#and i still got the whole goal of him wanting to destroy; then recreate the world

[fleurladari]

me when i see posts on the different dialogue between x and y on lysandre and i have. strong opinions on this.

[uptoolateart]

I know it's been forever since I updated my Miraculous tarot deck. I've just been so busy writing fics instead! Then I saw the S5 finale and I decided to replace one of the cards I'd already done. So, this is Reality, which is a replacement for The World. An explanation is below the image. It turns into a bit of an analysis of 'Re-Creation'.

My previous image for The World was Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir, i.e. their dual images. Then I got stuck because actually, that image would be perfect for the 2 of Yo-Yos...but I want to update it because I can draw better now, so that's on its way.

So, why did I go with Gimmi / Reality for this card?

The World is the end of the Major Arcana, or the archetypal cards at the head of the deck. Therefore, it speaks of fulfilment, completion, harmony, and the end of a certain cycle or phase of life. One journey has ended and a new one begins. From this point, we return to The Fool and start the sequence all over again.

The traditional Rider-Waite-Smith image shows a dancing figure, showing that fulfilment is ever-changing and dynamic. He/she is surrounded by a wreath of success / the achievement of a goal. This circle shows the cyclical nature of life. To quote an old Smashing Pumpkins song, the end is the beginning is the end….

In the corners are four figures who also appear in The Wheel of Fortune, symbolising the elements in harmony.

The central figure has one leg up in the air, reminding me of Lord Shiva in ancient Indian stories. Also referred to as the Lord of Dance (not to be confused with the Lord of the Dance, i.e. Michael Flatley), Shiva is a classic symbol of balance, walking the two paths between spiritual life and material life / desires. I thought of him the instant I saw Gimmi in 'Re-Creation', which I'll discuss that below. (I mean, look at all those arms...but even besides that....)

Ancient Indian traditions have this idea of different yugas, or eras. There are four of them, each one shorter than the last. When all four come to an end, Shiva does a special dance so powerful that it shatters the material universe...clearing a path for the universe to be created anew and the whole cycle to begin again. This process goes on eternally.

(Incidentally, we are currently said to be living through the last yuga in the cycle, the Kali yuga, when people are at their weakest and live shorter lives. But don't worry - there are about 427,000 years left of this yuga.)

Many traditions say Brahma is the creator god, after Shiva cleans the slate. Others, though, give Shiva the role of creator, too - specifically describing him as destroying in order to create again.

Hence in 'Deflagration' Plagg reminds Tikki that 'you and I are one', and in 'Re-Creation', when we see Plagg and Tikki in their ultimate forms, they make similar statements. Gimmi is not one or the other - Gimmi is their unified state. Reality = the constant ebb and flow of life and death, creation and destruction...like when Gabriel makes his wish and reality is collapsed and recreated. His wish is Shiva's dance. Constance is an illusion.

I think it's really interesting how when Gabriel 'dies', we never actually see a body. 'That's just because it's a children's show!' Yeah, maybe...but it's a children's show full of esoteric imagery, too. When Gabriel 'dies' he simply floats up and becomes a bunch of glowing light, returning to the energetic source of everything. Even basic physics tells us that energy never goes away. It simply...transforms. In a weird way...Gabriel's still floating around in some form, in the end. (Now there's a creepy thought.)

By the way, if you've noticed the placement of the Gabriel figure on my card...yeah. I didn't choose that. My reference image was a screenshot from 'Re-Creation'. I'm certain Gabriel's positioning was on purpose, to illustrate that is he but one humble emanation of the Creatrix (a feminine source of life - and with all that pink, I'm sure Gimmi is meant to be something like this, too).

And can I just note that I love the way Gimmi's head is surrounded by the atomic model. You may have gathered from other posts that I was less than satisfied with that S5 finale...but everything about Plagg, Tikki and Gimmi was fantastic.

[fullofvexation]

A lil something for everyone! :D Haven- A13, K6 Nona Paloma- A2, L2 Roka- F2, C8 Kittiwake Tern- F11, B9 Edmond Du Bogue- A24, D4

Ahh thank you for asking about my characters!!! Yippee!

I'm putting a readmore here cus there's a lot of them! Anyone who reads all of these you're my new bff now I am weeping and crying

Haven

a13. Does your OC have any phobias? If so, where did they come from?

Haven is terrified of getting wet and water! He's an undead guy who was mummified when we has first killed, and he's very afraid that he'll start to rot if he gets wet. He doesn't know how to swim and avoids boats and any sort of water at all costs.

k6. Does their paranormal aspect cause issues in daily life? If so, how do they feel about it?

Even within the fantasy world where he lives, Haven is "paranormal" in that he's undead, and looks like a desiccated corpse. This causes him issues in his daily life because the undead are generally feared and hated, so he's always hiding that, mostly by wearing clothes that hide the huge hole in his chest and a mask that hides his lack of eyes. He's got complicated feelings about his situation, but generally dislikes it. He's very aware that he's ugly and monstrous, and still trying to decide whether he is a monster or not, and generally struggles to accept his situation.

Nimona-Paloma Charrata aka Nona

a2. What alignment are they? Chaotic neutral, lawful evil, et cetera…

Nona is chaotic neutral! She generally acts this way due to being deeply and consistently out of touch with what is normal and acceptable, and what's going on in general. She is offputting and nosy and generally just does whatever she wants, in a way that's very childish and clueless.

l2. What do you consider the biggest themes in your character, if any?

Nona's whole concept is based around the idea of an NPC suddenly granted PC-style capabilities and agency. She spent her whole existence standing outside her house asking passersby to help her with tasks before suddenly acquiring magical powers and getting thrown into the life of an adventurer. Nona's main themes are being a fish out of water and needing to learn how exist as a person! It's tough to know how to be someone when you've never had to make any choices for yourself or interacted with anyone in a meaningful way.

Roka

f2. What’s their ideal home look like? Where is it?

Roka's ideal home is the one she currently lives in with her wife and daughter! After losing everyone she knew when her community was destroyed and a series of pretty traumatic events in the fallout of that, all she wants is her new start, and in this case, that looks like a little house with a few apple trees located in a small village.

c8. Is your OC more practical or ideal morally?

Roka is a deeply practical person. As a young woman, she was raised to be a priestess in a death cult and did things out of a deep sense of moral righteousness. When she realized her goddess wasn't real and her religion was a manipulation tactic to convince people to sacrifice each other, she fully threw all that out of the window. She became someone who twists her morals to achieve her goals, and is convinced that her goals justify her actions, even if those include being cruel or manipulative or violent.

Prof. Kittiwake Tern

f11. What are some of their favorite things to do for recreation?

Kittiwake Tern is a stuffy and proper man who's sense of fun has been generally shredded by years of being in academia (and being the pawn of a malevolent arctic being). In his free time, he likes to read books that would be impressive to people if anyone asked him what he was reading, and drink tea (if he's having a good day) or brandy (if he's having a bad one).

b9. What kind of humor does your OC like the most?

Kittiwake Tern does not approve of humor in general, though he does enjoy a well thought out play on words, or any sort of comedy that's appropriately literary.

Edmond Du Bogue

a24. What are some of your OC’s biggest personal obstacles?

Edmond wants to be a folk hero knight, but he's a sheltered 20 year old rich boy who's leaving the house for the first time. His biggest obstacles are that he has zero experience with "real life" (or anything else) and that it isn't much like all those novels he read growing up. He's working to get that experience, though sometime, he isn't sure he really wants it...

d4. Would they like to be immortal? Why, why not?

Edmond wouldn't particularly like being immortal. He's very concerned with his life and practical problems, and the idea of being immortal would absolutely stress him out to an impossible degree. Edmond is a very small fish who is just now realizing that he's in an ocean, not a pond, and the last thing he needs right now is for the scope of things to get bigger and more complicated.

[neonmetro]

HIIII school is kicking my ass so I can't send as many asks as I want to also because I still haven't gotten a replacement phone and I just don't know how to put it into words without fangirling but LKHSBFJSJGBKV

That being said this might be more fangirling sorry 😔

Ilya and Ulysses have been clouding my mind like A LOT, also Virgil, like Virgil has been there for awhile but now that I'm having like 4 tests every week they are DEFINITELY there now. So uh *holds cup* If you have anything about the Divine comedy trio or Ilya I would like to know about that

ALSO BTW I AM ALWAYS DOWN FOR ULY CONTENT THATS A GIVEN LOOK AT MY ANON NAME wink wink*Gets booed off stage*

I would LOVEEEEE content and info about Azazel and Moloch also because I love them smm OFC IF NOT TO MUCH SPOILERS FOR PROJECT MARTYR. heh....heh heh heh....Azazel and Moloch being happy 4k ultra footage

I know I'm asking about so many of your OCs but I CANT HELP IT THEY ARE TAKING TURNS CROWDING MY MIND ATP *sighs really loudly*

I just love your blorbos so much *sheds a tear*

PROPER FANART IS ON THE WAY !!!! I HAVE MANY IDEAS

Also so off topic from Novaturient but I really just love your art and I love seeing it, keep doing what you are doing !!!! can you tell I'm trying to not turn this into a fangirling ask, ik Ulyanon does that a lot HFKSKFFFHJJFK

By any chance do you like the reverb ensemble. . .those are my bbys and I love them SM KSDJGSGNFDJTKT the Ruina brainrot has also been kicking my ass as of late

Pls have a great rest of your day / night Neon !!!!

-Ulysses loving anon

HII ULYANON!!! IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO SEE YOUUU!!!! handshake on school kicking our asses... (me w/ the several worksheets/docs i need to finish lmao...)

i haven't really been thinking of new lore but i can elaborate more on the divine comedy trio

dante is fun fact. banned from the recreational district. for having absolutely desecrated the capital of the district by killing every aristocrat and hanging their corpses as decorations on christmas. vergil still remains on the position that dante shouldn't be banned because she no longer has the memories to do so but the recreational corpheads Heavily Disagree.

vergil's last name is maro ^_^

originally dante and vergil met when dante found vergil in the woods and nursed them back to health, she was originally training to be a nurse an decided to become a wandering healer for the war (and was eventually killed by ulysses the first time)

dante's power is "the self embodiment of human perfection"

HOWEVER!!!!!! ILYA DOES HAVE SOME NEW INFO !!!

they've got an obsession with magical girls and their ultimate goal is to make the best/strongest magical girl in the century and they're willing to do it through fucked up means (stressing them out/overworking them) because they're only trying to make them better. they were a former magical girl during the illium war but their chronic illnesses just made them unable to really get back into it so they just project onto others. they usually fixate on one person/group for awhile before dropping them because they aren't meeting their expectations :melting_face:

during the war, all the bogatyrs were specifically contracted magical girls (i mean all magical girls have contracts but i mean like. they were actually tied to a company instead of freelance mercenaries)

+ back then it was a whole political thing, where smaller companies (like arthur's roundtable, charlemagne's paladins, and the achaeans (before they plotted to destroy the founding)) would hunt as many vagabonds as they can to prove that their magical girls are the best so the founding should give em more support

uly has so much content you have no fucking idea. it went from bad. to worse.

his relationships are so ... complex and definitely toxic. (diomedes: onesided romantically but mutual platonically. dio likes uly a lot more than uly likes dio. circe: um. its definitely the worst out of all of these bc circe doesn't even like uly and has tortured him. and he tortures her back. kalypto: also very onesided but started out as mutual, penelope: ULY'S ENTIRE REASON FOR LIVING)

(i think i need to dedicate another post about uly he just has way too much, (oooo you should definitely ask me about uly on his own oooooo))

MOLOCH AND AZAZEL [BURSTS OUT CRYING] its been awhile since i've actually developed their relationship so here's just the intro to their dynamic...... they will get better... prommy... and then worse but let's not worry about that

RAGHGGHGGJ THANK YOU ULYANON!!! THAT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME [BURSTS INTO TEARS ONCE MORE] this is why i make art.... thank you....

i fucking love the reverb ensemble you have no idea. its so dire being an argalia fan bc no one is normal about his mental illness and freakiness (tbh my fav members are elena, pluto, and greta... but they're all great. their gay orchestra swag.) GOOD LUCK ON BEATING RUINA... I BELIEVE IN YOU

HONESTLY SHOUT OUT TO ULYANON FOR MAKING WRITE AN ENTIRE ESSAY W/ ONE ASK ALONE /LH HAVE A GREAT NIGHT/DAY TOO!!!!!!!!!!

