#Case and point: There have been many instances when I end up feeling like i'm not doing enough. This didn't happen before we worked on this

[idk-i-want-mcl-content]

Amanda: You should not hesitate to be yourself. You will find your place.

I'm still thinking about this Amanda dialogue, because honestly I really needed to hear something like this <3 so thank u Princess Amanda.

[baddybaddyadardaddy]

Okay, I'm going to make a wild prediction about Adar and Galadriel in Episode 8, so strap in.

An overarching the/major motif of the Rings of Power from the very first episode has been, obviously, the interplay between darkness/light.

"To find the light, we must first touch the darkness." / "Before light, darkness must flee, etc."

Adar and Galadriel together are a manifestation of that duality between light and dark and accordingly, I think there's a compelling case for them to team up against Sauron at the end of Season 2.

Here's my attempt at this argument:

PARALLELS BETWEEN ADAR AND GALADRIEL

The show has established a few strong visual parallels between the two of them.

Mourning ritual. Galadriel mourning for Finrod in S1Ep1 is echoed by Adar's mourning of the Uruks in S2Ep7. They even mirror the single tear.

What's more, Galadriel bears WITNESS to Adar's funeral ritual, enforcing the connection of this moment.

Seed planting. Frankly, my jaw hit the floor when S2Ep2 had Galadriel planting seeds in the memorial garden in Lindon, because the shots/framing were almost IDENTICAL to the seed planting Adar does at the beginning of S1Ep6. The sentiments of both instances are the same "life over death," though the words do differ.

Flip sides of the same coin/mirror to one another. The show has also presented us with many instances where they function as mirrors to one another. If not signficant, why do?

Barn scene. The barn scene in S1Ep6 is a PRIME example, when Adar literally calls Galadriel out for the hypocrisy of her hatred of the orcs.

The dinner scene. Adar once again holds up a mirror to Galadriel, pushing back against her notion that "you yielded to him. I resisted." Then they have the shared acknowledgement that without Sauron, the world seems a "dull grey" (GREY, interestingly, a halfway point between dark and light). Adar's face in response to her admission will live rent-free in my mind forever-- it's like he's been SEEN for the first time in his life.

So while Galadriel sees herself as a warrior of light, and views Adar as a creature of darkness, the show does a pretty superb job of showing that both of these characters have light and dark within them in equal measure.

They were both tempted by Sauron and succumbed.

So there is a clear, thematic link between these two from that standpoint.

ADAR'S JOURNEY TOWARD THE LIGHT

Next, I think it is clear Adar on a path toward light/redemption as an elf, and it tracks in a VERY LITERAL SENSE.

First time we see Adar, he is bathed in an angelic light. As he performs the funeral ritual for Magrot, light streams into the Uruk tent.

The shot at the end of S2 Ep1, when the camera lingers on Adar as Gil-Galad's call to the Eldalie commences. Adar feels the undeniable call to his elven past. That camera shot was NOT A COINCIDENCE, and I'm FOREVER FERAL ABOUT IT.

Cavalry charge at the siege of Eregion. Adar is OBVIOUSLY backlit:

There is a dividing line between light and shadow an Adar is RIGHT on the border of it.

When he steps up to take possession of Nenya, the sky behind him is split between a darker side and a lighter side. (You can argue that it's a CREEPY light, but it's still light. There is almost no all-black coloring on him in that second frame when he actually has the ring. For a character that's been head to toe in black the entire series, this is Significant.)

So where does that leave us for the big Sauron smackdown?

My first wild prediction: In an INSANE reversal, Galadriel will be the one to bring Morgoth's dark crown to the confrontation, while Adar will wield Nenya, a symbol of light.

It's not inconceivable that Gal could have smuggled it out of Adar's camp somehow under her oversized Uruk cloak. And Adar, OBVIOUSLY now possesses Nenya at the end of S2Ep7.

I think the fight between Galadriel and Sauron is ACTUALLY a three-person fight; we just haven't seen Adar in the promos because

1. Obvious plot spoilers and

2. HE WILL BE FIGHTING IN A FAIR FORM BECAUSE NENYA WILL HEAL HIS CORRUPTION.

My second wild prediction: This three-person fight is telegraphed in The Last Temptation. There's a new motif (not musical, so unclear if this is the correct term??) that starts around 1:07. It sounds like an aggressive children's choir. Interspersed, we get some of Gal's themes and Sauron-flavored music. I think this new bit could be either a combined theme for Gal/Adar fighting side by side, OR a new motif for a changed/elven Adar. It's aggressive, which to me tracks with Adar's fighting style that we saw through S2Ep7, and it builds and gets more voices added to it as the song progresses. At one point, it blends perfectly with Gal's theme.

Third wild prediction that I hope I'm wrong about: Adar will likely get fatally stabbed during this fight. I could see him giving Galadriel the ring at a crucial moment, in as a redemptive act, which would forfeit any protection it might have offered him, and I think he'll receive a fatal blow from Sauron, but not before we get a much clearer picture of EXACTLY who Adar is. IF they do it this way, it will be a deeply satisying end to Adar's story arc, IMHO.

Last thoroughly unhinged thing I will leave you with:

Nolwa Mahtar translation (from S1), according to Bear's blog:

Finish the war, the darkness, end this suffering

Impossible to pursue, deep in shadow, follow light

Finish the war, the darkness, end this suffering

Bright warrior against darkness.

Obviously this theme plays a HUGE role in S2. I believe the lyrics are different; we don't know what they say yet.

But I have contended all along that this piece has always applied in some way to BOTH Adar and Galadriel.

Galadriel is the bright warrior standing against Sauron's darkness, yes, that image is obvious.

But Adar, a figure who lived deep in shadow, follows light, ultimately finishing his own war and ending his own suffering.

[luckystarchild]

Today I was the Ambassador

I had a migraine and sat in my workplace's storage warehouse for a bit to rest, away from noise and in the dark. Glasses off, phone away, just sitting in a chair with my eyes closed in the quiet. I had taken medication that makes me quite loopy, and it had kicked in a little while prior.

Soon a dude I didn't recognize wandered into the warehouse to take a phone call. Loudly. And when he was done, he called out to me from like 50 feet away, "Sorry, I didn't see you there! Hope I'm not disturbing you!"

And I, politely, because I wasn't sure which of my colleagues this might be, and because I'm generally a friendly person who doesn't shy away from social interaction, replied, "It's all good. I have a migraine and am just resting in a quiet place."

To which he replied, "A migraine? What's that like?"

[Long post below the cut, sorry]

For the next ten minutes he stood over me asking questions. What's it feel like? How do you treat it? What causes it? Why do you get them? How bad does it hurt on a scale of 1-10? I reiterated several times I needed quiet, but the hint went untaken, and he kept asking questions. I still didn't recognize him, but I had my glasses off, so I thought perhaps this was someone new, and I felt I needed to be polite just in case.

Eventually, curiosity assuaged, he said, "You never know what a person's going through. For instance, you told me you had a migraine, and I could've walked away. But I didn't, and I came over here, and now I know all about migraines and how bad they are!"

Me: "Yep, that you do. That's empathy for you."

Him: "Yeah! I could've just told you to shake it off. Like I could've told you it's just a headache. But I didn't!"

I was pretty doped up on my migraine meds and therefore not feeling belligerent, nor particularly sharp, but even through that haze I recognized the multiple points of irony studding the conversation. Alas, I was too doped up to think clearly about how to end the interaction, and I just said something like, "People say that a lot to me, to be honest, and I'm glad you didn't."

Him: "People say that a lot? What do you mean?"

Me: "Well, pain is invisible. Some people don't believe me when I say I have a migraine and need to sit somewhere quiet and dark." (No reaction; nuts.) "Some people don't take a minute to empathize. They just tell me it can't be that bad."

Him: "That's terrible. People really say that to you?"

Me: "Yeah. My mother does every time I tell her I have one."

Him: "Oh wow. Do you have a good relationship with your mother?"

Me: "Oh. Uh. No."

Him: "Wow, really?"

Me: "Really. But I came out as queer a few years back though, so the migraines aren't the reason why."

Him: "What's that mean?"

Me: "Which part?"

Him: "That you came out as queer. What does 'queer' mean? How are you queer? Can you explain it?"

This is where I kind of came back to myself through the medication fog. That was a deeply personal question. Many of the questions had been. I only belatedly realized the level of prying happening (see again: medication) and it occurred to me I still wasn't sure who this person actually was. Did I even want to share this with this person? Blearily I put my glasses back on and looked at him. Really looked.

He was wearing a Trump hat. Blue. "Take America Back," it said. Not being the instantly recognizable red to which I am accustomed, and without the aid of my glasses, I hadn't recognized it for what it was.

I also realized I didn't know this guy. He was not a coworker. But my addlepated brain slowly pieced together that there were contractors in the building working on [some maintenance project or another], and this must be one of them.

Normally I would not reveal anything about my queer identity to a stranger in a Trump hat. People wearing them have chased me shouting threats and obscenities based on presumptions they made based on the cut of my hair and my style of clothing alone. Normally I wouldn't be caught dead revealing anything about my gender or sexuality to a stranger in a Trump hat. But here I was, already deep in it, and in an isolated place, and suffering from pain, and being stared at expectantly by someone whose nature and temperament were yet a mystery to me.

But.

