#and I saw the mural they have of all the different characters

[mythalism]

there is a bit of a discourse on twitter about whether Mythal was a slave owner. What is your take on this? I’ve seen arguments that her vallaslin was a mark of honour and she “protected her people”. But also if that was the case, why would Solas remove his marks and propose to do the same to Lavellan?

I wonder if that’s another evidence of her character being sanitised in DAV compared to lore, revealed in DAI

it has genuinely never occurred to me that mythal would not be a slave owner. we know the evanuris practiced slavery. we know the only one who did not was fen'harel, as a result there is no fen'harel vallaslin. there is however a mythal vallaslin both presently and anciently, worn by felassan, abelas, and all of the temple sentinels at the least, and by solas himself once if you assume that is the meaning of cole's comment about him burning her off his face, which i do make that assumption. solas says mythal "was the best" of the evanuris, but that is an extremely low bar. we also now know that she was a driving force behind the war with the titans and their tranquilization and the destruction of the dwarven empire, and she admits to using solas as a weapon of war. i am not sure why any of these things would lead anyone to believe that she is morally above enslaving people. we have literally met the people she enslaved. whether or not they were "devoted" or "willing" (ew) is irrelevant in the context of her power as an evanuris.

i think perhaps dragon age was gearing up pre-veilguard to explore the vallaslin much more in depth however it ended up erasing it completely so we will never know. its possible that vallaslin had multiple meanings, and did not always denote enslavement but could denote enslavement depending on the circumstances. my own understanding pre-vg was that the vallaslin probably interacted with other factors, such as class/wealth, power, and personal favoritism, to varying degrees of personal and political agency so that not every person with mythal's vallaslin would have the same exact experience. solas's experience clearly was unique and we see that in the way that their relationship is presented in his murals, and how they continue to have a relationship even after he has removed his own (assuming thats the timeline and not that they just completely retconned him having vallaslin in the first place lol). but just because solas sees mythal in a forgiving light (sometimes, he goes back and forth, which does make sense considering his complex feelings about her) does not mean mythal was, objectively, that way. its pretty heavily implied that he had major rose colored glasses on for her, and its likely he only saw a certain side of her. we can probably assume that elgar'nan saw a very different one. we have a lot of different perceptions of her from different sources, and different literal fragments of her personality. we also know she changed quite drastically overtime and was corrupted from benevolence into retribution. it is difficult to say with certainty what she was like because the game does not tell us.

however enslavement is enslavement and i think we should be frank about it even if veilguard isnt interested in touching on it. "but she was a good slave-owner!" is a dangerous sentiment reflective of real life, anti-abolition arguments during the american civil war that revisionist racists and white supremacists still use today and i think people should take great care not to espouse the same, even in the context of a fantasy world.

[pinkrose787]

I know that the episode "Timmy's Secret Wish" is quite controversial in the Fairly Oddparent's fandom, but I quite like how it addressed something that a lot of cartoons downright ignore. And that's the progression of time in regards to the characters ages.

In a lot of cartoons, time can pass, but the characters' ages never truly change. And this can create some weird situations. For instance, in the Simpsons, the characters Apu and Manjula have kids, then those kids turn into toddlers. All while the rest of the characters maintain their same age.

But "Timmy's Secret Wish" actually decided to give a reason for this. And that's "Timmy secretly wished for everyone to stop aging fifty years ago."

Which gives an explanation as to why Timmy has experienced so many different summers, Christmases, Halloweens, and Birthdays all while staying ten years old.

And I don't really know about the rest of the show, because that episode came around the time that I lost interest, so they might have done some stuff so invalidate this idk. But as someone who is obsessed with figuring out timelines in shows, I do appreciate having an explanation for timeline inconsistencies.

[felassan]

Thoughts on the DA:TV Companion Concept Art:

General

I love that we saw these and I think the art is beautiful!! it's so cool seeing different versions of a character, different ideas for a character, and how things translated from concept arts into the character models in the game. I can't waaait to look through the rest of The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, with a fine-toothed comb!!

each character has iconic color palettes and iconic shapes and stuff :)

I feel like there is a lot to examine in these pictures, even with the spoilery text redacted!! 🔍🔍

I'm so extremely curious about what the redacted text says. 👁️

It looks like the geometric patterns drawn behind the characters are slightly different each time?

In the ones where multiple different outfits are shown for the character, do you suppose that these are only discarded concept ideas, or are some similar to some of the alternate outfits for the companions that we can find or upgrade for them in the game?

in some of the pages, there appears to be additional parts of the page blanked out/redacted rather than just the paragraph of text. I wonder if there are small text captions or even additional small drawings in those spaces that also needed to be redacted for spoiler reasons 👁️

In some of the sections below I just described what part of the art I was referring to, in others I popped in images because I was finding it hard to describe what I meant ^^

Also, the associated tweet mentions the BioWare Gear Store-exclusive variant of the artbook. The link in it just takes you to the general Gear Store website landing page at the moment. At the moment, the BioWare Gear Store variant of the artbook is out of stock (it went out of stock really quickly after release). However, CM Violet mentioned in the Discord that "We are planning on another printing [of the Gear Store variant of the art book], but no date yet! I'm sure we'll announce it when we have more news!" [source: the official BioWare Discord]

Bellara

Bellara's page is the only one I think with no name. did her name have to be redacted too bc of a spoilery reason?

I LOVE Bellara's pages. she's just so 🥺 (clenching my fist). some aspects of the design of Bellara's clothes remind me of butterflies or butterfly wings.

Left: the angle of this one reminds me of her party icon art. Center: this one shows a different design concept for her vallaslin. in this one she also has different earrings. in the full version of this drawing, it looks like she is holding some kind of tool in her hand (makes sense considering her Tinker ability), while in her other hand it's a piece of cloth, reminding me of the way mechanics are sometimes drawn holding rags during their work. her posture in the full version of this drawing is like 'You can fit sooo many triangles inside this bad boy [the giant elf head artifact/sculpture]'. hhh. Right: can anyone make out what the text above her bag says? ^^ btw, this bag design is so cute. edit: thankyou to @squidaped-oyt who mentioned in the replies of this post that this looks like it says "Foldable map"! more on that here.

HELLO??, this ancient elven sculpture/artifact thing is extremely 👀. the scale of it compared to Bellara is massive. there are beams of light coming from its eyes and the triangle set in its forehead. the triangular parts are a now-familiar aspect of ancient elven magic-tech and artifacts. the nose bridge reminds me of the design of elven nose bridges circa Dragon Age II - only he has a pointed part on his in addition. the bald head we're all familiar with from ancient elven statues, in-world murals/wall paintings etc. is it just me, or are the teeth also pointy? I wonder what this thing is.. was it just decorative (a head of a giant statue)? (this kind of thing in this Veil Jumper/Arlathan Forest concept art comes to mind). was it an art piece representative of a particular Evanuris or one of their chosen? or did it have some kind of actual function - maybe it was part of a giant protective automaton kinda thing? what this head really reminds me of is Codex Entry: Vir Dirthara: Signs of Victory -

The pages of this book—memory?—describe a monument made in a single afternoon by a thousand-thousand toiling servants swarming over a lump of fallen stone as large as a collapsed mountain. By the end of the day, the stern figure of Elgar'nan stares down into a valley, carved out from the foothills of the rock. The slaves have disappeared. Light radiates from the eidolon's narrowed eyes and its open, snarling mouth. "Hail Elgar'nan, first among the gods! Mark his victory eternal!"

Could this be [part of] one of those sorts of monuments/eidolons? It sure looks like it's snarling through its open mouth. And it has narrowed eyes and light is radiating from them.

The other things it reminds me of are: 1. the ancient elven sentinels (the magic-bot kind, not the Abelas and crew in Temple of Mythal kind), two. like maybe it's a giant one of these. 2. these big ancient elven hands and the Dead Hand landmark (see Trivia section) in DA:I, which is found in the Dales and contains an elven shrine and is not far from Ghilan'nain’s Grove.

Horace Medford wrote of that landmark,

"The great stone hand was something of a mystery. One assumes it is a piece broken off from a larger whole. If so, judging by the size of that one hand, I imagine the entire sculpture to be... well, large enough to require the use of obscenities to describe it. Thus I have only one question: where is the rest of the statue? It is difficult to imagine how something so large could go missing."

like maybe the head from Bellara's concept is the giant head to a similar kind of pair of giant hands (of either type).

(^ post which discusses these both here)

Left: the way this bracelet thing is worn gives it the impression of a watch, which is cool and fits her machinist/inventor kinda vibe/aesthetic :) Center: the cloth, a bit dirty from active use (what a thoughtful touch), tucked into her belt :) Right: I love the eyepiece/monocle look!! It's giving Artificer, it's giving gadgets. does anyone else think Bellara and Dagna would get on super well? 💜

These are all super interesting and I love that they were thinking about the different parts of Bellara's kit and belongings like this. in the top row, it looks like the book on the left is the closed version of the book on the right. Bellara's book full of research notes :D what I wouldn't give to browse through it!! I love how she's filled it with different bookmarks, it gives you an insight into her mind and the way it works. on the front is one of those ancient elven golden faces (like on Solas' armor's knees in Trespasser, on the Sentinels in the Temple of Mythal, on the ancient elven Deluxe edition of DA:TV armors, etc). inside, it looks like she has pressed a flower, which is so lovely. on the right-hand page, I'm really curious about the drawings there. what is it of? a map, a diagram? it reminds me a bit of the map of Arlathan Forest in the Veil Jumper issue of Dragon Age: The Missing (and it would make sense for her to have a map, Arlathan Forest is changeable lately). and if you squint, maybe that's an 'X marks the spot'? also extremely curious is the drawing on the left-hand side of the page:

Who is this depicting? the figure's headshape/headpiece/mask reminds me a lot of the Evanuris headshapes. and the general vibe of the drawing reminds me of the ancient elven Evanuris mosaics (example). Sylaise-y? but maybe it's not an Evanuris and it's more like a figure from Bellara's past? the way the flower is pressed on this page makes it look tender, like memory. or if it was an Evanuris, it makes it look like an offering or token. perhaps Bellara's vallaslin correspond to Sylaise or whichever member it is. there was a time before the gods came back the way they did in DA:TV.

It's also really cool to get a look at the fold-out material thing. do you think she usually carries this rolled up at her belt or in her bag? it looks like somewhere where she stores various kinds of ancient elven triangle fragments, or maybe it's even some kind of strange map. A map of a bunch of different reality-fragmented Veil Bubbles or something would look really strange no doubt, not like a normal map.. edit: more on that here.

Davrin

It's neat to see different hairstyle versions of Davrin! the shape of the blue sword reminds me just a lil of Starfang, which is really nice. and we saw Davrin with a griffon-wing shield like there is in these concepts in the character reveal trailer.

Comparisons of the various vallaslin designs he has in his concept arts to the final one in the game. (in some of the concepts, his vallaslin look a bit bluer, which reminds me of his tarot-style art from the party selection screen). though, in the right-most version, it looks more kind of like a circlet, a Samara Mass Effect-type situation instead :)

This on his heel is totally a spur. makes sense, for a Warden that may one day be a griffon-rider like the Grey Wardens of old :') (at least in the sense of visual language, like "spur - riding - horse - griffon").

We see Davrin equipped with an additional dagger/shortsword like this in the warrior gameplay video, albeit not this specific one, if you go by the handles.

He maybe has some stubble here. ^^

In this version of Davrin, it looks like he has a staff. (though, he still has a sword here too). Is it a polearm kinda deal, or was there a time during development when Davrin was a mage? perhaps the elf in this concept art is a version of Davrin? that elf is wielding a staff to fight, and there are some similar aspects in the outfit designs, like the considerable collar.

interestingly, his staff here reminded me of the staff held by the elven figure on the front of the DA Vinyl art. 🤔

^ Looking at that staff-Davrin concept more generally, it's interesting that this version has more overtly Grey Wardenny-parts to his armor compared to his final look, like the griffon symbol on the chestplate and shoulder.

This Davrin holds out his arm, like a falconer. in Dalish culture, the hawk is a sacred animal of the Huntress Andruil.

And this Davrin straight up is a falconer. how cool!! due to image resolution I'm not sure if the darker parts on the raptor are parts of its plumage or accoutrements, but in falconry, the birds sometimes do wear these types of accoutrements. Falconer Davrin Concept reminds me of that one DA:I Dorian concept art where Dorian had a monkey haha. :D the attention to detail in Falconer Davrin is neat too, you can see that on the hawk-perch arm he has a thick extra cover on his arm, due to the sharpness of raptor talons and grip. I really love Falconer Davrin's griffon shoulderplate, and when looking at the more geometric diamond design of his vallaslin here, what struck me was its resemblance to the diamond geometric pattern behind him.

Harding

Harding is the only one on the concept art among the named characters there who is listed as her surname rather than her given name haha. she's just Harding just like Hawke is Hawke, that's just the way it is.

The flower and leaf pattern in the top left is cute, I wonder if it was inspiration for the flower and leaf stitching Harding has on the collar of her casual clothes in the game. In the concept art it looks like the kind of design that you might have on the leatherwork on the front cover of a beautiful leatherbound journal or something. :) In the central picture she's holding and appreciating a blue flower, which is so cute ♡ and which ties to what was said about her loving plants, raising plants, and nature. she has what looks like the Inquisition hairy eyeball symbol on her belt pouch as well as on her knee pads. (;;) the version of her to the left of that shows her with her hair down, in a more pony-tail like sort of style. on that version of her, you can see flower and leaf floral patterns curling up the bottom of her cape. (very pretty).

To the right of the central image, there's a big diagonal blank rectangle of content which has been removed, presumably due to spoiler reasons. Was this also text? It seems like a weird angle to have placed text at. Maybe it's a drawing of an object of some kind being hidden? A different version of her bow perhaps? (this is the case in a few of the companion concept arts btw.)

