#REALLY CURIOUS WAIT

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

forever obsessed with dynamics between vampires, specifically that of a maker and fledgling, as a way to explore abuse. the creation of a vampire itself can so easily be a literalization of the lasting impacts of trauma and also much more simply the ways a perpetrator might shape their victim’s very identity. the extremes of isolation in the way that the new vampire, in most narratives, must cut all ties to their mortal life, or else go through an elaborate charade to maintain the facade of humanity, while forever still being removed from it. and the sheer dependence and vulnerability of being in an entirely new state of being, wholly uncertain of what it entails, and relying on another person to define… everything.

[ipusingularitae]

also, i think it's very interesting how that friend of vi who she met on the streets of piltover immediately gets out when he sees caitlyn is accepting what ambessa is proposing. he gets that it's not about saving people, that what ambessa wants (and caitlyn is going to do) is targeted violence, on top of a structural system that created this mess in the first place. she's now only seeking revenge.

and can we talk about how Vi and Caitlyn on the lore were always Vi punching and asking later, and Caitlyn being the most "careful" one, and now in Arcane we're seeing the absolute opposite? i think that's so fascinating to watch because, especially with the little lore we have, when making headcanons, a lot of ppl put vi in this position of carelessness and caitlyn reasoning her. but right now we're seeing the complete opposite because Vi had years to put her anger out in prison (bc of very unfortunate situations), but caitlyn not only is a person that is out in world while in her anger phase of grief, but also is on an authority position and has free access to weapons and is being manipulated by someone who is exploiting her anger to the extent of using outside army

[noxtivagus]

HELLO ARTEMIS!! (woah :o first time calling you that i think but i wanted to try calling u on your diff names hehe) BUT I JUST WOKE UP HEHE AND I HAD A REALLY REALLY WONDERFUL DREAM!! normally i wouldn't really dream but this dream is very special since it involves you and i mostly forget them but i'm gonna tell them to you before i forget it again. (���_ー゛) like they said, if you wake up and vaguely remember a dream, you gotta write it down as soon as possible!

hehe we were tiny little kittens and we were just playing around purring and cuddling each other in this big fluffy bed and playing with yarn!!! nothing spectacular really but it was really cute and made my heart vv warm and giddy.

GOOD MORNING TO YOU!!! i hope you are having a good week ahead and a good holiday season ( ꈍᴗ��) may the remaining days of november and the month of december be kind to you. have a nice day ahead! ASKING CONSENT FOR HEADPATS KITHES AND HUGGIES (人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ+

YORI! FEI 🥺 hehe HFKJLASDFK i smiled a lot when i read this earlier morning ( only replying now bcs oh dear my sleep is v much a mess :,) ) that said though THIS. MADE MY MORNING NGL HJDFLASDKJ i take it you slept well then hehe HEARING ALL THAT IS V LOVELY idrk what to say bcs. that made me a bit shy ( 〃．．) ngl i myself. mostly forget my dreams 😭😭 i relate w you on that so hear all that yk HDFLASDJFL BESTIE 🫶🏼

THAT'S SO CUTE. OH MY GOD THAT'S REALLY SO CUTE hehe tiny lil kittens n. THINKING ABOUT IT MAKES MY HEART VV WARM N GIDDY TOO AAAA that's just rlly so so adorable !!!! gosh my brain is so empty i have probably said cute vv much much. IT RLLY IS SO CUTE HEHE MADE ME V HAPPY <3

GOOD EVENING i hope you've been having a good day <33 & hopefully a good week so far!! n a good rest of the day n rest of the week >< december is so near omg,, i hope the same for you too ehe; may the rest of the year be kind to you, you v much deserve that 🤍 HEADPATS KITHES N HUGGIES RETURNED MWAH MWAH ( ´ ˘ `)/♡

[dootznbootz]

Fascinating how Polites, the character who is the personification of Odysseus' optimism and is only in 5 songs, is more grieved and appreciated than Eurylochus, a character who is his own person and is in 11 songs.

[mewkwota]

So this is what this one tiny doodle was actually intended for. But since I didn't bother to plan the whole dialogue through, I chose to do the one part of this exchange I wanted to draw the most.

I've mentioned it someplace else, but in this scenario Geo had only just met the Hikari twins, so he's not aware of who Hub really is yet. And neither does Lan, so it's early into the story of BN1.

