. I was bit weary about this because she came across as completely different character than what I had in mind about her, and I didn't like her. At all. In the book, at least. I didn't like her because she had a few comments and took some decisions that made her look like she was stupid and/or selfish. I can understand the selfish part; I do not want to even believe that she's stupid. So that's why the book was a bit of a letdown for me. I recommend it, though, if you're a fan, because there's a book exclusive character that really gets the plot moving and he's endearing: Mr. Weatherall. Oh, what a man.

Now, regarding the game itself – it shouldn't come as a surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed it. As I've stated in another post, this game is barely an Assassin's Creed, since you delve like zero into the AC lore, and it's just an excuse for your character – Arno – to know parkour. Which in fact he knows before becoming an assassin, so it begs the question, why is this game even in this franchise? I digress. It's an AC game at the end of the day and that won't change.

But do not jump into this game expecting it be your average AC story. I firmly believe that the creators wanted to convey a different story here. For starters, Arno is no hero. Arno doesn't want to save the world. Arno doesn't care about any artifact or magic or creed. Arno only wants to discover who's the man behind De La Serre's death. That's his main driving force. And behind that, there's this undeniable and yet quite destructive feeling that pulls him forward: Élise.

Élise and Arno's relationship goes deeper into this story than it's noticeable at first glance. When you look back upon the plot, you discover that without their love 'subplot', there's no plot at all. If I may be so bold, I would even argue that Arno's story is a tragic love story. All the assassin's lore, all the betrayals, the first few assassinations, it all falls back into the background when Élise returns to the stage almost halfway through the game. And even though they only share like one kiss or two during the 40 hours of gameplay, there's still this latent, persistent motivation behind each of Arno's actions, that he wouldn't be doing what he's doing if it wasn't for Élise.

And it all comes down to that one line: What I wanted was you.

I cannot stress enough how much I loved all of the drunkard memory of Versailles. I think it embodies Arno's perfect character development. The constant rain and the bluish filter on every framerate added to the overall depressing atmosphere. I felt miserable while playing those quests, and the moment he steps out into the entrance of the Château de Versailles and reflects on his past decisions – decisions that have been stolen from him, because he could never defend himself nor change the course of actions on his own accord – that exact moment that he sits down and cries, I cried too.

Because all the game, all the memories, all the dialogues go in a crescendo only to crumble into this abyss. And this, in turn, creates a fleshed-out character, with a believable development, believable feelings, believable motivations. I can feel for Arno, I can understand him, I pity him, and I want to hug him. The whole game reaches its peak in its main character's worst moment: when he realizes that he's screwed everything up.

And not always do we get a story where the main character doesn't win. He just doesn't. Underneath its revolutionary streets, this story reeks of inexorability and fatality. You know it, you know it in the back of your head, but you push that thought apart because you want to enjoy jumping over rooftops and finding the best strategy to kill that man. There's this underlying, looming melancholy in every memory that you play in, and that's why the end doesn't surprise us.

It makes us cry, of course, but it didn't come as a surprise at all. If you're shocked about the end, then you haven't been paying enough attention to Élise's dialogues, to the tone of the story, to her letters, to where this plot was going. Because, like I said, the story is about Arno and Élise's relationship, it isn't about defeating the bad guy. And there was only one way that story could end.

*cries in French*

*Je pleure beaucoup*

I know the game has been panned by players for its performance. And being the 2020 year of our lord, I cannot say I reject those allegations, since it's been 6 years since the game was released. I hope enough patches were implemented to salvage the bugs. I only came across one bug in my entire playthrough which bothered me a little: some NPC's would sometimes pop into cutscenes and phase through the characters like nothing. At first it was funny, but then towards the end it happened two more times, in important cutscenes with our lovely couple, which kinda destroyed all immersion, if you know what I mean. The rest was fine: it never crashed on me, I didn't encounter the infamous, horrendous bug that unleashed memes in internet, never a T-pose or something that rendered the game unplayable – nothing, only that funny bug I mentioned. I did see the drop in framerates, specially in very crowded areas – but to be honest I never saw a game with so many NPC's together in the same place, like, hundreds of them, each with unique animations and varied models. I only come from playing Syndicate, and even there the number of NPC's was lower. Here is jarringly unreal, I didn't know the French Revolution was THIS jam-packed with people!

On a graphical department, this 2014 game still holds up. Very well. I think it even looks better in some scenes than some of its successors. The cutscenes were sometimes very cinematographic, with close ups, zoom outs, certain angles, with quite real lighting and shadows. I know it's not Naughty Dog and it doesn't have the whole Sony battalion behind, but damn if some of the character's expressions were really good. It didn't happen often, so when one of them had this very specific face I was like *insert surprised pikachu meme*.

I also enjoyed the music a lot. I don't know why but the one from the main menu stuck with me for a while. All of the songs have this Versailles, aristocratic tone to it which put me in the mood.

I have only one minor complaint and its entirely optional, let's say – I want to platinum this game. But I don't own PS plus, because it's, uhhh, expensive in my country (do not want to indulge in dollar exchange rates right now). And there are like two trophies only obtainable through multiplayer, which renders my trophy hunt useless. But, alas, I knew this before buying the game. I think that games shouldn't come with multiplayer trophies for the platinum. If you have to pay extra for something, it must be completely optional. And so should be the trophies related to it. It's a bit disappointing, though, because after finishing this game I want so bad to return to it, but if I can't platinum, I don't see myself coming back to it soon. Either way, I could still earn the rest of the trophies, but that would only enrage me more when the last 3% is going to be locked forever *cries again*.

All in all, my major question at the end is: why does this game receive so much hate? I guess if I came from a hardcore fan standpoint I could understand it more. If I had played all its predecessors before this one, I would also feel that the gameplay and the objectives are repetitive. That the challenges are bs. But the stealth aspect has been improved, the parkour has been redesigned and adapted, and as of now, bugs aren't a problem anymore. I want to believe that when a remaster for the PS5 comes out or, I don't know, if someone by divine grace has an epiphany in the near future regarding this game, people will change their mind on this one and will appreciate more what it wanted to be, than what they made it to be. After all, this is Arno's story. Arno's tragic love story.

Also this game is beautiful JUST LOOK AT IT LOOK AT IT!!! 

Sorry couldn’t help myself

[justablobfish]

An unusual snowman

Day 12 of my Advent Calender. A new drabble or oneshot everyday until Christmas, following the Continent’s favourite found family and what they’re up to in the winter season. Based on this prompt list

No witchers were harmed in the making of this fic. Everyone’s fine! :3

Read on AO3

Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

______

This is bad. Very bad. They should never have stopped in this goddamn village. 

When they arrived, it was the middle of the night and - with everyone and their grandmother trying to sell Ciri out to Nilfgaard - they decided to get a room at the inn and smuggle the princess in through the back door unseen. 

Which turned out to be a mistake. Because that way no one could tell them. 

The next morning they woke up and Ciri had vanished without a trace.

When they asked around the village they soon found out that she hadn't been the first child to disappear. A few weeks ago children suddenly started disappearing overnight. No one had seen where they had gone to; no amount of locked doors and safety measures could keep them from being taken. 

Jaskier paces up and down in their room, uncertain what to do. 

It's been three days since Geralt set out to find the missing kids, since Geralt ordered him to stay here in case Ciri comes back. 

When Geralt took off, he only said he'd be back 'soon', unspecific and unhelpful as ever. Surely three days were no longer encompassed by the term 'soon'. Something must have gone wrong. 

And the more time passes, the less likely it becomes that Ciri and the other children will return unharmed. 

Jaskier stops in his tracks and gives a short, determined nod. There's only one thing to do. He has to go after them as well! 

While the children have disappeared without leaving any kind of clue to mortal humans, Geralt must have found some sort of trace, because once Jaskier reaches the edge of the village he can see a clear and straight trail of Geralt's footprints leading into the nearby woods. 

"Dark, gloomy forest. Always a good sign!" Jaskier tries to encourage himself and sets out to get his little family back from the clutches of whatever monster stole them. 

The tracks lead deep into the forest. While at first there are some felled trees, bird houses or the occasional discarded apple core, eventually the signs of nearby civilization become rarer and then disappear altogether. And still Geralt's tracks lead further. 

Jaskier soon falls into a sort of trance, placing one step in front of the other and with his eyes fixed on the ground in front of him. 

He almost doesn't notice when Geralt's trail ends. 

Jaskier blinks and Geralt's heavy boot prints are gone, replaced by a variety of far smaller imprints, that criss-cross all over the place. Surprised, he looks up. 

The first thing he registers is a small, crooked hut several feet away. The way it's decorated with pieces of candy and pastry (most of it clearly chewed on) practically screams evil magic trap. 

In front of the hut stands Geralt. 

Actually, no, at more than a glance it turns out it's not Geralt. It has Geralt's pauldrons and it holds Geralt's swords but other than that, it's a snowman. 

Dread spreads in Jaskier’s guts and he quickly jogs around the figure to get a closer look. On the other side, yellow eyes and furrowed eyebrows glare back at him. 

Except the yellow eyes are slices of carrots and the eyebrows are made of twigs. 

"Oh Geralt! What did they do to you?" Jaskier gasps. His knees suddenly feel very weak and he begins to think that following Geralt all by himself might not have been the smartest idea. 

The child of legend, whisked away right from under the nose of a Witcher, said Witcher turned into a snowman and only a humble bard left to save the day. What chance does he stand? What was he thinking? 

Then again, maybe there's something he can do. It always works in the old stories told to children and the weird hut with its candy decor definitely gives off the same kind of vibe as those tales. 

"Here goes nothing," Jaskier mumbles and places his lips on the snowman's mouth. Or, well, on the coals arranged in a frown on the snowman's face. 

And then he waits. 

For a moment. 

For a minute. 

For ten. 

Nothing happens. Seems true love's kiss only works in the stories, after all. 

Which begs the question of what he's supposed to do now. 

What chance does he stand where even a Witcher failed? And yet, what choice does he have? Whoever did this has taken his daughter, his family. He can't exactly just walk away. 

He'd never be able to look Yennefer in the eyes again. 

Hell, he'd never be able to look himself in the eyes again. And he so loves mirrors! 

So Jaskier reaches forward and grabs the steel sword from where it's sticking out of the large ball that makes up the snowman's torso. 

As his fingers close around the grip of the sword his hand brushes against the snow. 

And like a - well, like a snowman left in the sun for too long - it crumbles. 

"No, no, no!" Jaskier screams. "Stop! Don't do that! Please!" 

Before his eyes, the snowman that is his lover falls apart. He can only watch helplessly as the fractured part falls in on itself and slips off the bottom part. The head rolls to the side in an almost human-looking manner, until it falls to the ground as well. Before his eyes, Geralt turns into nothing but a pile of snow. 

The fact that his kiss didn't work he could live with but this? Even if there was a way to undo the spell that turned Geralt into a child's plaything, there's no coming back from this. Geralt is gone, his body destroyed. Jaskier’s best friend, the love of his life, has died. 

"I'm so sorry, Geralt," Jaskier whispers as he sinks to his knees. A dislodged slice of carrot glares at him accusingly. 

Jaskier absentmindedly places the sword he acquired at such a high cost on the ground beside him and wraps his arms around himself. 

"I shall write you the most glorious ballad ever written," he mumbles. "The whole Continent will know of your bravery." 

The words sound hollow, even to his own ears. A song won't bring Geralt back. What he really wants to do is curl up on the snow-covered ground and never get up again. 

But he can't do that. There's still Ciri. And he will get his daughter back, if it's the last thing he does. 

So Jaskier slowly gets up, grabs the sword again and turns towards the hut. The fear that had settled into his bones earlier at the idea that even Geralt couldn't best this sorcerer is gone. Now there's only fury and rage burning inside of him. This villainous toad-spotted miscreant of a mage has taken his family from him. They're going to pay! 

He opens the door and steps inside. 

The hut is bigger on the inside. Of course it is. Jaskier doesn't know why he expected anything different. The foyer itself is wide enough that the hut's exterior would fit into it twice. 

He also shouldn't be so surprised that the inside of the hut is entirely made of ice. Everything from the floor to the windowless walls to the twin set of stairs leading up to a second floor, which the hut definitely wasn't high enough for, looking at it from the outside. The mage is really going heavy on the whole fairy-tale villain aesthetic. 

Flickering candlelight from the huge chandelier overhead reflects off of every surface and makes the whole room seem to move and shift constantly. Jaskier starts feeling nauseous. 

It's hard to tell how many doors there are and which ones are only reflections, so he simply walks towards the large double door underneath the stairwells and heads through it. 

Unlike what he expected, the ice isn't cold to the touch and feels more like normal wood under his fingers. Maybe the ice is just an illusion. 

The room he finds himself in next is an even larger hall, equally made of ice and very clearly once intended as a ballroom. Various sconces illuminate an intricate pattern carved into the wide floor, while once colorful paintings of fancily dressed dancers on the walls are glossed over with the ever-present ice. 

Now, the room seems to serve a different purpose though. The floor is littered with various toys, dolls and plush animals. Chalk drawings cover not only several stacks of paper, but also the long banquet table at the far end of the room. It appears Jaskier is getting closer to the mystery of the missing children. They must have been playing here recently. 

