#This isn't 100% on-model but I really love it regardless

[reminder-that]

FEDBOI FRIDAY

[guppyfish77]

So about the Battle Subway Trains

Hi, I love trains! And the Trains in Unova have a surprising amount of detail? And nobody talks about it? And if I don't talk about it I will explode!?!!!

So despite Unova being inspired by New York you'd think the Battle Subway Trains would be based on The New York Subway Trains? However they look like they are more based on Japanese Railway Trains!

I'd like to preface before going into this that despite talking a lot about the Japanese Railway, I am not Japanese, while I did my best to research as best I can, some stuff may fly over my head, I also used an online translator for some information so it might not be 100% accurate.

Alrighty lets get into this! This is mainly for fun and its going to be under the Read More because it is verrrrrrrrry long, I hope that you enjoy!

If you aren't aware, each train in the Battle Subway has lore! All the lore comes from this Worker NPC on the bridge in Anville Town. Depending on the day, a different train will show up on the turntable, and he'll give you a little dialogue for that train! This dialogue is what I'll be mainly analyzing :]

Single and Anville Town Trains:

"This is a Single Train! It's the oldest train in the Battle Subway. It's for a loop line to go around the Unova region! Do you know Tubeline Bridge? The train that runs on it is this Single Train."

"As you know, this is a local train to Anville Town! Isn't it just so cute? This one is a little slow and heavy. When it runs, the whole train sways. The train car is the same model as a Single Train. Because it is an old train car, I hear the maintenance is hard, but it's the one I always ride, because I loved it as a kid!"

So! The Single and Anville Town Trains are the same model of train, you can actually see this in their designs where they both share the same face but they differ in the livery. (Livery is a term referring to the train's decor/color, the color is often associated with a particular company or in this case a particular train line.) I'm going to use this fact to assume that if one train has one feature, then it's likely that the other train also has that same feature. Such as how the description of the Anville Town Train says it sways as it runs, if that is the case then the Single Train also probably sways. (which sounds kind of awful to battle on, unless you have good train legs I suppose X_X)

It is stated that the Single Train is the oldest in the Battle Subway. I believe though, that it means the oldest train that is currently running in the Battle Subway. As there is another train that seems much older and no longer running, but I'll get to that train much much later.

Older trains are indeed harder to maintain, and expensive too. This is because the older the equipment, the harder it is to get its parts as they become more obsolete. Though I will say this, trains can last a long time! The average service life of a train is about 30-50 years, it really varies from train to train. These trains would most likely be on the older side.

There is a slight possibility that it has been continued to be maintained past it service life. Given how fond the Worker NPC talks about the train, it might have high sentimental value. Therefore if it is past its service life, it has not been scrapped or recycled yet because of it. I doubt this is the case though, usually it is never worth the maintenance cost (especially for regular operation.)

Like the description says, you can see the Single Train running on the Tubeline Bridge, here's a video of it! Apologies for the way I am recording this, I don't exactly have a capture card, but I wanted to show you guys regardless

You can see how fast the train is going as it passes below you! At least the just Singles Train anyways, seems to me like it's going about 20-30mph? I tried doing math to find the exact speed but that's difficult for several reasons (no idea how large a "tile" in Pokemon really is and objects in the overworld are not very accurate in size so I can't exactly do any comparisons. The perspective of the camera also makes it tricky.) Given how the Anville Train is described as "slow and heavy", I would hazard a guess to say that the other trains of the Battle Subway may run faster than this.

You can also see that each train is made up of 7 cars as it passes below you if you slow down the footage. Which is not surprising, you have to win 7 battles in a row to complete a "set" where you are then dropped off at a rest stop. I believe the Battle Subway trains to be electrical multiple units (EMUs) so it would probably make them 7-car sets.

It also looks like the Singles Line is very busy with the trains only being seconds apart! Now I know this is more a visual thing so the environment would be interesting to look at, but I'd like to think it indicates that the Battle Subway/Singles Line is very popular! (and very well organized!)

As for Real life train inspirations I think perhaps the Tobu 10030 series?

The Tobu 10030 is a version of the Tobu 10000 series with some minor changes, such as the design of the face and using a bolsterless bogie. (Bogie is a part of the train that refers to a frame that holds sets of wheels as well as the suspension, breaks, etc. in which the body of the train car rests upon.)(A bolster is a part that connects the side frames of the bogie and the underside of the car's central pivot point.)(A bolsterless bogie is a bogie type that doesn't have a bolster). The front of the train is covered in fiber reinforced plastic and the outer panels are "bead molded" (which... I have no clue what that means...) This series has been going under renovations since 2010.

Double Train:

"This car is a Double Train! This is a mass-produced car from a decade ago! Compared to a Single Train, the number of parts was reduced so it could be built for a lower cost. The number of parts influences the budget and construction time. The streamlined and beautiful design of the Double Train is still valued today."

So the Double Train is at least 10 years old! (That's what decade means!) Honestly though, I think the Double Train might be older than 10, in Japanese the description just says that it is a "mass-produced train from a long time ago" and doesn't mention a number... Another reason is that in the Multi Train description, it mentions that it is a test model for future trains that will replace the Double Trains. Which means perhaps that the Double Trains may be reaching near the end of its service life, which again average 30-50 years. It could be a possibility that this train may have a shorter service life than usual, who knows. This all speculation really.

As for lowering the amount of parts, from what I found it makes the train lighter. It would also probably lower the cost as well like the description says (trains are really really expensive to build! EMUs can cost $2mil-$10mil per car!)

It also mentions that it is a mass-produced car! It's a train made with mass production for commercial purposes! I believe it's usually for train lines that are really busy, where they would need a lot of trains? It typically means that there are a lot of them. (All this makes me wonder about train production in the Pokemon World...)

As for Real life inspirations, I think that the Double Train is inspired by the Tokyu 1000 series train.

The Tokyu 1000's design and equipment is similar to another train, the Tokyu 9000 series, with improvements such as improved handling and making it easier to do inspection and repair work. As well as reducing the amount of spare parts from the Tokyu 9000.

Multi Train:

"This car is a Multi Train! Few cars of this model were produced. This is a test car to develop future mass-produced cars that will replace the old Double Trains. The technology born during the creation of this train car made the Super Single Train and Super Double Train possible!"

The multi train is a test/prototype train! A little surprised that an entire line is running off a few prototypes. Like the description says, not many are produced as the purpose of a prototype is to test features and improve upon them if needed before they are put into mass production. Given that it says the technology from this train was the reason the Super Single and Super Double Train was made possible. I'm thinking it was most likely testing some eco friendly features? As it is the Super Single and Super Double Train's main feature.

Perhaps them using a model with so few trains means that the Multi line isn't that busy/popular? (Surprising then the train platform is not swarming with more train photographers haha!)

As for real life inspirations, while the livery may not be the same I think it could be the Keisei 3000 (2nd Generation.)

The Keisei 3000's body is made of lightweight stainless steel and the passenger doors have a paper honeycomb structure. When they were designing this train, they wanted it to be both environmentally (energy saving) and customer friendly (being accessible to elderly and those with disabilities.)

Super Single and Super Double Trains:

"This Super Single Train is a new mass-produced car! It's an environmentally friendly train, because they revised all the parts to drastically reduce power consumption! Newer trains have to be built in a way that's both functional and environmentally friendly. Compared to the past, they've improved significantly."

"This Super Double Train is a new mass-produced car! Such a streamlined and refined design! Beauty and utility working together! That kind of beautility is unique to mass-produced train cars! It uses the same train car as a Super Single Train. The only difference is the appearance. It is a superb train car that will go down in the history of the Battle Subway!"

The Super Single and Super Double Trains are the same model. Honestly the description of these trains doesn't give me a lot of information besides the fact that these trains are eco friendly. So I'll talk about what trains do to make themselves (even more) eco friendly!

They are stated to be eco friendly by reducing power consumption. I think it could be referring to a "VVVF inverter control" (it stands for variable voltage variable frequency. In English its mainly called the VFD or variable frequency drive.) A VVVF is a type of system for an AC motor that can reduce energy consumption! (There are two types of electrical current, DC or Direct Current and AC or Alternate Current. An AC motor is a motor that is driven by AC electricity.) It is important on energy saving trains! I won't get too much into how it works, but essentially it controls the AC motor's rotational speed by controlling the frequency. By controlling these, it can control the speed and acceleration of a train. You'll find that a VVVF is often paired with a three phase motor (I will not go into that...) Let's just say that these systems are very efficient at using power and help save energy.

Really, reducing power consumption usually means being more efficient at using power. Like using LEDs, using better insulation to retain cooling or heating, and generally using parts that use less electricity. It could be that the train is lighter in weight too (lighter vehicles use less power.)

Both of these Super Trains are mass produced! Which tells me that there are a lot of Super Single and Super Double trains! Its lines are probably busy.

As for real life inspirations, it is very much inspired by the E233-2000 series train

The E233-2000 is a little bit of an oddball in the E233 family exterior design wise. Its design was inspired by the Tokyu 5000 series. Its basic running equipment is the same as the E233 trains before it though.

I think it is a bit of a stretch, but I'll mention it anyways. The E233 (which the E233-2000 is a subsection of) is a train that has won the Laurel Award in 2007. The Laurel Award is an award given to trains by the Japan Railway Friends Association for trains with an excellence in technology and design (specifically geared towards commuter trains.) It could be what all the "beautility" comments could be referencing to? They do look verrry different though, and the E233-2000 came after the award was given...

Super Multi Train:

"This train car is a Super Multi Train! This is the latest train car! Improved acceleration and deceleration! Automated train-car controls! It's full of cutting-edge technologies. Also, a regeneration brake system, a car-body tilting system, a whatchamacallit system, a thingamabob system... I don't remember all the details, but it's just a big festival of all the latest technology!"

Ohhoho! The Super Multi Train description is a goldmine of details! This train is the whole reason I wanted to make this post! Let's run through its features!

Improved acceleration and deceleration means that it can run between stops faster, allowing for quicker operation time.

Automated train-car controls or ATC is a safety system on trains that prevents trains from going over a certain speed! If the train goes over the maximum speed permitted then the ATC will pull the brakes automatically to reduce the speed and release the brakes when it is below maximum speed. It also displays the maximum speed to the driver. It is an incredibly important safety system!! From what I understand, the term ATC is very common in Japan, in other countries the ATC would simply be a part of cab signaling (it is a safety system mainly for the driver and train crew, it tells them track status and condition information) and train protection technologies. ATC is installed on all Shinkansen trains, it is also installed in some subways and heavily used railways.

