#and he can be mature and insightful as shown in The Date when he talks about stratoverse

[lovee-infected]

hi! could i see your insights about ace? i saw a anon say from another blog that kinda has unrealistic expectations in a relationship and it kinda stuck with me. i mean in his ghost marriage he already knows the things he wants in a partner but he didn't show guilt about dumping his girlfriend, even. i think if you date him because he sees these quality in you and as the relationship last, he'll dump you if you get boring to him lol

I never thought that I'd say this but, wow, I'm impressed. I've been really curious about Ace since I get to see a variety of different content with different representations of his personality, so I decided to stick with his canon stories and lines. This analysis was so much fun to write and I'd assure you all that not only Ace but rather all of the first year characters are WAY more than they seem to be! Many just decide to ignore them and pass away, calling them good boys or precious stupid beanies at first.

Speaking of Ace, we've all seen how trending he's been recently. Many theories, thoughts and new arguments exist through the fandom as many want to get to know this boy better.

Theories like "Ace's betrayal theory" as well have been mentioned a lot lately, some agree and some disagree. While we aren't going to talk about that theory or any other theories in this analysis, I'd like to take time to talk about the reasons why those theories might seem appealing and accurate. In other words, we're going to talk about where they are coming from!

1) Ace is incredibly smart and brave

It's true that characters like Jade or Azul's remarkable genius often stands out as it's clearly visible through their presence in the game, from iconic decisions to stunning strategies. But what we need to realize is how characters like Ace can be just as inspiring while their true intelligence is often shallowed by extras and giving them much of a dumb picture in the game.

To begin with, let us note that Ace's brother himself was one of the considerably strong magicians in Heartslabyul's history and even his presence through the magicshift is still remarkable even though years has passed. As the second child of the family, Ace's change to achieve success is even higher than his brother's as he already has a role model he really looks up to, so in that point Ace isn't one to underestimate. But, let me point that his relationship with his brother also contains lots of jealousy and sometimes negativity. His brother was one to always trick Ace and he continues to do so even nowadays! Ace on the other hand doesn't enjoy being pissed off over and over even as he's used to it. Well, we can say that it's another reason for him to train his hardest and become a greater magician than his brother therefore he won't be the bully material of the Trappola household anymore.

Regardless of how effective his brother might've been on him, Ace himself has shown plenty of strong hints that reveal not only his high IQ but also EQ:

He can solve math problems in second, which is a rather important feature to note because the way you deal with math can directly effect the way you deal with life. Not saying that one has to be great at math to be great at something else but it's rather about the perspective and ability of logical thinking that it gives to one. I'd say that this effect is quite visible if you take a look at the way he speaks in serious situations; he's got much of an analytical brain. Let's not forget that Cater as well confirmed that he's much of a skill stealer, is pretty good at remembering things and is a quick thinker! These are go on to show how much of an underestimated genius he is.

Whenever something goes wrong, Ace would be the first one to notice it even if it's a silly matter. And it always begins with a seemingly childish argument, but ends incrucial matters that not a single soul had noticed before! Just take a look at chapter one, what would've happened if Ace hadn't spoken up? He was just one of the hundreds of students having to be severely punished under Riddle's strict rules and he surely wasn't the first one to go through this. Him taking the urge to fight Riddle sounded stupid and naïve at first, many even told him off because he was just acting like a pissed off child. But as he continued to argue and oppose toward Riddle's way as a leader, even Trey realized how he's been keeping his eye shut on all this problems for so long. The way Ace stood against Trey was iconic, he confidently defended his point not by his personal demands and feelings but with facts and logical comments on why Trey's way of threatening Riddle is wrong. He did the same thing again at he ghost marriage, just think of it! Not a single soul ever cared to tell the bride about true love but Ace was there, and he was the one and only to do this after more than 500 years of the bride's existence! This Ace, this serious and mature face of Ace is something that can surely fascinate anyone. His bravery, the way he puts all that strength through words, hisextremely logical point of view and his enthusiasm to solve the problems no matter how unimportant they seem to be is indeed appreciatble. Seriously though, what would've happened to Riddle is Ace wasn't there? When Ace firstly begun to oppose to him, everyone thought that is was just a childish argument. They had no idea how severe and destructive Riddle's temper issues were and how harmful they were down inside.

