#a shadow milk analysis

[lilacthebooklover]

Rating: Teen Fandom: Cookie Run Word Count: 1990 BTHB Prompt: Isolation @badthingshappenbingo

He looks at this cookie, at this amalgamation of everything he’s ever loved and all that he despises, and he wants. He wants so desperately that it starts a fire in his soul, destructive and potent and far too large to be contained. Because it’s Eternal Sugar he sees in that soft smile, it’s Burning Spice he sees in that defiant glare, it’s Silent Salt he sees in that minute furrow of his brow, it’s Mystic Flour he sees in his unwavering morals, it’s himself reflected back at him as he looks into the face of a scholar. That damning mix of intelligence and naivety, the contrast of haunted eyes and innocent ideals, the idea that even after everything, purity remains embedded at this cookie’s very core- it strikes a chord somewhere deep within the corrupted confines of his heart. Looking at Pure Vanilla is like gazing into the shards of a mirror he shattered long ago, albeit twisted into something designed to be less troublemaking, less problematic, less strong-willed. Pure Vanilla Cookie is everything Shadow Milk was supposed to be, everything his Light of Truth wishes for him to embody. And oh, does Shadow Milk want.

OR: A study of Shadow Milk Cookie's corruption, imprisonment and thoughts upon release.

[mothymoon]

I think it's kinda interesting how, while the Beasts are opposites of the Ancients, some feel like reflections to Ancients they're not directly related to.

Starting with the pair that feels most obvious, Silent Salt and Dark Cacao. Their designs especially seem similar with the armor, sword, and color palette. Silence also feels like it can be related to Dark Cacao's isolation during his previous arc.

This feels the same as with Pure Vanilla and Mystic Flour. Again with their color palettes, but also with their religious theming, both being obligated to help all those that seek their guidance.

Again, mostly similar vibe with these two. You could even argue that Destruction can be considered an extention of Passion in a way. These next pairs get a bit weaker with their comparisons, which is why I started with the strongest ones first.

My comparisons for Golden Cheese and Eternal Sugar come down to both of them having wings and some speculation I have. "Eternal" I feel could imply abundance, which may be a motivation for Eternal Sugar's slothfulness. It's possible they simply have all they desire, thus no longer having the will to do anything.

Lastly, for White Lily Cookie and Shadow Milk, the biggest point of comparison I have is that Shadow Milk Cookie's theatrical presentation could also be considered an extention of freedom (especially since it's implied that he used to be an academic). This is the one I really stretch the most with, I'd say.

Why do I bring any of this up? What I think about these possible links is that the Beasts reflect what each of the Ancients could become, if taken to their logical extreme. Also, with those that share their Soul Jams being their opposites (Pure Vanilla being truth and Shadow Milk being deceit, etc.), it can imply that each of the Ancients are each other's opposites as well. Opposites that mesh well enough despite it, anyway.

I'm bad at analysis, so do what you will with this. I don't know if this is anything. Implications and whatnot.

[cookierunauprompts]

Im tryna cook here so hear me out on this : what if SMC(shadow milk cookie)​&reader are in the same trope of Rudolph​&Catherine from dangerously yours?(it may not be same-same kidda wipe cuz I didn't watch the movie yet lol(srry not srry))​ : It's started from reader got send by the witches to spy keep eyes on the old ancients(before corrupted-after corrupted)​but suddenly reader fell in love with one of them(aka SMC)​and so do he,but then after he and the other got corrupted he become obsessed toward them(obviously)​but then he started to realized that the witches are planing to seal him and the other fallen ancient​s away cause​ of their actions of being corrupted and cause choas on earthbeard, so he conveice reader to tell him how to get to the witches(reader's witches spy and have their own specific way to contact/went to face the witches)​ and get him and his friends revenge on the witches but reader ran away instead and not telling him,and in the end they met each other​ again at the silver tree where the witches was going to seal them in and the line between reader&shadow milk will be like : "your time is up" "do you think actually going to let it happen?to let them seal me?to seal us?!" "..i mean just that" "....... well then go ahead" "i'll get this over with" "You won't do it,you won't let this happen...you won't because you love me."-"it takes a very brave and and a very cold person to do that,(y/c/n)"-"I don't think you can..."

Note / I think amma gonna end it here and I'll let u imagine it on ur own😭actually it was gonna be longer than this but I accidentally delete half of it so my lazy ass just tell me to get this over with😔(no any​one's oc x canon pls I beg u(Im srry))​

throwing this into the Warden Reader AU, because silly.

Requested Prompts #44 - 💔💓

The words of the witches ring through your head as you stand ready in your position. " You have to be there, Reader Cookie." They had said. " For you are the only one who can see through his deception, it's how we know that the seal will truly work on them all." You knew what they'd really meant, but it was whatever. This was your purpose, what you were made for. There was no defying your own destiny when your were chained to it. It was an anchor dragging you down into the abyss of the sea, dread it, run from it, hide from it all you wish but it will still drag you down all the same. And then, you saw him. Your destiny made personified right in front of you in the form of a far too large blue cookie. Shadow Milk Cookie, the Cookie of Deceit as Elder Faerie had put it. The grin he wore was wide, yet not open enough to look insane as it usually did. His eyes were focused on you, keeping track of each and every action you took and each reaction you displayed. Such analysis befitted the former Cookie of Knowledge, but only fragments of the past were left in the beast before you. He'd strayed from how the witches made him due to the power of the soul jam, all of them had. You steel yourself after a mere millisecond of hesitation, pointing your spear at him with determination. " Your time is up." You coldly announced, not daring to let anything else slip into your tone. He'll use anything to get the upper hand, all you need to do is to distract him until the seal is prepared. His grin widened. " You mean you're actually going through with this? You're actually sticking by them, even though they're betraying you?" He asked, almost mockingly in tone. You knew not to search his expression for a hint of genuineness in his expression like you did in the past, and yet you did for just a moment. And maybe there was something, but you stopped yourself from looking. " ... I mean just that." You replied. You watched as he shrunk down, each step he got smaller and smaller until he was just a bit taller than you. " Well by all means, go ahead my dear." He said almost cruelly, taunting you by laying his head upon the tip of your spear. You hesitate, " This will be your finale." you state to his amusement. He smiled, an airy chuckle seeping through his lips. " You won't do it, you can't bring yourself to let this happen. All because you love me." The beast taunts, pressing his neck closer to the blade in a way that was just enough to draw forth a few droplets of his blueberry jam. " It takes a very brave and cold cookie to do that, I don't think you can."

----

Or, what happened before the witches sealed the beasts in the Warden!Reader timeline, and during.

[tinycheesecakedetective]

Potential Swap AU pt. 3(OLD)

I'm still thinking about making this official, mind you. Anyways, welcome to my third blog about this speculative AU project thing. Which isn't so speculative anymore, surprise! I call it Exchanged Fates, and all past and future updates about this AU will have the tag #exchangedfatesau. Today, we've finally reached the last Beast-Ancient pairing, Shadow Milk Cookie and Pure Vanilla Cookie! A fair warning, this one is longer than the others, so be warned. I talk waaaay more here.

Preamble There's a reason why these two are last. Knowledge is a pretty hard virtue to make something out of, and it's even harder when Truth and Deceit are two classic foils. You can make the truth a problem, but lies are always going to be tricky to make a good thing. Initially, Truth would be made into Judgement, but I scrapped it once I realized I couldn't think of anything for Deceit. So I took a break for a bit. I had a birthday and then several historical events just slapped me in the face-

Eventually, I had an epiphany. And I'd like to show you all now, if you'll allow me to. Behold,

Pure Vanilla Cookie, Beast of Despair and Shadow Milk Cookie, Ancient Hero of Hope

...I can feel my Danganronpa phase resurface. No time to waste, let's begin with Pure Vanilla. Throughout the story, he's presented as a paragon character, the most virtuous of the ancients. And it's somewhat true, but there's more to him than just altruism. He's quite sharp, able to discern the plans of his enemies and very emotionally intelligent, but is prone to some self loathing and suffers from an inferiority complex. I'm not *quite* well spoken enough to make a deep analysis on him, although I wish I was. He's so interesting to me and the fandom kind of brushes him off as this sweet old man-twink. Now he is, but there's so much more going on with him. If anyone does a deep analysis into him, I want to know immediately.

Sorry! Got sidetracked there, anyways! Why despair, hmm? Let's head back to his negative traits, the self loathing and the inferiority complex. Pure Vanilla struggles with his self image, blaming himself for how the flour war turned out and feeling as if he failed to protect the ones closest to him. Even after restoring his kingdom, he struggles with these feelings. Granted, it's not as bad as it was before, but you can still feel bits of it in Odyssey and in Beast-Yeast. Despite this, he still pushes onwards, being a beacon of hope for many. But there's only so much the soul can take. Even he can recognize when someone has to be stopped for the greater good, even if they did mean the world to him.

Fittingly, if he was one of the first to gain his soul jam, he'll be the last to turn, how tragic. Pure Vanilla would try everything in his power to save his friends, and when his efforts are unsuccessful, he has to stop them alone. Of course, the former ancients try to turn him to their side, and the battle of wills is long and painful. Since the roles are reversed, Elder Faerie exists and tries to help where he can, but he can see the writing on the wall and prepares for the worst. Eventually, Pure Vanilla falls. Despite everything he's done, nothing changes. He isn't strong enough to save them, and he isn't strong enough to stop them. He's only delayed the inevitable for himself, and even now his soul jam has begun to corrupt. Forced to face his own helplessness, he turns, finally joining his friends in sowing chaos across Beast-Yeast.

The Timeless Kingdom, once a refuge for escapees of the the other kingdoms, becomes stuck in time. Y'know how Blue Diamond emotionally manipulated those around her to make them submit to her will? Imagine that but worse. The kingdom feels like it's frozen in time. Nothing ages or rots, just... distorts. The moment you step foot there, you can feel your strength waver. Walking around, you see people consumed by agony as they stay in place weeping aloud, their bodies warped by a deep sadness as their hollow eyes stare back at you. Unlike the other beasts, Pure Vanilla's palace is open for anyone to visit, almost like he's flaunting his strength. You'll soon understand why. If you make the dumb choice and see him, you'll find him kneeling behind a veil. He'll greet you and talk to you for a moment. But don't be fooled. He's still a beast, and before you know it, you're overwhelmed. Visions of your greatest regrets flood your senses. Every action you've ever taken, every right and wrong choice flashes right in front of your eyes. Fight all you want, you're eventually consumed by it all, and become like the other residents of this forsaken kingdom. Forever reliving your worst moments in a never ending mental purgatory. If some of this sounds familiar, I took some inspiration from Bloozstella's blue diamond swap AU for this, by the way. Go check that out if you have time!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Now... Shadow Milk Cookie. The fandom's new favorite blue gremlin/pos. He's clever, charismatic, perceptive as hell, a lover of the theatre, and very cocky in his abilities. The very first time we see him, he gets to work immediately, corrupting some fairies, tormenting Pure Vanilla Cookie, and taking over the faerie kingdom, and that's just him toying around with them all. Interestingly enough, despite being the embodiment of deceit, he shares more truth than lies with the players and the hero gang, revealing Dark Enchantress' plans and telling them that all the other beasts have been awakened after his temporary defeat. His lies have been fairly obvious for the most part, which is a bit strange. I wonder if there's a reason for that...

