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kyhora · 27 days ago

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FRAUD ANALYSIS

(SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO REMAIN BLIND)

"TRUST NOT YOUR EYES, TRUST NOT YOUR EARS."

MY OPENING THOUGHTS

I have... SO MANY THOUGHTS. There was a lot going on here with Fraud and it has absolutely surprised me in its presentation. I'll be talking about specific things to make it easier for me and for you, dear reader, to better understand and process what in the Hell is happening here.

PROVIDENCE

I was stupid and thought it was initially a seraphim because they have similar designs, but yk what Virtues look like Serpahims too so I dunno what I'm on abt LMAO.

I knew from the start the eye in the cover for In Absentia ΛΟΓΟΣ was related to an enemy after following the logic of Hear! The Siren Song Call of Death's preview with the Gutterman's shield. Despite that, oh my goodness this is a really sick design, the transparent, glassy feathers, the eye and how it looks like a slab placed onto the wings, it looks so WEIRD and I love it so much, for our third ever angel enemy, they delivered hard on its design.

I have seen some theories/speculation that Providence looks way too detailed/refined compared to other enemies, inferring that V1 is incapable of processing Providence's appearence. While I'm not opposed to the idea, I don't necessarily subscribe to it, I think Providence is just a really big model which leaves a lot of room for details to be refined. If V1 can process a Virtue, it can process a Providence.

It looks obnoxious with that magenta beam, I don't even wanna know what it does on Brutal LMAO. Surprisingly brittle for an 8th layer enemy though or maybe it retains similar damage multipliers as a Virtues which is why the Electric Railcannon did so much damage to it, idk. I don't have much else to really say about Providence other than the fact it's a visually impressive pain in the asshole, can't wait to see it for the first time and want to kill it harder than every other enemy in a Cybergrind wave.

FRAUD'S AESTHETICS

Fun fact abt myself: I REALLY FUCKING LOVE LIMINAL SPACES. I love liminal spaces with all my heart, they're a really cool form of atmospheric horror (don't confuse this with the backrooms, I hate that shit). Fraud basing itself off of liminal spaces is really damn neat and honestly makes sense, since Hakita even mentioned how during development for 7-1: THE GARDEN OF FORKING PATHS, he tried out stuff like myhouse.wad and ofc read House of Leaves. Besides his own inspirations, it makes perfect sense to use liminal aesthetics here, vaguely familiar halls and rooms met with a reality that defies logic, very fraud if I do say so myself.

Gonna post some pictues of rooms I really like and add any commentary if need be.

Really sick opening room, I love the weird wallpaper, the lamps, just everything here and how its placed is perfect. It perfectly gives off that liminal vibe that this layer is wanting to play into. I adore liminal spaces that feel like it was something built by something that doesn't know how to be human, it gives off such an errie vibe.

A friend on Discord found a theory on Reddit about this and omg it's actually kinda neat

I was squealling when I saw this for the first time. My friend in the vc I was streaming this too said it was all they could hear throughout the trailer LMFAOOO. If there is one thing I'll mention, it's that I think it's funny how apparently Fraud has television but Lust doesn't. What a bunch of bums /j. i do think Lust is more advanced and prolly have TVs, but this is our first official TV in ULTRAKILL

What a banger fucking opening. I adore this shot so much, and honestly it's reminiscent of those liminal space images of hotel hallways like these:

The transition of the hallway shifting to the checkpoint is so fucking awesome too. fun thing I noticed was that there was a low buzzing sound, like when you press yourself up to the walls of Limbo. Not sure if it implies anything or is an audio indicator of shifting realities.

WHAT A COOL ASS ROOM. I LOVED THE TRANSITION HERE SO MUCH, MY JAW DROPPED WATCHING THE WALLS SHIFT TO MAKE IT BIGGER. I'M SO EXCITED TO SEE IF THIS IS GONNA DO ANYTHING MORE THAN JUST THIS AS THE LAYER GOES ON. After seeing this trailer at least 50 times already, I'm curious about how this room instigates the combat, since there's plenty of shots that have V1 walking back to the room or walking into other rooms from the doors. Fun to think about the frustration of getting lost in this place, finding yourself back, and then BOOM ! ENEMY ENCOUNTER ! ! !

Such a banger shot too, I love these kinda infinite mirror-esque rooms for non-euclidian stuff. An interesting detail are that the lion statues actually have a lion head unlike the one Limbo. I love how much this feels like a hotel, it has that eerie transitional vibe hotels can have but has this "first class" vibe to it all.

Really fun shot too. Love non-euclidian stuff playing with gravity and such.

I know I already said my jaw dropped but like... MY JAW. DROPPED. I mentioned it to my oomfies before but it looks a lot like the The Empyrean from Dante's Inferno:

Will mention this here because I don't wanna post images that are basically the same; but the other side of the skybox is noticably darker. Maybe it's this layer's day/night cycle? Not too sure but feels logical to me. I love how this layer is leaning into the heavenly imagery, I'm so curious about what kinda lore bits we're gonna get, and considering how we got a new angel enemy, we hopefully probably get some new angel lore. If Virtues and Gabriel were the only angels to have resided in Hell, makes me interested in if other angels are coming down from heaven, either to help Gabriel, or avenge the council by killing him.

I love that we're jumping from rooftops to others, nice change of scenery from the claustrophobic, eerie rooms inside the towers. I am happy the layer is still paying homage to the "tower of lies" idea by having us climb up them, jumping between them, and all that stuff.

Once again with the nonsensical prop placement. Why does this room have tables and chairs when there's nothing to eat or any other reason to lounge about here. Really interesting environmental storytelling, I'm confused and I LOVE IT.

Doth my eyes deceive ?

A NEW HOOK POINT ? ? ?

Sick transition but what's with the door on the right ? I wonder if it means anything or is just a visual indicator for where to go... hrmmmm...

"I'M BACK IN THE FUCKING BUILDING AGAIN??????"

Cool transition to the TV again, but I love the sharp contrast of aesthetics here. Again with the nonsensical placement of props but at least all the props share a theme ? ? ? Makes me curious if the next level or the next segment of 8-1: HURTBREAK WONDERLAND is gonna involve the poolrooms. I really hope it does. It's a really cool liminal space aesthetic that I think would be reallly interesting see and makes sense to mesh in with the liminal space inspirations of Fraud.

If curious abt the poolrooms:

with all that trailer analysis done, time to yap abt my thoughts of everything we've seen with some theories and speculation of my own :3

WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON ?

In Dante's Inferno, Fraud has 10 blogias (circles) that had specific punishments for different kinds of fraudulant behavior, but here in this Fraud ? Is the punishment here that the sinner is in a non-euclidian hotel being driven mad by the isolation and non-sensical rooms? It feels too much like Limbo if that is what's being done here, and besides, there's smaller buildings, there's rivers, there's all sorts of pleasant stuff here, what if maybe Fraud had its own renaissance like Lust ? Maybe the angels are doing something here with Fraud ? I'm honestly confused by what is happening here, I have no ideas for what happened to this layer, but for now I have my other thoughts about the explanations for the aesthetics, potential stuff going, on so forth. Just thought I'd bring up my confusion since I don't really have many ideas for the punishments here.

THE INFINITE HOTEL

With Fraud's aesthetics, I believe Fraud is going to be a hotel and each level is us descending into the kinds of rooms that would be in a hotel, like how in the first level we're in the hallways of what is presumably the place where all the rooms, while the second rooms takes us to a place that resembles the pools of hotels (hence why I believe in 8-2 poolrooms), and etc.

I also kinda see Hilbert's Hotel/The Infinite Hotel Paradox to be a form of inspiration for this place, an infinite hotel, houses infinite guests, and since mankind is dead...

explanation of the paradox:

If we look at Wrath, it feels like the logic of the infinite hotel checks here too, since the river styx began to become bigger following The Final War, and instantly became flooded after mankind's mysterious, biblical extinction. After so many new sinners entered the layer of Wrath, the river adapted to be the ocean, nothing changed, just more people in it now, and how the Ferrymen have grown acustomed to the new environment as well. Fraud after mankind's extinction made there have to be more rooms, and yet, all the "guests" have been accounted for.

A FALSE PARADISE

An idea I have is that Hell Itself rennovated Fraud to resemble the Lust Renaissance, to cruely trick the denizens of Fraud that they escaped the layer and found a comforting place in Hell, and in their delusion, unknowingly still roam around the endless halls of Fraud, finding a twisted pleasure in the false senses of hope the sinners are under.

Idk if I really agree with this idea, because why are there statues of Providence, why is there such heavenly imagery in this layer if this idea suggests it wants to be like Lust ? Maybe it instead wants to be a false Heaven ? But if that's the case, why are the towers and their architecture anything but ? I am lost over what this layer is wanting to be, it's obvious that every layer had their own punishments, either the punishments were directly shown to us in the layer (like Heresy's coffins, Wrath's ocean, and Violence's trees), or at least were mentioned, like with Lust's winds. But here in Fraud ? I have no idea what the punishment is here. Like. At all. It leaves me curious for what's in store and what is going to be explained, or maybe some theories are gonna be absolutely banger, who knows.

NEW ENEMIES & LORE

Soooo new enemies are coming, I believe we are either getting one or 2, potentially a new husk and 2 new angels. We already got Providence, a new husk feels right since it's been a while since we got one, and I am a firm believe that the angel statue from Limbo and the other layers is gonna be either our new arm OR new enemy. Plz. Give us more Angel lore. I'm on my hands and knees, Hakita, I need to know what they're like. I know we're in Hell so Heaven has far less involvement than if it was the other way around, but I still have to know. I GOTTA KNOW.

SOON™ (this year)

Also felt like talking about this because it's weirdly kinda confusing ? ? ? Looked into the general "soon" of New Blood and at times it's basically like. TOMORROW ? To which I think is not gonna happen if we read the description of In Absentia ΛΟΓΟΣ and how Hakita says they're still working on it (the first level I'd assume), so I dunno if in ONE MONTH they were able to just create the entirety of the Fraud layer that fast, hence why the (this year) addition makes me feel like they're releasing it maybe before the holiday season ? Who knows ! :P With the understanding that Fraud had troubles in development which led to the ULTRA_REVAMP update, maybe production got much easier after the enemy rework ? I've no idea honestly. But whatever happens, I'm gonna be there the MOMENT it releases.

Yeah erm that's kinda it for now hope you enjoyed reading the delusion of a mad person that squealed like a pathetic person during the trailer and the preview they did before the trailer. If anyone would like to talk by all means, talk to me in dms or message @cyhora on Discord ! ! !

