#I don't remember if it's explicitly stated in-game anywhere

[zylphiacrowley]

Because of my specific brand of brainrot and my desire to know more about Shetona lore in general, I was trying to figure out what Erenville's home might have looked like pre-dome and how Tesh'pyani village might have operated. Literally all of this is just my guesses, most of which are barely even educated ones. OTL

below the cut to save your scroll wheel

In case you can't read my handwriting my notes in the bottom right say:

-Unsure about sleeping area? -I assume it was only Cahciua and Erenville living here. -There is a much larger structure across the street (communal dining/recreational space?) -chimney, but unsure about if there's a fireplace.

The only intact structure inside is the thing I have labeled "bench/bed?" and some built in shelving in the walls. I think that the structure that I have labeled "bench/bed?" is actually a bench and there might be the remnants of a table in front of it (or that could just be the rubble from deterioration of the home). I am def not sure about that tho because even using the intact houses in The Outskirts make it hard to tell what that particular structure was used as. Some places it looks like seating, some places it looks like a bed. ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭

There's only 5 structures total in the village (which I partially owe to the restrictions of how big the map could be and how much real estate the village could feasibly be able to take up in-game). 3 of the 5 structures are smaller. My theory is that those 3 smaller ones are all individual family homes, and the larger structures might have been more like a community hub, or community leaders residence? Maybe both?

The houses in Tesh'pyani village are also pretty much identical in structure to those in Luwateninyawawsa in Shaaloani (pictured below) but you can't actually enter any of those houses (╥ ω ╥)

Anyway this is all just my probably barely coherent rambling and turning over game lore in my brain (I also need to do more side quests which might uncover more lore [yes I've done the BTN/MNR Wachumeqimeqi quests, but I haven't done the last big Wachumeqimeqi end quest yet]). I'm just starving for more Shetona lore Square Enix pls!

Quick edit to add that if you have more solid theories or knowledge on the subject please feel free to add your input! I'm literally just throwing out my string-of-consciousness ideas here.

[staticofthetv]

Take two!

Favourite frames from the new B-Side chapter, featuring some analysis because I have coherent thoughts this time 'round :D

Beware, spoilers below for the B-Side as well as the manga

@veiled-bird that goes for you too, you're nowhere near meeting this guy yet

First up, I love this chapters art. It reminds me of when I was little and asking my dad to help my brother and I beat the last level of episode 3 in lego star wars tcs

Also the chapter title? I have so many thoughts, they'll be discussed more in depth further down but they will be discussed /pos

Numbers weapon 1 mention!! I'm very excited to (hopefully) get more lore about it. Although I am curious if it's like a contact lens or something, I thought it was closer to a surgical implant or maybe some weird side effect from using numbers weapon 1. Mostly because I don't think he's been drawn with normal eyes yet in the manga (at least from what I remember)

Either way very much hoping we get some more numbers weapon 1 lore in this :)

This whole scene but specifically "what good does a test proving I'm abnormal do" hits so hard, especially as someone diagnosed with ADHD in my late teens. Having that feeling of there's something wrong with me for so long and being brushed off every time because I didn't act like the stereotypical 10 year old boy with severe ADHD (a psychiatrist literally told me and my mum i probably had adhd but she wouldnt diagnose me,) I did start to kind of give up on ever figuring it out.

Narumi was incredibly relatable to me in the main manga (not because I'm a badass, I'm very lame lmao) because of the behaviours he exhibits, hyperfocusing on games, constant dopamine seeking (through videogames and online shopping,) needing to be fiddling with something to better process the information being given out, etc.

Narumi is also incredibly smart, its stated explicitly that he got top scores in the entrance exam and I can't imagine those tests are anywhere near easy. It gives neurodivergent kid being told they just need to apply themselves to do better in school/make friends/just function in a neurotypical way in general.

This also comes from his being kicked out of several orphanages, and then even after joining the defence force (especially after being told by Isao that they take anyone that can show skills and results) getting kicked out by the second division and every platoon in the first until he ends up under hasegawa. Considering the title too this is 100% supposed to read as the classic "troubled kid" (many of which are neurodivergent) that not many are willing to put effort into helping. Isao is giving him a way out of the life of having no home to go back to, only to be struck with the threat of getting kicked out once again a year later. Narumi is a very skilled and capable fighter and no one in their right mind would argue with that and it once again all comes down to being labelled as too difficult, hard to work with, never paying attention

This chapter just hits so close to home with me

Baby Mina!! I know there's a decent amount if it in the manga but it's still weird to see her with short hair. I love her so much

There are many more words of appreciation I have but all thought went into dissecting Narumi's character lol

And so being kicked around by hasegawa begins

I love his face here, top tier expression

And here we see Isao solidifying the thought of skill and results being all that matters, there's no way Isao was going to let Narumi get kicked out, especially not after showing aptitude for handling numbers weapon 1. I like to think at this point he does also care for Narumi, I think he sees a lot of Kikoru (or what she could be) in him and especially he sees himself in Narumi. And even though he's only ranked captain Isao would clearly fight to keep Narumi on the force (he probably already had to for Narumi to get transferred to the first division instead of just being dropped when he didn't mesh with the second)

This is also the beginning of Isao and Narumi's mentor/mentee relationship, Isao knows exactly how to handle Narumi and his child prodigy-ness and help him reach his potential as a defence force officer. I think that's part of why Isao shows little care for how Narumi handles himself when off duty, it may be that he knows he can't change Narumi in that way, it may be that he himself just doesn't care for all the professional decorum, either way Isao plays the very important role of being Narumi's main support while he's in the defence force (until Isao dies anyway, whoops.) Narumi needed a space where he could not only be himself but be accepted for it and have the trust of his peers and superiors that he would get the job done when he needs to, and whether it was on purpose or not Isao provided exactly that for him.

