#I think it was the fact that the backstory was revealed before any sort of mental snap that threw me off

[subaru-meteorlight]

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[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Your most recent post about how you would(n’t) use Lila was interesting, because after I read how you’d handle a Chloe redemption I thought Lila would make a good counterpart to Chloe for Adrien, an object lesson about how some people can’t/don’t want to be redeemed.

Start out before or near the beginning of the redemption arc with Chloe as the bully with a long history of misdeeds to make up for, and Lila as (Adrien and the audience thinks) a nervous newcomer who told some lies for attention/popularity. Adrien might even think of her situation as Easy Mode or good practice for helping Chloe. Then time goes on, and as Chloe shows signs of improvement, Lila gradually reveals her true nature.

(Chloe post and Lila post for context)

I don't totally disagree. There are versions of canon where Lila and Chloe would be good choices for a nuanced discussion on redemption. For example, if canon was all about the teenage characters and had no adult villains, then Lila would be a great choice for damnation! The problem is that canon didn't take that route or really any route where Lila feels like a good addition to the cast, let alone someone worthy of being Chloe's counterpart in a lesson about the nuances of redemption.

The main plot of Miraculous should have been Gabriel's reveal and downfall. The point of Chloe's redemption should have been prepping Adrien for said reveal and downfall. Through her, Adrien first learns how to cut off someone you love and then learns how to decide if you want to bring that person back into your life. That is a full and complete lesson. Trying to repeat the lesson or supplement the lesson with Lila feels unnecessary for the same reason I don't like her as the new main villain: she's no one. A total rando with no close ties to Adrien or anyone else. Adrien wanting to help her is fine in theory, but hard to see as a valuable addition because she doesn't matter to his character. We have his father, his close childhood friend, and a random girl he barely knows. One of these things is not like the other. That lack of depth removes most or even all of the emotional impact that a failed Lila redemption would have on Adrien. It's not going to have much of an impact on the audience either unless you make some serious changes to Lila.

One of the show's biggest flaws is that Lila is not a functional character. She has no clear motivations, backstory, or even a strong tie to the main plot of seasons one to five, making it hard to care about her. To have her damnation have any sort of emotional impact on the audience, you need to give her those things and have her develop actual relationships. Without that depth, she's an incredibly weak addition to the story who is only here to be a two-dimensional villain. The audience doesn't want her to be redeemed. We want to see her go down! Those are the wrong emotions for a lesson on failed redemption. Failed redemption should be a tragedy if you want the lesson to hit properly. It's easy to give up on people we don't really care about. It's hard to give up on people we love.

Add in the facts that Miraculous already has too many characters and that Chloe's redemption would be a subplot amidst everything else that's going on and I just don't see Lila being worth the screen time it would take to let her have a proper damnation when you're already giving Gabriel a damnation. Plus it's kind of depressing to have one redemption against two damnations and I like to keep the sad elements limited so that they really pop. Damning Lila and then Gabriel would make Gabriel's damnation feel less powerful.

Even if the plan was to redeem Gabriel, I still wouldn't use Lila as our damnation case study. I'd use Nathalie. She's far more interesting and has an actual tie to the overall plot, making her super easy to involve. Her and Gabriel share the screen constantly, making it very easy to contrast them as the story goes on. You can't really do that with Lila and Chloe because Lila and Chloe would never team up in a story where Chloe gets a redemption arc. Canon had to add Chloe's Marinette obsession to make the Lila & Chloe plot work and Chloe's redemption doesn't work if she hates Marinette to that extreme. I don't think that version of Chloe is beyond redemption, but I would never redeem her into Marinette's friend group. Seasons-four-and-five Chloe needs a fresh start with people she hasn't hurt. I don't know if she could ever be friends with Marinette and I don't particularly care to see it.

I love a good redemption, but part of writing those is knowing that there are lines that a character can't cross if you want them to be forgiven and accepted by your core cast later on. It's that whole romanticizing the cycle of abuse thing that I've discussed before re enemies-to-lovers stories and the general concept of redeeming Gabriel. I get why people like it, it's a wonderful fantasy, but for me it's an incredibly hard sell. My suspension of disbelief almost always breaks, leaving me feeling sad and unsatisfied.

[l00rem]

Gibeon & Amethio are related, but they are not father and son.

So, ep45 had me applying my clown makeup as I was a firm Gibeon is related to Amethio denier and that has uh clearly been proven true by that final scene… but I still don’t think they’re father and son like most people seem to be saying. First, let’s start with Gibeon’s physical condition.

It seems clear by his position in the reveal that he suffers with functioning properly, this is further demonstrated with Hamber’s ‘Gibeon is awake’ comment. Considering he’s at least over 100, this is probably him abusing his mortality coming to bite him in the ass or some injury he sustained when Lucius kicked him out of the Rakua gc. And while pokemon never acknowledges topics like sex for obvious reasons, I doubt the writers would ignore the fact that Gibeon is clearly not in any condition to be breeding (dude only holds like 3 min meetings before going back to bed, he could never last that long in a physical activity such as that)

Now, this brings me to another theory i’ve been seeing: Amethio is some sort of clone/ artificial human being. I can see why some people think this, but i don’t think it’s going to happen. I just think it goes against the themes horizons has been setting up about generations (ex: ep34 where Hamber and Diana both pass things down to Liko and Amethio) i think it would be weird to have all this stuff about ancestry and then just throw in ‘oh and amethio’s not human btw’. It’s also just a really dark existential topic for pokemon, i know they can go dark and have done artificial creation before but that’s always been strictly for pokemon at least to my knowledge. I think people who believe in clone theory are getting too caught up in their Amethio and Hunter from ToH comparisons- ofc your free to theorise what you want but I just don’t see this happening.

To give some more solid proof that Amethio isn’t Gibeon’s son, let’s look at Liko’s ancestry.

As we can see, hair does seem to matter when it comes to being directly descended from someone. All three have the same hair pattern, even if we can’t see the brighter blue for Lucca’s. Compare this to Lucius’s hair:

It’s been made very clear that Liko is a descendant of his somehow, but this isn’t as direct as a great grandfather because then Diana could’ve literally just asked her mom who the man in the photo was to learn they’re related. Lucius resembles them somewhat but there are very clear differences.

Likewise, this seems to be the case with Gibeon and Amethio’s hair differences. They have the same colour scheme of white and black, but the way the two colours are separated are completely different. Just as Lucius and Liko’s family both have that sticky outy bit of their hair, Amethio and Gibeon both share that little white antenna although Gibeon’s is positioned differently.

So here’s my proposition: Amethio is related to Gibeon the same way Liko is related to Lucius.

Perhaps then Amethio is some distant relative to Gibeon who he located at some point- likely he didn’t have any family and so when Gibeon pulls up with his ‘oh hey we’re related’ spiel Amethio jumps at the chance for any form of connection. It’s not clear how much Amethio knows regarding Gibeon (he didn’t even know why he wanted the pendant after all) but perhaps Gibeon uses his condition as a further way of manipulating Amethio: not only does Amethio work for explorers to get Gibeon’s approval but also to find whatever he needs to not die so he won’t lose his last chance at family?

I also believe this is supported by all the Amethio-Liko parallels the show has been building up. It’s likely that Amethio’s backstory could be a dark mirror of Liko’s where the Explorers are to him what RVT is to Liko. Although, Amethio’s situation takes the ‘found family’ part more literally and instead of experiencing happiness he gets moulded into a child soldier…. yaaaay…

So then why does Gibeon actually need Amethio? Aside from the obvious meta reason, it’s likely Gibeon speculated someone with his blood could function as a Lucius detector (the pendant only stopped being dormant after amethio came into close contact) and this is also one of the reasons Amethio gets booted off the mission as he’d already performed his purpose of confirming the pendant was related to Lucius. Perhaps there’s something about Amethio’s ancestry which doesn’t apply to Gibeon that’s important? Or maybe Gibeon just put an easily exploitable child to good use.