While Jaskier looks around and tries to find any proof that Ciri was here as well, a side door opens and a curious voice asks "Hello?" His presence has been noticed, then. 

He turns around slowly, sword at the ready. 

In the door stands Ciri. 

"Jaskier!" she yells, relief and happiness swinging in her voice. Then she takes off running in his direction, followed by a group of other children. 

Ciri throws herself into his arms and clings to him like a curious kid's tongue to an icicle. Not that Jaskier has any experience with that particular situation. 

"I tried to get back to you but every time I tried to run away I always just ended up in front of the hut again," she whimpers. "It's enchanted or something!" 

"Well isn't that just adorable," comes a sneering voice from the other end of the room, where an elegantly dressed woman has appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. 

Her flawless skin and almost unnaturally symmetrical face mark her as a mage from Aretuza. 

Jaskier wraps his free hand around Ciri and pushes her behind him, while eyeing the sorceress warily. 

Ciri pays him little mind and steps back to his side. 

"Look, Gretel, you got it all wrong!" she tells the woman. "Parents do care about their children. This proves it." 

 "Nonsense!" the sorceress huffs. "My parents abandoned me as soon as money got a little tight. If Aretuza hadn't taken me in, I would have ended up just like my brother and died a horrible death at the hands of the awful witch that built this house!" 

"Then why is Jaskier here, risking his life to get me back?" Ciri counters "And Geralt, too?" 

"That proves nothing!" the mage all but shrieks. "The Witcher came to do his job. He came for the money he was promised. And this one? I bet he doesn't even know you well enough to keep you apart from the other children!" 

With that she raises her hands menacingly and suddenly, instead of Ciri and a dozen or so other kids, Jaskier is surrounded by several perfect copies of the Cintran princess. 

It's his worst nightmare. As if one Child Surprise wasn't already more than enough to handle. 

The Ciris stare at each other in surprise for a moment, before one of them breaks the silence by yelling "I'm the real one!" 

A split-second later Jaskier is surrounded by the gaggle of Ciris, yelling and giggling and trying to convince him that they're the right Ciri. It all seems to be a funny game to them. Jaskier’s head starts to spin from trying to get a good look at even one of them. 

"Stop!" he screams at the top of his lungs. "How am I supposed to pick someone if you keep running around me?" 

The children come to a halt and arrange themselves in a loose circle around him, quiet except for the occasional giggle still breaking through. 

However, only one of them rolls her eyes at Jaskier’s demanding tone. 

Jaskier places his hand on top of the real Ciri's head and glares at the sorceress. 

"See? I told you he couldn't do it! Parents are useless!" she gloats and waves her hand dismissively. The Ciris turn back into the children they were before. 

Only the one Jaskier chose remains the same. 

"Impossible!" Gretel shouts as the smug grin falls from her face. "But that doesn't prove anything! We need another test! How about-" 

With few short strides Jaskier crosses the room, grabs the sorceress by the front of her dress and shoves her against the wall. 

"Enough," he presses out between clenched teeth as he places the sword across her bare throat. "I am done with your games! Undo the spell that keeps the children trapped!" 

"Cute," the witch muses without any sign of fear or worry. "But you do know that I can turn you into a pile of dust with a snap of my fingers, right?" 

"Do I look like I give a damn?" Jaskier growls. "You took my daughter away from me! I don't care what you do to me, I will tear you to pieces if you don't let her go!" 

"Hmm," she replies solemnly. "Interesting. Perhaps I was mistaken in my judgment. There do seem to be some parents who love and protect their children." 

Before Jaskier can further comment on that, the witch is gone. Vanished into thin air, just like how she appeared. He stares at his empty hand in surprise, where he had clutched the fabric of her dress a moment ago. 

There goes his chance to avenge Geralt. The fury that was gnawing at his guts starts to settle. Jaskier holds onto it desperately. He knows that once the anger is gone, only grief will remain. 

At least Ciri is unharmed. Jaskier turns around slowly and faces the group of children, who stare back at him expectantly. 

"She wasn't malicious, you know?" Ciri explains. "Just misguided and lonely. Although she did curse Geralt with a spell that turned him into an inanimate object." 

"I know," Jaskier whispers, barely audible with the lump that has formed in his throat. How can he possibly tell Ciri what happened to Geralt? That her guardian is gone and won't come back? She's lost so many people already in her short life. 

"He's in the room over there," Ciri adds chipperly and takes off. 

"... wait, what?" Jaskier stutters as he scrambles after her, followed by the rest of the children who chatter with one another excitedly. 

Ciri leads him to an adjacent room. It's not nearly as big as the ballroom, but still large enough that it couldn't possibly fit into the little hut he saw from the outside. An enormous feather bed occupies most of the opposite wall, big enough for at least three or four grown people to sleep on, or a dozen or so kidnapped children. 

The rest of the room is taken up by various shelf boards mounted to the walls, filled with dozens upon dozens of porcelain dolls. Their empty eyes seem to stare at him as Ciri leads him further into the room 

"Over there," Ciri declares and points at one particular doll. It doesn't look much different from the other ones, safe for its face. Its mouth is sculpted in the shape of a frown instead of the cheerful smiles of the other ones and its yellow eyes, despite being made of lifeless glass beads, seem to glare back at Jaskier angrily. 

"That's… That's Geralt?" Jaskier asks carefully, not quite ready to allow himself to hope. 

"Of course," Ciri chides. "Who else would it be? Look at the face! I tried to sneak around Gretel's laboratory and look for a way to turn him back, but I couldn't find anything."

"We had lots of fun playing with him while Ciri was away!" a little boy announces happily. Some other children giggle affirmatively. 

"Anyway," Ciri sighs as she gently pats the boy's head and ruffles his hair. She seems to be the oldest kid around. The others appear to be looking up to her. 

"I'm sure if you just kiss him that'll break the spell!" Ciri continues. "And then we can finally get out of here and return these little monsters to their parents." 

"So uhm…," Jaskier mumbles. "Entirely unrelated, totally random and unimportant question, but, uh, what's with that snowman outside the door?" 

"The children built it earlier today," Ciri shrugs. "I told them not to use Geralt's armor, that he'd want it back once he gets uncursed, but I don't think they listened. Why are you asking?"

"No reason!" Jaskier huffs and quickly grabs the doll before Ciri can notice how he's turning bright red. 

She narrows her eyes at him, but he turns his back to her and presses a kiss to the doll's…well, face. It's not exactly big enough for more precision. 

A bright light emits from it and Jaskier has to close his eyes firmly. 

Suddenly, his hands are no longer holding on to the doll but instead are wrapped around a very firm and familiar waist. 

The light slowly dims and flickers out. Jaskier opens his eyes carefully. In front of him stands Geralt of Rivia, unharmed and scowling even more than usual. 

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes, my fair lady," Jaskier teases. 

"What?" Geralt grumbles and looks down at himself, taking in the bright pink dress made up of an abundance of ruffles, as well as the intricately woven braid that rests on his shoulder. 

"The fuck?" he concludes. "When the witch cursed me my clothes stayed the same size. Why did the dress grow with me then?" 

"Well, there are children around," Ciri huffs with an annoyed click of her tongue. "Now can we finally get out of here?" 

"I need some pants," Geralt growls. "This is far too impractical. I can't fight the witch like that." 

"Well, the witch is gone," Jaskier shrugs. "And I don't think she'll be coming back." 

"Then what about the enchantment that kept the kids trapped here?" Geralt huffs. 

"Lifted," Ciri explains. "At least she said she would." 

"Oh," Geralt remarks. "Any… other monsters in the area? Some rabid dogs? Anything else?" 

"No, dear," Jaskier answers. "I think all the work is already taken care of. You can relax for once." 

"Riiiight," Geralt mumbles slowly. Then he nods to himself. "Then I guess I'll just keep wearing this for now." 

"Absolutely, love!" Jaskier encourages. "It suits you tremendously." 

"Gross," Ciri comments as Jaskier leans in for a proper kiss with his rescued lover. "Now can we please get out of here, already?" 

[pumakaji64]

fuck im gonna watch the film theory on Ratatouille even though it’ll make me mad

 part 1.

preface: It’ll probably look like im taking this way more seriously then I actually am ( I mean I love the movie so on some level yes I am ) but I tend to come across way more aggressive then I mean too in my writing oops. Like I don’t mind people having different takes on a piece of media, you can respect and authors intent while still having your own thoughts about a work even if they don’t line up because sometimes what a creator tries to convey and what they really do aren’t exactly the same. But if you’re gonna have such a wild take you better be able to back it up with some real good evidence. Overall tho I’m mostly just doing this cuz im bored lol ( also I haven’t seen the movie in awhile so my memory is a little foggy )

So going in I already know what the argument is gonna be “ good guy bad, bad guy good” whatever, so I’m just gonna comment on the argument and presentation itself as I watch the video

Ah I see we’re going with the good ol’ “ not technically lying but intentionally omitting and/or wording things in a manner that benefits my argument “ technique, I’ve used that before.

Nitpick: As someone on twitter brought up: Protagonist doesn’t mean “good guy” it’s the leading character that the story if focused on, so even if Remy is a bad guy he’s still the protagonist.

I get it’s probably a joke but Remy’s whole deal isn’t that he wants to be famous. He just genuinely loves cooking but can’t do with without fear of being murdered since he’s y’know a rat.

He doesn’t willingly leave his colony, he’s separated from them after he blew their cover by getting caught while cooking and for prioritizing taking the cookbook over escaping.

I’ll just say it now since i’m sure it’ll be brought up later, yeah Remy is kind of selfish, and thats actually a good thing. Him being a flawed character makes him more interesting and this also swiftly sets up his character arc early into the film.

“ If this sounds like an inspirational story about overcoming obstacles and achieving your destiny... you missed the point.” bruh the arc words of the film are literally “Anyone can cook”, it’s about overcoming prejudice to achieve your dreams in spite of everyone telling you not to because of the identity you are born with ( this is not just seen with Remy but also Colette, a female chef )

“Narcissist” As I said before yes Remy is selfish and at times this makes him unlikable but he genuinely cares about his family but he struggles to connect with them since they can’t understand why he’s so passionate about cooking.

Calling it now, the crux of this argument is going to be the scene where Remy gets mad about Linguini taking all the credit for Remy’s work during an interview. Which yeah I’ll agree that Remy was being unrealistic but Linguini had been ignoring Remy’s advice and had grown a bit of an ego which of course eventually leading to Remy having a heated gamer moment and doing abusing Linguini’s trust which the story punishes him for. It’s not a simple right or wrong situation but more of a two wrongs don’t make a right type.

“Jerk of a creature” Newsflash! Not all protagonists are nice, even the ones that aren’t villain protagonists!

First point: Remy is a thief and a hypocrite. I’ll admit I was agreeing that Remy is a hypocrite until he gets to the point of Remy letting his family steal from the kitchen. 1.) This was when him and Linguini were starting to have a falling out, he was angry at him and starting letting that affect his judgement. Was this wrong of him? Yes and he regrets his actions. 2.) Remy cares for his family even if they don’t always get along and his anger at Linguini makes it easier for them to pressure him into letting them steal.

“Remy never learns his lesson” maybe not explicitly but he does face punishment throughout the story. Stealing the book and food from the old lady costs his family their home and gets him separated from them. Allowing his family to steal from the kitchen leads to Linguini calling off their partnership. I don’t remember him stealing again after that.

Also is he implying that Remy is bad for stealing the will that proves that Linguini is the rightful heir to the Gustaeu that Skinner was trying to hide so he could keep profiting off of a dead mans work?

Remy is aware that what he’s doing is wrong, we are shown this through the figment of Gustaeu which represents his conscience reprimanding it but Remy continues to justify himself until it’s too late. He is a flawed character.

“In a realistic context.” Good thing this is a Disney kids film

Fraud!? You’re gonna grill Remy for fraud when Skinner is the one intentionally keeping Linguini from learning about his birth right?!?!?

“Poor Linguini. The sap that Remy controls like a puppet.” here we go again with the manipulative wording hooray

I see where he’s going with this one and it’s really funny to me that’s interpreting Gustaeu’s “Anyone can cook” line the same way Ego does for most of the film. Ego takes the opposite stance MatPat does by mocking the line because to the critic not everyone has what it takes to be a great chef. It’s by the end of the film he changes his perspective on the line to the idea that a great cook can come from anywhere even in the most unexpected of forms like Remy.

Gotta love the clip he added of pre-character development Remy being a jerk to Linguini before to two even met. It really ads to the manipulative wording he uses to make Remy look underhanded and shifty.

Is he really gonna gloss over Remy attempting and failing to teach Linguini how to cook? Remy is a fucking rat who can’t talk directly to Linguini attempting so teaching him would be really damn hard. Not only that but they are on a time crunch and don’t have the time necessary to teach Linguini how to cook like Remy can.

Also whose to say that by watching what Remy is making him do Linguini hasn’t picked up any cooking techniques by the end of the film.

It’s not like Remy freaking forced Linguini into being his man-puppet. Remy is a small animal who can’t talk to people so honestly Linguini has most of the power in their dynamic. Linguini can call of their partnership anytime he wants and even does so after Remy is caught letting his family steal. 