This also ties back into the earlier ramble about Narumi being the typical undiagnosed neurodivergent "troubled kid"

(Also the origin of what Narumi says to Kikoru ~9 years in the future :D)

Omg jaeger is canon? Kaiju no. 8 and pacific rim crossover when? /j

Another interesting tidbit about Narumi is his self confidence, he knows he's capable and isn't afraid to tell people that. He says playing support is annoying but what I see is someone that knows he can do better placed somewhere else and has decided to take that into his own hands. He won't get kicked out of the defense force but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets into a shit ton of trouble for taking Isao's words to heart and disregarding his orders, even though I do think he'll be an asset to the battle and perform better being closer to the front lines.

Poor hasegawa has his work cut out for him keeping Narumi in check (a captain and vice-captain match made in hell)

[misc-obeyme]

You know that thing Barbatos does when he has incredible luck and uses it in MC's favor? Yeah, I love that.

(Screenshots are from celestialrealms except for the nightbringer chat, which I took.)

So it's canon that he has excellent luck, and while some people would use this to their own advantage and gain, he will ALWAYS use it to make MC happy. What a sweetheart.

While he would use his luck when MC and him are on the same team so they'll win, I can also see him subtly using it to give MC's team luck when he's on another team. (Much to his teammates' dismay. Although he's so sneaky, they'd never suspect it anyways.)

At the end of the day, his goal is to always see MC smile, and I think that's SO CUTE!

Imagine you're pulling gacha, and Barbatos sees you from afar, so he gives you a little push of good luck and stands back to watch you celebrate when you get the card you wanted. He'd enjoy the show and slip away when you turn around to his direction after you hear a small chuckle.

Ah yes, I was thinking about this too after that chat about Simeon lol!

I've been thinking about why Barbatos has such good luck. I mean, you could just chalk it up to him being the powerful being that he is to the point that being in his very presence simply bestows luck upon you~

Buuuuut I kinda like thinking of it as part of him being a greed demon. I don't believe this is explicitly stated in the game anywhere and I'm pretty sure the headcanon for it stems from the fact that when you give Barbatos a glow stick in the OG, it's a yellow one for greed, thus implying that Barbatos himself is a greed demon.

If this is the case, it kinda makes sense that he'd have good luck. I can't quite remember where it says it in NB, but they did say something about how when Mammon likes someone, they have good luck. So I think it would be funny if that particular trait of greed also manifests in Barbatos.

In his case, I like to think of it as he's just so powerful it's kind of amplified to encompass anybody who happens to be near enough to him at the time. But then he can also deliberately direct it toward people he likes (such as MC).

But I fully agree that Barbatos would always use that good luck of his to make MC happy. He's done it enough times that there's no doubt that he just wants to see MC smile.

I love the idea that he does it without MC realizing, too. Definitely like that scenario you describe where he just sort of chuckles and disappears.

I personally am a somewhat superstitious person in that I like to believe in good luck. I have all kinds of good luck charms and little things I do for luck. And I just loooove the idea of Barb being my own personal good luck charm.

[kradogsrats]

Can humans connect to all primal sources while elves can connect to only one?

Well, let's look at the combined evidence:

Callum has connected to two primal sources, and they've been kind of arbitrary. Like presumably if he'd started with a Sun primal stone, he would have first connected to the Sun, since him having that primal stone experience is a not really insignificant part of him connecting to the Sky primal. When he connects to the Ocean primal, it's explicit that he has been focusing on it for a while, but I don't remember him expressing why he chose Ocean over others. Basically, I don't think there's anything preventing a human from connecting to any individual primal source.

We have never been told that elves cannot connect to multiple primal sources, only that they are naturally connected to one, and humans are naturally connected to zero. We were told that humans cannot connect to even a single primal source, but that was factually incorrect both past and present.

However, we have seen exactly one character in any canon material who is connected to multiple primal sources, and that's Aaravos. Startouch elves are pretty clearly something... else, so he's not really a representative sample of "elves."

Actually, in canon material, there are also very few magical artifacts that combine magic from multiple primal sources, and no known multi-source spells.

After Callum connects to a second primal, Rayla's reaction is lighthearted joking. Granted, there's a lot going on at the time, and she's the last person who would doubt Callum's ability to do the impossible, but I would expect her to acknowledge if that was something that no elf primal mage has ever done before.

Pyrda, one of the suggested player characters from Tales of Xadia (who are heavily implied to all be "canon" characters), is a Skywing elf mage "eager to experience a wider variety of primal sources" and who "believes her destiny lies in preserving the balance of magic." This could mean that her goal is to connect to other primal sources and learn their magic, or it could just be to study them and see other mages use them (or maybe someday try them herself with a primal stone). On her starting character sheet, she only has access to Sky magic.

The Tales of Xadia rules explicitly state that only human characters can be dark mages and only elves can be primal/rune mages, when discussing the character vocation—which is part of the character's background, describing essentially their career focus (i.e. are they a cook, a guard, a sailor, a mage, etc.). However, it doesn't say anywhere that vocations can't be changed as part of the character growth process, since character growth can include adding new distinctions and vocations are a type of distinction. Additionally, the actual mechanics of magic are based on a combination of a magical specialty and spell assets—for example, Pyrda has a Sky magic specialty and a Sky magic spells asset with two spells specified. Specialties and assets are also things that can be added via character growth, and there's nothing anywhere that says you can't add a Sky magic specialty to your human or other elf character.