Here's an example of what it looks like! The green triangle there is the (current) maximum speed. There are a lot of different types of ATC systems and this ones a D-ATC (stands for Digital Automatic Train Control) from within an E233! There are a whole lot of different types of ATC, and they can come in many looks! I would show more examples, however, I have hit the image limit on this post... :[

A regenerative brake system is a special type of breaking that allows a train to generate electricity via breaking! The electricity can either be used immediately, stored, or returned back into the line. You might've heard this feature on electric or hybrid cars. It is a common eco friendly feature!

A car-body tilting system is a feature in trains that allows the body of the train car to tilt into a curve! It allows the train to go faster on a track (not needing to slow down on a curve) but the feature is mainly for passenger comfort! When you ride, you don't feel the centrifugal force at all when going around a curve! And it makes the ride so smooth! Here's a short video demonstrating what it looks like:

There are essentially two major ways to do a car body tilting system. There is active tilting (forced body tilting) or passive tilting (pendulum system). A forced body tilting system uses computers to tilt the train using track data or sensors, telling the train when and how much to tilt. If the calculation is not done correctly, it can leave passengers with motion sickness (An infamous example is the Advanced Passenger Train in the UK). The tilting itself I believe is done via hydraulics. Forced Body Tilting is more popular in European and American trains.

As for passive tilting, the train in the video uses it! (A controlled pendulum train!) It means it uses natural forces to tilt the train car. I'll dive deeper into this type of tilting in the Wi-Fi train section because it actually mentions it's a pendulum train! As to which tilting type the Super Multi train has... it could honestly be either.

(Ah! I forgot to mention this, but tilting trains are especially useful in mountainous regions, where there are a lot of curves.)

In the Japanese version of the Super Multi description, it also mentions that it has a "earthquake warning system" and a "tornado monitoring system".

An earthquake warning system is not something fully installed into the train, rather it's mainly a set of sensors installed along the track, coast, and major inland areas. For passenger rail, if any signs of an earthquake are detected, it will alert any trains in the affected area and drivers are required to apply their emergency brakes. For shinkansen trains it will cut off power to the affected area which will automatically activate the emergency brakes.

Well, I found something close to a tornado warning system. There is a "gust warning system" where sensors measure wind speed and to predict where strong gusts of wind would go. Again, it's not a system that is installed within the train. From what I could tell, they would restrict travel speed during strong winds. If wind speeds are too high, then they would shut down the lines. (I suppose would be very useful, especially when there's some legendaries that cause powerful storms roaming around.)

In the Japanese version of the text, it also states that the Super Multi Train is also a test train. Which again means there's also not a lot of this train. It also states that some of it's features are unnecessary due to it being a test train lol

In the description all these features are stated as "cutting edge" and "a festival of all the latest technology" when these features are not all that new? And Regenerative breaking seems to be pretty common? (Every irl train I have shown thus far all have it.) Eh, I don't think it's that big of a deal. They are just fictional trains after all.

I originally thought the train looked like an Eizan Railway Deo 800 series, but thanks to the leaks, it looks like that the JR East 205-500 was used as a base to design the Super Multi Train? With probably heavy modification to the final design. (While I don't condone the method that these leaks were obtained, curiosity did get the better of me. This is the only train that I ID-ed this way.)

This Train was exclusive to the Sagami Line, though it ended operation in 2022 and every one of these trains have been scrapped. The blue color I believe is an homage to the Sagami River that runs along the line. The Train used a semi automatic door system for its passenger doors. Which means that rather than the conductor opening and closing the doors, the passengers would press a button to open the door when the train has stopped.

Wi-Fi Train:

"This train car is a Wi-Fi Train! It is the fastest long-distance high-speed train in the Battle Subway! This is called a pendulum car. Its body tilts while going around curves, so it can run without slowing down! Faster! Farther! Our engineers' spirits are infused in it!"

A pendulum car is a very specific term!!! Like I mentioned in the Super Mutli Train section it is a type of car body tilting. There are multiple types of Pendulum systems, There is Natural Pendulum, Controlled Pendulum, Air Spring (also called Simple Pendulum), and Hybrid.

Natural Pendulum is just using the centrifugal force of when it goes around a curve to tilt the train. This type was known to cause motion sickness in riders because when it straightened out, the car would "lag" or wobble. Sometimes the force was not enough to tilt the train and this would also cause passenger discomfort. These issues were fixed later with a controlled pendulum, where there would be a degree of control to the tilting. Using mechanisms similar to forced body tilting, it would prevent wobble and ease the tilt. The air spring method, as suggests in the name, uses air springs to help with tilting. It is similar to the controlled pendulum, though it tilts less than it (controlled pendulum can tilt 6 degrees and air springs can only tilt 2 degrees). Air springs are cheaper to build though and still are able to make the train go faster. Hybrid is the combination of controlled pendulum and air springs, allowing for an 8 degree tilt.

I hope the Wi-Fi train is not a natural pendulum? You're telling me you have to battle on that and you might get motion sickness?? Though it sounds like it might be more high tech so it is most likely the other types... Hopefully...

It also states that this train is the "fastest long-distance high-speed train in the Battle Subway!" Looking at Japan's tilting trains (that are not shinkansen), they go about 120kmh-130kmh (about 75 mph-81 mph.) So it could be a possibility that the Wi-Fi goes something along those speeds.

I've looked through Japan's tilting trains, and the closest one might be the JR Hokkaido Kiha 201 series? It's not at all close though... I can't really find a good match tbh. I think the 113 series seems to be a bit more closer visually.

The one on the left is a Kansai livery and the right is a JR Shikoku livery. They are both the same train, JR Shikoku bought the 113 series from JR East to replace some aging trains and then modified it. Which is why they look a bit different. The modifications include strengthening the front of the train and adding shock absorbing material inside.

So Those are all the trains that run in the Battle Subway! However there are 2 trains that don't, instead they only show up in Anville Town on certain days. I'll be calling them "Old Train Car" and "Futuristic Train Car"

"Old Train Car"

"This train car is the kind that ran a long time ago. Compared to contemporary train cars, it has more parts, so I heard it was difficult to build. The old train cars built with lots of small parts have their own unique beauty and attract a lot of fans. Those cars no longer run in the Battle Subway, but I hear they're still used in a faraway region. Ah... I'd love to be on that train!"

So this sort of car used to run on the Battle Subway. It's said to be still running in another region, though with how old the train looks I can only think that maybe it would be running by railway preservationists.

The design of this train reminds me a lot of old Japanese electric trains and trams. Especially trams with that double roof. I don't think it's really based on any particular vehicle? Here's a couple that I found;

The only one I feel like is worth mentioning is the Jomo Electric Railway Deha 101 (this specific car is the Deha 101, others of its kind are called Deha 100 type) and the Nagasaki Electric Railway 160 type. Both of these vehicles I believe are still running to some capacity.

The Jomo Deha 101 has been running for over 90 years. While car 101 still resides at Jomo Railway, other Deha 100s have been transferred to other private companies where they have been scrapped. I believe the only existing Deha 100s today are Car 101 and Car 104 (which has been painted bright yellow.)

The Nagasaki Electric Railway 160 type used to belong to the Kyushu Electric Tramway where it was called the Type 1 Electric Tram. When it was transferred to the Nagasaki Electric Railway it was renamed into the 160 type. Today, there is a single car in operation. I believe it is the oldest wooden car in Japan that is still in service.

I suppose I will also mention the Keifuku Electric Railway Mobo 21 Type Train, it does look the most similar. Though, it's purposefully designed to look like an old style tram.

"Futuristic Train Car"

"This train car is a new train to run in the future! Wooo! Cool! Super cool! The latest motor breathes fire! Uh-oh, if it really breathed fire, that would be bad! But it is full of the latest technologies! It's undergoing a lot of testing. It's called a gauge-convertible train. It's a sweet car that can adjust its wheels to run on any rail!"

So first off, I'd like to say that this train visually kind of looks like a "Sonic" 883 series (nothing to do with the blue hedgehog, it was just a coincidence lol)

However the description!!!! A "gauge convertible train" that is undergoing a lot of testing... That description matches exactly with the GCT! (literally standing for Gauge Change/Convertible Train, though in Japanese it's called FGT or Free Gauge Train!)

The GTC is the project name for this experimental shinkansen. The one in the picture is the GTC-01, the second generation of its kind (as this is the version they would be testing before and during the development of the game, there is now a 3rd generation.) So, the term gauge refers to the distance between the two rails. Different trains run on different gauges, they can come in either narrow gauge, standard gauge, or wide gauge. Japan's rail network is mostly narrow gauge (specifically Cape Gauge.) The main exception are the shinkansen trains, which run on standard gauge. This shinkansen like the description says would be able to run on any gauge. It used to be under a lot of testing by the Free Gauge Train Technology Research Association. Today though, the GTC-01 second generation sits on display in the Shikoku Railway Heritage Museum.

There are a lot of challenges that the GTC faces. It takes a bit of time for the wheels to adjust to the gauge and you need to go slower when it's doing so. It has increased maintenance costs. The heavier specialized bogie creates more wear on the rails as well as making the train harder to detect. (Ok! Basic explanation for Railway Signaling! Tracks are split up into sections called "blocks", and a small electrical current is run between the two tracks that makes up the block. When a train runs through, the wheel and axle of the train disrupts the current, which then the system detects that block as being occupied by a train. If it is occupied, the signal lights at the end of the block will be turned red, preventing other trains from entering the same block, thus preventing collisions. The problem arises in the GTC in that the wheel and the axle are separate, thus something about this is making it hard to detect on the rail.)

With this train being a "gauge change train" it really made me wonder what gauge the Battle Subway trains runs at? I thought maybe standard gauge or maybe even wide gauge because you can only make the train so wide depending on the gauge. And you'd probably want it wider so that there is more room, especially if you are fitting a battle arena in it! However in Japanese the description mentions that "The rails are a little wider on the tracks that run at higher speeds." Which is... exactly how Japanese rail works? So the Battle Subway lines are probably narrow gauge?

Another thing that's interesting about the "Futuristic Train" is the date that it actually shows up. In Anville Town the way that each train shows up is dependent on the last digit of the day of the month, like so:

0- (10th, 20th, and 30th) "Old Train Car"

1- (1st, 11th, 21st, and 31st) Single Train Car

2- (2nd, 12th, and 22nd) Double Train Car

3- (3rd, 13th, and 23rd) Multi Train Car

yada yada you get the point (4- Super Double Train, 5- Super Single Train, 6- Super Multi Train, 7- Anville Town Train, 8- Nothing, 9- Wi-Fi Train)

The only exception is the "Futuristic Train" who will show up ONLY on February 1st, June 12th, October 1st, October 14th, and December 30th, pretty random huh? haha of course not! These dates are dates significant to the History of Japanese Railway/Transportation!

