#Questions and theories

[alynnl]

I got to play more of Ace Attorney 6-5 last night and I had so many thoughts this morning.

Solely based on what I know without spoilers:

Phoenix is feeling every way like a final boss here for Apollo and Athena. I never thought he would be the opposing counsel in a finale case (even if this is just the first day of trial.)

I knew that Archie Buff's death was murder, not an accident. But am I really supposed to believe Datz Are'abal did it? This silly little escape artist?? (who'd probably be a great stage magician if he didn't have to start a revolution.) I'm not buying it and I can't believe Phoenix does!

Now we have Doctor Buff's kid testifying by drone. This is the third "testimony by machine" I've seen. (There's the radio in JfA and a robot in DD)

Since there's so much discord in Buff Jr's voice, he's definitely hiding something about his father's murder.

I have a feeling that the Khurai'nese government has a hand in the case. They want to make sure that Dhurke doesn't get his hands on the Founder's Orb by any means necessary. So they have Atishon stake a claim on it as the Crystal of Ami Fey and on top of that, accuse Dhurke of stealing it so he'll have to get sent back to his home country to face a death sentence. Two birds, one stone.

And of course there's the most burning question (that I don't even know with what mild spoilers I got): Where on Earth is Maya? She was just with Phoenix after the Lady Kee'ra case and now he's in a civil case and she's nowhere to be found.

One of my theories was confirmed though. When I found out that Dhurke and Apollo had a Past, I speculated that Dhurke sent little Apollo to Japanifornia when things got bad in Khura'in. But it begs the question: Why didn't Dhurke send Nahyuta away too? Considering how Nahyuta turned out (about as ruthless of a prosecutor as many other Ace Attorney rivals, believing that's his religious duty) - would he have been better in Japanifornia? Dhurke says he wants to save him, but is that even possible right now?

After all, Nahyuta appears to be a willing follower of the "fire and brimstone" style of his religion. Is that just a front he's putting up? Did Queen Ga'ran influence him? Or was he abducted and brainwashed into his beliefs, just to hit Dhurke where it hurts the most?

And then there's the matter of "How is Dhurke's revolution even going to look like when it gets started?" I want to trust him because of how he interacts with Apollo, but Kristoph Gavin seemed to be decent until he definitely wasn't.

I'll be looking back at this post to see if my questions are answered, and what theories were confirmed. Spirit of Justice has got me thinking for sure, and that means the writing isn't nearly as terrible as I've been hearing. It has its ups and downs, but doesn't every story-driven game?

I'm going to see it through to the end. I have to know all about the Khura'in royal family and Sahdmadhi family drama. 🍵

[is-not-a-bell]

Sleepy King

The Justice League Dark caught wind of a cult trying to summon the Ghost King. A being with power so terrible and great, that all of the chaotic Infinite Realms feared him. A true tyrant. Long ago it took the effort of ghosts equal to gods to seal him away into a permeant slumber.

And now this cult wishes to wake him and bring him to the living realm. It was a race against the clock to find the ritual site and all members were called on board, magic or not. Even Constantine looked stressed.

They did find the site.

But it was too late, the ritual was completed. The entire inner circle of runes glowed before being swallowed in a column of green light. The air filled with static and a ringing that made Supergirl crumble to the ground.

The light dissipated, but there was no great figure or being of pure evil. Instead there was a boy, a teenager. He laid on the ground curled up in his sleep. He was a ghost no doubt, dressed in regal clothing.

Despite this when he stirred, everyone froze. It seemed the cold hard ground woke him up. He got up slowly and yawned, revealing his sharp fangs. Once sat up he opened his bleary eyes to look around. He looked confused and tired, really tired.

"Where am I?" He mumbled. "I was trying to get some sleep." Constantine internally screaming, latches onto that last sentence. He glances over to Batman. He caught that last part too. Batman approaches calmly and crouches down in front of the boy king. Hardening his resolve, Batman takes on a gentle tone.

