#I mean even the color palettes are paralleled

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

“We have to recreate the moment you first fell in love”

[calmlb]

It’s been clear that the Tanizakis aren’t siblings from the very beginning

here’s some evidence now that it’s been confirmed canon…

everyone who’s read irl Tanizaki’s book knew that Junichiro & Naomi weren’t siblings as soon as they introduced themselves

BUT just because the Tanizakis aren’t siblings doesn’t mean you can’t feel uncomfortable about them. if you feel uncomfortable, GOOD. that’s exactly what they want

the Tanizakis, Mori— they all use these disturbing ruses to disarm or distract people in order to protect themselves, or to accomplish their goals. this is a writing device that asagiri commonly employs as a way to parallel the irl literature (it’s actually ingenious)

there are 4 main indicators that have always made it clear to me that Junichiro & Naomi are not siblings:

1. most obviously— their character designs. Harukawa is extremely intentional with character designs, & she very intentionally made Naomi & Junichiro look nothing alike

their eye shapes are purposely different

their color palettes are contrasting

even their differing styles of clothing have meaning

this was all done so that the audience could PLAINLY see that they’re not related— so that WE know that they’re lying when they say they ARE related

2. how the people around them respond to their act.

the general reaction is “don’t question it”— which is exactly what they want. “be distracted by how uncomfortable you feel so that you look away from what we’re hiding” (this is likely a protective measure)

3. most importantly, this is meant to parallel irl Tanizaki’s book “Naomi,” where the main character Joji picks up Naomi to raise her into his ideal woman, but since she's so young (& a minor) they call each other cousins (Joji makes no sexual advances on young Naomi btw)

however, his plan backfires because when Naomi gets older & they get married, she flips the script on him & manipulates HIM so that he's under her thumb (which is why bsd Tanizaki is at a domineering Naomi's mercy). Joji let her have her way because of his masochistic tendencies

4. lastly is the emphasis that Asagiri and the Tanizakis themselves put on calling each other siblings.

over & over, it’s “my brother this” & “my sister that”

like they’re desperately trying to convince us that it’s true (“don’t let your lying eyes deceive you”)

here are just a few of many examples from the light novels…

again, if you’ve read “Naomi” you knew that Junichiro & Naomi weren’t siblings as soon as they introduced themselves

just like if you’ve read irl Mori’s works, it’s clear that bsd Mori isn’t a pedophile

just like if you’ve read No Longer Human you know that Dazai’s an unreliable narrator. he makes you think he’s a bad person bc he believes he’s a bad person, but those around him see him differently (btw this doesn’t mean he’s never done anything “bad,” though bsd isn’t about morality— but that’s another discussion)

anyway, i’m so excited for the Tanizakis backstory to be revealed so that we can better understand why they use this defense!!

also let this be a reminder to READ THE LITERATURE if you’re able to!! even reading synopses & analyses of the coordinating books makes bsd make much more sense 🥹

reminder that this how you’re supposed to react while reading bsd:

also, if you’re interested in a post explaining how Mori isn’t a pedo, i wrote this analysis on twt. OR you can read this document that one of my moots sent me (remember: analyzing a character does NOT mean you condone any actions they may or may not commit!)

[lover-of-mine]

Welcome to Anna writes another color meta because she's losing her mind.

I made half this point before, but season 7 has more evidence, so I'm gonna make it again, just stay with me. Buck wears a lot of red, right? Staple color for him.

And, well, the coma dream has many elements that make it uncomfortable even if we don't fully realize it, one of them is the way that Buck is wearing green.

(something else is the way he's wearing black vans when he usually wears white hightops, but that's not important right now, but 911 costume department, I worship you)

Why is the green part relevant? Well, red and green are complementary colors, that means they are on opposite sides of the color wheel, and the whole thing with complementary colors is to create contrast. So, since he's usually on this part of the color wheel, the green stands out, even if we don't fully register why.

But the thing is, they put Buck in green when something is wrong. The coma dream, yeah, but the talk with Ali that leads to the breakup, the whole thing with taking Red to see Cindy that completely backfires, and subsequently the conversation with Maddie about being the one who gets left behind, telling Taylor he cheated, talking to Eddie about how he's avoiding Taylor after the Jonah thing, breaking up with Taylor, the cemetery scene, the gym scene in 705.

Those are all scenes where something is wrong, Ali doesn't understand who he is, the whole thing with Red is Buck deciding to do the wrong thing over his idea of what Red needs, the Taylor arc is very self-explanatory, the cemetery feels like he's trying to convince himself of what he's saying a lot more than it sounds like that's something he actually believes, the gym scene he's stressed because he lied to Eddie, it's all at least Buck doing misguided stuff. I feel like at this point, it is very clear that they put Buck in green for this purpose. If Buck is in green, something is most likely wrong.

So, Buck has a something is wrong color. During season 7, I offered the possibility of the show using maroon with Eddie for a similar purpose. But where Buck is about doing misguided stuff most of the time, Eddie is about lying. In a sense.

Eddie's color palette is very earthy. I don't wanna say green is as much of a staple color for him as red is for Buck, but he is usually in army colors, he does wear his fair share of green, greyish-green stuff, it's enough to make sense to some degree if they use maroon to say something is wrong in a direct parallel of what they do with Buck, just going the other way.

But why the maroon during season 7? He's wearing maroon while daydreaming about an idealized Shannon and during the date with Kim. Both situations involve lying to himself, Buck, or whatever. There's also the maroon when Chris leaves. He's not lying, but to say he's pretending to be okay with the situation because it is what Chris wants is not that much of a stretch.

But, I just noticed this dude is wearing maroon when Lena takes him to the first fight, which triggers something dangerous for him. So now we're talking. We have bad shit happening to him and bad shit being triggered by him while he's in maroon.

It opens up a lot in the possibility of them using red in this way for him in other scenes he's wearing reddish stuff. First date with Ana, the nondate with Vanessa, the 612 talk, and I'm gonna throw in the Carla thing too because I need another screenshot lol

Granted, as long as the show doesn't come right out and say Eddie is gay or Eddie was lying about remembering the shooting, these are just speculation and wishful thinking for the most part, but Eddie is peer pressured into the relationship with Ana and ends up admitting he liked the idea of them more than he liked her, so lying to himself, and the Vanessa one, he just plain doesn't want to be there and is agreeing to lie to Pepa so, it's a stretch but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ the Carla thing, Eddie is at least hiding the Shannon of it all and he was lied to to get there, and while Buck does offer him the answer to a problem that scene, it is a problem he was struggling a lot with and pretending he had it under control. And I will live in a land where Eddie has been aware of his feelings since the shooting and it is lying to Buck about not remembering until the show explicitly proves me wrong, so in my head he is lying to Buck in 612. I'm not nearly as confident on this one as I am with the green and Buck when it comes to the whole show, but at least during s7, they did use it like that, and considering the way he was mostly in black or white during s7, the maroon has to mean something.

Now that we got that out of the way. Why am I telling you all this? It is not just because I think this is yet another way the show makes Buck and Eddie exist as mirrors of each other. It is because of the bachelor party.

Because Buck is in mint green and Eddie is in baby pink.

Buck is absolutely being misguided about what Chim actually wants during this, but I have no idea what Eddie would be lying about though. The interesting thing is that Buck loses the green and Eddie has the darker pink quite literally ripped out of him. Which is an interesting choice all things considered. And they get back to it once we find out Chim is missing.

This is pure speculation that even made me write a fic (self-promo if you feel like reading a confrontation about them almost kissing at the party), but the thing is, everyone involved in this damn show talked too much about this bachelor party for it to be a minute long montage with no lasting consequences and me to feel satisfied with it (rip karaoke scene you will always be wanted). Especially considering with the way we know the episode was actually 2 episodes long and they had to trim everything down (the fact that they tried to shove 18 episodes worth of plot into 10 is gonna make me mad forever, it was a reduced season, make a reduced season) and the ideal world madney's wedding would've been the 2 episode event it deserved to be and we would've gotten more. Do I think the show wanted something to actually happen between them, like a full-blown kiss? No. Do I think a "we are drunk and getting too close" situation was completely plausible? Yes. I mean, Buck was practically pulling Eddie to his lap. And it's not like this is something that can't come back to if they feel like it. Sudden triggers making them remember shit is a perfectly acceptable way to add some tension, push some realizations.