February 1st: The opening of Japan's first electric street car in 1895!

June 12th: The temporary operation of Japan's first passenger railway in 1872!

October 1st: The release of Japan's first Shinkansen, the series 0 in 1964!

October 14th: The official opening of Japan's first passenger railway in 1872, with the first two stations between Shimbashi and Yokohama! This day is also Railway Day in Japan, celebrating this event, Tokyo holds a Railway Festival and train companies like to do events on this day as well! 

December 30th: The opening of Japan's first subway line in 1927, The Ginza Line!

Rails, Station Platform, and More Train:

So the Station, there are a few details I can pick up on here!

The type of track that the trains run on (at least in the station) are ballastless tracks! It means the rail is tied directly onto a slab of concrete rather than having ballast hold it up (ballast is that rocky gravel that you often see beneath the tracks.) This type of track is quite expensive to build and makes the place a lot nosier, but it has a lot of advantages! For one, because there is no ballast to maintain, it has lower maintenance cost (ballast must be packed every now and again using a ballast tamping machine. Which lifts the track and jostles the ballast beneath it. Ballast also needs to be replaced after a while because the rocks have to be irregularly shaped for it to work, and natural weathering can make them smooth out.) It is also easier to clean and has a longer lifespan. Because the rail is tied to slabs of concrete the rails are less prone to deformation, which is good! Though it is also that same inflexibility means that it is difficult to change anything about it and takes longer to repair.

Their buffer! (that little black thing at the end of the line, I think it is a buffer?) It doesn't look like that effective of a buffer... The purpose of a buffer is to stop a train if brakes fail. Though this thing seems to be more for the driver telling them where the end is, hence all the, what I presume are, lights. Let's hope they have some sort of other safety system in place (like some sort of Automatic Train Stop system.)

There doesn't seem to be a third rail. I have a feeling that might be because most Japanese railway trains are powered via overhead wire (literally every irl train I have shown is powered this way.) Maybe the Battle Subway trains might be powered via overhead wire? I might be over analyzing here, they might not have thought of modeling such a small detail haha

The train itself has some sort of device on top (that box thing.) I believe it to be some sort of air conditioning unit. Given how each train car has one large unit on top of it, I believe that it uses a centralized cooling system, which means there is one large air conditioning unit. (There are 2 other types, they are distributed cooling which consists of 6-8 small units and centralized distributed which consists of a couple of medium sized units.) Central cooling systems are easier to install and maintain because there is only one unit to worry about.

Signboards:

The Buildings in between routes have a electronic news bulletin board, and depending on which city is connected to it, the news bulletin will give a little flavor text about the city. There's some flavor text about the Battle Subway when it's about Nimbasa City, and it different depending on whether you are playing the first one or the second one, here they are:

BW

"Run and battle! Trains never stop!” Battle Subway in Nimbasa City"

"They say someone who loved battles also happened to be a railway maniac, and thats why we now have the battle subway"

So, this might be a coincidence, but there is an old name that Japanese Train Fans used to call themselves. The name was "Railway Mania" (鉄道マニア direct translation). It was used up until the 1950s. Today it's seen as a derogatory term but it was used very commonly back in its heyday (even more popular than "railfan" apparently.) I think it is kind of interesting that the term "Railway Maniac" was chosen for this flavor text and I wonder if it has anything to do with this old name. However, I say it might just be a coincidence because the term "Maniac" is not unheard of word in Pokemon (Item Maniac, Poke Maniac, Hex Maniac, etc.) But regardless, there's that little fun fact for you!

B2W2

“Get on a train and fight!” Battle Subway in Nimbasa City"

"The energy generated by heated Pokémon battles is the fuel that keeps the Battle Subway running"

I'm going to get a little headcanon-y here. We can interpret this figuratively, as in if there are no battles then its not really a Battle Subway is it? But I think it would be fun to interpret it literally! What if Pokemon Moves could get absorbed somehow to power the Train? And if the Train doesn't need it it could go into the line to power something else in the Subway! I think that would be cool :]

Extra Stuff:

●I think the Battle Subway Map could also be inspired by JR East's rail map, the main reason is the single lines (dark green) which goes in a loop around the Unova Region...

Reminds me of the Yamanote Line (light green) which also goes in a loop connecting a variety of major stations together in Tokyo and is a very very important line!

●While I do believe Gear Station is inspired by New York's Grand Central Station, I do think there's a lot of design elements taken from Tokyo Station as well

●The gray bodies of the Anville, Single, Doubles, and Multi cars are probably meant to represent an exposed steel/aluminum body rather than the ones painted white like the Super Trains.

●In the Anime, the trains are said to have an ATO system, this is also a real system, it stands for Automatic Train Operation. It's a system that allows a computer to control when the train stops and goes with no driver involved! I don't think that the trains in the games run on an ATO system though, as there are Depot Agents who talk about train driving (Depot Agent Cameron who says "I’m good at driving, but I’m not good at dealing with Pokemon." at the start of battle, and a way more obscure Depot Agent whom you can talk to on the platform after 14 wins on a Super Train who says "I’d rather have an exciting battle than slowly drive the train.")

●In the Anime, there's a stamp rally, which is a real thing! There are station stamps in Japan which tourists can collect. Though, occasionally Pokemon will collaborate with JR East to create a Pokemon Stamp Rally! The most recent is this Pokemon Horizons Stamp Rally promoting the show! Here's a map of what stamps you can collect at each station and the prizes you can get!

●In the Nacrane city library there is a book that mentions that Nacrane used to have steam locomotives running through it!

"This book is about the things you can ride in the Unova region, such as Castelia City’s cruise ship and Mistralton City’s planes. Before there were planes, locomotives carried people all over Unova. The railway in Nacrene City is a legacy of those lines." (B2W2)

What kinds of Steam Locomotives? I suppose we will never know, as we never see one in game.

●There's an Roughneck NPC you can talk to at Tubeline Bridge in B2W2 where he says

"Watch it! People use “railway fan” as a catchall term, but there are many types of railway fans! There are riding fans, detraining fans, station fans, train-car fans, schedule-table fans, picture-taking fans, recording fans, and more! Don’t go thinking they’re all the same!" (B2W2)

So in Japanese, Railway is Tesudo (鉄道, testu 鉄- Iron and do 道-Road) and a Railway Fan is Tesudofan, however fans will abbreviate to just Testu and stick what aspect of trains they enjoy with it, so like 乗り鉄 (Nori 乗り-Ride, 鉄-tetsu) as a Train Riding Fan, or 撮り鉄 (Tori 撮り-Taking a Picture, 鉄-tetsu) as a Railway Photography fan. There are a lot of these and the NPC does go over some! There's also Railway Modeling Fans (Fans who collect model trains and/or construct model railways), Collecting Fans (Fans who collect railway related items such as tickets or stamps), Operation Fans (Fans who like researching railway operation and equipment), Regulation Fans (Fans who like researching railway handbooks and laws and regulations that go into a railway), Simulation Fans (Fans who like playing train driving/railway management games), Artists/Writers, Urban Explorers, and Railway Preservationist (I gave up on the last ones lol). There are lots of ways to enjoy trains!

There's also the super specific terms of "Mama Tetsu" where a mother becomes a railway fan because of their children's interest or "Oyako Tetsu" where a child becomes interested in trains because of their parents.

●The badge on Ingo and Emmet's hats probably represents the logo for the railway company that they work for, while researching about Japanese Railway Companies, I noticed that they have a lot of circular logos, here's a handful:

From what I could gather, these types of black and white circular logos are called a mon, kind of like a crest? If you wish to scroll about the logos, here is the link for the Wikimedia commons list.

The company's logo is also what's usually depicted on irl conductor's hats anyways, in the exact same place too.

(I was looking for a screenshot to showcase the hat to put here, but instead I found this promotional video! It's actually pretty good at going over the basics of what a driver and conductor actually do! Please feel free to check it out)

●The name "Depot Agent" is a little bit of a strange name, in Japanese the name is simply "Railway Worker", a depot is often referred to a train yard, however depot can also refer to a station, given where we see this trainer class working (at Gear Station), it is most likely that the depot in this case is referring to station, so they are station workers!

Final:

After all this I have come to the conclusion that somebody at Gamefreak really liked trains! And I really think all the little details are so awesome! and it really cements the Battle Subway as my favorite battle facility!

Anyways I hope you learned a thing or two and I hope you gained a new appreciation for trains and the Battle Subway! Thanks for Reading! ✌

(If I got anything wrong, please feel free to correct me, there was a lot of information I had to sift through and I am NOT an engineer * _ * and if you have something to add please do! I would love to learn more! ^ ^

[onesidedradiostatic]

vox's outfits through the years, based on what little we can see

let's talk about the eras of vox's outfits. I've been trying to figure out how to properly express this post for a while considering the poor quality or little details of the photos we've seen but it was difficult.

this could easily be a bit inaccurate because of that

but REGARDLESS.

so you know how it's a common theory that vox modeled his outfit after alastor, bowtie, pinstripes, upturned collars? even with a cast full of bowties (like man vivzie really loves her bowties), their outfits are pretty similar, sir pentious likely modeled himself after one or both of them too (but he's not relevant to this post, just thought I'd address him since he's the other one with the similar fit)

but you know when those aspects aren't visible in vox's fit?

his picture with val

(where he... presumably partners up with him for the first time?)

in this picture, there's no bowtie, there's no upturned collar, you can barely see any visible pinstripes (although difficult to truly tell due to the quality of the picture, I can only see a vague stripe across his sleeve), even the coloured tips of his fingers aren't visible in the picture, the qualities that are reminiscent of alastor are barely present

however, in his photo with alastor...

which is presumably taken BEFORE the one with val which we can assume because

val fell 20 years after vox, and alastor fell before vox, giving a 20 year period where vox likely associated with alastor without val

the alastor photo is black and white while the val one is in colour

in that photo...