So... Why hope? Why in the witch's oven would I make such a menace hope? Because of how he handles the truth. In canon, Pure Vanilla doesn't handle the truth too well. He'll confront it, but he has a tendency to get consumed in himself or worry about how others would take it. Shadow Milk, even before he turned to darkness, feels like he would embrace it without hesitation and keep moving like a runaway train. Pure Vanilla is reactive, Shadow Milk is proactive, and his curiosity and determination could make him overcome any obstacle. Probably why he's so dangerous, asides from the immense power he has.

You can probably guess that my head canon for him is that he was the last beast to turn evil, so naturally he's gonna be the very first cookie to get his soul jam! And he starts in the Blueberry Academy. Kind of, it's not formed yet when he begins. Our shadow menace starts out as an aspiring scholar/adventurer and thrill seeker. He's definitely a nerd, kinda like Wizard Cookie, and begins his hero's journey exploring the world. On one particular expedition, he visits the continent of Beast-Yeast, but doesn't make it that far before passing out. He wakes up in the company of fairy cookies who took pity on him, and is taken to Elder Faerie. Unsurprisingly, he tells Shadow Milk Cookie to go back to Crispia once he's recovered because this place is far too dangerous for him and he'll die. Unsurprisingly he takes this as a challenge, and during his stay he reads up on the place in the library. Far too invested to leave, he starts exploring beyond the kingdom in secret, and finds the soul jam deep within the forest.