The tailored coat and pinstripe pants version of her is so cool. :D look at the tails on the back of her coat in that image. dapper. Harding formal wear? :D

of course, the two most !! images from Harding's one are these ones. copying over my thoughts from that post,

Presumably this is to do with Harding’s new magical stoney earthy powers. (In the second image, along with the bow, it looks like half her face, part of her neck and her arm itself is also stone/crystal). The glass-like shiny parts reminds me of quartz or something. :)

I do wonder if (if they are still things in the game) perhaps those two images or the stoney parts of them could also potentially have done with being redacted for spoiler reasons? how I wish the Harding image was higher resolution so we could take a closer look at stone-Harding..! somewhere off in the distance, Varric "haha, you'd be Harding in Hightown" Tethras is like "haha, Harding, you're hard/hardening" hhhh. 💀

In the image with her hood up, the blue veins on the bow remind me of blue lyrium veins. I also wonder, is she holding the stone/crystal bow with her stone/crystal arm, or is the bow simply growing from the arm? does the hard surface of her body when it's like this repel or take less damage owing to its hardness? is this something she might be able to do in gameplay later on as her story (and powers) progress?

it stands to reason that if you can turn other people/things to stone, as she did to some ghouls in the release date reveal trailer, you might also be able to extend this power to yourself. presumably this ability is tied to the Titans, the dwarves as their children, the Stone, maybe a restored (in Harding's case) connection to that, the way dwarves used to be. it also reminds me of how golems are created using live dwarves. Caridin said "It allowed me to forge a man of steel or stone, as flexible and clever as any soldier." 👀

Btw, speaking of Harding's magical powers, I wonder if Harding dreams at night now..?

Lucanis

it looks like there's a spot on Lucanis' page other than the text at the top that is blanked out/redacted. I wonder what it contained.

part of the geometric designs behind him reminds me of his eyes motif.

some of the alternate outfits for him look really like, majestic. in the one with the manbun, he has big poufy shoulder pieces and huge sleeves.

I wonder if any concept art of clean-shaven Lucanis exists anywhere? ^^ I'm really curious about what he looks like clean-shaven, or without a beard as he was in The Wigmaker Job.

I'm losing my mind at all the different concept ideas for Lucanis' hair, especially the one with the curled forelock and LUCANIS MANBUN omg. but I like his feathery mullet that he has in the game the best. :D

The design and coloring of his sword is just so COOL. The oil-like iridescence, purple-black, is like corvid feathers.

What a lovely sketch, lovely pencilwork. ◕‿◕ his eyebrow is slightly raised and you can see here again that his nose is slightly 'crooked' (perhaps he's broken it in the past?). I love this sort of feature sm in every character that has it.

In this one his eyes are doing the glowing purple thing again. again he is not defeating the possessed/dead/abomination/-somethingelserelatedorsimilar-is-going-on with him allegations. this one has a hood in an Assassin's Creed sorta style and the general vibe is like a ninja. the shoulder pieces look feathery, and the cloak/coat looks like feathered wings or tailfeathers. this piece feels the most "The Demon of Vyrantium" in vibe hh 👁️ And are you guys seeing this?? Here it looks like has claws like Wolverine hh!! :D though he could simply also be holding multiple knives in between his fingers (of the sort you can see at his belt in another concept, I've put that one just below here to show them), or have a bladed gauntlet, etc.

This person coming at you in the night, no wonder the evil Venatori magisters are scared of him :)

Coffee, no doubt :) cool mug shape.

Bird design again on this leg-piece.

Left: a take on the now-iconic Antivan Crow bird-masks. really cool design. here it's giving Batman, it's giving masquerade ball. I really hope we see him wearing a Crow bird mask of this sort at some point during the game!! 🧎🕯️🧎 it's a big missed opportunity if not imo hh. Right: Lighthouse casual-wear, or something very close to it. his vibe in this art is also similar to his vibe in the Lighthouse group shot.

Veilguard symbol on his chest? some of the alternate outfits include a more Veilguardy purple to them, and this one reminds me of how the Veilguard symbol looks for Rook here for example.

Lastly, in this main one, his general shape is sooo triangular. :D and his face/expression here really captures this description of him from Tevinter Nights:

Lucanis stared ahead, focused and intense. He was the kind of man you couldn’t look away from—until he looked at you.

In this one I also get the sense of dark circles under his eyes, which is a trait that in fiction reminds me of coffee-drinkers. ^^

Emmrich

Both staffs in Emmrich's concept art are different to the one we see him with here, but the bigger one on the concept art is close to it.

In this concept it looks like Emmrich has a scar on his chin.

Left: without his jacket on, he looks so svelte. the gold parts on his boots/knees remind me of the gold headpieces fixed to walking dead in the Necropolis. they are also hexagonal in shape, which I've become convinced is part of Nevarra's visual design language (and therefore part of Nevarran architecture, fashion/culture etc. :D he has so many bracelets and rings. Center: he looks so happy here and in the one next to it! these versions of Emmrich seem to lean more to the purple side of his color palette. these ones have a sorta futuristic vibe. you can see some of the tools of his trade at his belt, and it's a different version of his staff. here the skull floats at the top of the staff and burns with green fire, rather than being fixed to the pole of the staff. Right: Emmrich with big hair! quiff-like, and it looks like a large part of it is white rather than gray.

in this alternate outfit he's wearing a work apron with tools of his trade on the front. he's holding a glass flask that is filled with green liquid and billowing green smoke. I wonder if Emmrich is skilled at alchemy? do you think he has a lab, or that his room in the Lighthouse might be filled with stuff like alembics?

Looking again at Emmrich's outfit in these arts - from the back, the back of his coat reminds me of depictions in art and tv/film of the blood eagle?? (if you are sensitive or squeamish to gore and things of that nature, please don't google that!). the lines on the back of his shoulders remind me of musculature. The repeating pieces down the center of the bottom part of his coat reminds me of a spine. and the back of his gold belt-piece from behind straight up looks like a pelvis. the skeleton and body imagery here is an amazing art direction/symbolism for him!! what a bigbrain idea. is that sort of detailing why the design of the front of his coat looks like someone's chest has been opened on an operating table?

also, the long coat reminds me of labcoats. :)

I wonder if the bracelets and things are a Nevarran cultural thing/common fashion in Nevarra, or more of just an Emmrich thing? ^^

lastly his expression in the one on the right is so gentle and kind.

Neve

There are two spots on Neve's page other than the text at the top that are blanked out/redacted. I wonder what they contained.

I love that they tried out differing concept/designs for the look of Neve's leg, and what looks like a stand for it as well. they're all really neat and you can see serpentine aspects in all of them. a person could also have more than one.

this image contains another great reference for Neve's wand-cane thing. here the orb in the middle looks like a big pearl, like from inside a mollusk. the ring around it is definitely evoking the body of a snake coiling.

The concept art contains a blond version of Neve. because of her ice powers, it reminds me a bit of Emma Frost (Marvel). look at that Neve's heeled boot, and the size of her hat!!

I prefer the Neve they decided to go with in the end. ♡♡ ^^

Taash

oh my goooood. breathing in and out rapidly into a paper bag. oh my godd. she looks sooo cool!! I'm posting the whole thing again here just bc omggg.

Most versions of Taash have the green crystal horn. her concept arts show versions with different skin colors. her eyes in some of them look green. I love all her different-version Lord of Fortune / Rivaini gold pieces. in the top-left hand version of her, her bigger shoulder-piece is really cool (the right-hand side one); it could at once be a piece of spiky dragon bone or a piece of a big spiky sea-shell (both ideas work perfectly for her character and background). I've said this before when talking about Taash's design, but I love the parrot-break design of one of her weapons. it's very piratey. in this page, we can see several different versions of the parrot-beak weapon. also, I love all her different facial expressions.

in the right-most Taash concept, the dragon tooth-like pointy bits on her gauntlets look like they're made out of gold, not tooth. her big piratey boots are so cool and they even have a gold coin on them! you can see the spike braided into the end of her ponytail, and in that drawing the dragonscale-looking parts of her iconic armor look even more scaley, owing to the way they graduate from a full covering of scales to a partial covering to not present (in a way that reminds of how on some fantasy arts of things like dragons, there can be softer/less protected areas of their hide with no or less scales, like towards their undersides):

The bottom-left most illustration looks like it might be her iconic armor, only seen from the back, which is good to have a reference of. the design of her sword scabbard is cool, it's like the segmented flat of a dragon or sea-serpent's tail. in that image it also looks like the eye of her parrot-weapon is matched by an eye on the scabbard. something about the designs of her sword and scabbard remind me of weapons like daos. from behind, it also looks like her gauntlets might have thicker armor on one-side, better protection for the upper side of her forearms. the fingers of her gauntlets also look taloned, in a way that reminds me of Fenris.

Okay now let's talk about the concept in the center at the top! this version has longer horns and more spikes in her ponytail, in fact the ponytail here looks like a dragon tail as a result. it reminds me of Flemeth's dragony hair from Dragon Age II onwards. this version also looks like she may have blue-ish facial tattoos, or it could be vitaar. it also looks like she may have a second, smaller set of horns. in this version, the red ropes are cyan-blue instead, and she not only has the spikes/teeth on her gauntlets, but also on her boots (knee 'pad' and the heel, like spurs). in this version, her swords are dragon wing-shaped, which is pretty metal. I can't tell if the triangular piece that hangs down in the center is from the front piece of her clothing or the back piece, but it gives the impression of a dragon tail.

Lastly, the concept in the center at the bottom: here her boots remind me a lot of Dragon Age II Isabela, who is of course, also a piratey type of character from Rivain. the giant axe here is cool, the shape of its blade also evokes the shape of a dragon wing and it looks like the handle might be made of bone. the way she's carrying the axe here reminds me a bit of how Iron Bull carries his weapon in this art piece. the teal and gold color scheme of this piece reminds me of the gold and blue/green of some Ancient Egyptian things, and round her neck it looks like she is wearing a torc.

[glacierclear]

If it's alright to ask, you mentioned in her bio that Otherday had a skewed and flawed impression on Selûnite worship. Can you please elaborate on that? Does Otherday not worship like other Selûnites? Does she not understand Selûne the moon goddess entirely?

(disclaimer: i have a pretty surface-level understanding of d&d religions and cultures, this is mostly based off what i can glean from baldur's gate in my time playing.)

otherday was born and raised in the underdark. she was neither seldarine nor lolth-sworn. she was abandoned by her birth parents for reasons unknown to her and was raised by a colony of myconid. as a kid, she'd explore on her own and stumbled on an old, dilapidated selunite outpost (similar to the one you find in-game, if not the same one) and was fascinated by the old journals/texts, artifacts and selunite symbology.

she could basically figure out that they worshiped the moon and someone named selune. and she picked up the basic teachings of acceptance and tolerance, and the mindset of being self-sufficient and humble.

her idea of a "moon" was a little off the rails. having never seen the sky, she figured the giant white circle she saw in all the murals WAS selune, and the depictions of the pretty white haired lady was just a different person. maybe they were friends, too, since every selunite loved having friends in her eyes.

and obviously, she has no idea what a "nightsong" or a "nightsinger" is. she's seen vague mentions of these things and probably thought selunites really just loved music. which made sense to her. even her myconid family loved to dance! all nice people must just be really good at dancing and singing.

most of her misconceptions are bizarre and goofy but ultimately harmless. i want to brainstorm more small misunderstandings because the idea is very silly to me.

she's a pacifist, and will aid and help anyone (even if it's the stupid/wrong choice to do so) and sees it less as a "religion" and more of a "family". she has no interest in spreading the faith or converting potential followers. she just never shuts up about how pretty the moon is and will be friends with anyone. the most intimate way to bond with her is stargazing under the full moon with her.

most notably, she has almost no understanding of the complicated history between selune and shar. she holds no stigma against sharrans and, in that same vein, is confused when sharrans react negatively towards her outward passion towards selune.

it's like rain on glass to her, though. she has the mental fortitude of a cinder block and takes almost no insult to her "religion" or character to heart.

[matchstickcosplay]

LRT or reblog or whatever with the Arcane posters and Jinx switching from the protected to the protector

Jinx's role as the protected sister has been important to their dynamic in so many ways. She is so used to having someone be there in case she falls, but also someone holding her back. Silco, Vi, even Vander. Jinx has never learned how to be herself. She wanted to be like her big sister growing up because she saw the acceptance Vi had from the other kids and she wanted that. (Vi didn't necessarily want this, but I can talk about that in a different post.) Jinx wanted to make Silco happy, so she devoted herself to making sure she made her dad proud. Jinx without Silco and without Vi and without Vander is the first time Jinx is able to discover who she actually is.

With the time she spent with Isha and Sevika, she could CHOOSE if she wanted to be a martyr and a symbol for Zaun. She could CHOOSE to spend her time helping Vi and Vander. She could CHOOSE to even take some time to herself with Isha and play with action figures and heal her inner child. Jinx IS always bombastic, loves bright colors, comes up with incredible inventions, and cares deeply about the people in her life. Through discovering who she was, she discovered her courage and what is important to her.

Isha helped her realize what Vi had been going through. It directly mirrors Vi's experience - seeing your younger sister, someone who you felt an incredible deep need to protect, jump into the battle because she wanted to be just like You. Catastrophe happens, she wasn't able to prevent it, and its because her younger sister made a choice.

After being thrown in jail just like Vi, she's able to consider the mixed emotions she had toward Isha. Back when she was "abandoned" by Vi, she only understood her own hurt. This time, she sees how easy it is to be angry with someone for making a stupid and reckless decision they were too young to even be considering making. She finally understands that Vi had just been trying to make sure she was safe.