I don't know why, but Buck wearing green there will forever bother me. And with the added layer of Eddie and the maroon, I feel like there has to have a point for that particular costume besides making me want to make The Fairly OddParents jokes.

If we wanna go full conspiracy theory, considering the way the early renewal changed the way they dealt with 7b, I wouldn't be surprised if that party was going to trigger something and they decided against it. We'll never know unless they come back to it, but, nice to think about.

As always, if you read this, I love you.

Other color metas if you like my brand of crazy: blue and green masterpost, red and blue post, blue and yellow theory part one and part two.

[m4rs-ex3]

the visuals for the last like 20 minutes of atsv are my favorite things ever

specifically: the color theory

earth-42 is obviously striking on a whole nother level

we tend to automatically think of red as the color of danger, but that's loud and passionate and angry. this haunting, sickening green feels more conniving and threatening and apocalyptic.

(if you think of color in disney movies, all the scariest, most cunning villains--maleficent, scar, ursula, evil queen, facilier, gothel--have either palettes or grand moments or motifs heavily utilizing green)

and something i always notice is that rio 42 looks just a little off, and it's because they reflect so much green in her eyes they look almost entirely green

and, if this is your first time watching, you have no idea why the environment is made to be so deeply unsettling. let's look at gwen's dimension for a sec

being home is a really bad thing to gwen. while miles was doing everything he could to get home, gwen was literally dragged there--because gwen views her dimension as unsafe (ignore the trans parallels ignore the trans parallels ingore the tra

it's dark. it has the same ominous rain. but you can tell it's 65. that bisexual lighting is unmistakable

i can't even go into the colors of gwen and george's argument because there is an image limit and i am lazy. but we know it's insane. the emotional peak of the scene is also where we see the colors most vibrant and changing the most abruptly

and when they have their beautiful lil moment, this is what happens

not only is it blindingly bright and trans colored all of a sudden, but the characters don their "true" coloring

and even after gwen leaves, the scene is still bright, and familiar

miles should be safe in his dimension. but we know he's not.

back to earth-42. well i mean we have these absolute visual bangers what do i need to say u get it

and then there's this absolutely incredible moment where i would say miles is at his emotional peak (manic peak as well; i mean spot's hands and the infamous revenge line...yoikes.) and just like with gwen, the emotional high is where we see the most dynamic colors so coincidence i think not

this next sequence is just one of the coolest fuckin chase-esq scenes i've ever seen. like the mumbattan one slapped but the pacing and direction and elements and epicness together here are just immaculate

another thing--miguel/ben's post is heavily shrouded in red. he's supposed to be ominously looming over exactly where miles is headed. buttttttttt~ when miles first crash lands, there is quite a bit of red, and as he gets closer to home, the city gets bluer and bluer with less and less red, bc yk he's not actually headed towards miguel/ben. woah. i make sense guys. i am a fart smella. i mean smart smella. i mean fart fella. i mean fart smella. i mea

[cute-little-fly]

Will there be a Vassago love triangle in Helluva Boss season 3?

I have been seeing some theories regarding Stolassago. While I think it is a cool ship and conceptually they are cute I think that they are very unlikely in canon, even if temporarily, and they are not the only possibility to happen.

Let me explain.

What we have seen about Vassgo in the show:

In the episode Mastermind he was shown as a very righteous but also extroverted bird. He seems to care about Stolas a lot, but Stolas seems surprised by this, so we don’t know how much they know each other and why their interactions were like that. (This is a mistery for me honestly, if you are interested other post have covered this).

Vassago seemed very devastated at outcome of the trial, and he seems to know that all of it was unfair.

❤️💙Love triangle theory🤍❤️

The theory basically is Stolas being in love with Blitzø but feeling attracted to Vassago because of a possible falling out between Stolitz. After sinsmas for me this became very unlikely… but let’s see the evidence that is usually used for this.

One thing used to fuel the theory (even if not directly related) are certain parallels between Blitzø and Vassago:

-They both have a Red/White/Yellow color palette

-Vassago has some feathers in the back of the head that have stripes, that could be analogue to the horns.

-Vassago is wearing a red suit of a similar shape than Blitzø’s in the front.

-They both have or had something to do with pirates. In recent merch dropped Vassago has maps and pirate treasure imaginery.

This is used usually as evidence that Stolas might like Vassago because they are similar.

However, I haven’t seen people point out that Vassago has similarities with Stolas too. Of course, some similarities might be because they both are a Goetian prince, but, the rest of the Goetias shown at the trial are not like them at all:

The ones that I can think of are:

-They both like singing and music (Yes, I am taking this just because of the “Cántalo baby”).

-Vassago has a lot of stars in his clothes and magic, like the star on his neck that he uses as a brooch.

-Vassago has also purple in part of his tail, and purple is a color that is also related to Stolas, because of night sky and stars.

-They both have a yellow or white lock of hair. In Stolas is inconsistent but now is permanent as the pupils so I will count this and assume he hid it before.

The similarities between both of them tend to be overlooked, but I think are important for this analysis… Vassago could relate and reflect both of them for some reason.

Other things people use as evidence or as possible hints for a romance are:

-Viv liking some tweets about Stolassago and how Vassago has something that seems personal with Stolas.

-They talked about a temporary love interest for Stolas (but could be the BTB guy).

-People believed there was a duet between them, but that got disproven. These are two separated songs.

-The pride parade official art.

I don’t think the tweets mean specifically a love triangle. Those are either just art or the statement that Vassago seems to care too much about Stolas. But Stolas not necessarily has to reciprocate that (in case is romantic). So this doesn’t suggest a love triangle, just hints a possible one sided crush. I don’t think Stolas has eyes for someone that isn’t Blitzø right now.

Regarding the pride parade art:

The argument here is that Vassago is looking Stolas way, and that Stolas ambiguously looking back, because he has an eye more open and how this kinda foreshadows a love triangle.

This doesn’t fully convince me. For me Stolas is looking at Blitzø, because even if he has his right eye more open his gaze is going down. I think this is a subtle misdirection. (But, this part is my opinion, i can’t fully discard it).

However, let’s look beyond them:

There is a small unknown imp that is looking at Vassago while he looks at Stolas, Stolas is looking to Blitzø (and Vassago?) and Andrealphus is looking Stolitz (or maybe everyone?) with a confused/disgusted face from behind.

Remember that Viv said Season 3 was a queer roller coaster? This seems like that to me.

It is also more interesting than the love triangle.

I honestly don’t know if this character is meant to be someone important or not (?). I just find super weird that he is looking at Vassago and that all the rest of the characters around them have been present in the series I think. As extras for Verosika, extras that are around parties or something. But this dude comes out of nowhere, and is too close to the main characters. (Maybe we have seen him before and I haven’t noticed, if that is the case please tell me).

People tend to ignore him, but he might be relevant. He also seems to be trans, which is cool, because there are very few main trans characters in the show (besides our dear Sally May of course).

This messy scenario has a lot of avenues to develop.

If Vassago crushes on Stolas at first, Stolas might feel uncomfortable because of the help he needs with Octavia. But we know our good boy won’t do anything bad intended ❤️. He could also be friend to Blitzø or something about the pirates?

I think that Stolas and Vassago could end up being similar to Blitzfizz. Two characters having chemistry that have a very good friendship, with maybe some old story behind them, at least from Vassago’s perspective because I don’t think Stolas noticed him at all before.

I really would like Vassago ending up positively influencing Stolitz in the long run.

The symbolism and details that make him similar to both of them are pretty interesting, and I am excited to see what this will bring us to the table.