Eventually he gets caught, and Elder Faerie wants to take the soul jam away from him, but whoops! It's already attuned to Shadow Milk and there's nothing he can do about it. Realizing there isn't much he can do, he at least offers to train him to use it properly, prompting a few training sessions before sending him off. When Shadow Milk gets back, he doesn't establish a kingdom. Instead he goes to find others like him first. For his research, of course. Eventually he ends up forming the group of the Ancients, and finally establishes his kingdom. He doesn't feel like he'd have a traditional kingdom. Rather, it would be more like the Creme Republic! It's a hub of the arts and sciences, a place where the brightest and most creative cookies can show their talents to the fullest potential. He finally founds the Blueberry Yogurt Academy in his "kingdom", and he, alongside a personal council makes the rules. In reality, the council does all the work and he acts more as a figurehead so he can focus on his own personal projects. He's definitely the most hands on with his subjects, hosting events, mingling with the commonfolk, exploring, etc. At least before the Dark Flour War... But that's a story for another time.

~~~~~

Finally... I'm DONE. No more foundation, now I can just think and edit. Mystic Flour's part is outdated with her release and now I have to rectify that in the future. I hope you all enjoyed this miniseries! I will be taking questions on both this AU and Fading Letters. I'll try to answer any questions a lot quicker this time, and hopefully the rest of this month is uneventful. Please.

This is being posted at like, 1 AM in the morning, so good night everyone! Hope you have a peaceful night!

[little-luna-llama]

When are we ever ready?

Custard (at least in my mind) is such a pitch perfect mix of pure vanilla and shadow milk, and a parallel to both of them.

It's analysis timeeee

Contains: my analysis of canon custard iii, a quick parallel between him and Dark Choco cookie, A quick analysis of what I think made shadow milk turn into a beast and why and finally the actual parallel between custard, Shadow and Vanilla. (Being ready to handle something)

Custard is a kind vanillian cookie kid with a persona that's basically his entire personality(being king). He speaks in a way that could be read as bratty, but comes off as performative and a little silly goofy.

He's trying to step into shoes that are wayyy to big for him right now that comes with decisions he's not ready to make or knowledge he's not ready to know. His fortune cookie says "Watch, listen, play! Your memories will shine brighter than a royal crown."

It's literally saying stop trying to grow up and enjoy the now. Because let's be real: growing up sucks when it actually happens. Custard is yet to realise that because he's a kid still looking at adulthood through rose coloured glasses like any kid would.

In a sense this also makes him a parallel to dark choco cookie, who from what we've seen had a very hopeful and positive outlook when he was younger, trying to do what is best for the kingdom but seeming to lack understanding in some of the details, which deepens the rift with his father and fuels his need to prove himself. Which as we know didn't end well...

Custard I don't think is in it to prove himself as a leader. If you've read the bluebell fics I've actually stated that I see the kingly persona as a sort of trauma response. He misses his dad and we don't know what happened to him, and most likely custard doesn't know either. Custard is very young, arguably the youngest of the cast behind snapdragon who's a literal baby, I say about 7/8 years old and loosing your parents at that age definitely doesn't help you develop healthy states of mind or coping mechanisms because there's no supervision.

Custard knows he's of noble vanillian lineage, he heard stories of pure vanilla, this beloved King who was loved by all that grandpa was close to, he was powerful and navigated life's struggles with such ease and gentleness. A kid hears that and thinks "wow he had a lot of friends because he was King! If I'm King then everyone will want to be my friend and I won't be lonely anymore! And I can make the rules!" It's a very young mindset. It also puts him above the others so if they leave him, he can get the last word in and they aren't leaving him, he's banished them. He's in charge, he doesn't want to be friends with them and they should feel sorry about it.

I don't think it's intentionally toxic or anything, it's just the mind of a kid rationalising something to protect themselves from the trauma they've experienced. It's really common for childhood trauma to manifest a coping mechanism like this; finding a source of inspiration and power to project onto, to call on for emotional support. In certain cases it with even go as far as to manifest as d.i.d, but that's not relevant to custard. This also happens in adults as well.

This links to Shadow milk however: shadow has one of the starkest transformations in theme from ancient to beast from what we've seen. Eternal hardly changed, mystic seems to have simply hidden themselves behind a veil, burning spice hardly changed, and it seems silent salt simply put on their helmet.

Shadow milk however was clearly a scholar/Wizard archetype. Fits with his virtue being knowledge, much like how eternal hardly changing fits with their sloth, burning spices silhouette getting bigger fits with the overwhelming power of destruction, mystic hiding themselves away behind their veil to appear unfeeling/apathetic and like a god to their followers (its a literal separation) and silent hiding their face entirely so not even their expressions could communicate their feelings.

So why is did shadow go from a prim and proper scholar to a jester? I think it's all to do with knowledge.

All the beasts had to experience some great trauma, that one moment that solidified their descent into darkness(I have theories for all of them.) Something that, to them, justifies their actions (or lack thereof). Shadow Milks power is that of knowledge, and knowledge doesn't discriminate between the good and evil. Shadow would most likely be hyper aware of everything, to the point of near omniscience before creating dark moon magic. He would see the world and his friends suffering and want to stop it all, and he finds a way:

Using mind magic and trickery. It starts innocent but it builds and builds and it becomes addictive, then it becomes second nature.

Innocently making someone forget the horrors they've experienced, or filling someone's mind with fake positive memories to turn them away from committing atrocities. Perhaps he does it to his friends: maybe he sees them falling and every time he fills their heads with sweet lies to buy them a few more months.

He's overloaded by taking on everyone's troubles while he was still coming to grips with his power, he has no one to turn to because of his spiderweb of lies. He's alone and he doesn't know how to cope. Just like custard

And just like custard he adopts a front: instead of feeling remorse or trying to reverse what he's done and accept that he made a mistake he just leans into it harder, forging a new identity to pick up the pieces and figure something out, unchained by the lies of his past because he is the director the playwright, the producer, he gets to make the decisions and nobody can question him.

(Obviously the first thing he would do would be to lift the lies from his friends and have them fall too.)

Vanilla also sort of does this with healer cookie, but he has amnesia at that point in the story. Healer cookie is more like the truest reflection of pure vanilla cookie, unburdened by the horrors of his life. I bet shadow milk watched healer cookie and seethed inside. For Custard though, I think it was something he had to see even if it hasn't paid off yet. He got to know pure vanilla completely outside of his idealised version without bias because he didn't know.

In the crumbs of content we do have both from in game and twitter we have seen Custards attitude change a little. He's mellowed out a little in the dark cacao episodes and by the time stories by the campfire rolls around he's much more an excited child who happens to like his prince costume and playing prince than a 7 year omd trying to actually be in a position of power with no help or guidance.

Since pure vanilla and shadow are supposed to be opposites I think custard is actually supposed to help convey what makes them the same and what makes them different. They share the acting performative parts of their character with shadow milk, but with vani we see custard genuinely trying to impress him because he wants to be like the vanilla he heard about in his bedtime stories. However custard currently runs the risk of stumbling into something that he's not ready for, which is something I think vani and shadow share. Vanilla wasn't ready to receive the light of truth and its responsibility, and shadow wasn't really ready to weild all of that knowledge alone.

This is also partly why I made the bluebell au. Shadow definitely smelt a kindred spirit but also "hey the kids connected to vani this will make good angst." And also In the fic I have custard adopting a few variations of his prince persona partly to make more people like him.

[ehatnow]

Decided to a lil analysis on the Beast-Yeast map

So this is obviously Shadow Milk's boss fight area i guess. Also why is there a whole ass castle and town next to it?

Mystic Flour's area, duh. And a white dragon, kinda like the one from all the stories in the Dark Cacao Kingdom. Idk i wasnt really paying attention butttt

Then we have the black dragon and "the first nest." I do wonder if we'll meet these dragons. Maybe they have cookie forms and will be playable?

I dont like the "bottomless pits" like no thanks

Also i had to search up what kala namak is so i guess theres a salt water lake here to

Oh and Last Haven Mountain seems important.

Blah blah heres Burning Spice and Eternal Sugar's chill spots. Why spiders though??? And why is Sugar's place "forgotten?"

Cant put any more pictures in this post so just wanna quickly go over this one

Not only does it look like an oversized lab by cookie standards, but it's also called the "Island of Life??" Is this where the witches gather? Or maybe where the Fallen Heroes were baked?

Anyways thats everything bye

[burst-of-iridescent]

Hi! I love all your posts regarding atla and deep diving into Zuko and Katara's relationship-those analysis's are *chief's kiss* perfect

Anywho, I hope you don't mind me asking, but I'm guessing you heard about Bryke wanting to expand the atla universe, and will be creating a new movies, one of which, with the Gaang as adults, but as far as I know won't have any of the returning head writers like Aaron Ehasz..

so my question is: do you think there is any hope for these movies? Because to me I feel like it might just be a fully animated comic (we all know how those turned out) & just be 2 hrs of Katara and Aang saying "Sweetie" back an forth. Yes I'm still saltly

frankly? no.

and that's not even me saying it as a salty zutara shipper who doesn't want to see kat.aang as an established relationship. i doubt how good these movies are going to be because bry.ke have little-to-no understanding of their characters, especially katara and zuko, and at least since atla, haven't shown the self-awareness to hire a writer's team that can compensate for their shortcomings. i've said it before and i'll say it again: they have great, creative ideas and an excellent eye for stunning visuals and an immersive world. but when it comes to the nuances of characterization and story-building, they cannot do it on their own. lok proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

but more than bry.ke, these movies are also emblematic of a larger problem that i see in multiple franchises: the subordination of creative, meaningful storytelling in service to shameless nostalgia cash-grabbing. ask yourself, do we really need a story about the adult gaang? most of the main plot threads that they could've expanded on from atla have already been (mostly badly) answered in the comics: what happened to ursa, azula's potential redemption, decolonisation, industrialisation vs tradition, the founding of a new air nomad legacy, zuko's struggles as fire lord. any new story would either have to retcon previously established "canon" or put a new spin on old themes. the latter of which i severely doubt bry.ke's capability to pull off, particularly if any level of nuance is required.

atla is slowly but surely heading in the direction of star wars/harry potter/the mcu in producing new material just for the sake of making money instead of truly adding something impactful to the canon. the fact that absolutely no new atla material since the show itself has ever managed to live up to the original is proof that the franchise has no idea what it's doing.

and before someone comes at me to say that it's impossible to ever live up to the original - just take a look at the hunger games revival happening right now. the ballad of songbirds and snakes has been received so well because it isn't just a shameless cash-grab. it's a valuable contribution to the series that expands on the universe and themes of the original trilogy, giving more depth and nuance to the original books instead of detracting from them. because collins adds to the canon only when she has something meaningful to say, and for a franchise that she could have milked to absolute filth, that restraint reflects not only her integrity as a creator, but the value she places on the stories that she tells - which in turn makes her readers value and respect them as well.

and that's a lesson that i think every single storyteller should take to heart. if you want to be respected as a writer, you have to respect your characters and your stories first. because if you, the creator, don't... why should anyone else?

[somegirlontheinternet135]

After playing through the new update and getting a feel for Shadow Milk Cookie's personality, he slowly began to remind me of a certain film, but couldn't remember what the name was. . . I found out about the film in an analysis video on a different topic, but the name was just on the tip of my tongue. . .

Only after rewatching the same video, and doing some more research was when I realized, "Oh that's why they're so familiar!"

Call me crazy but I think Shadow Milk was inspired by " The Blue Angel" by "Heinrich Mann." For context(spoiler warning), this 1930s film is about a man descending into madness, from a prominent professor to deranged clown(See what I'm getting at here?)

So far, there are already quite similarities we can from the film and game, as well as some of Shadow Milk's behaviors. Possibly the biggest similarities are his associations with the Blueberry Academy, as well as the Shadow Milk's old role as the Cookie of Knowledge

