#It is so obscure but I have many reasons actually

[l-in-the-light]

Chapter 1136 & 1137 commentary (and analysis)

New chapter, let's go :D time to analyze all the tiniest and obscure details probably most fans wouldn't even spend a second on lol. Lots of conversations this time, so there will be quite a lot of focus on context reading, something I should actually suck at by definition ;)

Last choice is basically "show me the results", just made it an actual option haha. Come on, betting is fun, so what if we end up being wrong :D

Wait, is that Who's who base? Even the guys inside wear the characteristic cat ears of his crew. Will we finally learn what's up with him?? But this is just a cover story, so any answers we will discover won't really be that clear, I guess (because no actual dialogues). But it's still interesting. It's like we're Momotaro again venturing into the den of Oni haha. And we have lion-dog, a centaur lady and little ninja girl for trusty companions instead of dog, monkey and a pheasant. Also Yamato's face when they peek inside the base is priceless :D

But wait, isn't Yamato the oni? So it's actually reversed Momotaro tale, we're cheering for oni and defeating the hero?? damn, now I got myself confused LOL.

I love how Luffy says his thanks not only to Hajrudin, but Stansen as well! He cares about everyone, not just the leaders of groups. And now that he got to know Stansen a bit better and got to interact with him, he's already treating him as a friend.

It's wholesome that it's Luffy thanking Stansen while not even taking credit himself for releasing him in Sabaody (last chapter Luffy just said it's awesome Stansen managed to get away, but never said anything even close in meaning to "you're welcome". If anything, he gives the credit back to Stansen in a way, underlying the fact that it was Stansen's own initiative that allowed him to get away in the end). It's like he only accepts half the credit and who does it remind me of? Trafalgar "give half of your thanks to Strawhat-ya" Law when he released Jean Bart, heh. It's of course all implied not said directly, but I even like it better this way.

Also hi Colon (doing a Nika pose as he runs and grins), aren't you too young for those drunken feasts? XD

No offense, Jarul, but that comment is sort of ignorant? Why is he glossing over this fact? I mean, it's clear to him *why* humans can't make their way up to "true Elbaf" (he points it out by himself!). It just shows that despite knowing the reason and about the obstacles, he doesn't ultimately care whether humans will make it up here or not, or die in the realm below. He claims humans will just flee, but we saw the underworld and many humans seemed to have stayed behind, despite being terrified and ending up relying on Loki for the lack of better options. Many humans must have also died there, eaten by the beasts or because of other circumenstances. We also saw what happens when pirates make it below, Giants have no problems attacking them. I don't think Giants in general like humans all that much, it's the level of "tolerance", at best.

I think what Jarul is not saying is that sure, they *might* don't mind humans, as long as they're somehow associated with some Giants (Shanks and his fleet, Luffy and the Strawhats). Which means if Kid never attacked anyone and instead bragged about defeating Big Mom, he could have been allowed to "actual Elbaf" as well. I will leave this food for thought here if anyone's hungry ;)

So, why is Jarul downplaying the reality like that? Is he trying to appeal to Luffy this way, perhaps because everyone in Elbaf seemed to have heard already that Luffy looks like a sun god?

Look who's bragging about defeating Oars and delivering the final blow, lol. Well, to be fair, all Strawhats delivered the final blow together, so technically he's not lying, he's just not mentioning this tiny fact.

So the Giants heard about "legendary warrior" Oars, interesting. We wanted to know if there's any sort of connection between Oars and the Giants for a while already and seems there is, indeed! We just don't know exactly what it is though XD if I were gonna guess, he was probably described in the infamous ancient text of Harley as well (he was born more than 500 years ago, so it's a possibility)! Or perhaps, once upon a time, Ancient Giants were considered to be the most "pure blooded" Giants and Elbaf used to be their home. Then they went extinct and the worship sort-of-ended, but not really, because ancient giant blood survived in some of the current giants, as we can see with the example of King Harold. Maybe he was even chosen to be king *thanks* to his horns/ancient giant blood. Him ripping off his horns would bring a new meaning then: to part with the old ways and to show his dedication to treat all Giants as equals. But isn't it Hajrudin's wish as well? It could point towards them sharing the same dream and King Harold influencing his son, hm. King Harold was at the very least not opposed to having a child with non-Elbaf Giants, and that's sort of a fact. But then Harold is also a father of Loki who proudly declares himself a god of destruction. Yeah, there's certainly some odd duality going on here with the king.

I'm still wondering whether Elbaf was once a different place, unrelated to any Giants, before they took over the New World.

I need to say Jimbei is taking those comments in good faith, I'm proud of him. Comments about skin color can be triggering, even if they're not meant in bad way. It's worth noting though that his first reaction is "!" which means it did alert him. If it was only neutral realization, the visual indication (on the far right, I marked it with a red frame) would be enough to communicate it to us. And I'm going to tackle this issue seriously and I don't care if most people would just brush it off as whatever. Giving this interaction some weight honestly makes reading this scene much more interesting than just seeing it as simple smalltalk, lol.

Jimbei laughs this comment off, as we can see the typical "laughter" visual cue next to Jimbei (also marked with red frame by me). But is it an honest reaction? I would say it's likely he's probably a bit divided inside about this. This is Jimbei, after all, the very same guy who declared in Marineford that he only follows those he personally acknowledges. He loved Whitebeard, he even wanted to die alongside him in the war, but he wouldn't even travel on his ship with him, instead swim beneath it, like he didn't want to be considered part of them. I think we can safely assume Jimbei wasn't very fond of humans or at least really wary of them, and that's likely something he kinda inherited from his beloved Fisher Tiger. His opinion about humans must be kinda bad as the result (but he would never admit it outloud, he's a very "keep everything to yourself" kind of guy), which can also explain his hesitation in joining Luffy's crew (yes, responsibilities were likely only part of the reason, but an important one!). But here he can see that not only humans but Giants can be untactful as well. This could be a small eye-opening moment for him, perhaps? I don't think he had many opportunities to interact with other races than humans and fishmen before, so this could be widening his horizons. You can't know things like that unless you travel the world yourself (or someone really open-minded who did that shares the stories with you). In his flashback, he also says fishmen and other races just need to understand each other, so here he is, experiencing it first hand.

This scene reminds me of some interesting details I read about before in anthropological books. Not only we as outsiders but native people themselves are almost always curious about body differences, any outstanding physical differences can bring out some curiosity. I saw similar remarks in books about Japanese culture. In one book a woman from overases joins a closed world of geishas and trains to become one herself. The others help her with applying the characteristic white make up, but realize their usual method doesn't work because of the longer nose of the woman, which of course results in a comment about it and a joke about their physical differences. Many Japanese caricatures of foreigners often emphasize their bigger or longer noses too, it's not always done tactfully, but it is a fact that differences tend to attract attention from both sides. We can see it reflected perfectly here with fascination about fishmen coming from the Giants from one side, and Sanji's fascination with the Giant women from the other.

Does it mean One Piece is untactful here? I actually wouldn't say so. Why? Because One Piece is full of characters with many different noses and body shapes, and yes, occassionaly even skin colors (despite all the controversies about whitewashing Usopp). My point is: when both sides are curious about each other and don't use their differences in judgemental way, it's just normal human curiosity. Here are some examples as to when it's not okay to point out a physical difference: when drawing harmful conclusions (like this: all asians have pretty and cute small noses while foreigners have ugly big ones), using them in completely unrelated contexts (why bring it up if it's not related to anything that's being talked atm?) or to underline the differences to point out their "otherness" (then it becomes an indirect message of "you don't belong, because you look different than us"). But I will allow everyone to draw their own conclusions, this is just my opinion on this particular scene, not on the topic in general (which is a much more complex and sensitive issue).

But back to the scene. Of course the topic quickly turns to fantasies about mermaids lol. I wonder if Sanji might have derailed the topic there slightly on purpose? Like yes, he would use probably any occassion to talk about his fantasies, but it's worth noting that he also stayed around Jimbei. Maybe he wanted to keep an eye on what people talk about to him or around him, you know? And we know Sanji is a very considerate and caring guy for everyone in his crew (but not only limited to his crew), so I wouldn't put it past him that he sticked around Jimbei on purpose just so he can tactfully control the topic of conversation, so it doesn't become offensive. But also just because staying around Jimbei means he might inevitably be able to brag about mermaids lol. Still, he quickly changes the topic of mermaids to the topic of Giant women, which makes me believe even more in my idea of Sanji just being mindful and supportive friend here. It's maybe not really obvious, but that's even better that it's so subtle, Jimbei doesn't have to express openly his gratitude which could be awkward and make him simply feel bad, because he's trying so hard himself not to take things the bad way. I don't think Jimbei would be ready to admit his fears so openly, he's tbh a rather private type of guy who doesn't talk about his feelings or opinions much.

Lol, Brook's utter dismissal to the question. Unlike Jimbei though, he doesn't even care and can take it on, no problem. Still, I sometimes do feel for Brook in some situations. For example, in One Piece World Seeker game, where this issue is addressed in one of the side quests. I think it was one of the rare times when I realized Brook can feel really alienated just because he is a walking skeleton and doesn't expect common people to think it's not a big deal. He can be quite sensitive sometimes too, even if he often plays it off as a joke material.

But, Zoro is lowkey doing him the same favour Sanji was doing for Jimbei. He's implying with his comment "I'm surprised so many Giants have never gone out to sea" that Brook isn't so outstanding as Giants think he is (even though we know he actually is!). Of course it's also Zoro so maybe he didn't even realize he's kinda siding up with Brook. But I want to have a bit of faith here in Zoro. He might not be the best in it, but he tries to be there for his crew and has more empathy than we assume he has.

Also, same here, Nami. But considering the case of Dorry and Brogy it's becoming kinda clear that Giants have only one major Pirate Giants group at a time. They like never mention any multiple ones, you know? And now with the Hajrudin taking over the tradition it seems Giant pirates are only a chosen few. Not quite like in the viking times when it was said many men went to sea and women had to often take over the villages in their absence. Or at least that's what I remember reading about vikings.

Ahaha, Rodo and Gerd are finally in same place, so I can see more of their dynamics when they're actually together. And I kinda love them, they're so silly. Seems Rodo is apologizing because Gerd made him do that. But it's worth noticing how shocked Rodo is at her words and the strict scolding. This suggests it is NOT a common occurance between them. In fact, seems like this is the first time it ever happened! I did share my guess in previous commentaries that Gerd wasn't openly hostile to Rodo before the Strawhats incident, but now she feels the extra need to be this way to show a clear difference between herself and him (she doesn't want her lovely human friends to think of her as a freak! And yes, it's just about the fact that she doesn't want to be considered a geek or a freak. She's like this type of fan who secretly spends all her free time on her hobby, but at school or work declares she just likes it a little bit, you know, like a normal person. Pffff).