[awhoreintheory]

Okay okay I have. Two thoughts that have been in my brain for a while that could go together if you want:

1. Peter, both as Spider-Man and his civilian identity, meets Red Hood/Jason first, and Jason, much to his dismay, gets attached REALLY quickly. This snarky, acrobatic shithead is adorable and reminds him of Dick, and to his horror, himself. Depending on how old Peter is, whether his actual age or he's deaged, Jason is either going "new baby brother" or "my child now". He signed the mental adoption papers SO fast and he's mad as hell about it, and he knows the heart attacks Peter gives him are karma

2. Peter is shockingly similar to Jason in a lot of ways; bonus points if Ben is an alternate version of Jason. He grew up poor, had issues with Tony in Homecoming because Tony wasn't trusting him and Peter believed Tony didn't care/was too controlling (parallels to both Jason *and* Dicks relationship with Bruce), died at 15, was betrayed by a sort of mentor/parental figure he was just getting to know, traumatized deeply by a green and purple themed crazy guy who killed his mother figure in an explosion he tried protecting her from, 100% has trust issues after all that... yeah the similarities are definitely there and you KNOW that would pain Jason. In general I think Peter is a mix of Dick and Jason in terms of personality (i mean, Peter was worried about homework in Civil War, that's such a kid Jason thing) and... well a lot of ways, really. The parallels run deep lol. Oh also Peter in Homecoming had a similar color palette to Robin (mostly red suit with the yellow jacket) and in Far From Home/No Way Home he had the red and black suit. Idk!! Similarities. Oh oh you could pull Harley into this too if you want, since Tony knew Harley first and for way longer than Peter

Just... gestures. Everyone talks abt Peter and Dick parallels but no one discusses the Peter and Jason parallels

You're right. I was a down right FOOL to not see these downright gorgeous parallels???

And you KNOW that while Jason seeing their similarities hurts, imagine how Bruce, Dick, and even Alfred would feel about that? How they would feel about getting a glimpse of the happy-go-lucky kid that Jason used to be?

That's another similarity! Jason and Peter both started out as pretty optimistic and happy. Like, Jason was going around saying "Robin gives me magic!", how cute it that? And Peter started swinging around in homemade suits when he was 14, and is just generally hard to get down. Spider-man always gets back up, right?

So for Jason, Peter is nostalgic. He reminds him a little of himself, maybe how Jason could've turned out if he'd spent more time with Dick. Jason sees this kid so like himself but with the chance to turn out different, and he's gonna take that opportunity damnit!

Bruce and Dick? They see a ghost of the past at first. Bruce doesn't see many of Jason's smiles anymore, if ever, but he could've sworn they looked just like that. Dick is a bit more privy to a relaxed Jason, so he hears it in how Peter speaks, his laugh, and how he gets when he's passionate about something. No one else really sees it besides Alfred, because they didn't get to see Jason without his anger.

I love me some Harley!! He's a cutie patootie. And would also add amazing angst,,, giving only child, orphaned Peter Parker middle kid syndrome was actually a therapeutic recommendation by my therapist, scouts honor. Because hello! Harley and Morgen? I need more siblings content of them.

[ros-sauce]

Oughg my god Speaking of Mizuki Regularly Getting The Trans Flag Glued To Her Forehead. Today I am thinking about Solitus Utopia. Big yap session ahead

In terms of cards, it's probably The bluntest example of aforementioned trans flag forehead gluing; pink, blue, and white take center stage. And ouughhh. OUGHHGH. The placement of those colors is making me absolutely crazy

Her outfit has a similar deal to her first casual outfit. Lot of blue and white happening with the clothes, and then her hair and eyes are the pink needed to complete the set. To me, what that says is "This character is a walking trans flag, and she herself is the pink. The Girl Color. The girl!"

I've always felt that pink being the only one of those three colors to be Attached To Her was significant, but it's only now that I'm realizing that the clothing has significance too... I'm feeling two meanings from it:

It signifies the importance of cute clothing in Mizuki's transition. Being as cutesy as possible and altering her silhouette are some of her main tools in the way of passing as cis. (The former being a source of joy and the latter being a dysphoria alleviator also deserve mentioning!!). Her clothes complete the trans flag that her Girl Color Hair started; her clothes build up the road she took on the journey that her Girl Color Very Being started. ... And on a less positive note, I think there is also some significance to the fact that the trans flag color palette is only all there when something is Applied To Her. Without her outfit, she's just Girl Color. When the outfit is put on her, the Girl Color is made to be a part of something else, The Trans Colors. Your first thought is no longer "That's a girl and she happens to be Girl Color. Neat!", but "That's a trans girl and she happens to be Trans Colors. Neat!". I feel like there are parallels between that and how much she hates being labelled Different. This is crude, but it's how the words want to come out of my mouth. Sorry: Because Society Says So, you don't need to wear clothes at home, but you do in public. Because Society Says So, Mizuki can exist as Just A Girl when she's at home. She can be Just Pink. "Her home" means two things here. Firstly, Literally Her House, with Yuuki "Ally 9000" Akiyama & her supportive-enough-I-guess parents being the only people who she interacts with. To them, she's just a girl, and they're not weird about it. They know she's trans, but they don't act any particular way because of that. Her other home is Nightcord, at least before Niigo started meeting up in person. As Amia, she was assumed to be a cis girl, and there was no risk (in their pre-mainstory days) of Niigo ever finding out otherwise. While being presumed cis isn't quite as close to "Girl With No Modifiers" as living with an unfathomably based family, it still didn't carry the Othering that she's used to accompanying her status as a trans girl. If she wants to exit her home, she has to put on the clothes, has to put on the label that is made when the color palette is completed, and go from "Girl" to "Girl And By The Way Did You Know She's Trans?". And that makes everyone and their mother feel like it's fine to treat her weird. The pitying and resentment that she fears so much at best, and "HEY DID YOU KNOW SHE'S NOT NORMAL? ISN'T THAT WEIRD? AGREE WITH ME NOW OR YOU'RE WEIRD TOO" to anyone who'll listen at worst. With a million billion other forms of othering in between. (Hm. Suddenly I'm thinking about blue's absence from her 3rd anni casual outfit. She's no longer a walking trans flag, and is way pinker than before. Because it's a marketable game with marketable characters, we always had good reason to expect Niigo to be normal about her when the secret came out. But still, I feel like having Even More Girl Color glued to her forehead in Trans Palette's place could be considered some kind of foreshadowing for Niigo being normal... BUT ANYWAY this is not a post about the most incredible pants this world has ever seen, this is a post about Solitus Utopia, so I'll get back to that now.)

With the clothing out of the way, I'd like to move on to the rest of the card. This card is from late 2022, when Mizuki's transness was not quite as obvious ("a few inches away" levels of in-your-face as opposed to the more "you are a school principal at a fundraiser and her transness is a cream pie" level we are at now). This makes me extra ready to take this card as an unspoken "To be clear yes she is a trans girl".

The background walls and furniture are largely blue, and the decor is largely pink and white (and purple. Hi, Niigo!). The former is something that's hard to alter or move or acquire more of, whereas it's pretty easy with the latter. If you have walls or furniture that you hate, you can make it look more palatable by decorating it with things you like, with relative ease. Mizuki did that! The background is covered in all manner of fashion-related pink things, and the pink sewing machine and other supplies carry the implication that she made them herself. They do a great job carrying out their purpose, popping so much in comparison to the blue walls that said walls appear more grey than anything else. And also, you don't really feel like looking at the walls, because all that decor makes them Not Really A Point Of Interest.

To me, that sounds a whole lot like transitioning. There's an unfortunate status that's pretty hard to get rid of, both legally and socially, because Government and People just love to obsess over what you were assigned at birth. But changing the way you appear helps make things more bearable for you, both because you're happier looking a certain way, and because the public is slightly less awful to you when you look a certain way.

Cycling back to the "you focus on the pink things more than anything" point, I feel like the most significant pink thing is Mizuki herself. And I think that is also very nice!! Her pinkness is at the very center of the card. It is the heart of the card! Pink!! Girl color!! Heart!! Mizuki's heart is girl color!! Woah!!