#ultrakill #ultrakill fraud #fraud #fraud layer #new blood #ultrakill lore #ultrakill speculation #i'm very normal

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vamphorica · 4 months ago

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i saw your wonderful post about the parallels between Mello & Light, in which you mentioned that there are parallels between light & near as well (wich I agree w/ 1000%). Could you by any chance expand on that more bc I love near and lights dynamic. Thank u!!

oh, i absolutely can.

When talking to people about Death Note outside of fandom spaces, I am almost always met with the confession that after L's death, these casual readers and watchers tend to lose interest. This is frustrating on several levels (even though I admit the Second Arc has plenty of flaws), but one reason in particular is that Near and Light's dynamic is so complex that it feels like such a shame to not give it a chance.

Think about it this way. If L and Light mirrored each other in a standard manner of speaking, Near and Light mirror each other like some distorted fairground mirrors, fun but slightly horrifying.

As I said in my Mello and Light Parallel analysis, Near falls into the same category as a gifted child dealt with immense pressure from an early age nonetheless (although he is not prone to violence as the other two are) . Like Light, Near is a high achiever whose intelligence appears to come naturally, and there may even be room to speculate whether he felt a degree of boredom himself in much the same way Light did at the start of the series. We can't really know this for certain, the only indication we have is that Near was content playing on his own. Without Mello's drive, and indeed the isolation from others at the House, it is not far-fetched to suggest Near was not exactly feeling stimulated by his current environment. Light was given an opportunity to alleviate his boredom, whereas for Near, it was an obligation. Both characters are given their break from unfulfilled monotony because of the Death Note.

Another thing I think is interesting is their emotional reactions to both success and failures. This is more apparent in the manga, where Near is shown to express himself more through visual cues, but neither hold back in claiming victory, or disdain in the case of their losses. Arguably, Light is more conscious of how his manner of expression can be interpreted by others, but that doesn't negate the fact that he has very strong reactions to progressions within the case. I also do think Light isn't quite as adept at concealing these emotive responses as many often suggest – personally, I believe there is a good degree of willful ignorance by those he surrounds himself with that allows for his more questionable behaviours to go unchallenged. Especially by the time he and Near 'meet' (or, at least, are in communication with one another), Near immediately calls bullshit on Light, which is particularly funny given that L had been doing the exact same thing, but it is only with Near that the Task Force begin to grow suspicious of Light.

Obligatory tangent - the expressions used for Near in the Shōnen Jump version of this scene far better support my point, and God do I wish they hadn't been discarded, they're so fun!

They took away my boy's whimsy, and for what reason?

Anyway.

Near is less concerned about expressing himself because he has no reason to manipulate those around him, and as such, the best part of the series to talk about the dynamic between these two is of course the final scene at the Yellow Box Warehouse. Although for a first time reader, the conclusion of the series might not be reaching a point of clarity, it is apparent that Near has had the upper hand, with Light having little more on Near than an outdated sketch and an awareness of his relationship to L. Meanwhile, through his own impressive efforts, Near has restructured the care around Light and has far more understanding of the man he is dealing with. Therefore, when they finally do meet, Near is already in the dominant position.

The comparisons between the two is extremely explicit. Unlike with L and Light, which played out like an alternate cat-and-mouse game until L's death, Near and Light arrive at the Warehouse under the impression they will both walk out alive. The reasons for this are clarified once Near's victory is ultimately achieved, but after Near takes off his L mask, both he and Light so evidently confident in their positions that it makes for an incredibly tense moment. Again, it also speaks to their shared reactions.

Light is shown to both claim victory and contend with defeat within a matter of pages, to revel in his success before pathetically scrambling as he attempts to rectify the circumstances in his favour. His monologue, now infamous, is mirrored by Near's closing statement, which is equally provocative. It is easy to interpret his words as nothing more than stating the facts, explaining exactly how he caught Light towards the end and that he despises the man behind the dominion of Kira's reign. Yet his invocation of Mello and L, I think, speaks to his own sense of strong feelings pertaining to the confrontation. When Light disavows Mikami, realises Misa is not present alongside him, there is a reality both he and Near have come to realise – Light is completely isolated, while Near has not just the SPK and the Task Force only his side, but two lives sacrificed to pursue Light to the end.

thank you for sending this ask! ♡

#near #nate river #light yagami #death note #mello #mihael keehl #l lawliet #asks #analysis

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dai-mondai · 5 months ago

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The Yunos and their dates

Here's I'm going to dicuss each Yuno and what I think happened in each of the dates she went on

This post will only cover the non-leads (Green, Ribbon and Heart), I'll do another post covering the main two.

Before I dive in though I want to establish a couple things.

One, I am assuming each of them are with a different client. This is because of this question and answer.

Since she's wearing different clothes and hair in each of these setting I'm assume first that the cilents are different, unless there's something that supports otherwise.

Two, I'm going to colour code and refer to them as the following

Umbilical - School Uniform Yuno

TearDrop - Lingerie Outfit Yuno

Heart - Karaoke Yuno

Ribbons - Car Yuno

Green - Skyview Yuno

And three, have fun! This, like many of my posts, are to gather my thoughts about these characters.

First let's talk about Green.

"Where'd you get your half-baked sense of justice"

There's not as much that I can say on her but we can infer her date from these three images.

“Good morning” “Good night”

Together they're on a very high floor enjoying the view. Maybe the top of an apartment? It looks to be around mid-day with how bright the sky is. How many stairs would she have to climb? She's always the third one on the spiral staircase.

"Just me alone, the warmth starts fading away / Just me alone, it really is lonely. Let’s reload the warmth"

Though never the highest.

Anyways, she looks a bit bored on the staircases, at least the view is nice. There's nothing noticeable on the client's stairacse. Perhaps there's not much to them.

"Even this makes you happy right?"

Late into the evening, they're having a drink. Though it doesn't look like she has touched her drink, and there looks to be a small desert on the left? So this probably isn't dinner or anything.

This is a new floor, lower than the previous one, the buildings look closer and the design of the windows are different. The view is great, you can see Toyko Tower! The client has a very nice place, assuming it's the clients place.

"The episode reloading on an endless loop"

Or maybe not.

Look at Tokyo Tower, we could only see the top of it before, now it's more eye level. And now the windows go all the way to the floor! Is Green and her client checking out every floor of this building? What is this building anyways?

Huh, The Prince Park Tower Tokyo? It's the only one nearby that's tall enough with a similar roof I believe.

Which means first they were at the top of the building for sight seeing, then probably enjoying one of its many lounges for the evening. Most likely the STELLAR GARDEN Sky Lounge with it's view and it be very close.

And then ended the night in one of it's guest rooms.

“Good morning” “Good night”

Mostly one like the Panormic King Room with it's tall windows, but perhaps any Panormic Room.

Assuming the Client isn't a member, booking a room like that for a nigth ranges from ¥80-¥100 000 for the night.

So let's say it's ¥90 000, that would make it around AUD$947.72 (or USD$594.50)! And that may not be covering the lounge!

Her client was determined I'll say. I'd think he may be cheating, taking her to a hotel. And she probably knew this.

"Even this makes you happy right?"

But let's recap the date. They both arrive at The Prince Park Tower Toyko, early on they go to the top of the building to enjoy the view, that Green enjoyed enough to highlight, then they shared an evening in the Sky Lounge. Afterwards they hed to their Guest Room for the night. Maybe have breakfast in the morning depending if the client booked with provided breakfast.

And that's that? Seems like it! Though I could speculate on the client.

One, possibly a repeat client.

"The episode reloading on an endless loop"

Two, this client may be cheating with the lengths they went to be private, or they just wanted a very nice night (doubt). But yeah, she's calling out someone's sense of justice and it's not just Es/Audience.

That's all I do for Green for now.

Next on the list?

Let's do Ribbons.

"I'm the one who chose, let you and you and you all in"

Now she's a bit more interesting. Let's see what's up.

Also Minigram Ribbon!

"I want to be with you as many times as I can"

Alright, no leading on this time. She's likely in Yokohama as you can see Tokohama Cosmo World in the background.

I think the view is Minato No.1 Bridge, due to the railings, which is part of Kishamichi Promenade, a waterfront walkway that has an old railway inbedded in it. It's considered a Historic Walking Area.

Her and her client went on a walk in Kishamichi Promenade. Neat. So this client is more of a sight seerer.

It's very bright out, so I'll say around mid day again.

Also before I forget.

"Let's reload the warmth / The lies are endless"

She goes from being the highest on the staircase to the second lowest. And there's shoes, big bag and a present on the client's stairs. Also the order of images goes from her picture being shown last, to first, first and first again. She seems important.

"That is probably an amazing thing"

She doesn't seem too happy. But it's amazing, probably.

Next we see her, she's in a car. Looks comfortable? If the client is a sightseerer then they need a way to get around. I'll assume it's the client's car.

We see her with a B-MOOE bag that she didn't have before, maybe it's the client's? Though it isn't on the staircase at all. It's odd to say the least. I'm not sure what B-MOOE would be in reference to.

She also has a drink as well in a clear cup and straw. So they went out for drinks.

It's bright out so it's still daytime.

Desire, bestow, and desire again

She appears tired.

Her skirt is askewed. She finished her drink in the cupholder and is now drinking bottled water(?). The bag is gone. Still in the car, chair now reeled back. But now it's late. This is probably after having sex with her client.

So recap: They go to Kishamichi Promenade and walk on the Minato No. 1 Bridge. Then they get into the car, at some point get drinks, and spend the night in the car.

The client, eh, maybe not be in the car for so much of it? I don't think she's the biggest fan of this client either. But maybe that's just my likes and dislikes.

Now there is a reason I called her Ribbon, as her hair has the same yellow ribbons as the balloon.

And this means the baby, represented by the balloon, is mostly likely Ribbon's Client.

Unfortunate for Yuno, as that wasn't whose baby she wanted

She eyes for the Red Ribbon. She wanted to have Heart's Client baby.

Though she most likely only learnt this after conception.

Which brings us to Heart.

"Happy or sad? Why decide?"

This one will be fun.

What day is it tomorrow?

Now who's that in the background? It's Hachiko!

In Shibuya, Tokyo, Hachiko is considered a must see Statue in Toyko.

Its of a faithful akito dog, who waits for his owner 9 years after his death. Very devoted.

A part of me wonders if Heart wanted to see the statue a lot too, after all she likes dogs.

In any case, she seems to be enjoying herself.

I should mention her stairs too.

"Just the two of us, I feel a little tingle inside / Just the two of us, I finally found it"

Just the two of them

She's at the bottom of both staircases, the most grounded. She goes from looking straightforward to happy. A lot of stuff on the client side. More gifts I believe.

"I know you will respond that way"

They're doing karaoke! Isn't that fun. Hey wait.

Hey Yuno likes Karaoke! Dogs and Karaoke, seems like a pretty great date.

