#I just mainly saw it as foreshadowing what the story will be

[your-ne1ghbor]

Random question, does the reason you chose "The Kingdom of Roses and Thorns" instead of "The Kingdom of Thorns and Roses" have anything to do with ACoTaR

No, i haven't read the book "ACoTaR". This is actually the first time I've heard of it. I mainly called the story "The Kingdom of Roses and Thorns" not only has foreshadowing of what will happen, but also a metaphor, plus also paying homage to the longer titles old Disney had with their movies.

The roses represent the good of all people, but like some roses, they aren't always as they appear to be, hense the thorns. On the topic of thorns, a lot of roses symbolize love and sacrifice, which pretty much sums up some of the story in a way, or my idea of it I guess.

You can say I just took that one metaphor where "not everything is what it appears to be". This can also be applied to the current state of the Kingdom. The kingdom might SEEM nice, but in reality, you are miserable when you live there.

Plus it is applied to the king and Queen of Rosas. They might seem like good people, and seem well intended, but they aren't. They hurt people, just like when you try to pick a flower with your bare hands.

It also goes into Maggy's power set plus somewhat on Asha's as well.

Maggy used to use flowers and whenever he grew vines, the vines usually had flowers on them! However, after everything that happened to him, he became cold, and bitter, hense the vines mainly being thorns since he is now hurting the people around him. Asha I'd imagine has more a creative take in terms of powers, but when she does uses flowers, Maggy gets reminded of who he was back then, but not in a good way you know?? 💀💀💀

Anddddd I didn't want to make it obvious that the story is also about wishes lmao 💀

There is ofc so many meanings of a Rose, so I most likely will take that into concideration since at the time I was writing the title, I just was like:

"wait...Rosas= roses, and roses has thorns...GASP Kingdom of Roses and Thorns hell yeah 💀"

this is also in the king's and queens design.

Older maggy has more sharp edges, same goes for amaya, while their younger selves have more soft edges and had mainly flowers in their design.

[clairebearsparkles]

Ok I saw a thing talking about this and I'm curious about what others thought about this question:

I'm mainly curious about why it would be good or bad to skip it, so further explanations in comments are reblogs is appreciated. I was thinking about how making the consumption of media something that must be done in a certain way can make it feel more like a chore than relaxing. Magnus's first season without knowing the rest of the show can appear inconsequential to some since it has the lowest sound quality of the bunch and the least amount of meta plot of all of the seasons, but it does contain important moments and foreshadowing in a lot of it so there is a case to be made for why someone should not skip it. There is also the argument of just saying "maybe it isn't for you" if something about season 1 turns them off. But that depends on how important you think season 1 is as a set up for what the rest of the show is like.

[tabr1-s]

hsr 2.3 rant (disguised as yet another sunday rant) ...... i didn't expect to make one for each penacony update but here we go again

(634 words - my shortest one yet!)

so, on one hand... it could've ended worse. we've regained 70 (or 65?) % of penacony's freedom. huzzah!

still feeling highly iffy about the ipc's involvement but because it was expected i'll let it slide. for now.

the ending was definitely rushed, it definitely had a "we don't concretely know how we want to wrap up this story so we'll just wing it" feel to it, but again... alright. whatever. could've been more robust but i'll also let that slide. the hoyo devs were probably waiting for a throwaway update to focus on other things anyway.

but, content wise, i am absolutely terrified of the implication of Robin reaching out to Jade for help with her brother.

we were shown the whole Bonajade exchange shtick when playing as Firefly (also not Jade deadnaming her but ok). initially i took it as Mainly filler content, with an opportunity to show us a bit more about Firefly. cool, yeah, makes sense. but it did also focus on How the exchange worked, and specifically made mention of what people have/had to pay for their exchanges with Jade. now, again, i thought that was just filler content.

but now that i think back to it, Robin's whole demeanour during the quest (maybe i was just seeing things but she seemed significantly more down/tired than before (due to very obvious reasons. i wonder how she's still standing)), Jade meeting Robin before her second negotiations with Alfalfa, and then the Bonajade exchange getting explained to us randomly... that was most likely foreshadowing for the last scene of 2.3.

which brings me back to, again, feeling Unwell over what Robin could've possibly agreed to with Jade concerning the freedom/future of her brother. (also if he's gonna join the ipc - Wholeheartedly fuck him. my beef with them is stronger than my love/hate towards Sunday.)

i don't even Want to begin thinking about what Robin might've exchanged for Jade's sudden interest in Sunday. and it also all seems very unfair - the lengths Robin would go to for her brother when he on the other hand was fine with outright using her to accomplish his goals (again, without even filling her in on What those goals were. i don't care if it was for his concept of the greater good, i am still pissed at him for completely disregarding her opinions on the matter and the Entirety Of Her Free Will As A Person. unironically my blood pressure spiked when i saw him in that last scene, and it certainly wasn't because i was excited. even writing this down gets my blood boiling.).

point is. if Sunday chooses to forsake Robin's love for him again (not him also being surprised that Robin was the reason why Jade reached out to him - like she literally hugged you and fell from the sky with you after your plans failed. don't act surprised that she's not mad at you. (and if the reason why you're surprised is because you don't trust Jade's intentions with her, then SHOW IT DAMN IT. STAND UP FOR HER)) i am going to be Supremely disappointed in him.

and yes, i know he's a fictional character.

but holy shit. i've never seen such an infuriatingly (and, sadly, realistically) stubborn character before.

and, like in my last rant - the sentiment that 'i would personally strangle him if it wasn't for Robin being sad over his death' remains.

anyway. Robin really needs a break. a long break. and to somehow find a good and reliable support system because her brother is not very reliable on that front.

...if i were to express my opinion on the matter.

[prozac-shaped-urn]

Deborah Vance meta analysis (again)

Alright, it's time to read too much into shit but considering that JPL straight up said the whole opening sequence of season 3 with the Ceasar statue was foreshadowing... I feel like I can be forgiven for what's about to come out of my fingertips.

Anyway. I am once again putting my psych degree to use in dissecting fictional characters and story arcs. Enjoy x

So! We have the Margesson family with Fred, Martha, Deborah and Kathy. Fred and Martha were five years apart in age, as are Deborah and Kathy (considering there's a reference to Deb's age in 301 as being 70 – which was Jean's age at the time of filming – I can safely assume JPL are using J and Jean's real ages here). That's just enough of an age difference in siblings for there to be a firm power imbalance and hooboy. Hooooooo boyyyyyyyy that's an entirely different can of worms I analyzed a few years ago and turned into 98k... But before I get too into the weeds here, I should introduce my thesis:

Deborah Vance is a survivor, a provider, a mother, and an icon. She was forced to be the first three thanks to her childhood family dynamic and built an empire as a result.

What we've been given in terms of parental backstory is minimal. Deborah mentions her dad being a drinker (304). Based on DJ's addiction storyline, I can reasonably assume JPL are educated on addiction patterns and family trauma cycles. Kathy says their mom wouldn't have wanted there to be animosity between her and Deborah (307), and based on Deborah's isolation and decision to go no-contact with Kathy, I think JPL are leaning towards Deborah needing to distance herself in order to make sure she doesn't explode and cause bodily harm... more than she ends up inflicting.

There are elements of classical narcissism in Deborah's behavior – mainly the need to have zero contact with the narcissist in order to heal. While I don't think Kathy is a narcissist, I firmly believe Frank was. He was jealous, histrionic, selfish, and cunningly manipulative. These are all traits of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and yeah, Deborah possesses these qualities too. The difference between her and Frank, though, is that Deborah is using these tools to ensure she succeeds. She doesn't use them to take someone else down. She lets Ava go so she won't get in the way of Ava's success. She doesn't want to take up all the space in the room. She wants Ava to learn from her and apply the lessons so she can also succeed. It would be very easy for someone to take a single look at Deborah and assume she's hollow – and I think the pilot did a very good job of showing just that! The only glimpse we get behind the curtain is when Deborah sees that Frank died. She doesn't react except to say, “I can't believe they used that photo,” which is classic avoidance and emotional detachment. It's a coping mechanism she developed in her childhood.