(Obligatory "I do not speak Japanese and I do not live there, so I could be wrong", but I think "I was born with an [insert gender] body, but my heart is [insert other gender]" is a fairly popular way of describing being transgender in Japan? I feel like that phrasing has been losing popularity in English, but I still hear it fairly often in Japanese LGBT+ circles on social media and stuff. If I'm right, then that adds a few more significance points to the Pink Center Of Card thing)

Neat card. I love this pink girl a lot

[biblically-accurate-dca]

overanalyzing (nitpicking) these pins (under the cut)

sun's hanging pin: printing error on the ribbon on sun's right hand (yellow instead of red)

this has since been fixed but it's really funny LMAOOOO how did that happen

moon's hanging pin: the ribbons and the hat are going different directions in the artwork (moon's hat falls down but the ribbons don't, most likely because this is essentially just an edited version of sun's artwork)

this one's a little hard to explain. the colors for The Sun and the stars on sun's hanging pin share the same color palette as sun, but the colors of The Moon and stars on moon's pin don't relate to moon's color palette as easily. the star's are the same color as their teeth, but The Moon itself has it's own unique color. it's actually the clouds surrounding The Moon that share a color with moon (same color as their face)

this makes me think that the clouds were added for the sake of sharing colors from moon's face so it's like sun's? but idk that's just a theory lol. imo it's an odd choice to add clouds to it but it's honestly the prettiest part of the pin so i shouldn't complain too much i guess..

"sun and moon" hanging pin: this is obviously based off of eclipse so why are they calling it "sun and moon"? is it because it's not technically ruin eclipse and therefore they can't call it that? that's odd to me. maybe it's for a legal reason. who knows? i certainly don't

the pants don't have any stars even though the hat has them. and this was a purposeful choice. is it because it'd overcomplicate the design? is it a restriction required to make the pin? it's just an odd choice considering it's such a noticeably empty space now

all the dark parts that are meant to represent moon are a weird grey color now and it looks really odd to me. i'm guessing this is just to differentiate them but it's kind of ugly HFJSJGJD

their button's are blue? even though moon's aren't? why

the crators on The Moon on this pin are positioned slightly differently than the ones on moon's. i thought the design was just copy pasted onto this pin but i guess i was wrong? i'm not sure if this even means anything JDJSJFKDG

the bobble head pins: i think their poses are the same as the other's but they've been flipped and edited to differentiate them. this is probably a really obvious observation. regardless i do think it's fun when they parallel each other so i guess i can't complain about how cheap it feels HFJZJGK

there's a weird space between their arm and their ruffles? for sun it's on the left and for moon it's on the right but i can't really figure out why it's there... my guess is that it might've too hard to cut out since it's enclosed in the design, but it's too large of a space to hide it by coloring it in so they had to leave it like that. there's a space like that on the ribbons too so that's probably it. oh well, nothing's perfect

speaking of the ribbons: they're drawn differently between sun and moon! i thought it was just the hands that were changed but i guess the ribbons were too

moon's bobble pin: according to the art for the pin moon's secondary body color is supposed to be a dark blue, however it's so dark that it just looks black on the pin... it's probably more of an oversight than anything but i honestly think it looks kind of cool. i wanna draw it

i think moon's primary body color on the pin is honestly kind of ugly. the color on the art is ok even if it's a little dark but the cyan tint on the pin combined with how dark it is makes it look ugly to me

sun's bobble pin: sun's colors are... a little too yellow for my tastes but are otherwise fine. the colors on the art itself look nicer but i'm aware that the physical coloring doesn't always line up with digital color codes so you can't be too picky about it i guess

sun's secondary body color is technically incorrect (it should be the same secondary color as the face) but it does look nicer like this so just consider this as an observation rather than a complaint lol

the candy shaker pins: i dont have much to say about these (i think theyre nice but a little boring) but i do like how the designs for the bags match the time of day for each of them. the moondrops have a moon with stars and the sunnydrops have a sun with rays of light. it's charming

overall: they're cute i guess... but the fact that there's an entire collection of dca pins makes it so obvious who they're marketing to lmaooooo

[the-paper-shredder]

An Analysis on Berdly & Spamton's Parallels

(A.K.A. Robert “Toby” Fox what is the point of this. What did you mean by this? Answer me, Toby.)

So, Berdly and Spamton. The bluebird and the salesman. Ever since I watched this analysis on Berdly made by @/saraanzu, I've been losing my mind over the duo's parallels, despite the irony of them never meeting in canon.

(Long post ahead.)

Let's start with the basics: their appearance. Which, is admittedly, quite minimal compared to the other parallels.

Both have yellow in their color palettes. Both wear glasses, and in the dark world, Berdly shares a heterochromia-esque look with Spamton, to the point that official and fan artists alike sometimes interpret Berdly's dark world appearance as having multicolored glasses just like Spamton.

Not only that, both have connections to birds! Berdly is obvious, he's an anthropomorphic bird monster, while with Spamton... there's a bit to unpack.

His and the other Addisons' long noses could be interpreted as a beak. Spamton in his NEO form and the F1 sprite both have wings. Also, Toby once commented this on an announcement of the 🪺 emoji...

Funnily enough, this is just the description of the emoji with some words changed. While yes, this would imply pipis are eggs... they're canonically clams.

Either way, the Addisons could be birds in the same way the Tasques are cats. Which makes up only a sliver of Berdly and Spamton's parallels.

Now comes the start of the big boys. Berdly and Spamton's backstories.

Berdly describes his younger self as forgettable, before gaining a sudden spotlight when he got first place in the spelling bee due to Noelle's unfortunate circumstance. This resulted in his reliance on her abilities to stay as number one, while also being afraid of what will happen when they inevitably go their separate paths. Spamton's products didn't sell and “the Lightners never even looked his way,” until he found—or was found by—someone who helped him suddenly become a big shot. He was seemingly relying on that someone for his continued success, as when that person disappeared, abandoning him, he fell from status. (Additionally, Berdly technically “copying” Noelle's work so he stays number one is somewhat similar to Spamton copying Swatch's wardrobe in an effort to get into the basement.)

Spamton's the twisted reflection of the person Berdly could become in the future. The music track “Bluebird of Misfortune” thereby describes Berdly as misfortunate while the other Addisons describe Spamton as “Like the rest of us. Just... a little unlucky.” Suspiciously similar adjectives. Berdly's further misfortune isn't set in stone, as his spot in Chapter 2's story gives him the chance to change for the better. And, well, he does.

On top of these backstory parallels, it doesn't help that Berdly and Noelle are best friends while Spamton and Noelle know each other almost fondly through the latter's responses to the former's emails.

Additionally, Noelle is associated with the Angel. Weirdly enough, Berdly and Spamton both have ties to it as well. Birds have been seen as spirit messengers of the gods and in Christianity, angels are the messengers of God. “Birds remind us that there are angels,” Actress Jane Alexander once said in an article from 2013 on why birds matter. While the Angel in Hometown's religion is their god, it makes sense that Noelle being associated with it goes with Berdly speaking for her during certain parts of the game. He even refers to his halberd as holy.

With Spamton, it's fairly obvious. His F1 sprite has a halo and white wings, like a classical angel. The NEO form too, although it doesn't look particularly angelic, the wings and the torso armor bare a small resemblance to the Delta Rune symbol (I personally don't see it but this is mentioned on the Deltarune wiki page for Spamton so I'll add it for completeness). Finally, right before his second fight, Spamton reveals his desire to go to heaven (likely the light world or our world).

Onto the briefly foreshadowed next part of this analysis, Chapter 2's narrative and the duo's parallels there.

We first get reintroduced to Berdly when Kris, Susie, and Ralsei are on their respective roller coasters. Then his first fight starts, taking place during the roller coaster ride. This, obviously, parallels Spamton's second fight also taking place on roller coasters. Plus these two lines of dialogue are way too similar to have been unintentional.

Plus, at the end of Berdly's first fight his roller coaster explodes... similarly, in the case of fighting Spamton during his second fight (which the above line comes from), he explodes at the end.