With these roles established, it's heavily implied that Shadow Milk Cookie at some point an or was a professor at the Blueberry Academy, much like the main character of "The Blue Angel"

But now's the million dollar question of, what does this all mean? 🤔 Well, I think this likely paints us a picture of Shadow Milk's backstory, and how he became corrupted in the first place. Might I direct us the final things I wanna mention, starting with the first trailer for Beast Yeast, where Shadow Milk is the last shown to be corrupted

If I'm right about this, it's likely that SM's descended in madness, after losing his friends one by one. Which would make sense to how he speaks about them in the actual update, caring deeply about them despite what happened. . .

Anyways, that's all I have at the moment, please tell what you guys think

Be on the lookout for others projects

And stay tuned^^

[sunseed-fandump]

I'm ready for tomorrow! Whatever the emotional Rollercoaster, I can take it!

Though fun ask for you! What is your biggest inspiration for what you write shadow milk? Do you base some of his characteristics off of some other characters you know? Or did you break down what content we have so far of him to understand what your working with?

Oh no, the scene I was working on last night was for the Act 1 Finale. :’)

Now THAT one is going to be a roller coaster.

But there’s gonna be some good scenes tomorrow, promise!!!

As for my inspiration for how I write Shadow Milk Cookie, part of it is me going off of my rough character analysis of him from what little we have of him so far.

but another inspiration for how I write him is - uh - Rattigan from the Great Mouse Detective. 😅

He is one of my all time favorites when it comes to villains.

[oorusandei]

An Analysis: The Beast-Yeast Update + White Lily, AKA What Could’ve Been

Crossposted on the Youtube video of White Lily’s release in a fanatical comment. Will do the same here, only longer and more detailed, for the White Lily stans (around 5 total)

For the people who don’t get the lore and/or White Lily’s character, I made a very long explanation and analysis. (The Literature student in me couldn’t resist.) Scroll to the very bottom for short summary.

From what I can tell from this video, Whire Lily seems to have been in some sort of coma or unconscious state. This is likely because she fell into the Ultimate Dough and most of her consciousness was reincarnated into her “evil” form Dark Enchantress Cookie. However, the part of her that is pure and good is trapped in the glass coffin shown, and she’s trying to gather her essence to stay awake for as long as possible. She needs “life powder” to escape, so she can only remain in the coffin if no one else sacrifices themself. Faerie King did make the necessary sacrifice, thankfully, and she’s escaped with the intent of repenting for her sins as her alter ego, Dark Enchantress. Then, it’s revealed that an even darker and more dangerous force has awakened: Shadow Milk Cookie, the first Fallen Hero and Pute Vanilla’s counterpart. Seems like the Fallen Heroes are all counterparts to the Ancients. The Ancients and the Fallen Heroes have the same essence (Truth, Happiness, etc) but things went awry some time along the way, turning them evil.

Looking deeper into it, White Lily is a good example of “same goal, different choices, different story”. Perhaps she, like the Fallen Heroes, had the same fate, but she was at least able to preserve her last bits of goodness. She is my favorite Ancient because the conflict happens internally and not externally. Basically, she’s fighting another version of herself. And the interesting part is, it shows that anything can be “good” or “evil”. You could also say that she’s a morally gray character who could go either way, and this created 2 personas: White Lily and Dark Enchantress. You ever read an “Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence” fanfic? This is exactly what happened. Both of them want to seek the truth. It is only the actions they took (and will take) that differ, and what makes them so different from each other. It is why White Lily’s soul split into two. White Lily wants to seek the truth to help Cookiekind: improving stamina and attempting to bake a perfect Cookie, while Dark Enchantress has gone rogue in her quest for and obsession with the truth, firmly believing that Cookies are made to be eaten. It’s noted that this destroyed her character fundamentally, and is ultimately what turned her evil. I like to think that she herself was the reason behind her descent into madness and villainy, not the Ultimate Dough.

Back to the update. Did anyone notice that the Fallen Heroes each have their own corner, or nation, on the map of Beast-Yeast? If we look at the parallels between the Ancients and the Fallen Heroes, we can see a pattern: the Fallen Heroes are direct rivals of the Ancients. If I recall correctly, Pure Vanilla represents kindness, and sincerity (at least he does in my eyes). Shadow Milk is written as a trickster, as someone who likes pranks and doesn’t take anything seriously, the opposite of the genuine Pure Vanilla.

Also, I love PureLily. Don’t hate on PureCacao or anything. Just putting it out there that they were childhood friends turned almost lovers turned enemies to almost lovers again (?) in the coming update, and I’m really hyped. My favorite trope.

I’m honestly impressed that a Cookie gacha game has such intricate lore. Looking forward to this update a lot, the 3 year wait was worth it.

TL:DR: White Lily is in a glass coffin and needs Life Powder to get out. Faerie King sacrifices himself. Evil awakens in the tree as Faerie King’s magic is no longer active: aka Shadow Milk Cookie, first of the Fallen Heroes in the preview and counterpart to Pure Vanilla, similar to what Dark Enchantress is to White Lily.

[lilacthebooklover]

🎭..........Shadow Milk

of course <3

🎭 A headcanon about what they lie about

as the beast of deceit, there's not a lot shadow milk doesn't lie about. i think that pre-corruption, he would have prioritised sharing knowledge above all else, blunt and factual and seeing nothing wrong with saying the whole truth. that's not to say he wasn't still mischievous- no, his tricks were plentiful, but he always took full, proud responsibility for them. i think he's the kind of cookie to lie about how he's doing, whether that be by dismissing 5 nights of no sleep with an "i'm fine", snapping at people about him "handling" everything when he's deteriorating, and generally putting on a facade of normalcy while the corruption started to deteriorate him. after falling, i hc that he found it way easier to lie. he takes entertainment in seeing people struggle to identify whether his words are true or not, so lies even about the simplest of things (e.g. what he dreamed about). i do think him claiming that pure vanilla had only "one droplet" of his "ocean" of power was a lie, to offer a specific example. we also see him talking about how pure vanilla managed to "steal away half [his] power", so i believe he has a lot less power than he likes to make people think he does. he's stronger than the ancients, sure, but he would have been defeatable while not fully corporeal.

[robininthelabyrinth]

The Other Mountain - ao3 - Chapter 2

Pairing: Lan Qiren/Wen Ruohan

Warning Tags on Ao3

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

“Enough already,” Wen Ruohan groaned, and ignored with a twinge of irritation how Qing Yu, the man reporting to him, stiffened and looked pale as if he were convinced that he would imminently be dragged off to the Fire Palace.

As if Wen Ruohan would murder one of the top spies in his network simply because he was being boring.

He wasn’t actually insane, thank you, or at least not to that degree.

Appearing to be wildly unpredictable was often a tremendous advantage in dealing with his fellow sects, and even sometimes within his own sect, but genuine instability would be a disaster. Wen Ruohan’s sect was the most powerful by far of all the Great Sects, and he intended to keep it that way – or rather, he intended his power to grow until his Wen sect was as indominable as the sun in the sky and the other so-called “Great Sects” were mere shadows left in his wake.

Which was why he was torturing himself listening to spy reports on the other Great Sects to begin with, Wen Ruohan supposed, and suppressed a sigh. It was the sort of work that he couldn’t entrust to some subordinate, the whole business confidential in the extreme no matter what the content – the mere confirmation that he had spies in the other Great Sects, and that they were successfully obtaining information for him from them, was potentially explosive. But at the same time, the vast majority of the time the information he received was completely lacking in anything usable. Or even mildly interesting!

“I’m not interested in yet another rehashing of the Jiang sect’s internal issues,” he said, because he wasn’t. While it was true that Jiang Fengmian’s marriage troubles were potentially useful as a weak point, ripe for potential exploitation, they were not exactly new. “Tell me something more exciting.”

Qing Yu looked surprised by the question. “More – exciting, Sect Leader?”

Wen Ruohan groped around mentally for a moment for an example, having grown so bored that he couldn’t think of anything at first, and then smirked faintly as something came to him. “Yes. Tell me who’s going to be attending Lan Qiren’s classes this year.”

Now that would at least be interesting.

Wen Ruohan had never paid very much attention to Lan Qiren. Sure, as acting sect leader of the Lan, he headed one of the other main Great Sects and was therefore one of the targets of Wen Ruohan’s illicit information gathering, but the impression Wen Ruohan had gotten from their few interactions at discussion conferences accorded with the information his spies regularly reported concerning his activities at home: Lan Qiren was an unbearably dull human being.

In almost – and that was the critical word, almost – every respect.

Lan Qiren’s interests, insofar as he took time from his sect duties to indulge in them, appeared to be traditional to the point of cliché, consisting of music and study, both philosophy and the analysis of those ridiculous Lan sect rules. He had no notable romantic entanglements to his name, which was the usual way the Lan sect added interest to their lives, though Wen Ruohan supposed in fairness he wouldn’t have had much opportunity for it, having been entrusted with the responsibility of raising his two nephews and by all reports having characteristically taken it overly seriously. In fact, Lan Qiren barely seemed to have any friends, even within his own sect – a cousin or two he spoke to more often than others, perhaps, but little more. Probably he thought it was somehow inappropriate for someone in his position. He had a temper, on rare occasions, but often sought to suppress it: the man was really unbearably fussy about his sect’s rules, pretending and possibly even genuinely seeking to be faithful to them at all times. Even the inconvenient ones like Do not tell lies, which was just insane.

In short: a boring rule-bound prig with as much passion to him as a bowl of tepid milk.

In Wen Ruohan’s opinion, the Lan tended to come in two flavors, hideously boring and terrifyingly obsessed. He’d concluded that Lan Qiren was the former about an incense stick into their first discussion conference together, and as a result, he’d barely paid any attention to reports about him ever since.

That was why he’d almost missed it.

Only almost, which was why Wen Ruohan was the closest thing the cultivation world had to a god.

Not only was he older and more powerful than all the other cultivators, he also didn’t let himself get lulled into a false sense of security. He prided himself on being observant and cautious, albeit sometimes to the point that others called him paranoid. He kept track of everything that might at some point become a threat to his ambitions for the Wen sect. And even then, it had been years before he’d noticed what Lan Qiren was getting up to with that immensely clever little lecture series of his!

That was the “almost” of Lan Qiren, the exception to the rule of how dull he was.

Somehow, Lan Qiren had managed to convince other sects to send him their children to teach.

He’d offered up the Lan sect’s infamously rigid but spectacular education to sects who were nowhere near as well-equipped, and they’d started sending their children to him in droves, particularly once he got a reputation for being able to improve the unruliest of children. It was a little unusual for any sect to make such an offer or for other sects to accept it, given that most sects tended to be possessive and insular, but ultimately it was easy enough to disregard as little more than an extension of the Lan sect’s overweening pride in their scholarly prowess…and by easy to disregard, Wen Ruohan meant easy to overlook.

And overlook it he had: it wasn’t until a small and especially timid sect under Wen Ruohan’s own command had been paranoid enough to see fit to let him know that they were planning to send their own child there, just in case he might have some problem with it – the Pingliang Tang sect leader probably didn’t piss without confirming that it wouldn’t annoy Wen Ruohan – that Wen Ruohan had even realized the potential implications of what Lan Qiren was doing.

A teacher for a day, a father for a lifetime, the saying went, and by the time Wen Ruohan realized what was happening, Lan Qiren, inadvertent father to only nephews, had already seeded the entire cultivation world with students that had recognized him as their teacher. Younger sons, cousins, or branch family members – it might all seem like a lot of nothing, but if one mapped out where they were all from, it was immediately obvious that in another ten or twenty years, Lan Qiren would be able to call upon a vast network of connections, each one bound by their code of honor and cultivation orthodoxy to treat him with respect.

Each one of whom could, without effort, become the perfect spy that no one would ever suspect. Or even more than a spy – even an outright supporter, swaying their sect to follow Lan Qiren’s lead!

No one else had figured it out yet, much to Wen Ruohan’s amusement, not even the year before last when Lan Qiren had finagled Nie Mingjue to be one of his students, presumably trading on his friendship with the current Sect Leader Nie. The Nie sect’s very own sect heir, a Great Sect! That must have been a real coup for Lan Qiren. Not only had it made Lan Qiren’s classes fashionable, a mark of pride for parents who sent their children to them to brag about to each other, it meant that more and more sects were now willing to send their own sect heirs to him, giving him the chance to mold their young, impressionable minds into whatever shape he wished.

Sect heirs! Voluntarily bowing to someone in another sect! To the leader of another sect!