Generally speaking, I can tell when someone is asking a genuinely curious question. It feels markedly different from someone asking a shit-heel question that will lead to eventual antagonism. And this guy was not acting like the latter. He looked at me frankly, and his body language was neutral, and while his questions were blunt, he hadn't raised his voice. So far, he hadn't actually been antagonistic. Just blunt, and insistent, and maybe a little tone-deaf.

So, perhaps against my better judgement, I said: "Well, in my case, both my gender and my sexuality inform my choice of the word 'queer' as a personal label. I'm bisexual and nonbinary. 'Queer' covers both gender and sexuality, and for me it feels comfortable to use as an umbrella term." Realizing I did not want to arm this person with a word he shouldn't have carte blanche to use, I added: "But some people in the LGBTQIA community don't like the word 'queer,' so I wouldn't use it to describe a person unless you know that's the term they prefer. The word was once used as a slur, but some of us have reclaimed it, and I'm one of those people."

Him: "OK." A beat. "What's 'nonbinary' mean?"

So I explained. And it took a long time, because (as I soon learned, and expected from the outset) he did not know the difference between sex and gender, nor that male/female are used to describe sex, and that man/woman and male/female are not actually interchangeable terms when discussing gender and sex. He didn't not know there was something called a gender binary, nor that anyone could exist outside it. He didn't know what 'cisgender' meant (he had never heard the term). He didn't know that your sexuality and you gender exist independently of each other. He didn't know the words he could use to describe himself, if he were so inclined.

There was... a lot to cover.

Me: "So, I'm to assume you are a cisgender man."

Him: "I don't know what that means."

Me: "It means you were assigned male at birth and told you were a boy by a doctor/your family, and as an adult, you identity as a man. The identity you were assigned and the one you feel fits you best is the same. It's never changed."

Him: "Yeah! That's right!"

Me: "May I assume you're heterosexual?"

Him: "What does that mean?"

Like I said: There was a lot to cover.

And cover it I did. I was patient. He had some trouble with the lingo, of course, since it was all so new. He got words mixed up, and I fear there were parts I didn't explain properly. I wasn't exactly prepared to have the discussion that day, and I was in pain besides. I spent the entire time on tenterhooks, carefully waiting for any hints of antagonism or mockery in case I needed to fish or cut bait.

No mockery came. He got a little frustrated, I think, when he messed up some words, but he never snapped, or argued, or tried to tell me I was wrong about any of it. He just seemed curious.

"But what does nonbinary feel like?" he wanted to know. "Does it feel weird? Do you walk around feeling weird all the time?"

Me: "Kind of, yeah! Ever since I was a little kid, I never felt like I belonged anywhere. I didn't feel comfortable around girls, or around boys. Neither label fit me."

And he listened as I relayed a few anecdotes illustrating how that felt. And when I mentioned that my parents never really understood me as a kid, his brow furrowed.

Him: "They didn't get it?"

Me: "No. My parents were cattle ranchers."

Wide eyes. WIDE eyes. And that reaction cemented a hunch that had been growing in me since we started talking.

I live in Texas. I grew up here. I know how people think, even the ones I disagree with. To me, this guy seemed the type who might vote a certain way due to the influence of those around him, but one who doesn't know much about politics or anything outside his family or in-group. The one whose family "always votes Republican" but has never actually bothered to look up how a tariff works—and I know the type. I know how to work with someone like that. You have to find in-roads to empathy with these folks. Speak their language. If no one has actually fed them damaging misinformation (and it did not appear that anyone had!), there's an opportunity there to do some good.

Thus, sensing we were at the point of terminology overload anyway, I changed tactics. It was time for emotion, and personal experience, and giving him a touch-point for empathy. He was from this state, and the reaction to my folks being cattle ranchers was telling. So I leaned into that, hard.

Me: "We lived in the middle of nowhere, and my folks don't get it at all. There was nothing in my upbringing to really influence this. We were Baptists, on a ranch, in Texas. I didn't know a single gay or transgender person, but here I am."

Him: "So your parents didn't know anything about it at all."

Me: "Nope."

Him: "It was all you, and from when you were a kid!"

Me: "Yeah! They were absolutely baffled when I started telling them I didn't feel like a boy or a girl. It was just how I felt, and they didn't understand for a second."

Him: "Wow. WOW. It really was just a part of you, huh?"

Me: "Yup."

Him: "It's just how you felt inside. Wow!"

I realize these transcriptions, if read looking for sarcasm, could seem disingenuous. But he sounded sincere. He sounded utterly, painfully sincere. He looked surprised, and baffled, but also rather excited. Like he'd learned something new and was happy about that.

We chatted about a few more subjects after that: he wanted to know what transgender means, and why transgender people feel the way they do, sometimes without having the language to accurately convey his questions. But I listened, and I tried my best to educate. I stressed that gender is something people feel, and it can be hard to understand, but that it's up to an individual to know who they are best. And he nodded along, and never once argued, and asked questions frequently along the way.

We get tired, though, all of us. I was tired, and even though he was still asking questions, I think he was reaching information fatigue as well. So eventually I walked back to something we'd discussed before that I thought he could feel good about. End on a happy note. That feeling would hopefully stick once we parted ways, and color the memory thereafter.

"Y'know, you mentioned empathy earlier," I said. "Walking in another person's shoes."

Him: "Yeah!"

Me: "I think it's OK to admit we don't always understand exactly what a person feels, or why they feel it. It's OK to say you don't really get it. But if someone is living their best life, and they're not hurting anyone, it seems like we should just let them live it. That's what we'd want for ourselves, right?

Him: "Yeah, I agree with that!"

Me: "Transgender people are less than 1% of the world's population, too. So when you see people getting really mad over transgender people, it's like...why are they so mad? We're just living our lives. Don't they have bigger issues to worry about?"

Him: "Oh yeah. Much bigger. You're right!"

The conversation ended after that; maybe a few more light remarks, but nothing worth noting. I invited him to ask more questions if he had them and if he saw me in the building again. He said he would, and he thanked me, and we parted ways.

I relayed the conversation to a friend not long later. They stared at me for a second before asking, "Why in the world didn't you just walk away?"

And the honest answer, at first, was that my migraine made thinking clearly too difficult! But once I focused up, I made the decision to continue the conversation.

My reason for staying will probably resonate with folks from various groups: I stayed because in that moment, I had become the Ambassador.

When encountering a person who seems to have never met anyone from your group, and they realize you are a part of that fabled minority, you are placed (whether consciously or unconsciously ) atop a pedestal. In that moment, you are not an individual. Like it or not, you have become the spokesperson, the mouthpiece, the Ambassador of your entire social group. Anything you say can and will be used against your entire social group by whoever has elected you the Ambassador. If you react poorly, or yell, or scream, that person may leave the interaction thinking everyone in your group will yell, or scream, or react poorly to them. If they deem you, the Ambassador, unreasonable or rude, they may think everyone in your group is unreasonable and rude. And they may carry that opinion with them into the world, and they may inflict that opinion onto someone else.

This is unfair, of course. It's awful. Because these questions are invasive, and personal, and uncomfortable. Reacting poorly would be totally reasonable when asked something so deeply personal. Boundaries are healthy, and if you don't feel safe enough to discuss your gender/sexuality with a stranger in a Trump hat, you should absolutely walk away. Your feelings come first.

I'm lucky, though. I have an accepting workplace, and people who love me exactly as I am, and a support system. My state is a terrible place for queer folks, but given the above, I have some insulation from the worst of it. I'm also gregarious, and I've had some training talking to people off the cuff. If there's anyone who can manage playing the role of Ambassador for the afternoon, it's me. I have the spoons, so to speak. I can be the Lorax for half an hour, and I can try (try!) to give the random dude in the warehouse a quick education on my community.

He's just one guy. But he may know others. And if you can get through to even one unlikely person, why not make the time to take that chance?

So that's what I did today. He might not remember the terms we discussed, or the finer details on gender expression, nor the difference between sex and gender. But I hope the man in the Trump hat remembers the queer person who spoke calmly, and treated him kindly, and didn't get upset when asked invasive personal questions. And maybe (just maybe), I hope in my optimistic little heart that if someone else in a Trump hat tells him transgender people are a scourge, he might remember me, the queer kid who wasn't indoctrinated and came from the same Texas roots he did, and say, "I dunno. They're just out there living their best lives. That's what we want for ourselves, right?"

I can only hope I read him right. I can only hope he was truly listening. But even if I was wrong in that, I'm still glad I took that chance. Big things have small beginnings, as they say, and it never hurts to be kind.

(The only lesson I didn't teach him was to be careful asking such invasive questions, but given this all started over a migraine, I don't think I would've had much luck on that front, anyway. Haha!)

[riririnnnn]

As I mentioned in my post earlier:

His cuff (that thing around his neck) is near transparent which gives us a lot of room to ponder since we don't exactly know what this chain even represent.

Taking Hiori as an example, let's suppose the chain represents the burden that holds back someone's true ego.

His cuff being transparent gives us two things:

1. It might be plastic which doesn't really make any sense if I were to be honest.

2. It is glass which makes a lot of sense because how's glass? Hell yeah, my geniuses, glass is really fragile which completely fits into what he said:

Further, in that volume cover, he has pulled down his collar which puts a lot of spotlight into his blue rose tattoo, and we all know what that tattoo symbolises for Kaiser.