[ironunderstands]

My reaction (or rather rebuttal) to this amazing theory by Lalody’s lore; and how I think it exposes a problem with theory making in general

Now disclaimer, I would like to start off by saying that this is not an attack on the creator of this video in the slightest. This is a very well researched and thought out theory and I 100% understand why she came to the conclusions she did, even if admittedly I believe they are a bit of a stretch. I also am not here to debunk anything, lore is not my speciality or something I really care about in general, and admittedly I’m not very well versed in it even if I know the basics.

Rather, this post is going to be discussing this theory from a thematic/charaterization perspective, and why I think it’s wrong because of that- as well as how it exposes problems with theory making in general.

This is going to be mostly a stream of consciousness-style rant, and although I recommend you watch that video before reading this (both because it’s a) very good, and b) obviously relevant to the conversation), I’m going to be speaking very generally about the content in it, so you don’t necessarily have to watch it.

Alright, on with my major problem with this theory: ie, never in a million goddamn years would it make THEMATICALLY make for our dear Veritas Ratio to willingly become an aeon

His whole character is about being human and humanity man

Ratio, in essence, is the most human character in Honkai Star Rail, and I don’t mean that literally, as there’s reason to believe he isn’t.

Rather, him (as well as Aventurine and Acheron) are characters that embody the human spirit/what it means to be human.

I could talk about them at length later, but in Ratio’s case, the story makes a point that despite how remarkable his life and achievements are, he is still at his core, human, mundane, and not unique in the face of the universe- that is what makes him INTERESTING.

He objectively has amazing accomplishments- ones which by far qualify him to be a member of the Genius Society- Lalody mentions it herself (and thank god for that).

However, every step Ratio takes, he reaffirms his humanity and mundanity- LITERALLY

He calls himself a Mundanite constantly- hell he made a whole secret society of them, he believes that any person, fool or genius is capable of living their life to the fullest, and he dedicates his time trying to help them rather than chasing the stars himself. Ratio is very self aware, admitting he’s not good with people and can be rather abrasive, admitting he knows how he comes off to others, but refusing to change despite that because that’s who he is. His opening a chest voiceline has him saying that he accepts the material offer it values- like any man would. Never in Ratio’s life has he distanced himself or put himself above others, and the quest introducing him is called the MUNDANE and the Divine for a reason.

At his core, Ratio is no different from any other person and that’s what makes his objective exceptionality meaningful. He’s a character that smacks you in the face with how even the average person can achieve great things in live- that creativity and intelligence aren’t limited to Geniuses- aren’t limited to those acknowledged by Nous, by the divine.

Hell, that’s something I ripped straight out of his first character story because at his core this is who Ratio IS

He is a rejection of the divine- not an embrace of it

To make Ratio an Aeon would take everything he stands for away, and be a direct spit in the face to how inspiring he is both in universe and for the players.

Making a character whose whole thing is saying “you do not need to be extraordinary to do great things,” and then going “hah psych he’s a god actually and this is unachiveable for normal people, just like every other genius- you know, the people he stands against!” would just suck. It would suck. I don’t have more intelligent words for this other than saying that doing THAT would suck ass.

It’s not that Ratio couldn’t become an Aeon, it’s that he would never WANT to be one. It would be the most tragic thing ever to do to him, and would hurt him in every way possible to do so. Tearing him away from the thing he cares about the most, from what defines him as a person would be worse than killing him off in my opinion, and in universe he would hate that more too.

There’s several reasons why he doesn’t like the Genius Society, and their disconnect from humanity is one of them. Hell, when Screwllum invited him to work together, Ratio instead of centering the project in aeons, chooses to focus on people instead. Screwllum likens them to both ends of the spectrum- with himself and the rest of the Genius’s exploring Divinity, and Ratio Humanity- or rather Mediocrity.

That’s also why me and my Screwllum loving friend believe that in “The Mundane and the Divine,” Ratio is the Mundane and Screwllum the Divine, so to make both of them divine would ruin that dichotomy, and the whole opposites thing he currently has going on with Screwllum, Ruan Mei, and the Genius Society in general.

If he’s an aeon- if he’s divine too, then who is left to be the mundane?

2) Why is he stealing Ruan Mei’s and Acheron’s nachos

If any of our playable characters are going to become an Aeon, it’s her for obvious reasons. From a meta perspective, pulling that same shit twice or robbing Ruan Mei of the plot line she deserves and slapping it onto Ratio is cheap and stupid, especially considering he’s her narrative foil which only again goes to prove that it wouldn’t make sense for him.

As for Acheron, the reason I mention her is because the only Aeon I can actually see Ratio becoming is the Existence- who a) probably already exists b) finding them is her storyline anyways, and if anyone is going to become them, it will be her c) although I absolutely believe Ratio’s personal philosophy is incredibly similar to Acherons, they’d actually have to interact on screen once before it would make sense for that to happen.