Vi, on the other hand, has been instructed since she was a kid that the others look up to her. Vander's lecture would play in her head about how she sets an example for all the other kids. "You say run, they run." She feels so deeply responsible for Jinx's safety, and it was the only thing that she was able to think about while she was in prison.

Vi being able to discover who she is meant letting go of that responsibility she felt for Jinx. She had to let go of the unjust guilt she felt for not being able to protect her. Vi needed to be selfish and go after something SHE wanted. Vi had to hit rock bottom to discover she didn't know who she was because she had been fighting what she truly wanted with her duty tied to a promise to a dead man.

Thats why its so important that Jinx is able to tell Vi "you deserve to be happy with her." I've been seeing a lot of people say this scene is out of place for Jinx's character but its not. She's finally absolving Vi of her guilt and telling her its okay to be selfish. Jinx has matured to realize that Vi still loves her even if she loves someone else.

(This is even more highlighted in the previous alternative universe episode where Powder remarks about her sister upon seeing Ekko paint a mural for her. "Not my sister" - and talks about how she was always scared for everyone and that's why she fought so hard. Jinx will always understand Vi eventually.)

Jinx has finally gone from being the younger sister needing protection to seeing Vi for who she is and not how hurt she was from her perception of Vi. She goes from being protected by Vi to being a protector. Vi is finally allowed to be protected and not feel responsible for everyone. The series has always been about the sisters and being able to understand each other and their love. They were finally starting to approach each other on equal footing and thats why Jinx is such a tragedy.

Maybe one day we will get a poster of them just holding each other equally.

[hoboblaidd]

Before I start diving into the new lore, I want to make a note about sources of information. We have multiple sources on Solas' character arc in the games and books that are both explicit, implied, or hearsay (which I declare admissible on this blog lol). I'll be drawing on all of them to inform my headcanons. But we got one very new and unique source that merits its own discussion.

MAJOR Veilguard spoilers below the cut.

That new and unique source is Solas himself - that is, his memories. We have two kinds of memories that I want to distinguish: those we find in the crossroads that we play through ("Memories"), and those revealed by his statue fragments that are illuminated by the murals ("Regrets").

Memory is a fallible thing that is colored by time and emotion, especially an emotion like fear or regret. He's not selling anyone a lie here, not even himself, but that doesn't mean they're any more true than your memories or mine.

Cassandra: You say you've witnessed past events in the Fade, Solas--or the memories of them. But the Fade distorts reality. Surely it cannot offer a true reflection of what occurred. Solas: Are your own memories any different? The truth is never precise, regardless of where you are.

I find the Memories to be closer to "truth" than the Regrets. There is no agenda in the memories. We see him make good and morally bankrupt decisions, we see his fear, anger, and joy, we see Felassan aghast at him and the desperation of the doomed Tarasahl. If he's selling something in these Memories, it's a more three-dimensional view of the good and bad he did in the name of rebellion.

His Regrets he buried within the Fade - often within the other Memories - so he didn’t have to confront them. But their presentation is different from the Memories. The big tells are the characterizations of the two key players: Mythal, who is on a pedestal even when she's at her worst (apotheosis); and Solas , who is always portrayed as mournful. I'm sure he is and was then, but these Regrets show no other emotion but regret. That's far less three-dimensional than the Memories we play through. So to me, these Regrets are more feeling than fact.

The way I view the veracity of Regrets is that they are the truth as he remembers it beneath the cloud of a single emotion. They are, no more and no less, his regrets.

However, I don’t give much more credence than the above to Evanuris-Mythal’s opinion about the veracity of Solas' memories: “You saw the recollection he cultivated like a tree twisting to catch the sun.”

Yes, memory is fallible. Yes, the real events probably transpired differently than what we hear. And yes, these are more likely Solas' emotions than true memory. But the Evanuris fragment of Mythal is just as fallible as his Regrets - that is, based on her own emotions of arrogance and self-righteous anger.

So. Do I think Solas' memories and regrets are 100% historically accurate? Not at all. They are his emotions made manifest. Do I discount them entirely because of what the Evanuris fragment of Mythal said? Absolutely not. The truth, like their motivations, is somewhere in the middle.

[otakween]

Digimon Frontier: Island of Lost Digimon

This was actually pretty fun! It wasn't the strongest Digimon movie by a long shot, but it was good as a Frontier side story. It was nice to see them revisit the whole "beast digimon vs. human digimon" conflict that they didn't do much with in the show. Also, I got to see my Digimon World 3 friends again! They were super cute.

Notes:

I enjoyed Izumi humming Funiculi Funicula in the intro to the movie. For a split second I thought it was Bolero and was about to throw hands lol.

What the HECK were they riding on in the opening? It wasn't really a Trailmon it was more like a Mike Wazowski themed rail cart. They, of course, never explained.

This movie's aesthetic was really weird. I don't know if it was necessarily higher quality animation. It kinda looked like they took the usual level of quality and put a "cinema" filter over it or something. Also some of the "shots" were weirdly cropped and almost blurry. IDK if that's just because there isn't a clean copy on the internet or if it was a stylistic choice. At least the characters are super on model, which is more than I can say for the show!

Speaking of animation quality, they were a little too obsessed with using CGI in this movie. It looked really bad and added nothing lol. Also, what was with the neon disco rave tanks? They felt extremely out of place.

Once again we get a lot of unnecessary focus on Izumi's butt...

So many new (or new-ish) background digimon! I kept being like "ooh, who's that?" I really liked the bunny-with-razors-for-ears design. It's funny how they debut new digimon in the movies and games, it almost feels like they're testing them out.

The original title is more like "The Revival of the Ancient Digimon." I can see why they would change that cuz it sort of feels like a big spoiler.

Kotemon and Bearmon were super cute. It was exciting to see their anime forms. They had really nice voices as well (in Japanese and English). Kinda wish I had watched this before DW3 instead of the other way around, whoops!

They used the exact same plot of "evil character encourages war to resurrect evil monster via the sacrifice of many" in the isekai series I'm Standing on a MIllion Lives. Makes me wonder how many fantasy series have used that. It must be a more common trope than I thought.

Why does this one digimon look like Impmon and My Melody had a baby?

The whole "beast vs. human" thing still feels silly when half of the "human" side doesn't actually look that human. I could totally see Dinohumon be considered a "beast" in a different series. (Maybe it's a metaphor for how racism is dumb and makes no logical sense).

The visual of digieggs flying and baby digimon being all over the place due to the ongoing war was interesting. I guess they couldn't go to the Village of Beginnings because the island is blocked off from the rest of the digital world?

One CGI scene literally looked like the 3D maze screensaver from Windows 98 lol

Kinda rolled my eyes when Bokomon said that Murmukusmon (what a mouthful) could turn into any digimon. What OP power will they think of next? Also, we only saw him digivolve into two digimon, so I'm not that impressed.

That final battle was pure chaos and I had a lot of trouble following wth was going on. I didn't know why AncientGreymon/AncientGarurumon were suddenly there so I googled it. Apparently it was due to "the power of Kotemon's sacrifice and Bearmon's tears"...riiiight. Shounen movie logic.

AncientGreymon looks amazing and AncientGarurumon looks..aight lol. I'm totally biased to prefer beast-like digimon

Kinda anticlimactic to have two "spirits" do the dirty work instead of our heroes, not gonna lie. Maybe if we had met AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon before and had some level of emotional attachment to them it would have been more impactful.

The new mural with the Frontier MCs and Bearmon/Kotemon at the end was cute

[rustyironskillet]

Day 10: Mausoleum

I didn't really know what to do with mausoleum, the first time I think I actually heard about it was in a book I read recently. So I decided since I have no other ideas, crossover time! This is for me more then anyone.

TW: This contains some spoiler from Scum Villain Self-Saving System's 2 vol, if you have not finished it and decided to read it anyways, don't cry to me when I spoil one of the funnest characters.

When Danny awoke he was in a coffin. Which was relatively weird since he fell asleep in his bed.

Did someone think he died? Did they bury him? Why hadn’t Sam and Tucker stopped them?

Danny needed answers, so he quickly went intangible before rising 6ft off of his coffin and out of the ground to find… he was in mid air. He looked down and saw that instead of being underground, his coffin was on a pedestal of sorts.

Danny floated back to the ground and took a look around his surroundings. The room was dark but it looked like he was in a dungeon. Seeing as there was a coffin in it, a lot of precious items, like gold, silver, and gemstones, and that the walls were covered in a mural of some tough looking dude, Danny surmised he was in a mausoleum. 

Since it didn’t seem to be his, he decided to leave this room and try to look for an exit. As he stepped out of the room, a weird candle turned on and emitted a low dark green glow. It didn’t seem to have any mechanism that would turn it on but something about it seemed strangely magical.

As Danny continued to observe the candles, thinking to himself which of his enemies would do this to him, he heard weird groaning noises. Looking past the candle into the hallway before him, Danny was a horde of what looked like zombies approaching him. 

On instinct, he shifted into his ghost form to prepare for a fight. But as soon as he did, the candle next to him went out, and the horde stopped approaching, and began to just mill around.

Confused about the what just happened but also wanting the get the fuck out of there, Danny ripped the candle of the wall and began to fly over the zombies as he tried to find an exit. As he flew through the twists and turns of the mausoleum, which was starting to feel more like a labyrinth, Danny noticed a small light down one hallway.

Since the candles only lit up over certain circumstances, which Danny was theorizing to only light up if someone living was around, he sped over to the source.

Once he arrived, Danny realized it wasn’t another candle but light seeping through the crevices of a door. Even though he was a bit nervous about why someone might be down here, he was getting really scared being all by himself, so he shifted back into a human and took a deep breath before walking into the room.

Surprisingly, it was empty.

The only inhabitant seemed to be a green snake, which quickly slithered behind the coffin in the center of the room. Like the one Danny woke up in, this room was filled with precious items, a huge mural, and a coffin at the center. The only differences were that the theme of the items and decoration was different then the previous, which made sense since it was for a different person, and that there were torches lighting every inch of the room.

As Danny continued to look around the room in confusion, the coffin in the center suddenly began to open.

Slowly and slowly, it was opened by an invisible force, leaving Danny transfixed to the spot, horrified of what would come out.

Finally, the thing in the coffin sat up and began to speak,

“Immortal Master Shen Qingqiu, how lovely is it to see you-”

The thing, more specifically a handsome older dude in some kind of traditional asian dress (Danny should have paid more attention in history), looked over at him before a surprised look apearch across his face and he cut himself off.

“Umm… who are you?” “BITCH, WHO ARE YOU?!?!”

Explanation for not SVSSS fans: The candles are called Last Breath Candle and are fueled by someones breath. The light brings the Blind corpses, which attacks any intruders when th lights are on.

[animehouse-moe]

A Sign of Affection Episode 2: To Affection

God, there's so much to talk about with this episode. Ajia-Do and Morishita have absolutely maximized the potential of anime as a medium in expressing this story to its fullest, and that leaves me with endless amounts of things to talk about, so I really just want to get right to it.

How about I talk about Yuki's world first. This is a very very broad topic, but I think it's incredibly important in understanding other aspects of this story.

Yuki herself expresses a very key point: she doesn't want her hearing to define her world. It's not that she detests it or anything, but that she has an insatiable desire to explore a world outside of her own, and the episode expresses that wonderfully.

Also, can I just speak on the visuals for this sequence really quick? Incredible double edged sword. The idea of the glass mural as a reflection of the outside while providing visuals of Yuki's experience at the school for the Deaf that she went to is phenomenal. It alludes to the fact that a greater world exists outside of what she's experience as a person so far, but intends to reflect the protected world that Yuki's only experienced up until now. Really really incredible idea of framing her experience and desire to grow within something so simple.

Anyways, that desire manifests in her decision to go to college, to experience the things that she only saw in TV dramas or manga, to explore a life outside everything that she's known up until now.

So that explains Yuki's approach to life post-secondary school, but there's so much more to her experience of that life. We as viewers are secondary to the characters of this world, and the series continues to express that wonderfully through perspective.

Where you might use visual isolation to express a character's focus, A Sign of Affection takes it a step further, in several senses of the word. The idea of Yuki's "focus" differs from the way that a traditional anime will focus in on something. While both worlds are honed down to their essentials, the idea is expressed much more casually and symbolically with Yuki. And of course, it hinges on her hearing. At times, when with the perspective of another character, we'll hear a lot of background noise- people talking in different languages, the clamor of a busy room, and all sorts of other things- but all the while we'll remain visually isolated from that noise. It's a wonderful expression of the layered approach to Yuki's world. Visually we're meant to follow her experience, but there's time where the episode wants to emphasize the difference that hearing makes in a scene, and it's great. It's a perfect balance of all sorts of things that adds a great deal to how we contextualize the scenes in which Yuki focuses on things like Itsuomi.

And then there's the more explicit and spoken aspects. In the same way that there's style and intonation to speaking, Yuki points out those aspects within sign language to add more depth to the experience. Instead of stumbling over her words, Yuki talks about how her fingers are moving awkwardly, or how Oushi's (her childhood friend) sign language tends to be very pointed but also has more frail and weak pieces that betray his concern over Yuki.

I really love these sequences because in the same way that you might look to a face for emotional expression, they keep that focus on the hands to express the slightest details for viewers to cue in on. It's such a wonderfully conscious execution of the work.

You know what, since we're on Oushi we'll start the dive into his character because boy is it good.

He's meant to be the childhood friend of Yuki, and you immediately grasp the connection that the two share as we begin with a translation of their sign language conversation between one another before moving into fully voiced dialogue. It's really really great at showing the experience and understanding the pair share, and is perfect against the backdrop of the lack of translation when either uses sign language with another person.

It shows the lengths that Oushi goes to communicating with Yuki and Yuki alone, and that his goal is to explicitly meet Yuki where he believes her to be most comfortable.