"Hey kiddo, sorry we woke you. Lets get you back to bed yeah?" The boy nodded in agreement. He pulled himself to his feet before looking around in a circle. "Where did my blanket go?" He asked rather sadly. Batman is quick to shed his own cape and drape it over him. "You can borrow my cape until we get you a new one." He nodded again, pulling the black fabric around himself.

John quickly summoned a portal door, while Batman led the King through it. John threw looks around at everyone. Everyone could tell he was mouthing the words. 'Find me a fucking blanket now'

Running on the logic of getting the king away from Earth, away from graves and the undead, that could give him power. The portal led to the Watch Tower.

Batman took advantage of the King's bleary state to send a base wide alert for all noncritical members to evacuate immediately. With a priority that death adjacent members leave first. "The stars are pretty." Bruce looked at the boy staring out the window in wonder. He almost looked like a normal kid, almost.

"Yeah they are, it's pretty late so we should get you back to bed." He nodded, going along with Batman's gentle coaxing.

He takes the boy to an unused bedroom. Making sure the room isn't dusty and that lights are dimmed. He glances back to see about a dozen different leaguers all holding blankets, one thought to bring extra pillows. The bed was pretty barren with only a single pillow and a thin bedsheet. So Bruce took a thick duvet, one of the fluffier blankets and a second pillow from his team before shooing them away.

The boy ended up keeping his cape, mumbling how it was warm. He tucked the boy in, before quietly exiting the room and turning off the light. He was pretty sure the King fell back to sleep before he even reached the light switch.

After the door shut, he made direct eye contact with John. "Constantine." They needed to figure out what the hell was going on.

[chloesimaginationthings]

Is Michael Afton gay or European in FNAF?…

[abel-second-son]

Source

[fluentisonus]

deeply annoying thing about university is you don't have the time to explore a lot of the institutional access until you graduate & then they take it away

[nobodysdaydreams]

One of the funniest things about “Hatchet Town” is that over the course of three musicals and Nightmare Time, most, if not a significant number Hatchetfield residents HAVE committed murder or been accomplices/accessories to murder in at least one timeline. To the point where if you randomly accused pretty much anyone in town of being a murderer, there’s a good chance you’d be right.

[umblrspectrum]

hi heres art so you pay attention to me now go read the tags

[hiccupshypotheticalleftsock]

tdp textposts: just vibes edition

[the-barefoot-hatter]

Leaving a whole lot of questions that don't need to be answered, Stanley!!!

[akai-akai]

tf141 assisting in a drug bust, except the drugs get lit on fire and they're accidentally breathing in the fumes and getting high as fucking balls.

Johnny is MIA, chased some fucking wild animal off into the brush and he's not answering comms.

Kyle is having a crisis, nearly in tears as he yells "I promised my mum I'd never do drugs!!" at the ground as if it's the dirt's fault he's fucking baked.

Simon is sitting on the ground, head in his hands, not speaking a word and sitting so still he could be mistaken for a highly realistic mannequin.

John is squinting at each of them, can't focus his eyes, blurting out "where the fuck is Soap?" after doing the 9th headcount. Doesn't realize he's been leaning way off to the side and tilting his head with each headcount until he almost loses his balance.

And Laswell. Poor Laswell. She's directing the extraction team with minimal help from any of these idiots, pinching the bridge of her nose and wondering how much paperwork this is going to end up in.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

based on that one video of the news reporter high as fuck as a ton of drugs are burning behind him, it's one of my favorite news videos