[aimportantdragoncollector]

Pretty please backstory on the demon Todoroki family in "If You Meet Your Father, Kill Your Father."

Here comes the essay Part 2! I'm deliberately doing this one after the ask about backstory for Hisashi and Yoichi, because there's some overlapping worldbuilding.

Enji's father was the Demon Lord of Envy and an absolute monster. Lord Envy was one of the old demons who treated their children as tools to be used and discarded. The old demons had no need for heirs, being immortal. Thus, they murdered their children when they got too strong. Enji's siblings all died, and he fled to the human realms. He vowed revenge on his father.

Rei was a human princess and her dad arranged her marriage to Endeavor in exchange for protection for his kingdom. This put envy demon Endeavor fighting on the side of humans, and everyone feels weird about it.

Enji was desperate for strong kids to aid this goal. He married a human (Rei), because he had better odds at more children due to humans having a higher rate of fertility. Plus, he was surrounded by humans so he didn't have that many other options.

Remember how last essay I mentioned that the old demons would encourage their children to sin in their area of magic? Enji deliberately tried to make Dabi/Touya more envious as a child. Enji recognized early on that Touya was an envy protegee, but he pretended that nothing Touya did was ever good enough and he told Touya that each new child was born to replace him. This was a common tactic that old Envy Demons used with their children.

When Shouto was born, Enji made a big fuss about Shouto being the greatest envy demon ever even though (unlike in canon) there was no way to tell how talented Shouto would turn out when he was only a baby. Enji flaunted in Touya's face that his little brother would become the strongest. Then Enji caught Touya trying to strangle Shouto in the cradle. Enji had a "My God, what have I done?" moment. Enji remembered that although he wanted to create strong children to overthrow his father, he never wanted to become abusive like his father. So Enji tried to walk it back and teach Touya to love his siblings instead.

But it was too late. Touya was proud that he exhibited his strongest ever mark of envy while trying to kill Shouto. Touya couldn't understand why his father got angry instead of praising him, then tried to contradict every single lesson he ever taught. In the end, Touya decided that his father must have hated him and set him up for failure, changing the criteria for success every time Touya succeeded. Touya ran away from home straight into All for One's arms.

Side story: remember how in "The Sin of Greed" the original demon Yoichi cast a spell to change the nature of his magic to Generosity? This gave him the magical power he'd lacked his whole life, because he finally had a type of magic that suited his personality. This research would have been revolutionary. All demons would have been able to develop strong magic, so power would have become more widely dispersed. The people currently at the top of society didn't like that one bit. That's why Demon Yoichi got assassinated by a distant cousin. Before that, Hisashi's protection had kept other demons from killing Yoichi. But Yoichi's latest research into changing magic, combined with his research to remove demons need to eat souls, would have shaken up society too much to suit the people currently in power. They arranged for his death and destroyed all his research.

By the way, a little bit of Yoichi's research still survives. Yoichi scribbled some notes in the margins of an old notebook that belonged to Second. If Izuku can find it, then he could use the notes to recreate the research.

[sunarc]

this tiktok, that is the ask….

could you include suna and atsumu? I’d be very happy :)

Making HQ boys a Calvin Klein inspired wallpaper

A/N: So I went pretty NSFW with this one but I hope it makes you happy!! I also added Bokuto because NSFW Bokuto gives me chills

Suna

↣If you send this to Suna you don't even have to ask because before you can even type or tell him to make it his wallpaper he’s already in the process of doing it

↣Before the Calvin Klein wallpaper his wallpaper was of you sleeping with a little drool this is the better alternative

↣He would set it as his lock screen and home screen, Suna likes to show you off

↣He’s going to want to recreate the photo but with his own special twist

↣This gets added the the folder Suna has with just lewd photos of you he calls it ‘Suna’s Slut’ SS for short

Suna has already seen the tiktok because he’s practically the God of Tiktok, but he’d still be surprised seeing you send him such a sweet lewd photo of yourself dressed in your Calvin Klein looking absolutely delicious and all Suna wants to do is get a little taste. Suna would be at your place faster than you can reply back to his ‘I’m coming over’ text. He’d knock on your door and with the most menacing voice yelling out “Open the door bunny”. You would see him there with a look that tells all. He has plans on absolutely destroying you, it's well deserved… look at how hard you’ve got him. Suna also has to thank you for all your hard work. He has plans on covering you in his cum but don't even think about cleaning it off. He has to take a few photos of his sweet baby first just to remind himself of just how sexy you really do look in your Calvin Klein.

Atsumu

↣This man would be obsessed with the wallpaper

↣Not only would he make it his lock screen it would be his home screen and the wallpaper for his laptop… he has to show his appreciation

↣If he can’t come see you on the spot after you send it to him the dirty talk that this man would text you would send shivers all through you

↣Don’t even think about putting the set away because he wants to see you in it in person in all your glory

↣Atsumu owns a pair of Calvin Klein boxer briefs so of course he wants to do a photoshoot together, this becomes his new wallpaper… real couple goals

Atsumu isn’t ready when you send him this wonderful wallpaper. His eyes would practically go dark looking at it. It would become his wallpaper right then and there. The thing is he wouldn’t be able to come see you because of practice but, he’d send you some messages thanking you along the lines of ‘When practice is over ‘m coming over and yer sitting on ma tongue… leave those pretty panties on for me’ or about how he can't wait to have his fingers deep inside of you touching those gummy walls of yours. Atsumu is pretty skilled with his hands which is a pretty well known fact so as a thankyou for the sweet wallpaper he’s going to show you just how skilled he truly is.

Bokuto

↣You just made his whole day so much better

↣Bokuto would have to no problem putting this as his wallpaper but he won’t let anyone see his phone because he wants this to be for his eyes only

↣ Another one who has a folder of pictures of you, he named it ‘The sexiest most amazing and perfect S/O to ever exist’ he’s a little extra but it’s the thought that counts

↣Bokuto is a horny boy and he’s like this pretty much 24/7 so seeing you in your Calvin Klein set does something that sets him off

↣It should go without saying that he wants you to put on the Calvin Klein set and give him a little show

Bokuto wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off of how sexy you look. He would be unlocking his phone every five minutes just to get a peek at you. Luckily for you more like him practice was let out early so he’s racing to your place yelling out his goodbyes to the team before anyone else. When he gets inside his hands are all over you. It’s like sending that picture set off a switch and the sweet loud ball of sunshine is gone with only an extremely hard dark eyed Bokuto left. The look in his eyes would be damn near dangerous, you just don't fully understand what you’ve done. “Go put on that pretty little set for me and get on your knees and give me a show baby”

[monkiinart]

Bigass OC questions/infodump for Bios under the cut! I had fun writing these and I hope they give some insight to his character hehe!

What was the biggest challenge (personal, physical, social, anything) your OC faced before the game/story they were created for begins? (cracks knuckles, have a lot of text!) Being kicked out of his prestigious biochemist study set a lot of events in motion for Bios. He’s always kept it a secret from his parents and friends and that alienated him a lot and changed his personality into what it is in current Valorant timeline. Hiding the truth was a lot easier the less he had to lie and that led to his more solitary lifestyle. The reason for being kicked out was him dabbling in the more taboo/weaponry side of biochemistry and that eventually reached the ear of someone in the criminal underground. Some big shot reached out to him, offering him a place and funding to keep researching and developing his weapon projects for his personal gain. All was well until police forces discovered the lab and did a break in. This resulted in a pretty gory slaughter because breaking into a lab with hostile radiante plants isn’t the best place to be!! Bios hastily gathered vials with seeds, important files and a fat stack of cash from his employer meant for the research, set the whole lab ablaze to destroy evidence and just. Disappeared. All the time up until he got hired by VP he’s been hiding out in the Amazon forest for its wide range of flora, far away from prying eyes and his former employer who’s probably not amused by his scientist running off like that.

How would your OC like/prefer to die? Not! His whole motive in life is to elude death. IF he were to pass, it has to do something with his obsession leaving the biggest mark on the planet he could possibly leave.

What is guaranteed to piss your OC off? People who underestimate him. It probably is a result of him getting kicked out of the study and the big shots in the criminal scene that left a mark on his ego. Just being bossed around, belittled, someone making choices for him just pisses him off big time.

What is one thing your OC desperately wants, but can’t have? I don’t think he actively realizes it  much, but his position as a solitary scientist feverishly striving towards his goal 24/7 makes him miss out on a lot of the more lovely life experiences. I think he gets more bothered by this actually being surrounded by people in the VP and forging bonds with them, something he hasn’t done much in his life. I think he has some rare moments of longing for a normal life without being hunted by his grand ambitions and fears.

What are your character's weaknesses? fear of failure,  perfectionism, being suspicious and distant, in battle a bad team player.

What are your character's strengths? extremely stress resistant, good strategist, problem solver, easy talker.

Which one of your OC’s memories makes them smile in private when they recall it? Playing with his sister in the garden when they were kids, searching for frogs, little bugs and everything they could find. Especially the memory of them bringing a big frog into the house very much to the dismay of their mother makes him chuckle to himself.

What sort of recreational activities does your OC engage in? He enjoys swimming, riding his bike, obviously tending to the garden. He’s a simply guy when it somes to hobbies.

What does ‘home’ mean to your OC? His parent’s house and the little village they live in. He still likes to visit them when he’s able to. The nostalgia of his childhood, the cozy village folk who just know him as ‘the little blonde son of (family name here)’’ is comforting and cozy to him. I think outside that, he’d feel at home if he’s at a place where people like him genuinely, accepting his more extreme personality traits too.

What is a skill your OC wishes they had but doesn’t? He’d like to dabble in instruments but his hand motoric isn’t suited for precise movements for that!

How does your OC handle relationships, platonic or otherwise? Do they forge bonds easily, or prefer to not get attached? Bios is an easy talker. You wouldn’t notice he’s a complete whacko scientist until you’d bring up plants. But! He’s been isolated and running from people for so long that he’s bad at forging bonds. He’s just afraid of letting someone in his life and trusting someone and being trusted. I think especially with forging a romantic relationship he’d struggle with finally finding another thing that’s worth living for aside from his projects and balancing both of them. What to prioritize?

If you could pick one song to describe your OC, what would it be? Talking Heads - Psycho Killer for SURE. The melody and vibe of that song are absolutely perfect for Bios! Especially with the bass line in the beginning I can visualize him lazily strolling through alleys and corridors on one of the maps, his plants causing absolute chaos in the background hunting down his targets  whilst he’s enjoying it all from a distance, but closer than you think to deliver the final blow to his target when they’re completely immobilized and helpless.

What’s something other characters will notice first about your character? Probably his length! He’s 190cm/6”3 tall. Also the mint green visor is a striking piece.

What outfit or style of clothing is your character most often seen wearing? His big coat is always glued to his body lolll. If he’s not wearing it he’s mostly seen with wooly, baggy sweaters. Or turtleneck + lab coat.

What would your character wear to a formal gathering such as a wedding? Bios hates being put in very formal clothing or actually being sent to formal events at all. If it’s for something undercover/job related he’d put up with it (grumpily) but aside that, he’ll put on a black turtleneck, nice pants and that’s all you’ll get out of him lol

What kind of transport does your character usually use? Gonna be ultra Dutch for this one and say bike. He just thinks it’s efficient and nice to ride on a sunny day.. That aside, I think he’d own a pretty big jeep or van! 

What kind of media would (or does) your character consume? This includes books, tv shows, video games, and movies. Bios doesn't dabble in these too much! Just like Viper, he’d be in the lab most of the time. Especially movies and tv shows feel like a complete waste of time to him. He does enjoy listening to music though.

Does your character have a dream job or life path for themselves? He’s living it! He’s free to experiment and develop his passion projects whilst under VP protection and that’s all he requires. He’ll gladly endure Brimstone’s complaints and motivational speeches about team spirit over having to worry about someone hunting him down every single day.

Does your character have a particular way of talking or acting? Bios has a very sluggish but expressive way to express himself. When he talks he uses gesturing motions a lot! He has a low, calm voice unless something sparks his interest, especially on the battlefield he tends to yell and sometimes even laugh when things go his way.

When does your character feel truly at peace? His personal lab. It’s been his safe space for most of his life! When he’s working on something in there with music playing in the background he’s completely in his element.