And the Tales of Xadia rules have to accommodate Callum, because he literally has his own character sheet in there as an NPC catalyst. His vocation is "aspiring rune mage" and he has a Sky magic specialty and a Sky magic spells asset. The Tales of Xadia rulebook is pinned between s3 and s4, timeline-wise, so that's Callum at the end of s3 (his spells asset includes Manus Pluma Volantus). If a game started at the beginning of s1 with Callum as a player character, I would expect that his character sheet would undergo a few key shifts at moments of magic-related character growth: gaining the Sky primal stone as an asset, losing the primal stone as an asset but gaining the "aspiring rune mage" vocation, gaining the Sky magic specialty and initial Sky magic spells asset (with Aspiro and Fulminis), and finally improving the Sky magic spells asset with the addition of Manus Pluma Volantus.

Personally, I take the ToX rules as more suggestions about canon than necessarily 100% accurate reflections of it, because designing balanced game mechanics is very different from general worldbuilding. Also, ToX is very much written in a "do whatever the hell you want" way, strongly encouraging storytellers and players to expand or ignore things at their discretion.

Anyway, my belief is that elves can connect to multiple primal sources, just as humans can, but it's extremely rare. Elves are born with a connection to a primal source that they innately understand, and it's much easier and more worthwhile to focus on strengthening that connection than trying to establish another. (I also think it's harder for elves to connect to a second primal source than it is for humans to connect to a first one.)

Like, ignoring the whole discussion of talent versus practice, say you're a natural athlete—you're just good at any sport you try. You could pick one and with a reasonable amount of effort be Olympic-level good. At the same time, you're a really bad artist. It's not something you ever focused on, and maybe you're not a very visual person to begin with. There's absolutely nothing stopping you from working incredibly hard on being an artist, and you'd probably be able to get as good or better than someone who naturally has the qualities that make them good at art—but you still may never catch up to someone who has those qualities and has put in the same amount of effort as you have. Same thing in reverse—a naturally gifted artist who's uncoordinated and not very physical can train to become an athlete, and can conceivably become a good athlete (maybe not Olympic-level, but good). It's just... not a lot of people do that, because we generally like doing things we're good at and that are easy more than doing things we're not good at and that are hard.

There also don't really seem to be a lot of scenarios where an elf would be pressured by their community to focus on another primal source (the way that a child here in real life might be pressured by their family to be good at sports or math rather than art, or vice versa depending on their family makeup). We know... basically nothing about elf interbreeding, but it seems safe to assume that at least one parent would have a matching primal source connection with the child. Furthermore, most of the elf communities we've seen so far are very segregated, so you're just very unlikely to be part of one where you'd feel isolated because of your primal connection and pressured to pursue another. If you're a Moonshadow elf surrounded by other Moonshadow elves, and all the Moonshadow elf mages you know are Moon mages, and you're good at Moon magic because you have a Moon primal connection yourself... it just takes a pretty rare person to decide they want to be something completely different and put in the effort to actually make it happen.

I mean, heck, part of the reason Callum pursued his Sky primal connection so much was that he had experienced Sky magic and was good at it in a way that he didn't feel good about other activities. He could have stuck with his sword training and probably eventually gotten good at it (if he genuinely put in the effort rather than half-assing it because he's bad at it and hates it), but he didn't.

So basically I would say that yes, elves can connect to multiple primal sources, but it's a) hard, b) has few role models or societal pressures that encourage doing it, and c) most people just don't put that kind of effort into shit without quitting, whether because they're discouraged or because they have to do other things to survive.

[science-lings]

hey, do you know where it was mentioned that botw link pulled the master sword at 12? cuz i've heard a bunch of people treat it as canon, but i cant remember seeing it anywhere?

I don't think that it was explicitly stated in the game, (though it's implied that Link has had the sword for a decent amount of time before the calamity rose) but in creating a champion (the botw concept art book) it says this

It is said that the legendary Master Sword can only be wielded by a hero chosen by the sword itself, and its whereabouts had long been a mystery. The details of how Link obtained the sword a hundred years ago have been lost to the mists of time, but since he was in possession of it for a number of years prior to becoming a Champion, he was likely around twelve or thirteen years old when it happened.

which is where the specific of 12 comes from, I think people latch onto 12 specifically bc it's younger but also it's about 5 years before the calamity which feels about right to me lol. 12 is also the age that WW Link got the sword and thus said to be when OOT Link got it. Though with that guy it's hard to pinpoint ages, he could've also been nine? idk. 12 just seems to be the special age for destiny-bound sword kids I guess.

For botw Link specifically, it makes sense to be earlier as he's literally been kicking ass since he was six (Mipha's diary mentioned this one). So maybe because he was so advanced at such a young age Fi decided to lure him in early to have plenty of time to prepare for the Calamity.

[fuzziekins]

101 Dalmatians, the live action version. i remember loving it when i was a kid because Dalmatians and i love dogs, and with all the live action remakes Disney has made (the wave in remakes seem to have started with Cinderella but 101 Dalmatians was actually one of the first in the 90s i believe) so i decided to give it a rewatch this week because i could...also because i love Disney and wanted to watch a Disney movie (disclaimer: just because i do love Disney does not mean i agree with everything Disney has said/done, that i do not like all of their movies, and i am still mad at them for not giving us anywhere near enough gay).