2) He's one of the dumbest characters in the whole game

You know what? He is dumb. Yes he's incredibly smart but this isn't going to change the fact that he is dumb as hell, so I'm never going to argue when someone's nagging on how much of an idiot he is. But most importantly, we need to know what's making him so dumb:

His presence through the stories has proved that Ace is eventually pretty good at detecting the main source of problems both on the mental and physical side. He was the first to realize Riddle's issues, Trey's huge mistake with Riddle, Ghost bride's unawareness and Epel's gloomy and sad aura in chapter 4. Ace's also one to easily tell whether what someone is doing is wrong or not, he can see through people and bring their mistakes to their attention. The problem is... he can't be quite the same with himself. That's what makes him awfully dumb.

Back in chapter one, he did have a point about Riddle's way of leadership being so unfair and messed up, but when he decided to challenge Riddle and even take his place as the dorm leader he was a total idiot who didn't how weak and unpractical his own magic was, he was being too dramatic. When he talked about his ex girlfriend, he just talked about how she held him back from doing what he wanted and was too uncool to spend time with, but he didn't mention a single thing about himself doing anything wrong in that relationship. He often fails to realize that he's got his own incompleteness and lacks just like anyone else, or prefers to put an blind eye to them most of the time (not all of the time)

Ace sets the perfect goals, but chooses the wrong path to achieve them. He needs to realize that just like everyone else, he can be sometimes wrong. He should take his time to get to know himself better; his abilities, his attitude, his faults and his mistakes and learn to be more patient and logical in order to achieve his goals. He's still young an inexperienced, by learning to put that brilliance of him into the perfect use he'd be able to become the great magician he wishes to be, and I'd say that in case that he continues to grow stronger and smarter, he'll have a high chance of being hesrtslabyul's next dorm leader!

3) He legit wants to be the "Ace"

This part's more of an attempt to do a name analyis and see how much it's been effective on Ace's personality. It actually makes a lot of snese since the word "Ace" itself has several meanings, and he used these different terms quite a few times in his personal stories. This point would also be explained in part (4) so for now, let's take a look at direct name definitions:

First of, remember what what an Ace is in a card game? "A playing card with a simple spot on it, ranked as the highest card in its suit" This goes on to tell us a lot, it's telling us what an Ace is. A loner yet the most powerful one of its own, just like how Ace wants to be.

Wanting to be an actuall Ace is definitely one of the things that sometimes makes Ace sound so jerky and he's aware of it! If you give it a closer look, you'll see that Ace doesn't really treat his friends like friends, especially with Deuce and Grim. He's often insulting or challenging them, and even during his birthday SSR when MC asked him about what he thinks of each of other first years (Who are basically his closest friends) he mainly criticized them and all, not a single word was said about things he likes about them and he didn't even call any of them his friend!

Well that's much of a jerky attitude to have toward people whom you spend almost all of your time with, especially your best of time.

He to play the role of the bad guy, the type to hang out with everyone without feeling any attached to them as even friends. Seems like our boy is trying to be a loner, a true Ace of cards and hearts. And he doesn't mind his friends calling him a bastard or jerk because of this. It's even confirmed that he's more of the popular guy type therefore he's mainly used to having people around!

On the other hand, he's trying his best to achieve success no matter what the obstacles are. It's true that he often messes up and fails, but we cannot say that he isn't trying. He almost lost his head for real during his SSR story where Riddle's favorite hedgehogs were lost because of Ace's impatience, but at last with the help of monsieur Rook and his own ability to imitate Rook's mole language skills Ace saved his neck one more time, and ended his story with a dramatic "Of course, I always Ace it!"

4) Ace does care, but pretends that he does not

In contrast to the fact that he wants to sound tricky,manipulative and mean, or how he's denying his friends' true worth to him like stated in part (3), Ace is probably one of the most caring and supportive characters in the game. Not saying that he's just as bright as someone like Kalim, but his way of seeing through people and wishing them to be better, wealthier and happier than they already are is surely something. This fact is often ignored because, well...everyone's too busy calling him either dumb or sus/ jk!