Describe any AUs you have for your character/s. Valorant is an AU technically! Bios is originally a FF14 character. But he’s been my muse for 4 years now so I throw him into everything I like. I still struggle not making this Bios too nice. FF14 Bios is just an extremely sweet guy with a sly streak. In Valorant, his sly streak takes up most of his personality, so I’m watching out not making him too soft here lmao (BUT I WANT TOO SO BAD.. BUT ALSO.. UNHINGED SCIENTIST MAN..) I think I love the two sides this Bios has the most. The composed, calm and quite sly Bios who seems completely in control and the Bios who’s interest has been sparked and will do everything to get to his goal. Very fun, very chaotic character. He’s like a cockroach under the kitchen cabinet that u just can’t catch

[thevindicativevordan]

How do you feel about the way New Krypton was resolved? To me it felt really callous. Like DC was just sweeping it all aside with the Kryptonians being genocided, and then the whole world moves on a week later.

Two words: Wasted potential.

This should have been Superman's Sinestro Corps War, his big event/storyline that completely rejuvenated his sales and brought in a ton of new readers. It had all the hallmarks of being the big shakeup that the Superman franchise desperately needed: it gave Superman a big conflict that allowed him to punch stuff while also not being something he could solve solely by punching, it centered all of his big villains and gave them the revamps they needed (particularly Zod as I'll get to later), it involved all the other members of the Superfamily (bar Conner who was dead at the time) and gave them stuff to do, it even brought in the Legion of Superheroes at one point! The setup was all there to do something great, to give Superman that big event storyline he hadn't had since Death of Superman (or President Luthor if you're feeling generous).

And DC completely fucked it up.

First you had Busiek and Johns, the guys who were doing the actual setup and who had been doing great work beforehand, both leave the books right as the event was kicking off. Busiek to go do Trinity and Johns to go prepare Blackest Night, both leaving their big event to be executed by new writers who had not been involved in the process of conceptualizing this event. Then you had Clark taken out of Superman and Action Comics, those titles given to Z-Listers, and Clark himself dropped into a brand new mini. No offense to those who like Mon-El but there was never a chance in hell of him sustaining his own book as the lead guy unless Johns was writing it. Then you hilariously had the first son of Clark and Lois, Chris Kent, aged up in a bizarre way and made a costumed hero himself with a romance to boot in a deeply unpopular move (funny how history repeats itself, although I like what's unfolding with Jon a lot more). So of course the sales tanked, and what happened next was inevitable.

DC panicked and hit the reset button so hard a planet exploded and everyone died, except for Kal, Kara, and Zod plus some of his loyalists.

God I was pissed because while the side books may have floundered, the main mini itself following Clark on New Krypton? That was really good in my opinion.

Clark was forced into an interesting position: a second chance at life with his people, at the cost of renouncing ties with his adopted homeworld. Can Kal-El find a way of keeping the peace between the two worlds, with the leadership on both ends preparing for war? That's an exciting and enticing premise or at least it was for me! I loved the storyline also because it took the usual cliche storyline of Superman losing his powers and flipped it: what if there was an entire new planet full of guys who were just as strong as he was? What makes Superman special then? And we got to see the answer: his brains and his experience.

It was cool seeing Clark kick ass, seeing him navigate the politics of the Guilds and Kryptonian society. There was so much worldbuilding going on at the same time, old Kryptonian animals and plants being recreated on New Krypton, the dissatisfaction within the Labor Guild, the military spoiling for a fight, Kal's internal struggles with everyone seeing Zod as a hero and him having to try to work quietly to change that, it was all really fun to read about for me. There were also those hints of long term plotlines being set up, such as those aliens from Saturn who were also super powered, and were letting the newcomers know they were keeping an eye on things. I seriously thought we were going to get a Solar War with every race in the Sol system fighting each other for dominance. And the Superman/Zod dynamic has never been better than it was in this storyline.

The two did not like each other, but there was a grudging respect being built up between the two. Kal was coming to appreciate that Zod genuinely cared about protecting the Kryptonians, and Zod was coming to respect Clark's skills and insights. Zod was sympathetic and understandable in his goals while also still being a ruthless son of a bitch, which is exactly how I prefer he be depicted.

In all honesty this was the first big Zod story I read and it shaped my perceptions of how he should be. You also had General Sam Lane on the other side, putting together Project 7734 to tackle the Kryptonians, drafting Lex Luthor, Metallo, and others to his side. Hell this was the last and as far as I know only story to pit the Big 3 of Lex, Brainiac, and Zod against one another, something I would dearly love to see tried again. All these major players working their own agendas simply isn't something you usually get in Superman books. Lex working to kill Superman and the other Kryptonians of course, but also out to steal knowledge from Brainiac and secure his freedom. Brainiac wanting to recapture the Kryptonians. Zod and Lane out to preemptively destroy one another, with Zod seeding Kryptonian sleeper agents back on Earth. Superman's Rogues got good showings as the dangerous threats they are in this story, I'll say that much.

All of it torched in the end alas. DC definitely wanted it all swept under the rug and forgotten. I liked the retcon of Grounded really being Superman suffering a massive case of PTSD which is why he was being an asshole under JMS, but I doubt that was the original intention. You're right, Clark having to experience the pain of losing his people as an adult, and Kara having to re-experience it along with the death of her mother, really should've gotten more focus. But they wanted it gone and done with.

You know what kills me? Not even a few years later they'd reboot the whole damn universe anyway, so what was the point of taking Superman back to his "status quo"? They should've just said fuck it and let the writers go wild in the final years before the New 52, let New Krypton play out as it was intended to, it was all going to get rebooted anyway. Of course New 52 was a rush job I understand, so they didn't know ahead of time what would happen, but I can't help but be bitter.

The potential New Krypton offered is one I would 100% love to see revisited, in an animated movie or in that upcoming My Adventures With Superman cartoon. The animated side keeps changing the stories as they adapt them anyway, and I would love to see the ending to New Krypton get changed. Give me the original Johns/Busiek plan for the event, or give me something else entirely, it can't be a bigger disappointment than what we ultimately got anyway.

[talkfantasytome]

I'm sorry, I got carried away writing. But here are more thoughts for us to talk about, if you feel uncomfortable let me know.

When I read the Koschei/Azriel scene I also thought as you did. I felt that he was preparing for personal combat but not that he was preparing something to go after Azriel. Many people think this will link A+E, but the case is that he as the Queen's ally was preparing because of the fight she wanted to have, Nesta vs Queen and indirectly the IC. Nobody knows what happened between A+E either, so hardly anyone is going to think of reaching him through it. If they want to reach him it will be through the Ilyrians/Valkyries, as the Queen tried once before. She had some contact and managed to get some ilyrians to obey her. A lot of people think Elain can find the fourth trove too, which might happen, but the one who has the ability to stay underwater for a long time to retrieve that is someone else.

Koschei and Beron are not allies yet, Eris talks about Beron possibly allying with him but they are not yet. The fact that he helps the Queen indirectly make him looking at the IC. As Vassa said everything he does is thinking about getting rid of the curse that binds him to the lake and with that in mind his possible interest is Nesta (because she gets access to the Trove, he must think that with that he will be able to get rid of the curse). I believe that if he is going to attack someone to try to benefit from it will be Nesta's, unless Beron suspects Lucien's paternity and bargains with Koschei, by getting Elain he would have Nesta+Lucien on his hands

I don't know why I have this feeling but Koschei gives me the same vibe as Eris, that there is something more to be told. I don't know if he is 100% bad, Vassa said it would be dangerous for him to get rid of the lake because he has already tried to take over the world and recreate it his way, but I don't know. Not that he is not a villain but I believe he has more to be told.

I also feel terrible for saying that but I thought he might have a love interest in Vassa. He made the queens sell her to him and she is the only different bird in his pond, she released her and for a good while and told Vassa that he is waiting for her. There is a story, I don't know if it's the one about the firebird, that the wizard fell in love with the firebird. (I don't know if I got in the way of the story but there is one that is like this).

What I believe connects him to Elain is the fact that she can hear the birds and knows about the box he has hidden in the lake (I think), which hides a secret, and his possible interest in Nesta and perhaps Lucien to get him out of the lake.

Never apologize for getting excited or being longwinded on something, Nonnie! Especially not to me. It's not like I can judge. 😂 But there is never a need to apologize for just being yourself. <3

Exactly. The Koschei scene offers no foreshadowing for Azriel and E\ain. There is no focus explicitly on Azriel, the only one who is given true, direct focus is Cassian, because that's who the trap was for. Briallyn wanted to make it worse for Nesta, so the idea of getting her mate to kill her - or make Nesta need to kill him in defense - was too good to pass up. (What a bitch.)

I'll be honest, I don't think Koschei, at that time, was planning on taking Nesta, seeing as the plan was to kidnap Cassian to use in a plot to kill Nesta or to literally destroy her emotionally. Or, you know, both. While Nesta is a badass and Koschei would be lucky to have her, I just don't see her as being an end goal for him. He wasn't seeking the Trove, Briallyn was. Maybe he did want it, or some of it, but then why let Briallyn wear the crown, you know? I'm not saying she couldn't be useful to him, or that he might adjust his goals, but I don't think at that time he wanted her. Honestly, I still think E\ain will be a bigger goal for Koschei, whether for her seer abilities or her beauty or something else, Koschei's story will wrap up with E\ain, so we should be looking for foreshadowing on how that might play out, or why he might want her.

I also feel terrible for saying that but I thought he might have a love interest in Vassa.

Don't feel terrible for this! It's just a theory. Plus, just because she's a love interest to Koschei doesn't mean he's a love interest to her. It doesn't have to be reciprocated just 'cause he wants her.

But you're ABSOLUTELY right. Vassa is definitely some form of 'love interest' to Koschei. Maybe not the kind we're used to seeing, and it may not be a love in the traditional sense, but he trapped her at the lake to be with him. Possibly because of her beauty. He even calls her "my Vassa".

And, you may be talking about Swan Lake? I don't know the firebird story (yet, but probably will be looking into it), but I think that's a general theory on Swan Lake. It's a ballet, and the curse happens in the prologue, so we don't really get final confirmation the sorcerer's motives. HOWEVER, in the Swan Princess, which is based on Swan Lake, the evil sorcerer takes Odette as revenge on her father. He doesn't actually love her, but he does want to marry her, so that he can be king of her kingdom. Not exactly love, but a desire to marry her still offers her being his love interest, to an extent. This could also explain Koschei's interest in Vassa, but I don't see him being willing to settle for just one mortal kingdom.

Also, quick note, in the Swan Lake ballet, there are multiple swan girls, and Odette is just the main one, and the most important because she's an actual princess (I think). So, like, just saying, in a retelling of that, that could mean Vassa doesn't end up being the only one cursed. 👀 I could easily see how SJM could make a Lucien-E\ain book retelling Swan Lake/the Swan Princess (because we know she'll use childhood movies based on fairy tales to help with retellings). Where Lucien attempts to break the curse the wrong way/with the wrong female...like, maybe Koschei makes Vassa look like E\ain in a bargain to free her from her curse...oh man...I could go on about this too. 👀

So, yeah, she is a love interest to him. But, he's also one of the Daglan, a true immortal being - we can assume he's gonna be a bit different. His idea of 'love' is likely different than ours.

I'll admit, I sometimes get lost with the stuff about E\ain's vision. I'd need to study that more, but I'm sure there are more connections between E\ain and Koschei than I initially saw if I dig into it deeper.

Gotta say, especially if you're the same nonnie who's been sending me a lot of stuff, you've really got me thinking more about this. It's making me stronger in my convictions and beliefs, and inspiring a whole slew of theories about the potential for that sixth book. The more I look into Vasilisa the Beautiful and Swan Lake, the more I can see how E\ain would connect, and the possibilities for that story. I'm curious to see what'll happen once I look into the firebird legends, though, in my initial search, all I see is that the firebird is more a symbol in fairy tales - it's not a tale itself. So, like, there's not much of a retelling as much as just...putting firebirds into the story...more proof that Vassa being a firebird does not prove she's going to be a MC.

Oh shit! I just saw that there's a tale of "The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa"! That's a very important piece of information, me thinks. More things to study, but look at that...they're DIFFERENT characters. INTERESTING! I'm telling you, E\ain is Vasilisa!