It was definitely not as good as i remember it. Some parts i remembered clearer than others and some were funny. The animals in the barn going after Cruella, for one thing. And, as suspected, the puppies were a highlight. One of my favorite scenes was still after the puppies were born, they had been watching a scene from The Aristocats followed by Homeward Bound and then they were given their collars with their names. Not all were the same as the animated movie, and i'm not sure how many of the names from the original book were for the 15 puppies versus how many of the names were for the other puppies they found later. i think my favorite part about though, specifically, was how the spots on each individual Dalmatian can play a part in their names (the tail of Dipstick's tail being black, the spots around Jewel's neck resembling a necklace, for example, also similar to how Lucky's spots in the animated version on his back resemble a horseshoe) and that's what i always loved about Dalmatians; that no two spots on every dog are alike and that they're all so unique. The fact that they incorporated the video game into the movie and you could actually see some scenes and graphics from it definitely brought me back, i loved that game so much. And, obviously, Glenn Close was AMAZING. She gave everything she had into playing Cruella and made her completely believable. She sold every scene and was probably the closest thing we'd get to an embodiment of a real life Cruella DeVil. i wouldn't quite compare her to Angelina Jolie playing Maleficent because while both are classic, evil, and perhaps two of the worst (aka best) Disney villains in existence they are still very different. But as far as that statement goes, i was never a fan of the Maleficent movies (if one happens to be on i might put it on in the background but they'd be far from my first choices to actually watch) and while i'm not as much a fan of the live action 101 Dalmatians as i once was, credit where credit is due - these women portraying these villains are absolutely FABULOUS.

The rest of the cast of the movie was so meh to me. Roger and Anita were two completely different people and, while i believe the take of Anita working for Cruella and enjoyed the idea of Perdi being the inspiration for the spotted coat, i don't like the other changes. Especially the way in which the two of them met. Pongo pulling Roger on his bike desperate trying to look for/catch up to Anita and Perdita lasted WAY too long and it felt more like something directed at little kids where they could laugh at the dog pulling Roger and getting him hurt and into all other sorts of trouble (i mean, yeah, it's Disney so it is directed for kids but there were so many other things they could have done). While in the animated movie i don't believe it's explicitly stated how long they're together before they're married the meeting was far more enjoyable and cute. The live action movie felt like it went from 100 down to 5 so quickly; they started so angry at each other but as Roger's leaving he's all "but it's not because i like her" and that night it's not only revealed they basically made out after he saved her but he also wanted to marry her that day? That's not how it works (and not just because this is pre-Frozen with the whole "you can't marry someone you just met"). Not to mention Anita's pregnancy. That went completely over my head as a kid (understandably so) but watching it now i'm not sure what bothers me more. That they find out in the first month (which, in current times does make sense but should they even be announcing it?), or that it feels completely unnecessary. (Or maybe it's just my personal awkward feelings, i don't know.) i also wasn't a fan of Horace and Jasper. i'm not sure if it was the characters or the way they were written or just the actors playing them or maybe it was the chemistry between the two but...they were NOTHING like their animated counterparts. And the electrocution scene...ok yeah it's funny, they tried and failed to go over the electric fans and got their crotches shocked badly. But as an adult i could totally see that coming and it lasted for too long, taking the full humor out of it.

i have a LOT of feelings about Disney doing all these live action remakes. Some of them feel completely unnecessary (Jungle Book, Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, Robin Hood to name a few). Some of them turned out ok and are decent movies if you don't compare them to the animated movie (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin). The only movie i thoroughly enjoyed as a live action remake was The Little Mermaid (save for Scuttle's rap and Flounder's design primarily). As to where 101 Dalmatians sits on that list, for me at least, it's one of those movies that is easily pictured as a live action movie. It can be done and it makes sense. But did they do a good job of it? No. I almost wonder if, it had been remade now, how different it would be and if it'd be remotely more enjoyable. But it doesn't need to be nor do the animated movies keep needing to be rehashed into live action - especially when some of them are more computer animated to look realistic than ACTUAL live action. Even so, if we got 101 Dalmatians now we wouldn't have Glenn Close as Cruella. She, along with the actual Dalmatians, are the only saving graces of this movie.

wait guys. reblog this and tell me what the last movie you watched was. bonus points if you add a short review <333

[starsovermyhead]

@ironworked replied to your post “Some of you forgot how different young John was,...”:

Right??!! I've seen people talk about retconning John's personality, but... in SPN we already saw and were told how different he was as a young man. We also saw what hunting did to Dean and Sam; I'm guessing the prequel will probably show us the damage and/or wrong choices that changed him.

​Yes! People are like, "Why would the prequel describe young John as a nice person?" Because that's how he was in canon, what's not clicking? It's explicitly stated that he was a good man, a loving father and husband before Mary died.

OWNER: Oh, well, what do you wanna know about John? DEAN: Well, whatever you remember, you know, whatever sticks out in your mind. OWNER: Well…he was a stubborn bastard, I remember that. [He laughs.] And, uh, whatever the game, he hated to lose, you know? It’s that whole Marine thing. [DEAN and SAM nod.] But, oh, he sure loved Mary. And he doted on those kids. (1.09 Home)

SAMUEL: Now hold on, John's a really, really nice... naive civilian.

DEAN: What's he like? John. MARY: Why do you ask? DEAN: Just curious. MARY: I don't know. He's sweet, kind. Even after the war, after everything, he still believes in happily ever after, you know? He's everything a hunter isn't. (beat) No offence. (4.03 In the Beginning)

JOHN: Look, how long have you known about this...hunting stuff?SAM: Pretty much forever. My dad raised me in it. JOHN: You're serious? Who the hell does that to a kid? SAM: Well, I mean, for the record, Mary's parents did. JOHN: I don't care. You know, what kind of irresponsible bastard lets a child anywhere near—Y-you know, you could've been killed! SAM: I, uh...came kind of close. [SAM laughs.] JOHN: The number it must've done on your head...Your father was supposed to protect you.

DEAN: How'd you get in my dad, anyway? MICHAEL: I told him I could save his wife, and he said yes. (5.13 The Song Remains the Same)

He was a nice man that changed for the worse, that's the whole point.