Rodo though likes Gerd so much that nothing she would say could possibly make him dislike her lol. Which is why he's ready to embrace submissiveness as his new kink, which is the extreme 180 degrees turn in his character from the "I'm a god, listen to me peasants" roleplay. He loves Gerd that much, huh. It's kinda endearing really. Besides it being just, you know, a silly gag.

And that means Rodo is already on Strawhat's side lol. That was quick 😂 not only that, he even became Nami's slave number 3 pfff. He's also very good at it. Just look at how fast he adjusted there: "My vision is awful, I wouldn't even notice any treasure missing". Omg he's so funny. And he's enjoying every second of his newly found passion of s&m play haha. I'm afraid I have already forgiven him locking down the Strawhats at the beginning of the arc. And for no other reason than him being just himself LOL.

Now all that's left is for Hajrudin to forgive him too. Honestly, one good word from any Strawhat about Rodo would be enough at this rate, to make this happen :)

Funny how Rodo is trying to shorten the distance by pointing out something that is actually true, as we learn from the next chapter. Rodo and Nami do share some things in common, like, both of them wanted to draw maps since they were kids ❤ but Nami doesn't open her heart to people easily, making Rodo her personal slave is already big enough leap of faith from her. It's a bond she accepted but on her terms, heh. No matter what, Rodo respects her boundaries (maybe because he can indeed relate to her in more ways than one) and doesn't try to overstep them anymore. Actually, he finds pleasure in simply being useful to her (probably the same way he feels happy to be useful to Hajrudin too) and speaks with the Strawhats as earnestly as he can, which is probably also not something that comes easy to him! After he is scolded here he starts to refer to himself as "sessha" which is the humble, old way of speaking Okiku used in Wano (roughtly translated as "this unworthy one"). This means that Rodo actually takes extra step back to assure Nami he won't overstep. It feels a bit silly and again very roleplay-like, but also actually surprisingly genuine.

A moment of appreciation for Zoro acting like a true, intimidating pirate, hehe. Love moments like these in my pirate manga :D

Also bonus for scaring the heck out of Rodo. He indeed realized he didn't take the threat seriously lol. And yet he must have seen their bounties before, after all he knew all of their names when he found them.

More sun god lore dropped :D seems there are different depictions of sun god. He's a god of laughter, a god of destruction, a god of liberation, and... a ruler of the world? One of these is not quite the same as the others, hm. One sounds less godly and more, you know, mortal. Okay, so it's time to bring this question to the table: were they all four different Nikas? You know what I'm thinking about, right?

Except here there are even five, not four :) one is an unexpected double, despite all of them being quintuplets. Many people have said it before and I think this is the time to say it again: this is most likely a foreshadowing of some kind. Which kind exactly? I'm not sure. Will there be a point in current timeline of events where there will be as many as 5 nikas? (we're slowly getting here, let's count it together: Sun God Rodo, Sun God Loki, Sun God Nika aka Luffy, Sun God Nika aka Bonney... hey, we're at four already! Of course I don't think this is the end game situation so to speak lol. Just the same parallel used again!) But of course this can also simply mean there were 5 Nikas already in the past, including Luffy in the present.

Maybe each time a Nika appeared in history he brought about big changes with him, just like Jarul said it, but those changes were once seen as good (liberation) and other times as bad (destruction), depending on the perspective of a winner's interest, ofc. If the winner wanted to be seen as good he would label Nika as something bad, like destruction. If the winner was the same side as Nika, then he would portray the events as liberation then, something positive that helped him win. Honestly if that's the case then no wonder the rulers always fear Nika, it's always in their interest to preserve the order the way it is, which is in their favour ofc. You never know when Nika would pop up and on which side it will end up being.

But you know what? Knowing Oda, it's all three references I mentioned used at once (remember, the rule of three, Oda likes it a lot): the playful parallel at Elbaf, the Nikas through history and foreshadowing the end game Nika situation. LOL. Can't wait.

One last observation about the previous screenshot. Giants said "We all look up to Nika! We all share the same dream!" But if you pay attention to what they said, it's actually not true. Like yes, they all aspire to be Nika, but for each of them that means a different thing! Some of them want to be rulers because they believe in the interpretation of Nika being a ruler of the world. Others believe in Nika as the liberator instead so they want to liberate people. There are also those who wants destruction of the world, like Loki himself. And finally we have those that just associate Nika with laughter so all they ever aspire to be is to make other people laugh or apply a lifestyle in which they laugh and are joyous no matter what, despite the hardships and pain they might experience. I think it might end up being important that same people can share same dream, but that dream might mean something different to them. Like Luffy and Roger having "same dream" in this context, for example!

(btw I saw the memes already that original Nika warrior was black, because the shadowy figure appears to look like it, lol. Tbh I would find it absolutely fantastic if it turned out to be true! 💖)

Speaking of different interpretations of history and Nika lore, we know it all thanks to the ancient text Harley that Giants preserved, even though no one apparently can read it correctly anymore. Oh boy, I hope this is NOT a reference to poneglyphs, because that will throw everything into pure chaos. Imagine multiple interpretations of the poneglyphs... it's probably not the case, since unlike Nika's parallel, this is the first time we hear about this. But it's worth remembering that Enel couldn't read the poneglyphs despite them using Birka's writing. Let's also not forget that poneglyphs can be heard, like in Roger's case (is it possible to hear the message engraved on them without the need to read the signs? And is it the same message as the written one?).

As for the Harley text itself in Japanese it's ハーレイ (haarei) and is classified as shintei (holy scripture, like in religious context). This might be a reference to things like Edda (the original source of Norse mythology) or Codex Regius ("Royal Book" or "King's Book" that starts with a prophecy) which in Japanese is called: monogatari uta (narrative poems, except uta can be also taken more literally as songs. Slight hint towards Binks Sake song, perhaps :D sound was also very important theme in Skypiea, arguably one of the oldest civilisations we found in OP world). We also had a prophecy about Loki in this arc. If anything, those could have been Oda's inspirations here.

This is also the first time we heard that world has been destroyed twice already! This means the current world of One Piece is actually the third world! Rule of three, here, yet again!! Yes, we're totally going to destroy the world by the end, to make it go full circle. Okay, so we can safely assume the previous time it happened it caused a Void Century, right? No confirmation of that but it's the most likely option, even if not the only possibility.

In theory, Void Century could have been "end of the world" prevention or delay measure. Why? We actually have no evidence that the world ended. Imu is still around and many different places with a history spanning over thousands of years, like Alabasta. If the world ended shouldn't Alabasta get erased as well? And also it's been mentioned before that Void Century was the history of a war between two fractions that left "scars on the world". Again, if world ended back then, there wouldn't be anything left. Also, do you remember the clever trick Vegapunk did in Egghead arc? Erasure of memories. And what is Void Century if not a bigass erasure of memories of the whole planet? (even the title of the chapter in which Vegapunk's trick is explained, the Void Fortnight, is playing with this idea). As the result, Egghead wasn't really destroyed, but instead severed into two parts, one got sent to the sky, the other ended up in hands of the Government. I admit I always like to imagine Void Century as the history of the Biggest Foil Trick in History lol. Everyone thinks Joyboy lost, but he never actually failed in what he tried to achieve :)

But putting that theory aside, let's consider that Void Century was actually a successful destruction of the world instead, because many will consider this to be the most obvious answer. That means something like a Void Century happened before already as well. And we have evidence of that! Lunarians were once on the Red Line, right? But that doesn't seem to fit the timeline of Void Century we know of, at all. It was the conflict between Joyboy, the first pirate, fighting against an advanced kingdom instead. There was no battle against certain rulers like Lunarians occupying the Red Line mentioned anywhere. Which means that must have happened way earlier than that and it just makes more sense this way. Perhaps the Ancient Kingdom was the one who brought down Lunarians and made them go extinct eventually, and ruled the world as the result. History likes to repeat itself so Ancient Kingdom got defeated by people who then took over which place? The top of the Red Line again. And now we know them as Celestial Dragons, a mere shadows of their past selves.

There's one problem though, I still can't decide where to put the sky people in this scenario. Shandorians, Skypieans, Birkans. Were they connected to the first end of the world instead? I guess we need Urouge plotline to gather more hints, because whatever I try to guess now feels like a shot in the dark, at best. My current best shot would be Egghead's top stratum shotting up to the sky and maybe that's how original Skypieans ended up there too. That though supports my idea that Void Century wasn't destruction of the world but a scam instead. Unless Skypieans were in the sky even longer than we can imagine. We actually have no clue when did the moon people go down to earth, at all. Maybe it was at the beginning of times, lol. Like a parallel to our world's belief that UFO build the pyramids in Egypt, you know. Maybe first place Moon People visited was Alabasta and they build the pyramids there as well XD

Also, it all kinda points out to the idea that devil fruits existed even before Void Century. Which makes more sense than their sudden creation only in the span of 100 years, at least to me.

Another thing worthy to mention is the whole idea of world destruction. It can mean anything, from literally destroying a planet (remember the missing "moons" on Clover's solar system setup?), to something more symbolic like shifting of poles (equator and north/south poles changing places) which could result in current islands getting submerged in water and the reveal of the previously sunken Ancient Kingdom, together with the All Blue. It could by all means also just be a figure of speech, meaning current power systems would get destroyed and new system will arise, for example: common folk will become the rulers, kinda like Drum Island situation. Ruler will now be one of the common people, living among them, sharing their happiness and sadness of daily lives. But I don't think all of the mentioned "end of the world" or "destruction of the world" can happen at the same time in the plot, even if we have sort-of foreshadowing for all of those outcomes (maybe shifting of poles gone wrong can result in destruction of the planet?). Maybe destruction of the world is also a choice between options, and not a foreordained outcome. If you have your own ideas about this please share :D

Jarul was there when this happened, right? He admitted as much this chapter. He saw Loki killing King Harold, and he's the only person in the room who doesn't actually judge him for it. This reminds me of that situation from Little Garden, Dorry and Brogy said if you don't die then it means that's the will of the Elbaf's god. And if you die, you were in the wrong, and the winner was in the right. Jarul thinking Loki isn't wrong is not because he didn't like King Harold. It's just the old belief of Elbaf that he still has faith in: Loki didn't die despite everything so he might be in the right and it can be a proof he has "divine protection", while King Harold died so he was wrong. That's all there is to it. God of Elbaf decides outcomes of all conflicts.

But new generation of Giants seemed to have forgotten this belief already and judge Loki very harshly, unlike Jarul. And why did they forgot their old ways? Because of King Harold changing whole politics in Elbaf; from being a warrior country to centering on education and avoidance of violence and fighting. This could make Giants easy targets to eliminate, keep that in mind, Government considered Giants to be dangerous enemies for a long time, it would be extremely handy for them if Giants became weak, were easy to control (like use them for the upcoming war so they're on the side of the Government) or to erase them easily (in case they refuse, duh, to prevent them from joining the enemy's side).