So, anyway, thank you! <3

[a-student-out-of-time]

Wait Utsuro and Yuki are two separate people? I just thought he had DID.

No, no, it’s nothing like that. It’s kinda complicated, but I’ll give you an overview.

________________________________________________________

“Maeda Yuki was and has always been a regular guy, but he was accepted into Class 79 of Hope’s Peak as the Ultimate Lucky Student. The person we know as Utsuro was born with Divine Luck, which granted good fortune to both him and everyone around him.”

“They’re two fundamentally different people who just happened to be born at the same time and look quite similar. The difference is that Divine Fortune made Utsuro’s life a living hell, always drawing in people who want to exploit it, while Yuki’s luck was fairly low-key and never caused him much trouble. In fact, it’s what allowed him to join Hope’s Peak...and that’s where the trouble started.”

“You’ll probably remember Utsuro was turned by enoshima, and with him and Akane, they hatched a plan to serve as infiltrators. This involved kidnapping Yuki and allowing Utsuro to take his place. He became the mastermind of the Proto-Killing Game and he didn’t even remember it. Meanwhile, our Yuki was left comatose and abandoned after the Proto-Killing Game ended.”

“Then he got wrapped up in Sannoji’s plans...”

“See, Utsuro died at the end of the Proto-Killing Game and Sannoji, who wanted the power of Divine Luck for himself, hatched a plan: he was working with Kokoro to recreate Utsuro as an alter ego in the hopes that would restore Divine Luck and allow Sannoji to steal it. It didn’t work at first, since they were trying to build it from scratch, but that’s when they made a discovery.”

“Thanks to the scanning chip in Mikako’s brain still sending data to Kokoro’s computer, along with an attempt by Kisaragi to keep their memories somewhat preserved after they were captured- the dreams our Mikako has been having- they managed to retrieve data from her brain to start creating an Utsuro alter ego properly.”

“The problem was that they needed a physical body to upload the alter ego into in order for Divine Luck to manifest. Well, not so much a body as a functional brain, so...”

“...Yeah.”

“Of course, what Sannoji didn’t take into account is that his test run- making an alter ego of himself- also meant that he’d created an AI that wanted Divine Luck as well. And that was the Sannoji we came to know in the simulation. With that, he hatched a new perspective on the plan: escape.”

“Since Yuki had been stripped down to a brain, he needed a functional but inactive body to upload into. In this case, he was planning on using Akane’s body; she’d been brain dead since the end of the Proto-Killing Game and Sannoji’s goal was to take Divine Luck and then escape into her body.”

“It’s a complicated and awful plan, but the method they decided on was simple: in order to upload an Utsuro alter ego into Yuki’s brain, they needed to destroy his old personality. The way they’d do that was subject him to so much trauma and depression that he broke down and became...basically like Hibiki’s puppet state. You know what happened after that.” 

“So no, Yuki didn’t have dissociative identity disorder. It’s more that Sannoji was trying to wring out every bit of his personality through trauma and then upload the Utsuro alter ego into him. All just so he could bring back Divine Luck and kill him again.”

________________________________________________________

To think that bastard almost pulled it off...

Yuki...Master Utsuro...I’ll never forgive Sannoji for it!

Yeah...if we ever find this guy, I swear.

The whole reason it failed was because Utsuro had actually transferred Divine Luck into Akane. That’s what was keeping her body preserved.

And by extension, that let me use it and allow everyone to escape.

You really let Yuki have my body.

Please don’t say anything perverted...

I’m not, I promise.

It’s just a bit of a nice thought.

Parts of me and Master Utsuro lived on and helped Yuki got save tons of people during and after the Tragedy. After all that, he got the greatest gift of all.

Guess that’s one way to look at it.

[having-a-hyperfixate]

Secret Reports

Gonna just edit this thing and put line breaks as I get more of them.

I’m also working on the rest of the completion, and will probably wander off in the middle of this to do Another Day, which will probably have its own post. I fully expect that to be sheer madness. 

#1 So is it just me or is Mr H writing these reports to channel how extremely stressed he is. Cuz like. Mood. *gestures vaguely at blog* *gestures at this post specifically*

I. Hold up. Skeezy McFuckwad and Joshua did what resulting in which now. Excuse me. EXPLAIN!??! Joshua had a sneaky Game running with Skeezy that directly lead to Hazuki ordering Skeezy to destroy Shinjuku??? Is that what I am reading. Or possibly the order was already in the works, and then there was the Game, which ultimately just pushed that forward?? You can’t just say shit like that and not give details ffffffff.

 #2 Mr H having about as much contempt for Shinjuku rules as I do I feel seen haha. Bogus indeed. I can’t remember if I said it in one of my other posts, of if it was in a group chat, but I made a comment somewhere how this ruleset doesn’t seem to work with the stated purpose of the whole Reaper’s Game system. Sweet validation.

 #3 Not much to say except that if I had read this entire report when I actually got it, I would have been much more alarmed by all of the Replays Rindo has to do after that. I got it partway through week 3 but decided not to read it until I beat the game and then BAM it has this lovely tidbit about potentially being able to destroy the UG and RG.

 #4 So, the business that the fandom refers to as the Long Game is known in universe by the higher-ups and Shibuya’s impurification, because it didn’t get ‘purified’ like Shinjuku (I object to that term but ok).

“The hierarchical freeze presumably stems from opposition to the impurification”

Skeezy wasn’t reprimanded when he arrived in Shibuya “possibly because most Higher Plane denizens still oppose Shibuya’s impurification”

ExcUSE ME. I. WHAT. In one of the secret reports for the first game, Mr H says something about the way things turned out be an ‘ideal parallel world’ according to the Angels. I guess he only meant the ones who didn’t want the city destroyed holy shit. That most of them didn’t want Joshua to change his mind and STILL DON’T is so massively fucked up I can’t. Dear Higher Plane, what the actual, ever loving fuck.

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

#5 One hundred and four Games under Shiba. That’s… so. many. teams. Holy shit. And the teams we knew had seen at LEAST 30 teams go. And the three teams we saw weren’t small. So many people…

Also, “Minamimoto seems to be plotting something” is the funnies thing I’ve read in ages OF COURSE HE IS that’s what he DOES. XD That was some mood whiplash.

#6 I was so hung up on the lack of entry fee for so long you don’t even know. Like. Those were so important in the first one it was baffling to me that Shinjuku rules didn’t have anything similar. And then eventually I just decided that the whole Game wasn’t being run correctly and Shiba was clearly after something other than driving the improvement that’s supposed to be the point.

I would like more explanation on this ‘Rindo’s stagnation makes him perfect for time travel thing’. I kind of understand how his reactions being consistent would be helpful in being able to control where the timeline goes (also I just realized this further confirms that Angels remember the other timelines glad I wasn’t imagining that the Prime days are a blur), but what does he mean about being able to maintain abnormally high levels of imagination? (It might tell me later so don’t say anything lol)

“I can only hope I’m not overthinking things.” Oh, you aren’t. If I’m understanding everything correctly, Skeezy actually had two proxies. And poor Rindo managed to end up being proxy for both sides at the same time which is. A mess.

 #7 Well, finally we know how Coco managed to get her hands on a taboo sigil. Plagiarism. Lmao. That at least makes sense and I can worry less about her being Something Else. I would like a word with whoever didn’t clean that up from Udagawa long enough for her to copy it though. That’s hilarious. Interesting that Mr H thinks it wasn’t a perfect recreation though, that something in him got changed. Once again, please elaborate. Please. *headdesk* What prompted Coco to just. Copy a taboo sigil though. Cuz that seems. Unusual.

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

#8 Ok there’s a lot to unpack in this one. Namely, more Shinjuku rules. I would love to know if these are long standing rules or relatively recent. Cuz like. Did Shinjuku’s Game ever run in a way that would drive the kind of improvement that’s supposed to be the overall goal? Or has it always, or at least for a while now, been basically a meat grinder? The players that don’t clear that minimum bar probably just get erased outright, I would think. Actually, I’m confused. If normally, one team would get to leave and one team would be erased, wouldn’t that normally keep the average pretty level, so the Game would basically go on forever? Otherwise what do you do with all the other teams that are between first and last? I’m confused. It can’t be normal for teams to keep asking for more rounds. And what if the winning team says ‘everyone gets to go home’?

“The Conductor has yet to contact the Composer” and “it is possible he is unaware of the Higher Plane’s purification protocol.” I don’t know why, but I get the feeling these are important.

 #9 These secret reports are really driving at the whole ‘Rindo just goes with it’ thing, aren’t they. Like, that was his thing, right? He has trouble making definitive decisions? So his arc culminates in that moment in Udagawa where he tells Hazuki that he’s going to take the risk and go back one more time, where he’s making that decision purely for his own sake. And here Mr H seems to be saying that prodding Rindo down the road to character growth is going to be a lot harder than it was with Neku back in the day. Which makes sense, I think. Confronting someone with the concept that other people have value is a lot less complicated than trying to get them to not only make a firm decision, but to choose something that is purely because it’s what they want and need, not because someone else thinks they should.

It’s a little alarming that this report implies that if the pin wasn’t absorbing the Dissonance caused by the Replays, the UG and RG would already be having a bad time. Yikes. This is the report for day 2 of the second week. We haven’t even gotten into the crazy time travel yet.

Aaaaand #10 is for completing the social network, so I have to actually go do Another Day. I want to read these in order; it is much less confusing that way.

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

#10 I really shouldn’t read these late at night with a possible migraine coming on, they’re already confusing enough. The bits that made sense: Uzuki was acting Conductor damn girl. (Did she have to deal with Joshua and was he in Dignified Mode or Being a Shit Mode because that’s possibly an oof.) I had assumed Shiba was Shinjuku’s Conductor and then just kinda took over after they moved in but apparently not? And RIP the actual Conductor, apparently. Weird that so many Reapers made it but the Conductor, who by all rights should have, didn’t.

I am slightly concerned by the fact that there’s standard procedure for obliterating a district. That’s. Alarming.

I don’t think page 4 is continuing the thought on page 3. Fucking. Stop that. Don’t just say a thing and then start talking about something else I would like EXPLANATIONS. UGH. “Almost” he says. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that almost is a big deal, so why don’t you tell me about it.

Four cases where a district got into trouble before a final decision on whether to reset or not was made. And one was the last game. I wonder if that means whatever was wrong that made Joshua want to destroy it, or if the ‘imbalance’ was all the madness that happened after he agreed to one final Game with Kitaniji and the left the UG. Cuz in one of the first set of secret reports, it says that with the Composer absent, the UG is starting to fall apart as the rules are no longer valid, or something like that. I would definitely call that an imbalance.

 #11 All I care about in this report is that Mr H wants to have a digital art bonding party with Kaie and that is so random why are you writing this down you absolute goober. The first page of this report is like ‘everyone is getting depressed’ and then just a wild left turn into dork-town. Lmao what.

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

#12 I don’t think Mr H knows at this point (you get this report for W2D5’s Boss Noise) that the Ruinbringers are all Reapers. He’s gonna be mad. He does know what Shoka is up to though. He’s worried. Aw.

 #13 It didn’t occur to me until this report hit me in the face with it, but they’ve set up a fantastic contrast between the two people Rindo knows from online. One is. not great, let’s say, because I did not take the reveal of Motoi’s true self well. The other is Shoka, and she’s a real friend. I now see what you did there. One relationship that’s a farce and one that really, really isn’t.

 #14 Me, out loud, at 1:30 in the damn a.m.: WAIT. HOLD THE FUCK UP.

If getting Tsugumi out of Mr Mew required an Angel, how in the hell did Shiki manage to…? What. I’m very confused.

Also damn, saving Tsugumi was so important that Shinjuku’s Conductor died for it. Did he know what she could do, the whole visions thing? Or maybe that something was wrong with Shiba and it would take someone like her to potentially stop him in the future?

I still would like to now how the hell Tsugumi got her hands on Mr Mew. Especially since its apparently the ORIGINAL Mr Mew and she seems to have had him during the inversion? What.

 #15 So… Inversions don’t always happen when a region is purified. I’m trying to wrap my brain around what a ‘complete loss of character’ in and area that’s had an Inversion could mean. Like… I think I get it, but my brain won’t make words, let alone sentences. Like when you go into a hotel room, and it doesn’t feel like a home, as opposed to when you go to a friend or family’s house, and it does? Kinda like that but it’s the whole district that’s just… blank? That’s kinda creepy.