Later on, Kris (along with Noelle) find Berdly in an alley where he initiates a battle. Only a few minutes afterward, Kris meets Spamton in yet another alley, to which he initiates a battle.

Now, before going onward, it's important to note that Berdly was being manipulated by Queen into helping her, which resulted in him chasing after her appreciation and her realizing he was annoying. She starts avoiding him... and in one of the conversations with Kris, he tells them “Don't tell me you got abandoned!? HA!!” and when questioned on Noelle and Queen's absence, he goes on the defensive, “They're just… busy retro gaming somewhere!! I bet they're waiting for me on the player select screen!!”

But the look on his face after he finishes keeping up the facade shows his insecurities.

Spamton has a similar sentiment. Invited by Queen to live at her mansion when he was a big shot before being evicted when he was no longer useful. In the weird route (which will have more analysis later), Spamton's dialogue in his battle has a lot of projection, “MUTTERING YOUR [Lost Friends] NAMES AT THE BOTTOM OF A [Dumpster]!” It reflects how the Addisons stopped hanging out with him, how the other residents and employees at Queen's mansion only watched his eviction, seemingly never attempting to reach out afterward.

Abandoned. Wanting the positive relationships you had back, but all you're left is... nothing.

Then comes Berdly's last fight, acting as Queen's puppet, even if he's not on literal puppet strings but on a wired plug. Unless you choose to ignore it, part of the goal of this fight is to loosen the plug so Berdly can pull himself free. Now think back to Spamton's second fight, the way to “spare” him is to cut him free from his new body's strings. Right before the control is free, both Berdly and Spamton comment on their appreciation for the help, too.

The narrative parallels between the nerdy bluebird and shady salesman don't stop there, though. As previously mentioned, the weird route brings up some... interesting points.

Once you're on the route and not planning on aborting it... Noelle becoming a party member marks a change, as the only two bosses going forward are Berdly and Spamton. No one else. They're the only people that truly stand in your way. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence that besides Kris and Noelle, two people connected to Berdly and Spamton, the latter duo are the only other people that know what you did.

And the worst part?

Spamton gives you the weapon that gives Noelle the ability to use Snowgrave. The spell that kills Berdly. If Spamton is the person Berdly could become, then Berdly is the person Spamton once was. And he's letting his new customers kill him, likely seeing the murder spree you force Kris and Noelle into as a way to get to NEO, to get to heaven. And when he's the only one keeping you from closing the foundation, he gets killed too. Noelle is forced into killing her best friend, then someone who's the twisted reflection of that friend.

Ironic that Berdly and Spamton never meet each other, isn't it? It's something like... the older equivalent to you in another world, the younger equivalent to you in another world, yet you don't even know each other exists. So close to coming across each other, yet through sheer chance they don't meet throughout their time existing in the same space.

Anyway...

That's all! For now, maybe. If I find any more parallels, I'll likely reblog this post with those additions. Quite fond of these two. (I'm also writing a fic about them that'll eventually get posted to AO3, so if you want to see more from me, that's something to look out for!)

[jabberwockprince]

SPINA VENATORES A small organization of mercenaries working for Manus Vindictae, tasked with erasing people from history as a way to call upon the "Storm". Their targets' names, families, influence and connections to this world will be dragged into oblivion.

Individual profiles and some more info/ramblings under the cut <3

The whole point of Spina Venatores is to be a parallel to Vertin's own independent group of Arcanists - the same way St. Pavlov's Foundation has her, Manus Vindictae has Venison and Spina. They're the mouth and teeth of Manus.

But whereas Vertin aims to create a safe, neutral space for Arcanists to thrive without human influence despite being tied to the Foundation, Venison is aiming to create a paradise for those they care about and no one else due to the heavy influence Arcana and Manus have on them.

Spinas Venatores is, at its core, a cult that was allowed to grow thanks to Venison's codependent and obsessive mindset - with them as the leader, all the troublesome and rebellious members of Manus Vindictae (that are much too powerful to get rid of or who are still clinging on to their former lives) will simply be assimilated into Spina or pressured to comply with Manus Vindictae as a whole. The third secret option is dying <3.

They also serve as a narrative device to remind everyone of the fact that, no matter how hard one may try, there's no way EVERYONE can be saved from the "Storm" - all five main members are related in some way or another to Arcanists that Vertin has met, they're people that weren't lucky enough to be taken in, who found themselves in the right time and place for Manus Vindictae to take advantage of their vulnerable state.

R1999 also portrays a LOT of oppression from various minorities that overlap with each other in very interesting ways, so I also wanted them to tackle similar things that mean so much to me - they're problematic queers is what I'm trying to say lmfao

The thing they share is that all of them are delusional to a degree, and that they're constantly haunted and defined by their relationships to others. The loss and discovery of the self through another, Ship of Theseus, cannibalism, body horror, being transgender as a really visceral and intimate experience, an obsession for love in all of its forms etc etc.

I don't have the FULL scope of their backstories, but I do know who they're tied to!

Venison was Pavia's coworker in a constant, obsessive loop of wanting to kill and save each other. Mutton was part of Schneider's mafia and romantically involved with one of her oldest sisters. Chevon was a regular visitor in Necrologist's museum and a friend of hers, she later went on to exhibit his many, many tombstones. Poultry is the "Lilian" mentioned in Darley Clatter's Stories. And Veal is a mystery even to me </3

Their uniforms are meant to look outrageous and outlandish, entirely out of place with the setting and their respective eras/times, inspired by fantasy - just BARELY reminiscent of Manus Vindictae by virtue of using a similar palette, as a way to drive that feeling of not belonging and delusion even harder.

Whereas everyone else is dealing with very real issues, all members of Spina Venatores live pretty much in their own heads (similar to Forget Me Not and how Manus Vindictae causes their recruits to become... YEAH.....THOSE MONSTERS....)

Venison gets the BIG COAT and the biggest silhouette because they're responsible for pretty much 80% of what happens within Spina Venatores! Veal gets the more simple design to allude to their whole unassuming, shapeshifter/Doppelganger thing.

They all have ribcage/bone motifs in one way or another, most of their jewels are meant to look like rosaries, they wear the Manus Vindictae silver cross and Arcana's blue color more often than regular members of Manus. Also! Hands!! Love the fuckin hands!! DID YOU GUYS SEE DIGGERS' MANUS VINDICTAE SKIN???? YEAH.

The naming convention being. types of different meats. is entirely because of Venison, you can ALSO blame that entirely on them <3

[cyberdragoninfinity]

A while ago, you did a thread on Yugioh rival symbolism, but it was early enough in your Arc-V watch that you didn't have anything major to say on Reiji/Declan. Now that you've experienced Arc-V in full, what do you think about Declan and his symbolism?

OHHH GOOD QUESTION!! god i love declan so much. i feel like i still need to Really Ruminate on him to fully grip all of the potential symbolism he's got but there's definitely some stuff I'm already locked on that I really like.

I dont think I realized until someone pointed it out that the Akabas all have a card suite motif but it rules so hard; Declan's definitely got such a kickass design especially with that in ind... the diamond earrings, his bangs, the red in his color palette. It's subtle, it's tasteful, I really like it. I like that his character goes hand in hand with what the Diamond suite tends to symbolize too (progress, prosperity, career advancement--diamonds are also apparently associated with the element of air sometimes too, which is insanely funny considering Declan's scarf that can achieve flight in the manga (?!??!).)

In general it's really funny to me that Declan kind of has this "business and corporate hierarchy" motif, with the diamond symbolism and also that thing where D/D/Ds have like corporate titles and are just as much about the landscape of business as they are about Sickass Demons. And I think it's fun how even though Declan is a businessman first and foremost, he isn't really like.... a corrupt businessman, especially not in the way businessmen in yugioh can be. i could write an essay and a half about how declan is such a genuinely caring person but that's it's own story for another time. He's crafted his wealth and business connections into a weapon to fight his father and his deck also weaponizes contracts and businessmen to destroy opponent, it's a cool parallel.