I have to interject here and mention Deborah's desire to keep DJ close when she was a child. When a narcissist has their hooks into someone, they don't let go. They will use every tactic known to mankind to ensure the safety blanket they have chosen doesn't leave. So when Frank blew everything up, Deborah left, and Frank went after Kathy because she was 19 and easily manipulated. I think Deborah witnessed what Frank was doing to her and Kathy and decided to protect DJ by pulling her onto the road in a tour bus so Frank couldn't get to her. Obviously this backfired and resulted in DJ having a healthy(ish) relationship with Kathy because Frank was a master manipulator. Deborah saw that toxic father/daughter bond and went, Nope, not trying to fix this one – I'll only make it worse. Not to mention Frank's smear campaign! I mean Jesus Christ, the guy just couldn't wait to sign divorce papers. He had to destroy everything so Deborah wouldn't get somewhere without his help. So she wouldn't succeed on her own. So he would get all the credit, much like Ira did (“He gets to take credit for me? Put my photo up on his fucking wall?” 108).

In terms of why Deborah is the way she is, that's layered and difficult to summarize. A lot of her behavior stems from childhood trauma and her early adulthood. I think if Deborah had never met Frank, things would have been very, very different between her and Kathy. I think they would have continued to support each other and openly communicate, and despite there being a power imbalance between them, as Kathy matured and Deborah witnessed her growth, I think that Deborah would have been proud of the woman Kathy turned out to be. I think she's still proud of the woman Kathy turned out to be, even if she “hates” her or whatever. The dynamic of older sister/younger sister is very fraught with a mix of caretaking and jealousy. It's a super complex relationship, which is only usurped by the mother/daughter dynamic. Judging by how deeply bonded Deborah and Kathy were before 1976, it's very clear why Deborah feels so extremely betrayed by Kathy for what Frank did to them both. And it's also very clear why Kathy's appearance triggers Deborah so harshly she vomits.

Kathy embodies all the trauma from Frank, and keeping her distanced for so long let Deborah fall into a false sense of security and assumption that she had healed from all the shit that happened (which is debunked in 206 – “I got over my husband, but I never got over [losing a late night show].”) She never did. And knowing how Deborah reacts to the possibility of failing, which is to say that she doesn't react well – insomnia, anxiety, obsessive behaviors, defensiveness, blackmail – for her to not only not be healed after 50 years but to also be so overcome by emotion that she has a physical reaction? That's unconscionable. Unacceptable. A weakness. A secret shame. She's failed and it's the end of the world. And in most cases in her childhood and marriage to Frank, it kinda was...

*big deep exhale*

Here's where the rubber meets the road when it comes to Deborah Vance's relationships. Any kind, any shape, any depth, anything. She's afraid to let someone down. She's afraid that she won't be good enough. She's afraid that she won't be strong enough. She's afraid that she won't have all the answers. She's afraid to not be able to provide the way she wants to and has been able to in the past. And it's all due to a number of factors:

Her mother died first

Her mother died when Deborah was 15 and Kathy was 10

Her father died when Deborah was 17 and Kathy was 12

Her father was an alcoholic

Her household wasn't big on rules

As I mentioned, the mother/daughter relationship is the most complicated relationship dynamic. Regardless of what gendered roles are, biologically speaking, the mother/child bond is unique in that the mother's womb is where the child literally grows. Mother and child are connected by blood and tissue for almost a whole year. There are certain things that are established at the time of conception which can never be established by the father and child. It's just that simple. Mother/child bonds are more intense as a result. Being the eldest daughter meant Deborah and Martha had that bond and it was uninterrupted for five years. As childhood psychology analysis can and will predict, having an only child status for any length of time will make the bond between mother and child more intense than that of succeeding siblings. Having multiple siblings doesn't detract from the mother/child bond, but the eldest will always have a little extra special bond with the mother. So Deborah losing that bond first was the biggest blow to her developing psyche. That was a loss she felt more acutely than Kathy.

Deborah became a mother at 15. When a parent dies, it's the eldest siblings – but specifically the eldest sisters – who immediately start parenting whoever is left, including anyone in the family unit – parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, whoever. From what we know of Boomer culture and Greatest Generation morals, there's a very good chance Fred just delegated his parental duties to Deborah and checked the fuck out entirely after Martha died. From what I see Deborah doing when it comes to parenting, I wouldn't be surprised if this is a family pattern and learned behavior based in the fear of not measuring up.

Losing both parents before the age of 18 steals away any remaining childhood. Orphaned children are immediately thrust into survival mode and will stoop to what seem like unwarranted extremes like manipulation, blackmail, histrionic behavior, and bullying simply because they have to survive. There is no real way for orphaned children to support and protect themselves unless there's also a built-in safety net of siblings. Eldest siblings obviously support and protect more than the younger siblings, but the reward of there being kind of a quid-pro-quo or IOU or something along those lines is usually enough motivation to take on the responsibility of caretaking. As supported by the text, Deborah did her job as big sister. She protected Kathy from bullies (206) and she kept Kathy close until Frank got in the way (104). She continued these patterns in other areas of her life: “I would love nothing more than to bury you in more debt than medical school ever could” (106), “I helped a lot of people. I wasn't perfect but I did what I could” (108), “You have no fucking idea how much I do for you” (104). The behavior orphaned children usually develop as a result of being thrust into survival mode looks exactly like narcissistic traits. But as is seen throughout the series, Deborah doesn't use these tactics to tear someone else down. She uses them to survive.

Having an alcoholic parent (and therefore an unreliable parent) leaves the job of parenting to the eldest children, and in Deborah's case, this most likely had the biggest effect on her choice not to parent DJ. (Yes, there could be family pattern/learned behaviors at play here, too, and it might be a mix of both.) Not only does Deborah hesitate to develop a relationship with DJ, she flat out runs away from the responsibilities on more than one occasion. She avoids supporting DJ at the trade show, she offers small comforts of hand-me-down clothes rather than healthy communication, she chides DJ for going to therapy, and she jokes about DJ's sobriety. DJ confronts her numerous times and asks for a relationship but it's all in vain. There will never be a healthy, communicative, supportive, guilt-free relationship there unless Deborah has extensive therapy. Addressing the alcoholism and addiction that runs in her family might be too painful, so she may never do it. I would like to think JPL will at least have Deborah try, because they're crafting a redemption arc with her. This is one area I would like to see developed and explored more.

Having no structure during childhood and adolescent years is very detrimental to the developing psyches of children. There is definitely a thing as too much regimen, but having no structure at all is like giving a child the keys to a car and saying, “Good fucking luck!” It's beyond the realm of unhealthy; it's destructive. The child will learn to adapt, though. Some resulting adaptive behaviors are adrenaline seeking, dangerous hobbies like extreme sports, attachment issues, Borderline Personality Disorder, and attention seeking behaviors. It seems counter-intuitive to develop traits that fit into a structure-free home, but the child is using these adaptations as a way to normalize a very destructive environment. They aren't running hog wild because they want to. They're running hog wild because there is no other way for them to get the attention and care they need. These learned behaviors continue into adulthood in the form of attachment issues, cluster B personality disorders (Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Histrionic Personality Disorder, and Anti-social Personality Disorder), commitment issues, detachment, emotional abuse and neglect.