...vox seems to have visible pinstripes on his shoulder. which isn't much, but when he's standing right next to alastor like that, the similarities stand out. even with that small part of his shoulder, it clearly mirrors alastor.

of course, most of vox is obscured in this photo so I can't say it with 100% accuracy (we can't tell whether or not he has a bowtie and upturned collar or not. whether he started out with the stupid orange-red turtleneck). but with the alastor mirroring? seems to show mimicry of alastor during the time when they were friends.

this is working on a LOT of assumptions right now due to unclear details of the photos but what it seems like to me is

vox mimics alastor's fit -> vox/alastor falling out + partnering up with val -> stops mimicking alastor -> alastor disappears for 7 years -> starts mimicking alastor again? (current fit)

the possibility of him changing his fit to not mimic alastor in his picture with val could put his falling out with alastor at around the same time as his partnership with val, but this is working off a bit of a weaker assumption due to like 80% of vox not being visible in the vox + alastor photo. so feel free to take this one with a grain of salt.

very interesting to me though, that there was a period of time, in the beginning of his partnership with val where he wasn't mimicking alastor, but somewhere down the line to his current fit, he decided to start mimicking him again, despite this definitely being an era after their falling out. that he for some reason, despite hating alastor now, decided to go back to mimicking alastor, whether consciously or not. maybe even because of how much he felt his absence during those 7 years?

or maybe vivziepop just really likes pinstripes and bowties and upturned collars and there isn't a deeper meaning to this who knows

this is a post I've wanted to make for a while, but the finer details of the photos being unclear has just made me constantly make edits to it due to unknown factors, like I said, it's very possible certain details are inaccurate due to lack of information, but I'm trying to work with something here, so hopefully this is comprehensible.

although not the cause of this post, this comic got me to revisit this in my drafts (and has a really good take on vox mimicking alastor during his 7 year absence, which DID inspire one of the hypotheticals of this post) so check that out

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Personal opinion but I feel quite a let down when Vil's new SSR card is just a bonus card for Jamil's hometown event, even if they made a slight change to the story to include him?? The last Vil's event SSR card is Halloween part 1 which to be fair all 3 SSR cards were barely focused or main character-ish. So I was expecting for a Vil focused event, like hometown or anything that would give him the spotlight more... So yeah, quite a let down, and the card doesn't even have a vignette. Guestroom furnitures are cool, but I still prefer vignettes 😔

[Referencing this post!]

Mmm, I think the thing with the first Halloween event is that the three featured SSRs did play a somewhat more significant role than the others, but they were also bogged down by having to compete with EVERY other main cast student, NRC Staff, and even the Ramshackle Ghosts also appearing in the event. (If I remember correctly, it was Cater who informed everyone about the Magicam Monsters, Jade who encouraged everyone to fight back using scare tactics, and Vil who headed the Halloween planning committee.) Considering all of this, I get why the importance of Vil's first event SSR may have seemed to be minimized. It felt like a mainly “Cater��� event of the SSR trio. I do think Vil is an odd choice to give a SSR for Jamil's hometown event of all things 😅 I mean, it has been years since Vil last got an event SSR, but in terms of context this just seems... out of nowhere?

I guess Vil can technically be easily thrown in with the excuse of "oh, he's there on an acting/modeling gig", but then that would work for any event?? And it isn't really justified with a change in the story either (it sounds like it will be 100% the same; Vil doesn't even come with vignettes but with furniture recipes so we won't ever formally get an explanation for why he's in Yasmina Silk). It's a CRIME that Vil won't get to hang out with best girl Najma 😭 LET THEM TEASE JAMIL TOGETHER-- I would have thought the natural new SSR to come for this event would be Kalim (who already has a presence in the event, but not a new outfit, so you wouldn't even have to write much new dialogue for him; this would be similar to what was done for SSR Suitor Suit Idia and SR Suitor Suit Lilia). Even Lilia would work, as he was originally intended to go with Malleus as his +1 (although this route would have warranted considerable new chunks of story to incorporate Lilia into the narrative). Like… are those two not the Obvious Choices???

Maybe I just feel this way because I prefer story and character to how something looks (although nice aesthetics are always a bonus)?? Honestly, I don't really care for decorating the Guest Room or making furniture, I find it very annoying and time-consuming to gather the materials especially since you usually can't auto the Extra battles and the Guest Room isn't all that interactive anyway 😂 I also just don’t see a point in releasing a new card when there’s no story at all associated with it??? That’s probably why Yasmine Silk Vil and his lack of event presence seems more egregious to me... It is what it is, unfortunately 💦 I'm sure there are people who love decorating and are excited that Vil is finally getting a new (non-obligatory, non-birthday) card regardless. I'm happy for them and hope that they enjoy him when he releases!

[bythenineshards]

Omg what was up with that Feysand stan on ur post????? ITS JUST A THEORY. (Not to mention a MUCH better pairing) and lol if Feysand was always endgame why in the fck does Rhysie SA Feyre??? Did Sjm do that to build sexual tension (cause Feyre says in Acomaf she had "wanted him even then") AND THAT'S INFINITELY WORSE!!

Lmao they tried to fire up on one of my posts too and I immediately blocked them. Seen them one too many times fighting about posts that's none of their business. Like life is so empty u need to fight with strangers on the internet to feel something. I am literally so mad not them saying Tamlin Apologists deserve to be bullied?!?!? For liking a fictional character????!!

I took personal offence to that

Ha! See! I told you I would respond today. I totally didn't get sucked into Skyrim and my writing and nearly forgot.

Idk what their problem was. They blocked me like the first week I was on here so I didn't think much of them. I knew about them because there would be discourse on posts and an invisible opponent. So I guess they unblocked me to stir shit and idk, get more traffic to their blog? They rebranded with a name that is clearly meant to draw in Antis of Feysand. I think they're like 15 and so I guess they're in their "I'm edgy look at me phase" where they want to pick fights because they think they're always right and special. I'm so glad I didn't grow up with my cringe behavior on the internet.This is why we don't sell erotica or "dark romance" to children. They can't handle speculation or discussions. I bet they cry over Marvel's What If... series because it's not Canon. Like... the post that had them all fired up was speculation about something we have receipts for. And a lot of people liked the idea. All they do is make the books look worse.

And the way they talk about Feyre vs. Nesta is like they think they're written by two different people. This isn't Harry Potter (fuck you Rowling) vs. Twilight (fuck you Meyers). I don't think Feyre gets a free pass to transform into a person of another race just cuz Nesta and Gwyn modelled their stuff after the Valkyries. I think both are bad and icky because the same author wrote both and clearly doesn't see how offensive that could be. I do, however, think that there's a difference between what Feyre did and the Blood Rite. Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie were kidnapped and forced into the Blood Rite. They didn't actually choose to.

Side note though: Valkyries are from Norse mythology. It does chap me that she couldn't use a mythology or create something new for her Illyrians to flesh out their culture. She just used a primarily white culture for her non-white character's culture.

Sorry to rant about that. It just irked me.

I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would ship Feysand the way it's written in Canon. I can with 100% confidence say I've never written a romance that involved anyone SAing anyone. Hell, I don't feature SA at all really. I don't want it in my fantasy. I want people to find peace and love in my books. Men have written enough SA in fantasy, it doesn't need any from me.

But like... if you look at their posts, the reason I don't like Feyre is because I wanted "my fav" to end up with Rhys. They can't fathom that I don't like Rhys at all. I don't like any of her men. They don't appeal to me at all. The only one I might’ve had any inkling of interest in is Kallias but I'm sure if we spent more than a handful of pages with him, I'd hate him too. I think she'd eventually change all of them regardless of appearance to something shallow and toxic.The Bat Boys specifically are boring to me. Their designs suck, their personalities suck and the way they treat their women sucks. Nothing I see in her books is what I would classify as love. Her books aren't about love. They're about sex with hot dudes. But you know what? Other books do romance, love and even just sex better.

I'm glad you blocked them. Just know, they still spy on us.

Thank you for your ask. I hope you're doing well.

[kittymanya]

Stupid little idiot toontown bastards. do not mind the fact that the toons do not have the typical tan mouths im sorry i cannot draw them it never looks correct in my art anyway back to the topic at hand. my gay little freaks. i love them. Actual info under the cut

Sam (he/him) lives in Ye Olde but similarly to 'hysterical harry' he is just a Normal Fucking Guy. He doesn't like living there but also at the same time he refuses to move anywhere else because he grew up in Ye Olde and he's too used to it to leave now. Meeting new people is a hassle he is not willing to confront. He isn't really very 'toony' and tends to act a bit more cog-like, which gets weird reactions from some people even outside of Ye Olde but most ignore it besides a comment or two. Very good friends with Pink but in that sort of 'this is the insane extrovert that just decided to adopt me' way. He loves phones and technology in general and will give you a 30 minute ramble on why smartphones are awesome and how he's customized his own tech if you even slightly give him the chance to, it's the only time he's talkative. 100% gets in creddit moderator fights with Brian/The Prethinker online

Pink (he/they) lives in Daffodil Gardens, he loves art of all sorts and is generally a 'jack of all trades master of none' sort of artist, he just does whatever the hell comes to mind regardless of whether it actually turns out any good or not, he just loves the process of creating. Sort of one of those 'live laugh love' type people, they're very optimistic about everything, even for toon standards, and also likes to be a little flirty every now and then. Very neutral on cogs, they still dislike all the antics they've been up to but otherwise is..generally pretty willing to just chat with them if given an opportunity. Their being a huge social butterfly outweighs their dislike of cogs. Friends with Sam because they met through another friend and he just decided that Sam's his buddy now. Levy (any pronouns but uses he/him most often) lives in Mezzo Melodyland. Loves trying to do magic tricks (both practical effects and attempting 'actual magic') but he is, alas, super fucking unlucky. Nearly all of his tricks backfire in some way, but he continues doing it anyway because he still enjoys it and sees no downside. Either he succeeds and people are impressed, or he fails and he gets other toons to have a laugh. Both outcomes make him happy. (Though it's still frustrating sometimes for him). His bad luck does not apply just to his magic shows, his legs are also invisible because of a mishap with vanishing cream, where, despite applying it to his whole body, the bottle was partly defective and only the portion he put onto his legs actually worked. He was too embarrassed to ask anyone for help about it, and continued to just pass it off as intentional because it themed well with his name. After awhile he just started reapplying it that way willingly, since it also made him more recognizable to others.

Nyte (she/her) is a boardbot cog that was... not meant to exist in the form she does. She was a prototype model and wasn't supposed to be able to think, but she did anyway, and so now just, exists. Since she was supposed to be a test run, a lot of 'typical cog features' are missing or absent with her. Her health indicator is only visible if a compartment in her chest is opened up, her sentences get mixed up often (usually resulting in either repeating whole sentences twice, or using awful grammar/sentence structure). She's basically permanently level 1, nearly any toon off the street could win a fight against her, so she usually tries to avoid situations where a battle could happen. She works two jobs, one at the Mezzo cashbot hq for 3 days of the week (she just comes over and assists with whatever little things people request of her) and the other at Alton/The LAA's office in the boatyard for the other 4 days. She admires Alton very much and wants to be a manager herself one day, even though she knows it's very unlikely to ever happen, so she usually just follows him around like a lost puppy and offers help constantly. The color of her lights changes based on emotion the most often, but she can manually control it too, and usually sticks to light blue. She's very excitable, and acts a bit more toony than most cogs, especially in comparison to other boardbots, but she's also extremely loyal to COGS Inc and will often be overly performative about her 'distaste' for toons, sometimes to the point of making herself crash temporarily. She's based on a silly little cat nightlight i have in my room irl :)

[loregoddess]

For the send a game title ask, Legend of Dragoon

Dragoon, my beloved...