And that's a hugely important idea. It's not necessarily that Yuki herself prefers talking exclusively in sign language, but that Oushi engages with her exclusively through it. The context clues given in regards to other characters greatly supports this. Her mother talks directly to her and Yuki will sometimes use a white board to communicate, Rin and Yuki use a mix of sign language and typing to communicate, and even with Itsuomi there is a variation in how they converse.

And that idea is perfectly personified by this comment made by Oushi later on.

This series is all about Yuki's world, and how people view and interact with Yuki within that context. And in this case, Oushi believes that Yuki's world needs to be protected no matter what. That she's a frail girl that lives in a dangerous world and that she shouldn't be putting herself at risk like that.

It's just such a great and nuanced idea to place in the series. Oushi's seen Yuki grow and develop from a young girl, maybe even struggle with learning or meeting the world head on. He still sees the young girl that could struggle or be alone out there, and he can't shake that idea from his head. He'll always see Yuki as that even though Yuki has shed that form.

And then the episode places that sentiment against Itsuomi? Incredible incredible idea. Where Oushi represents a closed off world for Yuki, Itsuomi is the representation of her dream to experience something greater. He meets her head on and engages with her in neutral terms. That is, he'll interact with her both in how he's interested in (e.g a lot of physical contact and proximity) and in how Yuki prefers. He puts effort into learning sign language, simplifies his sentences to make it easier to read lips, but then he'll also use text a good deal in the same way that Yuki does.

That value in how the two approach interaction with Yuki creates a wonderful picture that's summarized with how Yuki views her experiences in their respective worlds. Oushi's is a very gray and lonely one, while Itsuomi's is a open and bright blue sky.

And let's not forget Rin! I love her character and her engagement with Yuki, you can really feel the depth of their friendship vs Oushi and Itsuomi.

Rin initiates a lot of conversation with physical touch (like tapping on the table or poking Yuki), and makes sure to use a good deal of visual cues when talking verbally. She also has no issues with conversing over text, but she's a little less inclined to work with sign language. And then there's the idea of Yuki sharing emotions via physical contact, it's a really subtle idea but it's wonderful expression of her character and her familiarity with Rin.

All the same though, Rin is still learning and making mistakes here and there, as Oushi points out. It's a simple piece, but it's really great at showing that while nobody's perfect, it doesn't mean that you can't learn or grow within that context.

And just to tie a neat bow on this before I can go off the deep end and talk even more about things: this little bit of symbolism with birds.

For reference, this bird is a Japanese Wagtail, so the it's not just the idea of freedom that's expressed with these birds.

Of course the first image is meant to embody that idea as Yuki and Itsuomi out in a wide open blue sky, but the second image provides much more detail and value.

For example, the idea that one bird exists in shadow while the other is in light. It's the simple idea of the separation between Itsuomi and Yuki while Itsuomi is in Laos. You can also take the idea of them sitting on tree branches versus in the sky as a lack of freedom or openness because Itsuomi isn't around for Yuki.

Anyways, a Japanese Wagtail is a bird that within Eastern cultures such as Japan, is meant to symbolize the ideas of hope, renewal, and perseverance.

Evidently, the species of bird isn't the piece that symbolizes the romance, but rather the resilience of Yuki within this context. However, you could take the idea of how aggressively wagtails defend their territory from other potential suitors as the idea of the bond or romantic connection forming between Yuki and Itsuomi, but that's a totally different story.

But there it is, another incredible episode of A Sign of Affection. It's really outstanding how well Ajia-Do and Morishita have come together to create such a full bodied experience for viewers. Such a fulfilling and enjoyable experience.

[zippy-reacts]

Sonic the Comic Liveblog: Issue 100

Here we are at Issue 100! Let's hope it's a great one!

Aww, they gave the mascot a party hat!

So I was right in my guess! This can't be without problems though. For starters, what's gonna happen to Shortfuse?

I think this panel is like… the epitome of Fleetway Super Sonic

It's great that the Freedom Fighters are getting a massive victory like this. Of course, the fight against Robotnik will likely continue considering there's A LOT more issues to go

??? since fucking when does he have laser eyes??

Well, at least the explosion did something to him. He'd be OP as fuck otherwise

I was wondering about that actually. Nice to know the answer.

*sad trombone noises *

Omni third-wheeling in the background

Yeahhhhh he'll be caught for about two issues tops then he'll break free

That expression on Sonic is so goofy. He looks like a cheap theme park mascot costume

This is another one of those StC plot elements that I was super vaguely kinda aware of before hand; of Super powering down and becoming more chill. Guess this is my answer for how it happened.

Yep, figured Grimer would be the key to escaping.

Christ, I knew Robotnik's capture wouldn't last long but getting free in the same issue was faster than I thought it'd be.

Having one long story in this issue illustrated by different artists every few pages is certainly a neat idea, but it also kinda creates a bigger dissonance in the artstyles if that makes sense? Like we saw these same guys in the same setting looking completely different like two pages ago, it feels a little jarring.

I'm not a big fan of the way this artist draws the characters, but I'd be lying if I said that top panel with the explosion didn't look great.

This kid painted this wall mural all by himself! That's impressive. It reminds me of how my dad did something similar to my bedroom walls when I was a young kid, albeit with Snow White and the seven dwarves rather than Sonic.

[morimakesfanart]

Lucid Dream 2024 July 21 -Amusement Park Inspection

I was going around an amusement park that was set up like a town the way Disney does it. The theme of the park was animated series I'd seen, so there was anime, and American and European cartoons referenced at the same time. As I went around I had an odd sense of superiority/ownership. I couldn't tell if it was the fact that I was Lucid dreaming so I knew I could do whatever I want, or if my place in the dream world had some type of ownership over the park. I had been set up with a scavenger hunt to help show me around the park and see all the small details. For the SH I was given a pair of 3D glasses that would be needed to see hidden messages around the park. Most of the messages were names of characters or events that were set up as statues or murals around the park. The ones I remember most clearly were the end. "Agent in the Sky" that lead me to the castle from Spy X Family. Climbing up the castle gave a great view of the park but I couldn't spot anything until I was on the way down and saw a Perry the Platypus ((Phineas and Ferb)) statue hanging outside one of the windows. The glasses revealed a message on his tail "CHILCHUCK" ((Dungeon Meshi)).

So I headed for the only bar I saw on the map -based on Quindecim from Death Parade. That whole building had rooms dedicated to characters that like drinking, so of course there was a room for Sinbad. A large sliding door cabinet for wine had a layered wooden carving of Sinbad's Focalor Full Body Djinn Equip. It was stained wood, but painted to get the tones. It was gorgeous craftsmanship.

While studying it I caught a glimpse of what I was wearing in the reflection on the window. It was pretty much the design I made for my final arc outfit in Sindria's Prophet, only with a few added flourishes. The biggest difference from my og design was that I had a jeweled broach over my heart that had peacock feathers out the top.

When I got to the bar I saw that there were characters on the coasters, and realized I had to order the right drink to get the one with Chilchuck on it. Since I'm allergic to most alcohol on the menu I ordered something I thought was the Chilchuck drink, and another that I could actually have. It was a lemon lime soda with frozen fruit sorbet pressed into gemstone shapes in a thin but tall glass with a straw. It was cute and refreshing. I'm not sure what series it was for though.

A guy that reminded me of [a friend's ex] sat next to me and started talking at me. By the way he was eyeing me I could tell he was trying to showoff or flirt. He was rambling about the making of the park and all the tech things that when into it. At least he had good taste as a fellow Simpbad and told me all about the Magi parts so I could go find those later. I was an obvious Simpbad from my outfit. But then he started mansplaining my drink choices at me, and got disrespectful of people with allergies. The asshole was going off on how I "couldn't truly appreciate Sinbad" like he could because I don't drink things I can't verify.

I was done with the scavenger hunt after that line and stood up. "You realize Sinbad isn't going to fuck you, right?"

His brow furrowed and he turned in his seat to keep facing me. "He isn't going to fuck you either! Everyone knows he's settled down now."

I rolled my eyes as I took out a shellphone and walked off. I went back to the wine room with the wood Sinbad to make my call. I called someone I knew wasn't currently in a meeting. "One of Sin's fanboys is here and pissed me off. I want to leave. Send someone to come get me and make it flashy. I want to show off who my husband is."

After a few mins one of the Sindria Company private airships flew over head and got close to the building. The side of the hull opened up and Sinbad was standing in it smiling at me. Even though I knew he couldn't hear me at that distance I still said out loud, "You didn't have to come personally, you know."

He let down a cloth rope for me to grab and pulled me up. One hand instantly wrapped around my waist to support me when I was in range. The other held onto the frame of the door. "So you want to show off your husband, huh?"

I returned his cheeky smile with my own. "Yeah."

He laughed. "Did I do a good job?"

"This is far more than enough."

He leaned down and lifted me slightly so his face was closer to mine. "Then can I get my reward?"

I used one had to stroke his cheek. "Of course." And when we kissed I used the other hand to direct a middle finger at the window of the bar.

Sinbad laughed when he caught what I was doing before finally closing the door to the ship. The kiss was definitely part of showing off.

((I laughed when I woke up at how this ended. My only regret was taking months to have the time to draw it))

[darkhymns-fic]

No Longer Just a Church Girl

Vaggie is busy going through a religious crisis and questioning her place. Meanwhile, Charlie the occult enthusiast whirlwinds into her life to offer her an alternate path: a rehabilitation club! That, or, she just really wants to ask her out.

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel Characters/Pairing: Charlie Morningstar/Vaggie Rating: T Word Count: 3515 Mirror: AO3 Notes: Written for the alternate universe prompt for Hellaverse Sapphics Week happening on twitter! Also, seemed fun to put Vaggie into my own disillusioned Catholic experiences.

--

A church feels really different when no one is around, she thought.

Vaggie could hear every creak and bend in the wood from the surrounding pews. She did all she could to not move as much in her seat, but only succeeded in hitting her sole against the footrest before her. The stained glass windows above seemed even larger than before, along with the empty spaces between each color, from pale white to deep-seated red. She craned her neck, catching each detail of the painted filigree mural just past the wooden beams.

Now by herself, with her face still aching, it all seemed just too much. Just being in here was exhausting.

She couldn’t remember the last time she actively enjoyed being in this place. But also, where else could she even go?

What a time to have a religious conflict.

Maybe what happened next was a strange blessing in disguise, one that tore Vaggie away from her swirling thoughts, who looked upon the symbols of the church and saw only shapes instead of what they represented. When she heard the large church doors open, their hinges squeaked loudly, echoing within the space like a discordant bell. Also, whoever opened those doors did it slowly, as if having trouble. 

Or maybe they were trying to do a grand entrance.

Vaggie gave a deep sigh, her headache deepening. She knew one person who would do such a ridiculous thing.

“Hijo de… Adam. I already told you that I’m not going back—”

She rounded over her shoulder, but the annoying frat boy face she’d had to endure for too many years was not what she saw at first glance.

Instead, it was this girl with stunning blonde hair.

“Oof, this seems a little overkill,” came a mutter that sounded oddly adorable. Once past the door threshold, Vaggie got a better look. The girl’s outfit was a little peculiar, for Vaggie didn’t know many women who just wore suspenders like that, but coupled with a white dress shirt, it was oddly a little stylish. Like she was going to a dress-up party, or maybe even a meeting. It was kinda ruined by the pastel-colored messenger bag the girl carried, the one with the weird goat charms hanging off the strap.

Wait, she knew those goat charms. She’d seen them back at campus.

“Whoa…” The girl looked around the church, eyeing the stained glass, as well as the votive candles that were placed within the recesses of the walls, along with one depiction of the Pieta. “This is so exotic!”

Vaggie cleared her throat, which of course sounded too loud within the church air. “Charlie?”

“Ah!!” The girl turned quickly, like she’d been caught. Vaggie left her seat at the pew to stand in the aisle before her. She unconsciously reached to cover the bandage that was wrapped over her right eye, but her hair was already doing that for her anyway.

“It-It’s fine! Um, are you here for service? The next one starts this evening if you’re wondering.”

Not that she’d ever even seen Charlie in church before. Was she a new convert?

The girl blinked, and then, the biggest smile stretched across her face. The soft lighting from the rafters fell across her rosy cheeks. Her eyes seemed to gleam as well—with red. That was another odd thing about her, how she seemed to wear red contacts that definitely gave her a weird vibe. Also, was she wearing fake fangs? That was new. Or did she alter them…?

“Oh, Vaggie! I was hoping you’d be here! I lost you a bit when I followed you from the campus grounds, but then I remembered you wore a crucifix so I figured—”

“Wait,” Vaggie interrupted. “Were you stalking me?”

“Whaaat, pft, no! Noooo…” Charlie fixed a lock of hair behind her hair. “Maybe?”

“Eh.” Vaggie shrugged. “Been stalked by worse.” And hit those that did. Charlie was at least a pleasant surprise.

“A-Anyway! I’ve been trying to reach you but  you always leave our classes so fast. And I wanted to extend this invitation personally!”

Charlie didn’t seem to have any sort of volume control on her voice. Church acoustics were for hearing the preacher go on about their sins, the choir singing the same songs she’d known since she was a child, as well as those who joined the hymns and turned to wish good will on their neighbor with a fake smile. It was not meant for someone who was happy-yelling and seemed absolutely genuine in that fact.

Maybe Vaggie was still feeling a little bitter about things. Sure, Charlie’s voice was kinda loud but at least it was keeping her awake. “So… is this like a party or…?”

“Even better!” And with that, Charlie reached into her way too cutesy messenger bag and pulled out a pamphlet made from cheap paper. Oh, she recognized that cheap paper too. So Charlie must have been at the campus after hours unlike most people.