Though unsure where exactly they're doing the karaoke. In Shibuya likely, it seems to have quite a few karaoke bars, though I don't have enough to figure out if it's a specific bar.

Also her bag is gone, might as well take it off.

"The fading warmth makes me anxious again. Tear drops succumb and fall"

Still in the Karaoke booth. Vampire playing in the background. The fact that Vampire is associated specifically with this Yuno and Client is pretty forward. Especially in the middle of it.

Wonder why she would kill this client when it seemed like they were having such a good time. Even seemed like she wanted to have their child. She took the time to put everything back on and do her hair afterwards.

Huh who said that.

Anyways recap of Heart and her client. They went to Shibuya, saw Hachiko, did karaoke and nothing else happened at all. Completely normal day.

So that is what I think how Green, Ribbon and Heart's dates went, aswell as some random stuff about them. All very interesting and different days. I'll talk about the other Yunos at a later date. Maybe.

Hope you enjoyed <3 I'm so tired (eepy)

English Translations from MILGRAM Wiki

Yuno's First Trial Interrogration Questions - Milgram Fancult (Nyanko) (Marshmallow-qa)

#milgram #yuno kashiki #conversations #i did not think I would end up writing as much as i did for green #if there are spelling error lmk

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1moreff-creator · 6 months ago

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I thought your speculation on potential survivors for DRDT was fun, so…thoughts on who will make it out of P:EG?

Hey there! Glad to hear you liked my predictions for Despair Time! I had fun writing that one, so I'm down for a redo for Eden's Garden!

Spoilers for all canon Danganronpa games and P:EG CH1

Preamble

Yeah, I need to do this. See, given how little EG content we have so far, a lot of my arguments for survivors use canon DR as examples of things that may happen in the future. However, the production team has said that they're going to stay away from DR tropes like the double victim in CH3. With that in mind, does it really make sense to use canon DR for reference? Well, it depends.

In my eyes, there's a difference between a "DR trope” and a "trope DR happens to use.” What I mean by the latter is a trope which exists as a result of fundamental storytelling principles, or in other words, something that happens in all DR games just because there's good reasons for it to happen in all the games. And because of that, it's entirely possible in my eyes that said "something” happens in EG too.

For example, take the statement "the sillier characters like Ibuki, Hifumi and Gonta don't make it to CH5.” It's true of all DR games, so is EG going to stay away from it just because of that? Well, not necessarily, because there's a legitimate reason this happens. If you reframe it as "the sillier characters don't make it to Act III", you can see how it's probably a good idea to follow it. The end of any story with the level of tragedy of a killing game is usually pretty serious, so it's natural that you'd want the more serious characters to take the spotlight. And an easy way to make that happen is by killing the sillier characters before you reach the final stretch. Because there's an underlying narrative reason to follow this trope, I think it's fair to use it to argue, for example, that Jett or Cassidy might not be the best survivor guesses.

On the other hand, a "DR trope” is something that happens in all the canon games Just Because. For example, there's no underlying narrative reason for the CH3 killer specifically to have a breakdown at the end of the trial which completely redefines their character, and yet, it's something that happens in all DR games. This is the kind of thing that I don't think is a good way of predicting what may happen in a fangan; if there's no underlying storytelling principle that causes a trope to exist, there's no reason to believe it will happen in all fangans just because it happened in canon.

The separation between "DR trope” and "trope DR uses” is very thin and extremely subjective, so if you disagree with the things I consider one or the other, that's fine. I just wanted to make this preamble to say that if I ever bring up canon DR in this post, it's only to illustrate a point about standard storytelling conventions using stories we're all familiar with, and not because I think fangans have to stick to the things DR does 1:1.

---

With that out of the way, let's first establish how many survivors we're even picking. After all, any number of things, such as multi-murders, number of trials, suicides, etc., can really affect the number of survivors. I have no way of knowing, but since the creators have stated they're not doing a third trial double murder, I'm going to pick an optimistic estimate of six survivors. That's two deaths per standard trial, with five standard trials + Prologue Trial + Deathless Final Trial. If the final survivor count is lower, oh well, and if it's higher, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Let's start with the easy one: I think Damon's surviving. Protag privilege, and all. Sure, being the protag doesn't guarantee survival, but with how much room for growth this particular MC has, I'd be really shocked if he doesn't make it to the end. Hell, even the Pathos/Logos path split mechanic is entirely centered around the fact that the protagonist is the Ultimate Debater, since it's a reference to the rhetorical triangle. If the protag switched, the existence of that mechanic would suddenly make a lot less sense.

Alright, so we got one. I have no other good guesses :v I'm not kidding, I genuinely have no clue what to do with half the people in this fangan. But I have to predict a few people, so…

The only other character who, by themselves, gives me some amount of survivor vibes, is Toshiko. Quite literally a lot of room for growth, given how much of a child she is, there are many arcs she could go on that would make her a compelling survivor. Of course, that can technically be said about all the characters, but y'know.

She's also decently connected to a good amount of the game's main themes (or, what I think are the main themes based on the little we have of the story). Particularly, she embodies both sides of the theme of "modernity/tradition" (seen for example in Ingrid's intro); her general attitude is that of a very traditional person, but she herself is the youngest in the cast, so in a sense she represents the "future".

Please ignore for this analysis that she's only three years younger than the next youngest of the cast, which is really not that big of an age gap :v

Speaking of her age, being an Ultimate at 14 would certainly give her an unique perspective on the topic of "talent", which is definitely looking like the theme of the game. Though the counter-argument here is that everyone and their mother has some kind of connection to talent, so.

Having her in the final trial also has a small benefit in that she can be a "Truth Bullet Target.” Basically, when you're making a dangan style game, you need to create reasons for minigames to exist. So unless there's a bunch of agree points in a given trial, you kinda need people to get things wrong pretty often for Nonstop debates to exist. Thing is, if your surviving cast is competent enough, you might struggle to believably make them get things wrong enough for the player to shoot truth bullets at. Thus, a talkative character with a tendency to get things wrong is a pretty useful thing to have around, to create weak points in Nonstops if nothing else. I don't remember the canon dangans very well, but from what I recall, Hiro and (to a lesser extent) Aoi in THH, as well as Himiko in V3, are good examples of what I mean.

The EG gang is pretty smart all around, but Toshiko stands out as someone who can get a lot wrong on command. She pushes Diana as the culprit in Trial 1 when she's being accused, then switches to defending Eva when suspicion shifts to her. I can see a world where, if the rest of the surviving cast is made up of relatively competent characters, half or so of all Nonstops in the final trial end with you shooting down one of Toshiko's statements.

To be clear, the whole “Truth Bullet Target” thing is just a possibility, and I don't think it's the best way to argue for Toshiko's survival. I'd more go for the things I said before as real arguments, but I did want to include that as well because why not.

Finally, I should probably bring up the matter of masterminds. I currently don't believe Eden's Garden has an in-cast mastermind the way V3 had, as I don't think we've ever been given a reason to believe anything of the sort. However, if someone is involved in the killing game in some deeper way (be it by masterminding it or doing some kind of traitor-y work), then my bet's on Toshiko.

If you've been around the EG theorizing scene, you've probably heard the reasoning. Toshiko's the only character apart from Eva not to talk in the train scene, which is especially odd with how talkative Toshiko usually is. She also sits in the back of the train, near where the bag with the sleeping gas thing is found. Since she always covers her mouth, it's entirely possible she was wearing a gas mask during that scene, later removing it before everyone else woke up. The only other person who could have such a mask was Jett, but we actually see him fall unconscious, unlike with Toshiko. The girl also gets nervous when the topic of the other people in the train gets brought up during the Prologue:

Grace [Prologue]: I passed a bunch of students on my way to the crapper. I didn't talk to them, though. Eva: They have to have heard the commotion in our car. Why didn't they help us? Damon: Maybe they were also knocked out?

Toshiko [Nervous]: I-I doubt it's something we can answer right now. Can I just introduce you to the others already?

Not to mention that she acts weirdly even after everyone wakes up. She runs away from the courtyard, locking most of the cast near the tree with a lock that Damon makes a point to say he didn't even realize was there at first.

Damon [Prologue, thoughts]: [Toshiko] turned to face the door, but instead of pushing it open… …she reached for a lock I hadn't even noticed before.

This is especially notable because Toshiko's actions here are the sole reason everyone stays near the tree while the organizers set up the prologue's faux murder scene. If she hadn't ran into the building and locked the door, the people who woke up outside said building would have probably gone in to explore before Damon's group got out of it. I don't know why the hell the killing game organizers didn't just make everyone wake up near the tree with the door locked in the first place (assuming this isn't a "the Matchmaker wanted the Damon-Eva and Wolfgang-Grace pairs to wake up together and alone" situation), but it's undeniable that Toshiko's little stunt was quite convenient for them. Pretty notable when said stunt is a very strange thing to do, unless you're specifically trying to get everyone away from the building where Cara's dummy has to be set up.

Thing is, though, Toshiko seems to be genuinely perturbed by the killing game. I don't think she actually wanted anyone to die, so I think it's more likely she was tricked/coerced by the real mastermind(s), and thus would probably go on something akin to a redemption arc after this whole thing gets revealed. Since such an arc would require her to still be alive for a while after what seems like a pretty late game revelation, then I find it likely that she would survive if she really did have a hand in setting up the killing game.

Now we're done with Toshiko, so it's time to address something you probably noted as weird while I was talking about her. I said Toshiko gave me the most survivor vibes "by herself.” That's because all the arguments I've given for Toshiko's survival work in isolation from the rest of the cast. However, other characters give me some amount of survivor vibes when we take into account the dynamics currently present in the group.

See, it's common in this type of narrative where a bunch of people die (not just dangan) for characters to "pair up” in small groups, and for these groups to end up having either one or two characters who make it late game, or even some who survive. And I'm not just bringing it up because it could happen; it has happened. Wolfgang-Grace, Ulysses-Wenona, Desmond-Eloise, Mark-Jett, Ingrid-Toshiko, etc.

It happens because it's an easy way to make a death feel meaningful; even if most of the cast can't possibly get deeply attached to every single person who dies, if there's at least one or two people the person who dies is constantly is interacting with, then the reactions of these people can help carry the emotional impact of the tragedy. Now, these pairs don't always have a survivor, but it's relatively common. For dangan, think Aoi-Sakura, Makoto-Sayaka, Fuyuhiko-Peko, Hajime-Chiaki, Sonia-Gundham, Akane-Nekomaru, Shuichi-Kaede, Shuichi-Kaito, Maki-Kaito, Himiko-Tenko, Himiko-Angie, and depending on whether you count K1-B0 as a survivor or not, K1-B0-Miu.