Favorite thing about that game: Wait, just one? Honestly it's a toss up between the story, which is incredibly written even with all the wacky localization hiccups, and the mechanics which are surprisingly balanced considering the game was published in 1999/2000.

Least favorite thing about that game: Hmm, probably that Kongol gets kinda shelved by the writers, I felt he had a lot of narrative potential that we never see realized. Also I feel like running all the way back to Lohan to pick up his dragoon spirit (or waiting till the end of the game) is tedious, esp. if I'm going to use him in my main party, and I feel like he should have just gotten it after saving Dart and Co. after the battle with Gerich, since it'd kinda make sense that the gang had stolen the spirit or it was just chilling in the ruins of the Home of Gigantos. Aside from that, I think Meru should not fall into the "woman who is older than she looks, and she looks 16" trope, it's not a good trope for her.

Favorite character in that game: Hmmm, all of...them? Technically Meru bc I love her character arc and personality, and she's fun to play as, but I have a lot of love for Albert, Kongol, Lavitz, and Miranda too.

Would I recommend it? Why? YES YES, aside from being a classic JRPG that got left in the dust due to niche popularity, it is surprisingly balanced mechanically and isn't as janky as some games from that era tend to be. Also the story is fascinating, and it's one of the most creative takes on dragons I've ever come across (I mean, there's a giant praying mantis dragon, and that's just the tip of the dragon design iceberg). Actually there's a lot of things in LoD that I simply do not see in a lot of fantasy stories that I feel could be used more often, but like, everything from the visual design to the music to the narrative to the mechanics is really well-made and makes the entire game a sort of forgotten gem of the JRPG world.

Free space to go off about something! Something that continues to amaze me is, voice acting aside, all the CG cutscenes still hold up even by the standards of today's 3D animated cutscenes. Like, LoD feels like it was really ahead of it's time in a lot of aspects, but all the cutscenes are gorgeous, and the game has some of the best CGI for character and prop models for early 2000s games that I know of. It makes me kind of sad that finding high-res renders of the characters is so hit or miss, but regardless I always enjoy watching the cutscenes if only to gawk at how pretty they are.

Rating out of 10: 100/10, one of my all-time favorite games, I replay it almost yearly and I rarely replay games that often.

[staggbones]

Not to be a “what about” kind of guy, but re: your recent post, what are your feelings on vocal synthesis softwares such as Vocaloid V6 and SynthV AI, since those are also AI powered..? I generally consider them a different class than chatGPT or diffsvc or AI image generation since they’re ethically sourced with consent and compensation to the voice providers (royalties on sales of voice databases, etc.), but I’d love to know your thoughts

So, regarding the AI usage in the newest models of vocaloid, I am incredibly disappointed and I think it takes the heart out of what made vocaloid really great to begin with. I think the more humanoid vocaloids sound, the less interesting they are to me. My favorite part about vocaloid is the fact that you can tell they are robotic. I love that.

That being said, V6 vocaloid ai usage is 100% ethical. The voice actors got paid and gave their approval to train the ai. It's purpose isn't for nefarious reasons. I believe there ARE ethical AIs, don't get me wrong. However, AI art can never be ethical. Never. And the AI programs trained off people without their permission is completely unethical.

I do think that the use of AI in V6, like the use of AI in anything regardless of ethical status or not, completely takes the heart out of what is being made and that disappoints me. But if you like V6, that's fine.

[narcissadeville]

Galaxy S22 Ultra: a 1.5 Year Review

Now that I've been using this phone for the last year and a half (it feels like longer), I figured this was as good a time as any to do a review of it and discuss the good, the bad, and the down right frustrating.

First, the good. It does the job a phone is supposed to do. Also I really love the multi-photo lockscreen option. It is really fun being able to have up to fourteen different photos on my lockscreen so that at any given time I can see a different one on my screen.

Now, the not-so-good.

I've never been more frustrated with any single phone than I have been with this phone. Weirdly, it's not even necessarily things that are specific to Samsung or this phone, but I almost feel like this phone has been jinxed. I've never had a phone that has fallen or more accurately jumped off of every high surface I have put it on in my life. I'm very careful with my phones. I'm often told how good my phone looks when I go to trade them in at the store so the fact that this phone has found itself so often just falling out of my hand, or off of the couch, or off of a counter for no reason is just mind boggling to me.

One of the other problems that isn't necessarily Samsung's fault but that has ultimately left a bad taste in my mouth with this phone is the fact that I somehow got locked into a 24 month contract, which as someone who would change her phone to match her dress if she could, is pretty frustrating.

Now onto the really bad.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I cannot remember the last phone that had a decent battery after about a six months to a year and this has been by far one of the worst. It seems that the uncommon wisdom is that we're not supposed to be charging our phones overnight actually, but let's be honest, when else am I going to be charging my phone? I kind of need it done by the time I'm awake (and yes admittedly my sleep schedule is kind of all over the place so I am usually up even late into the night). All of this means that even if I'm not even using the phone, the battery can end up drained by the time I'm set to charge it again at the end of the day.

I even went so far as to get a backup battery just to make sure if I was out I wouldn't have any issues.

Speaking of battery problems, I turned on Samsung's battery saving feature which apparently doesn't let you charge the phone past 80%, which basically means my phone died even faster than it otherwise would have. I haven't actually tested it, but I find that the battery tends to go from 100% to 90% in less than an hour which seems extremely fast to me and that's regardless of the fact that I keep my phone on dark mode and keep the brightness to the lowest possible setting that I can and still be able to read the phone.

The other big problem is that I bought the 128 GB model and for the first time since phones only came in 16GB I ran out of space. So I also had to get an external backup harddrive for this phone. If I recall the phone didn't come with either headphones or a charging cable since Apple has decided those are not things we need anymore Samsung naturally followed suit. It's worth noting that back during the Galaxy S10 Plus that I had, it came with those AKG headphones were actually really nice, and it's a shame that Samsung just dropped them, along with the headphone jack.

There's also a myriad of other disappointments on this phone from the lack of MicroSD card support that older phones had, to the fact that my SPen will occasionally pop out by itself, to the fact that when the screen is on I have a bad habit of not being able to tell which end is up on this phone. Sometimes my camera app would just open for no reason if I touched the screen wrong, or the fact that because of the bezels on the side you absolutely have to have a case otherwise you're going to touch the side of the screen and that gets super frustrating when the phone thinks you're pressing something you're not.

Honestly this is probably one of the most disappointing phones for me and there's nothing technically wrong with it. It makes calls, it receives texts, whether I want it to or not, and because I use NovaLauncher and have it pretty well customized it isn't terrible to look at. But after a year and a half, I can't help but feel like the negatives far outway the positives, and that's super disappointing.

[twow]

okay no one asked but here's my engage thoughts and musings:

i'm split so far. while i'm certainly glad they're bringing back a level of campiness that i thought 3h lacked, i worry that it'll lean too much into the campiness and silliness and we won't get many emotional or serious moments from the supporting cast. so far none of the characters seem to have any depth, altho it's absolutely possible that they're just hiding that in the clips and trailers and it'll be present in the actual game

alear will almost certainly be the 13th ring. when they're good they'll have blue hair and when they're evil they'll have red hair. see the newest serenes forest analysis as to why there's probably a 13th ring + we see all-red hair alear at the end of the last main english trailer. plus marth's hair turns red when he's in the hands of the evil group. it all adds up and makes sense

i worry about the story. i think fire emblem's stories are the best when they involve the politics of the nations and have complex stories. mindlessly evil shadow organization + evil dragon has no appeal to me and it worries me that that's all we've seen of the story so far. since this is (allegedly) an anniversary game they may have relied mostly on fanservice and written a lackluster story. ofc, like i said above, they could just be hiding it

i'm not 100% sold on the art style, but the animation itself looks great. the models are far more expressive than the 3h characters. but yeah i don't love the baby-face anime models in general. overall a huge visual upgrade tho i think it looks great

the character designs are really fun! i'm not a fan of all of them (skunk girl and the xenoblade twins are especially egregious imo) but in general i enjoy them

our first male dancer! yay!!

i hope there's s supports for everyone or no one. i REALLY hated that byleth was the only one who could s support, it felt way too self-inserty. if alear can s support, everyone should be able to

re: s supports, if they are in the game i want explicitly gay s supports for non-alear characters. none of the player-sexual BS. if two characters can s support the same gender version of alear, they should also be able to s support with each other. i think everyone should be able to romance everyone regardless of gender but i know it's not realistic. also ofc this is all contingent on s supports happening at all but man. i just want good lgbt rep in fire emblem

the voice acting is sooo bad so far im sorry. framme, veyre, and hortensia are the worst offenders, like im serious go back and watch the english trailers. all three sound like 6-year-olds which is incredibly creepy (im sure it's loli bait) and it's incredibly grating

the throwbacks are super fun and it'll be really cool to see some old maps, music, and characters brought back. i just hope they don't have a recency bias and give the old games enough love too

i REALLY hope that chrom, robin, seliph, alm, hector, and eliwood make it into the game as DLC bracelets. even if some of them have to share it, they need to be in a game where all the fe lords are present and it would be wrong if they weren't. shez would be cool too but def not necessary considering he'd be the FIFTH 3h rep when all the others have 1-2. i also wouldn't be shocked if you could switch to the other gender of avatar characters so maybe even sixth if you include f!byleth as a separate character. anyway please add the other lords :) i also hope they don't go the fanservice route with the DLC. no camilla ring please

on the subject of DLC i hope that important story content isn't locked behind a paywall. i thought it was terrible when fates did it and i'll hate it if engage does it

also in general i HATE day 1 DLC. imo if you have finished DLC ready day 1 it should be in the base game. that being said i have pre-ordered it 🤡

SUPPORTS FOR THE EMBLEMS PLEASE. idc if it's just with the engage characters or with each other they need SOME support content.

also i hope the emblems get costume changes like the 3h characters can change to their war phase outfits or ike can change between his por and rd outfits. or even just let them have the customizable options that regular units do.

soren reference please

also just references to the emblems' games in general i think they should act like a real person would and TALK about their original worlds and their friends and family and stuff. even giving them unique dialogue with certain bond rings would be soooo epic please fe please do this one thing for me

idc about the gacha system as long as it uses in-game currency that you can't buy with real money

fe4 remake tease. please please please i need that game remade or ported i need to play it on a modern console

i am excited :) new fe games are almost always fun and i'm looking forward to it. i'm cautiously optimistic even tho this post is pretty negative. i'd rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed. unless some earth-shattering news about it comes out it's a day one purchase

[i-cant-sing]

Supposed to be doing three days worth of assignment but your post opened my Yandere Misa awakening 🏃‍♀️

What about platonic yandere misa who secretly kills off your friends with her death note because you're her best friend and she's your one and only, and the two of you doesn't need anybody else to interfere with your bestest of best friend relationship!