Either way, there really isn’t a happy explanation for Amethio’s circumstances. Poor guy :(

I’ll potentially be eating my own words in a few months when we learn more about Gibeon and Amethio’s relationship but hey it never hurts to theorise. Hopefully we learn more stuff soon and that Amethio doesn’t get locked into off screen jail for another 11 weeks 💀💀

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I love your work and enjoy your theories, so I thought I'd pop up and ask a question, my question being; why do people like yuu so much? They don't really have a point in the story and stuff-this kinda sounds like I hate yuu but I don't I'm just curious on why they're liked in the EN Fandom so I apologize if I used the wrong choice of words or anything, also why is yuu called 'the therapist'?

Rather than saying “the EN fandom likes Yuu”, I think it’s more accurate to say “the EN fandom likes the idea of Yuu”. Yuu is not a character in of themselves, but is an easy proxy for anyone and everyone to self-insert (be it the player themselves or an OC of theirs) because they are so loosely defined. This makes it very easy to “project” (ie insert whatever traits you want) onto a blank slate on an individual level and to be more personally invested in the events related to Yuu.

In an ironic way, Yuu not having a major impact on the story encourages fans to create their own alternate tellings and scenarios (typically substituting their own interpretation of Yuu or an OC into their role) to change things. This, in turn, heightens the attachment to Yuu because of the time and effort being devoted to this insertion. Over time, the feelings can grow stronger with each repetition, and it forms a sort of bond and all the affection that may come with it.

This is in part why the self-insert and OC culture of TWST is so strong; Yuu is practically designed to be projected onto. Even the name may be a reference to this—Yuu as in, “you”. They’re meant to be “you”, so many people become attached yo Yuu because that is essentially a representation of “themselves” in the world of TWST (especially when you consider that one’s imagination amplifies this relationship).

Brief aside for a second, I want to emphasize that this is a phenomenon that is specific to the EN fandom. The JP side also has Yuusonas and OCs, but they are often not as fleshed-out as the ones you’ll see from the EN fandom. Most of the time, the Yuusonas/OCs from JP are more generalized (less individualized looks, far less details in backstories, etc.) so that any onlooker can still insert as the Yuu. Meanwhile, the Yuusonas and OCs from the EN side tend to go into a LOT of detail about their creations. I believe this reflects a fundamental cultural difference between JP and EN (more specifically America/Canada): collectivism vs individualism, conforming to a group vs standing out from the crowd. (I discuss other differences I’ve observed between JP and EN in this post.)

The “Yuu is NRC’s therapist” line is a joke from the earliest days in the fandom; this was way before most of the main story had come out and no one knew how little of a role Yuu would actually play in the overall narrative and changing the characters’ lives, nor the fact that the OB boys would get treatment from an actual therapist (a detail revealed in book 6, I believe). The therapist role was likely derived mainly from something Crowley says in the prologue about how Yuu can be the one that teaches the boys how to get along with one another. However, the more main story content released, the more it became apparent that what Crowley said was just flat-out untrue. (I go into more detail about that in this post.) Nowadays, I think that the term is used more ironically.

[ominous-faechild]

What is the big question of your wip?

Like what is the glaring plot hole you have yet to fill?

Or the storyline you don't yet know how to end?

Sum that hole up in a one sentence question.

Depends on the WIP!

Tho I'll begin with: as far as I know, none of my WIPs have plot holes! Any time I notice one, I do my absolute best to find a way to fill it and have it actually make sense!

Although... I have a lot of things that look like plot holes, but are actually signs that Something's Off™ and subtle foreshadowing toward Plot Twists... 👀

RISING FROM THE ASHES

If there's any sort of “big questions” in RFtA, they'd have to be...

“What do people do against seemingly impossible odds? How far will they go for others, even at their own detriment? What could drive them to do that?”

Tho these are more of themes than plots, lol. The “plot questions” are pretty apparent. “Who caused the disaster; how and why?” “What's with all of the disappearances?” “What's Carmin's deal?” “What's Sammy's real backstory, and why is he hiding it? Who is he really?” “Why is Caron so evasive about certain questions? What is he hiding?”

Storyline-wise, I haven't decided the ultimate fates of each of the tertiary (and below) characters. I usually plan a LOT of my stories before I officially “start” them, and I almost always decide the direction I'm going to take a character's arcs before I get too deep into it.

The MCs and secondary characters (who I personally think are very important, lol) all have their arcs pretty planned out, but those beyond that? Not so much lol.

WAVES OF MISFORTUNE

If there's any sort of “big questions” in Waves, they'd have to be...

“What happens if you keep running away from your past? How long can you run away before it catches up to you... emotionally or literally? And is it worth it?”

Tho these are more of themes than plots, haha. The “plot questions” are pretty easy to recognize. “Why's Flavie amnesiac, what's her connection to the disaster, who was she before, and what's with her incredible power?” and “What's Benji hiding? Who is he really?” are the most obvious ones lol.

Most of all of their storylines are still up in the air, it's part of why it's less of a focus than RFtA, lol. Though I have a lot of the first book's plot planned out, and it ties in with both RFtA and SaS!

Guess that's what happens when you're a bunch of sailors, and you're connected with major characters of both stories!

(Caron and Soren)

THE ARCANE RIFTS

*looks at the fact that I have the first 3 books pretty much planned out* *looks back @ the camera*

I wonder! 😳😉

But! If there's any sort of “big questions” in TPC, they'd have to be...

“What gives someone value? Is anyone allowed to answer that question? And, if someone doesn't have value, does that mean they don't deserve help or to live? What is more meaningful: someone's actions or the results? What is strength really, and which kinds matter?”

There's way too many plot questions to even begin to list them here lmao. Most everyone's backstories are slowly revealed and lowkey (if not actually major) plot twists, or explain a LOT of their motives and actions previously taken. Gene himself, the MC, is especially a mystery!

And one of my favorite characters altogether! 👀😂

I'm not sure about a lot of things past book 4 of TPC (the series tAR—the first book—is in), but uh... I'm sure I don't have to explain why I'm not really focusing on them any time soon, haha.

SUN AND SHADOW

If there's any sort of “big questions” in SaS, they'd have to be...

“Are good intentions enough to justify bad actions? Are positive results enough to justify wrongdoings? Who's worthy of forgiveness, and why? Is it wrong to take revenge against those who hurt you? How far can you go in revenge, and how many bystanders can you hurt—or how much can you hurt them—before you become the villain?”

SaS is literally a detective mystery... though RFtA is technically one, too, and tAR has a secondary plotline of one, lol. Point is: there's a LOT of questions in SaS, haha, and I don't think you want me to get started!

I'm uncertain the ultimate paths of all of the characters besides Valyarus!

Val's ultimate fate is sealed. 👀

Besides that, I have all of their paths in Book 1, Sun and Shadow itself, planned, haha.

... aaaaand a lot of how they'll unfold further in Book 2.

I might plan too much.

Hope you enjoyed this, and sorry it took so long!

Taglist: @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @an-indecisive-nerd

@seastarblue

Dividers by @saradika @lacism @pommecita

[reginalusus]

I feel like people trying to justifying 'hating' Spamton usually come up with the one of the two excuses: "he's so popular, I'm just sick of him," - which I think is a very silly (albeit innocent) reason, sorry - or "he's not interesting or significant enough in the game to warrant the popularity."

I disagree.

For the record, before I continue, I couldn't give less of a fuck if you don't like him, lmao, you do you, BBG (why are you looking at my blog in the first place? You'll die of vex! I'm a big ol' simp). There are popular characters in other media I also don't like but I don't have the time or energy to go around boasting why I dislike them. Reality is depressing enough, I'd much rather focus on stuff I actually like.