Based on these five factors, if Deborah didn't take care of herself and Kathy when Martha died, if she didn't take care of her dad when he was drunk, if she didn't coddle to the needs of Frank's narcissism, if she didn't get a perfect score on being the strongest person in the room, then she was a failure and there were extensive repercussions resulting in her, DJ's and Kathy's safety and survival being threatened. The result of this constant need to always be right so she will survive extends into her adulthood, resulting in perfectionism, obsession, tunnel vision, stringent morals, and a lack of flexibility.

Again, I have to stress, the traits of classical narcissism that Deborah exhibits are a result of her need to survive as: the only child of an alcoholic, then the eldest daughter, then the mother figure to Kathy, then the caretaker of her father, then the sole supporter of Kathy, then the wife of a narcissist, then the rejected wife, then the emotionally wounded woman she is known as today. She's exhausted, and it's no wonder why. She's been the strongest person in the room since she was 15. She's had to be. There was no choice. She either stepped up and took initiative or she died. There was no in-between.

For Deborah, the holy grail of success is getting a late night show. It not only symbolizes an happy, intact family unit (because her dad only laughed during Johnny Carson – 304), but it also realistically equips Deborah to be able to provide for herself and her family. It gives her a tangible reward for surviving all the shit that's been thrown her way. It's a tenured career, it's status, it's reliable, it's sustainable (inasmuch as anything in the entertainment industry is). It's all the things her childhood never was. She's worked her whole life to keep her head above water, and even when she could take a day off she doesn't because she's afraid someone else will come along and take her spot – “You have to scratch and claw and it never fucking ends, and it doesn't get better; it just gets harder.” (102)

So... This is why Deborah is the way she is, and this is why I love her. I see myself in her and knowing that she and I share so many things in common is part of the reason why this show means so much to me. Yeah, it's just a fucking TV show. It's fake and all that junk, but to me it's representation. And that means the world.

I can't thank JPL enough for giving me the gift of Deborah Margesson Vance. I also wanna know when they snuck into my childhood bedroom because holy shit...

[radiantantihero]

Ao no flag ending explained (Part 1)

Just finished reading the manga I must say this is one of the most underrated ending ever, it’s controversial but it ties the story while also highlighting the message the series wanted to give us since the start. 

I want to talk mainly about the things that most people didn’t understand about the ending itself starting with:

Futaba and Taichi breaking up

This is probably something most people didn’t saw coming but the story itself did foreshadow that Futaba and Taichi would have issues in the future. This problems would come from choosing which universities they wanted to go to.

When deciding for a university Taichi suggest to Futaba that she should list the pros and cons of each choice, we see how the among the pros of some universities she mentions Taichi, her teacher and her parents indicating that these choices are influenced by those people and might not truly be what she wants to do, on the other hand the university that she seems the most enthusiastic about is the farthest away from Taichi’s and she starts to add negatives to this choice like being far away from Taichi or her parents not approving that choice to make it less  appealing to her.

Either scenario could’ve affected their relationship, Futaba picking the same university as Taichi or the closest one to him maybe wouldn’t have made her happy in the long term as it wasn’t where she truly wanted to go while her choosing the one that she wanted could’ve caused them issues due to the long distance between them, we even see Taichi looking up long distance relationships on the internet at one moment.

It’s also worth mentioning that they break up two years latter which means they are already at university by that point and Taichi mentioned that while nothing interesting caused their break up they decided to follow their own happiness and not what someone else wanted for them. 

Part 2:

[the-simple-creature]

My last "X eyes" theory, the big one.

I have made many theories (probably definitely too many) as to who/what this guy is and I suspect (know) it's getting annoying so I am just going to put every theory right here, including a couple new ones!

The format for each theory goes as such:

Theory

Small paragraph explaining it.

Each piece

of evedence

For it

-<(Break)

Each piece

of evedence

against it

Theory 1: This is CYN/The AS

Simple, it's CYN, the one that far too many people are saying is true. To clarify, this theory says it's JUST CYN, not the true form of the AS or anything like that, just good ol' mansion CYN.

It kinda looks like her.

CYN isn't in the poster

-

This character is being hidden and HEAVILY foreshadowed, we've already seen CYN

The hair is too small

CYN has never made those eyes

The drawings mostly come from Nori, whom had some form of precognition or just saw CYN's plan, which implies that this has not happened yet

Theory 2: This is an eldritch character.

This is probably my second least favorite one but it does have far more evidence supporting it.

V is "killed", which would supposedly give us Eldritch V

Hasn't happened yet

We don't know what all Eldritch characters look like, they might not all be jawless-holo-spooky-snake-crabs.

V isn't in the poster

-

Sentinels are (allegedly) designed to fight and kill DD's, which would include the eldritch form

Uzi says that if Alice killed V that she would get quote "a freaky worm", which implies that they ARE all jawless-holo-spooky-snake-crabs

Again, the hair

Again, the eyes

Theory 3: It's a new form of CYN/The AS

The second most likely one... with about two real problems.

Hair would fit

Eyes would fit

Technically hasn't happened yet

We have no idea what it could be

-

We have no idea what it could be

We better have a damn good reason as to why it's not possessed Uzi /hj

Lame as hell /j

Theory 4: It's possessed Uzi

The most likely one, probably the correct one. I don't actually mind this one, this one feels like the realistic pick. I found a lot more evidence against this than I thought I would but it wouldn't bother me if this was the correct one.

Hair is an almost exact match (see here)

Uzi is being possessed as we speak

Hasn't happened yet

-

CYN didn't get the X eyes when possessed, why would Uzi?

That's not what her hair normally looks like

She's already in the poster

The repeated use of the X eyes would suggest that they are a constant, Uzi (very briefly) flickered them once

Uzi's hair is A: longer and B: purple

The teeth

Theory 5: It's something completely new

My personal favorite one, mainly because I'm a simp for the SD-S theory.

Hasn't happened yet AND would explain why the picture on the left exists, that drone may have seen this character personally in cabin fever labs, thus explaining why a "normal" drone could draw it

Would provide more lore on Nori

The hair being similar to Uzi's could just be Nori's design/Nori made the hair for this character

Would kinda explain the 6-7 month wait

Could be a "experiment gone horribly wrong" type character, explaining the eyes

Could explain why and how the sentinels exist

Foreshadowing would HIT

-

I'm honestly just coping for the fact that it's probably CYN

The exact same problem as theory 3

"twₒ EPisₒdEs isN'T ENₒuGh TimE!" (It's valid, I'm just salty)

Conclusion

Most if not all of the evidence points to this at least being something we haven't seen yet. While most of the evidence could also just be ignored, the two theories that answer the most questions and have the most/best evidence are probably theories 4 and 5.

In conclusion: this is ether someone new or at least a new form of somebody, heavy foreshadowing to me means that this thing is going to have some sort of importance to the story that isn't just "yellow Uzi".

At the absolute BARE MINIMUM, this thing is going to have a unique personality or, well, perhaps a lack of one.

[ecargmura]

Wonderful Precure Episode 23 Review - Summer Festival

I like how this episode look like a pointless filler, but it wasn’t. It actually foreshadows future events and the future role Komugi might play in the future with the dream she had. In anime, whenever someone has a prophetic dream, it should always come to your attention because they are clues.

I do like that Precure episodes like to theme around holidays that fall on the weekend. In this episode, Tanabata, July 7, falls on a Sunday and it’s Sunday over in Japan as of the time it aired. Because of that, the whole episode is mainly spent with the group in yukata. Everyone wears one, even Satoru! I think the most hilarious moment was when Yuki transformed in front of Sumire. Sumire just accepted it like it’s the most normal thing ever. Dang, this woman’s nerves are as tough as titanium. Speaking of Yuki, it seems that she has let loose when it comes to Mayu? She’s not as overprotective as she was in previous episodes. She even wants Mayu to go to the festival without her and she doesn’t seem to mind that either until she was persuaded to join.