In case you don't remember: Kaiser got this tattoo as a reminder to himself to never fall back into his weak mentality because Blue Rose symbolises the achievement of impossible, and he saw it as an example to turn impossible to reality since Blue Rose, itself, is artificial and defies the natural order.

What is said above can be found with a quick Google search:

But what grabbed my most attention is this panel:

WHY?

If he only wanted to push the soccer industry to despair, then why he is adamant about winning the Champions league and the World Cup?????

Also, contrary to popular beliefs, I don't actually think Kaiser has a superiority complex because, look:

What Chris said could be considered as an exaggerated way to rile someone, but isn't this, indirectly, exactly what Kaiser says after the Manshine City match ended?

Kaiser said something along the lines of, "BM's main character is Noa and it's impossible for me to be the current number one, that's why I came to NEL to use Isagi as a way to increase my value." He even went as far as to say that he is a secondary character in BM because BM is Noa's team.

I don't think so that anyone with superior complex will admit such real facts.

Further, why did he got so angry when Chris said those things? Isn't someone bound to be angrier if the other one was to point out their obvious weak point? So, does this mean, Kaiser actually got an inferior complex?

I'm not a psychologist, so I'm not dwelling too much into it.

However, there is another thing I want to point out:

So, because of that spreadsheet/official art of a very damaged soccer ball beside Kaiser's foot, the Fandom widely believes that Kaiser was poor while growing up .

BUT!

Being poor as a backstory has already been used three times: Naruhaya Asahi, Noel Noa, and Lorenzo Don.

I understand that in any sector with a lot of money and/or fame, there are many people who come from a poor economic background, but this is fiction, baby. No author wants anything be repeated to the point it feels overused.

That's why, I highly believe that Kaiser was either bullied or mistreated by his seniors when he started playing soccer which explains that he practiced fucking hard that the soccer ball was damaged, and also his supposed hatred towards the soccer industry. It also explains his long, unkempt hair because he was too indulged in practice.

OR!

It goes a bit darker, so proceed with caution:

Soccer somehow destroyed his family's peace just like the brotherhood of Itoshi brothers.

I may write about others in another post, but in this post, I would like to think that the person who destroyed his family's peace was his own father. It could be that his father was a soccer player himself and due to some circumstances, he fell off the soccer industry which took a toll on his mental health, and he started physically abusing either Kaiser, his mom or both.

Why physical abuse? Because Kaiser is shown having an affinity to choking.

If we get our minds out of the gutter, then there have been instances when he choked himself because he was frustrated. Also, didn't he say that he stroked his rose tattoo as a good luck before matches and compared it to, "as if tightening a noose," or something.

That's why, I kinda think that, AT LEAST, someone has choked Kaiser as abuse/bullying.

I'll rant about the above thing in another post tomorrow or some time later because I don't want this post to be too long, and also because I'm hungry af.

.

.

.

I remember a vivid dream when Kaiser threatened me to join BM.

[niobiumao3]

I've been thinking about the whole Crosshair and CX-2 situation, and I am beginning to wonder if, should CX-2 prove to be Tech, Crosshair didn't, in fact, know.

In an interview before the premiere, Michelle Ang mentioned Crosshair getting to see forgiveness and real love in the face of a great betrayal. Now, Crosshair's great betrayals are long past. So, is this some NEW betrayal? Is it someone ELSE betraying and being forgiven? CX-Tech fits the later very neatly, however, there might be another option: that Crosshair DOES know CX-2 is Tech, and has been not telling everyone because he blames himself for it happening and is sure they'll all turn him out the second they discover it (Omega included).

I'm of two minds here.

Crosshair didn't know, because Tech was put straight into conversion from medical care, and so Crosshair never saw him.

Crosshair DOES know, and feels black-hole sized guilt about it to the point where he can't bring himself to tell anyone.

In the #2 bucket goes a few things:

We see, repeatedly, that Crosshair isn't saying everything about Tantiss. This is as true for Hunter (the person always mentioning this) as it is for us, as our POV on Tantiss was almost exclusively Omega. Hunter knows Crosshair hasn't told them everything, and isn't going to push him except in specific instances where it really woulda been nice to know.

We do know that the CX conditioning is bad. Like, really bad, bad enough that wiping out your identity--not just the chip but like, you, yourself--is part of it. Or, so Crosshair says (and Tech in S2), though of course the truth of that might be more complex. This is reason enough for him to not talk about things. Except...

When Rex and Howzer explain they have a CX in custody Crosshair is immediately spooked. Then he's even MORE upset when he sees who it is. Or is it because of who it isn't?

If he knew CX-2 was Tech, and sees CX-1, he knows there is only one other CX they're sending after them, and the absolute last thing he would want is for them to have to kill Tech to get away. Or worse, kill the person who used to be Tech and can't be reclaimed (from his POV). Either way, from his POV, it is all bad news that CX-2 is inbound.

And as much as I feel Cross just isn't a hand to hand badass, at the end of his one on one with CX-2, he is clearly giving up. Everything CX-2 is saying is battering him emotionally and dousing the fight in him. Which makes a lot of sense, if he knows it's Tech.

For #1, well, the explanation is much simpler: we, and Omega and Crosshair, never see Tech in CX conditioning because he was in a bacta tank for part of it and then into a pod for the rest. He might have even converted quickly if we're to assume he had amnesia from the fall. (I suspect, should he prove to be CX-2, we won't get an explanation for this.) This actually would give Omega AND Crosshair some severe guilt, realizing when they escaped they left Tech on Tantiss in Hemlock's not-so-stellar care. It makes sense Crosshair would never want to go back--the conditioning sounds pretty awful. But then his reaction to CX-1 is a little less clear; we know there aren't very many CXes at this point, so why is THIS one such a concern to him? He just appears to be a reg. And CX-1's use of 'brother' is also very pointed. Which would make sense if CX-2 is Tech, who would have referred to Crosshair as his brother...

Anyways. We'll see if this pans out. I'd considered this might be the case even as I was like 'are we really doing that', and while I'm not a fan of this plot in the overall, like a cat being dragged outside on a harness for some enrichment I can grudgingly accept it. Mostly.

[qwertyprophecy]

The Illusion of Aggravating Player-ness

Pictured above: demo footage of me attempting to hit the Hero when their dodging program is turned to maximum. (I can only test this for so long before getting annoyed, which is exactly the vibe I'm going for.)

More about the feeling that has inspired The Dark Queen of Mortholme under the cut:

A couple years back I happened upon a tumblr post identifying a surprisingly common sentiment when playing Pokémon. The player has an edge over NPCs in battles for basically the entire game, because unlike those silly programmed losers we've figured out how to use healing potions. So upon getting to end game and witnessing our first case of the NPC trainer healing their Pokémon to full with a hyper potion, it feels like such bullshit. How come they get to do that? Only I get to do that!

There are instances of little details in many other games that evoke a similar emotion, like this one boss in Sekiro who can sneakily counter the player's charged attack with a move that till then only the player has been using. (Please let me know if you personally recall any examples!) The sheer audacity of non-player characters using player-only moves, being annoying as I am! It's a deliciously strong reaction that goes beyond the game's difficulty ramping up; I think it's about recognising ourselves, the essence of distinctly player-like behaviour in this fictional entity made from code.

While thinking about that I also happened to be mulling over what I considered a huge missed opportunity in the end boss of the game Katana Zero. Without spoilers, let's just say that it made me consider whether it would be even remotely doable to create a narrative boss fight against a player-like entity who appears to get to save and re-try the fight by themselves. In Undertale there's a brief illusion of a NPC saving and loading game states, but they don't quite do it like a player would.

The illusion would have to include a feeling that your opponent not only gets to try again but is learning from their mistakes. Furthermore it's specifically an advantage they have over you; you don't get to try again, nor do you get room to improve. And unlike them, your preprogrammed skillset is designed to have exploitable weaknesses and a static power level which can be surpassed.

No matter how skilled, you'd be doomed to lose against an opponent like that. The bosses we beat have it rough, huh. I myself am not particularly good at video games–when I try to get past a difficult boss fight in any game where those are designed to take a fair amount of attempts and learning, I feel in my bones that meta-level story of striving to overcome a seemingly impossible obstacle. It's a journey through various emotions from eagerness to frustration, culminating in the triumphant success.

But from the boss's point of view, that story takes a very different shape, involves different emotions, and (assuming the player keeps playing) invariably culminates in a predestined loss. Sounds unfun. So obviously, that's the experience I aim to provide! (Unfun games really are my forte, with my previous work simulating jubilant experiences such as job hunting blues! anxiety! exam anxiety! trying to fix a spaceship engine that's killing you!)

Who wouldn't want to enjoy being the most powerful being in their universe until some little dipshit bursts in and locks you in an unending battle till they’re satisfied and you’re dead?

[mrs-monaghan]

Can you show me jungkook being the best boyfriend ever

What tf kinda difficult question is this??? JK is an amazing fucking boyfriend. He shows up. This👏🏾 motherfucker 👏🏾shows👏🏾 up👏🏾 He puts the standard so high, making it look like we are all getting treated by our partners like garbage. This dude loves Jimin so much and has always been there for him in so many ways big and small and you want me to pick one moment?

Oh. Unless u didn't mean just one moment in which case forget all that 😁😁😁 here. Have this Jimtiddie as an apology

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Off the top of my head my dear anon;

Exhibit a) Dieting

So once upon a time, I'm sure we all know the story of how JK got Jimin to stop dieting unhealthily.