Anyway.

While I do agree that Spamton probably isn't major in terms of the entire canon of Deltarune, I feel like there's so much nuance to him that it's kind of incredible. People seem to forget about the sweepstakes.

I don't need to go into his backstory. We all know about that and it's one of the main draws of him. He's a tragic, relatable, timeless character, and while his popularity will wane while we enjoy the other chapters, I still feel like this fandom will still love and talk about him, much like how the Undertale fandom still loves and fixates on Sans, Papyrus and Mettaton in particular. At least, I will, lol. And this is coming from someone who doesn't get attached to characters easily, at all. Not to this extent.

Anyway, continuing on with the 'nuance, interesting' point:

I've spoken about this before, time and time again, but the fact that Spamton is a direct foil to Kris, knows about souls, knows about how this world works (and is horrified by it) just seems pretty major to me, IDK. That's not even delving into the sweepstakes.

I know the whole interaction between Spamton and Noelle is kind of speculation, so I'm just going off what I've seen and read what other people have discussed in regards to these two here:

The idea that Noelle and Spamton have spoken to one another and have (maybe) discussed Dess (speculatively), is just mind-blowing to me. Dess still has a huge question mark over their head. We don't know anything about them except that they're missing, but the fact that Spamton knows some stuff (speculatively) because of Noelle just... I don't have any words. The fact that Spamton thinks Noelle is the Angel (something we know is important in the lore) is fascinating to me.

Perhaps Spamton is just a stepping stone to what other secret bosses may elaborate on in future chapters. Realistically, that's probably the case.

But Spamton himself and the dynamic between he and Kris will ALWAYS stick with me, no matter how good the other secret bosses are. The Snowgrave Spamton fight has a permanent burn mark in my brain. I will never get the image of Kris being canonically traumatised by this man out of my head.

The fact that Spamton was sort of the first character to reveal the existential horrors that the world of Deltarune entails is remarkable to me. Yes, Jevil sort of did it first, but nowhere near to the extent and depth Spamton did.

Anyway, self-indulgent discussion over. I hope we do see our beloved salesman again (we probably won't, and if we do, it most likely won't be until the end). I know he's just chilling in Kris's pocket right now with Jevil. But I have an image that in Chapter 7, we'll see all the secret bosses again. Maybe.

Maybe we'll get a cutscene sort of like the True Pacifist cutscene at the very end of Undertale, where we see all the monsters enjoying their new lives above ground. Maybe we'll see the secret bosses be happy. Maybe we'll see Jevil reunite with Seam. Maybe we'll see Spamton finally making it as a salesman again, and reconnecting with the Addisons. IDK.

Anyway, can you tell I fucking love Spamton.

[cartoonrival]

Wow that was quick and quiet. How was it. Were there any parts you liked. Any you didn’t. How do you feel about every character from su hating you

ok. so for anyone who doesn't know , the premise of kist is that yoon bum, who is sort of a loner pervert stalker freak, is obsessed w this guy he met once in the military (oh sangwoo) so he breaks into sangwoo's house because he's in love with him. but when he does this he finds a woman tied up in sangwoo's basement and sangwoo shows up and clonks him on the head then breaks his ankles so he can't leave. the story simultaneously follows sangwoo and bum's relationship as it morphs from a pretty basic kidnapper-kidnappee dynamic into something that would be love if it wasn't so much not that, and also a cop (yang seungbae) who is trying to catch a sangwoo but he's sort of disgraced so no one believes him. + porn is there also.

most of it was like ok..... i'm by no means unfamiliar with stories that are fucked up in a way that doesn't mean anything its just Did you see that shit? anyways im rod sterling. like considering i forked over the cash to watch terrifier 3 in theaters i am not the guy who thinks horrible plotlines need to justify themselves. so for the vast majority of the story it was just like .... it was vaguely interesting watching sangwoo and bum's relationship develop as sangwoo became less concerned that bum would try and run away and started to treat him less like a hostage and more like a lover (who is also a hostage). didn't care for the sex scenes because no part of me was reading the story for sexual reasons i was reading it to watch something fucked up happen. so bum's waifish appearance and behaviors were really starting to piss me off. but we persist.

as i mentioned in my halfway post, i DID find seungbae's perspective somewhat interesting because it let me view sangwoo from a perspective other than bum's terrified but smitten one. which i think those povs work best in tandem. the story would be boring if it was just one or the other.

a little background first for the insane twist that made me start posting for realsies: sangwoo's father was abusive, and he drove his mother into madness. his father died of poisoning by pills cooked into his food, it's unspecified whether sangwoo or his mother was responsible for this directly but even if it wasn't by his own hands sangwoo feels responsible. in the absence of his father, sangwoo's mother starts referring to and treating sangwoo (who looks like his father) AS IF he WERE her husband. like she calls him babe not infrequently, stuff like that. this freaks him out. the fact that he looks like his father makes the irrational part of her hate him. he starts to suspect that she's been poisoning him, so he starts counting the pills so he can know if she's been putting them in his food. he learns that she has. she ties him up and almost kills him in the basement, but he manages to overpower her and kill her before she can kill him.

Now. first relevant detail is that sangwoo has been living in his childhood home this whole time. this detail is known from the start. he vaguely references not wanting to be abusive in the way his father was throughout the story, but you aren't fully told what exactly led to the deaths of his parents until later. the point when you DO learn is after sangwoo and bum have gone on a series of outings together, with strange but seemingly innocuous details-- sangwoo buys them apples and seems strangely familiar with the stand theyre sold at, he has bum wear weirdly specific outfits (the main outfit being a striped shirt and long black skirt).

then, as backstory details about sangwoo are being revealed, you slowly realize that sangwoo has been REENACTING MOMENTS BETWEEN HIMSELF AND HIS MOTHER, WITH BUM AS THE STAND-IN FOR HIS MOTHER. HE HAS BEEN REENACTING THE MOST TRAUMATIC MOMENTS OF HIS CHILDHOOD. HE HAS BUM KILL THIS RANDOM GIRL AND TAKES HIM TO BURY HER IN THE SAME MOUNTAIN WHERE HIS MOTHER TOOK HIM TO BURY HIS FATHER. HE HAS BUM WEAR THE SAME OUTFIT HIS MOTHER WORE THAT DAY. there are more fucked up and uncomfortable instances of these parallels but i won't get into them because the specifics aren't necessary. the point is that bum is serving as a stand-in for sangwoo's mother, who mistook him for her husband and also tried to kill him. just a bizarre and insane revelation and the way it's revealed is honestly so effective. just repeated panels but this time it's his mother in the passenger seat type stuff. like WOAHHH OKAY.

and where it gets even crazier is that sangwoo starts becoming paranoid that bum is plotting to kill him like his mother was-- he starts counting the pills again and thinks bum has poisoned him when he accidentally spills them and miscounts. it's a bizarre role flip-- sangwoo is neurotic and terrified, and bum seems well adjusted in comparison. sangwoo steps on broken glass and CAN'T LEAVE THE HOUSE, putting HIM in the position that he'd put BUM in for the first portion of the story, the reason bum stayed long enough to get stockholmed to begin with. this break down and subsequent flipping of their roles is what made me sort of lose it. i genuinely enjoyed reading that portion, the reveal about sangwoo's mother and his breakdown afterwards.

the ending was honestly not much to write home about, lowkey dropped the ball a little. i think sangwoo and bum should've died in a double suicide situation. sangwoo did make bum promise that they would die together and that if sangwoo died bum would kill himself. sort of think they should've gone w that. but instead seungbae catches sangwoo and there's a freak incident and sangwoo ends up DYING in the hospital and bum is cleared of police suspicion in terms of being an accomplice rather than a victim. but then he goes sort of crazy about never being able to see sangwoo again (he already symbolically proposed to him but he wanted to give him a ring) and he goes crazy and then gets hit by a car and dies. lame! but it's fine.

tldr it was mostly mid and what you'd expect except for that one part which sort of knocked my socks off a little bit. but then it went back to being mid. i don't NOT get why it was popular and to be completely honest dressing up as sangwoo and bum would be like darkly funny if it wasn't for the fact that people see them as just like uwaa yaoi!!! instead of two really fucked up individuals who are like destined to die badly and stuff. i'm glad i read it but i don't recommend it. honestly having read it the "every character from steven universe will hate you" thing is even funnier like this isn't basic shitty toxic yaoi this is psychological horror. why do the characters in steven universe have an opinion on that. too funny.