Just imagine having a friend or at least, a classmate you know like Ace. How's he supposed to be? He'd realize it when someone's bullying/bothering/ or intentionally harming you, and he isn't going to be silent about it. If you see that you're permanently sad, angry, rude or loud then again he'd speak up, he isn't going to just pull up with anyone's unhealthy habit like nothing's happened. He's got much of a big brain as well so you should expect him to say a bunch of helpful and meaningful stuff when he's using that brain, mainly in serious situations. He may not be a permanently mutual to have around, but when the troubles arrive, know that having Ace around is always an advantage.

To top it off, he's even shown sympathy toward people whom he seemed to like the least at first like Riddle; he wishes Riddle to be happier, to smile more, to be more open about his emotions with other students. At some point he even admits that he looks up to him, he used to overestimate his powers and challenged Riddle, but during the ghost marriage he said that he knows how powerful and strong Riddle is, therefore he should work his hardest to study and train to become strong just like him! He already seems to be more cheerful and bright when MC is talking to him, but when it comes to Grim and Deuce...it gets quite complicated. What we see the most is often Ace insulting them or saying that he's going to kick their asses, but they're also his closest friends all though he refuses to admit to it.

Just wait for Deuce or Grim to get in a serious danger or pain, and see how much of a protective one Ace can be! He isn't going to remain silent when one is in danger, but he's surely going to deny all that effort and affection he gave into action afterwards. When Ace can feel this cautious and understanding toward Riddle, someone who isn't even a friend of his then imagine how supportive and caring he would be toward his close friends like Deuce, MC and Grim!

In his ghost marriage as well, his words and the way he spoke of the meaning of true love left everyone, even Crowley, impressed (Crowley even said that he's fallen in love with this side of Ace's personality), but refused to admit that he was speaking of his true feelings after the ceremony. Someone like Grim is too bold to recognize how much of a different person Ace can be inside, so he claimed that Ace was just rambling nonsense without thinking of what he was saying back then, and Ace agreed with him! This is a continuation to part (3) where we talked about how he wants to be a loner, he doesn't want anyone to see how caring and sometimes, emotional he can be inside! Poor boy is quite shy showing his true feelings we can tell~

5) Ace can be quite tricky and manipulative

This part will also explain some of the main reasons behind famous theories like "Ace's betrayal theory", and I wanted to have a certain part to talk about this point specifically because it's been quite trending through the whole fandom, and many are wondering why theorizers are considering his betrayal a possibility, so here we go!

As said, one of the main factors the makes Ace seem suspicious would be his incredible intelligence. The fact that he can actually be that smart all the time but isn't openly showing his talents and abilities can be quite questionable, more details regarding his intelligence and most likely high IQ and EQ were discussed in part (1)!

Enough with intelligence, let's focus on his personality! This is mainly what this part is talking about, his trickiness. Just like his father and older brother, Ace is pretty good with magic tricks. Small and fun tricks are a convenient yet easy ways to inspire others and Ace doesn't mind showing the crowd what he's got up in sleeve when possible. But the thing is...this isn't just about fancy tricks.

This ability can be expanded into any other field such as mental terms and enable him to indirectly control and play with one's mind. That's more of a possibility though! He hasn't yet shown any signs of being any manipulative but, well, we can't say that it's beyond his abilities. Ace himself can be quite sarcastic and mean at the time, he doesn't seem to mind slightly tricking his friends either. Nothing about him seems to be serious, but the possibilities remain still.

The way he learnt those tricks as well is mentionable; no one ever teached himm any of those tricks, he learnt them through being repeatedly tricked, and learning to copy and redo what he saw. Both Rook and Cater so far have confirmed that Ace's ability to learn so quickly and learn and redo techniques just by watching them is fantastic.

His genius and ability to learn and memorize everything that he needs to learn pretty fast, along side his tricky and sometimes personality can make Ace quite dangerous. If someone like him decides to choose such a remarkable talent for evil purposes, that's surely going to be bad news. That's much and less of what makes Ace's betrayal theory make sense although there're still fans who find it quite questionable. I'm not a supporter of this theory myself as I hadn't seen any signs of Ace having any bad intentions so far, but I do get where the theorizers are coming from and that makes sense. Ace has been trying to put on much of a mean and lowkey evil face on through the story and no one can really say what's exactly going on in that brain. We'll that about this uncertainty in part (7)!