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

this isn’t exactly a question, but has twisted wonderland ever expanded on gender norms before? I know in sunset savanna women seem to be highly respected, but it seems like that is a behavior unique to sunset savanna. It seems like gender discrimination might be uncommon in briar valley because Mallenoa was so respected by her subjects, but Sebek, silver, and grim were surprised to find out she was so self sufficient and powerful when they met her in Lilia’s dream (this is more my interpretation tho) . in the endless night event, silver tells a story about a warrior who taught for her country, which is a reference to mulan i think, and the person he is telling the story to is very surprised that the strong warrior is a girl. I think silver told that story to Leona but I don’t remember. I’ve heard that royal sword academy is a school boys and girls can both attend, but night raven college is one of the most prestigious magic schools out there, so it being boys only makes me wonder if gender is a part of magic politics, although we have been shown female characters who have high educations and magical abilities such as Mrs . Rosehearts

No, not really? It’s explicitly mentioned and touched upon in extended conversations maybe a total of… 3ish times. Of those instances, most are referring to the Sunset Savanna.

Gender norms and politics are some of those elements of world-building that can come off as really ham-fisted and preachy if the characters stop everything altogether and just start expositing about it. Thankfully, TWST largely doesn’t take that “telling” route and instead “shows” us what they mean through subtle implications.

Now, for the most part I think the gender norms of Twisted Wonderland are similar to the real world, but may be more progressive overall.

For one, Twisted Wonderland has many male characters (both in NRC and beyond it) who openly wear cosmetics. No one ever comments on men wearing makeup or dressing up in a negative light. Sometimes they complain about putting makeup on (ie the effort) or certain fashions they don’t vibe with but never do they say it’s “not manly” for them to put on makeup/perfume/jewelry, care about their clothing, etc. Even the characters we traditionally think of as masculine (Jack, Leona, etc.) wear eyeliner and eyeshadow, jewelry, or try new styles of clothing. Floyd and Ace express interest in fashion. Jamil cares about the quality of textiles and Kalim is willing to buy tons of jewelry for himself (and his classmates!!) if the mood strikes him. Rook regularly compliments people’s looks and Cater has an eye for aesthetics too. Lilia brags that he is “cute” and likes to show off his cuteness to others. And, of course, we cannot forget our queen Vil, who champions the idea of challenging and redefining gender norms. He also shares these ideals with Epel, who has been called out by Vil for having “outdated” gender norms. Given that Vil is such a popular celebrity (5 million followers on Magicam), I get the impression that the sentiments he extols is a popular way of thinking and is the direction that TWST society wants to move toward. (This is assuming that his fans are mainly younger people.) The boys often “dress up” and wear different makeup when visiting new places such as Silk City and and Clock Town, so it appears that a lot of Twisted Wonderland society that we’ve explored leans more liberal when to comes to gender expression.

Another detail I think is important is that many of the Great Seven—in fact, over half of them—are women. This is notable because oftentimes history glosses over the achievements and accomplishments of women in favor of their male peers. The fact that NRC and all of Twisted Wonderland seems to honor them in addition to their male counterparts says something. The G7 women aren’t even the only instance of female figures who shaped history. Azul and Floyd, for example, have brought up the Mermaid Princess on multiple occasions, talking about how her union with a human prince and personal efforts have strengthened the bond between land and sea.

Gendered terms to refer to mages exist, but according to Lilia, “witches” and “wizards” are outdated (they were used during the human/fae war era of ~400 years ago). Currently, most prefer to use the gender neutral terms “mage” or sometimes “sorcerer”.

There does not appear to be gender restrictions in terms of the modern day workforce either. We know of the boys’ family members who are great mages or hold significant power or status. Mrs. Rosehearts is an accomplished medical mage, Mrs. Ashengrotto runs the most popular restaurant in the Coral Sea and his grandmother is a benefactor to those in the neighborhood, Mrs. Shroud is STYX’s Chief Engineer, Meleanor is an integral leader of Briarland’s military forces, Maleficia is queen, etc. Even the women in more mundane roles play vital parts in their communities: Mrs. Clover is a baker alongside her husband, Mrs. Zigvolt assists her husband in his dental clinic, Granny Bucchi supports him as his only relative, Marja travels and helps sell her family’s produce, etc. There are many economic opportunities for women in this world.