In other words, King Harold indeed might have been in the wrong and Loki was right. Consider it. In which arc of One Piece the situation as we're told turns out to be correct? Dressrosa? People just live happily with the toys and toys are not slaves for fake saviours who kicked out a good king? Wano in which Orochi painted Oden as the bad guy and himself as the good ruler? Why would Elbaf be any different? The surface story we're told is ought to turn to be a lie as well, the only question that remains is: in which way exactly? There are still many possible answers to that and all are still likely.

Seems Luffy has already decided that Loki is a good guy, lol. I never doubt Luffy :D

Loki's terrible reputation is even more terrible than we thought. Not only he has been born cursed (according to the prophecy, ha, what did I tell you all, I knew it had be a prophecy :D) and fated to kill his father. Seems his birth was accompanied by bad omens (the horse dying. ain't no way a toddler killed a horse, come on. and also same year Linlin caused a death of a giant. year later a queen died... you get the drill).

He was apparently also a mischief (many people pointed it out and I also agree: that part sounds like Oden's story) and an arsonist. But if we remember Oden's case, he was still beloved despite being a menace stomping over the social rules. He also at least once took the blame for someone else (Kinemon and the mountain god incident. Only Kin and Denjiro, and Oden himself, knew the truth). Perhaps Loki also took the blames for the fires on himself or, you know, people might have blamed all calamities on Loki. "Unknown fire? Someone said they saw Loki nearby!". Yeah, sounds plausible to me. It's easy to put the blame on the guy everyone supposedly hates. Let's not forget we learned that Loki spend the time in Underworld Elbaf ever since he was a child. What was a prince of Elbaf doing there instead of sitting in the castle? yeah, I still think he was an outcast.

"Caused mischief whenever the King wasn't looking" part is curious though. the same with the insinuation that Loki could do whatever the heck he wanted as soon as the King was away (why was the King away anyway? We learned already there's only one dedicated Giants Pirates crew at a time). This is something worth keeping in mind. Perhaps Giants ought to run havoc (like in that proverb with mice partying when cats aren't around) and again, blamed it on the cursed Prince. Or maybe there's something more to all of this... seems King Harold had to leave Elbaf quite often, he did end up meeting Hajrudin's mother somewhere away from Elbaf, I guess, and brought both of them with him. Despite Harold being so loved, Hajrudin's mom wasn't even allowed inside the castle, because people of Elbaf didn't acknowledge her and even bullied her :/ all things considered, did King Harold really love his people after all of this...?

Interesting, we learn that the "land of warriors" wanted to connect with the world outside. Seeing their change in education, maybe they even attempted to join the countries united under the World Governement. But why would they do such a thing? Perhaps it was to overthrow the prophecy or to unite with others? If Elbaf is no longer a land of warriors but instead a land of peace, then no prince will kill the king. In one of his theories Joyboy even suggested that King Harold decided to shower his son with love to make sure he won't hate him. That's a nice thought, unusual, but would fit the guy's image. After all he did have a child with Giants outside Elbaf and brought that kid to Elbaf as well (Hajrudin). I guess it shows he wasn't a barbarian but instead a kind monarch who was personally against prejudice. Sadly, seems he couldn't really make the folks change their minds and they still ostracized both Hajrudin (because of impure blood) AND Loki (because he's cursed) as the result. Though who knows, maybe Elbaf at first loved the prophecy. A true warrior kills others in battle, it's a honour, right? Perhaps the view on Loki changed only after the Elbaf's big change occured and at first he had god-like status instead and was indeed seen as a true god of destruction! Which would explain why he thinks everyone should still see him this way.

But then we also have Hajrudin, who wants to unite all the Giants races and become a king. I can't help but wonder why didn't Loki become a king after killing Harold? Perhaps he never wanted to be a king himself, unlike Hajrudin? After all he could think of himself as god of destruction but not as a ruler, as those are two opposing views on Nika, their ideal. Btw, worth noticing, on the arsonist panel Loki is presented in Nika's pose (which I would personally call god of laughter, heh).

So Shanks captured Loki on the seas 6 years ago. What was Loki doing rampaging on seas? It again supports the idea that he didn't want to become the next ruler. Especially since we also learn it was 14 years since King Harold was dead. 8 years is a long time, in which Loki didn't attempt to rule Elbaf at all. And finally he ditched it all and went to sea, huh.

Zoro's reaction is worth noting. Perhaps he realized he should keep Luffy in check. We see them talking shortly after outside and Zoro immediately catches on to Luffy's plan for freeing Loki and he is against it. Which is funny, considering he usually enables Luffy's chaotic energy, even in this arc, it's not like him to pause and question, instead of following Luffy's lead no matter what. This is like 180 degrees from his fuck up in Wano, when he let Luffy cause a rebellion (would freeing Loki cause a rebellion or turn Giants against Strawhats? Seems likely from their big reactions!). Back then Law trusted Zoro to keep Luffy in check, but Zoro didn't truly even try and that led to horrible consquences (Luffy landed in Udon, Zoro was a fugititve the whole arc and basically useless to their plans, wandering on his own instead). In the raid he tried to control Luffy a little, but instead caused as much havoc himself as well. I would say Zoro learned his lesson and tries to act smarter than this. Back in Wano his pal Law trusted Zoro to be able to keep Luffy in check when needed, but Zoro failed, despite being with Luffy since the very beginning, being his first trusted crewmate and friend. My guess is he thinks Law was right in general and Zoro himself should do better.

At first, Zoro is pushing the "reputation is just a reputation" and "I never met Loki" approach, but quickly shuts up. He probably got reminded of his own past. Zoro has really good intuition (even if he doesn't always know how to act on it) and I would say this is one of those moments. He wants to keep Luffy in check, but realizes Luffy never relies on reputation about someone. And he's usually right not to do that indeed. So even though he expects Loki might be lying to Luffy, he decides to give it a small leap of faith, while keeping an eye on the situation. Good old Zoro :)

Interestingly we learn that Government sent informants to Elbaf before, but they all mysteriously vanished thanks to a giant crow. We saw that crow before, it's definitely the same one that carried Strawhats to Rodo. Which means all those CP agents? Landed in Rodo's lego diorama! LOL. Now who's a chad without even knowing it? That's right, our pal Rodo :D Those skeletons probably belong to some of the more obnoxious agents too, so you don't have to feel too bad about them, lol.

While we don't really have it confirmed that it was Cipher Pol, they're called 諜報部員達 Chōhō Buin-tachi "Intelligence agents." Very similar to how CP is called. It's not the exact same kanjis, but we have a similiar situation in Egghead with the kidnapped agents. Chōhō kikan was how CP agents were referenced to in Egghead arc. Only first kanjis are the exact match, but the meaning in both cases is overall still almost the same: (ちょうほう) means "intelligence" or "espionage," and "部員" (ぶいん) means "member." The term refers to forces specializing in gathering secret information. At this point it would be weird if it was anyone else than CP, especially after we learned that CP0 is Celestial Dragon's shield (God Knights are said to also hold the same power or even be Celestial Dragons themselves).

Funny how Loki calls Knights "noble" in same sentence he calls Celestial Dragons scum. Does it mean that at one point in history those fractions weren't the same thing or even linked in any way? Let's remember Giants have a long standing history and preservere knowledge about the world that might be lost to other nations and races already.

This also confirms God Knights is actually some sort of knight order. Not every God Knight seems to hold the "saint" title like Celestial Dragons though (we need to keep an eye on it for confirmation).

Let's examine Shamrock's behaviour a bit closer. He seems to be rather levelheaded and would want to avoid uneccessary bloodshed. If an objective or goal can be achieved without killing anyone (even a wolf), he would definitely prioritize that option. He also stops Gunko from being too hasty/hot tempered, which shows 1. he's higher than her in hierarchy (duh, we know that already, but it's really neatly reflected in this dialogue) 2. despite the fact he is letting her execute the orders without doing much himself, I don't think the order actually came from Shamrock, but instead someone higher up (like Garling?).

Seems Shamrock isn't even allowed to make his own decisions without consulting it with anyone first. And that despite being the leader of the Knights! I gotta say, so far, Shamrock actually doesn't score any bastard points yet, lol. Despite fandom expecting him to be "the evil twin" ;) as for me? I'm just observing him. and observing. lol.

I know many people think Loki is really coldblooded here, but I disagree. Here, he's not actually talking to the God Knights. What he's saying is meant for his wolf friend. He tells him to die in peace and accept his fate, while Loki will avenge him (TCB translation directs Loki's speech to third person for the wolf, like Loki is talking to God Knights about him instead of to him, but he's not. He's talking directly to the wolf, which is emphasized by the "tomo yo" - my dear friend, end of his speech). He also tells him to die like a warrior, without opposing his own fate, scowling or complaining. And the wolf is listening, it literally stops howling in pain when he hears that. This is the multitude of their bond, it's genuine. Those beasts don't follow Loki because they have to, they follow him because of the warrior code. Loki is the true leader of their horde!

His words might seem harsh, but they're mostly assertive, he wants to assure his friend that nothing can break him and things will end up in their favour in the end. It's to appease his spirit. He's not apologetic for not choosing to spare him, but he assures he will never forget about this sacrifice. This is indeed probably the best thing he could have done in this situation. To the people who blame Loki for not choosing a better option: you know what, you should direct your rage instead on the God Knights that toy with the lifes of other creatures like it's nothing. Know who your actual enemy is. Loki is a victim who is faced with an unfair choice from the very beginning. Shamrock and Gunko know it, that's why they try to play with his emotions. They somehow know Loki is more compassionate than he seems.

This is probably how Loki himself also thinks about fate. Don't oppose it, just accept it like a true warrior should. Might explain why, despite being rather kindhearted, he embraced his role as the god of destruction and prophesized cursed prince. Perhaps.

In next line he declares: Kono Ikari o Kuratte Ore wa!!! (I will receive this rage for you, or literally "this rage, I will receive!"), which is the exact same wording style as the famous line Luffy always says: Kaizoku ou ni ore wa naru! (the reversed order of words, The Pirate King, I will become!) And I didn't see it pointed out before, but for me it's a clear sign we're talking about inherited will here. Loki will take the wolf's will on himself, he will inherit it, and that will is rage. Sometimes the will can be a dream, love or care (Saul's case?), protection and many other things too, apparently, Which means the moment Luffy declared his dream as becoming king of the pirates, which he shared with Roger, he at the same time inherited his will, even if he isn't exactly aware of it. Now that's a thought!

This is a tiny little scene, with Zoro being attentive. This detail brought back warm memories. Zoro was definitely not acting like this in Zou, which were similar circumenstances! In both scenarios the crew discovers a ransacked place. In Zou, Zoro thinks the gate is simply open, not paying attention. Law corrects him, pointing out stuff, and Zoro soon catches on, trying to do the same ("something wrong with the road too!"), a bit like he wants a praise, haha. Anyway, Zoro inspecting this door to the castle (it was broken from the inside, you can tell by the damage it left, and it's something that happened recently too!) is the Zoro who is smarter after spending some time with his pal Law :) that's Law's influence on him, right there. God I miss Law.