Or romantic yandere misa who invited you on a 'friend date' at harajuku one sat where she knows is crowded on the weekends and more people = attention.

What are the people going to think when the top model is walking around the district with a tight grip on another person's hand, hand feeding desserts and pecking kisses on their face. Surely, the both of you are couples, right?

And the medias are going crazy with pictures of the two of you together and you're beyond speechless at the situation. Then misa's telling you to listen to her because she's been in the industry since years ago, she knows best and best is to continue acting like a couple together.

Like buying matching clothes and spending the night at each other's. Like going on dates at least twice a week and posting cute pictures of each other on your accounts. Like buying an apartment and moving in together.

You have no say in anything she says because she knows best and best is listening to her <333333

Bestie, you read my fucking mind. I have been playing around with the platonic yandere misa idea for a while and now I'll share it.

Misa loves you, you're her bff. For as long as she can remember, you're the only person who isn't with her because of her looks or appearance- you're just a really genuinely good person.

It's funnier that the two of you are complete polar opposites- her being a "ditzy" model who loves Harajuku fashion, loves standing out. And then there's you- an introvert who is just trying to blend in, hates being put in the spotlight.

Maybe the two of you are childhood friends. Or maybe Misa first met you when you saved her from being kidnapped by a stalker. You told her that some guy in a hoodie seems to be following her, so you then offered to drive her to either a cafe or her place. Misa was so touched by your kindness, even more so when she found our you didn't know who she was. After that, the two of you exchanged numbers and became good friends.

Misa often invites you out for lunch or dinner, but since you prefer not to be in the eye of the public much, you invited her to your place once- ONCE! After that, Misa swings by uninvited whenever she wants, not caring if it 1 in the morning- hey, she's drunk as hell, and you told her not to drink and drive. So then you have to stay up and clean your friend up, let her sleep on your bed while you take the couch. Of course, a lecture awaits Misa when she wakes up with a hangover, but she kind of zones out when you're making her breakfast.

I feel like Misa has definitely brought up the idea of the two of you sharing a place and being roomates. You say no, because you like your privacy and also because you just don't have the social energy to match Misa's.

Everytime Misa swings by your place, she leaves a dozen gifts around like expensive skincare products, luxury brand clothes and bags she is a brand ambassador for, and then snoops around your house, regardless if you're home or not. She may look like she's a bimbo, but she's sharper than a blade. She goes through all your contacts, knows everyone in your family (she is your parents adopted daughter because they love her) and high key hates your other friends. She won't even hide it, outright judges them all and voices her opinion on them.

When she finds out that you have a bf/gf, she will 100% jeopardise your relationship. Its gonna begin with her disapproval of your s/o, saying that you deserve better than the bottom of the barrel. Then she starts putting doubts in your mind that s/o is unfaithful; you already know she's gonna set your s/o up and put them in compromising situations, taking photos as evidence to show you how s/o cheated on you, faking empathy as she lends you her shoulder to cry on.

Or like you said, she might take you out in public, have her manager call the paparazzi outside your place so that they can see the superstar Misa holding hands and twinning with reader. And when rumours start to spread, she won't do anything to deny them. If anything, she'll smile, blush and blink mischievously, telling the fans to "Staphh you guys 🥰Y/n is very shy, so all these ship names and fan edits of us is making her embarrassed 🥰💞💞" But since the paparazzi are stalking your home all day long, scaring the hell out of you with all the death threats from a couple of her crazy fans, even creating problems for you at work because now everyone wants to talk to Misa's new plaything/slut, you end up agreeing with tears of frustration in your eyes when Misa brings up the idea of you staying at her place, that no one knows about, not even her stalkers, so it's a safe place.

And then you know how the story goes, she's a very smart yandere, so she ends up manipulating you into staying with her permanently, and she's being generous when she let's you work from home, okay? She does not want you talking to anyone else, and on rare occasions, to your family.

Definitely has Rem babysit you when she's busy.

Imagine when Misa introduces you to Light. She's so excited for you to meet him, actually watches her two favourite people interact with each other while she's making dinner, dreaming of the ideal life she'll have with Light and you have her side, living together forever.

But that dream is thrown out the window when Light leaves and you tell her that he's not a good guy and seems to be putting on a face, and that he's raised a dozen red flags. Misa just laughs it up, thinking that it's just payback for all the times she criticised your relationships. But then Light talks to her the next day, telling Misa that he thinks you're... weird. He doesn't like you at all, not one bit. All because you said you hated Kira and his actions didn't justify the cause.

Misa tries to convince you that Kira is actually the good guy, just so that you could be in Light's good books (and not the Death note) but you're dead set on your opinion, saying that anyone who agrees with Kira's action is greedy and selfish. This leads to Misa lashing out on you and for the first time in months, you storm out of the house in anger.

When you return, you walk in on Light being an abusive piece of shit to Misa and you practically throw him off her and then sucker punch him square in the face, threatening to cut his balls off if he even looks at Misa the wrong way. While you tend to your friend, Light leaves the place holding his bleeding nose, and a twisted smile on his face. Seems like the psychopath only needed to a punch in the face to become... fond of you.

Now reader is stuck with 2 serial killers, one of whom is her best friend who insists taking care of you because you're one of the few kind people she's working hard to protect, and the other is intent on making you see the world through his eyes and make you his loyal follower, by whatever means necessary. He's always liked a challenge.

[sanstropfremir]

Since you mentioned Woozi’s Ruby being too short (which I 100% agree with - I have vibed with plenty of songs with weird song structures, but if it’s too short to even appreciate the song I have a hard time getting over that particular flaw), what are your thoughts on K-pop’s latest trend toward shorter songs?

I’ve noticed a lot of songs lately under 3 minutes that are missing huge chunks of normal song structure (like a bridge, three choruses, etc) without replacing it with anything interesting. Songs that come to mind are Bambam’s Slow Mo, Enhypens Blessed-Cursed, Somi’s Dumb Dumb, etc. Some of them are better than others, and I do think you can do a good short song if done right, but they all leave me unsatisfied at the end of the day so far. The only short song I’ve loved recently was Charli XCX’s Good One’s, which obviously isn’t even kpop. I know Tik Tok and the streaming model are partially to blame, but I’m hoping the trend doesn’t continue because I just don’t think most song writers/composers/producers are able to pull it off in a satisfying way.

i hate it, bring back the five to seven minute epic, no more of this pathetic streaming optimized bullshit

ok but actually i do agree with you, my main problem with songs being under three minutes is that they usually aren't able to pull off the satisfaction that comes with a traditional song structure. i did actually go through my spotify liked songs from the last year and make a playlist to see if there were any patterns in terms of date songs were released or artist or whatever and honestly there aren't really any in the 30ish kpop songs i dumped in there. so obviously there are a fair few that i really like, notably:

changmin - chocolate (2:52)

boa - nega dola (2:56)

boa - woman (2:50)

skz - god's menu (2:48)

luna - madonna (2:51)

shinee - superstar (2:55)

shinee - closer (2:43)

nct 127 - baby don't like it (2:39)

nct 127 - sun and moon (2:39)

the rose - candy (2:45)

the rose - red (2:56)

woosung - hangover (2:27)

chungha - killing me (2:44)

kangta - maybe (2:46)

onlyoneof - gaslighting (2:49)

monsta x - one day (2:26)

monsta x - someone's someone (2:21)

kang daniel - waves (2:45)

woodz - sun or suck (2:50)

to name a few. some of these frankly it's a CRIME that they're so short (sun or suck, baby don't like it, sun and moon, candy, one day, woman, killing me), and some of them are the perfect length (waves, maybe, chocolate, closer, superstar). but even with most of these i still feel like they're too short. i often like to luxuriate in songs so i will play stuff on repeat regardless of length, but my favourite songs tend to be those in the upper three minute to four minutes long, because there's just more time for it to be. if done well obviously a short song can get there (i agree about good ones, that's a great song), but a lot of them either feel like they're rushing or like they're just empty all together. i'm not really being very sophisticated or official about my terminology here but i like a lot of space in my music? at least the stuff i listen to on a daily basis. tvxq's before u go (4:33) is probably one of my favourite songs of all time and most of my top listened of 2021 were between 3:45 and 4:30ish, with a couple five-six minute outliers.

it isn't really that hot of a take but i do think streaming has fucked up the music industry significantly. aside from the abysmally low royalties issue, the whole obsession with numbers and charts and whatever is just so so toxic and unindicative of the actual appeal of a song, especially within the kpop sphere. i also think tiktok is a fucking blight and is giving people brainrot and it's also really fucked with the whole streaming thing. i too am very much hoping the trend doesn't continue, but it could very well be an extended turn back to song lengths to pre-1970. for most of the first couple decades of recorded sound songs have been under three minutes; i distinctly remember a lot of 50s jazz standards and motown songs being two-three minutes. however, these are all still following standardized song structures and honestly, i don't have the same faith in producers nowadays as i do in jazz and motown musicians.

[cottoncandyjester]

Yandere ocs

So I figured I should show them off..and make stories for them cause this idea won't escape my mind no matter what. Please be gentle on them

All artwork is made on picrew I don't own any of it

As far as they go I'm accepting request, questions for the characters to answer and just questions about them and if you just wanna talk to them you can via ask

Warning: contains both sfw and nsfw headcanons..also these boys are yanderes so they are kinda toxic

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

Theodore,21

Gentle giant

I'm not kidding he's 6'3"

Half japanese half american

Is a college student studying to be a doctor

Just the sweetest sweetheart

He comes across as ditzy though

He is the mom of any friend group

Will spoil his darling with affection and love

Best hubby vibes for sure

Works himself to death to provide for you both

Will give you all the headpats

"you're so sweet, a perfect angel"

Got his scar from his childhood

Loves sweets

Likes to make you lunch shaped as animals

Wholesome boy

Will never hurt you

Can be strict about self care

But completely forgets about his own self-care

Works so hard to please you

Makes sure you are never sad or anything

As far as his yandere side

He isn't the type to get violent but is definitely the emotional manipulation type

Will make his darling seem absolutely insane

"sweetie, you shouldn't leave be logical here"

He will make his darling question their own decision making

In his eyes you are too fragile for the outside world

Listen to him, he is only trying to protect you

Doesn't like it when you fight him

Prefers a sweet darling but if you are a hothead he'll love you just as much...though your fighting and struggling will be a challenge

Will drug you if that's what it takes to keep you calm

"Just listen to me, okay? Why would you ever need to think or make your own choices when you have me?"