[lapinparka]

NEO really did goof up :/ It has a different writer but that's not an excuse. Composers being an in-between existence is so important not just for actual plot reasons, but for Joshua's own arc about feeling alienated and the fact that he doesn't have anywhere to really "belong" both in the RG and UG.

I saw that from the artbook although given they also gave Neku an age that makes no sense (since he and Beat are canonically stated to be the same age in their OG bios so if Beat has just turned 18 that would mean he and Rhyme are born in the same year) my general views are "I don't think parts of this were thought through very well."

I remember the Secret Report bit too but apparently in JP it was "Angel-level power" and Shiki was able to do it, so I'm taking it more as a indicator of strength level for my own sanity. They kept the psychic ranks the same and everything, with Composers being below Angels, so it's just... such an odd choice if they did decide to retcon it but then given some of the questionable that have been made in NEO and it's lead up (*looks at smiling Joshua retcon in the Secret Ending*) it's not something I'd put past them. It just... really sucks to try and change something that's an established and core part of a character and the series' lore (did they even remember the whole Angel hivemind thing??) And honestly kind of why I'm nervous to see more stuff with Joshua, if they really do have this lack of care for his character.

Also re: your tags, him having the feathery wings has actually been implied since OG DS TWEWY! (really bad pic quality sorry orz) So it's safe to say they're not exclusive to Angels, given it's from the game where Composers are explicitly not Angels.

My one pettiest rule is any time a TWEWY analysis tries to refer to Joshua as an Angel I'm out. Stopped reading. If someone can't get a very basic part of his character right (that Composers are not Angels) then I don't trust them with the deeper bits.

(And lbr every time I've seen someone call him an Angel they've proceeded to erase any and all aspects of his canon personality in favour of "detached being who cares about nothing.")

[godtier]

firstly, idk where it seems i'm not arguing in good faith (because i used crass language? because i stated things that contradicted your points? i don't know) but aight, i'll go thru this as straightforwardly as possible:

regarding RE1 remake:

RE1 remake was not a remaster. it was a remake. a remaster is when you upgrade the graphics, sound, etc. and change little else. it's like polishing up a piece of silverware. you're not adding anything to the silverware, you're just scrubbing off the tarnish so it looks new and shiny again.

a good example of what a remaster is can be found in the final fantasy vii: crisis core remaster. it was originally a PSP exclusive. nothing was changed besides the superficial aspects. the story, the script, nothing. they're just updated with new graphics and cleaned up/remastered the sound. that's a de facto example of what a remaster actually is. RE1 remake is a remake. the layout in some areas is slightly different or expanded upon. there were new monsters added. the story is slightly reworked to explain things better. remember: RE1 OG was not made with the intention of creating a massive franchise. it was mostly inspired by/considered an homage to Sweet Home, an NES survival horror game that pioneered the genre. RE1 had gaps in its story that weren't important at the time of development. ergo, when RE1 remake was made, they went back and fine-tuned it, changed specific things to make it make more sense as a series entry rather than an isolated entry. and as such, RE1 remake is not a remaster. it's a remake. it's why everyone calls it a remake, it's what's used to commonly distinguish it from RE 1 OG. why aren't people calling it RE 1 remaster if it's just a remaster? if what you're saying is true, then we would assume that the events of RE1 were never covered in the remake continuity as it is and were just implied because the gamecube RE1 remake would be in a different category/continuity. it would mean that we can't be sure exactly what happened in remake continuity unless it's explicitly shown or stated. clearly fandom interpretation/discussion doesn't abide by this assumption. where are they getting that info from? if OG and (apparently) RE1 remake are not part of the remake canon/continuity, how do we know what actually happened then? regarding the wii titles:

slight reinterpretations of canon events in the wii games don't then negate the new information provided. the dev team wanted to use these games as ways to explore scenarios that they could not explore in the original games, so the intent is clear that these games are meant to be considered as canon. readjusting something to fit a game mechanic doesn't then throw out the rest of the game information provided. if t was just a straight up "RE2 but on rails now" experience meant to be a diversion and not taken seriously, they wouldn't have added all the extra content in the first place. it would have been an arcade installation in the vein of the silent hill pachinko machines.

regarding HUNK:

HUNK not being in the main cast in any other game is irrelevant. there are plenty of characters in this series and others that do things that are substantial to the story that don't have a canon presence at all. they're relegated to files but that doesn't make their accomplishments or actions less important or less official. the fact that he's not in the main cast anywhere else doesn't negate what he accomplished and suddenly void it out. it'd be like saying what carlos or steve or luis accomplished in their respective games straight-up doesn't matter or isn't canon just because none of them are in the main cast after the titles they appeared in (nevermind that two of those three are dead). if what HUNK did wasn't that significant or noteworthy in OG, they would have severely cut down or rewrote his role in RE2 remake. they wouldn't have that entire scenario mission where you're playing as him. if you're going to use something that's demonstrably false to support a headcanon, it should not be surprising that it's challenged and picked at. as mentioned, HUNK has an entire dedicated scenario in RE2 remake that goes over what he did and what happened. is this not canon because he doesn't show up anywhere else in the series in a main character or playable role? also, it's good to remember that umbrella proper didn't exist for much longer after RE2-3. it's a shambling corpse of itself by the time RE4 rolled around and HUNK was naturally no longer employed by a company that didn't exist after it folded. his role in the story of course diminished after that because he was a free agent and doing god knows what (operation: raccoon city is not canon, worth mentioning here). but it doesn't mean what he did for umbrella in 1998 isn't canon anymore. i genuinely don't understand disregarding what he did just because it wasn't "impactful" in the subsequent story if you yourself are using the fact that "no one succeeded" as a crucial point to your argument. clearly someone did. what matters is the "in the moment" reaction to that success/failure. umbrella couldn't see into the future, of course, so if we're talking solely about reaction to what had just happened in canon, HUNK's contributions are absolutely still valid and seen as a success. doesn't matter if they never actually used what he delivered or not (nevermind the fact that he delivered an unknown BOW to rockfort island as covered in DC, but i'm not gonna go into that since it's apparently not considered canon in this discussion). that's not on him. that's on umbrella. when doing canon analysis, you can't just decide a character isn't relevant to your conclusion just because, later down the line, he doesn't show up in a tangible fashion again. even though he does show up in RE3's epilogue, but apparently, you're disregarding that as well. i'm not sure how you interact with canon regularly, but it's odd to just cherry-pick what you want when discussing canon events. whether or not a character has "staying power" is irrelevant when you're discussing actual tangible things they did in the story section you're talking about.