GOD SO MUCH OF THIS IS JUST "WHY DO D/D/DS HAVE LIKE 8 MOTIFS GOING ON WITH THEM" but like practically all of them relate back to Declan as a character in some way! It's so cool! Cuz you have these Different Dimension Demons, but theyre all named after ancient kings and warriors and great scientists, and Declan in general has such a vast Medieval Warrior King/Prince/Royalty type symbolism. The Lancers are his knights right down to the logo. He assumes the 'throne' (LID Presidency) after his father fucks off to Evil Duel Academy. He fights a goddamn dragon (Zarc). Hell even the paler grey in his hair looks very crown like. It's making me a little sicko mode to think about especially through the lens of viewing Arc-V itself as a creation myth or a fairy tale. BUT THAT AGAIN IS ANOTHER KETTLE OF FISH.

hang on wtf is the symbolism of the King of Diamonds, actually

OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALRIGHT!!!!! YEA THAT'S DECLAN BABEYYYY

hey haha also i didn't know Akaba means 'red horse.' hahah which horseman was that again

AH.

also. one more thing. does make me a bit ill thinking about how his deck is entirely Fiends and he uses them to spar with Yuya (who of course has devil motifs whether he wants them or not)....something in there maybe....blinks wet eyes

[italoniponic]

I never thought much about it but ever since Kalim's Sultan card dropped, I've been bombarded with these concepts and all. But the gist of it is that we don't talk about how impressive and important the Light Trio (Kalim, Rook and Silver) serve as "palette cleansers" of their dorms own aesthetic and it's all in their color association

in this TED talk lol I'll focus mainly on Kalim tho, so spoilers for his card!

I'll warn that it's been months since I wrote something other than a story and I tend to tangle myself in my own words. So I hope it's comprehensible enough... if you want to add a new detail, feel free to do so in the replies!

I MEAN look at my boy here. Scarabia's main colors are literally red (or deep wine red, if you will) and black and normally Kalim already challenges this color palette with his normal student wear but here he's full out

*boom* blue and white!! the only thing connecting both universes is the gold which is really important bc of the ambience in the desert, palaces and the magic of wishes

the original animators were so right to go with these colors for the characters, especially the good ones in contrast with the villain, bc it's an easy indicator if you think about it. And when everybody gets together, you see the harmony between the forces

blue & white against red & black... or anything in the similar tones

that's why Jamil was also exceptionally well drawn bc he's 100% the aesthetic embodiment of Jafar, one of the best ones in the overblot boys! and in the other hand, that's why Kalim functions so well with his main sultan colors bc it all goes back to Scarabia having this whole thing going up with parallels

[the insanity that analysing Scarabia cards back to back brings to me... is unwritten. unravelled. unspoken of.]

talking about all of that bc it all goes back in the way the Light Trio (here, only Kalim) kinda "breaks" their dorm format with their different color eschemes

I haven't analyzed much of Rook's but Kalim and Silver have a lot more to speak bc they are based of actually "good characters" (Sultan and Aurora/Philip), so just imagine this: red, black, red, black, red, black... oh hi, blue and white!

same with Silver and his literal silver hair clashing with Malleus and Lilia (black hair) and Sebek (green hair, the color dorm)

Jamil and Kalim are mutually different even in the smallest of details and it serves a lot for the dorm concept and their character dynamics as well. Although I think using the word "palette cleanser" wasn't the rightest choice on my part, the feeling I want to portray is how these characters "breaking" the aesthetic for a solid minute brings a sense of dept to the world building

it makes you wonder how the Magic Mirror accepted them in the first place but also, the story wouldn't be the same without them

[kydoesthings1]

McGillis and the Pied Piper

because February 24th’s Wordle was piper and I am procrastinating on school work

At 16:57 of S2E21 (E46) Gaelio says this to McGillis before charging him.

(Gaelio is speaking through the comms offscreen.)

(Apparently this line was also used in a game. I forgot which one. I don't play Gundam games.)

Gaelio literally says something along the lines of "Are you still going to play the pipe of Hamelin even when the battle is going like this?" Not sure why this is the subtitle. But they mostly mean the same thing so maybe I'm just nitpicking.

To refresh your memory a little, this is when the Revolutionary Fleet is very clearly losing to Arianrhod, and McGillis just made his pep talk and this iconic frame. They are preparing to retreat and regroup when Gaelio shows up to fight McGillis.

Gaelio referencing the Pied Piper of Hamelin (Hameln, same thing) is of course connected to McGillis's and thus his love of myth/folk tales. Because of McGillis's influence, Gaelio also has a strong liking for stories. He names himself and Gundam Vidar/Kimaris Vidar after Vidar, the Norse god of revenge and silence, son of Odin and slayer of Fenrir (Fenris, same thing but IBO uses Fenrir) the monster wolf son of Loki during Ragnarok. The same side story 'Eve of Vidar' also tells us he used to hit on girls using Norse mythology fun facts, including Yamazin Toka when he was a test pilot for the Schwalbe Graze.

Although these are relatively common knowledge for us, the viewers, they are probably niche facts however many years in the future the Post Disaster timeline is (in UC0079 Hitler and WW2 is considered "middle ages" despite being historically quite recent for us). This is one thing Gaelio and McGillis have in common and it is because of McGillis.

(Also this is kind of a weak diss? Like if you're gonna insult McGillis why compare him to something so cool. "Snake on the moon" - now that's an insult. But I digress.)

But what is the Pied Piper exactly? The Pied Piper, or the Ratcatcher (der Rattenfänger) is a legend of the town Hamelin in Lower Saxony of Germany. There are dozens of variations of this tale, but I'll only be talking about the most popular versions that relate to the events of IBO.

In 1284, Hamelin had a rat problem. Basically there were a whole bunch of rats, and they made life suck for the townspeople, as large numbers of rats tend to do. According to Robert Browning's poem, the people were mad at the mayor for not being able to solve the problem, and were about to kick him out. Then a man wearing a coat of many bright colors (Browning's version says yellow and red, both in McGillis's palette at some point) and holding a pipe showed up. The Piper promised to get rid of all the rats in exchange for 1000 guilders. He then played his pipe and all the rats came out and followed him into the river Weser and drowned.

The townspeople did not follow through on their end, however, and came up with all sorts of excuses to not give him the promised 1000 guilders. This angered the Piper, and he played his pipe again, and this time all 130 of the town's children came out and followed him away dancing and they never returned, nor were they ever seen again. Versions disagree on what happened to the children. In the Grimm Brothers and Browning's versions they went to Transylvania. Others say they went to a land like paradise in a cave. Others say they drowned in the river like the rats.

So how does this relate to McGillis and IBO? Well actually it's pretty obvious - Gaelio is simply saying McGillis is luring Isurugi, the Revolutionary Fleet and Tekkadan to their doom with false promises.

However, the point of this post is to point out some interesting details of this parallel. The Piper lured the children of Hamelin away as an act of revenge on the adults of the town because they didn't pay him what was rightfully his for his service. McGillis's coup can be framed as revenge on the corrupt system of the world Gjallarhorn maintains, and those who personally victimized him.

Interestingly, some accounts describe the Piper as "a miracle of God" and that he was sent to test the townspeople, and punish them when they didn't keep their word. Others call him the devil in disguise, who intended to trick the people and take their children. This is like how McGillis can be seen as a charismatic leader aiming to change the world for the better, or a ruthless, cold-blooded, lying, backstabbing, power-hungry traitor who will stop at nothing.

Additionally, Bael, the demon king, is a fallen angel who was cast out with Lucifer for rebelling against God, and Gundam Bael's gunpla box describes it as "a demon with the appearance of an angel" (this could also apply to McGillis himself).

In many versions of the story, some children are left behind. Which ones exactly vary, but Browning's focuses on a boy with a broken leg who couldn't keep up with the other children, so he was able to tell the villagers where he saw them go. The boy said they went into a portal on the side of the mountain, and on the other side was a paradise where everything was beautiful and peaceful. The boy was very sad he couldn't join his friends there because now he was all alone and couldn't return to that land.

Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it?