Another cute moment was Mayu figuring out that Satoru has a crush on Iroha and is now their biggest shipper. She usually fumbles with her words or gets too shy, but look at her being straightforward and even assertive when it comes to what she wants to say! This is character development for Mayu! I never knew she had this romance-otaku side to her, but it’s adorable! Yuki just doesn’t care, but she’s getting along well with Daifuku, surprisingly. She even senses that there’s something special about him. Maybe that’s a hint for him becoming a Precure?

I like that there are more hints about the final boss of this story. Back in Episode 16, Iroha’s parents were talking about the legend of Animal Town and in the visuals, there was a wolf alongside a unicorn. In this episode, Karasuma and Satoru talk about wolves and how they became extinct in Japan over a hundred years ago. I’m surprised that they showed rather grim visuals regarding wolves and how they were hunted to the point of extinction. It’s pretty dark for Wonderful Precure standards. There’s a shrine dedicated to wolves at the mountainside. I think this might be cleverly written because remember in a previous episode where Satoru pointed out that he saw an extinct animal at Niko Garden? I think it was a dodo? Given that wolves are extinct in Japan, I think the wolf GaruGaru has some anger regarding this hence why he’s spreading GaruGaru energy to animals and to Niko Garden. Is he seeking revenge against Niko or against humans? Both?

The GaruGaru of the episode is the last of the Kirarin Animals, the swan. You know, for the fight, I don’t know why Nyammy is the one using Kirarin Animal powers the best. Like, Wonderful and Friendy have been doing this longer than her but she makes them look like chumps. Seriously, up your game, dog duo!

Now that all nine Kirarin Animals have been rescued, what is next for the story and for the Precures? What of the wolf? While this was a fun episode, I love the mystery aspect of it all! What are your thoughts on this episode?

[whispering-coffee]

I’ve been holding this off for a while mainly cause I was afraid of doing it but I finally pulled through and now I have a story to share with ya’ll explaining what happened during my hold at the mall!

I went dressed in black leggings and a sweater, bummer that it wouldn’t show I know but i was nervous! I had drank some before leaving my house so by the time I had arrived at the mall i was already feeling the need.

To make sure I was going to suffer (I know i know im a masochist bite me) i drank an entire water bottle i brought with me in the car before actually heading into the mall. So yada yada time passes and im trying to figure out what to do at the mall and I go get myself a drink at the food court then i head off to look around the stores.

About an hour in the mall and its starting to feel pretty urgent but not bursting so i decided hey, why not play a game with myself, and got into a bathroom line. However once i actually went into a stall i just sat there fully clothed not doing anything, still holding it in then shortly after left. Trust me i was getting pretty bored here to have to do that.

I got another drink and finally after finishing it I was getting antsy, crossing my legs and shuffling my feet while i sat at a table.

HEY IF YOU’RE SKIPPING THROUGH THE POST TO FIND THE INTERESTING PARTS ITS OVER HERE

So i go back to looking around stores, feeling my bladder ache each time i take a step and now im actually like, nervous because like its dawning on me that Im really doing this in a public place. Let me say its pretty crowded, its not like the mall barely has anyone in it. So here i am standing around in the corner of a store thinking to myself if I really wanna do it, i was thinking for like a good 5-10 minutes walking back and fourth till i decided i was gonna pull through, after all i made a promise that i would post something interesting and different ;p

I leave the store and about another hour passed and im pretty desperate, like constantly moving around wanna put my hands between my legs desperate. But since it was a public place i couldnt really just do that unless i had to go REALLY bad (foreshadowing haha).

Did i mention it was really cold in the mall, only made everything worse xD

Anyways so Im pretty desperate, i take a seat at the food court again and get ONE MORE drink, and as im sipping on it im squirming in my seat cross legged, im sure anyone who’s into omo would immediately catch on if they saw me.

Just a little bit later im scrolling through my phone with my other hand on top of my lap (not between my legs just yet)

Now Im REALLY anxious because its getting to the point where I know im going to have an accident soon so i get up and just start walking around with my chest aching from nervousness. I even stared at the bathroom in contemplation before walking away.

A couple minutes of aimless walking and i end up having to sneeze.. needless to say a little bit escaped but i stopped it albeit i looked a little silly. My heart dropped during it too.

About ten or twenty so minutes and i have to go REAAALLY bad and im super anxious, i even entered a bathroom line thinking i didnt want to actually wet myself but after a couple minutes of waiting in line i felt another leak which automatically prompted a hand to crotch response, you can imagine my embarrassment.

After the leak I was honestly horrified but also having a LOT of fun, i was close to having an accident so I decided to try to find a secluded area in the mall to hang around in for when i lose control. Each step i took was agony to take but i kept movin, slightly bent over too.

Eventually i found an area where not alot of people were, there were still some but it wasnt as crowded as the other areas. It was like this dead end section with nothing of interest other than a few benches and stores.

I stayed here for about a couple minutes, mild panicking, hella anxious, and kiiiind of excited. Thats when i started losing control. I was kind of in a little corner where a protrusion of wall was blocking me but if you’d still be able to see me if you walked closer to the dead end.

It was a mix of terrified excitement when i tried to stop the flow but couldnt. The sounds of my pee hitting the floor wasnt helping. I dont think anyone actually noticed plus since I was wearing black leggings it wasnt super noticeable. I promptly rushed my way out of the mall keeping my head down leaving behind that puddle.

When i got back to my car i put out the towel i had stored in my trunk over my driver seat so i wouldnt ruin my car seats and kind of just sat in the car thinking about what happened. At the end i actually found the experience really enjoyable and might do it again ;)

[blockgamepirate]

I didn't end up celebrating Nov 16th much at all yesterday even though I kinda wanted to because it really was the defining moment of the Dream SMP for me

And for me specifically that was mainly thanks to Techno. I remember when he said afterwards that the original plan was just to have Wilbur blow up the whole place at the moment of victory, but Techno asked if could just play the anarchist and have his character turn against them all when he sees them creating a new government to replace the old and IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER.

It made so much sense for his character! And it made everything WAY more interesting! Because now it wasn't just a story about who deserves to rule L'Manburg but does ANYONE deserve to rule at all in the first place?

And it was a perspective that had been lacking in the narrative (a perspective that is too often absent in most narratives about power tbh)

Not to mention it was a much more dramatic ending than if it had just been "Wilbur blows up L'Manburg and then gets killed by Phil while everybody else just kinda watches in shock I guess" which would have been really dramatic from Wilbur and Phil's perspective but mostly just one sudden big boom from everybody else's. Instead they had an actual final battle! And Techno's speeches, can you imagine November 16th without them?

Obviously I'm not saying it was all Techno, obviously the whole stream was full of cool and dramatic moments from everybody, and the Badlanders were there to create chaos as well (even though it sadly didn't actually lead anywhere in the long term) but my point is that I don't think would have felt nearly as big and important without Techno's contributions.

For me personally they were the absolute highlight of the event. Nothing can top that shit. It was a twist I think a lot of people saw coming but in a GOOD way because it made sense. And even with all the scuffedness it was so well executed.

And I can't even tell you how excited I was about having an anarchist character to root for in the story. I had been hoping Techno would become one, and the foreshadowing had been there from the start, but I wasn't sure because the way he was playing it was a bit more ambiguous during the Pogtopia arc. November 16th was when he made it clear what his character stood for, though, and it was excellent.

[fandomfaeofveryfewf4cks]

Spoilers for Our Flag Means Death finale.

I just needed to talk things through as a crew.

So, I already posted something about how I felt about Izzy's death immediately after watching the finale. Now that I've given myself more time to mull it over though, I'm not quite as satisfied with the ending as I thought. But I think I know why I'm not exactly angry about it either.