The mere idea of it was enough to make a prospective empire-builder like Wen Ruohan seethe with frustration and envy. No one would ever voluntarily entrust their children to him. If he wanted them, he’d have to force their parents to send them, resistant and rebellious, and it’d have to be outright indoctrination rather than teaching. Far less effective than Lan Qiren’s method.

It was all a stroke of genius, really.

A pity that Lan Qiren had almost certainly done it entirely by accident.

Really, it was almost appalling. How could someone so reserved and, well, boring as the acting head of the Lan sect, with his dull monotone voice and his tendency to talk at great length about exceedingly boring minutiae, have stumbled into such a clever scheme? It required an almost impossible mix of contrary and conflicting elements: the Lan sect’s brilliant reputation for morality and Lan Qiren’s own impeccable (if, again, incredibly boring) reputation as a stern moralist so rigid that suspecting him was essentially pointless, yes, but also persuasion skills sufficient to convince other sects to hand over their precious children, teaching skills sufficient to actually improve those children (presumably all the most troublesome ones their clans had produced, to boot) to such a degree that their parents noticed and appreciated it, sufficient dedication and patience to continue in such unfulfilling work for years and years while knowing that the harvest would not come for decades…

After he’d figured out what Lan Qiren was up to, Wen Ruohan had briefly wondered whether he’d misread the man’s personality. Maybe Lan Qiren was in fact hiding himself in plain sight, a snake in the grass, with all that dull long-windedness actually a deliberate persona designed to divert the attention away from what he was doing. Certainly some of those stupid little exceedingly boring bits of minutiae that he raised during the discussion conferences had ultimately turned out after several years to actually be quite beneficial to the Lan sect…

Unfortunately, that theory had only lasted until the next discussion conference. Lan Qiren was no schemer, Wen Ruohan would bet everything he knew about people on it.

So…fortuitous accident it must be.

It really was a pity. Wen Ruohan hadn’t needed to actually think about any of his fellow sect leaders in ages, most of them being exceptionally predictable, and one really did see it all after a certain point. It would have been rather fun to have a little mystery to slowly unravel, tugging lightly at each thread until he found the loose one that would undo the entire knot.

“Well?” he drawled, suddenly realizing that Qing Yu hadn’t actually answered his question, but had started hemming and hawing in an incredibly irritating sort of fashion instead. “Did you not obtain that information? If so, you’re far better off simply admitting to your failure up front, rather than making me wait…”

“Sect Leader, no!” Qing Yu cried out, his eyes going wide and a little white around the edges, spooked like a nervy overbred stallion. “The information was sought, of course, I would never fail the Sect Leader by letting down his expectations. But there simply wasn’t any to be obtained! As far as we can tell, there haven’t been any invitations sent out at all.”

Wen Ruohan frowned. “No invitations? Why not?”

The weather had already started to turn from winter back into spring. Whatever his other faults, Lan Qiren was invariably meticulous. In previous years, he had always settled all the details of who would be attending later that summer well before the first flowers bloomed, leaving him the entire spring to develop and revise his teaching plans.

A deviation from the norm was invariably worth paying attention to.

Qing Yu looked uncomfortable. “Sect Leader,” he said, “it is my belief that – ah – well, I think it is likely that there aren’t going to be any classes this year at all.”

Wen Ruohan’s eyebrows shot up.

“You may recall,” his spy said delicately, clearly reluctant to remind him lest Wen Ruohan take insult at the suggestion that he’d forgotten something, “the information I passed to you two months ago, about the change in power at the Lan sect…?”

“Yes, yes, Qingheng-jun coming back out of his wretched seclusion, I recall.”

Wen Ruohan hadn’t liked that news one bit. He had never been particularly impressed with the man – his memory of Qingheng-jun was a little less complimentary than that of many of his colleagues – but even he had to admit that Qingheng-jun had always been a talented cultivator.

Before he’d gone away into seclusion, Qingheng-jun had had a great deal of promise as a force to be reckoned with. With his good looks and aloof charms, not to mention his rapidly growing power, he had easily taken and maintained the top place on the cultivation world’s lists of most eligible and well-respected young masters. It was well known that the Lan sect treated him as their precious treasure and saw him as the future of their sect, and even outside his sect he’d been widely regarded as an especially promising young talent. For those like Wen Ruohan who thought of growing their own sect’s power, he had always been regarded as a potential threat.

Admittedly, Wen Ruohan hadn’t thought much of Qingheng-jun’s political sense during those brief few years that he had been in charge of the Lan sect, even accounting for the fact that he was a Lan, who were uniformly not especially good at such things. Rather, he had concluded that Qingheng-jun was at that time a little too arrogant given what he had to back it up – unlike Wen Ruohan himself, who was overweeningly arrogant but who had the personal and political power to justify it – and the years since had largely made him think that the Lan sect had probably traded up when they’d substituted Lan Qiren in instead. Lan Qiren might be boring, but he wasn’t reckless or overweening, and that counted for a surprisingly great deal when it came to politics.

Still, ten years of secluded cultivation wasn’t anything to sneer at, least of all from a man who’d already been a promising talent. As soon as he’d heard of the Qingheng-jun’s reemergence into the world, Wen Ruohan had sent his spies in the Lan sect to check that the other man hadn’t become too powerful, at least in comparison to himself. Upon being reassured that he hadn’t, he’d immediately stopped caring.

“What does that have to do with anything?” he asked, frowning. “If Lan Qiren is no longer serving as acting sect leader, doesn’t that give him more time to devote to his little teaching experiment…? Or has he decided to pack up his guqin and take to the road as a wandering cultivator?”

The idea was a little ridiculous, though not actually out of the question. It was extremely common for young masters to set out on such a journey upon reaching adulthood, hoping to improve their cultivation and win fame and glory, and Lan Qiren was after all still in his twenties, or at minimum early thirties, even if he behaved so much like an old fogey that it was easy to forget it. Wen Ruohan had always instinctively classed him as the same age as his peers among the other Great Sects, but in actual fact Lan Qiren was younger than Jiang Fengmian, otherwise the youngest, by at least seven or eight years.

It was plausible, anyway. Still, Wen Ruohan couldn’t see it. Maybe after a year or two, once Qingheng-jun was firmly settled back into his new position as sect leader, but surely Qingheng-jun wouldn’t so readily give up the invaluable resource that was his younger brother’s ten years of experience…?

“No, Sect Leader, nothing like that,” Qing Yu said respectfully. “My sources in the Lan sect report that Second Master Lan has entered seclusion.”

Wen Ruohan blinked.

“No, that’s wrong,” he said, genuinely startled out of his usual apathy for the first time in – years. “Lan Qiren would never enter seclusion.”

That was something he was quite certain of.

Wen Ruohan might have been taken by surprise by the unexpected inventiveness of that teaching idea, but as a general matter, he still had eyes that he knew how to use. Lan Qiren had never once gone into secluded training in the entire ten years since his brother’s retreat from the world, not even temporarily, not even when the opportunity to utilize the most desirable spots for cultivation was offered for his use during the discussion conferences, as it was on occasion. Further, Lan Qiren hadn’t managed to completely eradicate his tendency to grimace whenever someone even mentioned seclusion, though over the years he’d gotten a little better at suppressing it.

In short, it was quite obvious that he regarded seclusion with the same suspicion as a man who had once bitten into a sour lemon thinking it was candy might regard all fruit.

It was quite a reasonable distaste, given what had happened with his elder brother’s own strict seclusion and the impact it had had on his own life. But that just made it all more unlikely that Lan Qiren had suddenly chosen to give up his beloved classes in favor of a lengthy seclusion. If he had, then Wen Ruohan had wholly misjudged him, and that was a far more serious matter than whatever the man was actually doing.

“The Sect Leader is wise and insightful, with unsurpassed judgment,” Qing Yu said, slavishly complimentary as ever. “Although I only have some whispers to rely upon, it is my understanding that the seclusion is not wholly voluntary on Second Master Lan’s part, but rather undertaken as some sort of penance.”

“Penance,” Wen Ruohan said, now even more bemused. “Lan Qiren.”

The Lan sect was inordinately fond of making all sorts of ridiculous rules, and of punishing themselves for breaking those rules, but – Lan Qiren?

Wen Ruohan was usually the first to believe in his fellow man’s capacity for treachery, which was not to be underestimated, but…still. Lan Qiren? He couldn’t see Lan Qiren having committed any sort of serious offense, let alone one that was sufficiently grievous to justify him being confined against his will. The man had once looked appalled and outraged when Jin Guangshan had casually suggested he wear something that would break a Lan sect rule against waist ornaments. How serious an infraction could he have possibly committed?

“What else do you know about it? I’ll accept rumor if you don’t have anything concrete,” he asked, finding to his amusement that he was fishing for gossip like some sort of fishmonger’s wife. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such an exciting series of updates. Not even Qingheng-jun’s unexpected reemergence into the cultivation world had moved him this much.

“Rumor has it that it may have something to do with his brother, the now restored Sect Leader Lan,” Qing Yu reported. “There are those in the Cloud Recesses that say that they quarreled – even that they’ve grown to despise each other.”

Wen Ruohan arched his eyebrows and steepled his fingers together in front of his mouth.

Now that was news.

Rumor or no rumor, he’d never heard so much of a hint of it before. Lan Qiren had never said a bad word about his brother within Wen Ruohan’s presence, and the reports his spies had delivered to him indicated that he always dutifully reported to his brother’s door once every five days without fail, to update him about the events happening in the Lan sect. There had never been any hint of trouble there, and the vanishingly rare orders Qingheng-jun had issued from his seclusion, all in writing, had been implemented without the slightest hesitation. Wen Ruohan had never bothered looking into Lan Qiren’s history with his sect, assuming it to be every bit as dull as his present day, but perhaps that had been an oversight, if there was something like this lurking in there.

It seemed that Lan Qiren might have hidden depths after all.

Interesting indeed.

Though…perhaps what was most interesting was instead Wen Ruohan’s own reaction to the news.

Reflecting on the thoughts he’d just had, it was notable that he’d fixated on the part of the rumor focusing on Lan Qiren, rather than his brother. Under normal circumstances, Wen Ruohan really ought to have immediately assumed that the rumor was half-true and half-false, that the hatred was one-sided, that it was only Qingheng-jun who had a problem with Lan Qiren. It’d hardly be surprising if that were the case, really. The man had been in seclusion for ten years; it’d be strange if his mind wasn’t a little twisted after that, and of course any paranoid mind would suspect the person who’d sat in his seat for those ten long years of malicious motives, no matter how superficially innocent and loyal Lan Qiren might seem.

That was by far the more logical conclusion, and yet Wen Ruohan hadn’t gone there.

Instead, he’d immediately accepted what was, after all, only a rumor, and taken it as a complete truth. Was it simply that he was taken by the unlikely notion that Lan Qiren hated his brother in return?

It just seemed so…unlike the man.

Wen Ruohan had never seen a version of Lan Qiren that hated before.

The rare times the man had succumbed to his temper had already been interesting enough, and those instances had involved little more than distaste. How would genuine hatred look on him? Wen Ruohan found himself rather curious.

A thought then occurred to him.

“What about the two boys?” he asked. “Lan Qiren’s nephews. Isn’t he raising them? How could he go into seclusion and leave a duty like that unattended?”

“Yes, Sect Leader, your memory is correct, he was previously involved in the heirs’ upbringing. I believe that Sect Leader Lan has now resumed supervision over their education, as is his right as their father.”

“Father,” Wen Ruohan snorted. “Father indeed. If I recall correctly, Lan Qiren was serving as father and mother both to those children, what with the two of them in seclusion the way they were. Are you saying he’s no longer involved in raising the children? At all?”

“No, Sect Leader.”

Cutting off Lan Qiren’s access to his beloved nephews might be enough to make him hate someone, Wen Ruohan supposed, finding himself unexpectedly appalled by the news. It seemed like a terribly stupid thing to do, and he hadn’t thought that Qingheng-jun was that stupid.

Even if you were jealous of your brother who had (however unwillingly) usurped your authority in your absence, whether as sect leader or as father, even if you longed to have your children back at your side with their attention paid to you rather than to him, to tear apart a close family relationship like that was really a step too far. Even Wen Ruohan wouldn’t do such a thing lightly. He might be power-hungry and cruel, bloodthirsty and sadistic, he could admit all of that, but even he understood the foremost importance of family.

Even if he didn’t, Wen Ruohan wasn’t an idiot: to put a mere brotherly rivalry above sect unity and create internal strife before you had firmly gripped the reins of power once more was stupid to the extreme. Lan Qiren hadn’t been the most popular leader, but he’d still been leader for ten years, and people were creatures of habit – to immediately imprison him in seclusion would be seen as inauspicious, a bad omen. What ambitious man voluntarily brought a cloud like that upon himself when it was infinitely easier to avoid it by doing nothing?