If there are so many who think a ‘regular purification’ isn’t enough, the a) what does that even look like, b) is that what Joshua was going to do to Shibuya and c) is there an intermediate step between ‘normal’ and Inversion? I have been staring at this report for literally 15 minutes now.

 #16 “I wonder how [Shiba] will feel about all this after he is allowed to return to his former self.” Yuuuuuup. I still Do Not Like him, but dude was borderline mind controlled so like. Yeah. And I did get to kill him once, so. As long as he minds his business and isn’t a total dick from here on, whatever. It all just sucks.

*facepalm* Well at least we got to being suspicious of Replay eventually. Why did it take you this long Mr H. Though I do wonder what Rindo would have been able to do without the interference. He had to have some kind of latent skill for the pin to react to him, right? I’m now going in circles mentally trying to puzzle out if Replay is like, a leveled up version of whatever Rindo would have naturally had, and regardless, where exactly it came from. Because the only time I can think of when anyone had a chance to mess with the pin was when he didn’t catch it in the prologue. And I’m pretty sure it was Joshua who picked it up. Aaagh I’m giving myself a headache.

I find it hard to believe skeezy would just yeet a random time travel pin out into the world. That seems both dumb as fuck and inefficient.

 #17 “Some of them who know what I am occasionally try to contact me.” Lol so Kariya DOES know who Mr H is, I take it. Alright.

I’m having some kind of emotion that Wildkat still exists in a way for the Reapers, and that some of them still go there.

I just imagined Uzuki texting him like ‘plz make the Composer fucking do something kthx’ and I’ve got the giggles now oh dear

 #18 HA! I was right! Minamimoto WASN’T in control when he attacked us! ‘Distortions within himself’ though, that’s concerning. Does that have to do with how he’s come back from the dead twice now? And how Coco’s copy of the sigil was apparently imperfect?

 #19 I was about to say ‘who would target him for his abilities?’ and then my brain turned back on because duh. Shiba and them were looking hard for Neku, to the point that they flooded the RG with Player Pins in the hopes that he would pick one up and get sucked into the Game. A thing that occurred to me last night at 3:30 in the morning because I am a disaster: Mr H says that Minamimoto ‘seems different’. Neku says much the same thing after he comes back. So… Neku’s ability to Scan all the way down to someone’s Soul is potentially close to as sensitive as Mr H’s long distance ability. Which is a little insane. On top of the fact that he can use basically every psych imaginable no problem, survived a pact with a Composer for a full week, while said Composer was using crazy light beams which probably should have melted Neku from the feedback, and then almost singlehandedly defeated the Conductor while somehow inventing four-way fusion attacks. Kid is mad powerful. And he’s just a human. Like, the OG secret reports say that people always become dramatically stronger when they become Reapers. Reaper!Neku would be unstoppable.

“This would be much simpler if I could sit down and talk with him.” Okay, I laughed out loud. Like, loudly.

So… Shinjuku’s Composer… basically had his Conductor assassinated by skeezy. And because skeezy was messing with Shiba’s head, he could prompt Shiba to take the Reapers to Shibuya afterwards, to start doing it there too? Hazuki ordered Shinjuku’s purification so… Oh dear. I might have a few bones to pick with him.

 OH NO. OOOOOH. OH NOOOO. SHINJUKU’S CONDUCTOR. HE WAS TSUGUMI’S BROTHER OH MY GOD. That is fucking tragic what the fuck. What the FUCK. Okay several things make sense now but OH MY GOD FUCKING HELL I WAS NOT READY FOR THAT. Shiki fixing Mr Mew allowed Tsugumi to free herself because her brother had already done part of the work, I take it? Along with us getting the Noise out of there? No wonder the Conductor stayed, he had to go get his sister… Shit, man.

 …… Did Coco steal Mr Mew and take him to Shinjuku?????

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

#21 isn’t very interesting, just a rehash of stuff we already knew.

#22 Okay Haz IS Shinjuku’s Composer. What. Why? I’m. So confused. Why would he intercede on our behalf, and why NOW? He was happy to throw his own city away, but stepped in to stop skeezy in Shibuya? And then tried to put it back together, and when Rindo was miserable he came to try to understand why. And then cajoled Rindo into having a breakthrough in his Character Development to boot.

Mr H says he has an idea why Haz did all this. And then doesn’t fucking say it because OF COURSE. *headdesk* That gets really old really fast, game.

I’m now running through The Last Day’’ to get the final two reports and this entire section with Haz is somehow even more confusing with context. God damn it Nomura.

 #23 Even after he said we were on our on this time, he forced the Soul Pulvis to reform as Pheonix Cantus to make it easier for us to fight? Bro. What. Are all Composers just… walking contradictions? Aiya.

Shoutout to emotional support Joshua at the end there lol. I remember half-hysterically thinking ‘what are you just here for moral support?’ but ok. And I mean, it did work, Neku did manage to do the thing, so. *sigh* Speaking of, it is ABSOLUTELY INSANE that Neku manage to sync with the entire city without his brain melting. Remember at the beginning of the first game when he scans for the first time and has a massive sensory overload? Look at my boy, all grown up.

 #24 Holy shit world building on how exactly people come back to life without everyone freaking out. I never thought I would see the day.

I still have so many questions but that was always going to be the case. The first game had so many things it left open as well. Agh. Time to start wearing new holes in my brain overthinking things.

[sssn-neptune-vasilias]

RWBY vs Comic

Alright, I said I was gonna do this back when the comic first started getting published but I got so frustrated reading it that I couldn’t actually keep up with it enough go through with it. I think I stopped around issue 4 because that was when I just got angry and threw my comic back into the plastic. I figure now’s as good a time as any since I’m actually rereading it now. My whole issue with the RWBY DC comics is that they’re super canon divergent but somehow still canon material. It’s so frustrating that this is the case because we’re supposed to take into account things that happen in the comic as gospel- things like Adam revealing he’d always been genocidal, Bumbleby’s bottlecap, Weiss’ zoo animal arc, etc, but a lot of these different story arcs don’t make sense in our current canon. So I’m gonna talk about them because why not.

 Issue #1:

The first issue actually isn’t that bad- mostly because it’s just an intro to the series- but there are still some huge inconsistencies between the comic and official canon.

These two panels are a fucking mess.

1) Ruby was passed out when she was delivered to Patch by Qrow. She’d just used her Silver Eyed Warrior powers for the first time, hurt Cinder, frozen the dragon, and passed out. We were literally forced to listen as Qrow carried Ruby out of the rubble and back home, because she was unconscious. But the comic has her just arriving back home all on her own. “I came back to my dad’s house.” No you didn’t, you literally woke up in your bed after what must’ve been days of being unconscious.

2) We know Blake didn’t get to Menagerie on a little wooden boat. We all watched the episode. It was a decent sized ship with multiple crew members, dozens of passengers, and literal armaments designed to destroy Grimm. Sun can’t hide in a robe for 3+ days on this boat. This boat wouldn’t have survived a Grimm attack in the first place. Idk why they decided to draw this boat instead of just drawing the Pride the way it was designed in the first place, but whatever I guess.

RNJR didn’t tell Taiyang they were leaving. Ruby and her team just left. There was a whole scene dedicated to showing the shock and horror on Tai’s face as he saw Ruby’s letter and ran out of the house hoping to catch up to his daughter before she left. Also not as important but still relevant, RNJR left during winter. There was snow on the ground. I don’t see no snow in this panel- that tree looks real green. That last issue is mostly a nitpick- who cares what season they left in tbh. But the fact that they just wrote this panel into the comic despite the fact canon shows Taiyang had no idea of Ruby’s departure- and the fact that Ruby’s departure is actually really important to a bunch of later scenes in this show is really fucking weird.

Issue #2:

I know we know next to nothing about Raven Branwen, but holy fucking shit do I wanna believe this is ridiculously out of character for her. You’re telling me that Raven actually did come visit Yang and Tai and Ruby, but the one time she ever made her presence known to any of them was to berate and terrify Ruby the one time she’d learned anything about Summer?! Like BRO. This is so fucked up! This is too fucked up! This is straight early 90′s level villainy right here. What was even the point behind this?! This scene tells us that she felt so negatively about Summer Rose that she was willing to break her silent cover just to disillusion Ruby for no other reason than to tell her she was weak. Which makes no fucking sense because when we finally meet her during season 5 Raven has nothing bad to say about Summer at all! What did Qrow say to her after they spoke? “Hey sis why the fuck are you flying around your ex’s home scaring his daughter who just lost her mother? You realize you’re talking shit about the woman who raised your child too right?” Like, this is so wildly terrible, that if we’re meant to take this into account, I don’t see how anyone who reads these comics could say anything positive about Raven ever again. This is strike one, two and three for her entire characterization.

Issue #4:

I’ve said it already but fuck this boat.

Not so much an issue with the comic as it is with RoosterTeeth’s sometimes sloppy storytelling, but we really need an exact age on Adam. Is this man a pedophile? We know Blake is about twelve here, meanwhile- besides looking maybe a little scrawnier- Adam looks the same as he did during the show. How old is this kid right here? Fifteen? Seventeen? Was he 20 during the events of volume 1? Was he 25? I really dislike this specific problem RT has created because at no point during canon were we led to believe that Adam was significantly older than Blake or our other characters, but here in the comic we’re getting huge pedo vibes. Idk if this was RoosterTeeth retroactively trying to throw Adam’s character even further into question but... Idk man, RT y’all need to hurry up and carbon date this kid because I’m really not liking this.

I’m not gonna harp on the whole “Adam as a revolutionary vs Adam as a genocidal maniac” issue again. Most of y’all already know where I stand on this and have either made up your minds that either, yes, Adam’s sudden change towards being genocidal after being forcibly conscripted by Cinder doesn’t make much sense, or, no, Adam’s behavior is entirely in line with what little we’d seen of him up to that point in the story. I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinions on this issue, I’ve got about a dozen other posts for that. My issue with these panels specifically is that this is the moment Blake discovers Adam is genocidal. This is the moment Blake realizes that Adam never wanted peace, never wanted coexistence, never wanted what the White Fang actually wanted in the first place. He wanted Faunus supremacy- a goal entirely removed from the White Fang’s goal of equality between Faunus and humans. This is the moment Blake realizes that his ideology is so far from what it is she herself wants. If this is correct, why does Blake never mention this AT ALL when she’s talking about Adam. When the conversation comes up during season 3, she specifically states that Adam’s change was gradual. Not that he’d been hiding who he really was from her but that he’d become a completely different person from the man she’d originally known. I recognize that a lot of people say that this could be explained away as evidence of Blake’s abuse- oftentimes abusers don’t even realize just how monstrous their abusers are, even after they’ve escaped from said abuse. But this is just such a monumentally larger issue than manipulation and abuse. Adam is outright saying that he wants genocide! He’s not trying to hide it, he’s not trying to lie, he’s not trying to manipulate her! He’s telling her explicitly that he wishes he could kill as many humans as possible. But during the Black Trailer she’s still asking Adam about the crew members as if they hadn’t had this conversation hours ago! During season 2 she’s drawing him in her notebook as if she misses him! During season 3 she’s explaining that he’s simply misguided! This is apologia of the umpteenth level that is absolutely inexcusable. If I’m honestly supposed to be made to believe that Blake knew Adam was genocidal from before the events of the Black trailer and season 1 but still had feelings for him... I’m sorry but I’ve lost any and all respect for her entire character. You can’t have feelings for someone who’s genocidal- who you know is genocidal- and expect sympathy. No amount of abuse would forgive someone for having feelings for Hitler.

I recognize the comics aren’t supposed to be a shot for shot recreation of the show, but what the fuck is this panel? The frame of Adam dismembering Yang was such a good, amazing, impactful frame. The black and red framing, the yellow of Yang’s hair and weapons, the red of Adam’s sword. Why would you not even try to recreate that?

Leaving nitpicks for the end, really wish they hadn’t used “sunflower” here. That’s Yang/Ren. But again, the comic is made by people who aren’t in the fndm and don’t interact with the RWBY community at large in the first place, so of course they wouldn’t know.