What I've noticed is that the pairings that don't have survivors always have one death relatively early. Think Mondo-Taka, Mahiru-Hiyoko, Kirumi-Korekiyo (though admittedly that one's not a very strong pair). The biggest exception would be Gonta-Kokichi, but that's because Gonta's death is not central to Kokichi's character arc, even if it is an important point in it. There is an underlying reason this happens; if a character's arc is kickstarted by the death of their "pair", and their pair dies early, the character has enough time to complete their arc and then die… you know, unless your name is Hiyoko. I'm still salty over 2-3.

Which gets us to the first pair to discuss: Ulysses-Wenona. The girl with a great sense of smell, and the boy who can't smell. Truly, they complement each other. Both of these characters have a good argument for a late game run, and the pair itself is one that would probably need quite a bit of time to cook before either character can be genuinely impacted by the death of the other. And if both of them make it pretty far, then by the time one of them dies, it might make sense to let the other survive. The question is, then, who's gonna outlive who?

You might think Ulysses has the worst chance, given his potential "victim gimmicks.” Basically, his notebook and his lack of sense of smell could be used as evidence in a trial where he's the victim. Plus, you could argue Wenona's character has more to gain by having someone close to her die. And indeed, these reasons (and a few others) are why I think that if neither of them survive, then Wenona will likely outlive Ulysses.

However, if one of the two survive, I actually think it's more likely for it to be Ulysses. His notebook can be useful in other ways, and his sense of smell is a Checkov's gun that can be fired without killing the guy. For example, he might walk past someone's corpse without noticing, complicating a trial because he couldn't smell the blood and rot. Bonus points if he walks past Wenona's corpse specifically.

On the other hand, while Wenona seems like a good source of conflict and drama (her imitation piece calls her "a foe” for a reason), it might be strange to have her die too far from her thematic rival Cassidy. It can be hard (though not impossible!) to properly function as a character when your primary foil is out of the story, after all. And since I doubt Cassidy can make that late of a run, Wenona might be kinda cooked.

Finally, Ulysses has standalone survivor arguments as well, and I find them stronger than Wenona's. Although both work with the theme of "talent" and "modernity/tradition", Ulysses has more connections with the third main theme I've noticed, which for lack of a better term I'm calling "historical repetition.” Basically, "history repeats", as claimed by the first EG trailer. It's a bit too long to really get into now, but trust me that it comes up quite a bit, such as in the second Tozu Theater. And obviously the Historian would know a thing or two about historical repetition, so he would work great as a final trial participant, and thus survivor.

Oh, uh, fair warning, the quality of the guesses is about to jump off a cliff. I have less of a read on the remaining characters than the ones I've already talked about :v

Next pair to look at is Jett and Mark! Jett's dying. So. Mark!Survivor it is! Listen, I'm running out of genuinely compelling arguments and I'm interested in getting this post out sometime this century, so I gotta cut a few corners.

(Full explanation: I don't see Jett as a survivor in the slightest, but it's clear his death would have some sort of impact on Mark's character, and the arc Mark would go through, regardless of what it looks like, would probably take too long for him not to survive after completing it imo. I doubt we're gonna get a 1:1 repeat of Himiko-Tenko, but I do think there will probably be some similarities there, given Jett and Mark are already giving me those vibes. Additionally, Mark's crocodile motif is one of the only ones where the connection between the animal and the character isn't immediately obvious, so it presumably runs pretty deep and would require quite a bit of setup to work. That implies a late run, increasing Mark's overall chances imo)

Then, I wanna look at Desmond-Eloise. In a vacuum, I could easily see arguments for both of them to survive. Desmond clearly has some kind of trust issues to work through (assuming that his secret saying "he protects the only one he trusts” means he's protecting himself and doesn't trust anyone else, which I think is the implication), while Eloise has a few things going on, such as the Entirety of her FTEs. Both of them could make for interesting killers too, however.

Since I don't have any better way to go about this, I'm gonna have to rely on previous guesses, and invoke gender balance. While it's not necessary, I find it likely that the team behind EG will aim for a cast with a more or less equal number of girls and boys. I've already locked in Damon, Toshiko, Ulysses and Mark, which is three boys and one girl with two slots remaining, so... I guess that means Eloise is gonna be joining her fellow bird girl in my guesses!

Following that line of logic, we're looking for a final girl to close out the prediction. A lot of you are probably expecting me to say Diana here, and I probably would, if I didn’t think she's gonna get killed by Kai in CH2.

Okay, I'm not that confident on that one, but I do have my reasons for saying that. I already brought it up once, but one of the lines in Diana's second FTE makes me think she's not making it past CH2. It's this one:

Damon [Diana's 2nd FTE]: You'll see who your real friends are when you're face to face with a killer.

That line kinda implies Diana's never been face to face with a killer, which becomes obviously untrue as soon as CH1 ends, as she was face to face with Eva when she got sentenced to death for murder (they were roomates even!). Thus, this line only works in the context of CH1, possibly implying Diana won't have any more FTE opportunities, and thus would probably die in CH2.

There are ways around this, mind you. You could do what SDR2 did with Nagito, and lock Diana's FTEs in later chapters unless the player's already done two in CH1. That way you can lock Diana's 2nd FTE to CH1, where it works. Additionally, since this line isn't referenced in the report card, you could potentially change her FTE a little bit in later chapters, so that the main idea of the FTE and the things in the report card remain the same, but without the weird line in the way. You could also just, like, ignore it. Unideal, but it would work.

However, even with those possibilities, Diana having a gigantic role in the CH1 trial and already undergoing a character arc isn't exactly a great indicator of her survivability. Given who the CH1 deaths were, I think it's safe to say EG will try to give all the characters their own moments to shine, which might make the story too crowded to have a character like Diana constantly active in it. In other words, it's very possible Diana already had her 15 minutes in the spotlight, and is soon to give way to other characters, potentially as early as CH2.

Why killed by Kai, then? Because of the "surviving cast” image thing.

Now, this thing could change however the hell the developers want it to change, but for now, the only difference between the Prologue and CH1 versions of this image is that Eva and Wolfgang disappeared. Assuming the same can be said for the rest of the chapters, where characters only disappear and don't change pose otherwise, this image has to be made with the death order in mind to make sure it never looks ultra silly. For example, it'd be odd (though not impossible!) for Ingrid to outlive Toshiko, because then she'd be leaning over nothing (unless you argue she'd end up looking at Damon? Doubtful). However, if Ingrid disappears, then Toshiko would be staring at the sky in a pose very similar to one of her sprites, so it's perfectly possible for Toshiko to outlive Ingrid imo. This isn't super reliable and what exactly “looks silly” is extremely subjective, which is why I didn't bring it up before.

Anyways, Kai. If Kai disappears, then Diana would be staring at Damon, which works. But if Diana disappears, then Kai would appear to be talking to Eloise… while being fifteen miles away from her. In my opinion, it's gonna look silly unless you move Kai closer to Eloise, but we've established the only changes might be characters disappearing. Because of that, we can speculate that Kai might not outlive Diana. And since I think she's dying in CH2, in CH2 he might go. Technically either he or Diana could be the killer with this reasoning, but I trust my girl Diana more than I trust Kai, so.

I want to reiterate, after saying all that, that this reasoning is extremely weak and will most likely be proven wrong. I've already given ways to avoid the FTE line problem, which is the only genuinely solid reason to believe Diana won't make it far. I'm just doing what I can man.

Back to the topic at hand, final girl. I have to pick between Cassidy, Ingrid, and Grace.

Uh. I don't think any of them are gonna live. Am I allowed to reduce the number of survivors I'm guessing? No? I have to pick one? Alright, uh...

… Grace. Sure. We can go with that. Cassidy's my second answer. No actual logic's being used here, vibes only. I don't care if it contradicts stuff I said before on this post or others, that's how I'm feeling right now.

Anyways, that's the final answer. Damon, Toshiko, Ulysses, Mark, Eloise, Grace. To be absolutely clear, the first three are the only ones I would call actual predictions, the other three are near complete guesses. It's very possible all of these people die, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Finally, I did want to offer an alternative guess based on a pretty unhinged theory, because I kinda like the idea. This is gonna sound like a non-sequitur, but you know the modes of persuasion? Those things the whole "Pathos Route” mechanic is founded on? Many believe these things will have a large role in the theming of the story, since they're a pretty important concept for rhetoric and our protag is the Ultimate Debater.

The reason I'm bringing up these things is that you could theorize that the survivors will be chosen in a way that connects to the modes of persuasion. You could have a survivor each for logos (appeal to logic), pathos (appeal to emotion), ethos (appeal to authority), and the secret fourth mode of persuasion, kairos* (appeal to context). Adding in Damon, who as the Ultimate Debater would represent all these things in conjunction, you got yourself five survivors, which is the average amount (keep in mind six was the optimistic assumption). Let's be clear, this is an insane leap in logic and most likely horribly wrong, but I found it fun to think about so I'm sharing it.

(*Kairos is a strange case. See, the other three things are the Aristotelian triad of appeals, so they're more universally recognized as central to rhetoric, being known as the points of the rhetorical triangle. However, more modern takes on rhetoric include the context (Kairos) in what's known as the rhetorical tetrahedron. It shows up in the Wikipedia page of the modes of persuasion so I'm including it too :v

The idea of kairos is that the same statements can be more or less persuasive depending on the context in which it's said, including the historical moment, the audience it's said to, etc. For example, if I described something as "rad” to persuade you to buy it (which by itself is a pathos statement), it would be more persuasive if I said it in the 90s as opposed to now. I think. I wasn't alive in the 90s what were y’all doing)

You can probably guess that I only started thinking about this after I realized that my three actual predictions kinda fit this idea. I already said Damon would be included to represent the tetrahedron itself, but Toshiko and Ulysses are shoe-ins for pathos and kairos respectively. Toshiko is obviously themed around emotions, being the Ultimate Matchmaker and all that, while the Ultimate Historian would obviously be a great representation of the persuasive mode that relies, among other things, on historical context. I could also see Ulysses as logos or ethos in a pinch, but no one else can fit kairos quite as well as him.

Though, admittedly, putting Ulysses as kairos has the slight issue that, now that Wolfgang and Eva are dead, we've kinda run out of logic users. Which is very funny.

I could see the Desmond logos - Wenona ethos argument (Wenona chosen to conserve gender balance), but personally, I think Eloise as logos is more compelling. I'm mainly basing that on a few of her lines during the trial, but primarily this thing she says in her intro:

Eloise [Prologue]: Acting brash may get you the first move, but it's a steady, analytical mind that secures the win.