6) His past relationship was...uh

For now, Ace is the only character who is confirmed to have experience in love and relationships, and this was a rather effective factor since many have been talking about Ace's past relationship afterwards. The thing is...Ace did talk about how his girlfriend held him back from having fun and living the life he wanted to live. Well there's actually a lot we should say about this one so I'm not gonna rush to the end, let's think about all of the aspects of this situation logically:

First of, the relationship itself. I'd say that it was a wrong attempt for them to date each other in the first place because obviously, Ace and his girlfriend weren't made for each other. They were total opposites in interests and they couldn't even have fun together. If Ace chose to go on a wild roller coater ride, the girl would've freaked out and when she chose a small, childish ride that she liked Ace instead didn't enjoy it at all. It's surely an issue when you and your partner can't even watch a movie which both of you can enjoy together since their tastes were totally different, just jow was this relationship going to last? Ace wasn't happy, and if he was going to do what made him happy the girl in return would've been sad. They were two different people of two different points, dating at this point was nothing but a mistake.

On the other hand, Ace as well is guilty. First off, she shouldn't have dated the girl in the first place if he was aware of how different her tastes were. Second, from what he said he never showed any signs of dissatisfaction when he had to give up on what he liked to listen to what the girl friend liked. The girl friend obviously told him that she was scared of a horror movie, but Ace just kept his mouth shut and felt awfully annoyed as he watched a romance movie with her while he didn't like it at all. If he'd at least told her girlfriend about this, she wouldn't have felt as injured and cheated when Ace broke up with her. Ace shouldn't have bottled it up, he deserved to enjoy the relationship just as much as the girl did. He shouldn't have expected things to get any better if he wasn't going to solve anything about it in the first place. If he'd talked about his personal desires and favorites as well, and had his uncomfortableness with most of the girl's choices discussed before hand, there could've been a chance of them coming into a conclusion and even not breaking up! The girl could've tried to be braver for him, and Ace could've agreed to be softer because of her. There would've been a HUGE difference if they'd talked about it logically.

Also, keep this in mind that the girl had no idea about Ace's uncomfortableness which was low key naïve of her (It's not cool when you don't even realize that your boyfriend doesn't like something) but this also made him awfully unprepared for a break up! Ace should've st least talked about his feelings and how he was unable to continue that relationship with her instead of just dropping her out of nowhere. That would've also decreased the chance of having to deal with the girl's friends after wards!

Finally, let's say that this relationship was wrong in too many aspects. They weren't each other's type, and we can't really blame Ace for dropping someone whom he couldn't be happy with. The main of being in a relationship is spending time with someone whom you can enjoy your time with. He as well was guilty because he can't just drop the girl like he just didn't care and had gotten tired of her while he had his own reasons for dropping her, he should've let the girl know that it wasn't necessarily her fault, it was about Ace not being able to relate to her tastes and habits.

Also, let's be honest. Not much is expected when a 15 year old is dating. Being in a relationship is an awfully sensitive and important choice and someone like Ace hasn't reached that level of maturity to be ready to date someone, let alone doing it at his 15s! Honestly... they should've learnt a lot before dating each other because it isn't a silly thing. Dating like this is nothing but playing around for a while for fun, it's a childish game of spending some time together until they break up.

For now, Ace is finds love quite silly and meaningless so we can clearly see that his past relationship has pissed him off. Well Ace needs to realize that his relationship with his ex wasn't a serious one, so it's normal for it to seem unimportant and silly. He needs to learn a lot without dating someone again, such as knowing how crucial it is to make sure that his hobbies would match his partners, to make sure tjat they get along, and simply, he needs to find his own type! Not all people are made for each other, and he isn't supposed to fall for anyone with any possible personality that pops up on his way.

Also, I'd say that he still needs to focus on studying instead of dating. He needs to reach the required level of maturity to be ready to start a healthy and successful relationship again. Also, he might end up being totally different from what we've seen about him being in a relationship do far when he grows up! Idealistics do change a lot olin teenagehood.