“And whats it for? Just so Remy can cook! Just for his own benefit!” BRUH, DID HE NOT SEE THE PART WHERE SKINNER THREATENS LINGUINI’S JOB IF HE CAN’T RECREATE THE SOUP!??!? (Also skinner only wants to keep Linguini around if he can make money off of him )

God damn he really is taking advantage over the fact that most of his viewers either have never seen the film or only watched it when they were young to straight up ignore elements of the fucking plot lmao

“Who hasn’t forced un-consenting adults to kiss “ I can’t believe MatPat is trying to #cancel Remy for being #problematic, #remyisoverparty. The stretch is real my dudes.

LMAO HE LITERALLY MAKES A CANCELLE ON TWITTER JOKE BRUH FUCK OFF

Jesus I feel most of what I have to say will just be me restating what I already said. Ugh lemme just summarize it: Remy is a flawed and selfish rat who often prioritizes following his dreams over his responsibilities putting not just himself but his family at risk. But guess what? He faces consequences for that! His actions get him separated from his family and lost in a giant city, the only reason he doesn’t die is because he got lucky and found Linguini ( also because it’s a film and it ending at the start would be lame )

Also so is he arguing that Remy should just accept his lot in life and give up on his dreams because he can’t change the fact that he’s a rat ( which MatPat often reminds us by calling him unhygienic a lot so far ) as if that’s not the crux of his character dilemma.

I agree it’s wrong of him to put his family at risk but that only applies to the opening of the movie. How is he the only one in the wrong later in the film when both him and Linguini acknowledge to risk of their teamwork?

Here we go with the disease thing again. This is anti-rodent propaganda and I will not stand for it! >:(

Also bruh it’s a fucking kids movie.

??? how the fuck would Remy be aware of rats carrying diseases??? does he work for the fucking CDC????????

“Remy is bad because he kidnaps the pest inspector” Because it would get the restraunt shut down if word got out about the rats!!! And the only reason there are so many rats in the kitchen during this part is because the staff except for Colette all walked out!!!!!!!!! Which, guess what MatPat, wouldn’t just fuck over Remy but Linguini too!

“Oh sure they wash themselves but only after they walked into the kitchen!!!!” and I thought I was bad with nitpicking!

No need to bring up that The Jungle is a fictional story, nope! I guess it’s only fitting to use a fictional book as evidence for an argument covering the logistics of a fictional movie!!!!!!

Remy didn’t fucking “quit” his “job” as a rat poison sniffer, he still does it but he also cooks in secret. When he’s caught he’s separated from his colony ( which MatPat still hasn’t brought up ) so of fucking course he can’t keep sniffing for a clan when he is literally not there!!!!

Also if he’s talking about later in the film when Remy refuses to rejoin the colony when he reunites with Emile then we get the moral dilemma of Remy rejoining his family while fucking over Linguini who can’t cook because Remy is a small rodent and can’t adequately teach him do to a language barrier.

lmao this dramatic emotional music he’s playing bruh

He really is taking the kiss thing that seriously

“I’m not saying Remy shouldn’t follow his dreams” Thats literally what you are saying

“Chef Skinner does nothing wrong” Okay you law-loving bootlicker lol

I’m not ready for the second half of this so im gonna take a break and make a part 2 later

[anneapocalypse]

Matt Hullum made the announcement in a journal entry today that Rooster Teeth is laying off 13% of its staff.

Variety has an article up about the downsizing, mostly the same info that's in Matt's journal, with a few other facts—notably to me, a mention of the fact that WarnerMedia (RT's parent company, all under the AT&T umbrella) also swallowed up and effectively killed the Machinima brand. In fact, it turns out a few Machinima properties were shuffled under the Rooster Teeth umbrella when that happened.

I was unfamiliar with Machinima the YouTube Channel and Machinima.com (as opposed to machinima, the medium) until Quinton Reviews did a Fallen Titans episode on it recently, and I'll admit I was kind of hoping he'd have more to say about Red vs. Blue as it's... really the only machinima work I care about, but his video was mainly about the Machinima brand. Still, it is informative if you, like me, know nothing about Machinima!

Anyway, from the second Variety article above, there's also this:

Warner Bros. acquired full control of Machinima in November 2016, and put Machinima under its Warner Bros. Digital Networks group. AT&T closed its $85 billion deal for Time Warner in June 2018 and since then has consolidated or killed off several digital businesses. Under AT&T’s ownership, WarnerMedia shut down FilmStruck, from Turner and Warner Bros. Digital Networks, and WBDN’s DramaFever. In addition, Turner shuttered its Super Deluxe studio.

Mm....hm.

Yeah, so AT&T seems to have an unsurprising pattern of acquiring and quietly destroying small web-based companies, particular those centering around streaming content for a somewhat niche audience.

I don't want to be a doomsayer, and it's not like I think Rooster Teeth is going to be shut down tomorrow. I do feel like this doesn't exactly bode well for the AT&T conglomerate's investment in this relatively small studio.

There are certainly other factors to be considered. Only a couple months ago Matt was responding to criticisms of Rooster Teeth related to crunch and their animation pipeline, and announcing that Gray Haddock would be stepping down as head of animation. Of course, downsizing the studio by more than 10% seems... not a strong step toward reducing crunch, unless they're drastically reducing or delaying content in kind.

In terms of content itself... this is purely speculation, but I do have some concern that gen:LOCK was not the hot property Rooster Teeth hoped it would be. I like gen:LOCK. I like it a lot, and hope we see many more seasons. But I don't exactly think it's taken off as the kind of viral hit RWBY has been for the company. gen:LOCK is a subscribers-only show. If you don't have a FIRST membership, you can't watch past the first episode... and that just might not be enough to get people hooked enough to subscribe.

Going back a little further, one of my personal favorite RT shows is the live-action apocalyptic drama Day 5. It's got high production value and some really excellent acting talent, both from Rooster Teeth regulars and outside names. It has a compelling story and great characters. And it barely has a fandom. The last post on /r/dayfive is two years old. The tumblr tags are barren. And good luck even finding a twitter hashtag. Day 5 has seven works on AO3. The show debuted three years ago.

Production was put on hold after season 2, while the show was syndicated on the El Rey network, and the episodes were temporarily removed from the Rooster Teeth site while it aired on El Rey (they're back now). But even while the show was airing, as a fan I found it was tough to find other people actively watching the show and talking about it, even among fellow Rooster Teeth fans. I didn't see gifsets pouring down my tumblr dash; I didn't see meta, or episode reaction posts.

I suppose I should've seen the writing on the wall, even then. Day 5 has not been cancelled as of now and I really hope we get a season 3, because I love the show. But I'll admit I am nervous for its future.

I bring up these examples because I think the subscribers-only content model is demonstrably not working for Rooster Teeth. And to be clear, this is not me saying that people shouldn't have to pay for things. I've had a Rooster Teeth subscription since it was called a "sponsorship" and being a sponsor meant getting episodes of Red vs. Blue a thrilling two hours ahead of the general public! And I've been lucky, because for all these years Rooster Teeth has had a policy of letting longtime subscribers be grandfathered in at their original price, which means I've been paying about a third of what an annual subscription now costs. Recently it was also announced that the grandfather policy would be coming to an end. I'm in no way surprised or angry; I figured this would happen eventually, and I sure enjoyed this gravy train while it lasted! What I will probably do, once my current pay period runs out, is subscribe month-to-month only when there's something airing that I really care about. I'm not even sure if that's going to be RvB when season 18 rolls around. (But if they announce season 3 of Day 5 I will be there with bells on.)

Anyway the upshot of all of this is:

A Rooster Teeth FIRST membership ain't as cheap as it once was.

One free episode tends not to be enough to get people hooked on a new property unless it's kickflip bananas amazing.

With fewer people watching a new property as it airs, and short seasonal runs (Day 5 had six episodes per season; gen:LOCK premiered with eight), there just isn't enough buzz to create a hit on the level of RWBY.

Without that buzz, you don't get the kind of FOMO atmosphere that the FIRST delay creates. When RT first went to the one week gap between subscribers and the public, fans were largely upset, on the grounds that this would divide the fandom and make it difficult for non-subscribers to interact with the fandom on the same level, cutting them off from discussions and general hype around each new episode. And they were right—that was the point. That's why it worked.

Day 5 and gen:LOCK are good shows. There are valid criticisms of both, of course, and both are niche genres that won't be for everyone, but they're by no means bad products. RWBY's first volume, by contrast, was messy, poorly-paced, and looked unfinished. It had charm, absolutely, but it was objectively a bad product and the show still managed to draw a huge audience in its first three volumes—because anyone could watch it. But if you subscribed, you could watch it first, and you could be one of the first to comment on it, make gifsets, theorize and speculate. You wouldn't miss out.

I mean I fully understand why Rooster Teeth didn't want to make an expensive live-action show and give it away for free. I do get that. Same with an expensive polished animated series featuring big-name voice actors. And I'm as sad as anyone to see that those shows haven't grabbed the kind of audience RWBY has.

But something's not working here, and I think the modest reception of their two most-hyped subscribers-only shows plus this layoff makes that clear. I don't know what the answer is. I wish there were an easy answer. There probably isn't.

I really do hope Rooster Teeth survives as a studio and is able to keep making cool, creative stuff. I've had plenty of criticisms of RT and their properties over the years, but at the end of the day I'm still a fan who's pulling for them. The pattern of global media conglomerates swallowing up and disappearing small, independent, web-based content makers doesn't exactly bode well, and that's... well, that's late capitalism for you. Still, I do hope they hold out for a while.

At least long enough to get us a third season of Day 5.

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

‘Angor Reborn’ synopsis and reactions

I’m glad I managed to get this before 3Below premiered. I mean, I’ve said before how I don’t think the novels mesh well with the show canon, but I still like knowing what’s been written. 

Long post, lots of spoilers, so I’m putting in a ‘Read More’. I’ve bolded some useful world-building stuff.

Prologue: 

As a previous post attests, I am upset that the writer decided to have Angor’s deal with Morgana take place post-Killahead. Sure, Morgana’s definitely already against Merlin by then, and sure, it means we get some Trollhunters between Deya and Kanjigar, but it throws off a bunch of other concepts I had regarding the show’s timeline. 

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I mean, this is the same author who has Bular aged at over 5200 years old. 

I do like the thing about Angor having a menagerie of animals, which he loved, and having to trade away his animals and pieces of his boat - reduced to a raft by the time we see it - for supplies and information to track Morgana down. The dove he sacrificed to summon her was his last animal, and particularly dear to him, which was why he still had the bird in the first place. I also liked the bit about Angor being “legendary among his tribe for his calm, even temper.” Once he becomes an assassin, he looks back and describes his past self as “a humble gamekeeper”. It’s wild contrast to the troll we see in the show, showing how scarred he is internally.

Angor thought sacrificing his pet dove should have been enough for Morgana, since he had literally nothing else to offer ... except his stone flesh, which was not (as implied with the show) a premeditated decision.

We don’t actually see any of Angor’s fights with Trollhunters, just a summary that he traveled the globe, doing Morgana’s bidding, and the only times he didn’t hear her voice in the back of his mind was while portalling through the Shadow Realm.

The temple in India where Angor was imprisoned was named “the Temple of the Pale One” by the locals in reference to Merlin living there. He’s the one who chained Angor up and trapped him under rubble when Angor tried to trap Merlin in the Shadow Realm in hopes that would get Morgana to end his curse. (Merlin can sense Angor is cursed but doesn’t seem to care.) 

This obviously means Merlin had to have lied about going to sleep right after trapping Morgana in the Heartstone, but I’m not going to call that a plot hole because I can believe Merlin would lie about that.

Chapter 1:

Jim has a nightmare about an old man trapping him in a glass bottle and then dumping him into a giant blender. Then he wakes up underwater.

He’s not in the potion, he’s at the bottom of Lake Arcadia Oaks, which he recognizes once he’s on the surface because he and Toby used to go camping there. 

Jim takes off his armour to swim for the surface - which is nice, implying the armour being stuck in the show really was because he was panicking and not because it can’t come off. After he drops the amulet, it flies out of the lake and into the air, and he grabs it as it passes him; it drops him in shallower water.

It is established the Trollhunter team knows the Eternal Night is going to be a perpetual eclipse rather than some kind of damage to the sun itself or an adjustment of Earth’s rotation to have perma-night on one side and perma-day on the other.

Jim’s memory is messed up and he can’t remember that his mom isn’t missing anymore or what Merlin’s declaration that the potion will make Jim “both Troll and Hunter” means.

Jim finds and saves a wolf pup that had its legs tangled in some old fishing line. Its reaction to a human is more like I would expect of a dog than a wild wolf, but okay. Jim decides to name it Sir Barks-a-Lot.

The clouds part and the full moon is exposed. Jim doubles over in pain. He sees someone, or possibly two someones, approaching.

Chapter 2: 

Everyone but Merlin is freaking out over Jim being gone. Barbara threatens the wizard. Strickler, consulting the Book of Ga-huel, agrees that Barbara does indeed have the knowledge and skill to break bones. 

Claire tries to use the Shadow Staff to find Jim. It fails. (Then one would think it wouldn’t come as a surprise to her in the show when it fails again.)

“But how could you be so reckless?” Strickler asked. “How could you expose him to something this unpredictable?”