Yeah sure. The reason one would have to put Eloise down as logos is that now genders are balanced and you can pick anyone for ethos. Wenona still works, but I don't think the duo with Ulysses would last to the end. No, if this thing about the rhetorical tetrahedron is true (which again, is an insane leap in logic and likely wrong), I'd say that Jean might have a chance. What better representation of ethos than a captain, after all? Again ignore what I may or may not have said on other posts I wasn't thinking too hard about this at that point :v

Thus, the “rhetorical tetrahedron survivor cast” I'll go with is Damon, Eloise (logos), Toshiko (pathos), Jean (ethos), and Ulysses (kairos). I'd say that looks decent! No idea how we get down to five survivors instead of six, but y'know.

In any case, thanks for the ask! This was pretty fun to think about, even if my prediction/guesses probably sound insane. See ya'!

#can't wait for all six of my guesses to die in CH2 somehow!#p:eg #project eden's garden #toshiko kayura #ulysses wilhelm #wenona #do we just tag her without clarifying which wenona we're talking about #apparently?#looked up the tag and apparently that's the plan so #mark berskii #diana venicia #kai monteago #they kinda got mentioned?#eloise taulner #desmond hall

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affogato-analysis · 23 days ago

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Susie and freedom

Deltarune is consuming me, the symbolism around her is eating my brain and i love her to death. so, Susie.

spoilers ahead all the way to chapter 4's ending and potential speculations for the future.

I did write about that in a reblog like, two days or so ago but i wanted to detail it.

Susie is Freedom and it's so obvious.

she does not abide by the prophecy: there's the first switching side moment, when she decides to be a bad guy with Lancer instead of following the prophecy, there's also her asking Ralsei to take off his hood even though he's represented wearing it in the prophecy (could be linked to him not being the prince from the prophecy too). There's obviously the clear "we're not gonna let that happen" when she finds out about the prophecy's ending too and her refusal to accept the tragedy.

there's the freedom she brings to Kris by her friendship (see the actions that are so obviously theirs, like the drinks at church. see also the mirror dialogue "for some reason, seeing susie standing with you… You feel like things might actually be ok." (and yeah there's the whole question of who 'you' is in these lines but i'm pretty positive these are about Kris even if the Soul is in control).

there's the Dark World adventure where she constantly is the free and freeing one: in Lancer's castle, Noelle in Queen's tower, Toriel in chapter 3 and almost Undyne (she's certainly the one fighting the most out of her own freewill), then chapter 4 where she delivers a letter on Gerson's behalf to his son, therefore delivering one of his guilt and the other of his sense of duty (kinda, not exactly sure what to call it because insecurities feel too tame for what it is).

She also challenges the rules of the Dark World. In chapter 3, despite Tenna's comment on censorship, she can and does write ass as her name and has a "kiss the my ass" on her apron. Instead of just throwing Kris at the Titan at the end of chapter 4, she jumps with them, even if they are the only one able to seal the fountain. She learns a healing spell and refuses to give up despite not being meant to.

In the Light World, she's constantly defying expectations (see Alphys thinking Susie will make fun of her for her juice combo when she's just kinda curious about it) and also is the savior: she fights Berdly and Mayor Carol for Noelle's freedom. Also, in a way, since she's the one distracting Noelle, she's the one to give Kris freedom of action (or tries, because Kris does not have half a second's worth of freedom in this god forsaken game).

MEANING! the great power of contrast, Susie has so much more freedom than ANYONE ELSE. She fights for a lot of them though!

Kris is trapped by many things, including the Soul, that small town where they obviously don't fit anymore and that voice on the other side of the phone, and the promise they made. Which Susie fights every time: the freedom she brings through her friendship, the reaching them even at their worst (see the "Kris is surprisingly good at flirting" which stops them from their trying to murder the Soul and the mirror dialogue again).

Ralsei is dutifully abiding by the prophecy and unable to escape his role, at least partly because he doesn't try until Susie makes him (when he tells her he'll try to be more honest with her and Kris in the future in chapter 4). He doesn't even try to exist for himself ("we must not make the lightners worry", "i don't need a room") and every time she reaches out to tell him off (telling they're real friends, planning a surprise for him and trying to arrange him a room).

Noelle has her father at the hospital, her strict and potentially abusive mother, Berdly's creepy behavior towards her, her own expectations, even Queen's obsession to trap her. Susie fights all of these, by being there at the hospital (even if we bring her), telling her mother off, telling Berdly off and literally rescuing her out of Queen's grasp like a romance novel.

Herself. No one frees Susie. She breaks out of jail and the mold on her own, encouraged by her own will to do just that. She sees freedom and reaches for it, all on her own (well, we're with her, but she goes for it out of her own volition). She learns piano, her spelling is bad but she writes the letter for Gerson, she goes to church and immediately ditches the church clothes when she feels trapped in them.

I love her your honor, she is so brave.

And yeah, that opens an entire conversation about can she subvert the prophecy or is it going to catch up with her dramatically? Is she even the girl from the prophecy? Can Ralsei and Kris escape the prophecy? Can Kris and the Soul escape each other? (because we also did not choose Kris. We specifically didn't choose Kris actually, but our vessel was discarded.) And from there, we expand to the rest of the Light World: can Kris and Susie escape their own backgrounds and families, can they grow past their circumstances, can she lift Kris up the same way she does when they're climbing, offering a safe spot and tossing them up towards greater heights?

Or is this all going to end in tears with the prophecy overpowering her freedom? 'cause i would cry so bad

#deltarune #deltarune spoilers #deltarune chapter 3 #deltarune chapter 4 #deltarune analysis #deltarune thoughts #deltarune susie #susie deltarune #kris deltarune #i love her so bad she is such a beautiful character and i would kill for her #the roaring knight watch out

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rei-ismyname · 4 months ago

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Uncanny X-Men #11 review

X-Manhunt is upon us, as everyone drops what they're doing to pay attention to almost everyone's least favourite mutant - Charles Xavier. The team dynamic is getting stranger as Rogue puts the 'danger' in Danger Room, Logan grows ever wider, and The Podcaster asks the X-Men for help.

Maybe the Podcaster is a mutant who can sense plot points

Yet another X-Book introduces a confusing dose of Space Bullshit, as Xandra, Xavier's Shi'Ar Empress daughter, is attacked by rebels. That's pretty much a Tuesday for her and it's the only kind of plot she's ever used for. Chuck's terrible parenting is the last motivation I expected for his escape, but cosmic Marvel is experiencing upheaval of late so I guess it's as good a reason as any. I'd think that Jean/Phoenix could and would solve the issue instantly, but as we'll see Xavier is not thinking clearly. Or maybe he is and this is all a trick - the narrative is not interested in answering these questions right now. It doesn't really matter that Xavier has only met his daughter once, nor is it explained why she cries to him for help. Deathbird, as usual, fails at everything she attempts. Strange that she's her only guard.

I wouldn't think prisoners crying would be a noteworthy occurrence in this hellhole, but Chuck having a heart attack would remove Graymalkin's reason for existing. I assume he's feeling the strain of telepathic communication across the galaxy plus watching his daughter's attack in real time. The Podcaster's character continues to be baffling - in a better book I'd speculate on the implications of her flat, cackling villainy.

The whole reason Xavier is locked up in the first place is because he won't keep his brain to himself. Scurvy usually keeps him locked down, but Scurvy is recovering from the thrashing Chuck gave him during the Raid. If they have the ability to sedate him/use power dampeners, why don't they use them all the time? Obviously the plot couldn't happen without it but it makes these clowns look even more incompetent than usual. He casually freed himself during the Raid and chose to stay and they've been letting him use his powers this whole time?

The imaginatively named Secret Alliance has succeeded in capturing Xandra, and she's a powerful enough telepath to contact Chuck across the galaxy but that's her best shot. Sure, he's not getting there very quickly though, unless Lila Cheney is around. Charles Xavier IS a terrible father, no doubt about it, and he admits it every so often. He never actually does anything different though, so I guess this is growth? Maybe.

Checking in with the team whose book this is ... hold up, that is the thickest Logan I've ever seen. A secondary mutation perhaps? Anyway, it looks like we're doing the makeshift Danger Room thing with the kids again. I'd love for the events of the last two issues to be discussed in some way, but that's not really how Uncanny rolls. Sure, the kids need training since they want to be doing this X-Men thing but they've just had a protracted fight to the death with killer robot dogs. Deathdream nearly died. Rogue is thinking they need to be hurt more for unexplained reasons, and I strongly doubt anyone has ever thought the Danger Room is fun. Maybe Scott.

Moonbeam orders Gambit to blow Jitter up, knocking her down and bringing fun time to an end. Really not selling Rogue as a leader here - WTF is this meant to teach anyone? Poor thing starts crying and at last a member of this team calls Rogue out, briefly. Rogue explains herself by rattling off a wiki entry on 'X-men villains' including Omega Red - who really shouldn't be there.

Sometimes, when I'm playing an RPG like Fallout or Elder Scrolls and I'm bored I'll save the game then just go to town blowing shit up and killing people. Or if I'm looking for exploits/messing with engine physics I'll just interact with objects in odd ways. That's kinda what this feels like, a random act of violence just to see some explosions. Rogue exists in a narrative and genre where suspension of disbelief is required, but I can't suspend it for this. Is Gail Simone the RPG player, maybe? It's her world. I have no idea, but it's incredibly jarring.

Ember is definitely side-eying Rogue

Training is over and nobody learned anything. Jubilee calls it and uses Cyclops as an insult. Oookay. I'm not going to bother dissecting that. This lot hate Cyclops for reasons unknown and if it hasn't been explained by now it never will. I accept it, I just think it's weak characterisation. Jubes and Kurt's disapproval is overshadowed by Ground Bear and Gambit agreeing that it was a good idea. I have to laugh at this - it's just so ridiculous. The X-Men aren't the same characters from issue to issue, let alone any kind of continuity with previous runs. They do things for reasons and everything works out fine.

No time for any character exploration - The Podcaster has sent a plane to pick them up and calls requesting help like the friends they're not. Why not? I'm not taking any of these characters seriously anyway, may as well have the X-Men collaborate with someone who threatened to blow up their town. Someone who enslaves and tortures mutants in what used to be their house.

Also, this is a thing that happens. A guard at Graymalkin just blows his family away. Not sure why a Graymalkin jackboot would shoot Sentinels, but it makes as much sense as anything else. Sure it's probably linked to the 'virus' that's going around, that's probably linked to Xavier. Or maybe it's something else entirely. This book doesn't exactly reward or incentivise speculation, so I'll just wait until they beat me over the head with it.

I was just thinking this issue could do with Sarah Gaunt in it. She's been quiet for an entire arc. Xavier asks her to free him and while she still hates him she does it anyway. I guess those comically large chains she was bound with in Raid on Graymalkin do nothing, as she can come and go as she pleases - or destroy all his restraints without moving. Doesn't matter, Chuck is out of his chains now. Nothing new about either character here and Sarah went from 'fuck you' to 'sure, I'll help you' very quickly.