Either way, the theory itself is an interesting premise, but there are far better characters to ascribe it to, which leads into my final point.

3) Why the hell would the writers do this?

Just because they can doesn’t mean they should, and from a thematic and character perspective, I have already gone over why if they care to actually do his character justice, they would never ever consider making Ratio an aeon, unless it’s against his will or something.

Which is why I think this video is actually an exemplar of the problem with theory making in all fandoms now a days- ie; people don’t actually stop to consider whether their theories make sense in the story.

And I don’t mean logically. Honestly I’m going to call this the Game Theory Effect because they do it better than anyone- just because something can happen in a story doesn’t mean it should.

The writers could make Ratio an Aeon, they could go “oops it was all a dream” again in Penacony and local astrophysicists could theorize on how I managed to throw a brick at my computer at light speed. They could do literally anything and justify it in the process because HSR is a work of fiction, but that does not mean the story itself would be good.

This is more of a criticism of how people approach storytelling in general, seeing media only for their plots and not for their themes, which is frustrating beyond words, because at least in my opinion, the most interesting parts of stories are their themes. Also, I feel that when debunking theories, people should focus less about the logic behind them, and more about whether they would actually make sense or not to be involved.

Moreover, Lalody’s video raises some very interesting ideas, and it’s caused me to think of a storyline involving similar elements- but in an opposite direction.

What if Ratio was initially Divine- but willingly became Mundane. Maybe it wasn’t willing and he was forced to be this way, but either way, it would make far more sense- and be far more interesting- if we see him reject divinity rather than embracing it.

It’s no secret Ratio’s lore is sort of a black hole at the moment, which is half the reason why so many crazy theories about him exist- we barely know anything about the guy personally. However, I’d liked to see it filled in a way that doesn’t completely demolish his current character, or who he literally is currently, as I rather like Ratio in his present form, and a bait and switch might actually drive me a bit nuts, just saying.

There’s plenty of speculation to be had, especially considering that one Cosmodyssey occurrence that haunts my every waking hour game please explain, but I’d like the hsr community to move away from the “Ratio is super special and extraordinary” direction, because what makes him interesting is the fact that he ISN’T

[too-many-rooks]

The Cartwright House

[pain-in-the-butler]

A compilation of art for my Dadbastian fanfic Coattails that I commissioned from the incredibly talented @tomoyoo! They went above and beyond with the details... Each picture feels as cozy and warm as a storybook, right? I'm so delighted with how they turned out!! Thank you for making each one so beautiful! 🥹🥹🥹

[3142-redgrave-avenue]

Welp its over for ikemen 2007 anime dante. Goodbye. So long, your google image results. I will miss you and cherish every frame i have left before April 2025.

The time has come, my handsome devil.

[specialized-rexan]

MUST POST

MUST SHARE

MY BROTHER GOT ME THE BIRTHDAY CAKE I'D HOPED FOR AND EVEN WENT FURTHER THAN MY IMAGINATION:

HE USED DUCKY CANDLES

("LUCIFER WITH DUCK" IMAGE FROM THIS POST)

[skitskatdacat63]

Fernando 2012 Chair Lore (source: me)

So I've been thinking a lot about Fernando sitting in this particular chair in the Ferrari garage in 2012 for [redacted] reasons:

Originally I just wanted to find more pictures of it for reference, and then went down a rabbit hole of 2012 pictures, trying to figure out when exactly the chair came to be. There's so many pictures of him in it, and it's so funny to me to imagine them hauling this super villain chair all around the world for him. And so now I'm obsessed with the evolution of it:

Pre-Chair - Australia to Bahrain:

He just had this little stool, well I should say big because it somehow still manages makes him look small. Clearly not comfortable; to paraphrase @sweatyflytrap, it's not conducive to his inner Shakespeare villain monologues

The Chair Appears - Spain

He suddenly now has this, aforementioned, super villain chair. Several things, why is it like this. It looks like a sim chair almost ngl. And then the weird plexiglass support is confusing me, like where did they get that. It furthers my narrative they just had this chair that they couldn't put in a car so they put that clear bottom on it. Anyways yes good, now he has somewhere to brood

The Chair Evolves - Silverstone

Look!! They gave him a booster seat!!!

The Chair is Now Here to Stay :)

I downloaded a truly horrible amount of pics him in this chair, so now you all must also look at them >:)

*he still had the chair in 2013, but I think they took it away from him in 2014 :( Is nothing sacred in this world??? I hope he got to take it home hahaha

[cinammonelles]

I want to talk about this page in particular because the implications here are so riveting.