“That’s a bit like the cauldron calling the kettle black, isn’t it, Changeling?” Merlin said.

... Dude. If you are literally comparing something you did to something that someone you openly scorn has done, this does not make you look good.

Barbara drags Merlin out of the bathroom by his beard, insisting he do something to help them find Jim. 

Strickler starts trying to contact Nomura, Claire goes into the Shadow Realm to see if cutting off outside input will help her lock onto Jim’s signal, and Toby jumps out the bathroom window and uses his Warhammer to fly for “aerial surveillance”, wishing Blinky and AAARRRGGHH were there. 

Blinky and AAARRRGGHH are fleeing Usurna’s forces. AAARRRGGHH catches a spear that was about to hit Blinky and throws it back at the troll who threw it. They escape, temporarily, by jumping over a ‘fire bog’ ... Do I spy a Princess Bride reference? They take shelter in a cave and find some possibly-enchanted pools of water. Blinky describes himself as “royally cheesed off” at the events of the past week.

Chapter 3:

Jim awakes to a bonfire. He has been found by a River Troll and a Garden Troll, who recognize him as a human. The Garden Troll wants to keep Jim as a pet. Jim interrupts what he thinks is a fight between the two and is told that they are, in fact, in love, and “it’s our courtship dance!” 

Jim goes off on a mental tangent about how pretty and wonderful Claire is. He wishes he could be holding her hand, and notices that his hand is surprisingly hairy. (This is probably the hand that got covered by the gauntlet, since the hand that lost a finger didn’t seem to have hair on it at all, or his transformation isn’t over yet.)

The troll couples’ parents show up and try to forcibly separate them. When it becomes a fight, Jim summons the armour of Daylight. He collapses in pain. The wolf is whining and barking. Some of the River and Garden Trolls start attacking Jim as well. Jim roars at them.

Chapter 4:

Angor is awed and discomforted to be physically in Morgana’s presence for the first time. Morgana and Gunmar have a subtle power struggle. 

Gunmar possesses three Stalklings with the Decimaar Blade, to track down and kill Jim and his allies. Gunmar sends Angor to let the Stalklings out on the surface, taunting him about how Angor used to keep animals. 

Angor wonders if Morgana might reward him if he were to kill Gunmar. 

At the entrance to Trollmarket (implied to be the one in the canals), once he’s let the Stalklings out, Angor thinks he catches the Trollhunter’s scent, and leaves with the intent to track and kill him.

Chapter 5: 

Jim tries to talk down the Garden and River Trolls, but his words are garbled because his teeth have changed. They get over their surprise and attack him again. Jim wins the fight and demands the star-crossed lovers be released. 

Ronagog and Junipra, the Romeo-and-Juliet references, are allowed by their families to be together, but at the cost of each being banished from their tribe.

Jim gets a look at his reflection in the water. He’s got tusks, though he calls them fangs, and shaggier hair. His skin isn’t totally blue yet, but it’s bluish in a way he isn’t quite sure is a trick of the light. No mention of horns, so he probably hasn’t grown them yet. His armour feels too tight, and resizes for his new height and bulk.

Jim has an existential crisis about what his transformation will mean for his relationships with his mom, his friends, and his girlfriend. His angsty rambling about making decisions before thinking them through, and not knowing where you belong anymore, and how maybe sometimes it’s better to separate from someone before you hurt them, convinces the troll couple to break up. Jim is left alone with the wolf cub.

A thunderstorm is rolling in. There is a flash of lightning and Angor Rot appears.

Chapter 6: 

Gnome Chompsky and Not Enrique question Fragwa about the missing Trollhunter. Chompsky is the ‘bad cop’. 

Fragwa is about to tell them something when the Creepslayerz show up and throw a dwärkstone into the goblin’s mouth. Claire, Toby, and Strickler show up, Claire and Toby in armour, to confirm Eli and Steve were indeed asked to help instead of stumbling onto the scene by accident. 

Stalklings attack and grab Claire and Toby. Strickler transforms and flies after them.

Chapter 7: 

Angor taunts Jim about Draal. 

Angor compares what Merlin did to Jim with what Morgana did to Angor. Jim does not have a good counter-argument to the parallels, although he does deny them. During the fight, Jim’s horns begin to grow out. His hearing, sense of smell, and sight are all enhanced, as are his reflexes. 

Jim taunts Angor about the assassin being defeated by Merlin, despite no hint in the show or previous novels or earlier chapters that Jim would know about that.

Angor says once he kills Jim, he’ll move on to Jim’s loved ones, specifically threatening Barbara. Jim responds with primal rage. In the subsequent attack, the pixie cage and a container of Grave Sand that Angor was carrying are shattered. The pixies can’t get through Jim’s helmet, and he covers Sir Barks' nose, mouth and ears. Apparently the wolf cub does not bite him for this. 

The pixies leave, carrying off the Grave Sand. Angor also disappears. Jim chases Angor. 

Chaper 8:

Detective Scott’s first name is Louis.

A man in the police station is ranting about seeing creatures/people with lots of arms and glowing skin who fell from the sky but could now be disguised as humans.

Barbara is filing a missing person report on Jim. Merlin is with her, wearing an old band T-shirt (Papa Skull Live In Concert ‘92), parachute pants, high top sneakers, a porkpie hat, and sunglasses; some of James Senior’s old clothes, rather than his armour. Detective Scott points out that, statistically, most kidnappees are abducted by someone they knew. Barbara denies that it could’ve been James Senior, since he never even came back to get his stuff after walking out.

Nomura is outside the police station, watching in amusement as Barbara drags Merlin around. Nomura is upset about being attacked on her first day back at her human ‘day job’ - she likes working at the museum - and is mourning for Draal. She’s keeping her distance from the Trollhunter team for now, despite getting Strickler’s texts that Jim is missing, because Nomura is bad at sharing feelings.

Strickler stabs the Stalkling not carrying a human. His knife, which looks more like stone than metal to me, acts as a lightning rod and the Stalkling is zapped and disintegrated, even though the two Stalklings carrying humans in metal armour have not been zapped and the Stalkling Jim killed with a lightning strike only turned to stone, not dust. The shockwave knocks Strickler back. The other two Stalklings are startled into dropping Claire and Toby.

Chapter 9:

Jim chases Angor to Arcadia Oaks Dam. He switches to the Eclipse Armour for better stealth. He is relieved to have a fight to focus on, rather than dwelling on how his loved ones will react to his transformation.

Jim sees a hunched figure through the fog, identifies it as Angor Rot, cannot identify if Angor is alive or dead, and throws his sword at the figure, which shatters on impact. Jim literally does a happy dance. It was a trap. Jim is grabbed by a golem.

The golem is made of wood. The wolf cub bites it, which buys Jim time to summon his glaives. After they beat the golem and destroy the totem (called a fetish, referring to the archaic definition ‘a charm imbued with magical powers’), Sir Barks pees on the pile of sticks.

Angor nearly drowns Jim inside a Water Golem. Sir Barks nearly gets hit by a thrown knife and runs away. 

The Eclipse Armour fades out. Angor takes the amulet. Jim snaps the totem animating the golem with his bare hands. Angor steals the Triumbric Stones, and presumably his eye but that isn’t mentioned in the narrative, and tosses the amulet over the waterfall. Angor knees Jim in the crotch and is about to stab him when Jim throws himself over the waterfall instead.

Chapter 10:

Claire summons her Shadow Staff, which flies to them and carries Toby’s Warhammer as well, saving them both from falling to their deaths. Toby chooses to fly back while Claire portals to the alley they were snatched out of. 

Steve and Eli are hiding in the dumpster, which Steve excuses by claiming they were searching for Jim in there. Strickler and Toby show up. Strickler warns that Gunmar may have been watching through the Stalklings’ eyes.

Barbara and Merlin show up because Toby texted Barbara where they were. Merlin calls Eli “the inadequate one” even as he agrees with something Eli said. They agree they should take a break and eat.

The pixies show up. Eli recognizes them from the time Angor Rot set them loose on the school. Everyone blocks their ears and noses with packing peanuts from a box by the dumpster. The pixies begin huffing Grave Sand. Literally. “Huffing” is the word the book uses to describe it. 

The Grave Sand appears to be inducing a Zen state in the pixies. 

“Sounds like the medication they give hyperactive kids,” added Steve. “Lotsa people think it calms ‘em down, but it’s actually a stimulant to improve concentration. Uh, I mean, so I’ve heard other people who are not me say ...”

Unfortunately the Grave Sand also amplifies the pixies’ abilities so they can show people their fears without literally getting into their heads. 

Chapter 11:

Jim has been washed downriver to the Arcadia canal system. Sir Barks-a-Lot has followed him, tracking his scent. The wolf cub pulls him out of the water. Jim is unconscious. His skin is bluer than before. 

Sir Barks-a-Lot sees the amulet in the water nearby and brings it to Jim, dropping it on his chest and howling. The amulet zaps Jim. Jim wakes up. It is implied he was dead - “The Trollhunter gasped alive, his eyes wide with amazement, his blood pumping again” - but that could just be exaggeration of how people seem to come to life when regaining consciousness.

Jim, carrying the wolf cub, climbs out of the canal. He dislikes the sound of traffic and wonders if he belongs “in the wild with other animals” now. 

Jim looks into the water and imagines seeing the faces of the people he’d be leaving behind if he abandoned civilization - wow, you can tell this kid is sixteen, he seriously thinks this is a feasible thing to do on impulse - until Blinky and AAARRRGGHH’s reflections appear, and do not fade, and start talking to him. 

The cave they are hiding in holds ‘the Plunder Pools’. Over generations, various trolls hid treasures in the deep wells to keep anyone from stealing them, and the buildup of magical artifacts in particular has imbued the water with magical properties. Blinky and AAARRRGGHH can see Jim, but the image is very blurry, explaining why they don’t know he’s a troll when they return. 

Jim does not bring up his transformation, but their conversation gives Jim new resolve to go back and protect his friends - especially when the talk ends abruptly, with Blinky and AAARRRGGHH discovered and captured. But first Jim has to get the Triumbric Stones back from Angor. 

He spots a brochure for the museum in the various debris in the canal and gets an idea, or possibly is reminded of his past success in the Second Battle of Killahead even if that was ultimately a temporary victory.

Chapter 12:

The pixies’ fear inducing power affects everyone present.

Claire is in the Shadow Realm, calling out for Jim. Her staff can’t open a portal. She’s stuck there forever.

Toby remembers visiting his parents graves with Nana and Jim when he was six, which then time-cuts to the present except Nana and Jim are both gone. He backs into Jim’s tombstone.

Strickler proposes to Barbara, who reveals she is a Changeling too and she was also lying about having feelings for him, except in her case it never stopped being a lie.

Not Enrique is stuck in a pet carrier. Original Enrique blows a raspberry at him. The Nuñez family is leaving Not Enrique at an orphanage. He begs them for a second chance, to prove he can be good and deserve their love. None of them speak to him. Javier wonders if ‘returning’ him to the orphanage is alright; Ophelia dismissively says she can rewrite the law, and anyway, who would ever adopt him? Claire says nothing. (This one kind of cheeses me off because I had a plan involving Not Enrique and a cat carrier for Becoming The Mask and now that scene is going to look like a book reference even though it wasn’t meant to be one.)

Gnome Chompsky is cradling Sally-Go-Back, the doll irreparably damaged, in the ruins of the smashed dollhouse.

Eli’s mother informs him there was a news report, saying all the paranormal things he’s been investigating were a hoax. Mrs Pepperjack says Eli was the only one to ever fall for it, but now that it’s over he can stop pretending to be important and go back to being a perpetual understudy in the drama club. Eli screams. 

Steve is in Arcadia Oaks High School. He thinks he hears Eli scream from inside a locker but doesn’t investigate - he’s chasing after his father. Steve finally collapses in exhaustion, begging his father to come back, promising to score more points in the next game and make him proud.

Barbara seems to be unaffected by the pixies - I guess maybe her worst fear is Jim being missing, which is already true? We don’t see Merlin’s fear but he tells Barbara that dolls have haunted his nightmares for centuries.

“Not just any dolls!” Merlin exclaimed hoarsely. “Little porcelain girl dolls, with their chipped faces, strange eyes, and horrible little voices that repeat the word ‘papa’ -”

“PAPA!” Steve shrieked randomly behind Barbara.

“Always ‘papa’ ... until the end of time!” Merlin finished.

“This ... explains a lot,” Barbara said as she released the wizard and watched him collapse on the alley floor.

Chapter 13:

Jim climbs onto the museum. Narration comments that the alley where everyone but Barbara is suffering pixie-power is only a block away. Jim jokes that he needs to stop breaking into the museum. College AU writers, make a note: There is, apparently, an ‘Arcadia U’ - probably a community college but maybe a university like the name implies? Seriously, what size is this town?

Jim carefully extracts a bunch of mineral samples from their cases without setting off the alarms, and starts cleaving them with his talons. The minerals in question are vivianite, amethyst, fire opal, wulfenite, peacock coal, and obsidian. I don’t offhand know any trivia about these beyond obsidian being volcanic glass historically used for knives because it has such a sharp edge, and amethyst being the birthstone for February. 