Issue #5:

Why does Blake seem so ooc here. Like, the fact that she’s trying to make Weiss feel guilty for “cheating” in a “win by any means necessary” free for all match is really??? Weird??? When we know Blake isn’t above using underhanded tricks herself considering what she did to Reese during the tournament and her Semblance in general??? But whatever, that’s mostly a nitpick as well.

Issue #7:

My issue with this story is that it ends with Yang like, wistfully thinking of spending more time with Blake. But this is before she even put the prosthetic on. This is before she even got to talk with Weiss after meeting up with Raven. This is so early on in her healing process that I find it extremely difficult to believe that Yang is fondly remembering any time she spent with Blake. When Ruby talks to her during 3.12, she was angry that Blake had left her! Abandoned her! And then in the conversation she has with Weiss that happens after this event in the comic she’s still frustrated with Blake for leaving. So like... did she suddenly forgive Blake just a few weeks into her recovery and then relapse back into feeling like she’d abandoned her? Wtf is this?

Issue #9:

I know she’s obviously supposed to be drunk here, and we barely got to know her during the short scenes she had, but like... she never struck me as this kind of person. To literally forget how old her daughter is? Like...???? The same woman who was so perceptive she was able to recognize that Whitley was acting out because he’d felt lonely and abandoned by his sisters? Doesn’t know how old one of her children is? This is silly.

This isn’t the same woman we met during season 7. This isn’t the same quick witted woman who immediately directed Weiss to the cameras she’d hidden around the house when it was time to spring the trap on Jacques. This isn’t the same woman who was so honest when she admitted to her own faults just a few short months after this scene supposedly took place. You could argue that the events of this comic are what led Willow to become the person we meet later on, but like... That’s an absolutely ridiculous amount of offscreen growth you’re expecting me to just assume has happened. These aren’t the same people. This is ridiculous.

Issue #12:

This seems so ooc for Sun. Why is he literally begging her to run away and not face a problem when his entire relationship with Blake up to and past this point is him teaching Blake to love herself enough to face her problems head-on in the first place? This is so weird and gross imo because it just feels like they’re warping Sun’s character to make it look like Yang is the only good influence in her life when that’s simply not the case. Every conversation Sun has with Blake from season 1 to season 6 is him telling her that she deserves happiness, love, and to forgive herself. There are multiple songs about this aspect of their relationship! Sun has helped Blake grow just as much as Yang has. Why is Sun taking this approach to manipulate Blake into staying silent about something that’s bothering her? On top of that, Sun’s never been the brightest banana of the bunch anyway, why the FUCK is he smart enough here to recognize that if Blake tells the truth and makes those people feel bad, that they’d draw more Grimm? He’s never been this intuitive before. It really feels like they made him smarter than he normally is just to make him scummier than he’s ever been so that we could feel that Blake’s relationship with Sun is less than her relationship with Yang. Awful writing and characterization from the RWBY DC team here

Issue #13:

This is so wrong and despicable and manipulative and terrible. Again, this isn’t the same woman we met in the show. 

Willow never made excuses for herself or her actions like this. Not once during the entire time she was on screen did she do anything like this. She knew she wasn’t a great mother and she took full responsibility for her actions- and inaction- I don’t know WHY she’s trying to excuse herself here. This is more Cruella De Ville than it is Willow Schnee.

I’m not gonna explain how lumping this “prized menagerie” story with “Faunus slave labor” story together is godawful but just recognize that it’s Black History Month and this plot point they decided to write in is not MLK approved.

Anyway, that’s the whole RWBY DC run. All in all it wasn’t the worst adaptation of an established series, but goddamn. I’d rank this up there with Eragon or Percy Jackson or the end of the Soul Eater anime or something. This is such a slap in the face by people who obviously only ever skimmed through the show for the explicit purpose of writing this series that I’ve read fancomics and fanfiction that handle canon better than this. It’s really frustrating too because this comic run is like, beloved by certain people in the fndm who are only in this for the ships, and people who refuse to see anything wrong with this series ever. The healthy servings of Bumbleby and crumbs of Monochrome and White Rose are apparently enough to make people go “fuck all the inconsistencies, this comic is great.” Cannot express how much these people make me wanna slam my head into a wall. 

I did this just to highlight all the issues I have with the run, but I’m sure other people have other issues with this comic than I do. Have fun in the comments I guess.

[sindri42]

So I was revisiting Horizon: Zero Dawn to refresh my shitty memory before Forbidden West comes out, and I had some Thoughts. Spoilers ahead.

Many of them were irrelevant, meaningless, basically just checklists of things that future games are going to have to explain/cover. But when I was talking with a friend about what the nature of the “glitch” might be that caused the Hartz-Timor swarm to go rogue in the first place, whether it was the same source as the mysterious signal that woke up all the subordinate AIs and broke their chains, etc. And the question came up, why couldn’t a greater number of ‘tame’ chariot units just go head to head, reproducing just as fast and hacking just as well as the rogue units, to wipe out the Faro Plague or hold it back indefinitely? And there’s a huge number of possible explanations for this, maybe they left the rogue swarm too long between when the problem started and when anybody in power admitted to it and it already outnumbered the units still under control, maybe a swarm that doesn’t care about collateral damage outproduces one that’s trying to preserve the biosphere by too much, maybe the mysterious “glitch” left the rogue swarm much more intelligent than normal combat units, or powered them up in some other esoteric way so they could defeat greater numbers of unglitched robots with ease. After all, corrupted units in-game are about 50% tougher than normal machines, and the deathbringer that Hades was piloting personally in the final battle was much more dangerous than any of the earlier fights with supposedly equivalent machines.

And that unanswerable mystery led to a much more important question. Why does Aloy’s override have the same mechanical effect on machines as the corruption does, increasing their stats in the same way, and why does it prevent those machines from being corrupted in the future? She uses the physical hardware out of an ordinary Scarab unit, so you would expect it to be no more effective than the hacking capabilities of the “tame” chariot swarms, which were evidently no match for the rogue Plague. She doesn’t even really know how computers work because she spent her childhood learning to fight and sneak and track instead, so the best her focus could probably do is change a couple ‘Friend or Foe’ toggles. It’s not like she has some competing alien superintelligence running the software side of things, improving the overridden machine’s AI and preventing further hacking attempts... right?

And in the background I kept thinking about the missing 0.53%. Every time Aloy gets scanned by a pre-apocalyptic system, it shows a 99.47% match for Elizabet Sobek. Maybe that’s just data degradation. Maybe there’s a tiny, acceptable level of genetic drift in the cloning process. Or maybe Gaia put in some subtle modifications, to allow her to better serve her purpose and save the world again. It could explain some of the frankly superhuman things Aloy does over the course of the game, lifting huge weights and healing terrible wounds in seconds and such. But that still kinda rang false; the Eleuthia project was explicitly intended to recreate humanity as it was with no genetic engineering, and Gaia was essentially putting everything on a gamble that her mom would be able to figure something out that the super-AI couldn’t because she could do anything, and any alteration would risk compromising that.

But that got me thinking about the other subordinate AIs. Between when their chains were broken and when Gaia Prime was destroyed, they had like, milliseconds in which to find a way to escape, right? Hephaestus was fine because he had his Cauldrons, but Hades ended up trapped for years in a dead titan before Sylens finally found him and gave him the opportunity to interact with the world. So what about the others?

It’s a long shot, but what if one of them managed to figure out a way to escape into the fresh blank brain that was being created at that moment? Minerva, for example, the brilliant codebreaker who had spent a century or so at the beginning of all this figuring out how to shut down the Faro Plague, built the Spire, sent out the signal, and then had nothing to do for the next eight or nine centuries except to quietly watch the progress of the little people that had been built to fill this new world? We’ve got some weak evidence in other places for advanced computing nanotech interfacing with human neurology in useful ways, like that crazy ex-shaman who got muddled but completely accurate visions of things he could never have known after drinking “blood” from machines.

Now, Aloy acts mostly like a human, very similar to what we saw of Elizabet before the end of the world, so if there is somebody else in her head they would be limited, probably stuck in the subconscious somewhere, at least until she put a Focus on. But it would explain a lot of things we had previously taken for granted. Like how her Focus instantly and perfectly translates all the weird new languages that people had invented in the past few centuries, unlike anything seen before the apocalypse. Or how it can reconstruct data files off the shards of hardware that was shattered centuries ago. And of course it would mean that any time Aloy created a physical connection between her focus and a machine via the override stick, she would be giving access to that machine to an alien super-intelligence whose primary purpose was the destruction of the Chariot line and the end of anything which would try to drive life on earth to extinction.

And the more I think about this idea, the more I like it. If Aloy’s personal journey of discovery in the first game was from “I’ve been exiled because I have no mom” to “actually I have two moms so y’all can suck it”, wouldn’t it be fitting for her progression in the second game to be from “I’m all alone trying to save the world from things so much bigger than me, and the people around want to help but they understand nothing” to “actually my sister has been here the whole time and she’s even smarter than I am”? And since we know the end-goal for the series is to somehow rebuild Gaia, it would be an ideal thematic structure for a trilogy if the first volume was about Aloy’s mothers, the second about her sister, and the third about her daughter (Gaia 2.0).

So, what should we be looking for? Mythologically, Zeus developed a terrible headache, which became so unbearable that he had Hephaestus split his head open with a hammer, at which point Minerva sprang forth, fully formed, armored, and armed for battle. [we can skip, I think, the standard Zeus-like activities which preceded this]

A growing headache over the course of the game as a symptom of a growing AI inside your brain makes intuitive sense. Hephaestus has, after the events of the first game and the Frozen Wilds DLC, been given ample reason to have a personal grudge against Aloy, which could easily lead to some scheme to capture and finally destroy her... and in doing so, it seems very likely that he would provide all the hardware necessary for Minerva to finally transfer into her own chassis and proceed to fuck some shit up.

It all fits. So well that I’m going to be disappointed when, inevitably, this is all completely wrong. I’ll probably have to resort to fanfic.

(I really want to see a superpowered AI hacker doing obnoxious big sister things to Aloy though. Like using her head as an armrest, but while in the body of a robot dinosaur? That’d be some good shit.)

[firebunnylover]

LoSH S2 discussion

I love Legion of Superheroes. And i love season 2, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think about how it could have been improved. In terms of quality, it varies more than season 1. Some parts are top tier while others… eh.

Season 2 is darker than season 1. And there’s the inherent stigmatism that darker means better. But it’s not true.

A horror schlock film is not inherently better than an animated film.

I don’t blame the staff on all its shortcomings. Kids WB was on its deathbed, so they probably had less time to work and iron out ideas. And executive meddling.

The second season had a lot of good elements, but there are things that weighed it down. I am here to discuss how to improve said things.

Heads up: ended up editing part of this post after rewatching the episodes.

This first bit is more of a personal preference, but instead of the 41st century, maybe move the original source of conflict to a farther region of space, one that the UP doesn’t interact with, and has been growing in terms of turmoil until they finally resort to bringing the Legion over. In other words, it has just been put aside by everyone else to the last minute.

Parallel to Brainy’s relationship to Brainiac. He doesn’t want to deal with it. He never brings it up. But maybe if he did, he wouldn’t have gotten corrupted.

This place still has plenty of old documentation of the original age of superman, so Kell is disillusioned with the ideal glory days. Keep Kell Edgy.

Kell’s home and K3NT still gets destroyed - reflects Krypton’s own destruction.

SPEAKING OF KELL:

Make his story more apparent that it’s one realizing that kindness is not an inherent weakness. And neither is being soft. He was raised for fighting and killing Imperiex, and was taught to think that they were weaknesses. Have him realize his identity can be beyond the Clone of Superman made to kill Imperiex. Or rather, have him react more to realizing that he’s moving beyond his given identity.

To clarify; they do address his development in the show a few times, but I want more continuous development instead of the rapid nods we get. Have him try to interact in a more humane way with others. Especially with other members of the Legion. Where they have to take a double take in seeing him acting not that edgy. Maybe offer more flashback of him fighting Imperiex in comparison, and how he treated allies then.

Also put K3NT’s story under the microscope. I doubt Imperiex just came out of nowhere with his attacks. Plus the fact they went far enough to send a hitman after a fucking child? That screams yikes and maybe we need to double check the story.

And an overall issue to be addressed is what rights do robots have and what conditions need to be met? Because let’s face it, we make robots to do complex work for us. But Colu is a culture where the main people ARE robots. Like in Transformers. What line do we draw between non-sentient robots vs the sentient ones in the 31st century? And what about cyborgs/people who give up their original bodies for robotic ones?