(Thanks @sarah2711)

Exhibit b) The live they did after their UN speeches.

V is the one who starts the whole thing by making fun of Jimin apologising after he made his mistake during his speech. (I already talk about JK being there for Jimin here) Other members chime in and at first Jimin is laughing with them. But then at some point he stops laughing, just sits there as they continue to make fun of him. Then he starts chewing on his nails which alot of the time is a sign of nerves

And he absolutely shrinks in on himself. Of course JK notices immediately and that's when he tells the members to cut it out. He tells them how they should be making Jimin feel better. Not making fun of him. Immediately all the members, at the same time, backtrack. They start praising Jimin and saying how they get it.

The whole thing is too long to clip but it all starts at 12:32 here

Because we don't talk about Yoonmin 😏 we have to note that all of them made fun of Jimin but JK only spoke up after Suga said this

🤭🤭

P.s RM also said something but the members only changed their tune after JK did. I have always found this moment so sweet. JK was being protective of his baby here of course. Which goes hand in hand with this post. JK just wasn't having it and I love to see it.

When Jimin was explaining himself,

JK was quietly listening. He didn't say anything until Jimin said this

And we all know JK doesn't like when Jimin is being self deprecating. So it tracks that he comfortingly says;

That, right there anon, was JK showing up like the amazing boyfriend he is.

Bonus with the Jimin jealous moment here. And yes, thats exactly what it was.

More instances of JK being protective of his bf by Kanmom here

Exhibit c) SEVEN

Yes. Seven. The summer song of the year. Love to watch it. Love to hear it. So, I think we can all agree its a sex song. Period. That's what it is. It's a proper love making song. A topic we love to discuss on this side of tumblr.... but, have we stopped for a second to explore the romantic side of SEVEN?

So we established SEVEN is basically satellite Jeon in a nutshell. Which that alone is quite big. Always wanting to be with your person, next to your person no matter what. But JK chasing after his love interest from beginning to end till she gives in shows;

He would do anything for the one he loves. He would walk through fire. Through storms. Go anywhere... if it means its for the one he loves. He is devoted, he is all in. Deeper than the ocean. And this is basically what this post is all about, really. JK's devotion for Jimin. Deeper than the God damn ocean.

Then we have this part

For those who dont know what that means by now, I'll give u a few seconds to go look up the meaning on Google. In the meantime the rest of us will enjoy this cute clip of satellite Jeon who started quite early

Oh you're back! Yes. We can proceed. 😁😁

So what we have discovered is that JK is a generous lover... a considerate lover... Puts his partner first. JK is a "it's okay baby, you can tend to me later, this is about you" kind of guy. He is the "I won't come until you've cum" type of dude.

In other words, his lover is the priority.

Now.

Jikook don't have an only fans so we haven't seen this in action and there4 have no way of knowing that JK is like this in the bedroom. BUT, considering the fact that he prioritises Jimin all the time, we have seen this happen, I dont see why we can't assume this part of him extends to the bedroom too! Right? Like, its gotta be the case.

JK would rather loose provided Jimin wins.

JK always prefering to walk slightly behind Jimin

JK would rather miss out on the last dish and let Jimin have it. (And we know this is huge coz mans loves his food)

Just to give 3 examples that show JK when it comes to Jimin... well, u know. Jimin comes first. Literally and figuratively 😏 So I'm gonna go ahead and politely insist 😂 that the same happens during Sevening. Mkay? Glad we agree 😁😁

Exhibit d) JK always looking to praise Jimin.

(Thanks @tarheelthings)

Jimin made the group ramen (his specialty) and as u can see JK was already telling him how perfect it tastes and yet he hadn't even tasted it yet. Even editors noticed 😂😂

Bv 1 finale no one praises Jimin's santa and he laments as much.

We know our Mimi loves to be complimented and praised; absolutely feeds off of that shit. And JK knows this which is why he immediately tells Jimin "yours is the best" Jimin is so happy to hear this, cheeses so hard that even the editors notice.

Gosh... he was so happy 🥺🥺 Jimin has a praise kink and JK is great at fulfilling this. Aaah. Shit. Now I'm wondering if this extends to the bedroom 🤔 I'm pretty sure it does 🙈🙈🙈

Okay ✋🏽 let's stop thinking about JK calling Jimin a good boy and move on, yes?

Btw, RM too recognises that Jimin loves to be praised and u will see him come through too. But JK is always faster so... 😁😁

Then we have ITS when JK tasted Jimin's food, once again, high praises.

And then when when Jimin says

JK replied "I know."

Something about this moment drives home to me the fact that Jimin doesn't cook well, at home. JK does. But we already knew this from Jin ("Jungkook is Jimin's chef")

On the topic of praises, when other members try to make fun of Jimin JK will quickly make sure Jimin knows he doesn't feel the same way. This and exhibit b are like sisters. They can go hand in hand 😆

So Bon Voyage season 1 Jimin was cooking for Jin. As soon as Jimin placed the plate on the table JK did not once take his eyes off of it.

And, this was after JK kept going to keep an eye on Jimin cooking even though they weren't team mates or nothing. I'm telling y'all, Jimin sits pretty at home while JK does all the cooking. Anyway, when Jin tastes the food he says;

But the way he says it, its like he's taking the piss. It wasn't complimentary. So JK of course went;

And he couldn't get to that dish fast enough

And he devoured the rest of it

While the rest, mind you, are still making fun of Jimin/his dish. But JK didn't give a shit. His baby had made that plate and by God he was going to enjoy every second of it.

Once again, to me, this cements my theory that JK doesn't get to eat Jimin's food often. He gets way too excited when Jimin cooks, can't wait to taste his food, etc etc.

Which brings us to our next example where one time Jimin brought the entire group cucumber drinks and they hated it. Jhope goes on to explain just how much they hated the flavor.

There is a chorus of all the members agreeing with Jhope and even Jimin accepts that the cucumber drinks were terrible. But low and behold, look what the boyfriend had to say about it

Timestamp 4:12 so u can see for yourselves just how much everyone hated those drinks.

(Thanks @tarheelthings and @chicknbunny13)

Look, in JK's eyes, Jimin can do no wrong, okay? To JK, Jimin is perfect and that's that. End of story: No further questions. This behaviour is what I was talking about on my whipped post here.

Exhibit e) When JK checks on Jimin.

I don't gotta show many examples of this we've all seen it. JK always craning his neck over members to see what Jimin is up to. He always likes to know where Jimin is, what he's doing, which imo is amazing boyfriend behavior if u ask me.

A moment I've never seen talked about anywhere from BV 1; JK comes into the RV to check on Jimin who's sleeping.

I know he came to check on Jimin because he walks in, takes a peak, then walks back out. Almost like he had confirmed Jimin was okay and now he could go about his business.

Tell me thats not the sweetest, cutest thing ever!

I've just uploaded 31 images n a video. I don't think tumblr likes me enough to allow me to do more so let's stop here. I hope your Jungkook praise kink has been fulfilled. It was my pleasure.😁😁

He really is a good man. The best. And Jimin deserves nothing less 😍😍😍

[agentoffangirling]

I have a bone to pick with characters who cause problems then run off and use their backstories as an excuse for everything they do. HOWEVER, there is a difference between well-written ones and badly-written ones. Let's examine Grant Ward and Sylvie Laufeydottir (this is gonna be long, bear with me)

Ward, in case you're not familiar with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., is a character who had a difficult upbringing. His parents adored his youngest brother and turned a blind eye to the abuse Ward faced under his older brother. He also was hurt by his parents, so safe to say he had a tragic backstory

Later on in his life, he was picked up by John Garrett, an undercover HYDRA agent. Garrett groomed Ward and manipulated him, and it wasn't long before Ward joined HYDRA as well

Now I am not defending Ward. He is an absolutely despicable character, he's literally a Nazi, he threw two characters into the ocean, became overally obsessed with one of the mcs when it was clear she didn't want him, and killed and kidnapped multiple people with little to no remorse. He also uses his backstory as an excuse for all this stuff, claiming he does it for "Skye", "Kara", "us". Grant Ward gets no sympathy from me

There's a notable moment in s2 where the S.H.I.E.L.D. team is forced to work with him again, and upon getting death stares from all of them, this conversation takes place:

Ward: "And I could stand here and explain again how my parents and brother left me vulnerable..."

May: "We all had our traumas, Ward. Didn't turn any of us into psychopaths."

...

Ward: "I mean, for a while there, we were a good team. Weren't we?"

Skye: "I'm still happy I shot you.

Simmons: "Yeah, me too."

Fitz: "Should've aimed for the face."