further, implying that HUNK and jake's mother are both equally "non-characters" is really misleading.

what we know about HUNK:

what he sounds like

what he looks like

what his name (or pseudoname) is

what he thinks about events happening around him

his reactions to things happening around him

how he reacts to other people

what he does for a living

how long he's (approximately) been doing it

his reputation (in his case, being unkillable or death itself)

his skills

his actions in canon

what we know about jake's mother:

she loved wesker

she birthed jake

she loved jake

she is a physically weak/sickly woman

she dies

how can these two be considered equivalents of the other, even remotely? HUNK is only a "non-character" in the sense that his personality is (purposefully and clearly) flat, that we don't know his actual real name, or where he's even from. we don't have any clue what jake's mother's name even is, let alone what she looks like or what her personality is like. HUNK has more to go off of by far and calling them both equally irrelevant just tells me that you're not really looking at things as objectively as you claim to be.

regarding jake's mother:

i will be 100% honest, your takes on jake's mother were jarring to come across. they were really reminiscent of "woman getting in the way of this thing i want to be canon" fandom things to me. i didn't want to come at the take like that in my initial post and tried to convey it in a subversive way, but since it seems that you're still considering her characterization as a weirdo psycho as a valid canon (not headcanon) interpretation, i'll be more overt. in the basis of your original post, you talked about being "objective." characterizing a non-character like jake's mother as someone who would steal sperm to get pregnant is not being "objective." you're projecting a headcanon onto her to better suit your argument about why wesker doesn't have sex for some reason. what reason do we have to assume she would do that? if we want to use inference from how jake talks about her, we'll need to talk about jake. jake is stupid, but he's not dumb. he's street-smart, no-nonsense, and can smell bullshit from a mile away. one could reasonably infer then that he would pick up on certain behaviors that you're implying his mother to have. one could also infer that he would make an equally off-handed remark about his mother being "a little nuts" or something of that nature to further imply that perhaps she had some screws loose.

the most we hear is that she loved wesker. that's about it. jake isn't sentimental; sure, he clearly loved his mother and hated wesker for "abandoning" them (which, again, is the most we get about his relationship with jake's mother). but he also doesn't mince words. you can clearly say something like "my mother was crazy" while simultaneously getting offended if someone said to you "your mother was crazy" and also caring about that person's health and well-being. both can be true. it's odd to imply that jake somehow missed this characterization of his mother (i.e.: her being nuts) when he isn't the type to miss things like this and is markedly observant. you're inferring based on nothing, essentially, that his mother is a nutter. what proof is there? there isn't any. we can't prove one way or the other how jake's mother was. ergo, it's really, really wild to me that your first thought is "she MUST have stolen his sperm to have jake." like why? why is that your default assumption? from where did you get that? you're saying wesker "attracts crazy people" as a reason, but he also attracts chris redfield and the rest of STARS (but mostly chris).

do you think wesker just reveals his true self to people who aren't "in the know?" of course he doesn't. we can then reasonably infer that jake's mom probably didn't know who wesker actually was, insofar as all the crap he was working on at the time. remember, jake was conceived well before wesker revealed himself to be a bioterrorist. no one except umbrella knew who wesker really was at that point in time. jake was born in 1992, after all. it's really odd to think that wesker would be "attracting crazy people" in the 90s when he was doing his damnedest to appear on the up-and-up to people he interacted with "on the outside."

the bottom line is that i don't really care if you think jake's mom is a psycho or not if that's your headcanon. headcanons are whatever. but you cannot imply it's a valid canon take to say that's how she was. it's not, full stop. my own interpretation of her is based off of what little we can glean from jake, based on his own characterization. i don't see any reason to assume she would go to extreme measures to have wesker's child. RE is a heavy-handed series; that would ABSOLUTELY have been something they would have highlighted somewhere, whether in a file or a journal entry. my interpretation is barely what i'd call an "interpretation" anyway, given that there's so little there to make a judgement call on how she was. basically, i'm saying that there's literally nothing to suggest she was a basket case. her banging wesker and having his baby isn't sufficient evidence.

and to be clear, i also don't think jake's mother was some beacon of motherhood and innocence, because there's nothing to suggest that. all we can go off of is how wesker was back in the 90s, how he treated people around him before the "reveal," and how the people who were close to him reacted to him after the "reveal." STARS, again, is the best example to look towards for this.

the surviving members were gobsmacked when wesker betrayed them (though we only get to see a few of their reactions in real time). they all adored him. how is it so difficult to consider that a man who was living a fake life in the 90s wouldn't present the same way to a woman he met in the 90s and slept with? how is it fair to assume a woman must be crazy to love him when she doesn't even know who he actually is? do you see how that comes off as a bit sexist?

because it does. it's also fairly hypocritical given the rest of your arguments; you're speaking about being tired of ada's characterization being pegged on "what's going on in her vagina," and yet you have no problem doing the same to a character who we don't even know the name of. it's weirdly presumptuous to just "default" to that line of thinking when the woman isn't someone you know or can relate to or see interacting with other people.