Charlie was smiling so wide and with such watery and devilishly red eyes that Vaggie would have felt like a complete jerk if she didn’t accept it. Pamphlet in hand, (after a miss or two. She was still getting used to her new sense of perspective now with only one eye working), she peered down at the front where it looked like Charlie had discovered clip art and had gone mad in plastering it all over the place, nearly overtaking the actual text. There was also glitter sprinkled all over the page, much of it loose and already getting on Vaggie’s fingers.

A happy place for everyone!

Join the Happy Brigade at Morningstar College and turn that frown upside down!

A first-ever rehabilitation club of its kind!! 

(Rehabilitate; verb, re•ha•bil•i•tate: to restore to good repute–)

She shook her head at the sudden definition drop, but one thing definitely stuck out here.

“...A rehabilitation club?” Vaggie read out loud, as if doing so would help it make more sense. It didn’t.

“Yes, that’s it!” Charlie said so quickly, ready to burst with excitement. She was stretching up on the toes of her shoes up and down. “I’m making a new club! The Happy Brigade!”

Vaggie’s answer was silence, still wondering if what she was experiencing was some fever dream. Charlie took that to mean criticism.

“Okay, the name needs a little bit of work, yes, but the message of the club is clear! We’re here to help rehabilitate other people into a better life and kick them from their bad habits! All after class time!”

“That sounds illegal.”

“Oh, don’t worry! My dad pulled a few strings so it’s all in the clear!”

Did she mean her dad, the head dean of their college? Yeah, that made sense. For an important faculty member, the man was rarely ever in the building. And when he was, he would just go visit Charlie in her classes, which got distracting enough for a few professors to kick him out during a lesson.

“And we already got a few club members too! There’s Anthony, and that man who calls himself Husk for some reason, and—”

“The dude who hangs out at the red light district?” Vaggie uttered in shock. “And the drunk who got caught sneaking in vodka bottles on college grounds?”

“Yeah! So you know them too?”

“I know of them.” When people had reputations like that, it was hard not to know…

“We also have Mrs. Niffty. She offered to help clean up the library room we’ll be using. I guess her husband has been away for a while so she has a lot of free time on her hands!”

Niffty’s marriage was one to question, especially if a husband of hers had disappeared suddenly.

“That funny Pentious guy is also joining! Though it’s sorta forced since he blew up one of the science rooms, but I’m sure this will definitely help his parole!”

That was the man from England who looked like he came out of some steampunk convention and who definitely had a few screws loose…

“Oh, and guess what? We even got Alastor! He says he’ll help us promote our club during the radio program he holds at school. Isn’t that great?”

Vaggie blinked. “You got the creepy guy.”

“He’s not that creepy. Just enthusiastic!”

Yeah, and the rumors of him having decapitated heads in his freezer was also just as widespread. How the fuck that guy was still allowed to stay enrolled, she’d never know. She was pretty sure even the dean hated his guts.

Hearing Charlie list out the members, Vaggie was once again reminded how the community college they all attended wasn’t exactly a prestigious place. Not only was the college rumored to be some sort of Satanic cult meeting place, (it had been first established in the 80’s and would have definitely fit the whole Satanic panic that had been prevalent then) they had all sorts of people in their classes, many of them from all walks of life, and in their later years of life as well. Charlie and Vaggie were more of the outliers, typical college age while everyone else jumped up and down from incredibly suspiciously young housewives to seventy year-old deadbeats that gambled away what’s left of their social security checks.

And Charlie was putting the most…colorful of them in one single room—to rehabilitate. This girl must have had a death wish.

Then again, clubs were such a rare thing at their college. And Vaggie always had to leave straight from classes to attend church services and the like.

Well, she used to at least.

She looked at the paper once more with its shoddy printing, the text already having faded from all the clip art Charlie wasted the ink on. “Look, I appreciate it, but…”

Then when she lifted her head, she noticed something that had been hidden by Charlie’s hair, now gleaming around her neck, hanging by a black cord.

“Are you…wearing a pentagram?” Vaggie stared at her blankly. “In here?”

Yeah, maybe those cult rumors had some truth to it.

The manic enthusiasm Charlie had been exuding seemed to vanish. She looked like she was sweating bullets, her pale face turning even paler.

“Um, hold on! It’s not a Satanic thing! I swear!” She hurriedly put away the pentagram-shaped necklace back underneath her shirt. “I just really like studying the occult! I don’t hate God or anything! Religion is cool!”

“Don’t say that,” Vaggie deadpanned. “You know it’s not cool.”

That caught Charlie off-guard, who seemed to be in conflict with agreeing with her and also protesting that no way, of course the thing that she was brought up into her entire life without her consent was cool! The girl was kind of a people pleaser, wasn’t she? 

Vaggie sighed, then handed the pamphlet back to Charlie. “Listen, I know you’re inviting me because you think I also need something in me fixed.” 

She not-so-subtly gestured to her bandage. It was wrapped a bit haphazardly, and a lot of gauze was used. To try and hide away such a grievous loss.

“But I don’t really feel like being someone's guinea pig for her new obsession. Sounds like you got plenty of others for that anyway. I’ve…got a lot on my plate.”

Even if there was something broken in her now. Aimless, even. But she didn’t want to give anyone that power over her again.

But while in her talk, she looked away, half in shame. And when she turned back to Charlie, she nearly jumped at the incredibly kicked puppy-dog expression on her face.

“Vaggie, that’s—!” Charlie sniffled, wiping away her tears with her fingers, which Vaggie just noted now were decked in black nail polish. “It…has to do with this place, doesn’t it? That’s so brave of you…”

“What? No, I just volunteer here part-time,” she answered. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. “Do you need a tissue?”

“Ah no, I’m good! I’m good!” Charlie took out what looked like a rainbow-patterned handkerchief and blew her nose on it. “Sorry, I just get moved very easily…”

“...Okay, but you get what I’m saying, right? I don’t want to join your club. So, unless you’re staying here for service or answering our ad for a new organist player, you don’t need to be here.”

Charlie wiped at her face once more, her low ponytail coming just slightly undone. “I mean, I did come here because I figured something has happened with you. Especially, um, with all the rumors about your ex-boyfriend—”

“He’s not my boyfriend. Or my ex!” Vaggie made a quick cutting gesture with her hands. “Ay, carajo. Just, ew. No. We only go to this church together with Lute.”

“...Oh!” Charlie blinked. “Ohhhh.” Then she shook her head. “Wait, I'm getting off-track! What I meant to say is, I just, um, wanted you to come personally! Because… I want to hang out with you more?”

Vaggie raised an eyebrow. “So you made a club to do that?”

“Yes! I mean, no? I mean, I thought, why not kill two birds with one stone! Except I don’t condone killing, of course. Not here in this house of God!” Charlie put her hands on her hips, lips pressed firm and blinking rapidly. “Is that the right term? I’m sorry if I’m blaspheming, I don’t mean to.”

She seemed to really think she would be struck down by lightning if she said the wrong things. Then why would she still bring in a pentagram? Vaggie thought.

Then she thought back to all those times they’d been in class together. (They attended Music Theory together under Professor Moxxie, who was definitely some has-been theater performer whose plays never got top billing). The way Charlie would always lend her a pen to take notes with, even though she never asked her? And also that time she wanted to team up with her on an assignment, or practice a song together even though the class wasn’t even about singing? Charlie was weird, and very energetic, and could almost be described as aggressively friendly, sometimes getting so close that she couldn’t help but catch the scent of lavender…

…And that was when Vaggie realized she might not exactly be as straight as an arrow, and had to work that out along with all her other religious crises that were rapidly piling up.

“I’m sorry, are you mad at me?”

“Huh?” Vaggie realized she had just been staring off into space, leaving Charlie hanging with that mixture of hope and dread in her eyes. What was she hoping for? And for that matter, what was she dreading?

“I—I’m not mad, just… why me?” Vaggie tried not to pick at her bandages again. Not like it mattered, she was going to be a cyclops forever. “You don’t really seem like the type to enjoy going to Mass.”

“I can too! If that’s what you’re into!” Charlie looked around the church, until her eyes just latched onto the altar where the hanging cross was placed which she took a few steps toward. “I am also okay with the whole thing about worshiping a method of torture. Oh shit, did I just blaspheme again?”

“Kinda, I guess?” Vaggie found herself smiling a little. This girl was so dense. “But God’s the forgiving type now so I’m sure He’ll let it slide.”

“Phew, okay! …Wait, what do you mean now?”

“It’s a long story. Seriously.” Vaggie flicked a glance to the double doors of the church that were now closed again. She heard no one else coming, but… “So is this club happening right now or what?”

Charlie seemed to have been stunned at the answer, but quickly recovered with another of her smiles that always shone so bright. (She must have had one heck of a dentist). “It’ll be starting really soon! I can’t wait for you to meet everyone, and we also got a bunch of snacks!” Then a pause. “Oh fuck. I mean! Sorry, for the cursing, but if you were busy with church stuff…”

A quick wave of her hand, and then Vaggie turned to face the altar. “It’ll be fine. Just…give me a moment then?”

“Oh, of course! Please, don’t let me get in your way.” Charlie remained standing in the aisle, hands clasped and blinking innocently.

“You kinda are in the way.”

“Ah!”

And after Charlie finally stepped away from the altar, Vaggie stepped up to it to clasp her hands. She took a deep breath, trying to fall back into routine. It still meant something to her, in the end.

Even if her place in the world had fallen apart, and even if those whom she barely called friends before had effectively left her behind. Lute had never even apologized for her injury either. All of it, just swept under the rug. 

Maybe a new environment would be best. At the most, maybe she prayed for a better outcome.

“En el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espíritu Santo. Amen.”

She closed her eyes as her hands made the sign of the cross, from the middle of her forehead to her heart. But even in the silence, she could just somehow hear Charlie’s stare.

She turned, and saw Charlie looking at her with wide eyes. “Uh…what?”

“Wow… Is that ancient Latin?!”

“...I’m just Hispanic.”

--

After leaving through the church doors, Charlie was already going on and on about the so-called ‘activities’ they’d be doing at the rehabilitation club.

“We’ll be doing a lot of bonding activities and some trust exercises! I was also thinking of pairing everyone up for a three-legged race at the campus’ track, but my dad said we’d need to get some consent forms signed. Then it should be smooth-sailing from there!”

“Sounds, um, experimental,” Vaggie offered. How this was supposed to cure anyone of their debilitating addictions, probably not even God Himself knew. Still, she smiled all the same. “My doctor said I can’t do any strenuous exercise for like the next three weeks so I might have to skip out on that.”

“Oh, no problem! We can do arts and crafts instead!”

Then, just as they got to the bottom steps, Charlie stopped, then turned to gently grasp at Vaggie’s hands.

The sudden skin-to-skin contact made Vaggie flush under her bandage. Hopefully she wouldn’t faint from the sudden blood rushing through. “Uh…”

“Sorry for being so forward, but thank you for giving me a chance. Also, um…” Charlie laughed nervously, then cleared her throat. But in the process, she sounded more like she was gagging instead. “I mean! Even after the club, would you like to grab something to eat? Maybe watch a movie or…?”

Vaggie had to be sure of this. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

Charlie giggled again, and the motion made the pentagram necklace slip out again, the sunlight gleaming on its fine points. “Well, I was hoping…”

There was a lot to process here.

Charlie was hitting on her—no, outright asking her out on a date. Outside of her church’s steps. Wearing a pentagram necklace. And she was doing all that with another girl?

Suffice to say, Vaggie was a little impressed.

“If I say yes, would that brighten up your day?”

Such an answer must have definitely sent Charlie into hyperdrive. Her red contacts were shining, almost demonic-like in her happiness. “Oh, fuck yeah!!” And then, Charlie did an adorable fist-pump in the air.

Which promptly upended her messenger back to dump out all of its contents onto the church’s steps.

It was a whole mess of what Vaggie’s elders would have called devil memorabilia. From books of demonology (several volumes in a series?) to candles and multicolored crystals, to even more pentagram symbols and other strange sigils—on pins and other necklaces. There was even a Ouija board here, one that was definitely well-used going by the scratches on its surface, and what looked to be a statue of Baphomet.

Even a few tarot cards had flown off, Charlie desperately grabbing at them while simultaneously trying to cover up all the objects of sin and paganism with her body. “D-Don’t look! I’m just… borrowing this from the library! For research! Historical research! I’m not a Satanist, I swear!”

Vaggie happened to catch one of the tarot cards, its surface depicting a tall, standing owl with a crown on its head. She looked at the lettering on it. “Ars Goetia?”

Charlie looked up at Vaggie from the ground, once again looking like a kicked puppy—a demonic kicked puppy with red eyes. “I’m sorry… I just really like the occult…I just think it’s neat…”

With that, Vaggie sighed, then fully turned around on the steps to face Charlie. She knelt down to help pick up the rest of the items, her hands not burning as she picked them up. 

“Did I ever tell you that I think your goat charms are cute?”

[chronicbeans]

To be Timeless, for the Sun (A Short Welcome Home AU Story)

Looks like you were snooping around in the Boss' office! Let's see what you find! Oh! And don't get caught! (I really gotta find a name for this AU I have going on-).

TW: Cults, Narcissism, Mentions of Killing, Written Descriptions of Gore

☀️What are you doing? This is a bad idea. Snooping around in your boss' office after work hours is simply devious, at best, if not outright criminal! If curiosity killed the cat, however, your pelt would be hung up and dry if you didn't do something to satisfy that curiosity. After all, satisfaction brought that curious cat back, right?

☀️You have seen your boss, William Dorelaine, entering the Playfellow Workshop after hours. He even brings a group of people with him. Most of those people look the same, with only one person being different everytime they enter. You never stick around long enough to see them leave. He has also taken to talking, more than usual, about how he knows great things. He has always had narcissistic tendencies, but something is causing it to grow.