And the writers don't ever try to make it so Ward is justified in doing these things. Not just his actions, but also the claim that his backstory excuses it, because as you can see above, other characters point out that they had all been through their fair share of troubles, and they didn't turn out like him. They don't justify the shit they did because their life was hard. The writers do make it so that a watcher can sympathize with Ward, and they also make it very clear he is not correct in doing these things

He's also a very complex person in general. He has so many traits, some of them downright conflicting, but that's who he is. Tancheroen and the others show that very well, and almost everything he does is in-character. Ward is a very well-written bad character

Now we turn to Sylvie. Sylvie also had a difficult upbringing, but I'm not gonna be the one to compare whether or not hers was worse than Ward's. However, where we reach our first road block is that Sylvie has much less character traits than Ward. She's a lot simpler than him in terms of writing, but the creators act as though she's complex and conflicted when she's really not. That doesn't necessarily mean that she's a worse character. There's a lot the writers could do to improve on her or write her well. But they don't even try

Sylvie is not given anything new to do in season 2. Zilch. Nada. A big old goose egg. She could've been dealing with her conflicting feelings on killing He Who Remains, she could've picked up a new hobby or given a personal stake in all this Loom stuff. The writers could've written her so that she didn't know what she wanted since getting rid of HWO was her only task, and now that he's gone, she could go do what actually makes her happy. They had so many opportunities to expand upon her, but nope. She's just given a McDonald's uniform and ends up being the exact same person she was at the beginning of season 1. That's not growth. That's not anything

But hey, if they're not going to do anything with her, maybe they could try for a different angle in how others perceive her. Instead of always being seen as right, she could be seen as wrong in some instances. Fine, make her bitchy, but make it so that the characters call her out on it. Have the creator perception frame her as selfish and and rude. For example, instead of trying to justify her yelling at Mobius in episode 4, have Loki fire back. Say she held them up and only cares about herself in that fight. Say that for once, she should listen to others. Say that everyone has problems, yet they don't do her destructive actions and claim they're right. They didn't need to do the Grant Ward route on everything, but having a couple times where she is framed as him in AoS wouldn't be that bad

Sylvie is a badly-written bad character. Her lack of traits and staticness of arc make her come short compared to Ward, and the continued stubbornness of the creative team to always frame her as justified and right adds to this. I am not against tragic backstories, I am not against characters being bitchy, but I will always have a problem if they use said backstory as an excuse for everything they do

And if they do, then at least have the courtesy to write them well and for other characters to call them out

[trancetales]

On naming and language in creative writing

I've been thinking recently about writing and specifically, coming up with names and terms within the setting. It can be easy to think to yourself about your own, or indeed of someone else's, choices of terms and names when you're creating a world and setting. "This name is so uninspired", or "This term sounds stupid." You might think it stands out like a sore thumb because it isn't an overly flowery term. That is fine.

Have you ever thought that about real world things? If, like myself, you've found yourself thinking that way about such things, maybe looking at some real world examples with a little more scrutiny can help put some of those thoughts at ease.

Lets start by looking at a few real world terms, first of all. Lets say you have a magic system, and it depends on something that you've called "manapools". Its a simple name, and its to the point. Its not the most out there name, but why should it be?

Have you ever thought about that time at the end of the week? You know, when the week ends, and it becomes the "weekend"? Its what we really called it in English. Its not very creative, but its what we call it, and nobody bats an eyelid. Why should they? That's what its called. Nobody thinks "the weekend should be called something more imaginative.

Another example is the word "waterfall". It couldn't possibly be more straightforward. It is where water falls. Water is falling, so, waterfall. Simple enough, and even someone who doesn't know what a waterfall is could probably piece together that a waterfall is that bit where the water is falling.

This is especially the case when you're talking about a fantasy or scifi term that will be completely new to someone. You actually want someone to recognise the term at a glance and have an idea what's going on. Not just because it makes it easier for the reader to recognise it easily, but because its more convincing from a storytelling perspective - even if there's a more scientific word in the world, are people really going to be using it? Have you ever heard anyone talk about Trochilidae? Probably not. Because when people see a bird that's making a humming sound, they're going to call it as they see it. A hummingbird.

Next, I'm going to touch on place names. Maybe your big city is called "King's Court". Maybe you're thinking that its not very inspired, in a world of Arendelles and Coruscants. If so, you might want to think about two things - real world place names, and the origin of the place names in media.

So we'll start with those two examples. Firstly, Arendelle, the setting for the film Frozen. Yes, it sounds like a fanciful name, but in actuality, its just a regular name but in the language. One source suggests that Aren would translate as eagle, and Delle is derived from the word for Valley. So if it were a name in English, it would just be Eagle Valley. The other example, Coruscant, is a planet from Star Wars. It sounds fancy, sure. But its actually just, a word. An unusual one, yes, but its just a word. Star War also features a city called Cloud City.

It's actually even less creative in real life. Here in the UK for instance, we have 25 places named "Kingston". This is literally just a contracted version of "King's Town", and when they had to distinguish them, they just stuck a bit on. Kingston upon Thames and Kingston upon Hull just put the river they were next to. And then there's Kingston near Lewes. The town is literally just called, "King's Town. The one near that other town." And don't get me started on how many places were just named after Alexander the Great.

The final thing I want to touch on is days and months of the calendar. If you choose to deviate away from the real world calendar, it can feel tricky to get a month that sounds like a month, and days can be even harder. That is, like before, less glaring if you think hard about the real ones.

Starting with days of the week, the simplest point I can make is this. In German, the word for Wednesday is Mittwoch, which literally just means, midweek. They didn't even bother giving it an actual name.

For months, again, its easy to overlook it because of how used to it we are, but not only are half of them really unimaginative, but they're also wrong. Everything up to June is based on parts of the pantheon and such, but when we hit July and August, these are literally just because Julius and Augustus wanted months named after them. So these two are just slight alterations of their names. After those two, we have September, October, November, and December. These ones are just names after the number of the month. Dec, meaning 10, is famously the 10th month, of course... So, not only is it basically just called "month number 10", about as unimaginative as it gets, it is also wrong.

On thinking these points over, I've personally found myself thinking less critically of my naming in all areas. If the UK can have 25 King's Towns, why can you not have a King's Court. If we have Hummingbirds, why the heck wouldn't your people call that fire-breathing dragon a Fire Dragon? And nothing could be worse than the months we have in our real calendar. So don't sell your naming prowess short, because you can't do much worse than the Romans did.

[roseofhybrids]

i put a microphone near your face

how are you feeling after that md stuff huh

Well, the fact that it'll be the end of the series makes it a bit bittersweet, but it had to end at some point. If the story can be told in 8 episodes then so be it. 8 is a lot more than what I had a little over a year ago when I first decided to watch it

I've been invested in quite a few projects that I've never seen get a conclusion to (mostly webcomics, so so many unfinished webcomics). Which is probably where I got the patience to wait as long as I do for these sorts of things. It's easy to wait a few months for an episode to air after waiting multiple years for things that never came to be

Having an ending is much better than the limbo of always being stuck somewhere in the middle, just being left to wonder forever what was meant to happen. So I'm overjoyed that we'll get to see this story get a proper ending

But it is still bittersweet. The show will end, and for a lot of people that means the fandom ending too. I don't believe that's the case, no matter how old something is or how long it's been over for, I see no reason to stop getting as invested as one does with a brand-new piece of media. But still, not everyone can stick around forever. So I'm preparing myself for people to move on. It's sad, but as inevitable as the show itself ending. No matter how long-lasting a fandom, members will move on to other things eventually. Personally, I don't see myself stopping the fan art any time soon. I've never had a reaction to a show like this before. I've gotten really invested in things the same way before, but all those instances it eventually died down after a few weeks and I could stop binge-watching/reading the thing over and over and just be normal about it.

Murder Drones on the other hand. It's been well over a year at this point. I managed to pull my shit together after two weeks like I usually do, but a fraction of the intensity lingered. Now I'm here, with 109 post tagged "murder drones fanart" and 623 just tagged "murder drones" according to the Tumblr archive

I still get giddy rewatching the episodes, still have a long ever-growing list of drawing ideas, still think about the little robots on a daily basis. So yeah, I think I might just be stuck like this the same way I'm stuck forever liking animals, ghosts, and roller coasters. Eventually I'll have to get back to drawing my own characters and one day make my own comics and such. But as things stand, I can see myself still drawing MD art for years. One can only hope I can balance the two out

So yeah, how I'm feeling, Excitement for another episode and finally seeing how this all ends. Dread for the inevitable change, not looking forward to that part, (the joys of living with an anxiety disorder am I right fellas? c'est la vie, c'est la mort) and just a touch of nausea, because this is a lot of excitement after just waking up

so anyhow, gunna go watch the trailer on repeat a couple times and then see if I can't calm myself down a bit afterward

[velvetvexations]

There's this intuitive feeling around mpsec orientations that are like, "but that's just not what the word means!", but if you really dig in the issue is that orientations don't really make a lot of sense conceptually because they're inherently tied to binary sex.

For instance, I'm a trans woman. Yet, until I get my tits, anyway, if I'm not wearing a big red bow like Ms. Pac-Man it would be completely impossible to guess that just from looking at me. Because trans women are women, a lesbian could date me and keep her lesbian card, at least among trans positive crowds.

For TERFs, this sounds like a win at first, like I'm pointing out a way in which being trans doesn't make sense because if a lesbian is into someone who looks exactly like a cis man she can't be a lesbian, right? Except...cis lesbians have been made fun of, harassed, and terrorized for their masculinity as far back as can be remembered. Even straight women have been put through the ringer if they don't look feminine enough - I will, for the millionth time, point to Chyna - but among lesbians specifically there have been countless women who could plausibly pass for men if they put just a little bit of effort into it, and many did because being butch as hell is something to be celebrated even if they didn't frame their far-end-of-the-scale butchness as wanting to "pass for men". They could have.