this isn't about "defending jake's mom's honor" or something because yes, she's not a character (and she's not even real, for that matter). and i really do not care about your headcanons if that's what we were discussing in the first place. but that wasn't what the discussion was about. if this was a headcanon discussion, i wouldn't have even replied to this in the first place because headcanon discussions can be fun diversions and ultimately, if someone has a headcanon i consider to be "problematic," i just don't engage with it. it's that simple.

ultimately, what i'm getting at is that the pushing of this to be the Canon Reason jake exists is really bizarre.

you seem to be so fixated on this headcanon (and that's what it is) of wesker not wanting to have sex period that you are willing to impose age-old "woman bad, baby trapping, crazy bitch, stealing condoms (which btw what guy jerks off with a condom???)" rhetoric just to keep your interpretation "valid" and "reasonable." it reminds me of the shipping wars of the early 00s where a rival ship's female character is a "whore" or "crazy" because the male character being with that female character doesn't line up to that person's ship desires. it was weird then and it's still weird.

again, i did not want to get into all of that in my initial post because i know it could be interpreted as me saying "wow you must hate women!" but what i outlined in my initial response didn't seem to be landing (and was apparently uncertain as to if it was in "good faith" or not?). to be clear, i'm not accusing you of anything, but the fact that you are desperately trying to push this weirdly woman-negative headcanon as canon while simultaneously claiming to be exhausted by how ada is often defined by her sexuality really rubbed me the wrong way.

tl;dr: headcanons have their place in canon discussions and if you try to push a headcanon as canon, you have to show your work.

Here’s some RE Separate Ways analysis that isn’t about shipping because I like Ada. I’m happy her DLC actually focuses on her, but some of the takes I’m seeing are Insufferable. Main statements in bold for ease of reading and skipping purposes.

-Wesker and Ada haven’t been working together consistently for the past 6 years. This dripless bitch is calling Ada every five minutes to babysit her. I don’t think that’s the relationship dynamic of someone you’re regularly employed under, and when it is, Ada is not the type of character to tolerate that behavior for 6 years. We know Ada is a contract worker. We can understand she’s worked for Wesker on and off, but she’s a freelance agent period. She must’ve done enough jobs for Wesker that he feels the need to check on her and have this constant reporting in to make sure she stays on task since he’s clearly used to her not always following his orders. He 100% hired her for this assignment because he knew the situation and compared to the other options, she had the highest survival chances. Which, he was right. High risk, high reward.

Sometimes Wesker’s babysitting works: Ada holding Luis at gunpoint when he tries to negotiate saving Leon and Ashley. Sometimes he knows when to step away: “Keep your dog.” All of it is in the effort to get what he wants. Look, he let her live. He worked with S.T.A.R.S for years and wanted them all dead. If he worked with Ada regularly and she pulled this shit with the amber, he would’ve had that helicopter blown out of the sky. There’s always some restraint with personal distance, especially with a guy who thinks so highly of himself.

-Luis is a drama queen. In the regular game, Luis acts cool and under control to the best of his abilities around Leon and Ashley. It’s a part of his newly found hero-complex even though he does still know when to ask for help: “save me prince charming!” In the DLC, we see the real side of Luis. The one who’s scared, and dramatic, and knows when he’s not shooting with a loaded gun so to speak. When Ada tells him to leave her to fight, he does. He wants to help, but his respect for her abilities sends him fleeing like she orders him to. Also, like every scientist, he has zero self-preservation! He ran into a fire that clearly would kill him to get medicine. And the exchange afterwards? “No! Now you’ll all die!” “Make some more medicine.” “Oh..yeah…I can do that. I do have that ability.”

The flamenco dance. “Are you mad at me???🥺 You’re mad at me!😭” This man understands Ada can kill him without blinking, but still can’t keep his composure around her. This is such a fun dynamic to explore in fic for expansion stories and “Luis lives” au’s. The DLC gives him breaks to freak out and panic, whereas the main game holds the “cool persona” moments after Leon saves him. Even his dying words to Ada. This man is bleeding to death and still can’t shut up. I love him.

Okay, that’s all I gotta say about the loser men. Now for the star of the DLC. Ada. :)

-Ada “Sans Undertale go into my eyes” Wong. The methods Ada uses in the DLC are fun and appropriate. It’s not invasive and in your face unlike another agent, but more subtle. She can track footprints, fingerprints, gauge the safe distance required for her grappling hook, and she knows when she needs to fight and whens he needs to run. Her practicality has always been the cleanest of the entire cast due to her being a spy, but this time we actually get to see this trait utilized through her tools.

-Ada is silly and quips her own jokes to get through it. Something I’m not seeing anyone talk about including the aeon people who are claiming anything they can get, is this specific humor parallel between Leon and Ada in the remake. Both of them have gone through the horrors of Raccoon City. Both of them went right back into very difficult military in function style work which always has a body count. I talked about Leon’s humor coping mechanism here [X], but to hear Ada do the same thing? I feel like they went under the radar because they don’t sound as stupid as Leon’s quips, but they are still so stupid. “Nighty night.” “Lights out.” “Bring me a real challenge next time.” “Now look at the mess you’ve made.” “You think that gun will be enough?” She and Leon even share the same “Next,” line!

If I had 80GB to spare on the game, I’d see just how many more I could get out of her. Like, these are dumb as hell. She’s found a method to cope with the horrors she’s witnessing that just so happens to coincide with Leon’s. I’m not saying this as a marker of whatever romance you’ve tossed them in or even to diss any other romances. What I am saying is that they have a similar type of mental illness resulting from trauma, and they ended up using the exact same coping method despite never seeing each other.