Cute moment with Rodo being a big chicken and Nami reassuring him. Her intention here isn't dictated by kindness. She commented just a moment ago that "this is too vast to be walkable". She was nice because she wanted Rodo to carry her, so she doesn't have to walk so much. But for that to happen, she needed to convince Rodo to be brave and walk inside together with them, lol. Zoro of course joins in for the ride, because he's a lazyass like that (he did the same thing in Punk Hazard, lol. always riding on Brownbeard's tail). It's worth noting he's resting his swords, is that a small bit of trust?

It's cute how Luffy remembers Rodo's name. I guess it's because Rodo is part of the Hajrudin's crew. Seems Luffy took it to heart to remember the members of his own fleet, which is admirable for someone who has such poor memory like Luffy, lol. So he remembers Hajrudin, Stansen and Rodo now. I think Rodo is actually really appreciating it. Not only did Rodo capture Strawhats, Luffy doesn't even hold it against him. In fact, he had quite a blast in his lego town, was a bit sad to leave it so soon and regretted they had to destroy some of the stuff. In other words, Luffy actually likes Rodo. Luffy usually likes good people and doesn't believe anyone is unworthy of living, keep that in mind.

The interior of the Aurust castle is quite interesting. Some speculate the name comes from english word for owl (who knows, who knows). What are those catacombs down there (they remind me of catacombs in Alabasta that we could explore in One Piece Odyssey, they were also destroyed, and it wasn't because of Crocodile)? Why did everything overgrow like this in mere 14 years? And why was this place out of access, to the point that no one even buried the Giants that got killed in the battle? Things are really suspicious.

We also learn about ancient giant blood which often shows as the presence of horns. Ain't that interesitng?

And we finally learn how King Harold looked like. I swear he reminds me of Kratos, lol. Minus the moustache. Some people pointed out he also looks a bit like Kaido, and since we know that Kaido also had horns (as well as Yamato) and was always kinda huge (though not Giant sized), it would make sense. But I'm not sure he's another illegitimate child of Harold, I think Kaido's blood is more dilluted, that's why he's not big like a Giant himself, unlike Hajrudin!

This brings up a question though. Hajrudin doesn't seem to have horns, and we have no idea if Loki's ones are real or just a helmet (though one of his horns on his helmet was glued back on, if you look closely). Does it mean there's no guarantee to have the horns as a child of someone who has them?

Apparently King Harold ripped his horns off as the declaration of changing his ways and seeking peace, which I think makes sense, since he was known as Great Warrior, he wasn't born a pacifist. Do you think Loki, his son, did a similar thing? is it possible Loki at some point blinded himself, as a sign of his conviction? Perhaps, like Fujitora, he couldn't stand the sight of the world and all the atrocities he saw in it. Yeah, I don't think all that rampage in the palace was caused by Loki. But I could believe Loki saw it all with his own eyes and blinded himself afterwards, having enough of seeing so much cruelty. That could be why the gentle and kindhearted Loki we heard about from Lola's flashback turned into bitter destroyer of the worlds he thinks he is today. Yeah, there's still so many possible explanations and none is truly dismissed yet.

But there's one more possibility here I wanna mention. Loki might have been framed, but instead of trying to tell people the truth, he decided to push that lie and took the blame on himself. Maybe he knew people would blame him anyway, because of that stupid prophecy, and Loki doesn't really believe in opposing his fate. But that would mean Jarul knows what actually happened and lied to us (he did avert his eyes when he talked about Loki). That sword he has in his helmet seems to belong to King Harold, btw. We don't have a proper close-up of it in the portait, but the handle has the exact same, unusual shape. I think it's more likely King Harold attacked Jarul with it rather than Loki stole his sword and tried to kill his father with it. It just makes more sense, you know. Maybe Harold was manipulated (Mingo's strings?) or maybe he was never the nice ruler everyone thought he is, or maybe he went insane. My bet personally is still on Government turning against Giants. That circle in the throne room must have been there before, I wouldn't be surprised if God Knights entered through it before and caused all that massacre we saw remnants of, and blamed it all on Loki. Government always lies and discards the pieces it doesn't need anymore. After all, everyone are just insects to them.

But why would God Knights want Loki? Okay, hear me out. Not only Loki didn't deny the blame they put on him (which put him ironically in their favour, heh), he also ate his father's devil fruit. It's likely to assume most if not all God Knights wield powerful devil fruits. Maybe that's why they killed Harold, to get his fruit (it is said to be one of the most powerful fruits after all!). But before they could do it, Loki ate it and ran off or chased them away. I'm still not sure what is Jarul's role in all of this though. Why is he not telling the truth, if that's the case? Did Loki asked him not to? Or was Jarul's life spared on the condition he never shares the truth of the event, and as the result he was the one who commanded the castle to be abandoned and sealed away, so that no one knows the truth. I hope we will get more leads, this honestly feels like an investigation of a crime scene, haha.

Jarul seems to know more than he seems to. 1. Gerd and Goldberg want to report to him after they check on Rodo, because they witnessed a giant crow carrying a ship. Goldberg also mentions "they're supposed to arrest intruders" back then (chapter 1130). Compare that to what Jarul said to Luffy: "not many humans make it here and mistake Underworld for actual Elbaf". Still think he didn't downplay that comment on purpose? Let me spell it out again so it sinks in: they arrest intruders who make it all the way up to Elbaf. They're not welcoming strangers in their land in general, period. Jarul sold Luffy the "nice version" instead of the truth. 2. Someone put those guards to keep an eye on the abandoned castle. That someone was most likely Jarul as well, because he's the only one besides Loki who knows what actually happened on that fateful day. Who are those guards protecting the castle from? Possible intruders from the summoning circle? Definitely not, the guards were clearly dumbfounded by their appearance. They guard this castle so that no unauthorized folk comes inside. Just like Rodo said it - no commoners, himself included, are allowed inside. Jarul doesn't want most people to know what's exactly in the castle.

Few thoughts here. First of all, Rodo is a great exposition device AND an excellent nerd guide. He shares all those trivias and bits of history, god bless him that he's accompanying the Strawhats. Too bad other Giants do not appreciate him much.

Second thought: when he says that Hajrudin holds the grudge against Loki, he adds "sadly". That little sentiment there suggests Hajrudin and Loki weren't on bad terms in the past, but King Harold's death sadly changed that. That could explain why Loki was never seemingly interested in becoming a ruler himself, he probably knew Hajrudin wanted to become one (it was his dream since he was a child, as we learn thanks to the tiny flashback of Rodo) and he was gentle and kind himself so he supported his own brother in his dream. Even after whatever shit happened in the castle, Loki never changed his mind about it... if that's the case, that's some true brotherly love right there. Hajrudin on the other hand probably wants to defeat Loki now, but thinks he can't (perhaps because of that devil fruit). We met Hajrudin in Dressrosa, he was trying to win the flame flame fruit back then, probably hoping it would make him stronger to take down Loki.

Luffy realizes he's butting into a conflict between brothers, oh boy.

Third thought: I absolutely adore how Rodo points out humans also kill each other and they're not any better from Giants having infights. Though just afterwards his pride takes over and he declares other races of Giants are inferior, but seeing his answer to Nami's comment he's not ignorant, he's really self-aware of his shortcomings here. Perhaps he wished he could change himself. Not surprising, considering he is serious when he declares he wants Hajrudin to become king of the giants and unite all the giant races. He's struggling, but he does strive to become better!

Rodo in the flashback is absolutely adorable and kinda a crybaby. Didn't I speculate in one of my chapter commentaries that Rodo seemed to me like a bullied nerd since he was a child? well, bingo. He indeed was. But it wasn't Gerd who saved him but Hajrudin instead. Which is why he considers him his friend and supports his dream, despite having tainted thoughts about pure bloodlines and other prejudice. I can't really blame him, seems he was always bullied and still is, to some extent. No one really cared when Rodo was carried all tied up to the tavern, for example. And I don't think Giants are so dedicated to humans in general, like Gerd or Dorry and Brogy.

There might be a reason why Rodo is roleplaying a sun god in his lego dioramas, he's fantasizing about a world in which he won't be bullied and has some agency instead. Power fantasies yep. But like we can see, he also has a submissive side to him. All in all, I think he would just want to live in a place where he isn't bullied and everyone are accepted, even if he has hard time believing it could be possible. No wonder, if you're bullied your whole life it's hard to imagine a better world. But Hajrudin could and Hajrudin wanted to be friends with him, and that was enough for Rodo to have restored just a tiny bit of faith back in "humanity", or rather, "giantity".

Rodo also has a good heart and is shy, he doesn't want to admit to the Strawhats that Hajrudin was his saviour. Instead he focuses on how awesome Hajrudin is: "straightforward, earnest, endured a lot but doesn't give up". He has a lot of gratitude and compassion for his friend, and would rather speak about him than his own struggles. We know how good of an intuition Zoro has, he probably sensed Rodo is hiding something (just like he did before with Robin or Okiku), he just doesn't know what or why, which is why he's prying Rodo with so many questions here. It's actually a huge step forward from his judging attitude with Robin, he would rather inquire now than show full distrust. But after hearing Rodo's answer about Hajrudin Zoro recognized they're similar to each other, him and Rodo, both were saved by their respective captains and want to repay them with loyalty and support, but are too shy to admit the real reason for it. This is the moment Zoro decided Rodo is alright, actually. He got Zoro's seal of approval and perhaps a bit of disappointment (seems Zoro won't be cutting him today lol).

I find the way Zoro phrased it very funny and dishonest though: "I understand, how boring". Yeah, he for sure doesn't think it's boring, he's just too shy to admit he's not that much different himself, pfff. Always trying to act so cool. Nami saw right through him there though which is why she laughed btw.

Speaking of Rodo, I dunno why so many people still can't find him likable and instead would show sympathy towards Gunko of all people. Her personality sucks! And she is a God Knight, what happened to the idea of "you're a bad person if you're truly supporting the Government"? She's the embodiment of exactly that! Doesn't apply anymore because she is pretty and flashed her panties and has a cool devil fruit? Geez. I'm just saying, it's less embarrassing to like Rodo than Gunko, he's a better person than she is. Gunko is so high and mighty, fully embracing superiority complex of a celestial dragon. I somehow get a sentiment that she was one of those recruits who always wanted "a better life" and considered becoming a God Knight as a chance to change her fate. Or perhaps she is trying to rationalize her own choice, heh.

Seems to me like Loki's threats are a bit hollow though. But I like his unyielding spirit! Though if he gave in now he would have let down his beasts friends that sacrificed themselves for him, so it's not like he had a choice, he had to act tough. I wonder if he's really so strong or is he just benefitting from the lies told about him...