[shootingstarrfish]

Yay, you finally reblogged it!! <33

Might as more some other time, we'll seeeeeee

⸺ RELATIONSHIPS & PERSONALITY ⸺

02: On a scale of 1 to 10, how annoying are they to Lucifer? :) Had to hehe <3 017: What is a side of themself they don't want other to see? When does that side reveal itself?

⸺ CONCEPT AND DESIGN ⸺

08: Anything you heavily associate with them? A color, a word, a picture, or something else? 10: How about some angst headcanons? >:)

⸺ HUMAN ⸺

01: How old are they? no ulterior motive behind asling this one nuh-uh

YAYYY THANK YOU MELLLL

02:

100000 lucifer is so sick of this bitch send tweet

017:

OOH BOY he tends to come off pretty carefree, and sometimes mayyybe a lil bit shallow? but he tends to contemplate things very deeply, which he sees as a flaw since it makes him overly emotional about things that other people perceive as small so it's not a part of himself he really enjoys sharing

that side kinda just reveals itself normally anyway, he's not exactly great at hiding it, but a part of why he gets along with Belphie so well is that he feels more comfortable willingly sharing this side of himself since Belphie gets it

who else are you suddenly gonna ask "do you ever think about what death is like" and immediately be met with an understanding "yeah"

08:

this is really silly but when a person's jacket falls off their shoulder... it always makes me think about him he is like the brothers, incapable of wearing a jacket properly

10:

it's definitely not unique to say that post lesson 16 was his lowest point, yes because of *gestures at everything that happened* but it was made worse by his interaction with asmo before shit really hit the fan asmo genuinely appreciates the fact that sidra doesnt really care about his appearance or popularity and what he values is who asmo actually is, so the second he believes that their entire relationship existed so sidra could get to belphie, he's absolutely crushed and he begins to doubt all their previous interactions

so while sidra's trying to process the fact that he was killed, he can't even turn to the person he was closest to because, even though it was a big misunderstanding, he did accidentally end up hurting asmo and he just feels way too overwhelmed with everything going on to even think about trying to patch things up at this point even though in the long run it'd make everything a lot easier but it's hard so he just isolates himself further and sends himself into an even worse spiral and-

its ok tho the purgatory hall gang helps him a lot at this point and eventually they sort it out

01:

wowie thank you for asking!!!!!!! he's 33!!! which has the most stupid backstory that i will explain because i want to hehehe

so originally he was going to be like 25 or whatever, not for any particular reason it just seemed fitting enough but i remember seeing a tweet about how kasane teto being in her 30s was very important for maximum cuteness and i thought to myself huh... that's a good point actually, sidra needs to be in his 30s too for maximum cuteness

and also hit japanese singer mafumafu is in his 30s and he is very cute so it just made sense at that point

and then he was gonna be vaguely somewhere in his 30s for a while UNTIL ex and bee happened and i thought itd be hilarious if he was 1 year younger than ex and ex was really mortified about being the same age as sidra so now he's 33...

mc ask game!

[pancake404]

Additions/Headcanons of Eeeveelution Squad

I think I've talked about this before but when rereading Eeeveelution Squad(I'm not done), I realized just how much there could have been. Each character at the start had their own unique quality which could've built up to make interesting dynamics, relationships, etc.

Long story short, I think Eeveelution Squad had a lot of potential and in the comic I'm sort of developing with "Red and Blue/Alan Au", I think I could also introduce extra ideas on how each member of the Eeveelutions could have been.

So I'm just going to write the ideas here(Quick thing, I'm not trying to put down the author of Eeeveeluton Squad for their writing, personally and despite the flaws, I'm fine with the way it is but I just think there could've been a lot more ideas if given the chance but it's the author's choice, not the fans):

Starting with the main trio(Speed, Flare, and Kris) as there is going to be a lot...

Speedy: The main protagonist with your average propagandistic qualities like interesting backstory mixed with being dense to an extreme degree(honestly, I think the endless punches to the head will do that to you) and also have OP abilities. Now, one thing that always stuck out to me is how Speed was then and also his level difference between the other members. Correct me if I'm wrong, the dude is like level 98 or at least his 90's in leveling. Now, in case you hadn't read the comic, there are a ton of things that Speed could have easily dealt with if he bothered too. Every time Glaceon hits him, it's shown that he doesn't dodge and the one time he did, he didn't even mean to. Speed had also been shown to actively try to turn away any sort of conclusion that he is "Speed" and not any other Jolteon similar to his interaction with Gai.

Now here was the idea that could've happened. Acting and specifically avoiding his past. I think something that could've be shown was that Speed is sort of purposefully doing this. What if he was so hell bent in hiding his past that he acts weaker than he normally is, more air-headed than he normally would think, and would insist to be called "Jolteon" than his real name. It would be an interesting irony as the dense protagonist is secretly using that description to his advantage, to make sure nobody would know. It would get to the point where the other Eeveelutions would start piecing things together but Speed's mental state, through months of insults, punches, throws, slaps, etc., starts crumbling. With sort of idea of his character it makes him more interesting as he would go from someone stupid getting straight up physically abused to someone who wants to desperately keep away his past and live a peaceful life on the cost that he hurts himself and allows others to hurt him. The events could work similarly too, case in point when Black is yelling at Speed about him being a liar, Speed just stands there, almost hopelessly yet nonchalantly like he honestly he gave up caring. Then there's the moment where Sylvia and Lazuli are trying to convince Speed that he has a soul but Speed doesn't listen to them. Which makes sense, why would he? The whole time, these two "liked" and "loved" him but so far, all Speed has seen was well...the punches, slaps, arguing, unconsented kissing, and much more.

Solarflare: I liked how he was, it was fun seeing the irony of a Flareon(a fire-type) like gardening so much. I also think his backstory with how he evolved and the fact that he is infected with the beserk virus is also something interesting. But I think one missed opportunity was revealing the beserk virus to the other characters(or rather them finding out). Sometimes the story switches from treating him being infected as "add-on" to make him more easier to differentiate while other times it feels like he's the main character. Now going back, it would've been interesting to see how the other Eeveelutions react to Flare going manic with a red eye and suddenly having super strength. Honestly, instead of including CC, I think it should've been Flare that becomes a danger. Case in point, Flare's reaction to chocolate would catch the eye of someone like Sylvia and because she can't take a hint for her life sometimes to stop, she would pressuring Flare to eat it. Flare because of his honest and innocent nature, unfortunately says that he's not exactly allergic but it's not like he could tell her why he can't. Sylvia continues to pressure and...Flare ends up getting chocolate shoved in his mouth and through the stress, obsession, and now anger, he breaks.

Later the other characters might react differently based on how they are. Black would be distrusting and confused as hell, Pearl might be wary but try to calm everyone down, Leaf would be shocked seeing this new side of Flare, Lazuli is questioning on Speed and his family, Sylvia would also be shocked and scared of Flare, and Kris would be very close to b*tch slapping Sylvia.

Chrystal: Speaking of Kris, I explained a bit about her in a earlier post but to add on to that, I think she would first come out as an annoying sister who likes pulling pranks on her siblings but when things start going bad like Flare is getting hurt or forced-fed chocolate, she can turn off the laid-back and playful attitude to complete seriousness as I believe it would make sense that ever since the incident causing the evolution of Kris and Flare, Kris began having a bit more of a backbone as she realized that her brothers can genuinely be hurt by her actions and despite it, they both still care for her.