Not to mention the impact on the children themselves! That alone would have been enough to stay Wen Ruohan’s own hand in such circumstances.

Oh, other men might believe that children of nine and six were too young to really remember much, but Wen Ruohan knew better. Take himself as an example: he was the cultivation world’s most ancient monster, having lived for a century or more, and by now the details of many of his older memories had begun to slip through his fingers like grains of sand, faces blurring and details forgotten…but the traumatic events of his own childhood were still shockingly easy to recall.

He’d been, what, six, seven years old when the Lan sect’s last war had started? Eight, perhaps? Certainly no more than that. But Wen Ruohan could still remember those days, when the smell of blood had sunk so deeply into him that he thought it had never really left him since. He could still recall with ease memories of walking through battlefields full of his slaughtered kin, his feet bleeding, his skin burning from the harsh glare of the sun, each and every one of his senses full of the stink of the humid forest, the filth and dirt of the earth. He could still recall how the faces of the Wen sect’s dead were twisted in agony and fear, filled with resentment, but those of the Lan bloodline were quiet and peaceful, as if they had been lulled to sleep with a lullaby…and they had been, an immensely poisonous one, their own sect leader having poured it into their ears long before the battle began to give them the strength of madmen, and the deaths of madmen, too.

Terrifying. Wen Ruohan had never really trusted a Lan since that day.

Wen Ruohan could recall the other lessons he’d learned back then, too. That bitter and bloody war had been the first time his brothers had betrayed him. It had been the first time he had realized that he could rely only upon himself in this world, himself and those who were so deeply dependent upon him that they could see no difference between his interests and theirs. He had grown cold and closed off and self-interested, rejecting all connections other than the ones he himself chose. It hadn’t been until years later, when he himself had inadvertently betrayed his own favorite younger brother, that he’d realized the perils of the path he had set himself on back then, and by then of course it was too late to regret…

Not that Wen Ruohan really regretted having had the last laugh, of course. After all, was he not here, still firmly seated upon the seat of the Wen sect leader a century later, and all those who had once betrayed him now dead and gone, forgotten by all but him?

Surely that must mean that everything had worked out for him, with no room for regret.

Still, the fact remained that the scars of childhood were oftentimes the most lasting, with Wen Ruohan’s own lingering wariness of the seemingly placid Lan sect itself something that could be seen as evidence of that. So if Qingheng-jun intended to use involuntary seclusion as a means to separate Lan Qiren from his sons and return their loyalties to himself, he was making a terrible mistake.

It wasn’t that the goal itself was so bad, really – Wen Ruohan might not be overly attached to his own sons, but he would swiftly murder anyone who tried to take his place with them – but rather the method.

The right way to do it would have been for Qingheng-jun to take advantage of his lengthy absence to re-introduce himself to his sons in a way that would let him sweep them off their feet. It wouldn’t even have been that hard! It wasn’t as if Qingheng-jun were without his good points. He had a reputation as an exceptional swordsman and an outstanding cultivator, of being polished and charming, and of course he was handsome in the way all the Lan main bloodline were, and being handsome was always an advantage.

They were only children. With just a little effort, he could very easily have overwhelmed them.

He could have filled the boys’ eyes with him until they couldn’t see anything else. He could have set himself out as something new and exciting and different, made himself all honey in comparison to their uncle’s strict discipline. Then, once he’d won their trust, it would have been easy enough to drip poison into their ears, easy enough to breed distrust and disdain and dislike of the uncle who had once raised them with love. They were only children. It wouldn’t have been hard at all to lead them by the nose until they’d turned away from Lan Qiren, thinking the entire time that they were acting through their own free will. It would take years for them to uncover the deceit, and by then it would be too late to regret.

Far too late.

In his time, Wen Ruohan had enacted similar plots before on people who weren’t even related to him. To do it to children of his own family would have been as easy as flipping over his hand.

But…this? This way? A forced rupture, a cruelly imposed separation?

It would do nothing but harden everyone’s feelings, solidify their positions. It would brand the boys’ love for Lan Qiren into their heads forever. Even if they never saw him again, they would forever remember the uncle that had faithfully cared for them in their youth, and they would resent their father for having so cruelly taken him away from them. Such a resentment might take years to ferment and grow, and it might never come to anything in the end, but at a minimum there was no way that such a move would aid Qingheng-jun in winning his sons over to his side rather than his brother’s.

It was stupid. Absolutely, colossally stupid.

…too stupid, perhaps?

Wen Ruohan was aware that his peers often jeered at him for being unduly paranoid, but he credited his suspicious instincts at least in part for his success in living as long as he had. Could there be something more to Qingheng-jun’s actions than what appeared on the surface? Or was it really just that seclusion had rotted away his brain?

Qing Yu tried to speak further, possibly to change the subject, but Wen Ruohan waved him silent. There was something in that thought, the feeling of having caught the right scent, of tracking down some hidden hint of truth that he needed to follow to its end lest someone manage to get something by him.

Wen Ruohan did not let people get things by him.

So: let him take as his premise that Qingheng-jun was, while not necessarily smart, at a minimum not completely foolish. His behavior towards his brother was not only malicious, but pointless and counterproductive. He had to have realized that what he was doing would only make his sons dislike him more, especially sons that had been up until now raised with Lan Qiren’s rigid adherence to morality, and yet he had decided to proceed regardless. What, then, could be his real goal? Even sadists like Wen Ruohan typically had a reason behind their cruelty…

Unless the cruelty was the point.

Now that was an interesting thought.

Let Wen Ruohan accept as a premise that Qingheng-jun disliked his brother, having formed a grudge against him, presumably for having enjoyed everything that rightfully belonged to him while he hid away from the world. It would be a foolish sort of grudge, of course, given that he’d voluntarily given it all up, but it was the sort of irrational grudge a petty sort of man might nevertheless foster. Then, taking the next step down that path, could he assume that Qingheng-jun was acting first and foremost on account of that grudge, rather than reason?

Could Qingheng-jun really have grown to hate his younger brother to such a degree that he wanted nothing more than for him to suffer, and knew that he would suffer all the more in his seclusion because he knew that his nephews would also be suffering through missing him?

Interesting indeed.

It certainly fit with what he remembered of Qingheng-jun. He’d been short-sighted, which at the time Wen Ruohan had largely ascribed to his youth, and he had been inclined to play favorites, a contrast to Lan Qiren’s scrupulous even-handedness thereafter. He’d been susceptible to flattery in a way that Wen Ruohan had noted down as a potential future weakness to exploit, the same way he did with Jin Guangshan, and he had been dreadfully petty, remembering grudges but never favors. He’d been young back then, yes, but ten years in seclusion would have calcified and enhanced those traits, not reduced or ameliorated them.

So yes, Qingheng-jun might not be stupid enough to behave in a way that was wholly contrary to his goals, but he might be just stupid enough to prioritize his grudge over other considerations. Even Wen Ruohan would make missteps when he allowed self-indulgence to overwhelm his political sense.

It fit – but not quite.

There was still something there that didn’t quite make sense.

Overall, the logic was sound. If the goal of Qingheng-jun’s actions was to punish Lan Qiren for the perceived slight of having been Sect Leader in Qingheng-jun’s absence – even though it was obvious enough to anyone with eyes that Lan Qiren hadn’t especially wanted to do it and would probably have been delighted to be quit of the role if only the person he was returning the position to was worthy of it – then it was quite reasonable to forcefully tear him away from his nephews as a means of hurting him.

(It was even a little exciting, in its own way. Wen Ruohan could quite reasonably claim to be the cultivation world’s most accomplished torturer, though admittedly one that preferred inflicting physical pain rather than emotional agony, and brutality of this level was piquant even to his long-jaded palate.)

On the other hand, there was surely no lasting joy or victory in such a necessarily temporary set-up.

After all, as long as Lan Qiren remained at the Cloud Recesses, his nephews would have access to him. There was no way around it. Even Qingheng-jun’s wife, who had lived in permanent solitude alongside him, had had some connection with the outside world, however limited. No matter how great the hatred between them – and Wen Ruohan had to remind himself that that hatred was just an assumption on his part – even so, Qingheng-jun couldn’t justify locking Lan Qiren away for good.

No, the Lan sect was the Lan sect in the end, with a reputation for righteousness that was not wholly hollow. They might, in their insularity and joy at the return of a much-beloved and much-missed hero, allow a miscarriage of justice, but it wouldn’t last. Qingheng-jun might be the Lan sect’s darling, a treasure that everyone had thought lost for good, and his reputation would undoubtedly only have benefited from never having to be measured against reality, everyone projecting their own prejudices and ambitions upon his blank slate. But in the end it was still the Lan sect, honorable and rule-bound. Even if Qingheng-jun was universally beloved and Lan Qiren not, which Wen Ruohan doubted, it would still be impossible to imprison him forever.

Lan Qiren would eventually go free. And once free, with the trauma of forced separation between them, his nephews would rush back to him and him to them, wouldn’t they? They would only be closer than ever before. All the suffering they had endured would be wholly eclipsed by the greatness of their joy…

That’s what didn’t work.

Wen Ruohan’s assumption, at the moment, was that Qingheng-jun was a cruel man. Wen Ruohan himself was a cruel man, had been a cruel man for years, and moreover he had been in the position of having felt himself deeply and truly wronged before. Like recognized like. No one knew better than he how a man like that thought – the things he might want, the things he might do.

There was no way that a Qingheng-jun who wanted to be rid of his brother would stop at just seclusion.

And in this situation, that meant…

“What are Qingheng-jun’s plans for Lan Qiren?” Wen Ruohan asked abruptly.

Qing Yu jumped a little. He was easily startled, though presumably paranoia and over-caution was a useful trait in a spy. “His plans, Sect Leader?”

“After the seclusion is complete,” he clarified, waving his hand dismissively. “I’m certain he has some. What do the rumors in the Cloud Recesses say?”

“Ah – Sect Leader – this one failed to anticipate your level of interest – I have not heard of Qingheng-jun having any plans for his younger brother at all –”

Of course. Wen Ruohan nodded sagaciously, realizing that he’d raised the question the wrong way around. Someone as vain as he recalled Qingheng-jun being would never allow others to suspect that he was acting purely out of malice, as that might call his reputation as a perfect gentleman into question.

No, whatever he was going to do to Lan Qiren next would have to be appear to be spontaneous.

The key phrase being, appear to be.

“Tell me then of what the rumors are regarding Lan Qiren’s own plans for the future, once his seclusion has ended,” Wen Ruohan requested. It was unlikely that someone as transparently sincere as Lan Qiren actually had any such plans, which meant that any rumors that existed were probably being spurred on by Qingheng-jun instead. It was the sort of thing Wen Ruohan had seen plenty of in the Lan sect when it had been under the former Sect Leader Lan, their father, and that was the environment Qingheng-jun would have grown up in, much more so than Lan Qiren given the difference in their ages. “There must be something that people are saying, never mind their stupid rule against gossip. If someone is saying something, I wish to hear about it. No matter how outlandish.”

“Sect Leader, this humble one apologizes – I have failed to live up to your expectations – I will go out and seek out an answer at once –”

Wen Ruohan probed a few more times in a few more ways, but without success.

After a while, he gave a faint sigh and lifted his hand again to stop Qing Yu’s endless apologies.

“Enough already,” he said. “I understand already, you have nothing more to say. You’re dismissed…ah, as you go, send in Wang Liu, will you?”

He waited until Qing Yu’s dutiful second-in-command had been summoned and Qing Yu was fully gone before speaking again.

“You are in luck,” he told Wang Liu mildly. “You have an opportunity for advancement.”

The man’s eyes widened – in surprise, yes, but Wen Ruohan could see the light of ambition kindling in his gaze as well.

“It seems that your predecessor is a spy for one of the other sects.” Wen Ruohan smiled at Wang Liu’s obvious shock. “No, don’t deny it. I’m certain you had your suspicions and were keeping them to yourself for the moment, looking for a chance to capitalize on them? No proof, I assume?”

Wang Liu jerked his head in a nod, then bowed deeply.

“The Sect Leader’s wisdom greatly exceeds my own,” he said respectfully. “It has been my belief for some time that Master Qing reported first to Lanling Jin before you. Uncovering a spy in a single conversation…! The Sect Leader is far better at judging men than I could ever dream to be! He never slipped up enough around me for me to confirm anything, and he has always been triply cautious when speaking to you.”