And here we have him, the face and name reveal. Figarland Shamrock, son of Garling and captain of God's Knights, as well as a Celestial Dragon. Now, who is Shanks? Is he his twin? They sure are hauntingly look alike. Or perhaps is Shanks the clone? I guess we still don't have a definitive answer, but we know one thing for sure now: Shanks and Shamrock are two seperate people. I guess he's kinda handsome. I prefer more Shanks bratty attitude though. I wonder if the two ever met before... I would assume they did. Elbaf is Shanks territory and he said "he stayed a bit too long" and met Loki who called him a coward (perhaps for not releasing him or standing up to Shamrock?). Suspiciously enough we never saw the beginning of the conversation between God Knights and Loki, perhaps because Loki was already expecting them. I know people are already burying the "Shanks is the rat" theory, but I think it's a bit too soon to do that, lol. There's always a possibility the brothers are somewhat working together. Would I like it personally though? Meh, depends if there's a good reason for it.

For now I don't have any particular sympathy or antipathy towards Shamrock. I'm not opposed to the "twins" or "clones" idea here either. It all depends how it will be exected and I will keep my eye on this development. Still, I'm kinda glad it wasn't Shanks who had that secret meeting with Gorosei, just because it never truly fit Shanks to be there.

New piece of lore at the end of the chapter! In the past, Elbaf Giants dominated the whole sea of the New World, which is an interesting trivia to remember. It kinda makes sense, now after we know how strong they used to be!

A note about God Knights. They're called kishidan in Japanese which means something akin to "knights' order," suggesting a warrior group that hold values of honor and valor in high regard. Reminds me of those statues of warriors at the entry to the Red Line above, you know which one:

I wonder if there's some connection. Maybe a new incarnation of the old tradition. After all, who is the God the God Knights are named after? Imu? If so, what title does he hold? Another Sun God perhaps?

Yes, I'm insane like that, heh. But honestly, why not. Luffy is a Sun God, Bonney is a Sun God, Loki is a Sun God, Imu can be one too, lol.

More links on analysis of the last chapters:

Luffy says again he's not the hero and Nika has got nothing to do with him (standalone post of mine)

A video from Japanese translator dedicated to the Shamrock reveal, talking a lot about linguistics. We learn from it that Shamrock is probably not holding the same title his father did (Supreme Commander) but instead a lower rank captain, which checks out in my analysis of his behaviour too. There's some interesting trivia included about the ranks Dragon and Drake hold, suggesting that Drake is just a captain and there are probably higher ranked people in Sword above him :) interesting. I'm pretty certain this will turn out to be true.

Analysis of Gunko's Arrow-Arrow Fruit done by Tekking. Pretty good one. Everything besides his point about it perhaps being a logia I agree with. I probably won't pay too much attention to Gunko, because so far I'm not fond of her at all, but other people got you covered. She has a lot of fans already 😅

Elbaf's lore and investigation on King Harold and Loki done by Joyboy. He has actually two videos about that. His interpretations are kinda different from mine, so if you want to collect opinions and speculations to form your own theories, this is definitely something you shouldn't miss :)

[littlebittyhollowbugs]

In our series there is an episode in the first season where Ghost does banish the Grimm troupe and the the ritual is broken.

So the nightmare heart dies, but (because we are so attached to the characters and this is basically an everyone lives au) Grimm and Grimmchild both live, now disconnected from the heart and mortal, they decide to come and stay in Hallownest to repay little Ghost by providing the regrowing kingdom with entertainment through their circus.

Now all of this leads to a very fun character arc for Grimm throughout the series where he has a difficult time adjusting to being mortal after a thousand years of being the nightmare hearts puppet.

There are several episodes that tackle this subject and they are some of my favorite Grimm troupe episodes

These four in particular, the first is the banishment episode, the second is a fun one where Ghost/Shade lord loses some of their godly power and Grimm who is adjusting to a similar change steps in to help (may or may not actually be helpful lol).

The third centers around Grimm's fears concerning his childs mortality after Grimmchild is injured during an adventure,

and the fourth is about Grimm uncovering the stories of his now forgotten past lives with the help of Ellina the chronicler (who returns to Hallownest to make a record of the new kingdom.)

[autisticrosewilson]

First of all, you have given me so much to work with, thank you so much. Second of all, I’m really glad you could see where I was going with Grant’s real test not actually being about killing Slade. Third of all, I absolutely love what you’ve suggested with the powers and I am currently designing met gala esque outfits for the trio and Tara’s specifically is really fun to play around with. I’ve been thinking to show they’re becoming more divine I’ll change their hair and eye colours but not their faces for the most part. I was drawing robin Jason with Natalia and decided he should have brown eyes and a crooked nose from breaking it as a kid but once he returns his eyes get weird (eg go blue and occasionally other colours), a patch of his hair went white and he lost all of his scars. Also, I think the closer they get to divinity I’m gonna draw cracks on their body that glow with their specific colours just to hammer home how they’re shedding their mortal forms.

With Tara being able to see the strings of fate, I though it’d be fun to give her a harp and then with Jason having the see no evil trait I thought it’d be fun to give him weighing scales since lady justice wears a blindfold. Idk what to give Grant though. I mean probably a weapon of some sort or maybe a Shepard’s crook that he can turn into a scythe to play into the sheep, wolf, Hunter thing.

With Jason and Tara’s splintering, I love the idea of them making fun of Grant for being the baby god. He hasn’t even had a cult yet, gosh he’s so young. Also them being besties just holds a special place in my heart.

And I just came up with this, of course they have parallels to the trinity but in universe rumours of their existence have been around much longer than Bruce, Clark and Diana. They’re the big three of the justice league but these guys are justice gods. So they start calling themselves the justice trinity but then people get confused about which trinity is which because the justice leagues’ trinity sounds awfully close to the justice gods’ trinity. The new all caste is certainly more distinctive branding but the point isn’t to be distinctive, it’s to be petty.

I'm so glad my unmedicated rambling helped!!! And I'm so excited for the outfits!!! I love when characters start becoming less and less human, when they're stuck in that uncanny valley spot of not quite human but not entirely Other, when they lose control and the cracks start to show...um I should probably give a warning for slight body horror elements. Not in the gore sense, in the "this body is not made of flesh and there is something divine clawing it's way out". Uh also there are teeth. Just. Teeth. I dipped into a little bit of cosmic horror at the end there because I wanted to cover my bases with mixed mythologies

Jason, with his defined splinters, is usually depicted with three faces in ancient texts. The Child, gaunt and dark colored, is said to appear before the downtrodden and impoverished. The few stories remaining tell of kindly people who give him an offering, and in exchange he reveals his true form, with his crown of golden ivy and beautiful strong wings to gift them bounties of food and water and riches. Other stories tell of not so kind encounters, where The Child witnesses an injustice - typically against women or children - and again reveals his true form, one with clawed hands and a mouth dripping with blood. Scholars argue what the wings looked like, but whichever All-Caste member annotated it before has compared their likeness to either a Robin or a Shrike.

There's also The Ghost, He appears young at first glance, but his hair is wirey and gray, his eyes milky and unseeing, in bloodied armor he greets the souls of the damned as they're delivered to him, and with scarred hands he wipes the tears of children taken too soon. Accounts of this face are few and far between, but all of them are entrenched in sorrow.

Finally there is The Soldier, scarred and still smoking from the ruins of battle he emerges, giving voice to the weak and resources to the needy. He champions revolutionaries and philosophers first, a strategist who delights in the liberation of the people from corrupt systems. Accounts of him usually come from times of famine and war, and he was particularly popular with poor villages, who would mark the graves of their dead with the symbol of his sword as offerings. For some reason or other, he got particularly popular with the youth, girls and boys both seemed to pray for him and leave him offerings.

The way these manifest on Jason is subtle at first. I could go the body horror route, but I won't. Yet. Instead I think his splinters show up as reflections, shadows, imprints. The faint echo of bell-like laughter when Jason does a move he learned as Robin, the image of a younger him with longer hair and unblinking eyes staring at him in the mirror. It gets worse when he gets the blades, the white streaks his hair, the swirling mark covers more of his skin every time he uses them, he trails the scent of smoke and blood behind him like a signature. His scars...they should disappear. They have for everyone else who used the pit, but instead his skin starts cracking. Any place he's ever been scarred glowing cracks break up his skin. He can't feel them, but he's always aware of them, the meaning behind them, the divinity literally leaking through his body. His eyes aren't brown anymore. They aren't even green. He looks in the mirror and they are copper, molten and burning. He tries his best to keep his mask on.

What do you think of when you imagine the word divinity? Probably something like Tara. Something with skin carved from stone, with moss and fungus crawling up her legs and snow laden shoulders. They say her hair is made of swirling clouds and the sun and moon are her eyes.

Some say she's a nymph although no one knows what kind. You're just as likely to see her name among the naiads as the dryads. Whether flowers bloom where she dances or waves crash when she sings, she's known to be more vicious towards suitors than her sisters.

Others have said she's a faerie, who takes the faces of lost daughters and lovers, slipping into their places seamlessly, forcing unruly men to pay their dues. Others say she's a shifter of a different sort, with a shawl of feathers and a crown of twine and gems. Stories range from men trying to steal her coat (and paying dearly) to lost children returned safely home on the back of a swan.

Tara doesn't think about it at first, the way gravity tends to cede to her, she doesn't notice how sunflowers turn their faces towards her instead of the sun. She doesn't notice the way her face...shifts. it's imperceptible really, and it's not like she looks in the mirror all that often. But everyone around her notices it, on some level, the way her expressions are off. A little too exaggerated. The way her limbs bend just a little too oddly. The way she never looks quite the same as she did the day before, the way she picks up features from the people around her the way she picks up rocks from ground to add to her collection. Clay molded subtly into the image of those she loves, a museum of everyone she's ever met. She does notice when her hair starts going white at the ends, the strange way her hair starts to curl unnaturally, almost floating. She's not so upset about her eyes, the deep blue of her father that has glared down at her day after day, she has changed her hair, her face, her language but she could not change her eyes. It seems she didn't have to, when she wakes up with one a little too silver to be gray and one a little too gold to be brown. And then her skin starts splitting, a cavern made from a broken rib and ravines made by the slashing of knives. She doesn't even bleed anymore, they never scab over. They crystallize, amber like ambrosia, like ichor. Her body a geode waiting to be cracked open to let the thing within finally break free.

They know the least about Grant, whatever he used to be. Half written scrolls, torn or burnt or simply stopped abruptly, illegible journal entries with symbols never recorded in any known language, half finished sketches where the details are never quite clear. A few things are usually consistent though, signs that he's been there, usually from hunters down on their luck or the particularly old and sickly. First, the howling. Like a wolf or a storm, although later accounts would add that it occasionally sounds like a mechanical whirring. Then the rabbits, dead and gutted, but not a trace of blood. Piles of them left in heaps on doorsteps or windowsills. Some have reported knocking at strange hours or finding teeth in their homes, a mix of human and animal. There is one photo on record, the most recent thing in the archive most likely, of claw marks on the side of a barn, too big and oddly serrated, certainly not from anything native to the area. Elderly that report these phenomena typically pass from heart problems within the week, according to some of the old medical files.