In the epilogue, Gaelio is in a wheelchair and his bandaged neck suggests that his Alaya-Vijnana implants had been removed fairly recently. Supplemental info reveals that McGillis injured his spine during their fight at Edmonton, and Gaelio was only able to be up and about in S2 thanks to his AVS.

If the land the Piper and the children went to is Heaven, then this could be read as Gaelio being the only one not to follow McGillis into death, and being the sole survivor of his friends (for the sake of this argument Julieta doesn't count because Gaelio wasn't fighting for or against her).

An important difference is the boy longed to follow the Piper, while Gaelio rejected McGillis because he schemed to kill him and his friends.

The Piper's other name, the Ratcatcher? Tekkadan are space rats?

Also McGillis's true name Montag, presumably his surname before Iznario's adoption, is German for Monday, hinting at his heritage, and the Piper is a German story (obviously).

The Pied Piper is a legend that originated in the Middle Ages, and Gjallarhorn's leadership, ideology and overall aesthetic is reminiscent of that.

There is a version of the story that the Piper will return in 300 years. Which he did not do, but 300 years? McGillis, the self-proclaimed successor to Agnika Kaieru after 300 years?

I can't be bothered to write a separate piece on Gaelio's legs so I should also mention that Vidar, the Norse god defeats Fenrir by stepping on his lower jaw with his shoe made from all the collected pieces of leather people cut from their own shoes, and grabbing his upper jaw and ripping him apart at the mouth.

Vidar's special shoes are like how Gaelio says he’s carrying all the wishes of Carta and Ein, and the AVS Type-E also serves as his literal feet. (Also he wears very striking white thigh-high boots that are very hot. What they're not is part of the Gjallarhorn uniform, just to make this connection, in addition to exacting revenge in style.)

In many carvings, Vidar is shown stabbing Fenrir through the heart also, and Gaelio/Kimaris Vidar defeats McGillis by pinning him against the Arianrhod flagship and stabbing him/Bael through the torso.

Proposed origins of the Pied Piper

Now obviously there was no piper guy dressed in goofy clothes that stole all the children of a town with magic music. There are several theories about what the legend is based on. This has nothing to do with IBO anymore and I just thought it was fun so feel free to stop reading if you don't agree.

Plague: According to this theory, all the children died because of illness and the place they went to is a mass grave. The Piper's many-colored clothing represents the sores and discoloration of skin of those who contracted the illness, and he is the personification of the plague/death. Rats are carriers of fleas, which spread the plague. 1284 is a bit too early for the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) though, so it may have been something else.

Emigration: The emigration theory suggests that much of the people of Hamelin moved to eastern Europe in search of better opportunities as only the eldest son had inheritance and the others could only be serfs. In this theory, "children of Hamelin" are not actual children, and it's just a figure of speech to say they were of a certain place. This correlates with some versions where the Piper and the children he took were sighted in Transylvania.

Human trafficking/the Children's Crusades: In these two theories the Piper is the recruiter/trafficker and the story was made up by the town to please their officials.

Dancing mania: There have been records of dancing mania in about the same time period in the surrounding region, and children were among the affected. Dancing mania can sometimes result in death due to exhaustion. It was originally attributed to a curse by a saint (St. John or St. Vitus) and you had to pray to them to lift the curse. Modern explanations for dancing mania are neurological disorders or collective mental disorders.

Pagan ritual: supposedly the pipe music and dancing children are part of this ritual that took place in the mountains, and the children died from a landslide or similar accident.

"You're reading way too much into Gaelio's one line" no actually I am reading exactly the right amount into it and everyone else isn't reading into it enough

[lover-of-mine]

Just saw a BT blog saying that the deleted scene is Tim reinforcing Eddie as straight, that Tim last week saying that "You shouldn't be writing to appease people just because they're mean to you" was him mentioning us and that he's scrapping Buddie because we're so mean...at the same time they're harassing half of the cast and making a public 4 hour rant about how much they hate Oliver now 😂😂😂 What are these people smoking?

I love the way that everyone decided that scene was Eddie saying he's straight. Even I, an avid Eddie in love with Shannon defender, can look at the scene and be like "huh?" The dude didn't talk about wanting to kiss her or touch her, he liked watching her and listening to her talk. And that's what he does with Buck too, like, they added more parallels between Buck and Shannon, added context to Kim in relation to Buck on top of the way she has Buck's color palette and the birthmark in her hair and the way that Eddie was lying to Buck about her. And well, if he's punishing anyone (which is stupid since punishing us would be punishing the show because we remember the last time they tried to separate Buck and Eddie and we are not the ones bringing every person involved in the show into this), he's punishing both sides and, well, at least we know we are keeping our guy no matter what ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[huntermanor]

'Barbie' is a transgender masterpiece

I'm going to go away from my usual clown related content for this post, but i've watched Barbie twice now, and aside from the movie painting a beautiful portrait about men's rol in feminism as well as reivindicating being a mother is ok, the movie has proven to be a transgender masterpiece in many ways, just like Barbie as a figure! Buckle up because this is going to be a long, long post.

For startes, fashion dolls, and specifically Barbie as the most important of them, has been a queer icon more than a feminist icon. Feminism has distanced itself from Barbie as a figure because her representation of womanhood was faulty (something i disagree on, since Barbie was a powerful successful woman who didn't let that make her not be interested in fashion and other feminine hobbies and interests!!), but the queer community has, i feel, a different appreciation for Barbie as a character and doll. Gay men, drag queens and transfemme folks mostly share memories of playing with Barbie and dreaming, via the doll, about the lifes we could have as adults. Barbie was a very important role for many drag queens who loved the glamour and fashion, it helped gay men relate to female friends who where more friendly and safe (usually although not always) than other boys, and it helped us trans women and femme enby folks to distance ourselves from the masculinity society tried to force on us. Barbie has also proven to be an icon for lesbians since, i mean, nobody ever bought a Ken doll, and even for some trans men who used Barbie dolls transitioned into boy dolls to enact heteroromantic fantasies! The union between Barbie and feminism is a faulty one, and i can't blame the feminist movement for it, but the relationship between Barbie and the queer community is very real and strong. It's no surprise that many trans women and drag queens use the term 'doll' to refer to themselves, or that Ken has always been a sort of feminine and, let's be honest, queer man.

So how is the new Greta Gerwig Barbie movie transgender ? Well, Barbie herself, as a protagonist, is such a real transfemme experience! Barbie moves from Barbieland to the real world, learning what it really is to be a woman in the real life world of California, much like many trans women have to look at the world around them to learn and internalize their new lifes at the beginning of their transitions. Barbie also says, explicitly, that she doesn't have a vagina, or genitals, and by the end of the movie she decides to turn into a human, and goes to her gynecologist, which implies she went from not having a vagina to having one. Isn't this the most trans thing ever ?? Of course there are some problematic implications in this reading of the movie, because Barbie turns into 'a real woman' and gets a vagina, which is not what being a real woman is, but i also think this is a very powerful messaging. Consider also some minor details like the fact the color palette used for Barbie is one with blue and white added to her always bright Barbie Pink, which isn't odd since Barbie has used this combo before, but it cannot be a coincidence. Barbie going from a hyperfeminine woman to a more laidback woman is also very parallel to a lot of trans women's experiences, since many of us behave and are hyperfeminine from an early stage in our transitions because of dysphoria but then we become more comfortable in ourselves and realize that we don't own anyone hyperfemininity (even though i am, still, a hyperfeminine woman, but it's more in my own terms of femininity!!) Of course, we also have Hari Neff, a trans actress, as a Barbie in Barbieland, which is amazing, and in one scene we see that, in the Mattel headquarters, there's a small transgender sign in the wall, which is subtle, but still there.

This movie has so many queer undertones and experiences, showing Ken dolls that were queer coded in the market like Magic Ring Ken and also proving how patriarchal relationships between men are very homoerotic in a way, which is shown in how Ken interacts with other Kens and viceversa. Weird Barbie is also a very much queer character, being played by a lesbian actress, and i feel like the movie is so campy and has such an aesthetic that reminds us of queer movies like But I'm a Cheerleader. We also have to aknowledge the references to big queer favourite and queer films like Matrix and Wizard of Oz. I think this reading of the movie is definetly plausible and i hope to hear some of your thoughts!