Now for the trio themselves, I'm surprised they don't stick around each other as often similarly to how Leaf and Lazuli are shown to stick together for a decent bit. I think their dynamic of playful older sister, soft yet can be dangerous little brother, and the protective, stern yet lenient older brother who is sick of their stupidity but can also be just dumb as them at times would've been funny to see. Also, it would've been fun to see how each of the three have something they neglect to tell the other two to not worry them which could eventually lead into a bit of a divide as they have the feeling of distrust and confusion.

There was also a bit of missed interactions like Flare and Black(Black would act like Frost/Older brother to Flare), Kris and Pearl(Very mature but stuck dealing with someone who 90% isn't), and Speed and Leaf(Leaf turns down Speed's confession and they don't really talk again, like Speed does garden as well, you're telling me Speed had not bothered to ask Leaf to help)?

One last thing before I end this off...reasonably speaking, I'm surprised that Sunshine spends so much time with the other Eeeveelutions compared to Kris and Flare. I mean...I do like Pearl acting motherly for Sunshine but dang, you would think if Speed is not there, she would gravitate closer to the only other two pokemon she knew her whole life so far, right?

[elcheese]

Woah omg it's Demon Slayer Oc time

I actually drew her, yippee

This took like 5 fucking hours but I am so happy. Y'all ain't getting a katana reveal, I'm too lazy and couldn't be bothered to lmao.

Buuuttt, I am going to tell you stuff about her, since I won't shut up about KnY for a while.

Probably long text under the cut.

Name: Hannei Datai

Her first name, Hannei (反映) means reflection while his last name, Datai (堕胎) means abortion.

(It should be noted that I am not Japanese, barely knowledgeable about the language and this may be inaccurate. I tried my best to find if it's actually the meaning or not, so if it's wrong, I apologize.)

Current Age:

17

Birthday:

August 28th

Gender + Pronouns:

Female, but doesn't mind being referred to as a male or somewhere between. (She/Her, He/Him, They/Them)

Species:

Human.

Rank:

Hashira. To be more specific, the Mirror Hashira. They were a tsuguko for almost all of the Hashira for a short time, but he stayed with Obanai Iguro the longest.

Breathing Style: Breath of Reflection/Mirror Breathing

The name of this breathing style is pretty self explanatory. It focuses on mimicking other breathing styles and only has one form (but Hannei is currently making a 2nd form, shhh.) Hannei couldn't perfect any breathing style, only able to master one form of each. So she decided to compile them and make small changes to better fit her fighting style. Even after mastering one form, it still doesn't quite match up with the real deal. Hannei would either lack the strength, the speed, flexibility, etc.

Relationship status + Sexuality:

Single. And forever will be lol (Aroace go brr)

Weapons:

Of course, the nichirin sword. It's a baby blue color and isn't very different from any other sword.

Kunais. Hannei gets them from Tengen mostly and asks Shinobu to coat them in a thin layer of wisteria posion.

Personality:

They're closed off and often keep to themselves. She's more open with people she's comfortable with, which is the majority of the Hashira and the Ubayashiki family. He's a bit of a people pleaser, depending on who he's with, it can vary. But that doesn't mean their principles and morals change, just the way they act.

Negative aspects of them is that they have little to almost no self-preservation, being indecisive over the smallest of things, often not thinking about having or even forming an opinion of their own. She thinks she isn't needed and isn't worthy of being a Hashira, since she mostly just copies a form from each style. He takes a while to decide things on his own when it comes to small things (food, clothing, children bickering over something, etc.). They got used to just following someone else's lead and/or someone ordering them around that it's difficult to voice certain things out.

Positive aspects of them though is their neutrality, understanding, and patience. Often overshadowed by her need to please the people around her, she's actually pretty neutral about a majority of things! She found it taboo that Tanjirou was traveling with a demon, but the fact that it was his sister made her a bit sad and thought about the pain and confusion he must've had going through his head. (She only voted to kill Nezuko because everyone else did lol). Patience and understanding is her specialty, since that's what it took for her to at least master one form from each breathing style she's seen. She took the time to understand other people's point of views before forming any sort of opinion on them. That task alone could take a long time as well, hence the patience.

But fuck around too much and you'll see why he stayed with Obanai the longest lmao.

Backstory:

Hannei was the result of adultery. She only inherited her appearance from the man her mother cheated on her father with. The almost pitch black eyes unnerved them. The couple had a reputation for being the most perfect couple in the small town, so this was an issue. They never let her go out into the town during the day, but they did let her during the night. During the day, they'd desperately just try to keep them busy inside the house, ordering them around the house, teaching them how to act a certain way, etc.

Hannei was told to be quiet. To never speak. To always avoid people. So he did, being unusually quiet on his feet, sneaking from left to right while observing the remaining people that roamed the streets. One day, they saw a demon attacking someone. They did nothing. Just watched.

It was almost like a cycle, the same demon, different victim, same ending. She has tried to bring this up with her parents, only to be met with panicked shushes, telling her to be quiet while trying to hide their disdain towards her.

Until it was finally their turn, when Hannei was 14. What did they do? Sold Hannei off to the demon so save their own skins. Hannei loved them with their whole heart, yet they didn't want to return that, only seeing them as a manifestation of a mistake that they made. She wanted to hate them so badly, but she couldn't find it in her heart to do so for some reason, instead blaming the demon and it's entire kind. He tried to put up a fight, only being able to slice the demon with glass shards. It was futile.

But he was saved by the Serpent Hashira. Before he could leave, Hannei expressed that they wanted to do the same thing. Slay demons. End the suffering of many. He agreed and brought him back to the demon slayer corps. Obanai didn't train him just yet though, he let Hannei choose. Hannei started off from Water Breathing, then to Fire, Stone, all the way until they circled back to Obanai. (Hannei apologized so much to Obanai and all the others who trained him for not being able to do their styles)

It took a few years, but Hannei was finally a Hashira. She's the most recent, maybe raised to that rank after Tanjiro passed the final selection. (I am bad with time lol)

Extras:

Their favorite food is tonkatsu (I fucking love tonkatsu)

The mask they wear is meant to mock demons. She only wears it on the job.

He found out about Obanai's dislike towards women, so in an attempt to make him more comfortable, he decided to keep his appearance more androgynous.

The moment she got her 'official' uniform, she buried it somewhere and lied, saying she lost it, asking for a different design.

They really like turtles.

He tries no to keep eye contact with people for too long. He knows it's rude but has been told many times by people (ahem, the parents) that his eyes are unsettling.

She has some strong eyesight... When it comes to things farther away. Extremely farsighted.

They like making silly impressions of the other Hashiras to Nezuko whenever they're bored.

Loves staying out in the sun since he was only allowed to be out at night.

Welp, that's all. I think. I'll add more when I think of more lol.

[crossdressingdeath]

This is the new line iirc. Gale was also quite abrupt. I hope his got changed as well

Oh, that is infinitely better. Looks like it at least hadn't been implemented when this picture was taken (I assume that's what the "IMPOSSIBLE" tag means), but knowing they intend to implement Shadowheart being much more reasonable about the fact that Durge couldn't tell anyone about the dark backstory they didn't remember helps a lot.