Xavier opens his door to find his X-Men there to help him. It's the Uncanny team but he sees them as a warped version of the O5. They're here for ... I don't know why they're here tbh. The tumor mentioned by Scurvy is apparently a thing, I'm just not sure what these folks are meant to do about that. That he's hallucinating is new. I feel like the sedative would have been enough to sell it, though I have been saying that Xavier is going to die for a while now. Rehabilitation through death, it's a Xavier classic. Tumours are already mutations so I don't know what a mutant tumour is meant to be. Maybe The Avians are related to The Shi'Ar after all.

Chuck starts barking orders like the good old days, listening to no-one and blasting Rogue when she tries to reason with him. Not sure what the X-Men's motivation is here.

'Goblin?' Really? Xavier is acting very differently to how he does in NYX or Storm. I mean, he's imperious and manipulative but he seems lucid in those books. Rogue lampshades her previous desire to free him at all costs while thinking that they're here to keep him in prison. Again, it's bizarre that Graymalkin has no other means of dealing with this guy, and The Podcaster called the team least aligned with her goals. Maybe she doesn't have Cyclops' number.

Xavier certainly has the Uncanny team's number, thrashing them easily and bailing. He's not concerned about the tumor right now (in fact he doesn't believe it despite already knowing) - he's all in on Xandra. That the tumor is eating his telepathic control comes out of nowhere and isn't explained. This mystery box approach is very on brand, but at the end of the issue not much has actually happened.

'With a terminal tumor sending his telepathy haywire, Charles Xavier has escaped Graymalkin! Answering a psychic distress call from his Shi'Ar daughter, the X-Men will have to grapple with blah blah blah, nothing will be the same again.' There's all the context you need to read the next part of X-Manhunt, and the Uncanny X-Men weren't a big part of the book. What little did happen will surely be forgotten, making issue #11 very skippable. From The Ashes was very committed to keeping the individual books separate from each other, yet the second crossover has just begun.

Feels like trying to have it both ways and just resulting in neither getting enough page time. I've accepted that this book is not trying to be more than a fun time, but I have to wonder how sustainable it is. As other, better books are getting cancelled it's difficult to not be a little disappointed. Hopefully when this Xavier nonsense is wrapped up we can get back to The Outliers being arbitrarily blown up. In the meantime, at least it looks good - wide Logan and all. :)

#x men #x comics #x manhunt #charles xavier #wolverine #rogue #nightcrawler #Graymalkin prison #corina ellis #gambit #jubilee #xandra neramani #marvel #comics #uncanny x men

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bt-tarot · 4 months ago

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Can you read about Hyunjin's current ideal type? What if someone in JYP fits his type?

Hyunjin has such curious energy, it was actually funny. I felt drawn to my Literary Witches Oracle so I combined tarot and the oracle for this one.🎀

Praying Mantis, House, White Dress Octavia E. Butler - The Future

At first I thought “someone who looks like a praying mantis?”, and it might be, but the description says “wit, manipulation, fun” so it’s referring to an intelligent person who can keep his mind stimulated. Someone funny who can get his jokes and make him laugh would definitely win his heart. Quick thinking and joking? Big win.

He would like someone who understands him and feels like home. Someone that will give him stability and a place to rest. I remember him saying that he often likes to use noise canceling and that he likes to swim because it feels like that. I think his ideal type is someone who can turn down the noise of the world when they're together.

The dress makes me think of someone that dresses nicely, with a sense of individuality and who doesn’t care about societal norms when it comes to their expression.

The Octavia card made me think initially that he’s looking for a long term partner but even if that’s true, I think the card refers more to a person who is a visionary or thinks out of the box. As I said before, lots of mental stimulation but also lots of new ideas, innovation and fresh perspectives.

The Hanged Man, Three of Cups, Five of Swords Bottom of the deck: Seven of Pentacles Rev.

For the tarot, again, this has the vibes of someone who thinks out of the box and likes to see different perspectives, also people who don’t rush into things and take their time to make decisions. This was very specific (?)

His ideal type is also someone that could be his best friend. He would like an equal, easy and playful connection. This might also mean that he wants to be with someone who can be with him at social gatherings, I’m getting the vibe of someone who he can recharge with when his social battery is low.

The Five of Swords is a peculiar card to get in an ideal type reading but I think it refers to someone opinionated or someone who has strong beliefs. I don’t think he would love bickering and fighting all the time with his partner, but small debates would keep him interested and with his Aries mars I totally see him teasing his partner, getting them into a small playful discussion and then tasting the sweet honey of reconciliation.

On a side note, but a very important one, he would like to be open with his lover and wants to be sure that they are in the same page. No games, no hiding, no pretending. He wants to put his efforts into it and I think it crushes him when he does and it doesn’t turn out like he expects. He sees it like a waste of time and resources.♠

✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦

Very clear!

As for if this kind of person is in JYP or not, he didn't gave details and I think it's not my place to ask. It's a large company with a lot of employees, maybe there's people like this but since it's so big they don't know each other or they're just friends? I'm just speculating. Don't think too much about it.

This is worth telling: he loves cute things. He wanted my cutest tarot (the box literally has a :3 face) and my prettiest designed oracle deck for his reading lol I had to search for my oracle in another room because of it, but it's okay, I like those designs too and they worked well together.

Thank you for asking! 🦇 ♡

#tarot reading #tarotcommunity #tarot #tarotblr #celebrity tarot #kpop tarot #kpop reading #skz #skz hyunjin #skz tarot #hyunjin tarot #stray kids tarot #oracle

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bukashki · 5 months ago

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Thoughts on the ep???

oh werepapas (such SILLY name for this nuclear bomb of an episode) was awesome!!

I love that we suddenly have SO MUCH to speculate and theorize about!

Immediately jumping into long excited discussions, rewatching older episodes and thinking about established rules and potential changes of rules, weighing different theories and reading what other people have to say! I have a few favorite theories for now, but what I want to say about this all is - ohhhhhhh I love that we literally can't know yet. We don't have enough puzzle pieces and I appreciate it how the writers threw multiple different clues at once. I am sure they know what they're doing, but for us now it seems like it could go either way. And I love it.

Adrien revived or not even hurt? Chat Noir's transformation? Ring disappearance at the table? Grandma Graham de Vanily being lowkey suspicious? Lila? Felix and Marinette scheming (seems most likely to me so far) ? Marinette and Plagg scheming? Ladybug's will? Ladybug nervous or confident enough? One fake ring? Both fake rings? No fake rings? No amok? Actually what was the exact Wish again?

God, it's SO FUN. I hope we get to speculate more, I hope we get different clues and I hope we get fooled, surprised, thrilled and disappointed, scared and relieved, that's the life of it! giggling and kicking my feet

But not going further into theories right now, as for the rest of the episode - IT WAS SO ENJOYABLE! Can't even form words about Nathalie (I'm just swept in asukiess's current of thoughts and screams), Adrien's childhood, the house. Gabriel's room all wrapped in cloth (yes yess like ghosts!). Adrinette! I love when Marinette breaks into events undercover lmao, but what I really really loved was that she planned this together with Adrien and Nathalie, Nathalie being hesitant but agreeing to the idea, because she knew it really would be comforting for him. And I haven't even mentioned the grandparents themselves! although we still don't know enough about them but their interactions were something. Grassettes seem fun, GDVs seem cursed and I want to see moreeeee!!

what are your thoughts?? did you enjoy it? :D

#ml werepapas #ml werepapas spoilers #ml s6 spoilers #ml season 6 spoilers #ml spoilers #ml s6 #asks #maybe even more things i would mention but my brain is full right now #i will remember their names later #because wtf are those names LMAO why are they the same #i can't WAIT till felix shows up

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alan-without-the-an · 17 days ago

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@twst-aceofhearts (Athena)

I mentioned I'm mainly a writer blog and I've also written fics for the people in my natural habitat series !!

I don't want to get as accurate with Alan and Floyd's relationship so could you maybe explain like how they feel about each other, first impressions—stuff like that :P

AAAA ok so uhm this was a bit hard to write because i don't talk much about alan's actual personality and a lot of stuff available on my blog is kinda outdated 💦💦💦 SO THIS MIGHT BE A BIT TOO LONG... HHHH MY BADD AA

I imagine their true first impressions of each other are general disinterest. Like this doodle I drew a while ago but never posted:

Floyd doesn't really get into others' business unless he's incentivised to (which means either his mood or azul), and Alan in the first months they're at NRC is still very averse about the idea of change. Their main concern right now is getting adjusted to Twisted Wonderland and the people closest to them i.e. Grim, Ace, Deuce, Jack...

It's not until they actually have a conversation together before they feel intrigued by the other. Their speech patterns are the first thing that attracted both of them to the other! Post-Book 3, because that's when they finally acknowledge each other without Floyd being antagonistic towards Alan (and also when Alan starts warming up to this new world. They're starting to love trying new things.)

Alan is used to acting like a mediator. They're like a brick wall, phasing them is a task and they're patient to a fault- keeping up with Floyd's mood swings isn't an issue for them. And because they're so blunt, it doesn't usually come off patronizing or belittling either.

Floyd's also very blunt. He says what he means and doesn't leave room for speculation unless he REALLY doesn't want you to know something. That much would be enough for Alan to appreciate, but...

Alan's not the greatest academically. They can't wrap their head around long-winded history lectures or mathematical equations. Floyd's way of explaining things to sound easy and fun (think of how he explains catching fish in the Stitch event) somehow just clicks with them. Floyd impresses Alan a lot, and they really admire him for it.

(The TLDR here is that Alan shows interest first lol)

And then it all goes downhill from there. The more they talk, the more they hang out. The more they hang out, the more they actually do things together. Floyd shows Alan all kinds of 'new things': dancing, cool parkour tricks, magic, his merform, new recipes, etc etc etc and he reaps the rewards of getting to be the first to witness the little Shrimpy's funny reactions to these things.

He likes seeing them do something unexpected in reaction to his shenanigans. The first time he spontaneously stopped a study session to start dancing, Alan could barely even keep up. He wants to see the seemingly calm and cool Shrimpy fumble a little and pull funny faces in place of their poker face.

But the more he started looking for the big reactions, the more he starts to notice the smaller ones. Sometimes he'll catch a small smile, or a tiny sigh of relief, or a little giggle. He can't get enough of it.