I think I just see it as an open ending for next season? Like, I can see how Izzy's death brings parts of the story around full circle. (Mainly in Ed growing out of being Blackbeard who wasn't really Blackbeard without Izzy Hands.) However, after thinking about it some and reading some other people's thoughts about it, it doesn't really work for bringing Izzy's story around full circle, does it? No, really, does it? I'm still not entirely sure.

On the one hand, I've seen people talk about how Izzy represents piracy and piracy is coming to an end, so it makes sense for him to die with piracy. With his talk with Ricky about how they may die, but they'll live on in other ways, it makes sense.

On another hand, I also see people talking about the fact that Izzy survived a suicide attempt (potentially for the reason of protecting the crew) only to end the season saying he wants to die...

This choice just makes me a bit queasy because it invalidates some of the hope I've had building up with every episode I watched, especially in season 2, where Izzy goes through the bulk of what I feel is (at least mostly) such an amazing character arc.

On a third hand, I saw someone saying that Izzy should captain the Revenge while Stede and Ed go off to run their inn. I had thought this was going to happen too until I started seeing the foreshadowing for Izzy's death and started doubting that theory.

Part of the reason this makes so much sense is because, firstly, Izzy runs the ship already. Plus, he's changed his priorities to be about the crew.

Remember in season 1 episode 9, when the crew is planning to mutiny against Izzy and are trying to decide who should be captain next. And Oluwande says,

"It's gotta be someone we can all trust. Someone who's got the whole crew in mind. Not just themselves."

Izzy didn't make a good captain in that episode because he still didn't trust them, they didn't trust him, and he was doing everything for himself.

In season 2, none of that is true anymore.

The crew DOES trust him. He DOES think about the crew first and foremost. And, we even get to see him learn to trust the crew as well. Learn that they see him as not just a part of the crew they have to deal with like in most of season 1, but a crucial part of the crew and a person they all care about.

In short, it really would have made so much sense to make him Captain.

"Okay, but why do you think his death is an open ending? Death is typically a decidedly very closed off ending."

Ah, I see the point I keep losing is back.

How many times has someone been "dead" only to come back later. How many times has IZZY "died" to come back later. Granted, Izzy going through this multiple times is part of what foreshadows the idea that he's going to not come back this time, so it's possibly just false hope to think he'll come back (assuming we get a third season).

But think about it. Izzy has died. Stede gave up his pirating dream, which seems how likely to stick? And Ed thinks he's going to be able to work a customer service job? And both Stede and Ed think they'll be good at running a business they don't know jackshit about? Ed has proved to be lousy at working a "simple" life. Ed's subconscious said so. Pop-pop said so. Even Jackie sees this as a "wish I was a regular dude phase." Also, Stede has proved that he can be a decent pirate. Zheng said so. Spanish Jackie said so. The entire Republic of Pirates said so. The Pirate Queen said so.

I guess I just have a hard time believing the creators of ofmd couldn't bring Izzy back somehow and turn out a new plot for another season if they wanted to.

At the end of season one, Ed and Stede resign themselves to a future that is not ideal for them and Lucius "dies."

At the end of season 2, Ed and Stede decide to try for a future that is arguably also not ideal for them (it's just less angsty than season 1) and Izzy "dies."

I dunno. I guess what I'm saying is, it makes enough sense for an ending, but not this story's ending. And this show actually managed to make me feel things in my mucky rustbucket of a heart and gave me hope like not many things do. I'm just not ready to give up on it yet.

. . . . .

Maybe they didn't want to make Izzy captain because then if/when Stede and/or Ed come back wanting to be Captain, they'd have to decide how to make that work? But that wouldn't be too hard to figure out, right? I mean, they already decided a ship can have two captains. Why not 3?

Here's some of those posts I was talking about:

[neospokenworld]

SEIYUU RADIO NO URA OMOTE EPISODE 3 SPOILERS

Alright, I have not read the manga at all so I'm just assuming by what I saw on the episode but...

It was implied that this was because of Yasumi lashing out at Watanabe and accusing her of doing ''sketchy things'' with the director?

Because if that's the case then that would mean that the entire part (or at least the majority of it) was recorded and I mean, why leave it in the final recording?

I mean I know this was mainly because of drama to the story but if you're having a radio show with two professionals that mainly work outside of it in voice acting, with one of them being an idol, then why in heavens would you release that entire conversation to the world, more than likely tainting the entire career of said voice actress/idol forever?

Like it doesn't make sense to me why would you do this other than for the narrative purposes (which btw it was a good foreshadowing with Watanabe's mom saying that voice acting is a pretty unstable career and all that). And it's not like anyone of the crew had it on Watanabe to just go ahead and not edit it out either, hell even Yasumi is warming up to her, so why taint her blooming career like that?

Again, I haven't read the manga, so this could probably be just rumors someone made and people are treating it as true, but seeing how Yasumi was just implying it a few minutes before (or the day before in universe) makes me assume it was because of that in the end (and probably Yasumi feels the same way seeing her reaction at the end of the episode)

[annes-andromeda]

I know this is probably gonna age horribly since the Duffers will more than likely do something different, but I’ve been having some thoughts about the Upside Down.

I think Wills painting may serve another purpose besides being used for the Byler storyline. This isn’t necessarily a theory but more or less like an alternate storyline thing cause I don’t believe this might happen in the show, but it’s fun to think about.

Now this has been talked about a little bit about how the painting may be foreshadowing for S5. Some have said that the three-headed dragon is the Mind Flayers final form, others have said that it’s the Thessalhydra. I personally believe it’s the latter since Nancy described the creature in her vision as having “a gaping mouth”. And she’s definitely not describing the Demogorgon or Demodogs or Demobats because if that’s the case, then she would’ve just said it.

This is the only picture I could find that depicts the Thessalhydra with wings, but it definitely fits both Nancy’s description and the painting. And it’s not like the show hasn’t made changes to creatures from DnD.

But back to the painting, I believe that it is foreshadowing the Party comic together and defeating a common enemy. Now in the show this may very well be the Thessalhydra, but I have this sort of headcanon that I’ve been concocting:

What if just like Byler in S4, the painting ends up being a miscommunication. Like it is correct in the Party stopping a great foe, but it’s wrong in who the enemy ends up being.

If was just revealed that Vecna was the big bad this whole time despite focusing on the Mind Flayer for three seasons, then imo it would feel cheap. It would feel like when the Star Wars sequel trilogy clearly set up Snoke to be the big bad… only to kill him off in the second film and then suddenly revive Palpatine because reasons I guess🤷‍♀️

In terms of canon, I’d like for it to be revealed that Vecna only thinks that he’s in control of the Upside Down and the Mind Flayer, only for the MF to do a 180 and show him who’s really running things.

Since I believe the MF to be an Eldritch demon of some kind, I think he is the only being who’s mind Henry cannot read. So if he were, let’s say, using Henry as a way to regain power or merge the UD with Hawkins, then Henry wouldn’t know because the MD could simply block his own thoughts.

I do not believe that Henry created the Mind Flayer, but more so gave it its form. Similarly to how Will didn’t necessarily make the Upside Down (because we saw it existing even before his time), but he most likely gave it the form of Hawkins because he was afraid and home was the first thing on his mind (It’s also why I believe transmutation to be one of Wills abilities)

So essentially, Vecna is the Darth Vader to the Mind Flayer’s Palpatine. However, while the Mind Flayer can be referred to as the ruler of the Upside Down, I wouldn’t necessarily make him the creator of it.

This is where the Thessalhydra and the painting’s miscommunication comes in (Once again this is all just a headcanon)

What if it ends up being wrong that the Thessalhydra is the final boss. It could start off that the characters think this giant dragon-like kaiju with multiple heads and a gaping mouth is the ultimate villain to defeat or whatever.