Wen Ruohan snorted. “Stop it with the compliments,” he said dryly. “There’s a difference between respect and blatant flattery, and the latter is an insult to my intelligence. There’s news like this out there and he drones on for half a shichen about Yu Ziyuan’s latest fit of jealousy? He’s either incompetent or a traitor, and I forgive neither.”

It wasn’t worth it to force the answer out of Qing Yu directly, though Wen Ruohan had no doubt he could do so. Why bother? There were far more enjoyable ways to go about it – and indeed, a piece of paper and a flick of his hand sent word to the soldiers that waited outside his door, and they headed off to escort his previous guest down to the Fire Palace. He and Qing Yu could have a much longer, more fruitful, and far more enjoyable conversation down there.

Well, enjoyable for Wen Ruohan, anyway.

Maybe he really would let it get out that he’d done it because the man had bored him. There was value in having the appearance of instability, after all…

“Do you know of any rumors in the Lan sect regarding Lan Qiren’s future plans?” he asked his new top spy for Gusu. “I presume you get the same reports as Qing Yu. There must be something that someone is saying.”

Presumably mindful of the fate of his predecessor, Wang Liu gave the matter some serious thought.

“Nothing concrete or believable, Sect Leader,” he finally said. “Even the most persistent rumor I heard was little more than chattering among the Lan women that now that Lan Qiren was free of the burdens of sect leadership, he might finally go ahead and get married.”

That actually got a real, genuine bark of laughter out of Wen Ruohan.

“Lan Qiren,” he said, unable to contain his glee. “Lan Qiren, married? Can you imagine? The poor woman!”

Wang Liu couldn’t conceal an answering smirk of his own.

“Just imagine it,” Wen Ruohan continued, doing just that, his laughter getting stronger rather than fading. “Listening to him drone on and on about those awful Lan sect rules day and night! It’s probably his idea of convivial dinner table conversation – ah, no, the Lan sect has a rule against speaking while eating, doesn’t it? So it’d be sitting in silence instead, and then the rules would come out –”

Lao Nie, the current Sect Leader Nie, had once told Wen Ruohan that he’d gotten Lan Qiren drunk in some sort of experiment, and that the other man had apparently gone on a full-shichen rant about some arcane nuance of some rule developed four generations earlier. If that was what the man was like when he was drunk, Wen Ruohan couldn’t even imagine the misery of being married to him while he was sober.

He supposed there was the possibility that it might not be quite as bad as he was making it out to be: Lan Qiren was a Lan, in the end. That family had once been infamous for their mad hearts, even the most placid and boring of them a potential minefield – it was really their one bout of unorthodoxy, the way they honored their ancestor’s ceaseless devotion to a single dao companion, for whom they would do anything. Would it be possible for Lan Qiren to change everything about who he was once he’d fallen in love…?

Of course, that assumed he’d marry for love.

Still chuckling, Wen Ruohan dismissed Wang Liu and headed down towards his Fire Palace to entertain himself. He found, to his surprise, that he couldn’t quite get the thought out of his mind. Though perhaps that was understandable: it was a compelling notion! The Lan sect might prefer to marry for love, but they were as deeply mired in the muck of politics as everyone else. While they refrained from arranging betrothals in childhood to allow for the possibility of their disciples falling in love and ruining everything, they were more willing to be practical when it came to older ones, and Lan Qiren must be around thirty by now. It wouldn’t be implausible for him to want to get married…

Or at least agree to it, anyway. After all, Qingheng-jun was new to the scene, coming back to take charge of his sect after ten years of absence; he would need to make some big moves to establish his authority. It would only be beneficial to him if he could arrange some sort of alliance on the basis of Lan Qiren’s marriage, establishing himself as a figure to be reckoned with both internally and in the wider cultivation world, and it would probably tickle his fancy to utilize a brother he despised to do it.

Maybe that really was what Qingheng-jun was planning.

It would even be rather clever, really. A few months of seclusion to remove Lan Qiren from power, then shackling him down with some woman of Qingheng-jun’s selection – and Lan Qiren was a valuable matrimonial prize, as such things went, capable of winning all sorts of benefits for the Lan sect.

Brother of a sect leader, years of service and experience as sect leader himself…the sect that married their daughter to Lan Qiren would probably even think that they’d be getting a direct line to Qingheng-jun – of course, they’d be wrong, if Qingheng-jun really did dislike his brother, but that was the sort of thing an outsider wouldn’t know unless they had access to the types of spies Wen Ruohan had – and also all of those valuable connections Lan Qiren would have spent years building with the other sect leaders. What wouldn’t they trade for such an immense advantage? Qingheng-jun could have his pick of the world!

Of course, such a solution still left the long-term problem.

Wen Ruohan just couldn’t see someone as upright and devoted as Lan Qiren turning away from his nephews simply because he’d married and had his own children. The man’s personality just didn’t seem to be that type, not at all. He was too bull-headedly loyal, too devoted, too true…well, perhaps Qingheng-jun simply didn’t know him well enough. He’d been gone for ten years, after all.

Lan Qiren, a married man with a wife of his own at home, Wen Ruohan thought to himself once more, and shook his head. For some reason, the amusement that he’d initially had at the ridiculousness of the thought had faded away, leaving only a strange sense of dissatisfaction. I just can’t see it.

I can’t see it at all.

[un-pearable]

actually ur knuckles post got me thinking abt archie cuz of the knuckles comic he kind of. got a ton of shadow's traits on him already before shadow even existed. so when shadow DID get introduced its kind of obvious they didnt really know what to do with him. his first appearance (aside from the sa2 adaptation) he barely even did anything because aliens were attacking. they were able to really milk his search for his purpose though since shth and heroes werent relevant to the archie side of things. many such shadow centric story arcs spent with him walking around and talking about how powerful he is but he doesnt know anything about his creation. stuff like that. although i think archie also kind of just slotted shadow into the situation of another guy for sonic to beef with since he and knuckles had made up a long time ago already. but the main difference is that knuckles had friends (the chaotix) and a group of people keeping secrets from him, while for shadow he had to piece things together with relics of the past since all of his history is from half a century ago

mhm!!!!! EXACTLY archie had a LOT to do with coming to this realization for me, i just haven’t done the deep dive for sources to make a proper long post about it. so many of the characterization shifts in the 2000s are best analyzed by comparing Sonic X and the archie comics alongside the games they were contemporary with, but that level of analysis is gonna take a lot more work than i have time for rn sadly. ty for your expertise penosh :)

[tenebraevesper]

Locke’s Mistreatment of Shadow & The Shadow Android Theory

So, welcome back to yet another analysis of the Sonic media, featuring Shadow the Hedgehog. I wasn’t really planning on this, but after reading Issue #145 of Sonic Archie, I realized there was something I wanted to address. Now, just as a note, if you guys like my Sonic Analyzers/Posts, you’re free to suggest which topic I should tackle next (I had been partial to addressing the fact that some people claim Lanolin is Sally 2.0. and why that’s disrespectful to both characters).

In any case, let’s go back to our actual story, Issue #145: Shadows of Hope. There are two particular topics I want to talk about here, first being that Locke the Echidna is an awful person and the second being that the writer of this Issue is either a believer of the “Shadow is an Android” Theory or he, as usual, didn’t care to do proper research.

Before I start, I’ll do a quick recap. This story features the return of Shadow the Hedgehog in the story after a lengthy absence, and from my understanding, the focus on him in this and future Issues was an editorial mandate due to his popularity and attempt to increase comic sales, as well as the fact that the year this Issue came out was also the year Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) came out. With that said, note that SEGA wasn’t heavily involved with the Sonic Archie comics, sharing only minimal information about the video games they were developing with the writers whenever they needed a promotion. There was also no way of getting a faithful adaptation of the video game since their attempts at adapting Sonic Adventure 2 proved that the comics cannot serve nor bend to the video games they are based on.

Also, trigger warning, this was written by Ken Penders, so be prepared for the mess he wrote. Things will get really disturbing.

So, not even a whole page in, and there is already a problem with this narration.

“Shadow was created onboard a lab located in geosynch orbit over the planet Mobius, and originally considered a product, a construction, a weapon, anything but what it truly was, a biomechanical lifeform!”

Biomechanical lifeform... are you serious?!

Now, now, I won’t be flying into another rant yet, because Sonic Heroes had come out by this point, and we know that Team Dark came across the Shadow Androids, robots that Eggman had created in Shadow’s image in that game.

Sonic Heroes implied that the real Shadow had died in Sonic Adventure 2 and that the Shadow in Sonic Heroes was just an amnesiac android. Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) later debunks this theory by having Eggman tell Super Shadow as he fights Devil Doom that he is the real deal and that Eggman had saved him when he fell after the battle with Finalhazard.

So, perhaps I should ignore this one as this may have been the lead theory at the time, right? Well, I would, except this is Penders we’re talking about. This guy prides himself in never having played the Sonic games nor knowing anything about the Sonic lore aside from the stuff SEGA tells him to write.

Oh, but it gets even worse, because Penders proceeds to basically dehumanize Shadow:

“By every known definition, it was sentient! It could think, reason... and feel!”

I don’t know what was even going through Penders’ head when he wrote this, but why is he writing Shadow as if he wasn’t even a living being?! Why is he acting as if Shadow is a mindless tool/weapon and not his own person?! Hell, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The story starts in typical Penders’ fashion, with Shadow spying on Hope Kintobor. Note, her resemblance to Maria Robotnik is purely accidental, as she appeared in the comic before Sonic Adventure 2 came out, but the writers certainly milked this coincidence for all its worth. We also get a more wholesome interaction between the two once Ian Flynn takes over.

So, Shadow is spying on Hope, when suddenly, a hooded figure appears and... you know what, I’ll just transcribe the description from Sonic_Speed because their take on what happens in this story (you can find the timestamp in the comments of their video, just click on the link here) is hilarious:

Speed: “...until a hooded figure comes behind him and asks him for help. Shadow’s like ‘The fuc- No! Who are you?’

Aaron: *laughs* “Shadow’s being like ‘Aaah, I see, an Agent of Penders... Fuck off! I will not be tainted by your bad writing!’”

Speed: *laughs* And one of... You know what, that’s actually a pretty apt analogy, because the figure says ‘I respect your choice, Shadow, but I cannot accept it!’ and hog ties him!

Aaron: “You’re gonna get dragged into this plot whether you want it or not!”

So, yeah, our mysterious figure and narrator is Locke the Echidna, probably the most hated character in this comic besides Geoffrey St. John and King Max. Some of his crimes include microwaving Knuckles as an egg in Chaos Energy, then later on lie and manipulate him, faking suicide in front of his young son and making him believe for 10 years that he was the only echidna left alive. Even after their reunion, he keeps being emotionally abusive and lying father towards Knuckles and trying to control his life, all under the guise of “I’m your father, I know better”.

I’m not gonna lie, I legit cheered when Locke finally died.

Good riddance and no tears were shed, now Knuckles is finally allowed to be his own person.

Anyways, back to the current story, which is currently being hijacked by Penders’ OC. Note how Locke addresses Shadow in the narration, calling him a “creature”. This is their first (and only) interaction they have, and this is foreshadowing of how Locke sees Shadow.

Shadow has none of this nonsense, attempting to punch him, but Locke presses a button on his belt and envelops them in a blue light, with Hope running into it and being transported to somewhere else (speculated to be Haven, headquarters of the Brotherhood of Guardians, by Speed in his video).

There, Shadow proceeds to continue attacking Locke (YAY!!!), but Locke manages him to throw over his shoulder (BOOOO!!) and then proceeds to trap Shadow inside a glass tube, while still calling him an “It”. Unless we’re talking about Pennywise, this is just plain rude.

The situation Shadow finds himself in basically triggers his memories of what happened on the Space Colony ARK, of his awakening and Maria’s death (just ignore the thoughts in the second panel above, it’s just bad). I’m just gonna add “kidnapping Shadow and triggering his traumatic memories” to Locke’s growing list of “Reasons why Locke’s an awful person”.

Snapping out of the flashback, Shadow confronts Locke, demanding to state his intentions.

Okay, I will have to dissect this particular dialogue between Shadow and Locke, because it’s just that awful and incredibly infuriating.

Locke dares to ask Shadow: “Have you any idea what it’s like to lose everything?”

And Ken Penders (yes, I’m putting the blame on him) has the audacity to have Shadow respond: “I wouldn’t know! I’ve never had anything!”

How?! HOW CAN YOU EVEN WRITE SOMETHING LIKE THIS?! HOW CAN YOU HAVE A CHARACTER WHO LOST HIS ENTIRE FAMILY, HIS SISTER, SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! THE SOLE REASON HE WANTED TO DESTROY HUMANITY?!

This is disrespect to Shadow’s whole backstory on a whole another level! And no, you cannot pretend that Shadow forgot the events of Sonic Adventure 2 because he never suffered from amnesia in the comics. He remembers everything that happened!