Jim asks Vendel’s spirit to guide his hand in the stone cleaving. He remembers what Vendel said about cleaving stones to unlock their powers and wonders if cutting away ties to the human world with unlock new powers in Jim.

There are six slots in the back of the amulet, so Jim fills them all here. The amulet’s incantation changes to, “For the pursuit of Angor, Moonlight is mine to command”. The lights out of the amulet are black and white and the armour is two-tone grey. 

Jim and Sir Barks are nearly caught by museum security, but the Moonlight Armour adjusts Jim’s boots to have something like jogging stilts, which, combined with his new troll strength, allow him to jump out of the skylight they came in through while carrying the wolf.

Chapter 14:

Barbara reminds herself she knows how to treat fever dreams, telling herself to forget the supernatural element and just deal with the pixie hallucinations like she would that. They also remind her of virtual reality - apparently the hospital where she works uses VR to help anxiety patients? The more worldbuilding is done, the more Arcadia sounds like a big city rather than a small town.

Barbara took a college semester abroad and studied painting in Rome.

Barbara traps one of the pixies in the Grave Sand container until it eats all the Grave Sand, then moves it to the densest part of the pixie swarm. When it explodes, it sets off a chain reaction and kills off all the other pixies. She likens this to an antivirus. 

Merlin expresses amazement that a “mere mortal woman”, his exact words, could defeat the pixies when he, “the world’s mightiest wizard”, again his exact words, couldn’t. Claire, Toby, Not Enrique, and Chompsky immediately call him out on talking down to her.

Dialogue between Barbara and Strickler confirms my theory that Barbara’s already dealing with her worst fear and that’s why the pixies didn’t affect her. (Although, really, they could’ve just shown her Jim’s dead body or something - I guess if you get cerebral about it, ‘not knowing’ is scarier than having closure?)

More Stalklings show up.

Chapter 15: 

Angor paints his face with mud. “This was tradition. This was ritual. This was what hunters of old did before they claimed their final kill”. It is implied he does not expect to survive fighting Jim but could be interpreted to mean he intends to ‘retire’ after winning.

Jim uses Sir Barks for misdirection and successfully gets the jump on Angor.

In addition to ‘spring stilts’, Jim can summon a longbow and arrows, his shield can adapt to armour a companion (in this case, Sir Barks-a-Lot), and swap out the stilts for cleats which let him grip any terrain, even letting him climb a tree at a run. 

Angor, outnumbered once his golems are destroyed, retreats. Jim and Sir Barks-a-Lot give chase.

Angor has captured Ronagog and Junipra (the Romeo and Juliet parallels from earlier) in a stasis trap. He sets himself up so that if Jim shoots him down with a bow and arrow, the shot will also go through the two harmless, helpless trolls.

Chapter 16: 

Gunmar speaks through the Stalklings. Toby calls Claire ‘Claire-bear’ while suggesting she make a portal for them to escape through. She can’t - she’s emotionally exhausted after pixie exposure. Gunmar laughs. 

Barbara tells Gunmar to “put a cork in it!” and throws a trash can lid at one of the Stalklings, making it choke and giving the humans, Changelings, and gnome an opening to run.

Merlin calls Eli “the bespectacled, socially-awkward one”. Steve calls Merlin “fuzz face” and tells him to lay off Eli.

Claire, Toby and Chompsky temporarily pin one of the Stalklings. Barbara offers praise and encouragement.

Strickler, Merlin, and Not Enrique fight the other Stalkling. Strickler offers Merlin the chance to deliver the killing blow. Merlin explodes the Stalkling, not caring that Not Enrique was in the line of fire and barely dodged. 

The pinned Stalkling gets loose and attacks Steve and Eli. Barbara shields them. The Stalkling falls ... zapped by Detective Scott’s Taser.

Claire wishes they could take the fight to Gunmar. Eli reveals he captured some of the surviving pixies and was planning to keep them as evidence of Arcadia’s supernatural activity, but he’ll sacrifice them for the good of the world. 

Merlin actually offers praise ... right before erasing Eli’s, Steve’s and Detective Scott’s memories of that evening’s events. Like the terrible, terrible, arrogant, selfish, terrible person he is. But at least it didn’t leave open the plothole of Detective Scott knowing about trolls in the books but not the show, so it’s only rage-inducing for the character’s actions, not for the writer’s slip-ups.

Chapter 17: 

Angor wants Jim to kill the innocents in order to kill Angor so that Jim will (metaphorically) sacrifice his soul and Angor won’t be the only one. Jim, instead, breaks the stasis trap. 

The subsequent “What kind of troll are you?!” “I’m not a troll. Or at least, not one like you.” exchange reminds me of the Disney confrontation between Tarzan and Clayton where Clayton tries to goad Tarzan into shooting him. (”Go ahead, shoot me. Be a man.” “Not a man like you!”) I’m also a sucker for the “I didn’t miss” trope.

Jim gives Angor this weird speech about almost feeling sorry for him and how Angor tried and failed to take Jim’s humanity away - no, kiddo, that was Merlin that did that - and how he thinks Angor always regretted giving up his soul. Okay, that part’s true, but there’s still no explanation for how Jim knew that. Everything the characters know about Angor in the show suggests Angor and Morgana are the only ones who know Angor didn’t give up his soul on purpose. 

Now freed of the stasis trap, the two trolls group-hug Jim and Sir Barks, and renew their relationship.

Angor’s dialogue when trying to stab Jim - “Now there’s enough troll in you for me to turn to stone!” - implies Creeper’s Sun is a troll-only toxin, even though it’s also seen turning trees and a metal shackle to stone in the show.

Jim claims that, although bad things do happen that no one asks for or expects, everything bad that’s happened to Angor since trading his soul away was a direct result of Angor’s own actions. He pins Angor to a tree with an arrow through the wrist and refuses to kill him. Somehow this wins him Angor’s respect. 

Angor acknowledges Jim as the better troll and hunter, and then escapes using a smoke bomb, but leaves behind the Triumbric Stones. (And possibly his eye? That never gets mentioned at all in this novel.)

Epilogue:

Draal and Kanigar watch Junipra and Ronagog’s wedding from the Void. The couple exchange nose rings, which were fashioned out of Moonlight’s arrows, implying an expectation that these won’t just vanish when Jim dispels the armour. 

Draal asks about his parents’ wedding. Kanjigar says he and Draal’s mother, Ballustra, had a more traditional wedding: a trial-by-combat cage match followed by reciting their vows. He then goes on to reminisce about Draal’s infancy, embarrassing his son.

Claire portals the last Stalkling, blindfolded, into Trollmarket. It knocks over a bunch of Gumm-Gumms and coughs up the pixies. 

A pixie goes in through Gunmar’s gouged-out eye socket. He sees Bular, as reanimated-but-still-crumbling stone, blaming Gunmar for Bular’s death and saying that if Bular, a warrior in his prime, could be beaten by a human Trollhunter, what chance does old half-blind Gunmar have against a whole Trollhunter team?

In the swamp, Usurna reveals she plans to take over herself eventually, and is only biding her time allying with Gunmar. AAARRRGGHH notes she treats trolls like pawns and she agrees. In the Void, Kanjigar notes that the other Krubera are starting to turn against her, and if Blinky and AAARRRGGHH can keep her talking, Usurna will be taken care of soon enough. 

The Void’s viewing window shifts focus to the Arcadia canals. Nomura is confronting Angor Rot over killing Draal. She wonders, rhetorically, how many of those he’s killed he actually remembers, and which of the deaths he’s caused haunt him most. Coincidentally, a dove coos just after she says this, which freaks Angor out. Seeing his panic, Nomura decides to walk away and let him suffer rather than killing him. She presumably meets and fights some Gumm-Gumms between then and when she shows up at Jim’s house, because there is no mention of her shoulder being dislocated.

Draal is extremely touched Nomura wanted to avenge him. It is Kanjigar’s turn to feel embarrassed and flustered when Draal caresses the ‘window’ between the Void and the living world and tells Nomura, “Never change, my Changeling.”

Jim is back by the lake. It’s sunrise; it would seem he spends the day walking, under the cover of the trees, and gets home after dark the next night, somehow without ever getting any sunlight exposure? He takes off the Moonlight armour, which also dissipates Sir Barks-a-Lot’s armour (and maybe Ronagog’s and Junipra’s wedding rings but they aren’t in the scene so we don’t know). 

Jim swaps out the ‘on loan’ museum crystals for “the gems from Angor Rot’s pouch, including the Triumbric Stones”, which implies he does have Angor’s eye again but that’s left unclear, and opening the possibility there’s one or two other stones in the pouch that might come into play in a later novel. 

A mother wolf and three more cubs are nearby. Jim sends Sir Barks-a-Lot back to his family. I expect they will “see each other again someday”, because that animal acted way more like a well-trained dog than a young and wild wolf, but on the other hand that’s animals in fiction for you.

Jim plans to stick to the safety of the shadows while walking back to town, presumably to avoid being seen since he isn’t supposed to know he’s vulnerable to sunlight yet.

Kanjigar expresses confidence Jim will be able to save the world.

In Conclusion: 

Angor Reborn still jars against animated canon in several places but is not as much of a mess as some of the other novels. There are a number of bits and pieces worth keeping.

[curestardust]

if you want: (copy-pasting from my previous review cause it didn’t change) well, it’s BNHA lmao / amazing animation / amazing music / shounen / superpowers and heroes / to have a good fucking time

BNHA S01 review: (x)

DAMMNNN

For the techinical aspects, feel free to read my previous review. The music, the voice-acting. everything brings the same quality as S01, most notable of which is the animation. I was sorta worried that the longer run time will lead to more sloppy shots and such but I really shouldn’t have, it’s just as amazing as it was in the beginning.

Season 2 has 3 arcs. The sports festival, the internships and the final exam. As someone who grew up on Yuu Yuu Hakusho, I was obviously excited for the sports festival arc as it brought us something that every good shounen has: a tournament. The internships bring our attention back to Midoriya while the final exam serves as a nice wrap-up to the season. 

Being such a franchise, as interesting Midoriya’s journey is, it needs some great side-characters which we get plenty of. The characters set-up as more important in season 1 get some really great character building moments, solidifying their personalities and goals. We also have a few more who get thrust into the highlight, namely Todoroki, who serves as a great middle-ground between Midoriya’s sweet and Bakugo’s intense personality.

The rest of the class also get some time to shine, bringing us closer to them and making it feel like we’re truly watching a whole class’s journey instead of just a select few. Alas, they didn’t have as much relevance as in the USJ attack in S01 but still were enjoyable to watch.

All in all, I’m truly amazed. There was some filler and some slower points in the anime where my attention wavered for a second but BNHA always managed to bring me back, making me exhilarated throughout the whole thing.

I can’t wait to dive into S03 and see where these characters’ roads lead to and how the story progresses. (9/10) (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want: tragic gays / gritty, dark and depressing story / 80′s USA with a focus on the mafia and a bit on gangs

WARNING: Banana Fish contains a lot of possibly triggering content. Please be careful if you’re sensitive to: Pedophilia, Rape (the act is never shown just the aftermath) (both are brought up, talked about and happen multiple times)

Banana Fish, or as it’s affectionately called, “Banana Gay”, was my last anime left over from the Summer season.

BF is...horrible. But in a good way. But also in a bad way...what I’m trying to say is that if you become attached to the characters’ in the beginning, you won’t be able to take a single breath throughout the whole runtime of this anime. Literally every episode has some sort of twist or event that made me wanna scream “NOOOO” and it just doesn’t let up! There are very, very few slower parts where you can finally relax for a second but then you blink and the craziness starts all over again. It’s like a really exhausting roller coaster ride.

So what is it about anyway? BF is based on a manga by the same name that was written in the 80′s. It takes place in the USA and we follow a boy named Ash. He is basically the powerful pet of the mafia boss and the leader of the gangs in the downtown area. We start out with Ash rebelling against the mafia. The rest of the anime is just a combination of gang wars, manipulation, shootings, murder and all kinds of disgusting shit that’s typical for most fictional stories taking place in the USA in this time period.

And while the premise and the execution is alright, it’s not interesting enough to draw such a fanbase as it did. And this is where the “Gay” part comes in, as Banana Fish is basically just a tragic love story. And yes, love story, without quotation marks cause if any of these 2 were a woman, people would 100% call it that so no one can say anything, period. Anyway, in the beginning we are also introduced to a young Japanese guy called Eiji, who comes with his friend, a photographer, as his assistant. Ash and Eiji’s very first meeting sets them up as a peculiar pair. Eiji comes off as very naive, sweet and innocent and yet he isn’t scared of Ash despite knowing that he is a gang leader. This fascinates Ash and we go from there, basically. Their personalities are like ice and fire. Ash becomes incredibly attached to Eiji and wants to protect him at all cost (even with his life if necessary). Eiji returns the sentiment, although in a much more subtle matter. Their relationship is what kept me personally completely invested but it was fucking painful cause nothing seems to go right for these two, sigh.

From a technical standpoint, Banana Fish has as many flaws as positives. As I said, if you get attached to the characters, these flaws will be easier to ignore but they are still there and due to this being a 2-cour series, some of the annoying stuff is there long enough to actually become annoying. 