But what if it ends up being revealed that the Thessalhydra is not only the original ruler of the Upside Down, but the creator? And that after the portals begin opening up, it is finally allowed to break free of whatever prison it’s been held in. This means the Thessalhydra can finally reclaim its throne and defeat it enemy, the Mind Flayer.

Now how would all of this be revealed? Well, I don’t know about canon but here’s my vision for an alternate story:

In S4, it’s revealed that Will has powers like El. However, it is subtly hinted that his powers may very well be generational, mainly on his mothers side.

Now this is something that actually was hinted at way back in the very first season. We see in S1 that after Jonathan, Steve, and Nancy defeat the Demogorgon, the lights begin to flicker in the Byers house.

Nancy and Steve think it’s the Demogorgon again, but Jonathan is the only one who senses Joyce walking around in the Upside Down. Not Joyce and Hopper, just Joyce. And the crazy thing is, Joyce senses him back.

(GIFs are not mine)

The fact that both Jonathan and Joyce can sense each other’s presence despite being in different dimensions is insane to me and I hate the fact that this is never brought up again after S1.

So this would fuel my little headcanon (or theory whatever) that Joyce’s side has some sort of generational abilities. Joyce and Jonathan’s abilities would be more mentally focused, whereas El and Will’s abilities would be more physically focused. Yes, I know El isn’t a biological Byers, but we see in S2 that her bio mother Terry has powers of her own, so her powers may also be generational.

It’s also the same for Henry. I also theorize his powers to be generational, once again, on his mothers side. It would explain why his mother was the only one who caught on to what Henry was doing in their house, and his father and sister were oblivious.

So let’s say that while the characters are fighting against some monsters of the UD or Vecna, Jonathan gets taken. Since Vecna has already held Will and El hostage, why not give Joyce even more trauma and stress and take her eldest son/first child🙃

While the group is trying to find Jonathan, he gets taken to an unknown location. There, he meets the Thessalhydra face to face. This could parallel to how Will is the first one to see the Mind Flayer in person.

Obviously in the beginning, Jonathan thinks this is just another monster trying to kill him like all the other ones. But unlike the Demogorgon or the other creatures, the Thessalhydra is much more intelligent and can sense that this boy is not a threat.

Since the Thessalhydra is the creator of the UD, the creatures living there actually were originally impervious to fire. However, once the Mind Flayer took over, the UD became a cold, barren wasteland. Creatures like the Demogorgon and others had to adapt, which is why fire can now hurt them.

Along with figuring out the UD’s history, Jonathan finds out that like his brother and sister, he too has powers of his own. He can actually control the monsters of the UD and sense their thoughts and emotions, which is why the Thessalhydra knows he isn’t a threat. He can also link his mind with the people closest to him, which he uses to communicate to his mother and siblings, as a parallel to S1. Joyce also this same mind link power.

Jonathan shows the rest of the group that the Thessalhydra isn’t their enemy, and boom! Cue epic face off against the Mind Flayer and Vecna (or just the MD if he decided to kill Vecna idk)

Will all of this happen in the actual season? Highly doubt it. But I’d definitely like to learn more about the Upside Down and the Mind Flayer and how it all came to be. And it is the last season, so you gotta go out with a bang.

[sterlingarcher23]

- Elumax -

Something that Season 4 manifested in the finale is Elumax - while even originally written as an Elmax only scene, that was changed and El and Lucas crying over Max and the reviving was then Elumax.

Basically, the original idea wanted to separate them to show who is the intended lover for Max in which realm. However, they kept the concept anyway:

El fights and saves Max in the nick of time in the mind.

Lucas does the same in the real world (otherwise Max would have a spinal injury if he wouldn't have caught her)

El is the dreamcatcher, protecting Max from the monsters within "If you touch her again, I kill you again."

Lucas is the protector in the real world "Don't touch her!"

Both are overpowered at first but found their strength to fight for Max.

Both have their own ways of love:

This is why Max can't feel or see anything - Henry stole love from her. He took away these abilities as Brenner explained - it just looks like an injury. Both abilities are important for the characters, symbolizing the way they mainly give and receive love (the final talk between Lucas and Max was by passing notes!) - so bestowing these abilities to Max is of great importance from a narrative perspective alone. ST has a countermeasure in the drawer to what happened and that's El (Please read my post about El & Henry build as foils) , one needs to read a bit between the lines but it is also right in front of us: forget traditional thinking.

(Side note: No one is confused about a psychic guy killing kids in their minds but as soon as it goes the other way, the reaction is "Nah, you can't do that magically." but they are okay with El reviving Max via mind over thousands of miles away. Makes sense. - They can and planed that long time ago.)

It's symbolism, the show is full of symbols and therefore getting these abilities symbolizes Max opening up to love, understanding and accepting who she is.

Of course it will come with a price tag. Because:

That price is someone elses life: El's (and maybe has already given a part of her life when she resurrected Max) - and Max will have a weak left leg, likely wearing a leg brace like her namesake Mad Max. (Foreshadowed in S3 in the shopping scene and in Will's painting). Her own ability of vision is gone but she'll have a substitute and likely will cover this condition with sunglasses as it will change her eye color like Will's changed. Possession is signaled by change in eye color. Max will however, unlike Will, be possessed by a benevolent force. But I digress...

Furthermore there was an interesting symbol smuggled in by the pinecone that Lucas holds while talking to Max.

It is one of the many "Neverending Story" references that are mostly about El & Max (the whole song is).

"In your hand the birth of a new day." = rebirth of Max, not just revival because El holds her hand later.

The pinecone is symbol for resurrection, eternal life and regeneration, enlightenment, the third eye and creativity. The latter is important in the mindscape and demonstrated by the fact that Max just altered her surroundings. Who can do that? She just knows, that she can. (and is able to walk across the borders between minds when a link is established when she entered the mind lair)

El herself is wearing a shirt with flowers on it throughout the finale.

The whole fighting for Max, the symbolism through the pinecone Lucas is holding and El's flower shirt, even the song makes it fundamentally clear where things are heading:

Max been reborn and Elumax as the Endgame.

Because:

"Someday love will find you. True love won't desert you. You know I still love you. Though we touched and went our separate ways."

And of course:

PS: Max is no damsel in distress or better won't stay that way. Once she's back, it's her turn to fight (with El's help) and we saw glimpses of that when she freed herself the first time and injured Henry. That was a teaser of what her role in 5 will be.

[tabr1-s]

sunday rant and personal frustrations with him that i begun to write at 6am running on an entire 3 and a half hours of sleep (my cats woke me up.....)

(tldr at the end. i might be as bad as Sunday in terms of yap mileage (yappage) but i'll do one better than him and provide you with the concise version if you scroll all the way down.)

i have never felt such intense emotions about a character's moral viewpoint... Ever. and i've liked characters that were mass murderers before. morals (or lack thereof) usually never played a significant role in whether i liked a character or not (unless they did something i considered worse than plain ol murder, then i wouldn't associate with them), and 99% of the time i could find the character's motivations understandable under the circumstances that they were in.

and, technically, i can understand where Sunday is coming from too.

but that doesn't stop me from being Absolutely pissed at him.