Honestly Gale's response—which for those who haven't seen it is "The tadpoles, the Absolute... it was because of you? I think you've said and done more than enough. Leave me be."—doesn't bother me. He's angry and upset. He feels betrayed by the reveal that his dear friend/lover was one of the instigators of this mess that could still destroy life in Faerûn as they know it and needs time to come to terms with it. That is... extremely fair. I take zero issue with the party being angry! I only had a problem with Shadowheart's original response because she was angry about Durge not telling the party their part in the whole thing when she knew full well they had no memory of it. It was the unfairness of Shadowheart blaming them for not telling the party about something they didn't remember that bothered me, not her anger. I'd actually be more annoyed if the party wasn't furious and betrayed about the reveal that Durge was Bhaal's Chosen and one of the instigators of the whole Absolute thing, because... yeah, of course they're not going to take it well. Who would? Rather than change the party's responses to be less negative, I'd like a followup after Durge rejects Bhaal where they... don't apologize, necessarily (I repeat, their anger is extremely valid), but acknowledge that Durge probably did have a reason for doing what they did before (just like how everyone else had reasons for the shitty things they did) and that whatever that reason was the person they are now clearly doesn't share it. Also I actually would like it if there were different greetings between the coronation and Durge rejecting Bhaal to reflect the tension in the group, although that would maybe be a bit much to ask given it wouldn't happen with any other player character. Basically my issue with the response to Durge having been Bhaal's Chosen now that Shadowheart's line is being altered is that the party has a little shout at you and then it's just... fine. This is not the sort of thing that's going to be fine after a single conversation! This is something that would seriously change the group dynamic, and while that might have been a lot to implement (especially since they were already being overworked) I would've at least liked a second discussion about it once Durge really committed to working against the Dead Three.

[anghraine]

Hey, I really enjoy your fleshed out backstories on Darcy's family, and I was wondering if you have any thoughts about their origin and history! (ex: I read a really interesting fic where the "first" English Darcy was some sort of knight who received the land he conquered.) Do you have any thoughts on when the Darcy family became distinguished, their ancestry, etc.? I find the Austen contemporary allusion to the real Fitzwilliam family interesting, and was wondering if you think that family's origins also tie into it? So sorry for the rambly text :)

No problem at all! Sorry it's taken me so long to get to this.

First, thanks—I'm glad the pure/nearly pure headcanons are enjoyable, too. I did write a fic sort of like that, actually, longgggg ago (a brief snippet where the English house was basically founded by a Norman knight). I can see quite a few scenarios, though, within the limits of what we know.

This is going to seem like a bit of a tangent, but the interesting thing about the Darcys to me is that the status and consequence they grant Darcy are so overshadowed by the Fitzwilliams in fandom and academia—I think more than in P&P itself. P&P certainly emphasizes the Fitzwilliams more as characters (I do find them more interesting as a family) and the RL referentiality is much more distinct w/ the Fitzwilliams, so it's understandable, but I don't think they're the primary source of Darcy's pride and status in the novel.

In fact, several of the remarks about Darcy's status occur before anyone knows anything about the Fitzwilliams or his connection to them. This is Charlotte before the Fitzwilliam connection is revealed, for instance:

“One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour, should think highly of himself.”

I think sometimes the Darcys' position is regarded as "same as the Bennets' but with more money" (I think mainly as an overly sweeping takeaway from Elizabeth's argument with Lady Catherine), but it's noticeable that Charlotte attributes his status to both his fortune and his family's stature.

Here is Elizabeth at Netherfield (again, before anyone knows about the Fitzwilliam connection):

Elizabeth could not help observing, as she turned over some music-books that lay on the instrument, how frequently Mr Darcy’s eyes were fixed on her. She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man

She clearly doesn't mean greatness of character, but his status as Mr Darcy of Pemberley, and she clearly feels a sense of pretty profound social inequality here, to the point that even setting aside the insult, she can't really think he'd even look twice at her. It doesn't make her deferential(lol) or lack self-respect or self-esteem—it's more of a pragmatic sense of the disparity of their positions within their class, fundamentally determined by their fathers' families.

It's Wickham who reveals the Fitzwilliam connection, but Wickham also associates Darcy's pride with the Darcys/Pemberley:

“Yes,” replied Wickham; “his estate there [Derbyshire] is a noble one. A clear ten thousand per annum.”

“Yes; it [pride] has often led him to be liberal and generous; to give his money freely, to display hospitality, to assist his tenants, and relieve the poor. Family pride, and filial pride, for he is very proud of what his father was, have done this. Not to appear to disgrace his family, to degenerate from the popular qualities, or lose the influence of the Pemberley House, is a powerful motive.”

Despite Wickham going on to talk about Lady Catherine and Lady Anne, Pemberley's aristocratic scale and the late Mr Darcy's moral character and the Darcys' popularity and influence are all linked together in his account. Now, this is Wickham, so the degree to which that's true is debatable, but it certainly doesn't contradict the treatment elsewhere.

Interestingly, he also suggests that part of Lady Catherine's status comes from Darcy's and not only the other way around. Lady Catherine would likely disagree, lol, but she does have some respect for the Darcys and de Bourghs:

“They [Darcy and Anne de Bourgh] are descended, on the maternal side, from the same noble line; and, on the father’s, from respectable, honourable, and ancient, though untitled, families. Their fortune on both sides is splendid. They are destined for each other by the voice of every member of their respective houses; and what is to divide them?—the upstart pretensions of a young woman without family, connections, or fortune!”

The lack of title is certainly worth mentioning for her, but the support of the Darcys and de Bourghs matters to her, a contrast to her perception of Elizabeth's family as basically not worth mentioning. She cares about the reputation and age of the Darcy and de Bourgh families as well as the titled status of the Fitzwilliams (and earlier, she attributed Georgiana's status to both sides of her family).

I argued in one of my other posts that there's no particular reason to assume that Lady Anne's marriage to a non-peer was a love match rather than an alliance that suited Fitzwilliam interests, given what we hear about the Darcys and given Lady Catherine's marriage into a very similar family. Both sisters marrying into old money, old-influence families looks to me like the Fitzwilliams were getting something out of it and not only the other way around. And Lady Catherine's respect for the ancientry of the Darcys and de Bourghs and the importance she sees in being backed by them fits pretty well with that to me.

So. My headcanon is that the Darcys are a prominent, powerful family in their own right and the connection to the Fitzwilliams was mutually beneficial. Moreover, I think all indication is that their prominence and influence is very well-established, perhaps longer and more securely than the Fitzwilliams'. Both the Darcys and de Bourghs have French-origin names, so given how similar their backgrounds seem to be, the kind of obvious assumption would be that both originated as Anglo-Norman families.

We don't know that for sure, though—they might not have been particularly significant that far back and risen to power sometime later. Mr Bennet does suggest to Mr Collins that Darcy has more to bestow than Lady Catherine does and Pemberley itself seems to be older, architecturally. Rosings is a modern house given to a certain amount of tasteless splendour and Lady Catherine's husband had the windows installed personally, while Pemberley's features seem to be mainly Elizabethan or Jacobean and are described as more elegant. We also know that Darcy's father owned multiple estates.

So it may be that the Darcys have a bit of an advantage over the de Bourghs in terms of how much influence and consequence they have and how long they've had it (though this is by no means sure). And it is intriguing that the nephew Lady Catherine earmarked for her daughter at birth was untitled Darcy rather than any of the others—I've kind of wondered if there was something other than simple wealth that she wanted for Anne and which none of her other nephews could provide.

This is long and meandering! But anyway, my personal headcanon is that the Darcys have been established in the Pemberley area for a really long time, and were reasonably prosperous and influential in their area from early on, but in a much more local way at first. Over time, they acquired more and more land and influence and status through politics and generally very pragmatic alliances through marriage, and had become fairly wealthy and influential by Elizabeth I's time. I imagine that the Tudor-/early Stuart-era Darcys very carefully navigated the political winds of their times and came out really well, with the resources to either drastically overhaul their manor-house or simply build the Pemberley we see from the ground up.