The story itself is going in a 100 different directions with many players on opposing sides. There was a huge problem which only became prevalent near the last third of the anime. That is, there was seemingly a limit as to how high the stakes could be. We start from more minor stuff but with time the threats become bigger and the stumbles become deadlier and deadlier. However, at one point it starts to seem like we’re going in circles. The situation literally can NOT become any more deadlier and thus sometimes it feels like we’re reliving the same plot points over and over again, just in different settings. This isn’t helped by the fact that some characters are hellbent on their decisions and no matter what happens they will not consider anything else.

The animation and the music are both really good but some cracks show through. With the music, it uses multiple genres: melancholic classical instruments and pulsing synth heavy electronic tracks for example. All of the tracks are really pleasant to listen to however they were not used in the best way. Some scenes were missing some background music to elevate our emotions. The art style and animation are a bit unique but you can get used to it in a few minutes. Choppy linework and muted colours create a nice aesthetic with fluid animation especially during combat. Unfortunately, it does have some wonky shots but that wasn’t what annoyed me most but the inconsistent shots. From one angle a character is looking at the wall then when the camera switches to another angle they’re looking at the speaker. From one angle they have their arms crossed, from the next their arms are at their sides. It’s kind of minor but I still couldn’t help but notice and get taken out of the story for a few seconds.

To wrap up...I don’t like the ending. Don’t worry, I won’t be spoiling anything however I got accidentally spoiled on it and I’m honestly glad cause I’m pretty sure I would’ve started screaming like a lunatic if I didn’t. The ending feels a bit rushed. Banana Fish tries to quickly wrap up most plot points but we don’t particularly see their outcome. It was...uhm. Well, let me just say, I wasn’t satisfied and will now on just ignore the canon. mkay. 

I really wanted to downgrade this to a 7 because of the ending but it was a pretty wild and entertaining ride so I don’t think that’d be deserved. Banana Fish is definitely not for everyone but if you are interested in stories set in these settings you might give this a go (and now goodbye, time to read the manga) (8/10) (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

[douchebagbrainwaves]

A WAY TO BE SILICON VALLEY

But boy did things seem different. Empirically it seems to be that the most important quality would be intelligence. It was supposed to be what Google turned out to be important, because a startup will put your friendship through a stress test. You'd understand your users well if you were using the software for them.1 Startup founders tend to be better at running their companies than investors. I was very excited at first.2 So it took me quite a while to realize I just wasn't like the people there. They never explain what the deal is with money. Maybe the increasing cheapness of startups will mean they'll be able to modify your dreams on the fly. Palo Alto in the evening, you see nothing but the blue glow of TVs. Overlooked problems are by definition problems that most people think don't matter. We're so different from VCs that we're really a different kind of animal that has moved into it.

Who knows how many bullets were in the gun they were playing Russian roulette with? Of course, you don't have a house or much stuff, but also because you're less likely to have serious relationships. You also lose less control. So I'm telling you in advance: raising money is so painful, why do we tell people not to?3 And that doesn't seem a wise move. If you're not a genius, just start a startup with someone you like, because a startup will put your friendship through a stress test.4 That makes judging startups harder than most other things one judges. If by the next time you need to fix. Joel Spolsky recently spoke at Y Combinator is as different from what happens in a series A round if you do, and since most founders are under 30, their living expenses are low. To survive it you need a set of techniques mostly orthogonal to the ones used in convincing investors, just as volume and surface area do. Raising $20,000 from a first-time angel investor can be as much work as raising $2 million from a VC fund.5 It's too early to say yet whether Y Combinator will turn out like Viaweb, but judging from the number of startups founded by people who know the subject from experience, but for doing things other people want.

A round you have to assume there was someone born in Milan with as much natural ability as Leonardo couldn't beat the force of environment, do you suppose you can? Sam Altman has it. No; all great cities inspire some sort of job, because everyone asks what you're going to start with what goes wrong and try to trace it back to the root causes. But I tried living in Florence when I was in college. In addition to the programming you do for your classes, why not undergrads? And the cost of dealing with them, but because progress in technology has made it much easier to start a startup just one year later, after I went to work at Yahoo. It's an exciting place. Now I see there's more to it than that. I'm not sure even Larry and Sergey, you can choose your pain: either the short, sharp pain of raising money—that they'll cruise through all the initial steps, but when investors in an angel round first.6 Even now I'm suspicious when startups choose SF over the Valley.7

Does it seem plausible that the people who write software are particularly harmed by checks. I said Oh, ok. However, startups usually have a fairly informal atmosphere, and there's always a lot that needs to have good software. More often than not the company comes to a standstill for months. As of this writing, Cambridge seems to be hard to start a startup, you get to compare how they all perform on identical tasks; and everyone's life is pretty fluid. So by caring more about money and less about power than Silicon Valley, New York, I was very excited at first. It's a knack for understanding users and figuring out how to give them what they want till the last moment.8 And when we're talking about startups we think are likely to succeed, what we find ourselves saying is things like Oh, those guys can take care of themselves. Within about three minutes of meeting him, I remember thinking Ah, so this answer works out to be. He said that in most companies software costing up to about $1000 could be bought by individual managers without any additional approvals.9 Even if you only have to imagine what would happen if they diverged to see the underlying reality. But if you look at a company like Google, it's hard not to be had for the asking.10

Within about three minutes of meeting him, I remember thinking Ah, so this answer works out to be the best supplier, but falls just short of the threshold for solvency—which will of course have been set on the high side, since there is no recovery. When we first started Y Combinator we have some kind of answer for, but not about observing proprieties. Plus in college you don't yet have to face the hardest kind of work—discovering new problems to solve. New York, and Boston. Otherwise their desire to lead you on will combine with your own desire to be led on to produce completely inaccurate impressions. Their expertise is mostly in business—as it should be, because that's the kind of single-minded, almost obnoxiously elitist focus on hiring the smartest people are, even if that means living in an expensive, grubby place with bad weather.11 How much is that extra attention worth?12 Because super-angels were initially angels of the classic type.13 But even if we could somehow magically save people from moving, we wouldn't.14 It will vary enormously from one partner to another.15 Instead of building stuff to throw away, you tend to want every line of code to go toward that final goal of showing you did a lot of development over the past couple decades.16

Not at all. VCs have been getting a lot faster. If you know your peers are going to be when you grow up. What do they have to be a 2 week interruption turns into a 4 month interruption. You'd understand your users well if you were using the software for them.17 There is a danger of having VCs in an angel round: the so-called signalling risk. If accelerating variation in productivity is accelerating. Does that mean you can't start a startup, is probably a startup. Brandeis said We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few thousand people seems big enough.18 If they think your startup is lame, aren't they probably right?

So have we just shown, by reductio ad absurdum, that it's false that economic inequality should be decreased, I shouldn't be helping founders. And indeed, that might be a good idea for a company, and his friend says, Yeah, that is a near certainty. Often they are, the more likely this is to happen. This was why they were trying to get people to start calling them portals instead of search engines. It would make sense for super-angels. I mentioned, a pretty bad judge of startups. He always seems to land on his feet.19 The other thing you get from work experience is an understanding of what work is, and part of the confusion is grammatical. In these the best practitioners aren't conveniently collected in a few big successes. Does it seem plausible that the people who write software are particularly harmed by checks.

But when Bill Clerico starts calling you, you may find you get surprising results.20 We get all the paperwork set up properly so there are no external checks at all.21 New York.22 Raising a traditional series A round is from a mezzanine financing. They know they want to do. But increasingly it means the ability to get things done, with no excuses. The new breed are themselves those people. When they'd been independent, they could release changes instantly. Investors like it when they can help a startup, is probably a startup. At YC we use the phrase ramen profitable to describe the situation where you're making just enough to pay your living expenses.

Notes

This essay was written before Firefox.

The hardest kind of people who want to save money, you won't be trivial. Not even being Genghis Khan is probably 99% cooperation. Investors are fine with funding nerds.

But their founders, because any story that makes curators and dealers use neutral-sounding language. They did turn out to be naive in: Life seemed so much a great thing in itself deserving.

But it isn't a quid pro quo. Japanese. I'm not saying, incidentally, that probably doesn't make A more accurate metaphor would be vulnerable both to attack the A P successfully defended itself by allowing the unionization of its completion in 1969 the largest of their hands thus tended to make you feel that you're not consciously aware of it.

Part of the next three years, it might be 20 or 30 times as much income. Programming in Common Lisp, which has been decreasing globally.

The New Industrial State to trying to deliver these sentences as if they'd been pretty clever by getting such a statement would merely be eccentric. The problem is that it's bad. As the art business? Add water as specified on rice cooker.

Our founder meant a photograph of a lumbar disc herniation as juicy except literally.

This of course.

One father told me about a form that asks for your work.

Sometimes founders know it's a harder problem than Hall realizes. I hadn't had much success in doing a small seed investment in you, they only like the difference between surgeons and internists fleas: I once explained this to some founders who'd taken series A in the US is the extent we see incumbents suppressing competitors via regulations or patent suits, we could just expand into casinos than software, we don't have to track ratios by time of day, thirty years later Jim Ryun ran a 3:59 mile as a percentage of statements. I've said into something that doesn't seem to be careful here, because by definition if the sender happens to compensate for another. Several people have historically done to their returns.

A variant is that in fact had its own. 54 million, and yet managed to screw up twice at the mercy of circumstances: court decisions striking down state anti-recommendation. FreeBSD 1. Managers are presumably wondering, how much of the potential series A from a few stellar exceptions the textbooks are not more.

It would have seemed to someone still implicitly operating on the other cheek skirts the issue; the defining test is whether you want to save money, then you're being starved, not because it's a book or movie or desktop application in this respect.

You'll be lucky if fundraising feels pleasant enough to answer the first type to go away, and Reddit is Delicious/popular is driven mostly by people trying to work your way up. Other highly recommended books: What is Mathematics? Sullivan actually said form ever follows function, but those specific abuses. More generally, it may seem to have figured out how to succeed at all is a constant multiple of usage, so presumably will the rate of change in how Stripe felt.

Economically, the technology business.

Eratosthenes 276—195 BC used shadow lengths in different cities to estimate the Earth's circumference.

The philosophers whose works they cover would be far from the other direction. I'm using these names as we use have a cover price and yet in both Greece and China, Yale University Press, 2005. So if they miss just a few hours of advice from your neighbor's fifteen year old son, you'll have to spend all your time on a wall is art.

Often as not the shape of the next one will be better for explaining software than English.

There need to.

Internally most companies are also much cheaper when bought in bulk. It also set off an extensive biography, and credit card debt is a significant startup hub. What we call metaphysics Aristotle called first philosophy.

So how do you know about this trick, and their flakiness is indistinguishable from dishonesty by the Robinson-Patman Act of 1982, which are a handful of ways to get all you know about a startup to engage with slow-moving organizations is to write every component yourself, if your true calling is gaming the system, which is as blind as the average startup.

So you can probably write a new version from which a few of the company really cared about doing search well at a discount to whatever the valuation a bit misleading to treat macros as a definition of property without affecting and probably also encourage companies to build their sites.

It wouldn't pay. VCs should be clear. But a couple years. The shares set aside a chunk of stock the VCs should be working to help the company really cared about users they'd just advise them to private schools that in practice is that they consisted of 50 pairs that each summed to 101 100 1,2003.

[lovemychinchilla]

Is a Chinchilla a Good Pet for a Child?

There's nothing more exciting for a child than having a small, fluffy pet. Chinchillas aren't a common choice, but people can and do buy chinchillas for their children. The only problem is that they're exotic pets, so are they right for kids?

Is a chinchilla a good pet for a child? Chinchillas are fluffy and fun, clean and odor-free, and can live for a long time. But they're also delicate and have specific care requirements that may be too complex for your child. Handling is an example, as chinchillas can't be squeezed and have to be picked up carefully. However, children can take care of chinchillas with help and training from their parents.

For the sake of your pet, your family, your sanity and your wallet you should research chinchillas before you get one. That way, you'll know exactly what to expect—and if you do, you'll enjoy having a chinchilla much more. The guide below explores this issue in enough depth that you should, by the end of it, know whether a chinchilla is a good pet for you and your child.

Is a Chinchilla a Good Pet for a Child?

Chinchillas look big and fluffy, but underneath all that fur, they're small and delicate.

Many peoples' first experience with chinchillas is as a family pet. But these exotic animals aren't necessarily a good pet for a child. They can be, provided that you care for them properly and teach your child to do the same. But many parents don't do this.

Ultimately, the decision is yours. But the aim of this guide is to help potential owners understand what chinchillas are like and what care requirements they have. Many people neglect their pet chinchillas, and while we would love to see more people owning them, that shouldn't be at the cost of the animals' happiness.

With that out of the way, let's look at what makes chinchillas great.

What Are Chinchillas Like as Pets?

The issue isn't the chinchilla itself. There are many reasons why chinchillas make good pets. Here are just a few:

Chinchillas are clean pets. They barber their own fur, and their poop doesn't smell because it's dried and solid. They enjoy frequent baths in dust (yes, dust) that keep them clean and odor-free.

Chinchillas are cute. They're have big, rounded ears and bushy tails, and display all sorts of cute behaviors like winking and standing up. They're also a lot of fun to pet.