(sunday-esque yap about myself incoming, i will eventually get to the point (which i will highlight))

as someone who has been told that i have "ocd features" Multiple times by my psychiatrist (practically each session) i understand the need for control. my obsessiveness manifests in the form of feeling the need to control practically everything - my current obsession for control being my own emotions, which extends to needing to control entire situations, and in turn makes me severely overthink all the possible outcomes to those given situations. i've also been guilty of controlling others before, and having the mentality of "i know what's best for you". hell, i still feel like that a lot, but i really try to push it back.

and this need for "control" is mainly the reason why i even find comfort in fiction. because it's oftentimes very predictable to me (it also made me think of how i do not find any interest in reading books, but i love writing stories of my own. particularly fan-fiction. and the only time i can feel comfortable enough to feel romance is towards fictional characters - because i control the narrative! it's something to think about.). if i like a character or a narrative, it's easy for me to pick apart where the writers will go with that story. and, even if the story turns out to disappoint me/be different than what i hoped for, i would still be Prepared for that possibility.

i somehow... failed to prepare for what would happen with Sunday.

i had set my sights on the wrong thing for 2.2. i invested my whole energy on trying to comfort myself that hoyo wouldn't take the ipc colonialism route (basically turning out to be capitalist/colonialist apologists) with penacony (which i Guess will be explored in 2.3? but now that i have some more context on the story and how it's unraveling i'm not as anxious about it anymore), that i overlooked a lot of other things that could've gone wrong.

namely, my favourite hsr character to be... Like that. (i'm not even being intentionally vague. i'm just dumbfounded)

i had Heard of the theory that Sunday is possessed by Ena (which didn't particularly make sense to me, and i refused to look at leaks concerning Sunday lest they upset me. either way i Really hated that theory. plus, Sunday being said to have ocd would've been an incredibly cheap way to foreshadow that he's "possessed" by the Order. you can't just create your first(?) important/playable character that has a confirmed mental illness and then go "it's okay actually he's Normal! he was just possessed". i took this very personally. and still am.), and saw a lot of theories concerning his involvement with the Order as well. i shut it all out, because i didn't like the implications of that.

which in turn made me Not think/comfort myself regarding the possibilities that he truly Was connected to the Order.

...

well, rest in pieces, me - it's always the things i don't pay much attention to/ignore/fail to think about. which is actually a bit strange because i was not expecting him to be an entirely sane person from the start - he was a politician type, a leader, and a manipulator, to name a few things. that much was obvious. in 2.0-2.1 i wouldn't have been surprised if it turned out that he was the one that "killed" Robin. again, nothing was out of the question. but, 2.1 showed a different side of him. one that cared for his sister and (seemingly) listened to her and cared about what she thought. so they became quite a comforting little sibling duo to me. tragic, yet you could depend on their mutual trust in eachother... or so i thought.

and then he... went and did all That. which just showed me how, despite him caring for his sister, he was still putting other things above her.

to conclude with my yap: in a sense, he is just my "grim reflection of the self". and although i feel sympathetic towards my past self and how naive and selfish i used to be, there are some flaws of mine i will never forgive myself for. and, Sunday, in a way, reminded me of... Everything. it was almost triggering.

(hey, writing this all down in one place helped me calm down! (it's a neverending cycle that will continue tomorrow. all it will take is seeing a post concerning him and his sister and i'll get pissed anew) yay!)

the point(s) (aka my qualms):

- how sunday manipulated robin + was planning to use her in the charmony festival to complete his plan. she was going to be an unwilling participant in creating a "utopia" that she would've been absolutely against, but he didn't stop to fucking. fill her in, maybe? talk it out? the sheer disrespect on the concept of free will and on the fact that your own sister is a human being of her own sickens me

- he should've cherished the relationship he had with her (x1000 because that's the ONE FAMILY MEMBER YOU HAD LEFT AND THAT IS SUCH A PRIVILEGE!!! IMAGINE HAVING SOMEONE CARE ABOUT YOU WHOLEHEARTEDLY AND THEN YOU GO AND THROW IT AWAY!!! YEAH I'VE ALMOST DONE THE SAME EXACT THING MULTIPLE TIMES (AND STILL WOULD) BUT THAT'S WHY I ALSO KNOW HOW MUCH OF AN ASSHOLE MOVE IT IS!!!)

- he forsook his own self and shoved down his own biases and interests (fucking rat. you can't change the fact you're human and i'm very much saying that from experience) to become something Grander than life itself and in fucking turn isolated himself and shut out the one person who actually cared and then had the Gall to complain about being misunderstood/alone. (when you're finally sitting in your unreachable throne in this "dream" that you've created, who will you blame for being lonely? who will you blame when you have no one to fall back into? no one to support you? when everybody you did this for forsakes You?)

- HE DIDN'T EVEN HUG ROBIN BACK AT THE LAST SCENE. LIKE SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR FAILED PLANS AND COME DOWN FROM THE CLOUDS A LITTLE - THE JOY YOU SEEK FOR IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!

- all i hoped for was that sunday and robin would reunite and get the chance to be happy together, and the only true reason i'm mad is because i'm guilty of a lot of the same self sacrificial behaviours as him and very much understand the sentiment of "my loved ones would be better off without my negative presence and influence". but instead of empathizing with him, i feel betrayed. i thought he was better than me. i thought he was someone worthy of admiration, and that doesn't come easily from me. despite all the warning signs i fell for his obvious facade, and i Very rarely get taken by surprise - especially in a way like this.

- if it wasn't for the fact that Robin would feel sad if Sunday died i would personally go and strangle him myself

tldr; i'm just a big baby that placed a lot of faith on Sunday and his relationship with Robin post 2.1 and my ego took a Huge hit once he turned out to be just some immature emo idealist type. (come on, man - i genuinely thought you were better than me! someone worthy of respect! and i usually have a feeling of superiority over others! this was the biggest compliment/act of faith i could give! (talking to a wall (fictional character (I'M FUCKING UPSET))))

[kozachenko]

Big Touhou Anime idea that has been marinating in my brain for a while

Alright, so I just wanted to compile my ideas for a potential Touhou anime I had here because I just needed to get them out. This is also going to be a very long post, so get comfortable

So I would like to call this hypothetical Touhou anime "Touhou Project Definitive Edition." So what I mean by a definitive edition is that it goes through all of the Touhou games from 1-19 as well as some of the side material (this part is optional) and polishes them up. This would be fixing some plot holes, establishing parts of Gensokyo's world earlier on (mainly in the form of foreshadowing until the story actually gets to those places), and re-writing pre-existing material if there are any glaring problems or inconsistencies that are present in the original material. This also can help tie together the PC-98 games and windows era games together in a nicer way and can further solidify Gensokyos world and cosmology. This option is also pretty newcomer friendly if handled correctly. This option could also help expand on Reimu and Marisa's personalities, the plot potentially following them as they grow up together, the PC-98 games following them throughout their childhood a potential in between arc to more smoothly transition into the Windows era as well as adapting the Vampire Incident before EoSD, and from then on they would probably be in their mid to late teens.

Now of course this idea is very unrealistic and could go very wrong pacing-wise if not handled correctly, but I do think it could work. In regards to the pacing problem, some arcs could be lengthened or cut down depending on how long the events of the games are, with some taking longer than others. Of course, there's also the issue of the anime falling into the same traps that Memories of Phantasm, where the episodes become very formulaic very quick. Now this relates to an issue with the translation between mediums. If you were to directly, one-for-one, adapt the games, it would end up formulaic because the actual games all follow the same 6 stage format with an extra stage. The pacing of the plots in these games work best in their original 6-7 stage format because that's what they were designed for in the first place, not TV-Anime episodes. I feel like a better way of adapting the Touhou games would be to treat the events of the games as the latter half of a larger arc out depending on the game's story.

I'll use EoSD as an example of how you could do this, but remember, I'm not a professional writer so there will be flaws in this approach.