In the end though, they most reliably communicate to each other through blunt words and sentences that don't beat around the bush. Unless they're trying to get a reaction out of the other, words of affirmation are their biggest love language to each other! <3

#al rambles #like REALLY rambles #this took so long because i was trying to puzzle out how i wanted to explain them without sounding dumb #i like analysing characters... but i fear sounding like i'm spouting out obvious points #also i didn't scream about this in the actual post but YOU WANNA WRITE FOR THEM??????? HUH?????????????????????????#i'm honoured but also BWUH????? W-WHUH?????????????????#/VPOS BTW #thank you for the ask!!#and thank you for considering me cool enough for you to even think about writing al x floyd............... 🥹

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pinkkop · 7 months ago

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Day 43 - 15 Days BL Challenge (part 3)

Day 43 - Let’s get delulu, which branded pairing should just get married already? (Note: this is all for fun and giggles, we’re not actually speculating on anyone’s sexuality or relationships.)

Edit: Fair warning, this post got away from me, so here's a tangent about BL pairs first. I won't get offended if you just skip to me talking about BillyBabe.

When it comes to BL pairings I'm very much someone who won't 100% believe that a BL pairing is actually dating as long as there's any financial gain from them pretending to be a couple. (Which is almost all the time for a pairing who's last show was together or that has an upcoming show together or anything vaguely like that)

So as long as there's even the smallest chance that actors are aware of the camera filming or taking pictures of them, then I view their interactions through the lens of fan-service.

This is not to invalidate the love that's between some of these pairings or say that any fan, who does think a pairing is dating, is lying, but since fan-service is a big part of BL, we're always going to have pairings acting it up and I think leaning into the idea that pairings are dating is a slippery slope.

When we decide we think a pairing is dating, we suddenly have a lot more stake in the pairing and it opens up for so many possibilities for people's feelings to get hurt and hurt people are more likely to lash out.

We've already seen it a good handful of times when it comes out that an actor in a pairing is dating someone else or that the actors in the pairing really aren't very close. When that happens fans feel deceived and hurt, get mad and lash out. "Fans" get nasty and start treating the actors and/or their real life partners horribly, because "how could they deceive us like this?"

This could really be applied to anything we believe to be true about an actor. Sexuality, personality, friendships etc. as long as it's something personal to the actor.

And if you're reading this and are thinking "I wouldn't do that!", then I'm sure you're right, I'd like to think this about myself as well, but some fans would and have done exactly that. And it's just hard to know exactly how you'll react until it does happen. Maybe we won't lash out at the actor but we might still turn our back on the actor and help fuel the fire of hurt and anger in the fandom, even if the actor really never did anything wrong, we just assumed.

Bottom line: I'll happily engage in fan-service but as long as a pairing's working together in some way then I'll never be 100% convinced the pairing's actually dating and I think keeping the actors and their personal lives at an arms length is good for both the fans and the actor in the long run.

Anyways, now lets talk about a specific BL pairing because I guess that's what the prompt was actually about...

Billy and Babe!

These two!

I know I already said that I view BL pairings through the lens of fan-service whenever they're in front of a camera but what the fuck are these two doing?! It's like they're doing fan-service on speed!

Making one after the other of really intimate vlogs where they put up a camera and show the fans exactly how close they are. Like some of the things they're sharing in the vlogs are honestly too intimate to share with strangers on the internet if you ask me. Like:

Straight up cuddling in bed in probably just their underwear(?) before getting out of bed in the morning 🤯

Being domestic AF in their hotel room just in robes and underwear (?) 🤯

Whatever it is Billy finds funny about Babe saying that he "Slept so well" 🤯

And finally them being the antitheses to 'two bros chilling in a hot tub, 5 feet away because they're not gay' here 🤯

Apparently their company has come out and said that they don't control any of the things that BillyBabe film in their vlogs and Babe has also recently said he isn't single. Like what the fuck, guys?!

I honestly really hope that this doesn't give any other BL pairings ideas because I don't want this to push the boundaries of what's normal for fan-service. Because this isn't something you just do with your bro and if they aren't actually dating and are instead just playing the part of dating, I think they're taking it too far.

Anyways, I'm mostly just curious to see how this evolve and what happens when they aren't working together anymore.

Maybe they're dating, maybe they're fuck buddies, maybe they're just the best of friends, or maybe they are none of those. Either way, it's none of my business! I just hope they're happy.

The original challenge is here, part two here and part three here.

#blchallenge2k24 #Sofs BL Challenge 2024 #billybabe #babe tanatat #billy patchanon #this post got away from me and I did think about making the first tangent another post but it felt too connected to the rest of the post #so here we are with a very long post that's only partly about the prompt #I mean this isn't the first of these prompts that I've taken and run with it and kinda disregarded what the prompt actually said #Sorry #Not Sorry #Hope it all makes sense and that I don't accidentally offend anyone

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tokiro07 · 9 months ago

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Undead Unluck ch.223 thoughts

[Well...That Could Mean Anything...]

(Contents: immediate reactions - cancelation scare/renewed hope; speculation - story progression)

Please Say "Sike"

...I guess I should've seen that coming

If they can skip the three months leading up to the Quests, why not skip the month of the Quests?

Granted, my assumption was that the Master Rules wanted to fight and defeat the Union, that they were willing to interfere with their training but not to actually cheat at the Quests themselves, which seems to have been an accurate assumption to make

The fact that even Soul objected, demanding an explanation and even going so far as to attack Luna in retaliation, explicitly tells us that nobody involved wanted this outcome

The question this begs, though, is if Tozuka wanted this outcome

The overwhelming response to this chapter was definitely an anxious one. Folks were already super nervous because UU's been in the back of the magazine for the last few weeks while also being notably absent from a recent list of profitable manga that Shueisha put out recently, so seeing this chapter explicitly skip a bunch of content that had been built up for the last year or so was troubling to say the least

However! It also didn't take long for the fanbase to reevaluate the purpose of this direction

Hold the Line!

As Luna notes, Andy held off all ten Master Rules for eons. Of course she lost faith in them! Hell, Andy bodied Sick in less than a minute, and what few members of the Union that Language took out came back - it's pretty easy to see how the remaining fights were going to go, both from Luna's perspective and ours

And that's boring

While we all wanted to see the cast fight their natural enemies and learn more about themselves, awakening their souls and developing new ways to use their Rules, the truth is that was going to become formulaic sooner or later. Language's ambush on Nico and Ichico was a great way to keep us on our toes, but unless all of the Master Rules dropped in on the Roundtable Room at once, there wasn't really a good way to keep things fresh without it feeling like they were on a conveyer belt

There's also the fact that Ragnarok needs to be triggered by failure, so much like with the Four Seasons, the Union was either inevitably going to fail at beating one of the Master Rules or beating them was going to trigger Ragnarok anyway - both of which are outcomes to Quests that we've already seen. The Quests getting autoskipped though? That's a fun twist on the established pass option while also raising the stakes and giving both the cast and audience a scare

If UU weren't having such a rough go in the real world, we'd all be seeing this scene as a super cool twist, and I think that's what Tozuka intended it to be, but because we have reason to fear for its future, we can't help but take it as a bad sign

While Sun basically eating the Master Rules and beginning his assault on the Union certainly looks like a sign of the end, though, I think that this is meant to be the Master Rules all storming the Union at once like I suggested

Two Cakes

Many of you likely noticed that the rings that surround Sun have orbs with Roman numerals engraved on them, corresponding to the ranks of the Master Rules. This implies that the Master Rules haven't been absorbed, but rather sealed

If the Master Rules are still alive, they can still be battled, and likely will need to be defeated to weaken Sun. Using what was learned from the battle against Seal, the Union will likely use their souls to enter the orbs, giving us all of the match-ups and character development that we wanted to see while also moving at the breakneck pace that Tozuka seems to be so fond of

I imagine that someone may need to stay outside to hold off Sun while everyone's souls are separated from their bodies (if that's even an issue), so that will likely be Andy and Fuuko's job since they're ostensibly at their peak already and don't need any further development aside from the finale to their stories, though I could also see this being Chikara's big moment, holding off Sun all by himself while everyone else fights

All that said, this doesn't necessarily mean that we'll have the year and a half run that I projected last week; if Tozuka really is being forced to speedrun the story, it's possible that each Master Rule fight will only be one chapter and serve as a capstone for a different character/set of characters' arcs, but even then, it's extremely likely that the intention is to at least last until the next round of new manga, which will coincide with UU's fifth anniversary

Skipping the off weeks for Christmas and New Years, this gives us, at a conservative estimate, 16 more chapters to work with

To-Do List

Considering the number of events that still need to happen, I think 16 chapters could feasibly work if it looks a little something like this:

Establishing the formula - Chikara's capstone

Sick - capstone for Rip/Latla

Time - capstone for Shen/Mui and likely Feng

Justice - awakening of Unjustice/capstone for Julia?

War - capstone for Billy/Tatiana

Luck - likely a moment for Fuuko, though not her capstone

Change - capstone for Gina(+Sean?)

Death - likely a moment for Andy, not his capstone

Soul - group effort?

Sun - group effort, Ruin returns

Sun pt. 2 - capstone for Ruin

Sun pt. 3 - capstone for the Union

Final boss - Luna

The Heart

Luna defeated - capstone for Andy and Fuuko

Epilogue

This definitely would be a bit rushed, and I'd much rather each fight get a lot more time to breathe, but the main point I'm trying to make here is that it isn't impossible to tell a complete and satisfying story with the time remaining so long as the focus is on completing the character arcs of the cast members that have been established to be the most salient this entire time rather than trying to give everyone a slice of the pie

Tozuka's already made it clear that not every cast member is created equal, which is an unfortunate necessity in an ensemble cast that's under the constant threat of axe-ecution by Jump's editorial staff, so if things need to be pared down, this seems like a reasonable way to do it in my opinion, though again this could easily be doubled or even tripled depending on how badly Shueisha wants the series to still be producing content to coincide with the Winter special episode or possible season 2

Don't take this list at face value, though - remember, I'm just a reader, and while I've been right every now and again, I've also been wrong much more often, so my projected timeline is almost certainly off-base. I just hope it's wrong in the right direction!

Hell, my entire premise of needing to fight the Master Rules in the first place might be wrong! Not in the sense that they won't be present in the story anymore, but more in the sense that they won't be antagonists anymore

The Enemy of My Enemy

If you'll recall, the way that Andy escaped from Seal wasn't by taking down all of the Rules that Seal captured - it was by convincing them to fight back. With Luna having betrayed her creations and manipulated her counterpart, it really doesn't take much stretching of the imagination to see how the Master Rules might have a bit of a bone to pick with her

Therefore, instead of having a dedicated battle against each Master Rule, it's equally likely that there'll be a dedicated battle with each of them. This would let each of them show off their powers and personalities while also letting us build up the tension against Sun without simply rehashing the previous Ragnarok

More importantly, though, this would solidify one of the most major themes of the story: union. Every human enemy save for Ruin has become an ally, and we've had plenty of situations where UMAs have gone against God's orders and allied themselves with humanity, so having the most human UMAs do the same would be the perfect way to wrap up that narrative throughline

However, that again is still pretty predictable, almost rote with how the story has progressed so far, so I still expect one more wrinkle to come out of left field, regardless of how many chapters we have left:

The Union will lose

Failstate

The biggest question mark hanging over this entire series, at least for me, is what Sun and Luna's goals are

What is the world supposed to look like after the game ends? If Luna loses the bet and humanity can't reach the Gods, what's meant to happen? Will humanity be wiped out, will the Rules become harsher on them, what?