7) We need to talk about our first years a lot more!!!

This point isn't just about him, but rather all of the first years! If I were to rate the most ignored and shallowed personalities of twst, the first years should've gone on the top of this list. Even when we're speaking of the mischaracterized characters of the game, many consider Ace and Deuce to be the least mischaracterized while they happen to be the most mischaracterized as no one evencares to see through them and feel like we aren't mischaracterizing them just because we're ignoring them! Come on guys, Ace's design and personality is a lot more complicated and harder to read than characters like Vil and even Leona!

Out of all first years Sebek was the only one to get some proper shout outs so far but why isn't anyone talking about Ace and Deuce the way they deserve to be talked about? Their presence through the game is even more important than the dorm leaders as they are the closest characters to MC, and their personality design is just incredible, no just because of how perfectly detailed it is, but also because of giving them this unpredictability and incompleteness which totally matches their age!

Studies have shown that judging one's personality based on how they're doing at the age of 16 or younger is prettyhard and impossible, and it's a totally serious fact. At the age of 16, human's personality is under severe effects and changes until reaching it's final-developed shape. That's accurate toward almost all of the first years except Jack since he seems to have more of a mature personality.

NRC's first years are really complicated, especially a character like Ace. That why I said that we can't yet tell if he's a good guy or not, because at this level of life he can choose to be anything. He can be good, he can be bad, he can be neutral. That's why he's showing too much of opposite actions at the moment. One second he's being the biggest idiot in the whole world, the other second he's planning like a 50 year old genius. One second he's being protective over his friends, the other second he sighs and tells MC how annoying they are.

That's why Ace is hard to read, we can't tell what his true feelings are until he reaches the required mental stability to be judged as a mature and complete personality. 18 year olds like Vil have already reached that level of maturity and completeness, finding their unique magics as well is another sign of it. But our first years still need to learn and experience until they find their real selves, to see who they are.

This is one of the most adorable facts about their design because they really gave him this young and wild and incomplete nature to show that they're still young! This is quite incredible how careful Yana was to remember that they all needed some this childishness in their design, their designs are just as accurate and realistic as a real 16 year old's! They still need to learn, and that's why they're the closest ones to MC.

MC needs to learn and get to see more and more of this world, and so do the first years! They're just as unexperienced and new to this world, and they can relate to MC better than anyone else can!

So please, from now on, let's remember to talk about not only Ace, but also all of the first years more often. Ace and Deuce's designs especially are the most detailed and beautiful ones if you take time to know them better. Remember that after the 7 dorm leaders, Ace and Deuce's roles as the protagonist's closest allies are the most crucial in the game, so let's not just decide to ignore all these creative features and pass by them without thinking how much they can mean.

Woah, this one was quite harder to write than I'd expected! There are way too many things to say about him which made me have to summarize this into just this 7 parts for now. Ace is surely and odd yet interesting one to study, even more interesting than usually famous characters like Leona and Azul, which is partly because of how unpredictable he is!

[obeysword]

i keep thinking of it and the way the end of the game has teddie giving the closing statement of everyone’s heart being connected and addressing yu’s departure is really... not something that makes sense.

teddie has rare moments of maturity, but his bond with yu has never been as deep as it could be. it would take much more time to mature as it’s one of the more shallow links. and there’s nothing wrong with that! it just means they need more time for it grow and connect on a deeper level. i find this to be due in part of teddie’s childish personality. yu treats teddie as he would a child, because acts like he is a child. he has no concept of the things he says. he only flirts with girls because he just wants attention. the amount atlus does with this theme is pretty grating on the nerves and in pq that was pretty much teddie’s entire character. the japanese sub and dialect highlights he doesn’t know at all the things he’s talking about, and that’s something most english speakers may not pick up right away. ( a lot of this fandom still can’t see beyond the surface of the other characters but that’s an entirely other rant to get into. ) teddie is much more than just what atlus shoves him into, but it’s not often that we get to see how he has insight on certain things. i really believe he doesn’t understand the things he says. like scoring or thinking the strip club were the stripes on a zebra. his mindset is very innocent, someone just a little older than nanako’s childish aspects. i’d say he’s 10-14 on the maturity scale because even his deepest scenes, still hold the weight of a child’s understanding.