Definitely has a low sex drive more of a cuddler

But when he wants it he's such a gentleman about it

Will seduce you with a nice meal first before asking to make love

He will never force you to though cause he knows what that feels like

Can spend hours kissing you

Definitely has a kink for purity

If you act super innocent he just can't help but pull you into his lap and love up on you

Doesn't do any feral sex unless you've pushed him past his breaking point.

Is a switch so if you want to top him he'll allow it but he is far more comfortable being the dom

Hikaru, 21

Young and famous model

Full japanese

Comes from a family full of actors

Flamboyant as hell will actually crossdress if he wants to cause fuck gender roles

Monster Dick energy

He comes across as loud and hyper

Seems super sweet and bubbly

Loves to dress up his darling in cute clothes and spoil them when they are well behaved

"look at my adorable baby! Oh you're such a cutie!"

Is a strawberry milk boba drinker(*cough* like me *cough*)

Will take you on shopping dates if you are good

Is the type to flaunt his credit cards

Is actually a degrading king

He isn't the nicest yandere

Will kill an entire army if he has to

Will degrade the absolute hell out of his darling to break your self esteem and self worth

"baby, who else will want you? Honestly darling do you think anyone else actually cares about someone as worthless as you?"

Kinky as fuck

Has a bad temper

Don't piss him off or he will hurt you

"why would you ever need to leave! The only one who cares about you is me! Everyone else will just use you and throw you away!"

Is the type to try and make his darling as clingy as possible

Wants a housewife type darling no matter the gender

Wants to come home to an obedient lover ready to give him a kiss, dinner, and a BJ

Always wants to love up on you and have you in his arms

Will be grouchy if he sees you getting too confident in your looks

He fears that if you have too much self confidence you're going to leave him

"what are you wearing? It's absolutely hideous. Hmm? I bought that? Huh you must have looked cute in it then but right now you kinda look like a pig"

All in all he's a brat

If you try and dom him he will absolutely fight back and it will lead to some feral sex

Axis, 18

100% blind

full japanese

Despite not being able to see he doesn't need a cane or anything

Though he likes it when you offer to hold his hand in public

Works at home as an artist

Is really good at it and had some of his work in museums

Like spicy foods

Dumbass

Like super dumb

"hey, babe is tomato sauce a smoothie? Or maybe it's like jelly..but made out of like tomatoes"

Is basically a puppy

Can't keep his hands off you

Is always kissing and loving you

Praise giving king

Has hightened senses so he definitely remembers your smell and how you walk

Always has to be with you

Never leave

Never

He can't handle it

Is the exact opposite of hikaru

Makes it seem like he will actually die without you

"don't leave! Please! I'm helpless without you! [Y/n]! Don't leave me by myself!"

Will make you quit your job

Will make you move in with him

Acts pathetic when you even mention leaving

Hugs your leg and sobs hard

Has fake fallen many times to get you to think he truly is helpless without you

Will have a screaming tantrum if you walk out the door

Just painful screams and sobs while he claws his own face and body out of absolute insanity

Will keep doing that until you come back to him

"s-see, I'm helpless without you. I'll die without you, I need you so please..stay with me forever"

As far as sex..

He is definitely cries during it

Loves you so much that he is just sobbing while fucking you cause you feel so good and he loves you and-

Is like a dog in heat

Loves just feeling all over your body

Sex with him usually lasts many rounds and involves him humping you to death while he sobs and drools all over you

Will sub for you if you want him to

Will honestly do anything you want as long as you are touching him

Prince, 24

Horny 24/7

Full Korean but moved to Japan shortly after birth

Gained his name out of a magazine..thanks mom and dad

Works as a bartender

Usually a one night stand kind of guy but with you it's different

Loves sloppy kisses and cuddles

Bad boy

Aka he pretends to be a bad boy but is actually a softie who loves dogs and long walks on the beach

Goofy as hell

Loves to make you laugh

He isn't used to having a real relationship so be easy on him

Doesn't like restricting you and lets you do basically anything you want

Of course you belong to him though so no doing crazy things

Like to take you to work with him and gives you free drinks

Definitely has a fan girl club

The word sex escapes his mouth every three seconds

Sex with him is usually amazing

He's knows exactly what he's doing

As long as you love him it's all good

The moment you try to break up with him or distance yourself he loses it

"huh? Huh huh huh huh?! You're kidding yeah?! Stop joking around"

Gets hella paranoid and locks you in his house while pacing around not sure what to do

Will kill for you like absolutely will slaughter someone if they get too close to you

He changes so dramatically it's hard to see him as the same laid back flirty guy

He gets tense and panicked

"you can't leave okay?! Don't even try to ask!"

Will start to calm down if he sees you are accepting your fate

Thinks sex will solve his problems

"you just need to see how much of a man I am yeah?! Then you'll stay right?! Of course you will!"

Spirals out of control

You belong to him in his eyes so you can't ever leave

Clearly has abandonment issues

Will try to do whatever he can to make you happy though

Want it and he will get it

just stay with him and he will be okay

Will try and do whatever he can to make you just as obsessed with him as he is for you

Clearly doesn't have experience in loving someone

He's not used to wanting someone to stay with him so he takes drastic measures to assure you never leave

Even tries getting you pregnant or making you disabled to make you make no choice but to stay

Yuki, 21

Not picking favorites buuut-

Sleepy boy

Oddly enough is super athletic and strong..despite not working out

Half japanese half american

Responds with sounds or very few words

Forked tongue- not given to him by choice

Owns a tattoo and piercing shop

Despite this he doesn't own any tattoos

Loves to put his head on your lap or stomach

Prefers chubbier lovers but honestly will love you regardless

Will sleep the entire day without eating if you let him

Doesn't like speaking but if he has to he will

Hates any sort of loud noise, has sensitive senses

Is pretty lazy but if he has to do it he will.. though he will make random grunts and grumbles the entire time while pouting

More of a cat than a person

Quite moody

Only you're allowed to touch him

Anyone else who does he'll glare at and act cold towards

Likes to hug you from behind and lean against you no matter your height

If you're shorter than him expect him to put his chin on your head

If you are taller he's nuzzling his face in your back and taking in your smell

Can't cook to save his life

Almost burnt the house down cause he fell asleep while cooking

It's fine cause he eats microwave dinners and snacks from the convience store

Low sex drive

The king of sleepy sex

Usually all sex with him is slow,teasing and just filled with sleepy praise and compliments

Unless he's jealous or stressed then it's just rough fucking

Doesn't really act like a yandere at all.. buuut-

Honestly thought you two were dating this whole time

What do you mean you two aren't a couple

No no sweetheart you two were dating the moment he laid eyes on you

If you try to break this fantasy he will shut it down

"we're dating."

Try and say no and he will not be able to handle it

All his delusions keep him from breaking down but if you absolutely say that you two aren't dating he will snap

"stop talking, we are dating. So stop lying"

Doesn't like the thought of kidnapping but he will do it if he must

Will even work from home if he has to

He isn't really a violent type so he won't kill for you but he will absolutely spread lies and use blackmail to get what he wants

All your friends and family think that you eloped with him and never want to see them again

It's better for you both if you just play along with his games

Will definitely tattoo his name on you

He won't ever gag you cause he likes to hear your voice but if you try to scream he honestly won't know what to do

The loudness makes him tear up and he just covers your mouth with your hands begging you to stop

"It hurt. Too Loud. Please."

He just wants to love you he doesn't see what he's doing wrong

He just wants to be with you forever so be good and don't fight him

Is definitely the stalker and stealing clothes type

Will make a nest of all your things that smell like you and he'll just lay in it being in absolute peace

Has scared any and all potential lovers away

Mostly through blackmail

He is easily jealous but pretends not to be

As soon as you walk into the house he is there to smell you to see if you smell different

If you do you are taking a shower with him immediately

If not then yay cool cuddles and kisses

[sapphicscholar]

Rebecca Welton, Frankie Bergstein, Deborah Vance

Ooh thank ya for this grouping! And sorry this got long!

Rebecca Welton:

My favorite thing about them: regardless of shippiness, I love what a good friend she is to Keeley (and becomes to Ted, in part because she was willing to do something hard and painful because Keeley told her to)

My least favorite thing about them: I think we've seen a few moments where, in trying to grow and letting herself be a little more open to new experiences and happiness, she's ended up more impulsive than is wise and has given out advice that might work for *her* (or maybe that she needs/wants to hear) to someone where it's really not right for them

My favorite canon relationship: her and Sam (unpopular opinion, I know). Would there have been problems? Yeah, of course. (Then again, the whole budget crisis of early S2 never came to anything despite losing their primary sponsor in Dubai Air, so who knows! Realism went out the window ages ago! It's tv, and I don't come to tv for a step-by-step model for healthy relationships haha) But anyway they were two very attractive people who carved out a bubble for a little window in time where they made each other and themselves very happy, and I love that for them

My favorite non-canon relationship: Rebecca and Keeley (nothing against her and Ted, but my femslasher heart thinks we should all be looking for our ride-or-die bestie who's ready to invade France with us and who will also make sure we know how hot we look the whole time)

The sexuality I headcanon for them: maybe bi

What I’d do if I could spend the day with them: ooh, I think I would want to let her plan the day... She was in a relationship for so long where her desires and ideas were written off, and I feel like with her job it's been a long ass time since she's had a whole day to just do what she wants, so I'd want to give that for her and come along for what would probably be a very fun day (that is so so far above my paygrade haha)

Random fact about them I like: that she fucking loves shorbread. Me too, Rebecca, me too (I say around a bite of the shortbread I baked for myself last night)

Frankie Bergstein:

My favorite thing about them: she cares so deeply for the people in her life, and while it isn't an instant "in" to the close inner circle I feel like 1) it's really hard to get kicked out of there; she holds her people close even when it's painful to her for a time; and 2) I think people generally start closer to in than out (exact opposite of Grace) - like, she genuinely seems to want the best to be true of those around her

My least favorite thing about them: as a Type A myself, the times she shrugs off work or the less fun responsibilities grate. Like I know Grace fucked up in bringing the cake to the wedding at the end of last season, but it's also 100% something I'd do after what *seemed like* a total lack of a plan around stuff like Vybrant (the urge to fix things without asking first is real!)