Some may point out that NRC is a prestigious all-boys school, so there aren’t opportunities for women in education. The same goes for RSA, which is another prestigious all/ boys school. To that, I say… that’s because NRC is a very limited scope of magic education as a whole. We don’t know how many other schools are out there or if all magic schools are boys only. It’s not impossible to think that there may be girls only or mixed schools out there—but the NRC cast are the ones this game focuses on, so we view things from that perspective. I’d also like to add that we only see male students from other schools because of meta reasons: 1) there are limited game assets, so some details are inaccurately conveyed by the live 2D models, and 2) this is a joseimuke, a game with a predominantly male cast aimed at a target audience of women. It makes sense that there wouldn’t be many live 2D assets for random female mobs.

There isn’t any lore in-game or in other official materials which would imply that women are discriminated against in education or in the workforce. However, Twisted Wonderland at large seems to still perpetuate gender expectations and gendered traits as we understand them irl. There are some instances when the idea of women having traditionally feminine interests are mentioned: (Suitor Suit) Ace complains that his ex only liked romance and animal movies, disliked thrill rides, and preferred cute things and taking Magicam pics; (Birthday Boy) Cater also mentions his mother and older sisters having interests in making sweets and cute things. Additionally, as Anon mentions, in Endless Halloween Night, Silver shares the story of Mulan, who pretended to be a man to save her father from enlisting in the army. He told this tale to Jamil (not Leona!), who reacts with surprise when he learns that this capable warrior is a woman. At the same time, there are “masculine” expectations vaguely alluded to: Deuce states he is the “man” of his household, Epel of course worries about his manliness and sees Savanaclaw, the athletic dorm, as “cool”, etc.

Of course, these gender norms are not pervasive nor are they the same everywhere in Twisted Wonderland. One extreme is demonstrated through Epel, who holds the most regressive beliefs prior to Vil’s influence. This leads me to believe that Harveston is one of these areas that perpetuates these beliefs—and when you think about its population, it makes sense. Epel tells us that his hometown is largely elderly people, who are more likely to hold conservative worldviews compared to young people. The community, being small and located pretty far from nearby urban centers, is also exposed to fewer ideas that differ from what they perceive as their “norm”. These factors will naturally shape its residents and inform how they interact with and perceive others.

I actually think that Briar Valley would also be one of those areas with regressive gender norms for similar in-universe reasons as Harveston. Briar Valley is described to us as a region mainly populated by long-lived fae… meaning they are pretty old and more likely to be conservative. Not only that, but the area is very isolated and fae in general prefer to keep to their own kind. Briar Valley is also said to be opposed to change and new ideas and technology being introduced to their land. All of these factors suggest they would have more old-fashioned ideas about gender, not progressive ones. Meleanor and Maleficia may be widely respected and viewed as capable women, but I do not think it is fair to extrapolate how magically gifted monarchs of the Draconia bloodline are viewed to the governed population. It is more likely that they are the exception, not the rule. This better explains why Sebek and Silver, who are technically subjects of Briar Valley, are surprised to learn of a powerful princess. Their shock, as well as how Lilia describes human princesses as being meek and needing protection, also implies the usual gender norms. Given that humans seem to be the majority race in Twisted Wonderland, it means those gender expectations were predominant at the time.

The Sunset Savanna is the only country we know of at the moment where women are noted to be viewed differently. According to Leona, he “respects women” since the women back in his home country are physically stronger and stronger-willed than men. (This may be a reference to how irl lionesses do most of the hunting.) It’s not uncommon to see women in high-ranking warrior or guard positions because of this. This implies that the gender roles are somewhat reversed here; women are the ones expected to be strong, not men.