They were even more cautious wrt the civil war but managed to get through well enough, and have basically been on the way up ever since. They're political allies of their ducal neighbors but I kind of imagine there's a long tradition of finding the Cavendishes deeply annoying and somewhat tacky. At any rate, Mr Darcy's marriage to an earl's daughter was quite satisfactory for the Darcys in general, but not unprecedented, and Lady Anne was generally considered to have married a bit better than Lady Catherine.

[hopeymchope]

"Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" might've had a lot less kaiju action than the previous attempt to translate Godzilla into a TV series, but it more than made up for that in quality storytelling!

My sundry observations, gripes, praises and questions:

They really went out of their way to honor the Japanese roots of the source material, didn't they? We're in Japan for a ton of the show, dealing with Japanese and/or Japanese-descended characters for the majority of it, and have a surprising amount of Japanese dialogue throughout — it's nice.

I know Wyatt Russell is a Nepo Baby, but he's honestly still very good at what he does. I don't think the series has any bad acting... but the two Russells (because Kurt Russell is, ofc, amazing), Mari Yamamota (Keiko Miura) and Joe Tippett (Tim) are still the absolute highlights for most of the run, IMO. The Russells and Yamamota do the emotional heavy lifting with aplomb, whereas Tippett is so naturalistic and likable that it's hard not to find him engaging.

Cate starts off the series being such an asshole who doesn't show any empathy for people going through the EXACT SAME SHIT that she is, but I think the later reveal of her trauma on "G-Day" somewhat explains her attitude problem. She then manages to pivot to being much more likable JUUUUST in time for the episode where we get the flashbacks revealing she was a shitty person even BEFORE G-Day. LOL.

May ALSO swings between being likable and being a total ass, and while that sounds like a complaint, I actually sort of appreciate it. We're seeing the main female characters get the kind of nuance and depth to them that they aren't often afforde in mass-market media, and that's cool.

On the flip side, there's Kentaro. The fact that both Cate and May get to act both likable and dickishreally me expect the same thing for Kentaro. They're the trio of young people who make up the titular "Legacy," right? (Well, I guess that's mostly meant to refer to Cate/Kentaro.) So... I was shocked when Kentaro's chance to be a total prick never came around. He's pretty likable and understandable throughout! Even when he's being SUPER harsh on Hiroshi, I still understand it in light of what Hiroshi's done to their families. I feel like maybe Kentaro got something of a short shrift on this front. He gets adequate backstory, mind you, but he also never gets either A) as much focus time as May and Cate, nor B) a chance to come off like kind of a dick like May and Cate sometimes do? It's a little tempting to say that making him the more "pure" of the trio comes off as sexist, but... the way that he gradually is shoved into the background of the story's focus and doesn't even get to go on the big final adventure makes it pretty clear that this ISN'T because the producers favor Kentaro. More like the opposite....

In fact, take particular note of how nobody really gives him credit for how he was the ENTIRE REASON THEY SURVIVED Episode 4. They diss him and don't believe him, and when he's ultimately proven right in a way that saves all their asses? May gives the credit for her survival to Cate for some inexplicable reason. (Except for ONE later moment when neither Kentaro or Cate can know or hear her admit Kentaro saved them.) WTF. I found that frustrating.

That episode was the start of Cate and May becoming incredibly tight-knight with one another, and I'm still not clear on how/why that happened. Is it just because they both vascillate between being chlidish assholes and likable adults?? By the halfway point of the show, I was really getting strong shippy vibes off them. Which would be super cute and sweet if it wasn't also, y'know... kinda shitty. Because May used to be with her brother? Who clearly still had feelings for her when the series starts, just a few days prior? MMM.... not cool, May. To be fair, however, not always caring about their own hurtful/sketchy behavior is actually pretty in-character for them both, so maybe it works. And I suppose you gotta take that happiness where you can get it in this crazy, now-kaiju-laden world.

The character who shows up at the end of Episode 9 completely shocked me. They got me there. And in light of that twist — that character who disappears near the end of the finale? Perhaps this goes without saying, but there's no way we've seen the last of them. ZERO chance... unless the person portraying them doesn't renew their contract for season 2 or something. :P

This is, of course, a "Monsterverse" series. But the logic of how the Hollow Earth works in this show doesn't seem to REMOTELY align with how it was portrayed in Godzilla vs Kong, does it? Not even KIND OF. I wonder if Godzilla x Kong will get that disconnect to retroactively make sense.

At least one returning actor from the Monsterverse films shows up to provide a link... for one scene.

And speaking of the Monsterverse, that's hardly the only Continuity Sketchiness going on here! Serizawa only gets name-dropped ONCE in this series despite the fact that he's still presumably the HEAD DUDE IN CHARGE over there. They keep calling Verdugo the Deputy Director because Serizawa is the director, right?? Though Verdugo sure does make unilateral decisions about the whole-ass organizations multiple times in this show.

All of my prior point is especially goofy when the idea of HELPING Godzilla is treated as this shocking, bizarre concept ..... despite the fact that it's Serizawa's entire fucking philosophy since BEFORE this takes place???

Okay, let's shift back to positives: Takehiro Hira doesn't get as much screen time as many cast members, but his performances over the last two episodes are friggin' emotionally devastating. Fantastic.

The lack of more Toho monsters in the Monsterverse has been something of a downer for me personally, but they still do pull out some really cool original designs. That Frost Vark is pretty badass.

[lieutenantselnia]

Davy Jones' Origin

Some time ago I’ve started to wonder if Davy Jones possibly spoke Scottish Gaelic besides English, or if it could even be his actual first language. Although he is never shown speaking it or having a particular connection to his homeland besides speaking with a Scottish accent, I think it would make sense, given Scotland’s history before and during the 18th century. Therefore, I thought this could be an interesting topic to examine. Mind you that I’m not a historian, and not an expert on those topics, I merely love exploring and extending the backstory of one of my favourite characters.

Spoiler: I don’t even get to discuss the initial topic itself in this text, this serves more as a setup where I try to sort my countless thoughts that I have about Davy. I plan to talk about it in another text some time in the future though.

Before looking at the language topic, I think it makes sense to look at Davy’s general background. His origins and his life before he fell in love with Calypso are largely unknown. It can only be estimated for how long he has roamed the seas ever since, but I think it is safe to assume that it has been multiple decades at least, though more likely centuries already.

The official wiki states that he and Calypso met and fell in love at an unknown date – and under unknown circumstances – between 1600 and 1660. It is not known for how long their relationship lasted before Calypso made him captain of the Flying Dutchman and put him in charge of ferrying souls to the afterlife. It could have been mere weeks, but also months or even years. In case of the latter, they probably saw each other on a semi-regular basis, as Davy would visit her during his voyages. All in all, it leaves a lot of room for interpretation (and fanfictions).

However, it is known that as Davy felt betrayed by Calypso when she didn’t show up to meet him, after he had fulfilled his duty loyally for ten years, he convinced the newly formed Brethren Court to bind her in human form. For some reason, the German PotC wiki states that the First Brethren Court convened presumably around 1640. Although there are no sources cited to back up this claim, there is no explicit contradiction to be found either. Assuming it is true – after all, it would be within the given timeframe – , Davy would have taken up his duty around the year 1630. By the time the movies take place, he would therefore have captained the Dutchman for around 100 years.

In a few instances of the official wiki, Davy is described as a “young sailor” when he meets Calypso. In other instances, no indication on his age is given. “Young” could supposedly mean he was in his 20s or 30s, which would therefore set his birth date around 1600.

On the other hand, he already looks significantly older when Calypso reveals his human form (the actor Bill Nighy was in his late 50s at the time the movies were produced). Of course he could simply have aged, however – though this is just my personal opinion – I like to think that he was already on the more mature side when he became cursed – possibly somewhere between the age of 40 and 60 – and that the curse either stops or at least alters the natural aging process of any person affected.