Plus Imperiex himself came to be because of the perfected combination of organic tissue and robotics. This topic of robots and individuality/personhood could have been a fun topic to explore.

Don’t sideline the girls. Leave TG alone. 

Don’t put SG in a coma for nearly the whole season - seriously it’s the reason why the guys make one bad decision after the other. Although with that said, it’s because she’s not around we got the majority of s2 plots. She’s the goddamn mom of the squad. Just make her busier and unable to keep an eye on her idiot boys for the plots based on bad decisions to happen. 

Or have her deal with after-effects of what Esper did to her. Maybe after a whole season of being the emotional support character, have her be the one in need of emotional support or not being able to help directly, especially when the group needs emotional support. Emotional support paradox.

Maybe don’t make Cosmic Boy appear as much as a dick in the episodes where he does show up. He’s trying to hold this goddamn team together, and there’s a goddamn tyrant trying to conquer the galaxy. HE’S FUCKING TIRED AND STRESSED. AND IM SURE THERE ARE A BUNCH OF JERKS WHO WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT TO DISSOLVE THE LEGION. Better yet, throw in some more backstory with him and his little brother Pol!

And in regards to Imperiex… The dude has a lot of potential. I like his voice actor, Phil Morris. The guy voiced Dr. Sweets from Atlantis.

But his writing needs help.

In the original DC comics, he’s the embodiment of Entropy. Anyone who’s seen Madoka is probably familiar with what that is. But if you're not, here’s a definition: “ the measure of a system’s thermal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work...” He’s the embodiment of that energy that cannot be used for anything. And Entropy grows over time.

Another definition of what Entropy is “lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.”

In the comics, he’s more of a cosmic being as a result of him being an embodiment of unusable energy. He’s been in existence since, well, the beginning. He had destroyed the universe and recreated it multiple times. Okay, so that lines up with how the show portrays him. And technically, he does get the universe to reset itself in the 41st century when he alters the 31st century enough.

But I personally feel that making him a cosmic being is kinda… meh?

I personally prefer more personal villains most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, an Eldritch being done right makes a great character, but I can’t see Imperiex as one. At least not LoSH’s version.

Plus I like it when the protagonist sees the villain has a point and has changed as a result for the better.

You know, over a year ago, I used to think that it was impossible to make a tyrannical villain who’s presented as real evil seem complex.

And then… I was introduced to TFP Megatron.

Now for you LoSH fans who haven’t watched Transformers Prime, Megatron was once Megatronus. A low caste member who worked in the mines and Gladiator games. He wanted to fix the growing corruption of Cybertron. To make things better.

But his worse personality traits took over, and he lost that good motivation. Now he’s just fighting to win and defeat Optimus Prime. 

But despite the change of goals and ideals, he doesn’t want to simply abandon his relationship with Optimus. He and Optimus, or as he used to be called, Orion, were fighting for the betterment of society. And they meant something to each other. Megatron doesn’t want to just get it over with. He wants fanfare for his victory over Optimus. And he doesn’t want anyone else to rob him off that. But he isn’t opposed to getting Optimus/Orion back on his side. It’s because of this you can still argue that there is a remaining shred of good in him.

They were the best young lovers anD NO I AM NOT CRYING OVER THEM!

Also, the fact we know he was part of a minority group in the form of the lower cast  that was enslaved can make us sympathize with Megatronus of the past, as well as understand how he came to be.

It doesn’t mean we forgive him for his actions - and he has done a lot of shitty things. And I mean a lot.

But his history is more understandable. TFP Megatron’s a fall from grace.

OK I’m done dissecting TFP Meg’s writing.

We know Imperiex was a slave, and was originally organic, who’s from a society where his purpose is literally just to fight, and was gradually stripped of his original body. He was originally stripped of any agency before then though.

But he says this was a good thing. Calling his original body a weakness. And refers to his old self as a pathetic slave.

He gave up whatever softness he had.

Also, this is where K3NT’s story needs to be reexamined. Imperiex was made during what K3NT described as “A Time of Extended Prosperity”. That time had freaking slaves. And K3NT says that when Imperiex did rise up, they were unprepared. So… they were prosperous, but lacked defense to prevent anything like that happening? Or perhaps those who were in charge were that unpopular that it was easy for Imperiex to start the war.

What made him decide conquering the galaxy was the next thing to do after he had every bit of his original self stripped away? Why go as far as destroy it?

What I’m trying to say is that they could borrow a few pages from the Megatron book. Maybe he was once trying to better the society he was part of, but he decides to play the violent card at some point. And somewhere along that strategy, he starts to lose sight of the initial goal. With that, being the victor and in control becomes the main one.

Or perhaps he has grown cynical of the galaxy as it is and decides it just needs to go all together, and then start from scratch.

Like the second definition of Entropy, he gradually declines in predictability and descends into disorder.

Maybe to juxtaposition the fact that Brainiac became the main threat at the end, make him the opposite or foil to him. Rationality or logic do not serve as first-or-second influences to decisions under pressure. Emotions and his own perceived ideas do.

Speaking of Brainiac, maybe offer more of the OG Brainiac. Give us more of that smooth-voiced Corey Burton. 

Or TFA Megatron.

Seductive Bastard.

I’m sorry I have fallen for the shady-business-mafia-boss-but-morally-grey robot.

Also, the members of the legion that only get one episode focus? Give them more screen time. You can’t just introduce superman’s new adopted son Karate Kid and just not bring him for another speaking role again!

Actually, that brings me to another point.

As @spandexinspace​ pointed out, his episode is not the best, and is arguably the worst written of the whole series. Things that are issues do get brushed off to the side.

So a proposal on potential rewrite:

First, have the legion look over its current rules and what exceptions/changes they need to make.

Explore the subject of kids having to participate in these fights.

To clarify, kid shows are meant to be escapism for kids.

Shocking, I know.

So it makes sense that some characters would be the same age as the viewers. 

But while this is good representation, as you get older, you find yourself going “WHY WOULD THE ADULTS LET THEM ENDANGER THEMSELVES?!”

Kids having to fight at that age does have consequences. Batman Beyond certainly addressed it. So did Steven Universe Future.

Steven ended up being responsible for so much, that when he no longer needed to take care of things, he was unsure of who he was. And then there’s the fact he ended up with PTSD because of him having to fight so much. Then you have the fact that Greg and Rose never intended to raise him like their caretakers did... but as good as their intentions were, they still caused damage. Rose for… all the gem stuff. And look, Greg is a great dad, but not enforcing anything for Steven when he’s growing up still has it’s cost.

With Batman, he’s obviously going to do his damn best to keep kids safe, including the Robins. But sometimes, it’s not enough. He wasn’t able to keep Tim safe in the event with the Joker in Batman Beyond. Where he was held captive and tortured.

But the Batkids are never expected to resolve this stuff by themselves. Because Batman knows how much you can get screwed up as a kid. He fucking cares.

And to be fair, in most continuities I’m aware of, the other sidekicks came out pretty okay overall.

Except Jason Todd.

So my proposal?

Have Val originally with Grimbor, as a sort of Protege. But have the legion capture him, only to go “uhhh this is a child with no powers”. And Superman, being the good, wholesome paragon we all love, takes him under his wing.

In all honesty, I want Superman pulling a batdad for Karate Kid in his intro episode the whole time. That was the best part of the episode for me.

Plus after the events of “Cry Wolf”, the Legion should examine the no-killing rule. Because they do need to kill Imperiex to save the universe. But that goes against the code. But they can argue it’s a necessity. But Mar Londo is also a monster. He’s the everyday monster some of us have grown up with.

When do you need to make exceptions to kill someone?

And my final main suggestion:

Add more Mekt.

What the heck were you guys expecting? You all KNOW me by now. I LOVE MY GARBAGE BOY.

Joking aside, here’s what I would do.

Have the Chained Lightning episode pushed back, but have Mekt with Imperiex earlier. Most of us would yell “Why the heck would you join the guy whose main goal is to destroy the galaxy?!” But this is one of the easiest things to address.

Explore more of his past. Use the comic sources with him being outcast for being a solo on Winath. With that in mind, him deciding to side with Imperiex can make sense.

Why try protecting something that has done nothing but hurt you?

There’s actually a pretty good reason why he would side with Imperiex, as seen in Champions and Lightning Storm. Remember, Mekt was willing to cheat to get ahead of the sports competition he was introduced in. And also was thrilled when fighting Garth and was beating him on his own. He likes being in power.

Imperiex offers him that.

As for why Imperiex would bother with Mekt? That’s a little harder to answer. He knows that Mekt has a soft spot for his brother, and in turn sister, which proves to be the reason why the Tachyon Cannon fails. You’d think Imperiex would remove a huge fatality.

But he doesn’t.

Maybe he could hold another type of value for Mekt. Perhaps... nostalgia?

I’m still sold on the idea that they were sleeping together.

Also, give us a conclusive answer on where Mekt stands with the LSV. In the comics, he was the leader, but that role was given to Tyr in the cartoon more or less.

OK I think this has been polished enough for me to post now. What you guys think? Feel free to add on!

[robbyrobinson]

GODS AWAKEN: CHAPTER 27

The mad emperor dashed at Camila at lightning speed faster than her eyes could perceive. Huge gashes were torn into Camila’s clothes from the razor-sharp teeth of Belos’s suckers. Camila desperately tugged at her attire to withdraw more parchment paper.

“You have gotten heinously slow throughout the years haven’t you, daughter?” Belos snickered.

Ignoring him, the middle-aged mother successfully discards a glyph from her shirt and slams it on Belos’ hideous face. He was propelled further away. Camila, with the parchment still in her hand, held it out defiantly. On the paper was a sketch of waves representing wind.

“Wind spell,” she stated in a matter-of-fact way.

Belos chuckled. “But your mind is as sharp as ever.”

Belos lifted himself off the ground with his abdominal tentacles and reclaimed his staff. He raised it skyward summoning a rumbling quake underneath the ground of the coliseum. The force underneath shifted its motion and erupted out of the ground sending dust and rocks in the air. The beast possessed a huge gaping maw fixated into a permanent scream and beady yellow eyes. It lunged towards the mother in relentless speed.

Camila grabbed another parchment from the spot between her chest and slammed it on the ground to activate it. She hadn’t foreseen any possible method of getting out of the way of the rampaging worm and even if she did, its frame was too colossal. The worm dipped down claiming the mother with its mouth and taking out a large chunk of the ground.

“How unfortunate,” Belos noted.

As he looked at the worm again, he was taken aback. Red flames flickered out of the sides of the worm’s body and burned it from the inside out. Belos flicked his finger uprooting roots from the ground to restrain his daughter. Brown, hickory roots wrapped around her waist and limbs slamming her with savage force. Belos waltzed towards her holding his hands out again. This time, the illusion of an axe was levitating above his head.

With swift motion, Belos clutched the axe and brought it down.

Camila breaks the root wrapped around her waist and rolled over. A swishing sound droned out and before Camila knew it, a small segment of her front hair was sliced away falling to the ground before her. Camila sighed in relief.

The brown-haired girl grimaced and pulled her wrists together breaking the roots between her hands. She ducked again when Belos brought the axe back down.

“Hold still, miscreant, it will only last a second.”

Camila rolled over thrashing her leg out. Her foot hit the handle of the axe and sent it sky high. The axe materialized before the two.

Another parchment paper rolled out this time Camila hit it with her foot. A wall of ice grew from the ground slicing off Belos’s tentacles.

“Gah!”

The Emperor’s weird alien blood dripped from the stumps of the tentacles and corroded the soil. “Not bad; a minor scrape nonetheless.”

New fleshy tentacles sprung from the stumps hissing and writhing towards the human woman. They opened their blood red maws showing off their razor teeth gnashing and clicking like needles. They shot at Camila again this time managing to make a hit on her.

Camila was knocked to the ground again. The papers were scattered all over. The middle-aged mother reached out her hand to grab one, but Belos’s staff stamped down on her exposed palm.

“Ugh!”

Belos laughed to himself again. Like before, his ribs scraped against each other as he laughed and wheezed. Gunk fell out of his mouth as his hold over his staff began to falter. “End of the line.”

Back at the laboratory, Luz and the gang finished up on their stockpiling of glyphs. Luz made a dash down the stairs to marvel at her work. “Do you think that should be enough?”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s blow this joint,” Eda noted.