Chinchillas eat hay. You don't need to spend lots of money or search far and wide to find food for chinchillas, as hay can be picked up at any pet store.

Chinchillas are quiet. While they do make the occasional noise (like alarm barking!), chinchillas are quiet for the most part.

Chinchillas can like petting and handling. It takes time to train them to be comfortable when handled, but when you have, they're affectionate and friendly pets.

And are chinchillas good family pets? Well, they can get along with children so long as the children are well behaved and careful with it. In that sense, a chinchilla is as good with children as any other pet.

These general points make the chinchilla a popular exotic pet. But it's the chinchilla's fur which sets it apart, and which especially appeals to children.

Chinchillas are The Fluffiest Pet

Chinchillas have the softest fur of any animal. That's because they have up to eighty hairs coming out of each of their follicles, while other animals have only one or two. This means their fur is as dense as it's possible for fur to be.

This has long been the chinchilla's key 'selling point', whether as a wild source of fur, as a farmed animal, or as a pet. Children and adults alike love the feel of their fur.

Yes and No: Chinchillas Live a Long Time

Something that people don't appreciate about chinchillas is that they can live a long time. If they're cared for properly, they can live for between 15-20 years. Cases of chinchillas living longer than this are rare but far from unheard of.

This could either be a reason in favor or against you getting one for a child. On the plus side, your child won't experience the heartbreak of their pet passing away after a short time. But it also means that you need a plan in place for what happens to the chinchilla later in its life. Will it live with your child when they move out? Will it live with you, and will you be comfortable with that?

You also have to consider whether your child will lose interest in their chinchilla after a short time. Unfortunately, this happens frequently with pets. Once the novelty wears off, the child doesn't want to care for the chinchilla any more. If you suspect that might happen, a pet with a shorter lifespan would be more appropriate. So, whether this is an upside or a downside depends on you and your child.

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Downsides to Chinchillas as Pets for Children

Aside from these points, though, there are several drawbacks to choosing a chinchilla for a family pet. We believe that these drawbacks outweigh the positives described above. However, they can be avoided through teaching your child proper care and reasoned decision-making.

Chinchillas are Delicate

The key problem is that chinchillas are delicate animals. This means you and your child may not enjoy your chinchilla's fur as well you might, because handling chinchillas isn't as easy as you might think.

First of all, chinchillas are rodents. They are much smaller than their body size suggests, which is mostly fur. This means that their bodies are delicate enough as it is. You can't play rough-and-tumble with them like you could with other pets.

But chinchillas also have special ribcages which aren't as strong as those of other animals. In other animals, the ribs are connected to the sternum at the front and the spine at the back by small amounts of cartilage. Cartilage is like a mix between bone and muscle: stronger than a muscle, but weaker and more flexible than a bone. This allows the ribcage to expand when the animal breathes. Only small amounts of cartilage are needed with the rest of the ribcage being bone.

In the chinchilla rib cage, a full half of each rib is cartilage. When viewed from a standing-up position, the part that attaches to the spine at the back is mostly bone. But from the sternum in the chest and all the way to the side is cartilage. This means that the chinchilla's ribcage is weak and easily broken. When broken, the ribs and cartilage can poke and puncture internal organs and kill your pet.

This doesn't mean that chinchillas can't be picked up. But it does mean you have to be careful with them. Children love to squeeze and cuddle their pets, especially fluffy ones like these—but this could severely injure or kill a chinchilla. You can avoid this by teaching your child proper care and handling techniques for chinchillas, but this is difficult if they're young. Read our guide to learn what it takes.

Chinchillas Require Lots of Care

Chinchillas are exotic pets. There are things you can easily get wrong regarding their care. Take their diet, for example. Your first instinct may be that chinchillas eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. After all, that's what other small pets eat.

Unfortunately, fruits and vegetables are bad for chinchillas. It's not that they don't offer the right nutrients (although they don't); it's that they can give a chinchilla painful tummy bloats and diarrhea, which could kill your pet.

Exercise balls are another example. These are perhaps the most common toy people get for small fluffy pets. But chinchilla owners call them death balls because of how dangerous they are. Once inside, chinchillas can easily break their toes and feet, or overheat and die.

These are only two small aspects of caring for a chinchilla. There's lots more that you need to know. Here's a list of things that are easy to get wrong, but have serious consequences for pet chinchillas:

Temperature requirements. Chinchillas are from high up in the mountains. Sitting in a warm room and/or direct sunlight can cause heat stress and kill them.

Picking up a chinchilla by its tail. This is the recommended way to pick a chinchilla up. But if you do it wrong, your pet's tail might break.

Chinchillas can't free roam around the house. If they do, they might escape or get hurt by accident.

You can't squeeze a chinchilla when you cuddle it. If you do, you might break its ribs and cause internal injuries to its organs.

Chinchillas can't use regular running wheels. They're far too small for the chinchilla to run comfortably. So, they need special ones which are much larger.

Chinchillas shouldn't get wet. When they do get wet, their dense fur stays wet for a long time. This can make your pet too cold, and it might die.

Learning all this takes time and effort which is difficult enough if you're buying the chinchilla for yourself, let alone your child. If you do plan on getting one, consider reading the rest of our guides on chinchilla care and other subjects.

Chinchillas Cost More than Other Pets

Another downside of chinchillas being exotic pets is that their care costs more than that of other animals. They need large cages, and because they're exotic, you'll need special insurance and to see special vets. This all adds up to bigger bills each month than you would get for other small fluffy pets.

The chinchilla's long life span also makes this worse. If you want to care for your pet properly, it should get regular check ups and be taken to the vet whenever anything is wrong with its health. You'll have to do this for a decade or more with a chinchilla, while other small pets won't live so long anyway.

Chinchillas also like to live in pairs or larger groups. They're social animals when they're in the wild, and this been has passed on to pet chinchillas. You can keep them alone if you spend lots of time with them, but they typically prefer company. So, that would add significantly to your bills compared with small fluffy pets that can live alone.

Chinchillas May Not Get On with Other Pets

Chinchillas can't live in cages with other pets, so if that's something you were planning on doing, don't do it. If you put a guinea pig and a chinchilla together, for example, the pair would fight over food and space. You can keep them in separate cages without an issue, though, so if you do have another small pet then this won't be a problem so long as they aren't in the same cage.

You can keep a chinchilla in a house with other larger pets, but this can be inconvenient. Chinchillas are rodents, so are vulnerable to bigger animals. To take your chinchilla from its cage, as you must occasionally, you would have to secure the other pet in another room.

Chinchillas Don't Like Loud Sounds & Sudden Movements

Most people decide which pet to get based on what they want. But what about what the pet wants? Chinchillas typically prefer conditions unlike those that can be found in a family home.

One aspect of this is noise. Chinchillas live in arid, rocky foothills and mountains. There are several predators that eat them, so they're constantly listening for whatever's approaching. That's why chinchillas have such big ears. Pet chinchillas do the same, and can be spooked by noises they can't identify. Loud noises spook them the most, and so your children, if young, might scare them.

Chinchillas also have to be handled delicately. They don't like being whirled around, thrown and caught, or anything like that. If your child is the boisterous type, it would be a bad idea for it to handle a chinchilla. Again, you can teach children how to handle a chinchilla properly if you have the time and want to put in the effort; but it may be worth considering the purchase of a pet that isn't so delicate.

Is a Chinchilla the Right Pet for Me and My Child?

Whether a chinchilla is the right pet for you depends on your lifestyle, and what you want from a pet. If you want a low-maintenance pet that's easy for a child to take care of, a chinchilla isn't a good choice. But if you:

a) ...Feel confident that your child could take care of a more advanced pet,

b) are prepared for the pet to cost more than other small fluffy pets might, and

c) are prepared to do lots of the care yourself,

...Then a chinchilla would be a good choice. We recommend doing some further research about how to care for chinchillas before making any purchases. And if you do plan on getting one, head to a pet store and ask to look at and even handle them. That will get you used to them before you take one home.

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

Start your chinchilla journey by learning more here:

#chinchillas #chinchillafaqs

[yeonchi]

Dub Logistics Part 23: The Hypocrisy of Greed

“Why is it justified to call out anti-consumer practices in games, but greedy to call out the omission of dual audio options in Japanese games?”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned last year, it’s that there are fans of Western games who claim to be against “unfinished video games” which can be “completed” with pre-order bonuses, season passes and DLC while also being against the inclusion of English or Japanese voice options to compliment whichever language is in the game first. These are the types of hypocrites who should probably never touch a Japanese video game lest they embarrass themselves with their hypocrisy.

This seemingly irrational paranoia comes after a debate and feud I had with some people in that exact category last year, who I will not be mentioning by name. The fact that they disagreed with my views and opinions on game localisation, yet being against corporate greed in the gaming industry, was strange to me at the time, but in reflection, the events of the debate and feud were no better than mere pettiness, sock puppetry, baiting, flaming and virtue-signalling on both sides. Some of the points they made, though convincing, were questionable at best, so if you decide to revisit my older posts and see what they said, then I recommend that you take their points with a grain of salt.

This instalment isn’t about those guys, however. I couldn’t care less about them now and to the other party(ies) from the debate, I’m sorry if you were expecting to see more inflammatory comments about you being “dub haters”, but it’s not all about you - chances are that there could be other people who share the same hypocritical views you do. Just between you and me, however, I’ve heard about the recent Count Dankula case and sentencing. While it is great to hear that he only got fined £800 instead of being sentenced to prison, the fact that he had to go to court over a joke about a political ideology that should have gone extinct after World War II is absolutely outrageous. In spite of what happened between us, I think we should be grateful that we’re not in the UK, we’re not that famous (let’s face it) and that our feud hasn’t escalated to a point where either of us have to be put on trial for our bullshit. There are many other famous people who are worse than any of us and I think that the world should be focusing more on them and not on any petty things like these. That is all I am going to say.

Anyway, back on topic now. In the past, I had learnt that Western gaming companies, like EA and Ubisoft, are just some of many other culprits involved in anti-consumer practices like micro-transactions, season passes and “essential” DLCs for the sake of having a “complete gaming experience”. However, I honestly thought it would never happen to Japanese games until I learnt that Dynasty Warriors 9 and Dissidia Final Fantasy would be getting season passes. That is how blissfully ignorant I was until recently, when I realised that all gamers should be united against corporate greed in gaming, whether it be in the game itself or in localisation. The fact that people are still dividing themselves and others over voice preferences today is absolutely insane.

The reason why I wanted to write this instalment was because of a couple of posts I did in February regarding Dynasty Warriors 9. A week after I posted my crosspost from the English Dubbed Game News page, a fan of mine (and yes, if you, the people on the other side of the debate and feud, are reading this, I actually do have fans, contrary to your “popular” opinion) sent me a link to Jim Sterling’s video titled “The Dismal Degradation Of Dynasty Warriors” and I wrote a little follow-up post on it. In the video, he mentions Koei Tecmo’s negligence of English dubbing in their newer localisations along with the “money grubbing” DLC in Dynasty Warriors 9. It should also be noted that Jim has posted some videos regarding his views on corporate greed in the gaming industry.

At the end of the post, I said, “On a side note, it’s a shame that some people (or should I say, hypocrites) will agree with some points in Jim’s video while disagreeing with other points.” Someone who read the post was seemingly confused by it, thinking that I said that it was hypocritical to not agree with everything Jim said in the video. Though it was partly true, I clarified to him my view that people who are against “money grubbing” DLC, while also calling other people “greedy” for wanting games to be localised with an extra English or Japanese voice option, were hypocrites. The other person replied saying that even though both cases were related to the umbrella category of “corporate greed”, they were very different things - the former was about getting consumers to pay for a more complete gaming experience and the other is just the company being cheap in a way that doesn’t cost consumers any money.

Here’s my understanding of this logic - the original release of a game, whether it be in Japan or any other region, is the actual game itself, while localisations are considered re-releases of the game with “extra features”, namely extra subtitles or voice tracks. Realistically, publishers can go without localising some of their games, but I feel that in recent years, publishers are forcing themselves to localise as many games as they can in the shortest amount of time possible. This results in corners being cut from localisation and as a result, we get games that aren’t dual audio, aren’t fully dubbed or aren’t translated up to par.

And look, I get the argument about budgets and that, but that’s not the point here. The point is that localisations, translations and voice actors can have as much significance in a game (or anime or whatever) and its respective franchise as a whole. If it weren’t for that logic, a lot of games (and animes and the like) wouldn’t be as popular as they are today and a lot of English voice actors (and by extension, Japanese seiyuus) wouldn’t be revered today for the characters they voiced recently or even years ago.

Some people believe that voice languages are a minor aspect of the game and that they will play with (realistically) any language that the game gives them. Like with dub preferences, the choice is entirely personal, but when opinion-neutral people try to tell others that “the language doesn’t matter”, this is teetering on fanboy cuckoldry because it disregards the arguments made by people on each side of the debate. Just because you are okay with what you are given doesn’t mean everyone should be okay with what they are given as well. For everyone’s sake, people should be fighting against corporate greed of any kind in gaming, whether it be in regards to DLC or localisation.