☀️You turn on your flashlight, peeping around Mr. Dorelaine's office. The first thing your eyes snap onto is the large Welcome Home poster behind his office chair. His favorite character has always been Home, for some reason, and this poster has Home front and center. Turning around, you see the little Home figure on his desk, alongside a matching Wally Darling figure. His desk is a mess, with papers strewn about.

☀️You flash the light up, seeing the numerous clocks in his office. How many clocks does one man need? Most of them don't even seem to be working, as the hands are still as stone. The wallpaper is odd, too, with its sun and moon patterns. You have been noticing the increase of day and night murals around the studio, but you always thought it was for the childish art style and not the contents of it. Or maybe something like "the sun will always rise tomorrow"? To make a children's show, you need a positive attitude and to be in the right mood to do it. Now you are starting to realize that your boss might just like suns and moons. Good for him, you guess? It isn't hurting anybody, after all.

☀️Then, you spot it: a book on his desk, with a symbol on it. It looks sort of like a sun, with a crescent moon in one half of the circular center, and an hourglass right in the middle of it all. You assume it must be a diary of sorts, due to the little lock on the side. Diaries are the only book that you can think of having locks on them, after all. Mr. Dorelaine has always been pretty crafty, after all. He loves to modify things to make them "more beautiful" in his eyes. Considering his apparent love of suns and moons, as well as his clock collection, it wouldn't be that odd for him to put a design like that onto his diary. After all, the two hatchets by his door have little designs on them. He decorated everything.

☀️You pick up the book, and to your surprise, it is unlocked. How odd... You flip through it, starting at the first page. "The leader has told us to write down our experiences in his care. That is what I shall do, with great joy." You raise an eyebrow. So this is a diary, of sorts. Just a bit more complicated. Leader? You really are starting to feel like you have found something you shouldn't have. You can't stop now, though. You might as well read further. You could take it home with you, but Mr. Dorelaine will then notice that something so important is missing. He'd probably do anything figure out who it is that took it...

☀️You flip forward a few pages. "The great leader took me in when I had nowhere to go. Fresh out of college, he saw my brilliant potential, unlike the others. I was a wayward soul with no control over myself. This waywardness made me have no purpose in my life. He took me in and corrected me. He showed me the brilliant sunlight of the divine dimension waiting for those who take the good path in life. He gave me purpose."

☀️You feel uneasy... this sounds like a cult. You regret not taking your camera with you. You could've taken pictures of this if you brought it. You don't want to call the police without adequate information, though. You need to read just a bit further. Flipping ahead, you find a page that has a smudged, red thumbprint on it.

☀️"It was a bit scary, at first. However, the leader told me it was a necessary deed. The divine plan for my brother's show couldn't be completed with him in the picture. It was after the party, when he was walking to his car, that we took him to the leader. My heart was pumping so hard and fast that I could hear it in my head. Everything was a blur that night. The last thing I remember of that night was taking a hatchet and cracking his skull open, before red covered my shoes. I then..."

☀️You slam the book shut. You have to get out of here. NOW. You were right when you read the first part. This is something you shouldn't have seen. You need to call someone. The police! You have something to tell them that is going to make them start an investigation. Even if the first part, about the odd, cult like behavior isn't enough to cause them to look into Mr. Dorelaine, this part about his brother? It is going to be enough. You turn around, and-

☀️There stands William Dorelaine, a scowl on his pretty face. He shuts the door, locking it as he asks "Snooping around my office? Explain yourself. Now. What did you see?"

☀️Your face must be as pale as a ghost, right now. He continues, grabbing one of his two hatchets and walking over to you. No... no, no! The diary entry... This isn't good! "Are you proud of yourself? What did you see? How much do you know?" You swallow thickly. It is probably better to be honest, right? You are much more scared of lying, only for him to catch it and get more angry. If you are honest, there is an ever so slight chance he might spare you, right? You open your mouth, saying "I umm... I saw the book. I'm sorry! I won't tell anybody about what I read! I-"

☀️He shushes you, glaring down at you as he moves the hatchet in his hands, as if daring you to speak out of turn. "I can't trust you. Do you know just how important all of this is? Just how important YOU are?" You raise an eyebrow, shaking your head. He chuckles "Of course you don't. Unlike myself, you haven't seen the light. I have been waiting for an excuse to get you tangled up in this community I am a part of. You would be perfect. Curious, wayward, no future plans or purpose outside of the present... Just like I was before I was brought in."

☀️You shake your head, causing that scowl to return to his face. "You should be grateful that I am sparing you. You'll soon see. Our purpose is to become timeless. To worship our sun for eternity, so that we will bask in its glory and warmth. It is far too much for me to explain at the moment. It is unfortunate we had to have this conversation under such... unfortunate circumstances. Don't worry, though. We will care for you."

☀️ You're trapped. As he was speaking, his friends entered the room. Looks like you have no choice but to go along with them...

☀️"You'll see. Welcome Home is just the start of something far greater. Just wait and watch."

[fuckmywholeactuallife]

just saw Here Lies Love on Broadway and I have…complicated feelings about it?

One one hand. There was an insane euphoria of seeing a 100% Filipino cast. Playing Filipino people, too! Not just…oh we have a Vietnamese/Japanese/Chinese character, let’s cast a Filipino bc they’re the only Asians whose parents let them go into theater. And as a fil-am actor, that was very cool!

On the other hand of course is uh. Um. Imelda Marcos is still…very much alive. And the Marcos family is still very much influencing the government of the Philippines. And making her into an Evita story isn’t even accurate? Plus, the music/lyrics were written by two white (British!) guys and it shows.

HOWEVER I will say the production design is a huge part of the messaging of the show. HUGE. while the marcos are saying one thing, the projections and video screens are very much showing another. Death tolls, statistics about their wealth, their cronyism, archival footage comparing the Marcos’ wealth to the average Filipino standard of living, images of the people power revolution, etc etc.

Plus the acoustic song at the end which was composed of real text from revolutionaries contrasted so well with the huge bombastic disco style of the rest of the musical. Idk how to explain it exactly but it really felt like for the past 90 minutes of the show we DID get swept up in the Marcos propaganda machine. The dancing and the lights and the moving set pieces— the whole thing was designed to (imo) really get you caught up in the glamour of it all in the same way fascism promises you big things! things they way YOU want them! And before you’re really aware of it, you are dancing next to war criminals. The end song and the mural reveal felt very tonally different than the rest of the show.

However, I just…think there wasn’t enough THERE there, iykwim. The actual summary of the politics and events is minimal at best, if not outright fabricating some things (she did NOT grow up poor??? Her literal WIKIPEDIA says so. you wrote a whole musical and didn’t do your research??), they really toned down Imelda’s actual role as a dictator, shoving most of that responsibility off on her husband, like she didn’t run the country into the ground all on her own while he was ill, and seriously minimizes how corrupt and evil she was all on her own.

To me, Here Lies Love felt a lot like another Miss Saigon in that it took a huge historical event that devastated thousands of people and still has repercussions to this DAY, and made it sweet and palatable to a western audience. Then slapped a little “fascism bad, defend democracy uwu” moral on at the end. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[mothrabu-bu]

Greetings! Glad you came. This will be 3 parts:

Establishing Chaos and who he is as a character (summary, story, flaws ,etc.)

Comparisons, Interpretations and theories regarding said character.

Bonus blurb on Metal Sonic x Chaos 0 (because of course.)

Bearing reminder: Everyone's interpretation of a character is a subjective process. My iteration of him is NOT gospel. I encourage you to seek out information and determine for yourself who Chaos 0 is to you. This is based off of both my memory and research as I don't rely on fandom wiki for information) If i fail to explain anything clearly, comment and I'll reiterate.

I thank you for your time. Click the "read more" to begin.

Chaos 0

Also known as: God of destruction (Eggman: SA1), Guardian god of the chao (Knuckles: SA2 Battle), Big drip (Sonic: SA1)

-----

SUMMARY: He is a mutated chao (whom, as of frontiers, takes the form of the ANCIENTS, his ancestors). Responsible for eradication MOST of the echindan tribe, as well as deaths involved in the flooding of Station Square. Known for protecting chao, guarding the ALTAR (which includes the master emerald & chaos emeralds), as well as being a sign of warning (Knuckles: SA2 Battle).

He developed a friendship with Tikal, and after becoming Final Chaos, was promptly sealed into the master emerald by her in an attempt to stop his rampage. Chaos presumably went to heaven* with her by the end of Sonic Adventure, before making a return in Sonic Adventure: Battle, and thereon. His Final Chaos form is also depicted in a mural in Lost World showing the future battle against Sonic.

In addition, there are nudges of his influence in Sonic Adventure 2, such as the Gerald Robotnik's “Artificial Chaos” that are scattered around the Space Colony ARK, and rampage in Shadow the Hedgehog. Within Sonic Adventure: Battle, Chaos appears in skill cards, as a playable character, and can only be fought (in story-mode) by Emerl.

---

Within the game's world, the perception of who Chaos 0 is, constantly shifts. Since Sonic Adventure doesn't take place through Chaos 0's point of view, in order to understand his character we have to examine both the different ways characters view, describe or react to him, then analyze his actions and backstory to interpret what that says about him.

Many characters such as the police, swimsuit woman, and Pachacamac describe Chaos 0 as a “monster” or at least see him as a threat to be dealt with. Whether this judgment is due to Chaos's alien appearance, alliance with Eggman, due to any actions he committed, or all of the above, is up to interpretation.

[Unlike most alien-esc creatures such as wisps, black arms, chao, etc., Chaos is immediately met with shock or horror upon initial viewing by general audiences. Even Tikal, who later befriends him, says “Even I was surprised the first time I saw him”. Unlike the black arms, which are terrifying due to being an active threat to humanity, Chaos only needs to stand still in order for others to fear, or desire his riddance. Though, the suddenness of Chaos' appearances may aid to the fear factor.]

In the beginning of Sonic Adventure, Knuckles sees Chaos negatively due to him emerging from and breaking the Master Emerald, then he attacks Chaos. By the end of the game when Chaos transforms back into his zero form, he states “Chaos has changed again. This for the better”, signifying his stance on Chaos leans positive. In Sonic Adventure: Battle, Knuckles describes Chaos 0 as “Guardian god of the chao”, and mentions Chaos appearing in times of crisis, further emphasizing that Knuckles may also perceive him as a warning sign or emergency alert.

[Note: Funnily enough, Knuckles shouts, “Ugh agh! Hey, no fair!” when Chaos retaliates and knocks him away by jumping.]

Similarly, Tikal's perception of Chaos 0 is continually positive, describing him as a “kind and gentle soul who protects children”. In alternative media is even shown to be comfortable enough to hanging out, playing hide-and-seek, and do prayers/rituals with him.

Lastly, Eggman's perception changes throughout the course of Sonic Adventure, announcing Chaos with the title “God of Destruction”, holding high regards and praise throughout SA1. However, before a battle with Sonic and Knuckles, Eggman states, “Come here, my hungry pet” then tosses him emeralds. Near the end of the game, Chaos disobeys Eggman to which he insults Chaos, saying “You have defied your master, stupid beast”, showing that despite all the appraisal and “god” titleing, Eggman sees Chaos as nothing more than a “pet” or some “dumb animal”.

[To note, unlike the term “monster” inferring a sense of power, horror, grotesqueness, “beast” is akin to that of a less intelligent, natural, or otherwise animalistic but comprehensible creature, e.g. a big wolf can be called a “beast” but not a “monster”. Eggman is also shown giving back-handed compliments like saying, “i didn't think you had what it takes!” or “I put my bets on Beta, but I owe you at least a fair chance” with Gamma. Despite his praise, Eggman never hides the fact he looks down on others, and only rebukes any negative remarks after they shows some level of “worthiness” or remain obedient. So despite his positive affirmations, Eggman sees Chaos as lesser than, a pet, or a play-thing rather than a sentient being, with no exception. Even details such as Eggman chanting his name, or attempting to “summon” him, alludes to a sense of a child's play when interacting with Chaos.]

----

During the flashbacks in Sonic Adventure, Tikal communicates to Tails, Amy, Big, Sonic, Gamma and Knuckles, both her history in meeting Chaos 0, as well as the events that eventually leads up to the current era. Revisiting her dialogue, she describes Chaos as “the presence that is guarding these children [chao], He's a very loving and gentle creature”, then further emphasizes the chao as “these little creatures are too vulnerable without its protection. This protection allows them to continue singing in peace”.

In a literal interpretation, its possible he is taking care and protecting actually chao children as there are child and adult versions of chao. However, Tikal could viewing them all as children due to their baby-like nature and tiny size, regardless of age. When viewing these chao as vulnerable children/child-like creatures, and considering that chao essentially “die” or are incapable of reincarnation if neglected or are unloved, Chaos's “loving and gentle” nature becomes akin to that of a babysitter, older sibling, parental figure, or more accurately a “guardian”, in the sense that his role is comprised of compassionately nurturing, aiding, protecting, loving and caring for these chao.

[Note: the concept of a chao garden, whether its feeding, caring, racing, etc., are clues as to what Chaos 0 might've done before the Final Chaos incident. Though chao races have been explored in an a more darker sense (illegal racing), it's safe to assume that the original intent would've been more so for play, competition or exercise (at least from a less dark interpretation).]

To say that a small nervous child would not find herself comfortable around Chaos 0 would be absurd. In fact, despite Tikal stating, “Even I was surprised the first time I saw him”, alluding to Chaos' intimidating and monstrous appearance, she still feels okay befriending, hanging out with, and actively playing with Chaos 0.

Though characterizations of Chaos 0 may lean towards angry, aggressive, or otherwise evil depictions due to his actions as Final Chaos and characters constantly defining him as either a powerful god, horrifying monster, or somewhere in between, the more accurate stance is that Chaos 0 is someone who uses his power to protect the vulnerable, weak, or perhaps even abused.