Ada fans who hate Leon! This opens a door for you when it comes to character analysis and how Ada deals with her PTSD and/or depression! Run through it RIGHT NOW!

-Ada’s infection pulls a lot more weight than it seems. I’ve seen some people say Ada’s parasite should’ve been removed the same as Leon’s and Ashley’s. (Which is an extremely unsubtle argument to get them all in the same room for your shipping nonsense.) However, something I noticed with the DLC were the parallels to the troubles in RE2. The Black Robe/U-3/Pesenta monster is the first time where we get to see Ada dealing with a stalking enemy. Due to RE4 being so much more plot-lined streamed to maintain the flow of gameplay, these events were not allowed to be random, but the narrative purpose remains. Ada gets to have a stalking enemy in her DLC like Claire and Leon did in RE2 with the addition of a hubris check.

The hubris check? Well, Ada has never been infected until this DLC. In the original games, she can step back and watch people die because she doesn’t know what it feels like. Now she knows what it feels like. The lack of control. The pain. The slow turning. Her job has had her flirting with death for years, but not in a way she can’t fiddle with the odds. A parasite is not something a person can distract with words. The action to steal the amber is backed up via personal experience not just a morality code slapped on. The addition of Wesker’s correction to “billions of causalities” means she’s included in that number and just cements her incentive to flee. She’s not doing this for Leon. She’s not doing this for Luis. She’s doing this for herself, and if it so happens to help other people then it is what it is. After being on both sides of the coin when it comes to viruses, she can no longer function as entirely impartial to the work she’s doing.

-Ada doesn’t ask for permission but asks for forgiveness. Don’t take this phrasing literally. She doesn’t ask Wesker to forgive her. What this means is that she’ll do something before asking, and if it upsets people then she’ll course correct. Her job is not the kind of job where she needs to take orders for every action she implements which is why Wesker calling every five minutes was annoying as hell. In the OG RE4 she kind of argues with Wesker for Leon to live for “his usefulness”, but it’s swiftly shut down until it’s convenient to Wesker for Leon to live. This forces her to sneak around and betray Wesker multiple times to save Leon secretly, and the concept rightfully gets thrown into the garbage for the remake DLC.

The scene in the bedroom where Wesker tells Ada not to become a liability after taking her blood? Ada doesn’t fight to get her shit back. Some people said this was flirting. Wrong. This is Ada seeking forgiveness after the fuck up of passing out in the middle of an active field by letting Wesker walk off with an infection sample. She then makes sure not to fuck up a second time in the same way, and she doesn’t. She learns the signs of her parasite so in case she does pass out again, she’ll be somewhere much less conspicuous. She listens for the changes in her environment and the feelings in her body and prepares herself for what’s next.

-Ada saves Leon and Ashley for Luis’ sake. I stated earlier that Ada’s action to take the amber was for her own sake but ends up helping others. This is the exact situation going on when Luis talks about getting the suppressant. She needs the suppressant in order to do her job and kill the black robe so she can heal. It just so happens that Leon and Ashley need the suppressant for survival reasons too. They are an afterthought until Luis dies.

We watch Ada question Wesker and his plans all throughout this DLC, and she comes to her own conclusions after her experience working with him. She could’ve gotten the amber back and let the whole place blow into smithereens like Wesker intended. Who cares about the president’s daughter? Who cares about another dead federal agent? Luis did. He cared so much he died for it, and just like that other clown in Raccoon City (aka her), she got emotionally attached. If there was anything she could’ve done for Luis to make his death mean something, it was this act.

-Ada sells Leon’s jacket. This isn’t analysis, but I thought this was funny as hell. ACAB! No exceptions! Freeze your tiddies off, Leon! I don’t give a shit!

-Ada’s new outfit is still better than her old one. It’s still not the best they could’ve given her. I’m also not speaking from a fashion point of view when I say this. In the OG RE4 we see Leon in a jacket which is forcibly removed to show off his pecs to the ladies, but it clearly marks a colder time of year. OG RE4 Ada has arms out, legs out, and tits out because a hoe never gets cold. The sweater dress for the remake re-establishes that it’s colder here because even Luis doesn’t lose his jacket. Ashley doesn’t lose her jacket either until they yoink it off her for ritual reasons. I still hate that the thigh high boots have that heel and would prefer the flats, but that’s going to be in the complaint paragraph below.

-Capcom sexism at play once again. I don’t give a shit about rigs and motion capture or whatever, her walk cycle was 2 adjustments from being full Bayonetta, and I hate it. The ass shots? Disrespectful. Her heels didn’t have to be that high. Never heard of a kitten heel? They exist. The people who worked on RE3 Remake and worked on this DLC sure love to make a woman vomit don’t they? Why the fuck was she so clean the entire game? She was being thrown around and tossed in the dirt a lot, but this woman’s skin is shinier than a waxed apple. Either she has some wet wipes on hand, or god forbid women get filthy. Absolutely zero reason she shouldn’t have been looking as rough as Leon by the time she gets on the helicopter! No reason at all!

That’s all they wrote! I love Ada. I loved this DLC, and I loved the dynamics going on here even though I hated every time Wesker was on screen or opened his mouth at all.

As much as I would love to expand this post and go further into the changed Ada and Leon relationship, I frankly hate all the takes I’ve been seeing so much on either side of the Aeon debate. I hate the ongoing conversation around it so much that I don’t know if I want to discuss this at all. The Aeon should’ve gotten this if not for Luis and Ashley side and the Aeon is dead side going back and forth with each other? All of you put on your clown noses! None of you are looking at this situation objectively to see where the lines cross and where they run alongside each other, and frankly I’m tired! I could clear this whole table off so both of you can get exactly what you want based on what you’re not actually interpreting from this media, but I won’t! Kill each other!