Ken Penders should know this! He could’ve had Shadow tell Locke that “Yes, I too have lost everything”, but he didn’t. I don’t know why, but I believe that this was so Locke would come off less as an asshole. We are supposed to sympathize with Locke here, not Shadow.

I hate this so much!!

...

Oh, but it gets even better.

“That’s not surprising! From what I can tell, you’re neither biological, mineral, nor vegetable.”

Okay, let’s first address Locke’s (and Penders) IQ level here, because it’s that of a potato (I apologize to all the potatoes in the world). What the hell do you mean by “neither biological, mineral nor vegetable”?! So vegetables are now artificial constructs?! And you call yourself a scientist, Locke?!

*shakes head*

Oh, who am I kidding... We’re talking about a guy who thought microwaving his unborn son because of a dream was a good idea.

What I should be talking about is the fact that according to Locke, Shadow is not a biological lifeform... completely ignoring the fact that Penders wrote in the recap that Shadow is supposedly a “biomechanical lifeform”.

*calmly*

Penders, what exactly do you think the bio in biomechanical stands for? *scoffs* Yeah, I rest my case.

It also doesn’t help that this belief that Shadow is more synthetic than biological is reinforced in further Issues. Thank goodness it gets dropped soon, because I swear, I couldn’t read more of this nonsense.

Lastly, Locke tells Shadow that he believes Shadow is the key to helping him find the Brotherhood he’s been searching for.

Uh, Locke? SHADOW IS NOT OBLIGATED TO FIND YOUR GODDAMN FAMILY!! YOU KIDNAPPED HIM, TRAUMATIZED HIM, DEHUMANIZED HIM AND NOW YOU’RE DEMANDING HE DOES YOUR JOB!!! SCREW YOU!!

Anger aside, this interaction also implies something very disturbing, which had been addressed in another post (I just realized something kinda creepy) and you can click on the link presented, but to summarize, this person asked what exactly was Locke planning to do with Shadow and how was he going to use him to find the Brotherhood?

They noted how Locke (and Penders’) interpretation of Shadow was that of a violent creature with identity issues (or rather a self-aware android) and how Locke had been observing Shadow for a while. It isn’t explained whether Locke even knows that Shadow is the Ultimate Lifeform, and with Locke being able to use Chaos Energy, why would he need Shadow?

To quote the poster:

See, for all Locke should have feasibly known, Shadow would have been just another hedgehog. While it could be argued that Locke sensed immense Chaos potential in Shadow, that still wouldn’t have made much sense, because if Gerald had done his job and properly limited Shadow’s power, as well as have created a fully “sentient” squishy hedgehog being, as Penders specifically wrote in issue 145′s prologue:

“ … it could think, reason … and feel!”

… Locke shouldn’t have felt that power … and there shouldn’t really be any reason for Locke to think of him as anything but the real deal as a natural-born hedgehog.

Why would he have questioned what his make-up was? And yes, I do realize “Locke’s Gary-Stu status makes him l33t” is a possible explanation, but I’m speaking in terms of in-universe.

Plus, he must have seen Sonic in action at least once—which once more begs the question of why Shadow specifically. And why now.

Unless Locke knew something.

The poster suggests Locke did dig into the archives of the Space Colony ARK in search of other beings able to use Chaos Control and learned about Shadow, believing he could override Shadow’s original programming:

Here’s when I realized that not only did Penders probably intend to use Shadow as a tool, but if left to his own devices, Locke would have performed another Chaos energy experiment on Shadow.

Think about it. Nuking Knuckles didn’t go so well, what with him effin’ dying, so who better to subsequently do a follow-up experiment on than an “immortal” being who, per Locke’s twisted perceptions, may or may not even be sentient or real? If Shadow suffered ill effects, well, no harm, no foul—seeing how he couldn’t feel like other anthros, right?

“Do you know what it’s like to lose everything?” Locke asks, almost as if he doesn’t expect a response; and indeed, he even looks surprised when Shadow gives one: “I wouldn’t know; I’ve never had anything!”

Consider that Locke lures Shadow into an abandoned lab complex, and traps him inside a capsule “unlike any that have held me before” — paraphrasing Shadow here.

Consider that Locke calls Shadow “creature,” and even puts his biological status into question. That in subsequent issues, Shadow speaks robotically and bonds with a fellow droid, Isaac. That Isaac, Wiki Robot Extraordinaire, can’t ascertain whether or not Shadow is biological.

This is stretching the memory banks a little bit, but does anyone remember that one moment in issue 158 where, right before going into Rosie’s hut, Shadow repelled some oncoming Metal Sonic troopers with a shield he didn’t even know how he generated? IIRC, there was a display of Chaos energy in the following issue that Shadow was also at a loss to explain.

I’d wager that had this story played out, the temporary shield would have been a foreshadowing, maybe a byproduct of Locke’s tinkering, of the echidna’s effort to turn him into a supersoldier of some sort. Same as what Hunter turned into for Eggman.

tl;dr … I would have punched Locke into next Tuesday, Penders

Yeah, I did say that things would get disturbing. If this theory was correct (or if anyone else wrote this story but Penders), this would be horrifying. Not to mention the fact that Locke would’ve performed all those experiments on Shadow and be portrayed as being in the right. After all, Shadow couldn’t possibly be a real living being with feelings and wants and dreams and hopes, right? Even then, all this torture would’ve been waved off as being done for the greater good (aka for stupid echidna agendas).

Honestly, the way Locke/Penders dehumanizes Shadow is disgusting. It also shows just how much of a self-righteous monster Locke is.

Fortunately for everyone, Hope approaches the two, telling Locke to let Shadow go. He appearance triggers another flashback in Shadow’s mind... oh, and Locke continues calling Shadow “the creature” and an “it”.

Fortunately for us, Shadow breaks out of the glass tube and is about to beat Locke up (GET HIS ASS, SHADOW!).

Unfortunately for us, the next panel has Locke use his Chaos Powers, but Shadow still fights back (you’re doing great, sweetie!). Also, Locke, would you stop pretending like you don’t know why Shadow is trying to kill you?!

Sadly, before Shadow has the chance to kill Locke, Hope interrupts them, saying how she’s now afraid more of Shadow than of Locke... Yeah, of course Penders had to write that. He just had to put all the blame on Shadow, even though Locke literally kidnapped him!

Shadow snaps out of beating up Locke, yells at Hope how she isn’t Maria and how he doesn’t need any friends, and leaves.

While Penders will continue to write Shadow as if he was an self-aware android and dangerous weapon in the next few Issues, this interaction will never be brought up again. I believe there are several reasons for this, one being that Penders at the time was trying to return the story to status quo after Karl Bollers shook things up in his The Return to Angel Island Arc (the link presented leads to the Sonic_Speed video, with Speed and Aaron having covered the whole arc), hence why Locke is searching for the Brotherhood. Add in the editorial demands of promoting Shadow more because of his popularity and the fact that Penders is leaving after Issue #159 (they even called in Ian Flynn to edit the last Issue Penders wrote before him taking over in Issue #160 as lead writer), and his dislike for writing any story that doesn’t involve his OCs hogging the spotlight, it’s clear why this was never addressed in any form.

Frankly, it’s for the better, and while I do know the real reasons why Penders left, I love to think that Shadow was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

[ancientevangelions]

Sending this because I'm stunned at the defeatist Asushin rhetoric after 3.0+1.0. The rebuilds were a mess overall, Asushin in it is a lot more milquetoast than in the series. But after watching it I had the exact opposite idea of “they moved on for each other” or “the feelings are not there anymore”. This is the same delirious Reddit dudebro talk that says they hate each other in EoE

In 3.0+1.0 they both admit their feelings, Shinji's supposed last act is to make sure she knows he returns her feelings and that everything has always been real. There’s no way to misinterpret it now

Then they go to the world without Evas at the end, it's not to “leave everything behind and move on” from their past, but to have a shot at a normal life. The only other time we saw a world like this was in the NGE finale, where they are best friends with strong strong romantic undertones (and a whole manga spin-off where they end up together). Literally everyone else points out multiple times how they like each other. Only this time there's no more undertones, their feelings are already there for both to see

Asuka very clearly still has feelings for Shinji. We even got a whole official manga bonking us in the head with this. She confesses her feelings even if she's not completely honest with herself, but everything from her face to her body language to the narrative reinforces it. But she thinks she’s going to die, and so does he. They didn't expect there to be an “after”, hence the past tense. Shinji wanted to give her closure. For Shinji especially, only a few weeks passed, his feelings did not disintegrate and his reaction to Asuka turning her back on him shows it

After this, it's not like when they meet again their feelings will magically subside. The whole point is to give them a shot a normal lives. Asuka remains the only character Shinji has taken the initiative to romantically pursue. (I don't mean this a diss to Kawoshin, just that Kaworu makes the moves on Shinji, meanwhile Shinji in NGE, rebuilds and nearly all spin-offs eventually pursues Asuka). Shinji's arc with Asuka inevitably leads to him confessing his feelings for her

“But they don’t remember” - I don't follow this interpretation, but if you do, and it’s valid, I again point out to episode 26 and every other official Eva content to show how they are like with each other when no Evas are around to mess them up

“But Mari” - Mari is the poorest, worst written character in the franchise, and I dislike her existence but I won't do her this injustice: she is not a duplicitous false friend who's out for Asuka's guy the second Asuka is not there anymore. Nothing in Mari's characterization points to that, she is not an asshole, she was there actually advising Asuka to confess. Mari is nothing but a good person and friend. And Shinji is not some desperate dude that grasps at anyone moments after confessing his feelings to someone else. This is his whole arc

Being more cynical, it’s not like the infamously capitalist Evangelion franchise, which has milked shipping wars from its fan base for 30 years, is going to shut down one of the most popular and iconic couples they have. But because of this they also couldn't seal the deal in a more explicit way. Which is why everything in the new world is open, Asushin, kawoshin, everything is still on the table

The rebuilds are plagued with problems. Shikinami herself is a pale shadow of Soryu. There's a serious lack of buildup and characterization. But the rebuilds do not kill Asushin. It’s underwhelming compared to NGE but the last movie gives us the hope of them seeing each other again, with knowledge of their returned feelings. They end in a positive note. It’s nothing if a fucking hopeful prospect for Asushin in a world where they can be together, and we should claim it

I just queued up a lot of screenshots from Twitter that do a good analysis on AsuShin and the series

Please keep a look out! (There are a lot of them and I will make a post compiling all of them later)

[mayskalih]

I’m a grown woman but the child inside me has been saddened by the Naruto 99 poll.

1. Kakashi didn’t win the teacher poll, really?? Minato didn’t teach his team anything! He sent PTSD-Kakashi to the ANBU, and he failed to be on time 2 times, costing Obito and Rin’s lives. When it comes down to it, Kakashi is the best teacher; he can quickly identify his student’s strengths and weaknesses, and then tailor an entire exercise regime according to his analysis. For example, him utilising Naruto’s shadow clones to exponentially increase his training output was genius! The only minus points is his evasive nature. It’s hard to get a hold of him most of the time.

2. Kakashi fans dividing their votes between the likes of Minato and Sakumo. I am confident that Kakashi would be higher in the poll had the manga announcement not come out.

3. Tsunade not being in the teacher poll!! My god, that woman deserves an award for training two normies (Sakura + Shizune) into being lead healers in the field.

4. The toxic fan wars. The toxic Sakura fanatics attacking other fanbases in order to prop up their Queen. The misogynists. It makes me not want to be in the fandom entirely.

5. People mistaking this special manga opportunity as an entire fleshed out series/spin off. From the article translation it’s mostly going to be a one-shot centred around the character. If Minato wins, I can see the one-shot being about his relationship with Kushina. If Sakura wins then…. maybe a chapter with her and Sasuke? To further milk the SasuSaku cash cow. I don’t know what they’ll do with Shisui or Itachi either. Sakumo seems to be an interesting one since we don’t know anything about his life prior to his depression and eventual suicide. So I would have like him to win but he’s too low on the Top 10 for me to even dream it. People forget that the Kakashi childhood content, apart from the Gaiden special, is not canon. His childhood with Sakumo, ANBU days, Hokage period are all unexplored so that’s a gold mine for Kishi.

As much as I want Sakura to win as a big fuck-you to the toxic Naruto fans, I fear what will happened when Kishi is put at the forefront of representing Sakura’s character. He already failed during Sarada’s manga special. I can’t see it being any different unless he lets someone else write the plot.

I share a lot of these thoughts with you, anon! They shouldn't have mentioned manga for winner at all. Then it would be more interesting.

I'm scared that if Sakura wins, then it indeed will be more Sasusaku. I would prefer to read about her training times with Tsunade more, about her friendship with Ino or her family.

Tsunade not being in the teacher poll is ridiculous. Same goes for Kurenai.

For Itachi - I would like to read more about his Akatsuki time. But I'm bet it's not gonna be about it and instead about Uchiha fam.

Still few days left so vote kakashi 👀