Lavi is currently 19. Allen is believed to be 16.

Which means that either

The Bookmen are lying

Bookman Jr. did die then and Allen either didn't age the first few years or his age got fucked up multiple times before he met Mana

The first seems highly improbable at this point tbh. If the Bookmen were planning to make Allen take the poison to make him remember his past then lying about when Past!Junior (presumably) died seems counterintuitive and would only make Allen mistrust them more once he was in full possession of his memories.

It doesn't seem like Allen de-aged to an infant. He says his earliest memories are from when he was in the circus. Even if he did age back to an infant, he would've needed caretakers and nothing in the story suggests he had any.

(Note how little Allen doesn't have his Innocence in the last panel. What the fuck does this mean Hoshino.)

Allen looks perhaps 4-5 in both of these panels. If Past!Junior died over 19 years ago and Allen aged linearly since then, then he would have to be 23+ by now. Even considering the possibility that he aged back to an infant, he he should be 19+ by now and he looks barely over 17.

We can assume that he must've aged in a somewhat even fashion once he joined the circus because otherwise the performers would've commented on it at some point of time.

What happened in the years between Junior dying and little Allen getting into the circus? Was he in a child's body till he acquired his Innocence? How did he even acquire his Innocence in the first place?

There's also a final possibility that came to me while I was writing this post— Lavi was born while Past!Junior was still alive. He was born with the 'mark' because Past!Junior was no longer fit to be a Junior. I genuinely have no idea how Hoshino will explain this. Will it be some sort of corruption? Memory loss? Chronic illness?

All of them seem equally unlikely options at this point. But so did the possibility of Allen and Bookman Jr. being different people before this chapter :)

Either ways, this was a very intriguing chapter and I'm looking forward to whatever Hoshino has in store for us.

[elviraaxen]

I'm probably not the first to admit this but goddamn was I a narcissistic prick when I wasn't on stimulants

[e-lisard]

I saw a post last night about how sometimes the curtains are blue just because the author likes blue, and the person who wrote it made a lot of very good points, among others how schools make you bullshit about some perceived symbolism in stories, but it also made me think.

Because yeah if you're writing not everything you put in is For The Symbolism, but also there's a lot of symbolism you can put in without noticing, and just because you put it in subconsciously doesn't mean it isn't symbolism.

As an example, we'll take one of my characters. Because as I was typing this, I suddenly realized something. She is a half demon and has two colour schemes; one for when she's in her human form, and one for when she's in her demon form.

Both of these colour schemes I picked because I liked them.

In her human form, her aesthetic is very black and red. Again, I chose this because I think it slaps.

In her demon form, her aesthetic is white and gold.

Now, what does this matter, you might ask. It matters like this: black and red are colours easily associated with villains (or 'villains'). White and gold on the other hand tend to be seen as pure and good.

The thing with my character is, that she sees herself as much worse than she actually is. And then you look at her aesthetic and...

As a human, the form in which she has complete control over the way she looks, she chooses to put herself in black and red, colours that, like I said, can easily be associated with villains.

As a demon, the form which she has minimal control over, at the very least minimal control over the colours, she has white and gold.

Which, if I were analyzing someone else's work without knowing this was accidental symbolism, I would've said was a perfect representation of how she is, at the core, not anywhere near the villain she sees herself as, but much more innocent and pure.

So do you see what I mean? Just because I didn't intend it to be symbolism doesn't mean it isn't.

Yeah, often the curtains are just blue because the author likes blue. But our monkey brain likes patterns. And so we sometimes subconsciously put those patterns into our stories.

[buttercupshands]

Quick s7 premiere thoughts

Loved the new episode, I sure wasn't ready for Afomura becoming a thing so soon, like that scene is still... that

But otherwise wow

also a quick thank you for this scene having THIS track (a bit off from the original version) and voices of both AFO and Tomura mixing in places there

to other things

little dangerous hand man

I'm in love with the ending... "Believe" and "Sketch" and now this one are like a Holy Trinity of Villain connected endings and this one FEELS like it belongs to MVA or something like that WAY MORE than the ED version of Believe did, even if the song was directly connected to Tomura and Izuku via text

that's just my "I want THIS SPECIFIC WAY" of wishing an ED was and I got what I wanted in a way with everyone from the LoV having their moment to shine (from the current arc aside from Compress) - so Spinner, Toga, Dabi and Tomura all have that. IN BOTH ED and OP

and then OP is like

this

so yeah, happy s7 day