I’m going to play devil’s advocate here for a bit. Let’s say that Western gaming companies are claiming, or allowing their fans to imply, that their budget has become a bit tight lately, so they have to cut corners in their games or result to money grubbing measures like implementing micro-transactions or releasing “extra” game content as DLC and letting fans imply that buying that DLC will give them a more complete experience. You’re not happy with the company doing this, so you make a habit of complaining about it on social media. Later, you find that some people are calling you greedy and entitled and that you should be grateful that the company has made the game in the first place. This is the kind of stuff that dub fans and sub fans are getting on social media just because we are asking for fair representation in the form of English or Japanese voice options.

Before you derail this topic with the typical cuck response, “But nobody owes us anything, so game companies don’t owe you anything as well,” just stop for a moment and think about this. Humility is a good concept to know, but it shouldn’t be taken literally on everything because you’ll never be happy if you don’t enjoy the things you like. It would be nice if people were humble enough not to chase up the debts of others, but I’m sure that when you lend something to someone, you would expect them to give it back to you. If someone does a favour for you, then it is in good faith that you pay that favour back at a later time. As for humility in the aspect of materialism, then it is expected that if you decide to buy something, then it will be of good quality and worth of its use until you decide to buy a better version of that thing later.

When you are a fan of something or someone, you would expect to be impressed with what they put out every time. You have a right to make compliments when they do something right and you have a right to make criticisms when they do something wrong. However, something that may be considered wrong by one person can be considered right by another and thus, that is how conflicts start. If you are a fan of something that receives a lot of criticism, think about what they may have done to disappoint you or the rest of their fanbase. I’m not giving any examples here because you need to think for yourself in order to do this; being part of the sheeple will not help you in the long run because one day, you may be disappointed over a thing that you like.

If “game companies don’t owe their fans anything”, then fans don’t owe game companies anything either. The mentality that fans are expected to support everything that someone does (whether they see it as good or bad) has the potential to be toxic and so, should be discouraged. On the other hand, some responsibility also lies on those who make stuff for their fans, including game companies - they are expected to maintain their fanbase by going the extra mile to keep them impressed.

If you like an aspect of something but not another, don’t put down other fans who may like the thing you dislike. Everyone is entitled to something, even their own opinion. That being said, if you like Western games and Japanese games, then maybe supporting fairer game content while acknowledging that not all companies have the money to dub, sub, or licence the original voice track of a game is not a good idea because you’re just going to end up sounding like a hypocrite. If you’re one of those people who like to think that way, then maybe you should refrain from talking about Japanese game localisations.

If complaining about any form of greed is a form of greed in itself, then the concept of being against greed is absolutely hypocritical.

Just another reminder that I will be ending the Dub Logistics series with Part 30 at the end of the year, so if you have something you would like me to cover before then, please inform me as soon as possible.

The fact that this instalment was posted one year on from the initial debate that sparked the feud is completely coincidental. It’s really funny that I never thought to talk about this hypocrisy back then, but better late than never, I suppose.

With regards to the Count Dankula case I mentioned earlier, feel free to read up on it and do some research, because I feel that this case has set a precedent for free speech in the United Kingdom and possibly, the world. The pettiness that led to Dankula being put on trial in the first place is the same pettiness that is causing YouTube videos and Facebook pages (along with memes) to be taken down in the name of “offensive content”. The reporting systems on social media have already been abused enough in the past few years; we don’t need petty things like this to be taken to court so that victims can suffer for a long time while they await their sentence.

[hermitthrush]

Social Roles as a Guide to Conduct

Epictetus

"The Discourses" (c.108 AD) | Robert Dobbin translation, Book II.

Hermit Thoughts: Idealized social roles as guides to proper human conduct, i.e. consider how a perfect parent/child/sibling would act and strive towards that standard; how deviating from proper conduct - for reasons of fear, malice, or profit - does greater harm to us than material deprivation or physical pain because it is a spiritual injury we inflict against ourselves.

Who are you? In the first place, a human being, which is to say, a being possessed of no greater faculty than free choice, with all your other faculties subordinate to it, choice itself being unconfined and independent. Next, consider the gift of reason: it sets you apart from wild animals; it sets you apart from sheep. By virtue of these two faculties you are a member of the universe with full citizen rights; you were born not to serve but to govern, because you understand the divine order and its patterns.

Now, what does the title 'citizen' mean? In this role, a person never acts in his own interest or thinks of himself alone, but, like a hand or foot that had sense and realized its place in the natural order, all its actions and desires aim at nothing except contributing to the common good. Therefore, philosophers rightly say, 'If a good person knew that sickness, death, or disability lay in the future, he would actually invite them, because he realizes that this is part of the universal plan and that the universe has precedence over a constituent, and the city over any one citizen. But since we don't know the future, we're justified in sticking to things that are preferable by nature, because this, after all, is our instinct from birth.'

Next, remember that you are somebody's son. What does this social role mean? It means regarding everything of your as belonging to your father as well, always letting him have his way, never trying to hurt him with your words or actions, or griping about him behind his back. Defer to him at every opportunity, and in the same spirit cooperate with him as best you can.

Next, know that you are a brother. This role also calls for deference, respect, and civility. Never get into family fights over material things; give them up willingly, and your moral standing will increase in proportion. Make a gift of your box seat in the theatre, or a bit of food, if that's at stake, and see the gratitude you get in return - how much greater it is than the sacrifice.

Finally, reflect on the other social roles you play. If you are a council member, consider what a council member should do. If you are young, what does being young mean; if you are old, what does age imply; if you are a father, what does fatherhood entail? Each of our titles, when reflected upon, suggest the acts appropriate to it.

If you go off and yell at your brother, my reaction is to say, 'You've forgotten who you are and what you stand for.' I mean, if you were a metalworker who fumbled with his tools, you would have lost touch with the metalworker you once were. If you forget what it means to be a brother and become your brother's enemy, don't think you've made a trivial exchange. If you are transformed from a decent, social human being into some mean, snarling, dangerous beast, is there no loss involved? Or do you have to lose money before you feel penalized? Is losing money the only loss that counts with us?

If you lost the capacity to read, or play music, you would think it was a disaster, but you think nothing of losing the capacity to be honest, decent, and civilized. Yet those other misfortunes come from some outside cause, while these are your own fault. Moreover, it is neither honourable to have those other abilities nor dishonourable to lose them, whereas it is dishonourable to lose these capacities and a misfortune for which we have only ourselves to blame... An adulterer does away with a just, decent, and honourable human being - the good neighbour and citizen he might have been. A sorehead incurs one kind of loss, a coward another - but no one is bad without loss or penalty of some kind.

Now, if you look for their penalty in terms of money, you might find them all safe and scot-free; they could even be helped and rewarded for their offense, if they gain by it financially. But, if money is your only standard, then consider that, by your lights, someone who loses their nose does not suffer any harm.

'Yes they do, they're maimed physically.'

But what if they are deprived just of the sense of smell - in other words, isn't there an associated psychic faculty, which is good to have and a misfortune to lose?

'What do you mean by "psychic faculty"?'

Aren't we born with a sense of fairness?

'We are.'

If you destroy it, is there no harm, is nothing sacrificed, don't we lose something dear? Don't we have an innate sense of honour, a sense of benevolence, a sense of kindness and compassion? Well, if someone willingly parts with these sensibilities, do you suppose they go unpunished and unhurt?

'Well, does that mean that if someone wrongs me I shouldn't hurt them in return?' First of all, look at what wrong-doing is and remember what you have heard about it from philosophers. Because if 'good' as well as 'bad' really relate to our choices, then consider whether your position does not amount to saying something like, 'Well, since that guy hurt himself with the injustice he did me, shouldn't I wrong him in order to hurt myself in retaliation?'

So why don't we actually picture it to ourselves this way? Instead, we see injury only where physical or financial loss is incurred, whereas if the loss stems from our own choices, then we don't suspect any harm has been done. After all, we don't get a headache after an error in judgement or an act of injustice; we don't get eye trouble or stomach ache, we don't lose property. And for us those are the only things that matter. As to whether our character will remain loyal and honest, or become false and depraved, we don't care about that in the least - except insofar as it comes up for examination in school; the result being that our debating skills improve at the cost of our character.

[fineillsignup]

You think there should've been more arcs in OG Naruto? Like to really set up worldbuilding and foreshadowing, etc.? If so where would you have placed them in order to make the story and characters flow better and what would they be about? Who would be involved? I love all your thoughts on Naruto btw :)

Well, to his credit, Kishimoto also wanted more mission arcs, but his editors insisted on the tournament. I don’t think his editors were entirely wrong–the Chuunin Exams were a great arc, and probably responsible for a significant portion of Naruto’s success. The problem is, since “bring Sasuke home” is such a huge theme of the series, the lack of on-panel time between Sasuke and the others is a problem.

@thatshinobilife (I think?) made a dry humour post about Naruto’s incessant Sasuke flashbacks, along the lines of “oh boy I can’t wait to see the same five moments again”. Because that’s all canon gives us.

Sasuke makes marked progress in his interactions with Naruto and Sakura from the bell test, to the Land of Waves arc, to the beginning of the Chuunin Exams. (And Naruto and Sakura also develop over this period.) Fandom generally infers that ~things~ occurred between those three points that helped develop the three of them. More of this development should have occurred on panel.

I kinda think that’s part of the reason why Kishimoto went for the “actually they’re reincarnated soul chakra of brothers with an ancient tantrum grudge causing them to spread their personal issues all over thousands of others inevitably yearn to be together yet end up locked in mortal combat” motivation for Naruto’s pursuit of Sasuke. Meanwhile Sakura doesn’t require that kind of explanation for her unconditional love because IDK she’s like, a girl, and who knows how they think.

I think two more mission arcs between the Land of Waves and the Chuunin Exams would have been about perfect. In some ways, this is what filler in the anime tried to do, but they tried to have Team 7 going on missions in the period between the end of Konoha Crush and Sasuke abandoning the village and ??? there just isn’t time in there for that.

The two mission arcs should have been similar to the Land of Waves in that they should have showcased the problems of the shinobi system, but they also should have foreshadowed Sasuke and Naruto’s coming conflict with each other.

Canon is kind of like this:Sasuke: Here is my evil plan to save the world!Naruto: Those are bad ideas!

*fighting dreamers*

Sasuke: You’re right. Those were bad ideas and you beat me. Let’s hear your good ideas.Naruto: How about… nothing actually changes dattebayo?Sasuke: That makes no sense for either of our characters to accept but ok. Bye I”ll be back in a decade or something.Naruto: lmao bye

Sasuke and Naruto should have conflict with each other, and that could be foreshadowed before the exam arc.

I don’t have time right now to go into every detail exactly, but in broad strokes, Sasuke has a very narrow focus and a tendency for black and white thinking. He constantly has conflict within himself between “what I should want and think” and “what I actually want and feel”. Witness his whole “my body just moved by itself” schpiel to explain why he saved Naruto.

Naruto on the other hand is a very complex character. He’s very loving and empathetic but he’s not unconditionally loving and endlessly friendly to everyone either; canon early manga Naruto basically dislikes every one of his classmates except Sakura. The iconic “you’re not funny; I don’t like you” response to Kankurou’s bullshitting is Naruto at his most brutally unfriendly.

At the same time. A lot of this unfriendliness is, in my opinion, protective dislike based on the well-founded assumption that others will dislike Naruto. And Naruto absolutely craves to be forgiven and welcomed in and accepted despite all his own past annoying behaviour and idiocy. So Naruto’s willingness to immediately and near endlessly forgive and accept others who make even the slightest gesture of reaching out to Naruto, to me, makes a lot of sense.

So I see Sasuke and Naruto, reacting to the same situation, for Sasuke to react in a sort of pre-shinobi system way: vengeance, honour, merciless retaliation, non-interference in things that “don’t concern you”, yet also loyalty to his unwilling bonds with Team 7 and pride in doing well. Naruto, ideally, would continue on the early canon path of questioning why things are the way they are and vowing to reform them, and always having empathy and solidarity with those who are abused, exploited, or dehumanized. (Unlike in Naruto Gaiden where he clearly can’t be bothered to do shit about shit.)

The Land of Waves arc gave examples of how the rich like Gato could take advantage of village-less shinobi–which actually shows why the shinobi system in its current form began to begin with–and how the high cost of ninja left the poor lying to obtain substandard support that ended up with the ninja dying as well.

I think another good ethical quandary mission would be being paid to do something which had a clearly positive ultimate goal, such as driving off an aggressor, but which was supposed to be accomplished via doing harm to someone who themselves didn’t deserve it. For example, they kidnap the young children of a gang. (You could have some madcap moments with Team 7 as babysitters here.) But it gets serious when their villainous father attempts to call their bluff and says “if you’re serious, kill the youngest. Then I’ll do what you want so you’ll give back the others.” Then what? Killing this one kid will save hundreds of others? But can they do that? If they can’t, the villain continues to drive this town into the ground? If they attempt an outright assault, they probably won’t win and how many others will be harmed? It shouldn’t have an easy solution, even if Naruto does somehow manage to Talk no Jutsu a way out. (My favoured solution: he lets Mrs. Villain know that her husband is encouraging them to kill her youngest kid, and Mrs. Villain takes care of Mr. Villain.)

But yeah that’s the kind of idea that I have. More grappling with what it means to be a ninja, more Team 7 bonding, more character development, etc.