For the sake of argument, if Chaos does posses anger issues, its likely that the trigger is the potential of external harm on someone under his care and protection. In the flashback with Gamma, Tikal yells out, “No! Don't go any closer!” when Gamma approaches the chao, showing that at least if Tikal is worried about a foreign presence, Chaos likely would've attacked if he deemed Gamma a threat. However, she also says, “I'm sorry. I see you must not be one of them, huh?”, whether the “them” in this scenario are warrior echindas, anyone with ill intent towards the chao or altar, someone who is alive in the current-day and not apart of Tikal's flashback frenzy, or all of the above, is up for debate. Considering Chaos doesn't make an appearance in front of Gamma and Tikal infers a sort of “boundary” he has when it comes to those under his protection, and crossing that results in aggression, or at least his active surveillance.

----

Now, is Final Chaos an accurate depiction of Chaos 0 as a whole, or at least a flaw? Acknowledging that Chaos 0 may have “loving and gentle” traits, but still actively murdered others and decimated entire cities of innocent lives, calls for the investigation of his motives, and influences.

Within the Tikal's flashbacks, we see the active warfare taking place seen by background details of smoke and fire, with her arguing against her father by stating, “attacking other countries, stealing, killing can't be the right path to peace. No one has the right to take their holy grounds” in addition, when talking to Gamma she states, “Now my father is trying to take their [chao's] sacred home”. Before she and the remaining chao are trampled on by the echidna warriors, Pachacamac (her father) states, “We need those 7 emeralds to give us total power! It's power for the people...”.

Chaos' and by proxy, the chao, are living in an age of constant warfare and conquest, with the detail of chao being vulnerable children, its likely that Chaos' existence as their guardian is to protect them from the horrors of war and bloodshed.

[Note: If direct Japanese translation is to be included, Tikal states, “Because he's here, they can sing in peace like this...But father and the others are trying to take away these children's last place to live in..” changing this from potentially invading their only home, to being kicked out of their homes, leaving the altar as only the place to stay. She also states, “Because he's here, they can sing in peace like this...” telling us that Chaos is the only reason they can even live in peacefully, safely, and happy.]

Furthermore, during the flashback with Amy Rose, the chao react with fear when Tikal slowly approaches them, running away from her until she states, “Don't be afraid, your safe with me”. Tikal also states, “You're the...chao”, expressing that she knows about their existence but has never seen them in-person. This alludes to the idea that back then, the number of chao that existed where incredibly small, compared to modern day where there's an abundance of them. In addition to their dwindling numbers, chao running away in fear emphasizes their vulnerability and the necessity to have Chaos around, because otherwise they may end up being trampled on, hurt, abused, etc.

[Note: For emphasis, Cream the rabbit lives two chaos, omochao, chao mechas ad the chao walker exist, there's enough for Silver the hedgehog to fill a secret room with and for Ifrit to consume without ending their entire bloodline (Sonic Rivals 2), and in the context of SA1, enough that they managed to survive for thousands of years without Chaos 0. ]

Going back to the events that sparked the Final Chaos transformation, its shown to us that not only is the sacred altar (their home), being subjected to arson, but the warriors intend to steal the sacred emeralds that Chaos keeps guarded. When Tikal's plan fail with both her and the chao get trampled on by the warriors, the cutscene shows the ripples in the altars water, which is suggests that not only was Chaos there, he was watching. In a cut scene with Knuckles, we even see multiple shots of chao unconscious on the ground, the altar ablaze and with Tikal stating “I couldn't stop them. They came... and my father... I had no idea... how bad this would turn out! I'm shocked.” Despite the fact that Chaos could have attacked the warrior echidnas at any time, he is shown holding out until Tikal's plan fails.

With all this information, Chaos' motivation and influences as to why he would be sent into a rage, and committed those heinous acts becomes clearer. In fact, we'll never know how long these wars lasted, whether there were multiple occasions of being under threat, or to what lengths Chaos had to go through to ensure all the safety of his people, traumatizing or not.

Furthermore, with new inclusion of Sonic Frontiers into the lore of chao civilization, their own ancestors already faced constant threat of annihilation and being pushed out of their original homes due to that fact. Plus, when considering that Chaos is not a god, but instead a chao who simply resembles his ancestors due to a mutation.

[Note: Chaos is related to the Ancients and the ancients turned into chao due to some prolonged radiation. Chaos isn't an direct Ancient due to both his incredibly tiny size, and the fact that Eggman outwardly states he's just “related”. Plus, with the addition of “chaos chao” and having the “neutral” form look incredibly similar to that of Chaos, one can theorize that Chaos started out as a tiny chao with a weird genome then got bigger and stronger thanks to the emeralds wish-fulfillment or radiation. ]Sonic Frontiers purposefully designed said ancestors to have multiple forms such as elderly and adult masculine and feminine forms, whilst making the children or “youth” design look like Chaos 0, makes it so that the tragedy of Sonic Adventure is becausea child lost his home, friends and family to war.

Thus, to define a someone by their worst day, is not an accurate analysis of their character.

Also, to explain Chaos 0's actions in modern day and the flooding of Times Square, Tikal states, “They [chao] stayed alive for generations and now live peacefully with humans. The fighting's over. Harmony's restored and life goes on.”, inferring that Chaos believed the fighting (war) was still going on and that the chao were dead, until given evidence proving otherwise. He's in an unfamiliar place that is thousands of years ahead of his original time, and upon approaching is first shown being shot by the police and kicked by Sonic. Furthermore, when he's freed from the master emerald the first thing he sees is a red echidna (Knuckles) which compared to the last thing he saw before transforming is a red echidnan warrior, could've easily assumed that knuckles was warrior who sought to steal the emeralds from Chaos. Funnily enough, Eggman is the only friendly face in the entire game.

[Note: The conversation between Sonic and Tikal goes as followed:

Tikal: “My heart has always been in the Master Emerald, along with Chaos'. Now he's filled with anger and sadness. And if it goes on, he'll eventually destroy the world, like he did before! Look! He's absorbed the Emerald's power! He must be sealed in the Master Emerald, NOW!”

Sonic: “How can that help? It won't change how he feels inside, will it? His heart will still remain in turmoil and his anger just wont vanish! He'll just be trapped forever!”

Tikal: “What choice do we have?” - End

Also, once the entire team of heroes brings the emptied emeralds to Sonic, Tails states, “negative forces aren't the only way to empower the Chaos Emeralds. Our positive feelings toward eachother can make them work. Our hearts together form awesome power”. This is all to point out that Final Chaos isn't Chaos 0 as a whole, but rather the embodiment of his negative emotions, that which can be interpreted as “grief” and “rage”.

Despite Tikal empathizing with Chaos' and his emotions, she may not know how to handle such an extremely powerful emotional outburst. For arguments sake, she is a child and might not understand how to calm others down, or even herself considering Tikal's already panicking. However, even if she did, Sonic's quote of “It won't change how he feels inside, will it? His heart will still remain in turmoil and his anger just wont vanish! He'll just be trapped forever!” emphasizing that perhaps her ideas on how to deal with these situations is to do what her father does and dismiss it. If neither is true, then Tikal is being pragmatic, doing what she knows will “solve” the situation even if she doesn't want to, as she's fearful of the potential destruction if nothing is done. Sadly, this can also suggest that Chaos does not have outbursts regularly, or to this extreme, which would imply that he's relatively calm and not very aggressive. As a result, Tikal doesn't have any knowledge on how to calm him down, and suddenly seeing the destructive, aggressive side of him, would cause her to panic. ]

---

Due to Chaos' status as a guardian of the chao, and by proxy, the altar and emeralds, puts into question Knuckles' status as the proclaimed guardian of the Master Emerald. Despite being from separate times, they both have the status of a “guardian”, with Chaos' being given the title and Knuckles claiming it, even if he doesn't know why. In an ironic sense, one can argue that the reason Knuckles became a guardian was because Chaos couldn't be one.

There were no evidence of echidnas guarding the chaos emeralds despite them actively having mythos regarding it, such as Tikal's grandmother passing down her legends of the 7 seven emeralds. Instead, we see its original “guardian” of sorts, being Chaos who resides within the waters of the altar. The fact that Knuckles doesn't truly understand the reason he is a guardian, connects to the idea that being a guardian may have been retribution of sorts by his own ancestors, since the reason Chaos 0 transformed was because an echidna tried to steal the very thing they now claim to protect.

Ironically enough, this also shows the failures of Chaos 0 as a guardian.

Though, Knuckles constantly looses the Master Emerald, either by shattering or being stolen, he always manages to get it back, is able to protect his friends and stays dutiful no matter what. On the contrary, Chaos 0 does successfully protects the Master Emerald and chaos emeralds from being stolen, but he is unable to protect his friends and the chao, then uses the emeralds in order for revenge instead of protection.

In Sonic Adventure: Battle, Knuckles claims Chaos 0 as “guarding the Death Egg”, “Guardian god of chao” and who “only shows himself in times of great crisis”, which though he does technically appear during a crisis, he was that “crisis” at least twice. If he's guarding the Death Egg, presumably to stop anyone from going to it, and is shown to be an optional battle against Emerl, you can say he failed as a guardian, in the sense that he couldn't stop Emerl from going. Knuckles defines him as the “guardian god of chao”, despite the fact that he failed to protect said chao, got trapped in the Master Emerald, then those chao managed to exist for generations, without needing his protection.

In fact, the idea that Chaos and Tikal flew up into the sky, presumably to “heaven” or heaven equivalent, only for Chaos to return back in SA2:Battle, makes it so that either Chaos went back on his own volition, or got kicked out of heaven, likely on account of his actions as Final Chaos.

To argue, Chaos is essentially the antithesis to Knuckles as Metal Sonic is to Sonic. Chaos 0 represents everything Knuckles should fear about himself. Whether its loosing control of his own rationality or anger, abandoning duty, failing to protect his friends, family or home, or more accurately- becoming someone who hurts the very thing they claim to protect. They may both be “guardians” but they aren't the same.

In some ways, Chaos became the equivalent of the “god” who killed his ancestors. In his quest to "protect" everyome, he become a danger to everybody.

---

Theories and Speculation:

Though we don't know how long Chaos had been alive or the time he's been “guardian” for, it could be argued he's relatively young. The evidence being the existence of Chaos chao, with the “neutral” version looking similar to Chaos (particularly the light blue versions), and unlike Chao and their ancestors (who can either evolve into adults or grow to elderly age), Chaos chao don't age an remain in stasis, incapable of death or reincarnation due to the fact. Similarly, since they have the same namesake as Chaos 0, and he expresses the same exact traits as them in terms of immortality. Though it could be simply reference, it could also be alluding to the fact that Chaos 0 may have, at some point been a “chaos chao” before growing in size, presumably due to the emeralds, since it's not like he's a direct “Ancient”.

[Note: Its a stretch, but because Sonic Frontiers is technically the “sequel” to SA1 in terms of production, all of the Ancients designs are based around Chaos'. To note, the Warriors, Elders, “men” and “woman” designs all have pointed or extra features to distinguish them from Chaos. However, because of the game's changes the lore so that Chaos is the one who resembles the Ancients, the closest Ancient design akin to Chaos would technically be the child version. It has “pointed edges”, slightly protruding hips, and only lacks the long hair-like features. Thus, perhaps Chaos resembles something similar to a teenager? In where the child has grown “hair” and is taller, but still lacks “adult” features.]

If he's existed for quite some time, then his ability to stay undiscovered to the point that Echidna warriors and Tikal (who already knows about the chao) doesn't know about his existence. The argument that its because he stays hidden in the water works, until you realize that he'll reveal himself to anyone who gets too close to the chao. Thus, is he's been protecting them from threats for a long time, there should've been more characters who know, acknowledged or tell others to avoid certain areas based around his existence. If there was a potential danger, adults should've told their children to avoid being around that area or creature.

If Tikal and the warriors thought there wouldn't be anyone there, then it's likely nobody knew of his existence, which is why he's probably relatively young as a guardian thus as “Chaos” himself.

This theory is mostly in favor of the idea that Chaos, for all intensive purposes, might not be the “adult”, but rather more akin to some kid who had to become the “parental unit” due to the fact that by the time chao become adults, they'll eventually revert back to children, remaining vulnerable forever. Thus, the one who lives infinitely, no matter the mental or physical age, will have to take upon the burden of memory and become the “adult” in the room. In the most simplest terms, Chaos 0 may be a result of “parentification” due to the ongoing warfare and unstable conditions for his own species.

Plus, even if he has anger issues, this theory would mean he likely wouldn't be able to express those negative emotions to the extent that other chao (or even Tikal) could. He couldn't get highly emotional on the basis that it would compromise his ability to identify threats in the area- or worse, accidentally harm a chao due to loosing control. Its why when Chaos does eventually snap and go on a murder spree, it happens after both Tikal and the chao are already harmed and unconscious. Since, once that happens there's no need to “hold back”.

Theory #2: Chaos 0 is a “chaos emerald” user.

Due to the frequency in which other characters such as Sonic, Shadow, and the biolizard actively are able to use “Chaos control”, it could be inferred that Chaos may have been the originator of that power, considering the “bright green shining light effect” and “suddenly disappearing” is shown in both SA1 and 2. Though it can be argued it's just the effect, there's still the fact that multiple echidnas disappeared alongside Chaos, and Chaos doesn't speak, therefore can't say “Chaos Control!”, so it plausible that it was a more powerful version of chaos control due to having multiple emeralds, similar to the one Sonic and Shadow do on the Space Colony ARK at the end of SA2.

[Note: The echidnas disappearing could be argued as “3d rendering” or just cutscene logic in SA1. However, because the most iconic instance of “using an emerald triggers green bright light then sudden transportation of another entity into a certain location” being Tikal's trick with the Master Emerald, its hard to justify this as simply rendering or cutscene logic. Plus, if Chaos had transformed then and there, the chao and Tikal would've been drowned, and Chaos' targets are anyone else but them.]