Grant came back wrong. Physically, at least. He knows that he's still himself for the most part, dying didn't make him a selfish asshole he did that all on his own, but...but something is wrong with him. It's the way lightbulbs flicker when he's mad and how cameras, no matter the quality, never quite get a clear shot of him. The way Joey can't ever grasp his features, not fully, the details slipping from his mind like water. The way eyes on his face slide right past, unable to look directly at him. It's in the gray spreading from his roots and his eyes too wide and dark to belong to something human. It's the way death clings to him like a second skin, sickly and pallid turning the tips of his fingers gray. His teeth are starting to feel too sharp for his mouth, and he hears things no one else does, whispers of voices that Are Not and Can't Be. The worst part is the orange, liquid candlelight under his skin, lighting up all of his veins and scars, webbing together like the world's worst game of connect the dots. No, there is no mistaking him for something human, so there is no reason to try. If this is his fate then he will take it, because he is not a sheep and he will not be a wolf, he is a hunter, and he is hungry.

[kirbyddd]

for a long while when I'd visit my relatives on the chesapeake for a brief respite from the hells of home life, there was an odd beat-up little cardboard box sitting amid the plastic-cased ds games in the gamestop I'd always visit (rarely to actually get anything)

finally, one time before the journey back to hell, i actually had a scattering of bills in my pocket. after looking around at the shelves of shovelware (i didnt have enough for any of the proper titles like mario or pokemon), i finally decided to bring the story to a close and give the ragged little box a home

it was Sola-to-Robo, one of the rarest ds games ever published, possibly the most technically advanced engine ever devised on the system, and among the most unique and emotional experiences I'd ever encountered in a video game (which is saying something considering I'd already all but lost emotion by that point)

i barely remember it anymore, but for the time it became my favorite standalone game of all time (although it technically is part of a series, succeeding the PS1's equally obscure Tail Concerto)

I still dream of returning to it and seeing just how well it holds up from a more experienced point of view

the one thing i do remember is that it had and still has by far the most beautiful and powerful opening song of any game ive ever encountered, which is saying something considering the hundreds out there! it's up there with Atelier Meruru's Cadena

also the fact that when you beat the game, after the credits it goes "chapter 2" and there's an entire sequel within the game. altogether both parts are probably not longer than any other rpg, but on the original ds where full 3d action rpgs were resource intensive and typically limited in scope, it was mindblowing

also it apparently had like undefeatable copy-protection and to this day still requires a modified rom to emulate or even run on original hardware without a card?

anyways.... remarkable game. i was shocked to find that it's one of the most sought after titles on the system. in rarities ive personally enountered it's second probably only to Retro Game Challenge, which I encountered at regular price once in the late 2010s but didnt have the money for at the time... that's my "one that got away"

[sortanonymous]

I can't stand the tension! I miss Unicorn: Warriors Eternal so much! I just need to know if it's coming back or not! If it's getting another season (or three like Genndy hoped for), then that's freaking awesome! If it's getting Zaslav'd before it can ever address that cliffhanger, then that's the biggest disgrace to happen in this industry in about a month or two (maybe idk). But just let ne know already! It's been a year! I miss Mel/Em, Ed, and the others so much! SGGYJGDGHBFGRKKDDYHHH

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

i love these ship name polls so mucj because you can TELL just by looking in the notes who claims to be in the fandom and hasnt actually watched the show. some of these are so obvious guys. pointing at the d.px.d/c fans like. you guys have not actually watched danny phantom and it shows

[beefy-babe-showdown]

look i know i said i was only allowing 2 characters per source material but it turns out i was lying to you guys. she-ra, ok k.o.! and arcane will each have 3 entrants in the bracket

[tyrantwombat]

LET YOUR DEAF CHARACTERS USE SIGN LANGUAGE YOU FUCKING. COWARDS.

[absentlyabbie]

seriously, though. i work in higher education, and part of my job is students sending me transcripts. you'd think the ones who have the least idea how to actually do that would be the older ones, and while sure, they definitely struggle with it, i see it most with the younger students. the teens to early 20s crowd.

very, astonishingly often, they don't know how to work with .pdf documents. i get garbage phone screenshots, sometimes inserted into an excel or word file for who knows what reason, but most often it's just a raw .jpg or other image file.

they definitely either don't know how to use a scanner, don't have access to one, or don't even know where they might go for that (staples and other office supply stores sometimes still have these services, but public libraries always have your back, kids.) so when they have a paper transcript and need to send me a copy electronically, it's just terrible photos at bad angles full of thumbs and text-obscuring shadows.

mind bogglingly frequently, i get cell phone photos of computer screens. they don't know how to take a screenshot on a computer. they don't know the function of the Print Screen button on the keyboard. they don't know how to right click a web page, hit "print", and choose "save as PDF" to produce a full and unbroken capture of the entirety of a webpage.

sometimes they'll just copy the text of a transcript and paste it right into the message of an email. that's if they figure out the difference between the body text portion of the email and the subject line, because quite frankly they often don't.

these are people who in most cases have done at least some college work already, but they have absolutely no clue how to utilize the attachment function in an email, and for some reason they don't consider they could google very quickly for instructions or even videos.

i am not taking a shit on gen z/gen alpha here, i'm really not.

what i am is aghast that they've been so massively failed on so many levels. the education system assumed they were "native" to technology and needed to be taught nothing. their parents assumed the same, or assumed the schools would teach them, or don't know how themselves and are too intimidated to figure it out and teach their kids these skills at home.

they spend hours a day on instagram and tiktok and youtube and etc, so they surely know (this is ridiculous to assume!!!) how to draft a formal email and format the text and what part goes where and what all those damn little symbols means, right? SURELY they're already familiar with every file type under the sun and know how to make use of whatever's salient in a pinch, right???

THEY MUST CERTAINLY know, innately, as one knows how to inhale, how to type in business formatting and formal communication style, how to present themselves in a way that gets them taken seriously by formal institutions, how to appear and be competent in basic/standard digital skills. SURELY. Of course. RIGHT!!!!

it's MADDENING, it's insane, and it's frustrating from the receiving end, but even more frustrating knowing they're stumbling blind out there in the digital spaces of grown-up matters, being dismissed, being considered less intelligent, being talked down to, because every adult and system responsible for them just

ASSUMED they should "just know" or "just figure out" these important things no one ever bothered to teach them, or half the time even introduce the concepts of before asking them to do it, on the spot, with high educational or professional stakes.

kids shouldn't have to supplement their own education like this and get sneered and scoffed at if they don't.

[lavenderprose]

I'm glad we agree that Emmrich has an absolutely unconscionable amount of rizz. However, I also have a great appreciation for his proficiency at the great honored pastime of Being A Fucking Weirdo. My man goes to work at the Death Factory every single day and copes with his deep deep fear of dying by?? Cosplaying a skeleton? Taash was NOT WRONG when they called him the corpse guy. Even amongst other necromancers, he is THEE corpse guy! His best friend is a skeleton and he hasn't left the Cemetary Where He Lives for years. He is 90% ookie spooks and 10% bisexual disaster man. The only reason he's so suave and smooth is because the ookie spooks are actually load-bearing and manage to utterly obscure what a nervous wreck he is at all times of day. It's hard to give into the existential dread when you're spending all of your time saying shit like, "The tapestry of the Fade holds many threads."

I just know that this man is holding back the mother of all existential crises. He all but has it after he yoinks Rook out of the Fade but he bottles it back up so quick you KNOW that wasn't the whole thing. You KNOW that Rook is going to wake up in the middle of the night six months after Elgar'nan bites it and there Emmrich will be, lich or not, staring blankly at the ceiling and saying, "Darling, what does it all mean?" Emmrich Volkarin is a sexy, sexy man who needs therapy and some sleep and maybe an extended sabbatical from Dead People University.

[wonderjanga]

Billy and Bars

Now, as you probably know, most of the time Billy is ages 8 to maybe 15 (that’s what I’ve seen anyways) and of course, his Captain Marvel form looks like an adult. So, it wouldn’t be strange for an adult to ask another adult to go to a bar with them. Which is why Billy is caught in a dilemma. On one hand, he could just say no, but after a long mission where they’d all spent like two days on an alien planet under constant heavy fire from a cute and cuddly, yet surprisingly bloodthirsty race? It’d be weird not to accept. They might suspect him for being a kid! And boy, Billy does not want that. But on the other hand, he’s not of legal drinking age.

He ends up going with them anyways. Now, all the heroes are sat at a dingy bar in Central City, out of costume, of course. Though, some of them cough Bruce cough Diana cough Arthur cough and you can’t forget Billy, still in Marvel form. (He took a page out of Supe’s book and wore glasses. He’s also for some reason wearing Hawaiian print. (He didn’t have actual adult clothes and needed to borrow from a bargain bin))

Billy thankfully found a loophole for this whole mess. That’s right, this guys gonna be sipping virgin margaritas for the rest of the night. And, he try as many flavors as he wants because you wanna know the best part? Bruce is paying for everything! If Billy could jump in joy, he would. It didn’t matter that Hal was a little obnoxious when drunk off his mind. He’s dealt with worse and it’s not like it’s all that bad. He’s kinda funnier than usual this way. He gets the spend the rest of the day with people he considers friends, that’s all that really matters.

GL: “Dude, why do you keep ordering virgins?”

Crap. What does Billy say to that? Right off the bat, Billy ignores Solomon’s first, and quite frankly, wild lie to tell.

Marvel: “Hmm? Oh uh… I… like the way they taste…?”

He’s a bad liar.

Aquaman: *drinking beer* “Try again, bud.”

Okay… It looks like he might have to listen to Solomon after all. Gosh dang it.

Marvel: “Uhm… I kinda used to maybe sort of might’ve had an addiction and had to go to AA a long time ago.” *Sips drink*

He was always better at lying when the lie was already prepared.

*Whole table goes silent*

Marvel: “Uh… I’ve been sober for a while. Like…” ‘Twelve years, Billy,’ Solomon supplied in his head. “…Twelve years.”

*Table is still silent.*

Flash: *Interrupts silence by slamming hands on table* “Dude! You cannot keep dropping Marvel Lore Bombs™️ on us like this!” (Btw this is the same universe as the Marvel Compilations post. I didn’t mean to write it like it was the same universe but I might as well connect them cause why not)

Marvel: “Whaddya mean?”

Superman: “Well, Marvel…” *scratches back of head* “You kinda have this tendency to… Gosh, how do I put this?”

Martian Manhunter: “You drop obscure information about yourself at random times.”

Wonder Woman: “Then you just go about your day like you didn’t say it in the first place. For example Cap, you can’t just tell me that at some point you were an Amazonian, you were there for my birth, and then just walk off.”

GL: “Marvel, how old are you?”

Marvel: “Uuuuuuhhhhhhh….”

Batman: “You date back to having existed before Mesopotamia. I want to know the answer to that question Marvel.” *Bat-glares Billy while sipping from his drink.*

Bruce was definitely going to add the AA thing to his quite small folder on Marvel.