So, this potential EoSD arc would probably start out more as a mystery, with a mysterious red mist going from a weird, once in a blue moon weather phenomenon to a daily occurrence. We also see it go from just light tints of red on a misty day to a blinding scarlet. Reimu and Marisa take notice of this and start asking around the human village and witnessing the effects the mist is having on some of the humans. Normal people are starting to become lifeless husks depending on how much of the mist they've been exposed to. Reimu and Marisa have been lucky enough to not live in places where the mist is most prevalent as well as not being normal people (Reimu has the benefits of being a Hakurei shrine maiden and Marisa is just used to weird shit like this in general due to living in the forest of magic, so she's basically developed a strong immunity to it. The village nurse, Rin Satsuki, has been trying her best to help the villagers as much as she can. As the mist gets worse and worse, some people just start disappearing, eye witnesses saying that they last saw the victims walk towards the strange lake by the Youkai mountain. Some grizzly murders even begin to pop up. When asked, the villagers state that they could never hear any sign of a struggle. Rin, who is also handling the autopsies, notices that the bodies of the victims have been precisely dismembered and disemboweled, the organs producing the most amount of blood being suspiciously missing. At this point, Reimu and Marisa have been slowly connecting the dots between this and the vampire incident, now finally getting the last piece they need to connect the two together. This is when we finally get to the events of EoSD and learn that the villagers killed ended up being made into food for Remillia and Flandre. Of course, we also learn that Sakuya was the one doing the killings.

The set-up phase (as I'm calling it for now), would of course be different depending on the games and it can take as long as it needs to, even overlapping with other arcs as it slowly builds up overtime. This is how I imagine the Moriya Shrine conspiracy arc plays out, we slowly start to hear about some things in passing (i.e. background characters mentioning some stuff casually) and then once the anime can get to those games it can actually expand on some of that stuff, you get the gist it's kinda hard for me to explain. Now of course, this can still get very formulaic if handled incorrectly, but this can be avoided by shortening the length of this setup phase depending on the game the anime gets to as some games in the series don't really need it to be super long (i.e. Imperishable Night, Mountain of Faith, and Unconnected Marketeers). You could also tackle this issue by having some anime original episodes in between arcs, and by this I don't mean filler episodes like Naruto or One Piece, but more of what Hunter X Hunter 1999 did in it's adaptation. Taking some more time to expand on the characters personalities and setting up some individual character arcs as well that can be later resolved within certain games. Individual arcs for the actual games themselves can also differ in length depending on the game too.

Overall, this idea for a Touhou adaptation would probably not have a big overarching plot, but be more like a long form anthology series, where we just get glimpses into the strange world of Gensokyo. However, if it were to have an overarching plot or theme, it would probably be about the importance of connection and relationships, and by that I mean any kind of relationship whether it be romantic, platonic, or in some cases antagonistic. If you wanted to have all of this build up to something, I have another very long post about a scenario where Marisa becomes a Youkai that could very well work as an ending to this hypothetical Touhou anime.

As I mentioned before, this idea is very very unrealistic and would take a heck of a long time to make, not even accounting the other hurdles this would have to face in order for this to happen, but let me know what you guys think of this idea because I often play around with this potential adaptation in my brain. Again, don't think this could ever really happen and if it does it would probably be very different from what I described, so please tell me what you think, if there are any potential problems that could happen or any alternative ways a Touhou anime could happen.

[into-september]

MAIN TAG: mlb meta

SHIP STUFF

Put your money on ladynoir, kids

On the merits of imperfection (why ladrien is my favourite side of the love square)

The innage tragedy of ladrien, and why I love it

So here’s the thing: (from the perspective of character growth, reversing the love square makes no sense)

To phrase this better than I did so late at night that it was technically morning: (lukanette is a masterclass in the crucial difference between showing and telling)

The NYC special might’ve sunk lukanette before it ever had the chance to happen

if we’re using “friendship is more important than a celebrity crush” to argue against the love square…

On shipping dynamics within the love square, mainly marichat vs. ladrien

ADRIEN AGRESTE MY BELOVED

Adrien Agreste and the limelight

Adrien Agreste and the question of unmasking

Some speculation about Gabriel’s possible ways out of being Hawkmoth and how they will affect Adrien

To cross your DNA with something reptile (on sentiadrien, because who needs narrative logic when you can have angst)

Being the topic du jour and all (the show has already shown that getting his amok can’t be a ~beautiful metaphor~ for sentiadrien’s freedom)

If sentiadrien is meant to be a commentary on child abuse then someone has no idea how stories work (spoiler: it’s not, because abuse is funny on this show)

SPOILER: I’M A CHLOÉ STAN I GUESS

Ending Chloé’s story as a villain would be a vaste of screentime and that’s why they shouldn’t

This be the verse (let’s just say I’m less than impressed with how early S4 handled the Bourgeois family drama)

Some more Zoé meta

Let’s talk narratological theory to explain why Chloé is an abused child in the text even if the creator insists she isn’t

WHY LUKA ISN’T MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER

Spoiler: Luka Isn’t A Great Character Yet (written in response to some people’s very low standards after “Truth” aired)

In fact he’s so poorly written that he’s pretty much an unintentional parody

Overthinking things (they don’t mean it like that but I saw some uncomfortable sexist themes to Luka’s akuma powers, both times)

Can we please stop blaming Marinette for Luka being a simp

MIXED BAG

Paper faces on parade (comparing and contrasting Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Gabriel Agreste)

On the feminist merits of MLB

The Scarf Came Back (on “Mr. Pigeon 72″ and the meaning of its many callbacks to early S1)

Related: S4 and “Gorizilla”

Jagged Stone is… (a spoiled manchild who’d be an awful parent if he’d stuck around and they were better off without him)

“Gang of Secrets” was underwhelming and that’s a problem

I finally realised where my entire problem with “Gang of Secrets” lies

Right now my main hope for S4 is that I’ll come out of it shipping alyanette like it’s going out of style (this show should’ve put more effort into Alya like three seasons ago)

MLB and the bad rich people

Some observations and a poor attempt at analysing the depiction of wealth in Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir

No, Marinette isn’t a Mary Sue (because I refuse to acknowledge linguistic drift and “Mary Sue” does not mean what you think it means)

Etymology ragepost, MLB edition

This show just can't up the stakes in battle

NOT REALLY META BUT STILL

Chloé should discover Cat Noir’s identity it’d be great

I also really want Felix to become a gentleman thief

What if all the heroes knew everyone’s identities except Cat Noir’s, wouldn’t that be super fun and not at all heartbreaking

My ideas for the Secret Sibling were way better than who it turned out to be tbh

Did you know that I have a tag devoted to Kagami being a fujoshi

Outline of the Hikaru no Go AU someone else should totally write

“Puppeteer 2″ was a microcosm of the Cat Noir-Ladybug-Nino-Alya mess of S4

Marinette is canonically bi in the Norwegian dub

GOING OFF ON OTHER PEOPLES’ POSTS

The Umbrella Scene Redux in the NYC special wasn’t about Adrien falling for Marinette but a foreshadowing of the importance of friendship going onward

Adrien’s pain lies not in unrequited love, but projecting his abandonement issues onto Ladybug

A small but heartfelt declaration to adrigami

When you have to make your characters repeatedly insist that someone is so totally in love, it’s not coming across as totally convincing to your audience

tl;dr I suspect that the reason marichat is so popular and ladrien is correspondingly disliked is about gender roles, actually

On marichat and ladrien and romance tropes

No really, ladrien is stupid and that’s why I love it

The Reveal is supremely unlikely to happen before the deciding battle against Gabriel and if it does, they won’t get together before it anyway

MLB’s got a bit of a genre problem and that’s why the plot cannot ever move

Chloé is the Loki of the MLB fandom and given how much attention the show proper gave her compared to the rest of the secondary cast, Thomas Astruc has no right to be surprised about it

Chloé can’t be Queen Bee again before she realises that she doesn’t need to be Queen Bee to do good things

More Chloé analysisin’: An irredeemable character wouldn’t need a three-episode storyline to explain her reluctant fall for the villain

Some people finding the sentiadrien narrative a healing parable about emotional abuse does not stop it from functionally annulling the actual emotional abuse the show depicted