To truly understand the weight of the threat, of what the Union is trying to prevent, we need to be shown at least a glimpse of it, so even if Time or Soul or the Heart or whoever will immediately undo the damage, the Union needs to see what they're fighting for

Bonus points if that's the moment that reforms Ruin - that he sees how much worse everything is with humanity's loss, how ruined the world will be, and he decides then and there that he needs to ensure it remains unruined

Again, though, Tozuka has always proven to be a few steps ahead of me, so even if I have the basic ideas, the final product surely won't look much of anything like what I'm suggesting, and will surely be better than anything I can imagine

Looking Forward

In a perfect world, Tozuka would be able to take as much time as he wants to flesh out every single character and backstory and battle to his heart's content, but that's just wishful thinking. The undeniable truth is that Tozuka is working in the most cutthroat company in an already cutthroat industry, so naturally not everything can or will go to plan

However, even under those conditions, Tozuka has managed to tell a consistently engaging and beautiful story that has served as an inspiration to many of us for the past nearly five years. As I've said a thousand times now, we need to have faith that Tozuka is going to continue to do his best to deliver a story that we'll love, even if we don't agree with every choice he makes for it

He certainly doesn't want us to read each chapter filled with fear and trepidation; he wants us to read them with joy and wonder, like we always have! Whether Tozuka decided that this was the best time to end it or Jump forced it on him, whether UU will last for four more months or four more years, the single most important thing that we can do is enjoy what Tozuka has to offer. That's all he's ever wanted from us, and it's what this series has taught me to do

So come on, you do it too:

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

#undead unluck #fouryearsandananime #4y1a reviews

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kozykricket · 4 months ago

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okay , ive taken some time to process n think about ZA more, and.

well okay i said i fuckin love that battle system and yes. i do. its great to see something fun and dynamic. i can only hope it doesnt feel clunky.. hope it feels snappy to use, like. the ui and stuff but yeah, i think its taking a good step. its like.. okay. its disappointing that its just lumiose city? but i think the story might be really interesting if its "you, your friend, and this old guy... try and solve mysteries and help people out around the city!"

like. thats the kinda fun having energy of persona 3 or 4 tbh. a group of people figurin shit out !! i hope its more than just us and our rival

also AZ being able to kinda, live peacefully after his miserable life, is very nice.

the site mentions that he runs an Old Hotel called the Z Hotel, and like. oh yeah, its def got some old looks to it. his style AND the style inside the building is REALLY nice and old-fashioned. theres even... a conspiracy board in one room? really hope we get to do some mystery solving as like, this games version of research tasks / quests!!

heard someone speculate AZ might end up like, sacrificing himself for something as a pivotal plotpoint and... tbh i do feel like theres gonna be some pretty significant aspect of the plot that they're hiding from us. somethings going on with zygarde - the website says its Taken an Interest in Us. probably because we're helping out with the urban development? i mean, it doesn't SEEM like the city is overreaching in terms of taking over pokemon territory... but i do think that'll def be a theme. the concern of urbanization

and in regards to the pokemon not having the like, scales or fur textures, it isnt that inherently that i disliked, but that they watered down / desaturated pokemon a lot in SV. some pokemon got hit SO hard in a bad way, like beartic or lunala. the character customization looks like itll be there, because there IS a boutique! in one of the images!! and i mean cmon its KALOS looks like the characters have the best of both worlds between the human designs of SwSh and SV. I'd say they're all fantastic

...its just, the city itself that seems potentially boring. i dont know how they'll be able to pull it off... or have ANY sense of discovery, really. maybe they wont! maybe itll hinge more on solving issues around the city and using that kickass battle system overall its uh. im not hyped because we havent seen that much of what there is to offer, especially in regards to zygarde. or much of the gameplay. i am curious about how much battling there'll be. probably a good bit, i'd imagine i wish we got to see new pokemon... like. anything new. but hey we got to see dapper AZ so its a win but im gonna leave the bad part for last:

what the hell is this? gamefreak? pokemon company? who do i blame for this. why. rock_stockphoto.png lookin ass... i they made the pokemon less realistic and then tried to go for "nintendo hire this man" esque grass?? why? what. theres so much clashing style. that patrat does NOT belong on THAT grass. why is this one of the first images on the site?? i... they should not be going for photorealism in any pokemon game wtf.. or if you do it, then at least commit to it and give the pokemon their scales and fur back! and actually do it good! instead of whatever this is

#jake post #pokemon #pokemon legends #pokemon legends za

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bambiraptorx · 1 year ago

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I think the reason people, myself included at first I'll admit, are/got so hype for missing sis' design is because it's a 'canon' (I can't remember how canon the comics are) appearance of a character reveal that was planned to happen in Rise but we never got. Now that my hype has gone down I'm disappointed too :(. I'm semi-willing to forgive the snatched waist she has because Leo has it too. I do think the face marking are cool though

Yeah I do appreciate the facial markings, they're a different enough shape from Leo's (and the fanon ones the others often get) that they stand out nicely. The idea of a flame-like pattern that doesn't seem to be fully symetrical is very cool. But honestly? It's one of the few things I like about her face reveal/comic design, the rest I'm neutral on or mildly annoyed by.

this next part got ranty, so I'm just gonna put it under a read more. Absolutely nobody has to read this lol. TLDR I get heated about the design for Big Mama's Assistant in the comic.

I do want to clarify upfront, most of my issues are with the design of Big Mama's Assistant (Venus/Frida) as shown in the comic specifically. Given that it does not (and isn't meant to) fit into the show's artstyle, it's possible that her show design would have looked different. But the fact remains that this might be the closest we ever get to having an actual canon design of her.

And... it's not all that great a design in my opinion.

(That said, I do still like the markings that she's given in that design. Those are cool. Thumbs up.)

My main issue is with how there's so many little details intended to scream "I am a Girl Character that's G-I-R-L and don't you forget it". Like, I genuinely hope that's not the design she was supposed to have in the show, because it feels like it's being almost shoved in your face that This Is A Girl.

The traits I've noticed so far:

She has lips. Or possibly lipstick, but in either case the appearance of lips. None of the other (male) turtles have lips, but all the important female characters in Rise do.

She has heavy eyeliner/mascara, as in the upper line of her eye is noticeably thicker. Yes the boys look like they have winged eyeliner at some points, but hers is much heavier.

This is more subtle, but she seems to have larger pupils than the other (male) characters in the comic, giving her something of a doe-eyed look.

Her plastron shape has been rounded out/simplified, giving her the appearance of boobs and an hourglass figure. (Interesting note here: in the show, the male turtles have comparable or perhaps larger sized bumps in their plastrons. Yes there's a slight difference in shape, but it defintely doesn't look like she has boobs in the show.)

They made her have an obviously lighter skin tone than the other turtles. Yes it may well be a result of dramatic lighting, but enough people have taken it as her canon skin tone that it still counts.

Long story short, all these items are things often used in visual media (especially in cartoons) to code male and female animal characters as, well, male and female. And it's important to note, most of the time this coding is *completely divorced* from the sexual dimorphism actually seen in those species. We can speculate all we want on if she's wearing makeup or not, but the fact remains that turtles don't have lips or cinched waists. She doesn't *need* all that to emphasize that she's a girl. Even just two or three of these traits would be fine!

(And while I also have issues with the whole "you have a brother and sister" thing when it was previously discussed as being two sisters, maybe it would have been fun to see a design that gave us a little more room to debate if this was a brother or a sister. Yeah we'd heard from the creators that Big Mama's assistant was a girl, but that's also where we heard that the turtles had two sisters.)

It also kind of bothers me a bit to see the fandom response, in that there's a lot of people who are taking the design as is I guess? And sure, there's plenty of people who *aren't* drawing her as is and remove some of the intense girl coding, but there's also people who do draw her as close to the comic design as possible. And while there's nothing automatically wrong with that, I do hope those people are at the very least aware of the tropes that her design falls into.

Now to perhaps the more controversial part of this post outside of just the visual tropes she falls into. For me personally, there's nothing (outside her markings) that makes the face reveal all that interesting design-wise? And there's basically nothing that indicates anything about her personality.

She wears makeup. So what? Not only is that the societal standard for women and girls in real life, it's basically the standard for how female characters in Rise are designed. It's also a hugely common design element of female animal characters. It tells us nothing about her, except, again, she's a girl.

Her outfit is the same as canon, so there's no new information there.

Her expression is carefully neutral, and doesn't really tell us anything. Heck, everyone else in the scene is having more of a reaction than she is. The other turtles have shocked expressions and Big Mama is angry. Venus... has her eyes open I guess? There's a lack of expression on her part in an otherwise very expressive comic.

And (again in my opinion) her design honestly isn't particularly unique. She has a face shape relatively similar to Mikey's (the main different being his chin is rounded and hers is pointed) and she has facial markings like Leo. And while it's not a bad thing that her design resembles the other turtles given that she's supposed to be related to them, many of the design traits that make her stand out are the Girl Design Traits.

It's also worth pointing out that there's a very specific way Rise draws important female characters, with them all having similar body types and facial details, and this design plays right into that. It's a further example of a Rise girl/woman who's thin with a small waist and lips and a small nose and no obvious musculature. There's been other posts that break this down more than I'm going to here, but the design for Big Mama's Assistant just... continues all that.

And I don't have a problem with characters looking feminine, but when they're all feminine in similar ways, it gets a little... boring? Even a little body type diversity would have been nice (like giving Casey muscles instead of the same slender arms as everyone else, for example.) The assistant doesn't have to follow the same pattern (she's an entirely different species, for one), but she does.

And in some ways it's like, yeah, we got to have confirmation that she's a character. She exists. Hooray. She said nothing and she did nothing besides take off her mask. We all knew there was gonna be a face under there anyway! And seeing her finally appear in canon, only to be drawn using so many visual cues to show her as The Girl Turtle is... a little underwhelming, I think.

But the fact that I've already got a design for Venus/Frida is probably also a factor here. I'm more attached to my design and I like it better lol. Rant over.

#asks #bambi's rambling #rottmnt #rottmnt venus #rottmnt frida #big mama's assistant #rottmnt spoilers #rise comic spoilers #tmnt 40th anniversary #tmnt 40th anniversary spoilers #long story short the design here doesn't exist in isolation #either from existing visual tropes or from how rise designs plot relevant/ important female characters

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