Slight tangent here: I don’t particularly subscribe to the idea that “strong” women are somehow better or more deserving of praise than “weak” women. It’s a fallacy that I see perpetuated way too often in media. True feminism does not mean demonizing what is seen as traditionally “feminine”, nor does it mean women can only be independent or strong by acting in traditionally “masculine” ways. Feminism means not judging or holding back women from pursuing whatever it is they want to do, be it a career of their own, homemaking, or anything in between. Women can be strong and admirable no matter what they choose to do with their lives.

Okay, so Twisted Wonderland does operate on gender norms—but that does NOT inherently mean that Twisted Wonderland is a sexist hellscape. Gender discrimination is on a spectrum, and we’ve yet to see any blatantly regressive demands be taken as anything of real merit in TWST. If anything, they get clowned on and told off as much as Sebek is for his anti-human sentiments. And, as I’ve pointed out earlier, Twisted Wonderland on the whole appears to accept and normalizes things that may not be widely accepted irl— namely, men in makeup or in traditionally feminine fashion. There’s also many examples we can look to of regular women in power or jobs across the world of Twisted Wonderland.

We also need to remember that TWST was penned by people who also live in a society of gender norms, so it’s expected for their lived experiences to also bleed into the worlds they create. It doesn’t make them bad people, it just makes them human. They write what they know and also play around with the ideas of different societies—those that skew in both directions (as we see with Harveston vs Sunset Savanna).

[ceaselessly-mad]

"The door? The door… Yes, the door. I could have left, couldn’t I."

Or aka, my guess as to what I think (???) happened at the end of brick-by-brick. Way too long theory ramblings below:

So we only have the audios and transcript to go by, but for me, it seems like Poppy momentarily became hyper aware of her surroundings, and is now openly addressing both the literal stage/props/backdrops for the shoot and even the cast members of the show.

She questions where she is, not recognizing the stage as her barn, and the transcripts don't specify who she's talking to, even though they sounds awfully familiar to Sally and Frank.

So trying to visualize what's happening, I sort of imagined Poppy understandably freaking out over the person trying to open the door, her pushing herself towards the window to make distance, and accidentally knocking down the bricks, causing one of the ??? to exasperatedly ask why she hadn't just opened the door (though honestly something completely different could be happening).

Either way, this just brings on a whole new set of questions. At what point does the puppet world and the real world mesh together, if that is what's happening? What is happening to the puppeteers of the puppets that do suddenly gain this awareness, at least during that moment? Does this mean that the Looky-Loo storybook series are based on actual episodes of the show, otherwise how else did we getting a recording of between a physical puppet and cast members, if this is just happening within a book? You know what I mean???

Anyways thanks for looking and reading if ya got here ♥️🏠

[livsmessydoodles]

HEY GUYS WHY IS SHE IN DARIUS' CABIN. GUYS. GUYS

IM NOT CRAZY. ITS THE SAME FUCKING DOOR

[ancientgoddessofegypt]

ASTROLOGY QUESTIONS ! PT. 3 SPICY EDITION

Venus Conjunct Pluto - Had any stalkers? Do you live your life by your own means? Have you had anyone spill out the secrets because they couldnt control you? Where you the person that called all the shots? Have anyone ever came out and told you they were jealous/envious? Or were you able to find this out by just observing?

Venus Trine Pluto - How deep is your love? Have people told you how much you've healed or changed them? Have you noticed your lovers where different after the break up?

For both venus/pluto placements - How many lives have you changed? No seriously. How many people have thought of you as someone who was apart of some transformation in their life?

Lilith in Sagittarius - Have people tried to control you when all you wanted to do was have fun? Do you consider yourself a wild child? Hows your love life? Are you interested in different relationship dynamics ? For example polyamory or open relationships? Has anyone tried to make you consider it?

Venus in the 3rd house - Do you have a sweet voice ? Do people get turned on by just being next to you? Are you a travel buddy? Go alone?

Mars in the 1st/7th - How many people have tried to fight you, then later on you found out they wanted to fuck? Are you charming or considered yourself to be?