So in both cases, trans or cis, being attracted to a woman who is identical to society's idea of a man is not a disqualifier from being a lesbian. "Political" or "mspec" lesbianism, identifying with lesbianism for a reason other than definitionally being attracted solely to people who identify as women, is the only way the idea of being a lesbian makes sense. It's the only way being gay or straight makes sense. Because gender is so arbitrary, there's no way to make it work unless you're willing to enforce a strict binary that very few queer people want.

Like if you think girls can/should only have soft delicate features and wear lipstick and dresses, fine, I guess it's logically consistent to say being a lesbian is physical attraction to a fixed, limited set of features. But if you're willing to broaden your horizons to any extent, what being attracted to a woman means quickly breaks down. A TERF would say it's physical sex that matters and something something AMAB vaginas aren't the same but I'd like to take a Kinsey Detector and scan a lesbian who loves getting strapped by a hyper-masculine butch to see where she lands.

So there are all these situations where we say "still a lesbian", even though logically the people who are into those girls should be plenty capable of being attracted other people. To bring it back to the trans point of view, I don't really understand how a lesbian could be attracted to me and then turn around and say lesbianism is based purely on what gender you're attracted to, while some would be viciously mean to her and accuse her of transphobia (which I would hate) if she weren't into me. Because what if, hypothetically, I woke up tomorrow and said "you know, I think I'm feeling more comfortable thinking of myself as a man these days " - that changes everything over night? That lesbian is no longer attracted to me when I change my pronouns? What if I had already been thinking that and I just didn't say anything about it, was she attracted to a man for a brief period of time?

Gender and how we classify attraction is just very, very arbitrary. Gender abolitionists see trans people as reinforcing gender, but I've always said that if they thought about it for two seconds they'd realize trans people are a deathblow to everything they hate about gender. They can't separate gender from sex so they see it as trans people wanting every girl who's not traditionally feminine to be boys and every boy who's not traditionally masculine to be women.

And, well, that's one reason I hate egg shit because yeah that is actually kinna doing that. It's at least reinforcing pink=girl mentality. Like to be clear, I'm not saying you can't associate girlhood with the color pink, I just think that when a cis man likes the color pink and you go "have you tried estrogen?" you're not just associating the two concepts but actively backing up the societal expectation that to like pink is to be a girl. It's like the difference between associating candy canes with Christmas and being convinced it's somehow already December again when you see peppermints being sold in the middle of March.

But other than that, which I've gone on the record against over and over, trans people are smashing society's concept of gender into pieces. "Orientation" as traditionally thought of must naturally also come down because it rests atop that foundation.

[vashtijoy]

I feel like you were asked about this but I'll ask just in case.

Does Akechi actually says "The same tactic is used in romance"? When you watch a TV after Nov 20

Hello! The answer is that yes, he really does:

Akechi 拠り所をなくしたところで、一番、敵だと思ってたやつが助け舟を出す。 yoridokoro o nakushita tokoro de, ichiban, teki da to omotteta yatsu ga tasukebune o dasu Once they lost public support, someone they thought was their greatest enemy lent a hand...

Akechi これ、恋愛とかの駆け引きと同じでしょう? kore, ren'ai to ka no kakehiki to onaji deshou? That's the same strategy used in romance, wouldn't you agree? [lit. that's the same sort of strategy as you'd use in a love affair or the like, don't you think?]

Have you ever thought, though, that this sounds like a huge red flag? "I swept in at their weakest point like I would do with a girlfriend"? Like, seriously, Akechi, you're discussing your pick-up artist activities on TV here? Do you really hang out with the guys on Central Street? not that I don't think this is pretty much the approach he would take

There is, of course, something lost in translation here.

駆け引き kakehiki does mean "bargaining", or "strategy". But that's not what it means in context:

「駆け引き」とは、気になる相手を振り向かせるために、押したり引いたりするテクニックのことですが、女性は相手の気持ちを確かめたくて不安になる気持ちから、「駆け引き」をする場合があると言われています。 kakehiki is a technique where you act hot and cold to make someone you like pay attention to you. Women in particular may use it out of anxiety, to test the feelings of their partner.

kakehiki is not just "a strategy". It's specifically acting on-again off-again to keep someone on the hook. Now, this is what Akechi has been discussing in his interview—how he opposed the PTs and then later supported them. So while "the same kind of strategy" etc is not really a mistranslation, the original line is explicit that it's about this on-and-off hot-and-cold manipulative method.

I don't get the impression that kakehiki has the crazy-ex-girlfriend vibe that it would have in English-speaking culture, btw; it seems like a much more acceptable thing. Which makes Akechi's line far more innocuous.

Akechi also says ren'ai to ka—"romance and so on". So this is not just a technique used in romance.

"it required a lot of courage"

One more thing I think is worth highlighting from this interview:

Akechi: Honestly, it required a lot of courage to openly oppose them when their popularity was at its peak. Akechi: I mean, people often lashed out at me online and whatnot.

Akechi has two TV interviews between 11/20 and the engine room. Especially in the second, he's doing what he always does—he tells the truth, while dressing it up. He tells you what really happened, while making it sound like something else.

This is why so many of his lines end up having two or three meanings. For instance, in the "unwanted child" interview, he says "It did make me feel somewhat dizzy... Perhaps my mind was worked up due to the major task I had undertaken"—all of which, of course, is true. He's just omitting to mention what that task was.

So what about drawing the PTs in and betraying them required courage from Akechi? Please don't tell me he was scared of people being mean about him online, though he won't have enjoyed it at all and I'm sure it did give him a bad time.

Was it just that he had to kill two people in real life, face-to-face?—something that, deplorable as it was, would have called for untold levels of resolve. Was it the depth of personal deception and acting talent that the whole Sae's Palace arc demands of him? Or was it something deeper? Something that spoke to deeper things in him, like his need for connection, and friendship? Like his need to be part of a group?

The more I look at the events surrounding Sae's Palace and 11/20, the more I think Akechi struggles with them on a personal level, and that he's supposed to be portrayed that way.

finishing up

Here's the scene:

Notice, as they say, that his face never moves—the sprite never changes, his voice never wavers. This is almost routine; Akechi's TV manner is much more neutral and serious on the news than it is on daytime TV.

The thing is, Akechi isn't being interviewed as an expert here. This is a personal interview: "tell us how you caught the PTs, Akechi-san". It has much more in common with his daytime appearances. And honestly, it's not unprecedented for Akechi to show a little bit of emotion even on the news. You can see this on 7/18, when he's interviewed about Medjed. He doesn't get excited, but he does vary his sprites:

So this lack of affect on 11/23, while not eyecatching, is peculiar. Because what's the context of this—what else is going on? Akechi is a hero now. He's brought an end to the terror of the Phantom Thieves. People are screaming his name; he is everywhere. He has almost everything he ever wanted, right?—though the last thing, the big thing, is still just around the corner.

You'd think he could manage at least a smile, whether the leader of the PTs just committed suicide or not. You'd think he could at least sound enthusiastic. And you can tell, actually, that he's trying for that. That "it's the same strategy used in romance" is classic daytime TV Akechi. It's the sort of thing he says with a wink to knock down cooing presenters on rainbow couches.

But he doesn't even smile. He doesn't really even change his tone. He could be reading from an autocue; his mask is locked in place. And in his next and last interview, we'll get a glimpse of what's going on behind that mask—and exactly how not self-satisfied it is:

[kyouka-supremacy]

hi! I've been going through your blog and I love all your analyses, we may not agree on everything but it's definitely fun to read and eye-opening and I'm grateful to see someone looking into bsd with such depth and whipping out whole essays <3

On that note. There was a fan theory I read when dead apple came out (for the life of me I cannot remember the source, if anyone knows please tell me) that Atsushi's healing ability applies only to the injuries caused by other abilities, and he can't heal from non-ability things like guns etc. The op cited the scene in ch18 where Atsushi is caught in a shooting, and healed by Yosano in the next chapter.

This theory came about because 1) in dead apple, Shibusawa says that the tiger is "the antithesis to all abilities" and "the ability everyone desires." Then we never get the reason why Shibusawa was so obsessed with Atsushi. And 2) in ch7 after sskk's first encounter where Atsushi's leg is severed, Yosano takes a look and thinks "there's no scar, it's more of a restoration than a regeneration."

The gist of this is that I like the idea of Atsushi not being 100% invulnerable. And, if his is indeed the antithesis to all abilities then I'm excited to see what that entails; it implies that in the face of a time travel ability, he would be able to turn back time (if he knew how to use it ofc, cough Fukuchi fight cough). If the book is tied to an ability, Atsushi may be able to undo changes done by the book? he may also nullify Dazai's nullification? idk this opens many doors. Anyway! this is my fave bsd theory. I think, with how Akutagwa's ability sort of completes Atsushi's, and with the whole Rashomon being able to eat space, maybe with this development it will also "eat" a portion of the timeline, as in, undoing the events that occurred? is this making any sense? sorry for the rant I'd love to hear what u think, thanks <3

Hi!! Thank you for your kind words, they mean a lot!!! Could this be the post you were looking for? Funny enough, it was at the very top of my reblogs queue. Indeed, it's an extremely insightful theory!!!