The night continues on with the other members of the JL grilling Billy for more information about himself, which Solomon helps with by either supplying him with lies, or with things previous champions did. By the time the night was over, Billy never wanted to go to a bar again. He unshazamed in an alley and went home to his little place. He bee-lined to his sleeping bag and just when he was about to fall asleep, something popped into his mind:

‘Why didn’t I just say I didn’t like the way it tastes?’ That thought kept him up for a couple more hours.

[notaplaceofhonour]

One of the most frustrating parts of the extreme rhetoric around Israel/Palestine (besides the obvious reliance on antisemitic & anti-Arab, Islamophobic tropes) is that it exceptionalizes so many things that are actually pretty standard features of nation-states and war in a way that completely compartmentalizes the criticism of these things into just being about criticizing the “few bad apple” countries instead of criticizing the entire institution of nation-states and war as a whole.

For instance: the fact is that war kills civilians, at an alarming average of 6:1 civilians-to-combatants deaths. The status quo of war, across the board, is that way more civilians die than combatants. And yet, despite the high death toll, despite Hamas using civilian infrastructure & noncombatants as human shields (which Hamas has openly admitted to doing), despite the imprecise & destructive nature of using bombs on urban targets, and despite the inadequate humanitarian aid that has been able to make it into Gaza… the IDF has still managed to stayed well below the average of civilian casualties.

The point of saying this is not “this is what war looks like so it’s not a big deal” it’s “this is what war looks like so we as a species need to stop doing it”—seeing the devastation war has brought to the people Gaza should move you, and it should make you never want to see another war again. It should make you want a ceasefire not just for Israel and this war but all wars always. And obviously, in practice, it’s not that simple—peace is more than “just don’t do war” and the thing about ceasefires and peace treaties is they kind of have to be mutual to mean anything—but the point stands: War Bad.

However, if instead you see the destruction in Gaza and think it’s an exceptional case, where Israel is evil and the only way war could be this destructive is genocide, you get to preserve this romanticized, idealistic fantasy of war as, violent yes, but perhaps only in a cathartic, tragic-but-beautiful way—a glorious struggle where two armies clash on a battlefield far removed from everyday life and only soldiers die. You get to preserve your belief in Just War, to look forward to a morally uncomplicated Glorious Revolution™️—you may even preserve your ability to cheer on the death of Israelis.

And that’s just one issue. There are others: the claim of “ethnostate” obscures criticisms of nation-states as a concept, the claim of “apartheid” obscures criticisms of how borders & citizenship are set up across the world, etc. This inverse Israeli Exceptionalism where Israel is treated as uniquely or exceptionally problematic isn’t simply discriminatory or rooted in prejudice (which are reasons enough to criticize it, as I have), it’s actively impeding the left’s ability to criticize the actual structural systems that are the problem.

[mymoshangthoughts]

okay, okay, okay, bear with me

mobei jun already knows about shang qinghua as airplane

oki ive decided to take advantage of the fact that WE NEVER GET A MOBEI JUN POV AND I'LL BE FORVER SALTY ABOUT THAT SHIT

but like, shen yuan figured airplane out REAL fast, right? they barely spent time together before the immortal alliance and then it takes one surprise before airplane is saying stupid shit, right?

and i cant help but think, mobei jun aint dumb and he's been spending How Many Years crashing at shang qinghua's leisure house whenever the fuck he feels like it?

he also finds shang qinghua to be Hella Sus because come on, ofc he does. a human just declares their undying loyalty to you after one fucking meeting??? even if he believes shang qinghua is being sincere in the moment, the fact that he was so quick to betray his sect doesnt speak of a loyal servant

so why wouldnt he snoop? why wouldnt he pay extra close attention when shang qinghua says shit that doesnt make sense? why wouldnt he notice when shang qinghua speaks or writes in a language that he doesnt recognize? airplane canonically isnt fluent in english so if he used a bit of it, especially chinglish, wouldnt mobei jun be able to learn some of the meanings of the words just by context clues? especially when he has YEARS to decode it? like if airplane was fluent, maybe he could hide the meaning, but a limited vocabulary adapted to another language isnt actually super hard to decode. it's the same reason that you can generally understand what slang means before you look up the definition. you might not know what 'rizz' means, but you can pick up the meaning from context clues.

anyway im over explaining the linguistic aspects ALL IM SAYING IS what if airplane kinda depends heavily on chinglish to be his Secret Language that Theres No Way That Anyone Here Can Get. and sure, for most people, it does seem like gibberish. but again, mobei jun has YEARS at his side and reasons to nitpick at it and decode it.

like what if airplane had a habit of writing out pidw plot points in chinglish bc look he is Going to forget shit no matter what, he wrote that novel a lifetime ago, but theres some info thats pretty important for him to Not Forget. so mobei jun is just left with a huge stash of Impossible Information that shang qinghua writes about

everything ranging from future events to obscure demon world facts that theres just no justifiable reason for shang qinghua to know about and just everything in between.

but also what if shang qinghua wrote his feelings? his thoughts? his issues? like cmon, he literally has NO ONE to consult with about the insanity of his life before cucumber-bro, and his life is really crazy, and he used to be the person who wrote out his feelings via novel but look dude he's not about to tempt fate by writing out another novel rn so a diary makes sense. or at least like, random venting

and again, this isnt even mentioning airplane having some potential verbal fuckups that mobei jun can add to his ever growing file of "shang qinghua has something fucking going on"

and like, maybe mobei jun hasnt actually figured out the exact truth but he has some eerily close guesses. or maybe airplane wrote a lengthy journal explaining literally his entire fucked up life and mobei jun knows Everything.

look im just a little bit obsessed with mobei jun casually being aware for YEARS that shang qinghua is from another world and might have once had god-like powers over this world. i think this is very funny and i think it could work in a canon compliant way. cuz i also like to think that some of mobei jun's aggro at shang qinghua was a mixture of

you literally wont tell me who you really are. you claim to be my loyal subject but you wont even tell me your real name and Yes I'm Upset About That

you fucking fucker, you literally PLANNED that horrible event to happen???? you suck so bad omfg. THAT WAS TRAUMATIZING FOR ME YOU JERK NO I DONT CARE IF YOU FEEL BAD ABOUT IT NOW

your handwriting sucks and im mad that i didnt just have to decode your weird other language, i also had to decode your fucking horrendous handwriting and i dont know if i can ever forgive you for that

you barely ever show your real personality in front of me and i have to learn how you really feel by reading this fucking notes and YES IM UPSET ABOUT THAT

i also just love the idea of Something Happening to do with the multiverse and basically mobei jun is the only one who isnt remotely surprised lmfao. binghe is in crisis mode, cucumber thinks he's gonna die, airplane is freaked out, and mobei jun is just like "yeah, figured some dumb shit like this might happen. you didnt know binghe? dont you pay any attention to your husband :/ dude, they're not even good at hiding it, i thought you were supposed to be smart"

also the simultaneous heartattacks that cucumber and airplane would have that mobei jun just KNOWS like thats hilarious. imagine they need to talk about something secretly in public and its super urgent and mobei jun just starts using chinglish or webspeak or something perfectly and cumplane are FREAKING THE FUCK OUT

mobei jun: that mofo is hella sus, but keep it on the dl. ttyl i need to do a vibe check

cumplane: ?!?!?!?!?!?

[olderthannetfic]

hi, as someone who is tragically gen Z and only ever read AO3, can I ask: what was so great about LiveJournal? Like, I know that there were fics posted there (and I've even read about the "purge", so I get why it isn't used anymore) and that it was sort of a forum-type thing. But what I don't understand, wouldn't Tumblr fill in the latter function? How was that site any different? I see a lot of people reminiscing about it and I'm confused

--

A big factor in LJ's greatness is timing and nostalgia.

It was genuinely great, but it wasn't quite as great as all of the Lo, shall the Golden Age ne'er come again? posts suggest.

LJ arrived at a pivotal time in the development of the internet both in terms of technical stuff and how many people had access. Many fans who are now in their thirties to fifties first discovered fandom through LJ and many were at a time in their lives when they were feeling energetic and up to making lots of new friends—and to figuring out how to make a site work for them.

I got on LJ in 2002 when it required invites. Fandom arrived in droves in 2003, first via coordinated campaigns to get invites to key people and then when LJ opened up free account creation to everyone. Back then, LJ's features sucked. It was impossible to search properly, among other things. At its height (2005-7, let's say), there was a reasonable site search, and fans had developed all sorts of community resources for finding each other.

People often remember this phase but not the early days of suckitude.

This development parallels how Tumblr used to not have that private chat feature and how a lot of fuckyeah[whatever] type tumblrs have helped curate the site and make it much more usable for fans. Fandom draining away from LJ after strikethrough also parallels people draining away from Tumblr after the purge.

There are people who talk about Tumblr the way my cohort talks about LJ...

And to the shock of no one, they are people who came of age on Tumblr, who found fandom via Tumblr, who were on Tumblr during pivotal times in their lives and ones when they had energy to make friends and figure out how a site worked.

Those same Tumblrites are now making all the same geriatric-sounding posts we LJers do about how other sites lack the required features to be good for fandom while missing that 90% of tumblr's "features" at its height (2012-2016, let's say) were actually fan-created and were basically the same as any fandom newsletter or links page or all the versions of this kind of personal curation stretching back to long before the internet existed.

What life phase you hit a site at matters.

--

With all of that said, no, LJ was not a forum. It was a blogging site with threaded comments.

The key point to understand is that conversation was always happening in a specific person's space. Unlike on a true forum, people were in the comments on a particular post in a journal owned by another fan. (On a forum, there's the first post in a thread, but it's still more of a communal space with less of a hierarchy.)

Overall, the LJ format can have a feeling a bit like you're over at someone's house for tea. There's more of a sense of intimacy and also behaving yourself in front of community members.

Tumblr being obscure and impossible to find anything in does give it some of the same vibe relative to Twitter, but it's still part of modern social media that tries to shove every rando into the face of every other rando.

But it wasn't just vibes: LJ also had robust privacy features where you could lock a post to this or that group of friends. You could moderate your comments section properly. Tumblr has far fewer controls to force people to behave or leave on a technical level.

--

The biggest thing many people miss about LJ is the threaded comments. At least by late LJ and on Dreamwidth, you can expand and collapse threads, making it far easier to deal with a massive comments section. But more than that, things are properly threaded with multiple levels of hierarchy that are all easily visible in the same place.

On Tumblr, it used to be extremely difficult to find all of the actual commentary on a post. Nowadays, it's far easier, but you still have to scroll chronologically, and multiple versions of a post with a long chain of commentary may be much more divorced from each other than what would happen in a LJ comments section.

--

But could we use Tumblr pretty much how we used LJ?

We could.

I do.

--

The key things that people tend to miss about LJ, aside from the younger and more excited version of themselves or the friends they've lost since then, are:

Heavily text-based

It may sound odd on the modern internet, but there are a lot of people whose brains don't like or handle an image-heavy site well. They were everywhere in SF book fandom. They were everywhere on the early internet. Today, they're hanging out on Dreamwidth and still going to their SF cons. They're usually not on Tumblr.