There is barely any specific canon information on this, but as shown in the movies, both Davy and the rest of the crew have maintained excellent physical strength and agility (in fact, it’s even enhanced compared to regular humans). This makes me assume that the curse either just stops their aging process and they stay at the same level of physical fitness that they had when they first fell under the curse, or that their transformation into sea creatures somehow slows down or alters the process, for example by balancing out their age-related physical decay by adopting more and more features from animals or other marine life.

Assuming he was already a middle-aged man, possibly around age 50, Davy would have been born in the late 1500s. On a personal note, I could also imagine that the story as a whole took place even earlier, and that Davy could have been born anytime during the 1500s or even the late 1400s. As the whole story around Davy Jones and Calypso is held very vaguely and even treated as a legend, there aren’t many concrete contradictions. However, as the First Brethren Court and Calypso’s capture are said to herald the start of the Golden Age of Piracy – which historically took place roughly between 1650 and 1730 – , it makes sense for those events to take place at a later date to connect everything (somewhat) logically.

To conclude this little examination and sum up the numbers: Davy Jones was presumably born in the second half of the 16th century. He and Calypso met before or around the year 1630, and around another ten years later, after their mutual betrayal and Davy abandoning his duty as a result, the curse started to take effect. Up until the events of Dead Man’s Chest, he has already captained the Flying Dutchman for almost a century, and reached an age of about 150 years – although due to the curse, this number doesn’t have a particular meaning in relation to his health or physical condition.

Of course, in the end this all is just my interpretation based on the rather sparse information that the official canon gives us. But it was certainly fun to finally bring some of my countless thoughts about Davy onto paper (trust me, there are a lot of those whirring around in my mind, but it’s not always easy to get hold of them). I haven’t even touched on the topic I actually wanted to talk about – that being Davy Jones’ relation to the Gaelic language and his homeland Scotland, but I really hope to do so in another essay.

Sources: https://pirates.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_series https://fluch-der-karibik.fandom.com/wiki/Zeitlinie_Fluch_der_Karibik

[theabsentmindedwriter]

Isabelle, my way and still an adorable pup.

From New Leaf onwards, Isabelle is a special NPC character in the series who first acted as your assistant when you are Mayor. This kind of role doesn't really change as games go along. Granted more of her background information is fed to us in tidbits. However it doesn't change the fact she is popular in her own right.

(New Horizon's apperance)

Apperance wise she is recognizable, no doubt about that. With her bell like head, friendly smile, her buck tooth and her general attire which she is usually wearing something with a skirt. Though her original new leaf apperance was lacking any shoes before. As seen here.

(Her apperance in Smash Bros Ultimate. Based on her spring/summer attire in New Leaf).

Though an interesting thing to note is her outfit will change a bit during the seasons. Trying to fit with the changing temperature despite being a fuzzy puppy herself.

(Fall attire for New Leaf and New Horizon)

As for my experience with her in the games. She was honestly a pretty welcoming sight. Just a general fuzzball of positivity and support. Granted it took some more time for her to be on a similar level that I placed Ankha. I always found her sunny disposition...and some hilarity in her dialogue to uplift my spirits.

As for background information about her. There was ton's to find in the game. Usually drip fed to you based on what other villagers say about her. Also some NPC's like her brother reveal some interesting info about her. Throughout my research the most bizzare I have discovered was her Brother mentioning she graduated from nineteen different universities in Engineering. To which I am not sure how that is possible. Though it would explain how capable she is as your assistant. Of course if you treat the 'many sisters' in different towns as Canon then that is probably the reason why. Despite her implied intellgence she is still has some silly moments. Like chewing on shoes, being a bit forgetful, has yet to fully unpack in her house, hates confrontations, scary when angry and well being the lovable pup she is.

She won me over in the long run and well this runs into my depiction of her in my stories. I did run with the fact she has a crush on the Mayor. In this case being Nacho, but I always imagined her starting off on that to grow as a better and stronger person. Using the her admiration for the man who ran the town to improve as a person. Come into her own so to speak.

Granted it didn't start until the second story, but after that I made sure she gets her fair share of character growth. Being a kind, compassionate, kinda shy puppy to a more determined and ready to tackle problems that went beyond being assistant to a mayor. Which I like to think I accomplished that. Because to me she deserves it for her determination. Though hilariously I decided to put her in a poly relationship with Ankha and Nacho. Mostly because at the time I couldn't decide between the two. So I decided to F it and went that route. Which works since she is bisexual here. Which is pretty accurate to her crush on the Mayor regardless of biological sex. Though that was as far as I was going to take it. No anime level harem here.

Backstory wise she pretty much remains mostly untouched with the games. There is still more about it not fully explored like her parents or early childhood. However I did give an explanation for what I call the Isa-clones in other towns. Being a result of a science fair project gone wrong. Resulting in more of her running around. Despite this knowledge I have yet to ever bring them up in the main story. That and the council of Isabelles. Boy can you imagine the family reunions?

Physique wise is the most funky process I had of figuring out. Firstly, she is anthro like Ankha and other animal folks. Though not the same blend as Ankha. She is also 5'5" and slightly chubby...also curvy as well. I will admit the internet affected by decision making process in making Isabelle a sort of short stack. Though I always imagine her to be kinda short is because of her Shih Tzu dog breed. Which is a toy dog size. Her physique does improve as the stories go along. Her getting a bit more fit but still having a bit of chub (because I just think it's cute with her). She sort of ends up being pretty strong in her own right. At least until the current story to which by then she is on a even playing field with the stuff going on. Compared to Ankha more agile body, Isabelle is definitely more tanky if you catch my drift.

Story significance, she is definitely important being one of the anchors that keeps Nacho in check later. Not to mention having a higher position power in the current story. Helping with her growth to stand out on her own. Though there are times I feel like I could do more with her. I never truly know because I am the one writing and having to figure these things out. But I like to think I am doing well for the most part.

If you are interesting in hearing more about her. I can make another post talking more details than I did here. Unless you are looking for specfic questions to be answered. Anyways I said enough. Hope this has been a fun peak into my mind with Isabelle here.

[suddencolds]

hii! your writing is really good Vincent is so cute when he's sick :') do you have a backstory for/ are these ocs based on anything? oh and ur snz spellings and illness descriptions are top notch btw!!

Hi anon!! Thank you so much for the kind words 😭💕 I think this is actually the first time anyone has complimented my snz spellings? I'm happy that you like them!!

do you have a backstory for/ are these ocs based on anything?

This is maybe kind of embarrassing, but to be honest, I truly just sat down and wrote part 1 of Fool Me Twice in 3 days last year, from 1/26-1/28. Yves and Vincent did not exist before that. (In fact, Yves actually had a different name for all of 24 hours before he was Yves, because I wanted their ship name to be a pun... but I can't say what it is, because I might die of embarrassment.)

I have so much respect for people who are able to draw up complex character sheets and fill out extensive lists of likes/dislikes/relationships/preferences/etc for their OCs - that has never been me. At the time, I was thinking like... fake dating is one of my guilty pleasures; I guess I'll just write something extremely trope-y and appealing to me and me alone 😭 and then I just posted it. It was truly one of the least agonizing, least self conscious things I've written, which is definitely a rarity for me. I was very shocked that people seemed interested in reading more at the time

Y & V didn't exist at all before pt 1 of FMT! So I guess that's to say they're not based off of anything except my desire to write one of my favorite tropes. There are certain things I also chose intentionally about them, because those things felt very personal to me, but this answer is already so long, so I won't go into specifics here.

But generally, I like to just write and let my characters surprise me instead of doing any sort of "legitimate" planning (which I know makes me sound like the most unqualified writer ever haha). I have virtually nothing planned aside from what you might've read already 🥹 But there are a few very crucial things that I do know that I don't want to say until they're officially revealed, because they are substantial, and because the story / character writing hinges upon them.

Thank you for the question!!! ❤️ (I was really excited to see this in my inbox when I snuck a peek at work haha)