My favorite canon relationship: I liked her and Jacob! He was sweet and willing to meet her where she was at after the divorce and all the hurt and mistrust that had built up after the reveal of the years-long affair.

My favorite non-canon relationship: her and Grace <3 love that enemies to friends to lovers arc for me

The sexuality I headcanon for them: bi/queer (I feel like she'd own both terms)

What I’d do if I could spend the day with them: I'd go to the farmers market with her because I feel like she'd know everyone and end up telling me a million fun stories while we walked around. In exchange for cooking dinner (and cleaning up), I'd also love for Frankie to teach me how to paint! It was the one form of art I could never manage (to stay on brand, it always seemed too messy and chaotic), but I feel like she'd be a great teacher

Random fact about them I like: oh man there's so many good ones! Let's go with the fact that she's been making homemade yam lube for ages!

Deborah Vance:

My favorite thing about them: her strength - like, god, to come back from being so publicly left by someone you thought of as the love of your life for the only family you have left, then blamed for something you didn't do while having the opportunity of a lifetime wrenched from your fingertips at the last second? Goddam. So much respect. And to do it all as a single mother? In an industry that, esp then, was so deeply misogynistic? Phewwww, fucking hats off, Deborah Vance

My least favorite thing about them: the tendency to assume the worst in most of the people around her - she has so many reasons for it, so it's understandable, but sometimes ya just want to sit her down and be like okay wait please take 2 full breaths and maybe ask someone before assuming the worst of intentions!

My favorite canon relationship: oof, in the face of Frank (may he rot in hell), I guess Marty? It's fucked up for sure, but I think they've both been screwing each other (over and otherwise) for way longer than what we see in the show, and that Deborah might take some degree of pleasure in the antagonism. It's a relationship where she can feel justified in assuming the worst (and in giving it right back) - she doesn't think she has to worry about being hurt because at least it'll never come as a surprise; he's always going to go for those 20-somethings while wishing he had her

My favorite non-canon relationship: her and Ava <3

The sexuality I headcanon for them: not straight, but nothing more labeled or set in stone than that

What I’d do if I could spend the day with them: oh man I want a behind the scenes tour of Vegas from the Queen of Sin City herself! And then I would 100% go antiques hunting with her - nothing like shopping when none of it's my money (and the person I'm shopping for has more money than god)

Random fact about them I like: that she gives her dogs fancy dinner (plus all my HCs about Barry and Cara haha(

[villains-with-benefits]

Playing the blame game, and other pointless endeavours

A reflection on BNHA Chapter 291

Before and after: or, How to violently radicalise an abuse victim in five easy steps

I think a lot of the people throwing blame around or trying to declare that one character or another is the One True Villain™ or the One True Victim™ need to stop seeing personal responsibility as a zero sum game, because it really isn't.

Arguing about whether Dabi and Endevour should each have 50% of the blame or if it's more of a 60/40 or 70/30 split (in either direction) is pointless. Endeavour is 100% responsible for his abuse of his family and general failings as a human being, and Dabi is 100% responsible for the lives he's taken and people he's hurt in retaliation because of it.

Sure these two things are absolutely related in that good ol' cause-and-effect sense, much like how an earthquake at sea will cause a tsunami. And much like them neither happened in a vacuum, the surrounding environmental conditions needed to be just right for a perfect storm of this magnitude to occur. It just so happens that in this case both the earthquake (Endeavour) and the tsunami (Dabi) are not faceless forces of nature, but human beings with superpowers who chose to take action based on their deep-set mental and emotional issues at everyone else's expense, either because they think their needs are more important, they think the price paid is worth being the means to the end or (most likely) a combination of the two.

Please note, I don't say this to excuse or condemn either character, the readers who are taking sides, or even Horikoshi's writing. It's pretty well established by now that one of the biggest themes in BNHA is that there is no perfect black and white when it comes to people and society and morality, and just about all the conflict is driven by just how badly their entire system (which is built and determined to die on that hill) messes it up for absolutely everyone on all sides. Saying Dabi is a Bad Victim while Shouto is a Good Victim is just as pointless, because you're missing that the real villain is their broken society, of which everyone is a victim, even Endeavour.

Again, Endeavour was the one to abuse his family and he gets no passes for that so don't even try to argue that's what I'm saying, but he didn't wake up one day and just decide to do it. If Chapter 291 has done anything it's shown how escalation is nine tenths of the law in cases like this. He was already an asshole narcissist with a raging inferiority complex, we've heard from his own POV in an earlier chapter that he purposefully chose Rei to have kids with to eugenics a solution to his problem, he was never an upstanding guy.

While we don't see Endeavour's own upbringing there's a reason he's been such a strong narrative parallel with Bakugou, so we can make an educated guess from what we've seen of his what it must have been like having a powerful Quirk and ambitions being fed by the people around him, and the way Bakugou has clashed with characters like Deku and Shouto when he was confronted with the reality that he wasn't going to get Number One effortlessly, we can guess how well he took realising he was always going to be Number 2.

Pictured: the hero equivalent of always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

At least with Bakugou's rivals they're his own age and acknowledge him as a rival, All Might is at least a decade older than Endeavour and he's always been a loner who didn't get to know his colleagues that well. As readers we know All Might keeps his distance because he's kinda awkward socially, and because between the threat of All For One and maintaining the flawless image of the Symbol of Peace he wasn't ever able to let his guard down or it might risk people's safety. But just like Bakugou assuming Deku was looking down on him, from Endeavour's perspective it probably looked like All Might was looking down on Endeavour too.

Again, not excusing Endeavour. He's an asshole and needs to be held accountable for his actions. But just like Bakugou he didn't spring fully formed from the womb as an asshole, sure he had all the ingredients for it but their society is what decided it was a good idea to put the lime in the coconut and mix it all up, just like he's the one who broke Touya which ultimately led to the creation of Dabi.

Which brings us back to Dabi not just calling out his abusive dad but making a spectacle of it, and while again, yes, he's done a lot of murder and that's not okay either, he is absolutely justified in this. Especially because the part of his reasoning for his actions which isn't just maniacal laughter (also totally valid) is that he's correctly identified, much like Shigaraki, that while specific individuals have hurt them and must pay for it, that the overarching problem is hero society itself.

Shigaraki attacked All Might at first because Sensei said so, but later on because he was the symbol of everything he felt wrong with society, everything he's done has been to attack the pillars of the hero system like All Might and UA. Dabi attacked Endeavour, his abuser, but not just physically attacking him as a man and a father, but by attacking his reputation as the Number One Hero and the new pillar of society.

Pictured: an asshole who's realising that no matter how badly you think you done fucked up, another asshole can always come along and point out just how much worse it actually was than you thought.

Endeavour's sin was always acting as a hero first and a father second, if ever, and even then it was usually still to further his own ego and ambitions, which was tied so tightly to his role as a hero that Endeavour pretty much didn't exist outside of that. So Touya with his healthy sense of dramatic irony is naturally retaliating by treating him as a hero first and a father second, if ever, because that's the standard of behaviour that Endeavour himself set. Before discarding him for the new model he made it clear he wanted his son to be powerful, aggressive, independent, and to take down the Number One Hero without regard for anything else, and that's exactly what Dabi is doing. He's giving Endeavour exactly what he wished for and is making him choke on it.

Just like he said, Touya's making sure Endeavour reaps exactly what he sowed because it proves his point, that if he hadn't been such a violent, toxic narcissist none of this would be happening. His desire to call out his abuser is both personal and justified (regardless of how he's going about it), and it shouldn't be condemned because it has nothing to do with his family. His family, who he was the scapegoat of and who he hasn't seen in probably around a decade, and who are still keeping silent about the abuse even though as far as they know it killed him. I'm not saying he hates the rest of his family like he hates Endeavour (though it probably comes closest with Shouto, there's a lot to unpack there) but it would be a very complicated web of love and grief and resentment and guilt that he'd need a weapons-grade therapist to unravel, which he's clearly never gotten considering this is how he's dealing with the trauma.

tl;dr Touya is a victim just like Shouto, and all the awful things he's done as Dabi don't detract from that, just as his victimhood doesn't excuse his actions either.

In conclusion, you don't have to reconcile or find explanations or excuses for Endeavour's abuse or how any of the other Todorokis have been dealing with it, especially Touya. They are all established facts and exist as objective truth regardless of our feelings on the matter. Instead of making moral judgement on the characters (or the readers who love them/hate them) maybe we all need to stop and think about it critically first, especially when chapters are still incoming and we don't even have the full story yet.

If we can all spend some quality time thinking objectively about all the sides of the story and what lessons we can learn from them, I can guarantee that little things like 'having compassion', 'listening to victims and survivors before they have to resort to domestic terrorism to be heard' and 'learning from the mistakes of the past' will get us all much better results than just sharpening some pitchforks, no matter who they're pointed at.

[mastermatoyas]

You know, the idea of having eternal time and eternal opportunities is in and of itself a really interesting one, because the majority of Christians who have talked to me about religion (mostly but not all Protestant) seem to be very firmly in the camp that your actions in life will irrevocably determine your afterlife. Like, if you're not a Christian, you're 100% going to hell for eternity and there is nothing you can do about that, save for repenting and grovelling to Jesus while you are still alive.

For reasons that are probably obvious, I've never been a fan of this model. It feels like a way of just blackmailing people into joining the church, probably because it is, and it raises the very real question of why anyone would want to go to Heaven when all of their deceased non-Christian loved ones are suffering in eternal torment. I've never been able to find a proponent of the "all non-Christians go to hell" theory that has been able to answer that question in a way that didn't seem callous and awful.

I already knew that not every Christian believes/is cool with that, but it's still really heartening to actually hear the alternate view. It makes the idea of eternity a lot more bearable, too. I've always liked the idea of reincarnation, because it means that anyone can change and start over regardless of how their life has been, but an eternal afterlife that isn't set in stone could eventually serve the same purpose, I think. I mean, like you said, given infinite time and infinite opportunities, anything is possible.

It makes the concept of purgatory weirdly comforting - not as a place of punishment, necessarily, but as a place where you can work through the baggage and trauma of a lifetime before moving on. I know that's not reeeeaaaally what purgatory is, but it's the closest word I have for the concept in my culturally-Christian-atheist upbringing.

so thats why i think the traditional concept of hell and the concept of an all loving god cannot possibly coexist in one belief system. anyway should we get a plate of fries for the table? this date is going well