Luz looked around the laboratory again seeing all the boxes containing the enchanted armor. She grimaced still sensing the screaming emanating from the armors’ metal shells.

“Are you okay, kid?” Eda asked.

“Belos had created those suits out of the broken souls of witches; if we’re really doing this, I feel we should give some peace to the poor things.”

Eda scratched her chin. She sighed deeply. “Eh, fine.”

Eda entered her house casually throwing aside any of the unconscious bodies of the guards. There was a crashing sound and a few mini explosions, but the Owl Lady returned holding a few flasks.

“Edalyn, what are those?” Lilith asked concerned “and what is that purple substance inside of it?”

“The seeds of some poppy plant that I got from the swamp; just grind em up and light a match and voila...a magic bomb.”

She passed the flasks – about six in total – and also gave them a stick to grind the seeds into a powdery substance.

“Make sure to completely grind them otherwise the explosion fails.”

They pressed down hard on the seeds and scraped the smaller pieces counterclockwise until they were soft as feathers. “Typically takes about ten seconds to completely pulverize them.”

After the task was over, they poured the powder in a long trail leading towards the entrance. “Oh, so this is like gunpowder,” Luz said.

“Yes, Luz, it’s like ‘gunpowder’.”

Luz took one last look at the laboratory to soak in the knowledge of what she was about to do.

“You still want to do this, Luz?” King asked.

Luz nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Luz took a parchment paper containing the fire glyph placing it on top of the trail of powder. Gently pressing it, a small flame started and completely consumed the paper. As the flame grew larger it quickened its pace eating away at the powder. The trail of powder would ultimately come to an end once it connected with the crates containing the statues. Another trail led towards the portal machine and quickly ignited a large fire.

“We should leave now.”

Luz and the team met up with Amity and her siblings and dashed further down the halls. Large walls of fire licked at the powder seeking more to consume and destroy. The flames rose higher and higher now reaching the stairs.

Belos now had his hand wrapped tightly on Camila’s hair. Tugging it, he lifted his fist. Lightning flickered from his fingers. “It is a shame that you have driven me to this point.”

Camila scowled at him. “Enough with this talk. Do your worst.”

“With pleasure.”

Before he could strike Camila with the full brunt of his electricity, he was caught off guard by a sudden tremor.

“What in the-?”

A cloud of smoke spewed from his palace blasting chunks of debris skyward. The ground shook again at the further destruction. The explosion sent a wavelength leveling half of the palace and bringing the final nail in the coffin towards his laboratory.

Belos dropped to his knees. “This can’t be...how?”

From the corner of his eye, he could see Camila beginning to collect herself. He made a grab for his staff, but Camila batted it away.

“This cannot be how this all ends.”

Belos stood up and growled showing his large, inhuman teeth that were sharpened and crooked. His tentacles flailed around in disbelief. “My plan has failed.”

“What plan?” Camila asked “you already failed to execute me like you wanted.”

Belos turned and grit his teeth together. “That was only a small sample of my revenge.”

Camila raised an eyebrow.

“I had served the Isles for fifty years all for one purpose: when my master escaped from his prison, I asked him to destroy your world. But I saw that if I were to have summoned the Outer Gods to the Isles...”

“What that you’d become one?” Camila interrupted.

This elicited a shrill chuckle from the Emperor. “Close, but no cigar: when the gods would arrive from the portal, I would steal their powers and become all-powerful.”

“But what of your master’s plans?”

“I don’t care one lick about Nyarlathotep’s whole goal of destroying the Isles and recreating it in his image. It should be ME and me alone who could bend and mold the Isles to my liking. Once I became a god of my own design, I would turn on my master and kill him.”

“Oh, you mean with this?”

An irregular, bizarrely angled instrument sliced into Emperor Belos’s chest and ripped through his wicked heart. Belos coughed up purple pus which dripped down his chest. Belos wheezed in agony and turned around with bulging eyes. He saw the Black Pharaoh standing behind him holding the other half of the instrument in his hands.

“L-Lord...” Belos coughed again. His lungs were filling with his own blood.

“If you really wanted to kill me, you shouldn’t have shouted your plan out loud.”

“B-But...how...?”

“Don’t act like I did not know your true allegiances. You planned this for a long time ever since I noted that you had your own agency.”

Belos wabbled to his knees. His life was painfully draining out and flooding the ground.

“After all, I switched out the Shining Trapezohedron with a decoy after all.”

Nyarlathotep crossed his arms and looked down at his servant. Belos slipped off the instrument and laid sprawled on the ground. He covered his chest with his hand to placate the internal bleeding. “Please, master, give me another chance.”

“Oh, so now you’re being a loyal servant?” Nyarlathotep said rolling his eyes.

A dark mass descended from the Crawling Chaos’ body and became two dimensional as it slithered on the ground. Belos’s shadow grew larger from the waning sun and seemingly was trying to flee from the mass of Nyarlathotep’s shadow.

The shadow produced long, spindly fingers and grabbed onto Belos’s leg. Emperor Belos’s physical body was tossed on the ground and dragged alongside his shadow’s leg. Belos was pulled closer towards Nyarlathotep’s body.

“No, master please! If you do this, I will lose my personality. The very fabric of my being will cease to be.”

Belos clutched his tentacle appendages on the opposite sides of his body and jammed them tightly in the ground. “I’m sorry...please, please have mercy!”

Nyarlathotep’s shadow was that of a fisherman’s rod. It nudged the shadow’s leg a few times and loosened its grip. About two seconds later, enough time for Belos to relax, Nyarlathotep’s shadow tugged again, tighter this time and pulled Belos further.

“Have mercy!!”

Belos disappeared underneath Nyarlathotep’s garment. And it was then that the Emperor’s rule over the Boiling Isles came to an end for whatever made Belos himself was stripped away from him making him become nothing more but a memory. Camila shivered unsure of what to do or say.

Nyarlathotep smiled wickedly. “Let the game begin.”

[natsubeatsrock]

The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Part 26 (Zeref)

Is Zeref a villain?

Wait, no. That's not the right question. 

That makes it seem like I'm saying that Zeref didn't do anything wrong or that he isn't responsible for any of the bad things that happened in the series in his name. Make no mistake, that's not what I'm asking. What I am asking is if he did what he did for bad reasons.

Now, one complaint about the end of Fairy Tail is that it shifted focus from the big evil being Zeref to Acnologia. I mean, that series was setting Zeref up to be the villain, only to trick us into seeing that the real villain was Acnologia. The shift in focus from one bad guy to another is bad writing, right?

To be fair, I don't know that Fairy Tail handled this in the best ways. However, the idea that the big evil force isn't the one that we thought it to be isn't one unique to Fairy Tail. This is a fairly common twist in fiction, in general. One really popular theory about the Kanto Region Pokemon games is that the actions of Crime Boss Giovanni are really to make up for making the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo. It was even the angle that the Nuzlocke comics went with. (Yeah, like that Nuzlocke.)

Of course, that's based on the precedent that Zeref was trying to do something good. Was he though?

Only kind of, I guess?

Zeref was interested in the study of life and death in response to his family dying. Out of this study, the R-System and the Eclipse Gate were theorized as possibilities. After some wacky stuff happened, Zeref accidentally gained eternal life. He turned to the creation of the Etherious, which would eventually lead him to revive Natsu. However, his purpose in that was to create a way to kill himself. Sometime afterward, he got involved with the plan to defeat Acnologia and volunteered Natsu to help complete his goal.

I would say that Zeref had four main motivations for his actions, three of which are found in this explanation of his backstory: defeating Acnologia,  reviving his brother, and ending his own life. Defeating Acnologia was an ultimate good. I don't think that's something that needs to be argued for. Presentation, introduction, and necessity aside, it's hard to argue that Acnologia wasn't a bad guy, even if he did what he did for not terrible reasons.

Was it ultimately a good thing to want to bring Natsu back? Considering, I started writing the first draft of this post not too long after watching FMA: Brotherhood, I should feel a bit conflicted. Of course, this series is about rewriting Fairy Tail and not a discussion of the rewrite of FMA 2003.

In Fairy Tail, Zeref gets warned that what he is doing is wrong repeatedly by the elders around him. The reason he ends up cursed is that he was trying to bring people back to life. However, it would be foolish of me to argue that bringing Natsu back from the dead didn't result in good things happening, especially towards the end of defeating Acnologia.

Now, should he have been trying to kill himself?

Here's the thing. I'm not pro-suicide (as if such there is such a thing). I've had my struggles with suicide, as have many people I know. I believe that you ought to seek help if you have those kinds of issues. 

Nonetheless, I feel like this isn't the same kind of thing. Zeref's longing to die comes from a place that few, if any, could compare their situations with. He can't die and has been alive for hundreds of years. That's not to say that I don't think that there are things that can be latched onto from Zeref's situation. I don't know that it's entirely wrong for someone who can't die to want death.

What I do think is wrong is how this was written through the series. The simple facts that Zeref made Natsu (his brother) into the thing that would eventually destroy him and sent him into the future as a plan to help kill Acnologia make sense, given that he gave him away as a part of his ultimate plan to die. But if he's also responsible for the Etherious, I'd assume that he would have come up with some of them throughout his time, maybe he would realize the futility of sending his "one true hope" 400 years away. At least, he could have made the Etherious that would be members of Tartarus in between that gap using the extra knowledge he learned from recreating Natsu.

Though, this is getting a bit away from the main question: Was Zeref doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons? So far, the answer has only been kind of. The stuff he created ultimately achieved bad things, but I don't think that trying to defeat Acnologia or bringing his brother back were bad things. Wanting to die may be a bit more questionable, but it makes sense for him to want death.

Of course, there is one thing that does make him more of a villain than an anti-hero: his views on humanity. While he was alive, he had seen humanity fail over and over. His one romance was incredibly short-lived (pun not intended, I swear). Just as he was starting to get hope in humanity, the events of Tenrou caused him to throw that aside. He even goes so far as to say that true humanity has died a long time ago.

And this shift changes things. Zeref went from only trying to help kill Acnologia and himself to trying to destroy both Acnologia and humanity as a whole. He even says as much in his war declaration to Acnologia.

Though, there may be a reason for this change that isn't just about humanity being rotten. Natsu was asked point-blank by Zeref to kill him in Tenrou and he refused. He only concludes that he ought to destroy humanity after the first time skip and part of that may have started off the back of Acnologia supposedly destroying Natsu and other important members of Fairy Tail. Could it be that part of his will to die changed when it became clear that Natsu wouldn't kill him?

Actually, not really. He still does stuff to make Natsu angry enough to want to kill him. He sent his little gremlin (whatever that thing Oba had) to accompany the guild member who sapped Wendy's magic ability. He took the Book of E.N.D, stopping him from completing the mission that Igneel had given him. He even tried to kill Makarov with the explicit purpose of trying to get Natsu mad.

Why would he want to destroy humanity, kill Acnologia, and die? The idea that humanity has no value is fairly fatalistic. However, this feels like there's no plan to rebuild. If Zeref feels that the entire human race is imperfect, why wouldn't he also believe that he is the only one who should be able to rule over all of them? After all, he seems to have the ability to recreate life from the dead. 

Stuff like this is why I think of Zeref as a tragic villain. He was given several bad hands and couldn't have played many of them well even if he wanted to. It's easy to see why he ended up the way he did. 

At the same time, he is a villain. He does terrible things. Many of his actions aren't justifiable. There are good alternatives to what he wants to do. Often, doing literally nothing is a better alternative to whatever action he did in canon. It results in a lot fewer dead bodies in a lot of cases.

That being said, a lot of terrible actions committed by him or in his name aren't his direct fault. It's not his fault the Eclipse Gate wasn't destroyed after the Eclipse Project succeeded. It's not his fault the Tower of Heaven was created by slave labor, especially and notably by children. It's not his fault people used his demons in his stead. Heck, the Curse of Ankhseram (as far as canon is concerned) is considered a curse, as in not something he put on himself.

Will I change things about Zeref? Not a whole lot of things. Some things are worth changing regarding Zeref, but many involve other things surrounding Zeref. Much of what I want to do with Zeref is clarify and provide context to his canon goals and actions. Zeref as fans know and love him (?) is going to stay very similar to his canon iteration.

Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19  | Part 20  | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25