[sasoxichomoshi]

are the pathless and abzu related? yes, and this connection is way more important than people give credit for (i will be rambling now)

visual cues are everywhere; the beheaded shark statue right at the start of the game, the purification process and the spirit realm architecture all nods to the previous game as the shells and the locked door at cerno's domain are literal imports from abzu, which are all sweet references present in the pathless

everything that concerns the spiritual realm has a touch of abzu (pantone abzu blue when)

i'd also add that i have autistic urges to just write about how the pathless feels like this result from accumulated knowledge/experience from past Nava games - the pathless has both the 'myth of creation' and the journey of the hero combined in order to tell this lil story with these silly characters (i see it all as if giant squid team woke up one day and said "what if we made like a fancy fanfic yknow" really best decision ever), however knowing myself it''d just feel like nonsense rambling (even worse than this) and a bit off topic, but i had to mention or my skin wouldn't stop itching

anyway back to the two games -

i have this recurring impression that abzu allegories and symbolism are woven in the fabric of reality in the pathless - it's not about them directly, but are foundational for whatever is being told here and now

you cannot, in full consciousness, tell me that these are just easter eggs in the pathless that giant squid introduced because it's a past title from the studio; not when there was giant effort in blending the two games sensibly - abzu is brought up in the symbolism, the color palette (red/blue), in the environment, and it's even present in the soundtrack

in short, tying the universe of the two games together was intentional

but despite visually tied, it still made no sense to me; ok we share the color palette, we wander around with the help of a tall one, we defeat the bad one, what else there's to it? is it just the start of the giant squid MCU? giant squid cinematic universe? or gaming universe? (i feel stupid)

regardless, as i answered the question to how, i wanted to understand why - and to make sense out of it all, i resorted to a feature unique to the pathless: written text

what is so important to tell the player that you need written text, something you were avoiding in all your past games but that suddenly you bring back out of nowhere to tell a story in a way you havent done before? i can just assume some topics were too necessary to just left it implied (at best), or never explained (at worst)

one of the reasons i have written this blog post until this point (the main reason, actually) is that i feel there's a bit of an overlook of an essential part in the established the pathless n abzu crossover (can i call it that?), something that permeates everything, but it's not really visible in a literal way

--

as i played the game, godslayer perspective and motives stood out - they are the focus of a good part of all the tablets and dead people's memories - and as i dived deeper into the abzu connections (pun not intended) certain lines got too remarkable:

so,,, godslayer deems this world broken because it's made out of pure chaos, ok i guess it makes sense uhhh wait wait im having flashbacks i have seen this befo-

uhh oooooohhh ok ok get it i can see some parallels ughhh woooow just wow omg

the underlying factor here is that chaos is origin, foundation for both games universes (tho we can all see that at this point it's the same universe)

in abzu, by ordaining chaos the diver brings back life; in the pathless the ordained chaos, the one that constitutes all life, is at risk because someone decided that having everything made out of (essentially) chaos wasnt really suitable for the second industrial revolution i guess

note: if you know nothing about abzu i recommend reading this post cause it explains a bit about what chaos means in abzu, hence it's relevant to the pathless too

and understanding the chaos that impregnates existence as a whole is central in the pathless, which brings us to another focal point the game brings up: religion

you see religion a big deal in the pathless in the sense that it defines factions; you pick a side, and it's what drives the line of action of almost everyone in the island - the pathfinder quest against the tall ones, the godslayer followers vs the tall ones followers, entire communities dedicated to their local gods, and so on

superficially, it's easier to go to the "bad vs good" route where godslayer must be defeated to keep the order and the light and tall ones good guys whatever, the problem of this line of thought is: too much black and white and no gray to be seen

the pathless final message speaks about decision making: you are free to trace your own path (and this message is reinforced through game design and the title and at the final boss fight, you can name it) however, here lies the detail: similar to the chaos surrounding us, it goes unnoticed that the will to take a determined path comes from within

that's why religion is a hot topic in the pathless, it's what allows people to trace a path in a chaotic world, literally

the myth of creation - the eagle mother, the branch, her children - in itself is a form of understanding reality, religion - prayers, sacrifices, lines of conduct, contemplation - is also a form of grasping the real, and from this understanding, this particular view of the world, you are invited to take action; you cultivate the land and you build temples dedicated to your god

you take action based in what you believe, and you can see it better in the dead followers you can commune with through the island, they are fierce in their beliefs, which leads them to make a stand or fight back

it also stands out how the tall ones are imbued with negative traits; nimue shifts moods like summer rain, kumo is terribly jealous and childish, sauro despite everything will resort to violence, cernos is too shy, heck even eagle mother as gentle as she is let atrocities took place before any meaningful action was considered

all the tall ones have their virtues and imperfections because in the end they are also made out of chaos, essentially they are not that different from any tree on the plateaus; but, as the tablets about the masks state, they see things beyond this realm, and with this knowledge they try to guide those that dont see it - it's like this for their followers, and hunter is also guided by them

godslayer is no different, he took a path lead by his beliefs, beliefs those that reject the idea of having life from chaos, which lead to his obsession of fixing what he deemed broken; from his perspective, he suffered in the hands of the tall ones and their followers which made him believe that anything of their nature was treacherous - he failed tho, failed to understand that a single path would lead to perpetual suffering (as some memories states, "i was not meant to bloodshed"), which was a fate his followers had bittersweetly tasted

in this scenario, hunter is special: she's an outsider, she doesn't comprehend her mission just yet neither knows those lands; she's facing chaos in its pure form and in order to make sense of her new reality, she takes the eagle mothers advices; upon taking on the trials of the island she witnessed chaos in its many forms, and she assimilates it, not good nor bad but a 'in between' - that's why (from my understanding), on purifying the godslayer final form, her eyes glow in bright blue not because she's some 'declared since birth' allied of the tall ones, but because it signals purpose, she understands the chaos, the one that causes life and death, and she embraces that view from within and translates it into strength to fight back and endure

there's not a single creature in this world that doesnt feel lost and be it whatever creature - human, tall ones, demons, animals, everyone is trying to make sense of this confusing world we live in, be it through any path at hand - and religion is just one of the possible ways in the sea of infinite available paths

as hunter explores deeper into the island, she bonds with the tall ones but make no mistake, she's not really a faithful follower - and she doesn't need to be - cause she has the understanding that the tall ones represent this organized chaos necessary to the flux of life, she respects them

pathfinder, unfairly treated, will look at the tall ones and see just lies, refusing their guidance, he will strive for a new path not taken before and ignore any previous knowledge about the world, he will build up a single vision for a brand new reality absent of chaos because that's how he was conditioned to see and absorb the world around him

(and that makes godslayer feels even more tragic, having the possibility of seeing the world through new lenses by wearing the mask of the ancients yet he persisted in his views and ignored the reality as it was - chaos neatly woven - perhaps out of hate and sorrow for all past injustices; even in the end he resisted to accept the world that nurtured him, as he too was made out of chaos - and for that he's forgiven)

you and i can both worship sauro, but in the end we will look at the surrounding chaos from different perspectives and i will decide that pottery is the way to go while you see the sword as the suitable option; as the truth stands, this is a pathless land - there's no defined answer

the pathless, beyond the 'pathless land' lesson, has something more to tell - that perhaps the path is already established and to you is given the choice of going forward that path or re-evaluate and change directions;

if i had to define the pathless i'd say it's about what touches the eye and where you rest you hand (which can also explains why the eye is an ever present image throughout the game); through perception you grasp the world around you, you create your views and based on it you take action - will you release the bow string? will you strike with your sword? will you cultivate the land? or will you shed blood? what have you seen that made you act like this?

what a chaotic world

anyway, i have too much to say and no one to listen so my only options are write Big Blog Post or bang my head against the wall if you read until here (complete madness) thanks for enduring until the end

(cant wait to see the pathless references in sword of the sea i have faith)