Also, because Chaos' monster or alien appearance, the audience may neglect the fact that Chaos is an emerald user to the likes of Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and the alternate dimensional version: Blaze. Ignoring the fact that in the modern day, Chaos only uses the chaos emeralds to transform, and even takes away the emeralds energy during Sonic Adventure. Even Tikal states, “Look! He's absorbed the emeralds power!” in response to the emeralds loosing its color.

[Note: Knuckles states, “he stole my chaos emeralds”, leaving the Master Emerald alone. Plus, in the cutscene with Final Chaos, he is seen with only the chaos emeralds rotating around his head.]

To repeat, Tails states that Chaos used negative emotions when using the chaos emeralds. We can physically see the difference by looking at the color of light that shines when they use it. Green is associated with negativity, having adverse effects like Tikal being trapped in the Master Emerald or Chaos turning into a giant tsunami monster, and “yellow” being positive, turning Sonic into super sonic with full control over himself and his wishes.

In theory, it might be possible that Chaos 0 could have a “super form”, and Sonic could have a “monster form” (like that of the Werehog), if he ever uses the emeralds are incorrectly. Furthermore Tails states, “Super Sonic must have neutralized it, so it's nice again.”, which can mean that when these two “forms” are at battle, they're likely to neutralize one or the other and kick them out of that particular form. Its likely that because Super Sonic imbued his that positivity into Chaos, which essentially calmed him down.

Furthermore, since Tikal mentions the “Chaos emeralds” multiple times before the events of Final Chaos, it could be concluded that the reason he's called “Chaos” is because of the literal chaos he created, as well as his connection to the “Chaos emeralds”.

(Mini) Theory #3:

Another small theory, is that before Sonic Frontiers, the existence of Chaos chao and that in the Japanese version of SA1, the chao noise being played when Chaos' water ripples are on screen are subtle confirmations of Chaos' relation to chao. Though it doesn't compare to the more blunt confirmation, its worth mentioning nonetheless.

Theory #4: Chaos' influence on PROJECT:SHADOW.

Regarding Sonic Adventure 2, Chaos' is both theorized and canonically proved to be influential to Gerald Robotnik, and as a result PROJECT: SHADOW. The first fledgling of influence is the Artificial Chaos are seen in both SA2 and Shadow the Hedgehog, with Maria stating, “Those liquid creatures are the experiment by-product based on a god of an ancient culture” and “Look! More Artficial Chaos!...”

[Note: Maria also says “the research experiments... their eyes look so... sad” whilst they violently rampage about. Its likely that Maria just is being empathetic, but the idea that the experiment's emotional state resembles that of the “sad and angry” demeanor represented by Chaos in SA1 is interesting.]

There's also a popular theory regarding the creation of the Biolizard and Shadow the hedgehog. It states that Gerald Robotnik took reference from both the Final Chaos mural and the runes in Hidden Palace Zone from Sonic 3 depicting Super Sonic, thus proving why Gerald started with the larger lizard then swapped to a much smaller, hedgehog.

Here's an additional proposal to this theory: The reason for Gerald suddenly taking on the task of both building the ARK and creating the ultimate lifeform, was because he found evidence that doing so could heal Maria. The chao are creatures with lifespans that can reach hundreds of years or to infinity if conditions are appropriate, or if they're not harmed or neglected. Its likely that Gerald found out about chao and the legend of Chaos: God of Destruction, and assumed that the cure for Maria resided in the secret that keeps chao (or Chaos) living forever. Thus, his reason for focusing soely on echindan culture, may stem from the fact that its the culture with the most information on both chao and Chaos 0, since many of the traits like “immortality”, “regeneration”, and if the theories above are correct, “chaos emerald usage” and “chaos control” are all prevalent in the Biolizard (Ultimate Lifeform Prototype) and in some ways, shadow the hedgehog.

As of recent information, Shadow's Doom powers in SonicxShadow: Generations such as turning into a giant octopus, or summoning a manta ray are suspiciously aquatic themed, despite countless of Black Dooms's aliens have bird like appendages such as claws or flight abilities. The only instance where this is not the case are his wings. You can argue that Doom's eye looks like a starfish, but that's an alien floating eyeball in a game with a giant alien pitbull, buff aliens and alien birds Shadow can ride on. Where is the aquatic themes coming from if not from the inspiration that is canonically made of water and lives in water.

[Note: Off topic but worth addressing: Does the Robotnik family have an obsession with creating look-a-likes? The whole “artificial chaos clones” (and if he theory is true then the Biolizard) and “robot Shadow clones” are weirdly identical in concept if you think about it. If Shadow the hedgehog met Chaos 0, would he believe its an “escaped Artificial clone” and try to eliminate him? How would Chaos 0 react to his “clones”?]

---

Sonic Adventure 1 & 2:

Due to the fact that SA1 is the prequel to SA2 in terms of production, comparisons can be made regarding the characters, their actions, and story line. This is to outline certain details on how we, the audience, examines these stories and react to them. For example, both SA1 and SA2 have active themes of militia or war within the story. Soldiers or “warriors”, and the political needs to access the “ultimate weapon” that will ensure their victory or enhance potential powers in war and conquest whether that be a wish-granting Master Emerald, or a artificially born child. However, most would not discuss the relevancy of war, conquest and active deforestation and how it effects the story and characters of SA1, as its effectively subtle in execution. Furthermore, there are similarities between Shadow and Chaos in their responses to loss and tragedy. Shadow's story is incredibly blunt, showcasing active shooting, murder of innocent victims, arresting family members, and witnessing death of loved ones. We can also see Chaos in a similar predicament, being subjected to witnessing family and friend deaths, being in the midst of active warfare, have his “home” or at least the equivalent being subject to arson, as well as it being essentially ransacked by echidna warriors, and potentially being driven out of previous homes due to conquest. However both resulted in actively pursuing the eradication of a singular society or planet (aka. Humanity or echidnas).

Shadow's motivations for attempting to annihilate the planet is shown to us in a sympathetic cut scene, showing his potential memory alteration, with multiple instances of the story showing the tragedy, injustice and active traumas Shadow had to go through in order to want to kill everyone. However, because the story of SA1 is not in the perspective of Chaos 0, but rather Tikal's, we can't actually know his motivations or emphasize with Chaos 0, unless we actively searched for said motives. This creates a conflict where, Tikal must consistently describe how “gentle and kind” Chaos is, how he “cares for these children (chao)”, etc., but because the story doesn't go out of its way to make us emphasize or atleast understand him outside of Tikal's words, we never do.

SA1, is effectively SA2 but you never see Shadow's perspective. You never see the crying, the flashbacks, nor is story trying to make you think about how he feels, or why he's doing what he's doing. Instead, you get Maria's perspective, where she, one by one, explains to every current protagonist how nice shadow is, dies, and then your left with the knowledge that a crazy guy tried to kill everyone, blew up the moon, then sonic said “I understand you, here's some happiness. Now stop it.” and then Shadow stopped, and died.

This comparison isn't to discredit the artistry or intent of both stories and how they are portrayed, but rather to more to express how different perspectives and priorities in writing can effect how a character is perceived by an audience. We're more likely to emphasize with Shadow and for some, even excuse his actions in SA2, while demonize, villanize or otherwise negatively portray Chaos 0. Though when viewing these characters from an outsiders view, they're both incredibly powerful, and scary in their respective games.

--

Since this reason of this paper originates from the Metal Sonic x Chaos 0 comic, there are a few takeaways to be had regarding their relationship.

First, Metal Sonic and Chaos 0 both have their respective games that showcase multiple “versions” of their character, depending on context. To say that a Metal Sonic who's still forever loyal to Eggman would interact with the emotionally disregulated “tried to laser-blast Eggman into oblivion” Chaos 0, would be a completely different relationship than a calm and peaceful Chaos with a “having an identity crisis and tried to overthrow the Eggman Empire” Metal Sonic. They're bodies are both blue, and their eyes are complementary colors. Due to Chaos' habit of slouching and ability to stretch his body (arms and legs), its plausible that Chaos is taller than Metal Sonic, which funnily enough creates a tall and short dynamic.

On a general note, Chaos' “loving and gentle” nature in contrast with the more “cold and calculative” Metal Sonic, makes for an interesting dynamic when played against eachother. Metal Sonic may be able to handle ruptures in Chaos' emotional psyche (it has to deal with Eggman afterall), and Chaos provides a softer environment for Metal Sonic to confide in.

On that note, they're also both called “monster”, both of them having transformation abilities that require the “biological data” of another entity whether that's by consuming them like a chao, or how Chaos did with Froggy,or simply by “copying” it, they both have liquid “puddle” forms (Neo Metal's little “metallic puddle” and Chaos' “water puddle”), both are insulted by eggman due to disobedience ( with Eggman berating Metal Sonic in multiple games such as Sonic Free riders, but Chaos ends the insults by scaring him away with the threat of death by laser. They're both, to some degree, the antithesis of their respective counterpart (Sonic or Knuckles), and are incapable of speech in their base forms.

A few thematic notes, would be that perhaps their relationship is akin to nature vs machine, and could be reminiscent of sci-fi genres like Solarpunk or CyberPunk, depending on the world, their relationship and aesthetics. They also have natural disaster or weather themes, due to Neo Metal Sonic's thunder (hence electricity, lightning, etc), as well as Final Chaos literally being the equivalent of a tsunami. In a sense, Metal's the thunder before Chaos' storm.

Furthermore, there are countless instances where these two could've met, but simply didn't. In Sonic Adventure, Metal Sonic is there but left asleep inside a green tube, and in Sonic Heroes, despite Neo Metal Sonic actively looking for Chaos' bio-data, but unlike every other character, Chaos is no where to be seen. In Sonic Forces, they're together side-by-side, but this is just a hologram/illusion Infinite created. There's even a “Stream Card” of them together, and in the SA2 group photo they're next to each other. In a tweet by Maekawa Shiro, Chaos 0 was originally going to be in game, along with Metal Sonic and their respective teams. Seeing how the game loop is now, it could be implied that they might've interacted during one of the team vs team battles. Plus, we don't know if even remembers any information about Chaos 0 since it probably got rebooted after the events of Sonic Heroes.

Essentially, they're the asymptotic line of ships. To quote a lyric by Louie zong, “as close as we could ever get, you'll be just out of reach”.

Ships in fandoms also tend to result in creating “ship children”, which are the theoretical children of two or more characters, whether or not childbirth or creation of said child is plausible. To aid to this concept, the creation of “metallic” or “shiny” chao and omochao's existence, provides an already canonical reference point as to how their “ship child” could look like. Though one shouldn't be deterred from making their theoretical child look however they desire.

–---

Thank you for reading what is 10 pages of me blabbering on about Chaos 0. Again, I will always encourage any arguments for or against my claims, and active discussion or theorization regarding Chaos 0, Tikal and their story, and even the ship MetalSonicxChaos0. I too am not god, and nothing I say is here definitive or the “only way” to view things, nor is this a “perfect” analysis by any means and neither am I. So I would love to hear your questions, concerns, or if this sparked any ideas, emotions or thoughts within you.

Once more, Thank you for your time, and have a wonderful day.

[skaruresonic]

I'm exploring Metal's identity crisis angle in Stellar, in a way that delves more legitimately into it (and doesn't require him usurping Eggman or becoming Neo Drag Queen). Because I really do like the idea and don't think it should be redacted just because it was handled sloppily. But as usual, what I have planned VS what fans see is... a lot different.

(please don't take this as a knock against your ideas, these are just my thoughts on the games' handling of the character) Personally speaking, I feel like there's a lot about Metal that the games haven't sufficiently established. There's a disconnect I find hard to reconcile. I honestly think it's a case where the OVA's ideas about him bled over into canon, which more or less picked up the ball and ran with it without first laying down the necessary groundwork.

Metal says some really weird stuff in Heroes. His lines presuppose that we were already privy to some hitherto unseen internal conflict. He implies he used to be afraid. Of what? When?

His crisis of self doesn't seem to really exist outside of the OVA. CD only establishes him as a bully and a kidnapper, with perhaps the smallest garnish of copying Sonic's mannerisms with the finger wag right before the Stardust Speedway race. However, given that Eggman promptly wastes him, it's not enough for me to say it's significant enough to merit special notice. Especially since this quirk of copying Sonic's mannerisms hasn't carried over to other games AFAIK.

In SA1, we see him floating inside a test tube. The most we can glean from the sight is that Eggman's been tweaking him, but to make the leap from "Eggman's working on him" to "Metal develops an existential crisis and goes haywire" is too big a gulf for me to make as well, unfortunately.

To be clear, I don't necessarily have beef with the idea of Metal having the desire to be the "real" Sonic, just the fact that there isn't any real precedent for it. His reasons for transforming into "the ultimate overlord" can just as easily be chalked up to robotic pragmatism gone wrong as existential woes: he saw that he couldn't beat Sonic in his base form and took the next logical step of copying the data of all life forms, Sonic's included, in order to surpass him and therefore fulfill his function of defeating him.

The potential is there, but because the games don't fully connect the dots, it's hard to call it A Definite Thing. And I feel like Metal is further hamstrung by virtue of being A.) a robot; how can he seek to be the "real" Sonic, the embodiment of freedom, if he's forever subservient to his master? and B.) voiceless, in contrast to Shadow's reticence; we can never tell what he's thinking, which isn't exactly conducive to expressing internal conflict to the audience.

It's like the whole "Gerald based Shadow's design on the Hidden Tapestry mural" thing. Although the core idea makes sense and may even lead to a more cohesive understanding of the material, unfortunately, we lack the connective tissue to say for certain that that happened in exactly that way. There are too many assumptions required to make the connection a seamless transition.