Mars in libra - Do people tend to think your passive aggressive, when really you're just not into arguing? Are you interested in orders but dont know how to flirt with them, because they'll take it the wrong way? Do you think your sex appeal is up the roof?

Jupiter in the first house - Are you lucky? Or consider yourself to be? Are you optimistic ? Is things just falling into your lap? Do you have a big sexual appetite? Are you considered a 'player' or someone who can love more than one person? Because you typically can be an individual who gets a lot of options with this placement, people just like you and flaunt to you.

Venus and/or 8th house moons - Are you an open book , yes or no? Do people tell you thinks about their sex life unprovoked, or do you do it?

For the 8th house moons - Do you guys tend to be known as manipulative to some people, and kind and friendly to others? Like could you agree that your relationships with others can be quite polarizing? While some may think you one way, others may look to you in another n could be pretty conflicting.

For both placements - How much have you gotten away with? seriously. you little foxes ;) Do people not see the real you even when you show them all of who you are, even if it hurts?

Lets get into it! Comment below babes!

[sylvestris123]

What does the pre-Fall scene actually mean?

I’ve been thinking about that first scene, with pre-Fall Crowley. We are all swooning over how sweet and innocent Angel!Crowley is, and how smitten Aziraphale is, but on reflection there is something odd about this scene.

The action takes place before the rebellion, before the Fall, when bad things hadn’t even been invented yet. So why is Aziraphale already worried about Angel!Crowley getting into trouble for asking questions? Shouldn’t he also be a cute innocent bundle of fluff without a care in the world?

There is a meta that examines this (sorry, I can’t find it, I’m useless at this), which comes to the conclusion that Aziraphale later on is suffering from guilt (that he might have unwittingly prompted Crowley to seek answers and hence fall), but this still doesn’t explain why Aziraphale knows that asking questions might be a Bad Idea, and Angel!Crowley doesn’t. After all, Angel!Crowley has apparently been working “very closely with Upstairs”.  Shouldn’t he be a bit more clued up?

This leads me to think that there are 2 possible explanations for this.

1. Angel!Crowley has been so far out of things playing with stars that he really is clueless about everything (possible but doesn’t really match up to the Crowley that we know today).

2. This is not a true record of events.

Either: it is one of Aziraphale’s memories, but coloured by what he knows today, so the conversation that actually occurred might have been quite different. Maybe it is because of Aziraphale’s less than perfect recall, or maybe the memory was tweaked (e.g. by the Metatron) to emphasize the innocence of Angel!Crowley and the injustice of his later fall.

Or: IT NEVER EVEN HAPPENED AT ALL. Their true first meeting was as S1, on the walls of Eden, and it is all a false memory planted by the Metatron. (This could also explain why we don’t get to hear Angel!Crowley’s name. It’s not actually known, so can’t be added to the ‘memory’). Why would he do this? It could be to make Aziraphale think that Angel!Crowley was so full of joy that he should be reinstated to recapture that innocence.

There are plenty of theories about the other flashback episodes in the series, all of which could be interpreted as showing off Crowley’s 'good' side, to make the thought of his reinstatement as an angel more plausible or even necessary to right an ancient wrong.

If any or all of this is the Metatron’s doing, what is the motive? He clearly loathes Crowley. Maybe reinstatement as an angel would automatically wipe out his memories of being Crowley and all of his Earthly experience, so you would end up with a cute innocent (and ultimately useless) angel with no memories of his friendship with Aziraphale. Or perhaps it was a way to get him to come up to Heaven where he could be ambushed and imprisoned.

Or maybe the Metatron always knew that the very concept would go down like a lead balloon and that its aim was to make Aziraphale and Crowley part in such a way that they would be less likely to try to contact each other later.

There are so many pieces to this puzzle. Just when I think that a couple might go together I find others that don’t fit with the patterns already made, and which sometimes seem to belong to a different puzzle altogether. I’m sure that I already have 5 corner pieces.