You could follow the discussion

Threaded comments help, but a lot of it is about having some place you can check for updates. It wasn't actually that easy to follow big LJ discussions unless you were subscribed to comments and reading along as things were happening instead of coming along after the entire mass of comments had been left.

The tone of the discussion is intellectual and one's enemies are "idiots", not "problematic"

All this requires is a penchant for longwindedness and an itchy blocking finger to remove anyone slinging ad hominems from the comments section.

On tumblr, it's as simple as conversations happening in the replies on a popular account and that person not tolerating suibaiting and threats.

(And make no mistake, a lot of LJ discussion was in the comments on popular accounts, not spread equally between everyone's.)

It does require that multiple people like that tone and want to engage in that way, but lots of people do want to.

--

These days, I interact with tumblr by checking my askbox and reading my activity page. The vast, vast majority of my posts are ones where I'm the OP, so if I block someone, they're booted from the discussion entirely.

For me... yeah, Tumblr functions almost exactly like LJ.

Also like LJ, while I'm hosting the conversation, if you hang around, you'll see the same people again and again in the comments. They may or may not also host that kind of conversation in their space, and there's a larger pool of lurkers who have some notion of which people count as regulars. Other people are watching from the shadows, enjoying or deriding the takes of the usual crowd.

People presumably do like reading my lengthy commentary or they wouldn't be here, but my tumblr wouldn't be popular like this without a healthy pool of other people who chime in regularly. It's not just that there are more people: it's that you see the same people over time. There's a bit more sense of place and community than on some parts of the internet.

--

So, in my opinion, the failure to just recreate LJ fandom on Tumblr was a skill issue.

Threaded comments were great, but LJ culture came from mailing lists, and mailing lists had the same issue as tumblr with the diverging threads.

We solved that back then by clipping out only the parts we wanted to respond to (you'd write "snip" around the quotation to show it was incomplete). We solved the smaller LJ issue by linking to other posts we were referencing and doing discussion link roundups. We solve it on tumblr by, again, linking to what we're talking about and even quoting multiple reblog chains in our own reblog of just one chain.

--

Tumblr's technical features and even general crap-ness aren't really the problem. 90s and early 00s sites regularly went down for periods of time unthinkable today.

The missing piece is people.

When one is in an active fandom with others who curate or with friends who let one know what's up, a site with imperfect features is easy to figure out and retrofit for fandom's needs. When one already feels out of touch and is between fannish passions—or at least fannish passions anyone else cares about—seeing the potential in a new site is hard.

--

Threaded comments are different and better.

LJ's built-in way to see everyone's blog in your own style was better. The automatic timestamps and the ease of seeing a paginated archive of an entire blog was better than tumblr's endless scroll and lack of clear date labeling. But some of that can be fixed with xkit or knowing your way around tumblr well.

A lot of it is nostalgia for the lj era and a refusal to take the time to figure out how to use tumblr in an oldschool internet way.

--

So by all means, people, weigh in about what made LJ great or how the culture felt at the time...

But if I see one more god damn response going "You can't have a conversation on tumblr!" in reply to my tumblr, which contains nothing but conversation, I am coming for you.

[saintsenara]

Do you think harry is more similar to lily or James

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

i think the assessment of harry's character which dumbledore gives to snape in deathly hallows is more or less the correct one:

“He is his father over again -”  “In looks, perhaps, but his deepest nature is much more like his mother’s.”

which i think can be expanded upon really interestingly as an example of something which the series does really, really well - how it obscures the fact that lily is the key to the mystery right up until the last minute.

the things harry has in common with james - not only his looks, but his quidditch talent, his impulsivity, his disregard for the rules, his arrogance, his cunning, his beef with snape, his adoration of sirius, his belief that his uncle is faintly ridiculous, and his bold, flashy courage - are big and explicit and demonstrative, and the text lampshades that they're inherited from his father at every opportunity.

[and not only in how many characters mention that he looks like james. voldemort - for example - mentions james' demonstrative bravery - facing him "like a man" - every time he and harry interact; sirius and lupin never mention lily when discussing harry's personality, even when what they're talking about is how he's not like james.]

the text also goes out of its way to suggest that similarly big aspects of lily's character have not been inherited by her son - the most obvious example of which is that, in half-blood prince, the incandescent talent at potions which has slughorn raving about how like his mother harry is... is actually the result of harry cheating [and cheating from a textbook he's convinced for much of the book might have belonged to james].

the only thing the text emphasises again and again that harry has inherited from his mother are his eyes.

and - in doing this - the series is actually telling us something very clear about what it understands harry to have in common with lily.

eyes are a frequent motif throughout the text, which are almost always connected to the themes of authenticity and truth.

dumbledore's eyes give away his true feelings in goblet of fire - when the "gleam of something like triumph" comes into them after he learns that voldemort used harry's blood to resurrect himself - before serving as a metaphor for the way the information about the prophecy is being withheld from harry in order of the phoenix when he refuses to make eye contact with him.

[dumbledore's eyes also stop "twinkling" after voldemort returns, in a sign of how serious the situation - which the ministry never appreciates the full gravity of - is becoming.]

occlumency and legilimency - the obscuring and seeking of truth - depend on eye contact. the teenage tom riddle's eyes - with their gleam of red - give away his true depravity, even when he's still outwardly charming and beautiful. the teen snape sees the reason for his obsession with the marauders "wrenched from him against his will" at the force of lily's glare [and the adult snape frequently averts his own gaze from harry when he clearly doesn't want to risk seeing anger or pain in lily's eyes]. ginny's love for harry - her "never giving up" on him, her willingness to wait and endure while he goes off on the horcrux hunt - is communicated by a "blazing look". the basilisk kills by looking - but doesn't kill anyone in chamber of secrets, since the truth about the culprit isn't known. and so on...

which is to say - the series regards the eyes as the windows to the soul [an idea which is connected to a verse in chapter six of the gospel of matthew - the verse immediately preceding which, "for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also", is inscribed upon kendra and ariana dumbledore's graves] and to the true, inner nature of a person.

in mentioning again and again that harry looks like james except for his eyes, what the narrative is doing is hinting to the reader that harry's big, obvious, showy similarities with his father mustn't let them miss that the more subtle traits of his personality - his steadfastness, his quiet courage in the face of hopelessness, his ability to love so much it changes the entire course of history - come from his mother, and that what he inherits from lily will be much more important to the resolution of the story than the things he inherits from james.

this is a clue it plays with really nicely - particularly because harry doesn't really care at any point prior to the last third of deathly hallows about what he inherits from lily more than he cares about what he inherits from james.

we - as readers - go through his experience of learning that his mother is the key to the whole mystery in real time - when we join harry in snape's memories - and we walk into the forest with a harry who now knows the whole truth: that he's more like his mother than he's previously realised, and that he'll therefore be able to do the same thing that she did, and die so that others might live.

“You won’t be killing anyone else tonight,” said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other’s eyes, green into red. “You won’t be able to kill any of them ever again.”

[shaisuki]

Hi!! Idk if you're taking requests but I'll shoot my shot!!

I wanted to know if you add onto the suna and Miya twins bully series where the reader decides to leave the team and join another (preferably nekoma) and gets a new trio (kuroo, kenma and Yamamoto) who actually praises and appreciate her and she decides to rub it in their face by sending videos of the trio fucking her and cute photos and when the Miya twins and suna try to confront her they get told off by her new boys😋

you've gotten petty and bold.

it's not like you planned it more like it was suggested to you. since you transferred to nekoma and made genuine connection to your team. it was like a weight lifted off you and you weren't scared on what about to happen. you don't get harassed after school hours and the team shows how grateful they are to you. going as far giving you trinkets they knew you would like.

nekomata-sensei treated you like his granddaughter and manabu-sensei looks out for you at times. for the first time, you thought that you really found your team for you and them the manager they always wanted. not treating you differently since you're a previous manager at powerhouse team and a regular contender in the nationals. a manager is a manager they say and you greeted them with a smile and the care you can provide for them as a manager.

that is the reason you have gotten close with the team captain. kuroo tetsurou. charming he can be and a handsome face to boost. it didn't took long for you and him to hit it and it extended with his friend and the team's setter, kozume kenma. you like kenma and it reminds you of yourself a bit. introverted and likes to keep to themself which you didn't mind at all. it took him a long time for him to warm up to you and the rest was history and there's yamamoto who can't talk without stuttering to you. kuroo said he's that nervous only when a girl talk to him. you find the gesture cute and other than his younger sister, you found out one time when you talked to him and he seems to relax at the thought of his sister, it was almost normal how he spoke to you like a friend. comfortable and inviting that's why you're the one who took his virginity.

“does it feels good, tora-kun?” you asked him, although a little breathless. his cock huge and nestled deeply inside your pussy. eyes closing and breath labored trying himself not to bust the moment you sink your fat cunt to his cock. “y-yes.” he stutters. fists clenching and he bites a back a moan when you started to move. “good. let me take care of you.”

then you began to have your own trio. the kindest of the trio. they would whisper you sweet nothings followed by appreciation that you were a good manager while you bounce on their cocks. you've never felt this so good about yourself, not even in the previous team you managed. this was the best and kuroo knowing how the inarizaki team treated you especially those three who fooled you, devises a plan. suggesting that you send a video and pictures of how they are treating you well and you agreed.

it was suna who received it. the videos and then followed many more. circumstances have forced you to left the school and went to move to tokyo where he recently found out that you were also the team's manager of the school volleyball club. he was pissed and then the twins received it. they were fuming. you allowed yourself to be somebody's cumdump instead of only them and they currently watched the videos you sent just to tub them in their faces from how good they were fucking you plus the praises that got your slutty pussy gushing.

first, it was you and then some three guys in the video. you're bouncing on someone's dick (yamamoto's) while you give a handjob to the other guy (kenma) obscured by the video and only his lower body can be seen in the video and you're blowing someone (kuroo's). his hands in your cheeks while you swallows his cock. telling you how much of a good girl you are for taking care of them and their cocks. letting them blow off the steam in their bodies to you. exceeding what a manager can do for her teammates. your speech garbled, slobbering all over kuroo's cock. they can see you were smiling while looking at the camera. swallowing his cock deeper and bouncing more on yamamoto's cock. a huge fuck you to them. all suna knows that it would be the first and last just to let them know how you're doing but it was proven wrong when you send a video again and then again.

it was different the videos are. one of them is you sitting while kuroo eats your pussy. the squelch of your pussy and the smacking of his lips can be heard while you moan in the background. your fingers gripping his hair while you grind on his face more which the latter eagerly lap your heat more. the other is all of your holes are stuff. dripping with their cum while you pose a peace sign with their spent all over you. it was endless.

and when they confronted you about it of how a huge slut are you for letting guys fuck you like that, let's say your new trio defended you. if they can't appreciate you they will and that seems to shut the ex-trio who are your bullies. ex-bullies.

you rewarded them three with a tlc that can only come from you.