So, there's a lot to unpack here. Ever since I've read that theory, I've found Yosano's thoughts regarding Atsushi's healing from chapter 7 extremely interesting. It's curious, because the nuance gets completely lost in the official English translation:

(Raws → fantranslation → official Yen Press English translation). As you can see, the meaning gets totally lost in the last one. It almost makes me wonder if it was an intentional change due to the fact that the plot point won't be brought up in the manga in ten years (much like opting out of adapting the Steinbeck Guild uprising in the anime, since that plot point has been apparently discarded), but I hope that's not the case.

All taken into account, I don't think it's a stretch to say Atsushi's ability, due to his quality of denying other abilities, can only quickly regenerate as far as other abilities wounds go. When I was reading the manga I thought it was only plot convenience and suspension of disbelief, but taking a closer look perhaps the pattern of wounds not caused by abilities taking longer to heal isn't coincidental: it already happened with the wounds he suffered from in the orphanage, which ended up leaving scars (chapter 28), with the Guild's attack, which was of unknown nature but required Yosano's help to heal (chapter 18-19), with Twain's sniper attacks, which as the theory's Op point don't seem to have healed immediately (chapter 29). But in my opinion it's still too little instances to be able to affirm with certainty that it's not just coincidences dictated by plot convenience.

I do have a feeling there must be Something to Atsushi's ability. it can't just be tiger transformation and wounds regeneration. He's the protagonist, and leaving it at that, that's about the lamest ability of them all (sorry!! I love him still!!). I like the idea of Atsushi's ability being truly special, carrying qualities that have yet to be unfolded that make it different and somehow above the other abilities. I really think it'd be the most satisfying progression narrative wise, because so far Atsushi has gotten really little to claim for his protagonist role, being constantly overshadowed by Dazai; but he's the main character still, and it's like the story itself is waiting to reveal what makes him special. And there being something special to his ability has been, though subtly, consistently underlined: the extraordinary bounty on his head that nothing about what we know seems to explain, the fact that the Guild wanted to capture him specifically, the no further elaborated on fact that he's the key to finding the Book, Shibusawa's concern with him and, most importantly, the ability's quality of tearing through other abilities. Like, that feels very relevant; it's different from Dazai's nullification ability in the way it doesn't just temporarily nullify the other ability, but straight up denies it. I feel like in a manga that is so littered with meta commentary on literature, it'd be fitting to have an ability that denies other abilities' very existence, like moving an eraser through the page. It's certainly interesting to think about. And I like the concept of Atsushi's ability as an alternative to Dazai's nullification ability. Dazai has been feeling invulnerable so long, it would be gratifying to contemplate the existence of something that's outside of his sphere of influence, and potentially even more powerful and destructive than he is.

Again, there's already so many elements that make it impossible to ignore the uniqueness of Atsushi's ability; but even then, they're still so sparse and obscure it's really hard to take a guess on what it could really be about, or what is the reason why it's special. There's so much space for speculations - a connection with the book, a singularity, a God-like ability just to name a few -, but in my opinion none of them have any concrete enough canon basis to leave space for theories. I think I'd rather limit myself to say it would make a lot of sense for it to be an ability superior to other abilities, since it's something that has the power to tear through abilities themselves, and I believe that such quality is also coherent with its link to the Book as another ability-originated, extremely powerful object. The ability's power to rewrite reality, if only to a smaller extent compared to the Book, may further hint to its connection to the Book / being originated from the Book / sharing origins with the Book. When the ability immediately helps Atsushi regenerate from ability induced wounds he is lowkey rewriting the story to portray a reality where Atsushi wasn't hurt, and when he tears abilities apart it is lowkey rewriting a story where the ability didn't exist. In that, I believe it wouldn't be too far-fetched to draw similarities with the way the Book works. This also made me realize that where it's confirmed that the Book's altered reality to the point of changing the ada's memories so they remembered committing the terrorism crimes, I'm pretty sure that we never got the confirmation the same happened to Atsushi. Then, what if the book can't have effect on Atsushi due to his ability, but only on the reality surrounding him.

So yeah. I'm curious to see how this will unwrap, although I have my doubts I'll still be around when it does (man, the manga is going to take another six months just to catch up with the last anime episode, so you know). I really really like the concept of Atsushi's ability developing in a way that will make it more functional in a rematch against Fukuchi. I've been advocating for a sskk vs. Fukuchi rematch for years at this point, and it seems like we will indeed be getting it; and sskk BETTER win it this time, it wouldn't make any narrative sense to be otherwise. But to do that they'll have to overcome their biggest disadvantage that is Shintou Amenogozen's time manipulation, so you know!! Looking forward to see a sskk that is now mature and experienced unveil new skills to their abilities.

[lore-of-the-mushroom-kingdom]

Miyamoto Banned Mario Using The Peace Sign Because He Thought It Was Too Kiddie

So in an interview that can be found Nintendo World New called Shigeru Miyamoto Speaks: An Interview Between Itoi and Miyamoto from 1999. In this interview it's revealed that there's been a ban on Mario using the peace sign. This is why in Super Mario 64 DS Mario can be seen making it, but in later games like Super Mario 64 DS Mario does not make it at all.

So in this interview Miyamoto reveals that the reason he put a ban on it is because he believed it would make Mario seem too kiddie. and he didn't like people thinking Mario was just for kids. "First off - that he doesn't give the peace sign. Also that he isn't always smiling and laughing too much for no good reason. About that 'peace sign ban,' that’s something I've been saying for a looong time. (Laughs) Our Tezuka-san, he likes that so he's put it in the games from the beginning, but in the later games it's permeated too much - to the point where when you think Mario you think that, 'He's the guy that gives the peace sign for his winning pose.' So I'm saying now, let's get rid of that sooner rather than later.

Well, and part of the source of that is that Nintendo is generally said to be 'kiddie.' But even if that's a promise we want to keep to our audience, I don't think it means at all that making Mario do the peace sign is going to bring in the kids. I dunno, maybe the company being in Kyoto is another detriment."

In addition, in this very interview Miyamoto talks about how he envisioned Mario, and his thoughts about Mario being a kids thing. "I created Mario when I was 27 years old. At that point in time he was in no way something that I would feel embarrassed about - I mean, he was already this older guy, like your uncle or something! (Laughs) It was meant to be the kind of game that 18 year old guys would be able to play together and enjoy, so I felt this disconnect when he started being forced into this more elementary school focused, narrowed role. If, for instance, you're talking about Yoshi in a product like Yoshi's Story, it makes sense to narrow the target age group for that, and I think that's fine, but for me, I felt like Mario was something a bit different. So I feel like I want to bring it back to that point, that I don't want to limit the age group of the game from our end."

This interview explains many things, and is also something I like. It has become a very common notion amongst people that the Mario Tales is just a kids thing, just the funny wahoo man jumping around rescuing a Princess from a turtle. Often being considered by many people on not having lore or any actual story to tell, and if it does have a story then it's basic. People often compare Mario's story to the story and lore of the Zelda games or Sonic Games. With the only time people treating the Mario Tales like they have any lore is in hypotheses of what if Mario is the bad guy.

But on the other side you have people who acknowledge the lore and deeper aspects of the Mario world as seen in the RPG games, but completely disconnect them from the Canon of the Mario Tales. Or in the case of Paper Mario they place the blame on the Paper Mario series shift on Miyamoto. When in reality it was solely Intelligent Systems, and Miyamoto told Intelligent Systems the gameplay of Sticker Star wasn't fun and that they should change it. Or when people simply claim Miyamoto hates story when he says he puts gameplay before story, ignoring what he means by that as they misusing what Yoshiaki Koizumi said.

This interview shows people's beliefs about the Mario Tales and Miyamoto are just wrong. In addition this explains all the various mature and dark themes that show up throughout the series, the kind of thing that makes people say "they put this in a kids game?"

[mikodrawnnarratives]

A while ago I got my mom to read renegades and since then she's been my person I get to converse about renegades with since my sister still has yet to get her ADHD to behave and read it

And in one such conversing moments where I went insane Abt Maggie for a good half hour I put together another thing that makes Magpie just so fucking intriguing

Alongside how much mystery her character has, which I've talked Abt before, literally the moments we see her character always feels like they are leading to something

She is building. What we see of her are the stepping stones for future focus

We get the building hints towards who she actually is during the series (which I'm slowly compiling for a future post) which culminate to THE BULLET and the EPILOGUE

(Forgive me if I go on a tangent here but) Nova is the perspective we see most showcasing Maggie and it isn't favorable AT ALL most of the time, but the little bit of build up we get is still intriguing. We find out more and more about MAGGIE through Nova, building up her background slowly and the last time Nova and Maggie interact Nova is the kindest she's ever been to Maggie.

Something stops her from leaving Magpie after Callum dies. Which I interpret as: NOVA sees her younger self in Maggie in the moment she sees her crying. Nova's seen herself in Maggie before this, in a negative way. She renegade that shouldn't be there, that doesn't fit the morals, should be punished, they act similarly stubborn, have their secrets that aren't anyone's business, etc.

But STILL there is that building that doesn't get as much of a conclusion as it could

Adrian's scenes with Maggie clue into how much POTENTIAL she has, how she COULD be a villain she's TROUBLE, that are working on it and he hopes to see her change but there's a risk

The Epilogue in it's own right is a conclusion in many ways as much as it is HEAVILY building up for more in the future. Leroy's inclusion hinting at him and Maggie interacting in the future for instance.

It's part of why the ending is so good damn INFURIATING. We get confirmation that Maggie = Evie, backed up by the clues that have followed it and by the stories matching beat for beat, AND YETTTT it's still not explicit. We are still left hanging by the fact neither party KNOWS. We can't know FOR SURE until it's stated explicitly instead of cluing us in.

(How do I know this isn't just a red herring and MM is playing us all for FOOLS?! Well it's the more interesting option AND MM has posted a vid showing her sketchbook for planning books and on one of the pages outlines a different epilogue where the clues were more explicit/Maggie's tie to the Artino family was another bracelet only David could create if my memory serves me right)

Much of what makes Maggie a character building up to things are the INSANE amount of similarities she has to both Nova and Ace Anarchy (I will make a post for everyone one day) and it leads us to be unsure about where she is going.

Is she going to end up on the path Nova took at the beginning of the renegades trilogy? Where she ultimately changes her ways to strive for more peace now alongside friends she's never had before?

Or will she go down a path like Ace Anarchy's? She's already changed her name, she's already been tossed away by the world, she has the backstory and same power for it. She has the interest in the helmet, the glint in her eyes, she's described as much to be trouble, that she could be a decent villain and it's "best not to give her ideas in case she hasn't thought of it herself"

Leroy's implied future connection to Maggie doesn't narrow it down between which option since he could act for both. He was one of the first to follow Ace, yet also an important figure in Nova's life. WHICH WAY WILL MAGGIE GO or will it be a THIRD OPTION we can't predict?

All we know is she's being set up for SOMETHING

Now for another separate point, Maggie is a young character when we first meet her-

.

okay. Ig technically she was a baby when we first meet her but

AS MAGGIE she's introduced as 10 years old, most likely soon to be 11. In Cinder's Adventure, while the book isn't necessarily canon, it's interesting how it's a four year time skip. She's described as looking to be 14-15 years old. Not quite the age Marissa Meyer writes her female protagonists BUT IS THE STEPPING STONE TO IT: 16-18 years old.

Cinder's Adventure is CHALKED FULL of hints to what the future of the Renegades universe might entail and Maggie is FAR from absent from that. We get more of her character, interesting choice to give focus to MAGGIE of all characters wouldn't ya think. We get to know where she spends most of her days, her schemes, reinforcing her connection and ATTACHMENT to CALLUM. Again, out of all the things to show, MM shows us what could only be set up. Callum's murder was indirectly Maggie's fault, even though she thought giving him the helmet could help, she'd have been a hero. By the epilogue she implies she sees herself as far from that now. Someone destined to be a villain.

MM also builds on how we'll likely see a relationship of some sort between Max and Maggie. From the epilogue we get Maggie noticing Max and having interest and now we've built to what their dynamic might be like once they've actually MET. Since the events aren't canon, I'm left to guess this is to set up and tease what is to come

And also we literally get a line from her where she says she's waiting to tell her story.

Her character is literally build up, the Renegades Trilogy IS her backstory.

Okay Kind of ish... Some important parts at least since there's no way Callum's murder didn't do psychic damage to that 11 year old

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "The Occupation"

We return one final time to Lothal for the beginning of the end.

Live reaction version.

God, Ezra looks and sounds so stressed. He's nearly at his breaking point when it comes to waiting for the Alliance to help Lothal, hell, even just for news on Lothal. He probably feels like the Alliance has abandoned his people and even if he nominally understands that everywhere is suffering and there are so many other worlds that need help it still hurts that he can't do anything for his planet and people.

Is it a little bit selfish of him? Maybe. But also the Alliance wasn't taking the TIE Defender project nearly as seriously as they should have, if nothing else they should have been replanning the Lothal attack for that ASAP.

A lovely undercurrent this episode is just how concerned for/over Ezra Sabine is, and this is the first instance, her gaze lingering after him when he turns in his seat glumly.

Pretty Yavin is pretty.

Mon offering Ezra the chance to go back to Lothal is pretty much the best solution she could have given him. It's relevant and important to the Alliance, since it involves the TIE Defenders, and it gives Ezra the opportunity to help his people he's been so desperately after. It even works out that the Alliance won't be able to extract them because Ezra is perfectly willing to stay behind Imperial lines there. Which I think Mon knew. She only sounds a little mildly disappointed that the WHOLE Ghost crew is going, likely because Hera's proven to be such a good squad leader and pilot and it would suck to lose contact with her.

But she accepts their decision anyway.

Love that we bring so many characters back for the final season. Hi Vizago!

Rex and Zeb needed to interact more, especially if we get hilarious exchanges like this.

A moment of appreciation for their disguises

And oof that is a visual gutpunch. Ruined Lothal looks almost hellish. Red replaces blue and amber, fires and smoke burn constantly.

The last time we saw Lothal, the mining crawlers hadn't begun stripping the surface of the planet yet, so this gives us a sense of just how much the Empire was ramping up its production. I don't even think they limited it to the factories in Capital City, probably built more facilities in cities all over the planet just to accommodate the workload.

In any case, it's no wonder the Loth-wolves decided to reemerge. This kind of ecological devastation is absolutely certain to arouse the wrath of ancient nature planet-guardians.

And they've built orbital construction stations too, ngl, I'm pretty sure that was deliberate in order to visually remind us of the first time we saw Geonosis. Perhaps to invoke the same sense of borrowed time? Because with how thoroughly they're sucking the planet dry, even if Palpatine hadn't pulled the TIE Defender funding, Lothal would not have been able to sustain that level of production for long. The planet would have become a broken, polluted, empty husk.

:(((((((

Once again Star Wars leaning heavily on the Nature vs. Careless Industrialization theme. (Like half the Visions shorts feature it to some degree, I'm not surprised.)

Right so even though they didn't find Rebels on Vizago's ship, they arrested him anyway because of the pufferpigs and gang-pressed him to work on a mining crawler.

Rebels said government stifling of private industry is unjust. Again. Lol.

Jhothal does not have the countless "occupied territory" holobanners, but it does have video propaganda service announcements playing constantly.

"The Empire wouldn't do anything to Old Jho. The people wouldn't stand for it." Ohhh honey you would be surprised just how much tyranny the average person is capable of tolerating. Also that's probably why they have an enforced curfew now.

We now begin the portion of the episode that I affectionately call the Sabezra Bar Date. XD

Aaaaaand another visual gutpunch. I had to go back and check but even the lighting and paint have been changed to a standard, washed out Imperial gray. Also note that there are no civilians (at least until Jai reveals he's there). This is no longer a functioning small business serving the local community, it's a state-run facility servicing members of the state.

It's sickening.

There is so much arm-touching this episode I was spoiled.

No but seriously, has Sabine ever been this physically touchy with him? She's already hyper-aware of how upset he is about Lothal, perhaps the constant comfortable touching is a way to comfort and reassure him?

-snrk- Still hilarious how they brought back Baron Valen Rudor. For once the Rebels do not ruin his day personally.

"We don't get many civilians in here anymore." Hey. Hey maybe it's because you're a bar and there's a curfew enforced so civilians can't get to the place. Just a thought.

RIP Jho, godspeed.

Head empty, no thoughts, just Kanera. And maybe a little bit the "You could always see me."/Sabine Sees Ezra parallels.

Love this subtle moment so much. Sabine noticing immediately how Ezra's hands curling into tight fists on the counter, gently touching his arm to calm him, get his attention before he does something rash.

Even when they turn to go she puts her hand back around his wrist, holding onto him, anchoring him. <333333

IIIIIIIIII thought there was a curfew in effect are they just going to let the kids... leave?

(Perhaps "going home" is one of the few valid reasons to be out after curfew?)

Jai did, ah... not age well.

FHKASJFHAKS EVEN IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES EZRA GETS PICKED ON BY TROOPERS JEEZ.

Love how even when given the opportunity to divide forces a different way Ezra and Sabine just naturally gravitate to the same team. <3

Also love that the Lothal rebels adapted Sabine's starbird as their callsign. Not to be all Other Fandom Parallels but it makes me think of how the other Districts started marking things with the mockingjay in Hunger Games.

The little wall-bounce parkour and twirl Ezra does taking out that one probe. <3

The despair in Ezra's voice here. Taylor makes it sound like Ezra's about to cry,

Sabine immediately reaching out to him. <3

Again with the touching, this time with bonus talking him out of his negative self-spiral, repeating his own words of hope back to him.

Badass family shot. <3

That Extra little twirl Ezra does as he bats down one last blaster bolt. <3

The beginning of Ryder's misgivings about their chances. Honestly, it definitely feels like the Alliance has mostly given up on Lothal and considers it a lost cause, because even with the proof that the Defender is going to absolutely wreck havoc on them in space combat they still need to be talked into attacking the factories by Hera.

So yeah, understanding Saw and Ezra's frustrations with the bureaucracy of it.

"We've done it before. We can do it again." Help I am thinking back to how Ezra remotivated himself in "Path of the Jedi". "Yeah... again. Been alone before, survived, I can survive this." *sobs*

Apparently Sabine's pep talk worked. :)

Ahhhhh I love this episode so much! The music is great, the animation has lovely subtle soft moments, the action setpieces have so many nice little unique bits (Zeb dragging that probe along the wall was great) and even if seeing Lothal in such bad shape hurts it emphasizes how badly the Spectres are needed.

Ezra did need to return home because, as it turns out, he and Kanan are the only two ones who can actually save Lothal.

Up next, romantic wolf rides! I mean what?