i find yu to be very closed off around him as well. there’s moments where teddie looks up to yu for guidance and understanding. but it’s never a heavy conversation like where the themes like nanako in the hospital and wondering if she’ll recover could have been expanded if it were another. i also would never place my trust in TEDDIE of all people to take care of yu while he was sick. his lack of understanding of illnesses, health, people, and he’s someone who only sees the surface of what yu’s character tries to present himself him as: perfect, happy, without carrying a burden or the weight of the trauma threatening to consume him. yu is so sick at new years and his fever didn’t break until the last day. realistically, he should have been hospitalized. realistically, teddie would have killed him because he wouldn’t know what to do. he’s also shown to be impressionable and echoing what others have said without being aware of the meaning of those words. i’d hope this could be something his character works out over time and realizes wrong from right because it’s pretty insensitive. kanji and yosuke have both shown to be effected by what he says and does in the nighttime conversations with yu. no one really corrects him for what he does either.

but if i can reiterate, the ending statement of the game feels so out of place with teddie. i know i express enough my love for yosuke’s character and his deep bond with yu, but that’s exactly WHY it should have been YOSUKE who had the closing statement. someone who has constantly talked about how important the connections he made over the year were for him, how special yu is to give him a year he wouldn’t have had otherwise. yosuke’s been yu’s mouthpiece since his introduction, riding his bike down the road and crashing into a trashcan. teddie is NOT morgana and does not hold the weight with yu that morgana does for akira. they are entirely different characters along with their relationship with the protag. morgana knows what he’s saying when he talks about how much he wants to date ann, adding an even bigger creepier factor to how human morgana is.

teddie just doesn’t fit for that scene when yu’s strongest bond has again, been with yosuke. his heart is connected with yosuke, not just symbolically if you count my hcs. but even the in-game dialog expresses that yosuke’s bond with yu is different. he’s the bond that literally cannot be broken, irreplaceable. and i personally think it’s pretty obvious that yu plays favorites amongst his friend group.  

[scentedmoviesaestheticempath]

Compiled cbw’s Kuraneo thoughts + theories

Warning : Don’t read if you’re a Kuraneo antis. For fellow Kuraneo fans, just because I write it doesn't mean you have to agree. There are multiple but no wrong ways to interpret the ship and my opinion below strictly follows the canon storyline. We don't need any reason to ship anything but considering their rocky start, it's fun to analyze what happen.

Disclaimer : HxH belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi.

Is it really a senseless ship?

Most complaints regarding Kuraneo is how problematic the ship is and the impossibility for Kuraneo to happen. The main problems are : Neon is a body collector, therefore it is impossible for Kurapika to be with her. Especially when she specifically collects scarlet eyes. Neon is also a shallow childish brat, while Kurapika is portrayed as a mature, cool-headed protagonist. But is it really?

Implications to be Canon

In January 2020 I spared my time to catch up with HxH. It really surprised me after I read the manga carefully, Kurapika was given the title of 'young boss/underboss' in Nostrade family. Whoever has seen the Godfather and read Cosa Nostra Wikipedia page would know that the title is usually given to a son. He could've been given the title 'consigliere'', but he didn't. There has been several changes in translation but he still is the Nostrade family leader(The Japanese version is Waka-Gashira(Young Boss), under Oyabun(Boss), while consigliere is Saiko-Komon). That gave me an assumption : "What if he is a Nostrade now?" I am not surprised since a man marries into a girl's family is kind of traditional norm in Japan (Reference : mukoyōshi (婿養子).

“ A mukoyōshi (婿養子) (literally "adopted son-in-law") is an adult man who is adopted into a Japanese family as a daughter's husband, and who takes the family's surname.

Generally in Japan, a woman takes her husband's name and is adopted into his family. When a family, especially one with a well established business, has no male heir but has an unwed daughter of a suitable age, she will marry the mukoyōshi, a man chosen especially for his ability to run the family business.[1] If there is no daughter, the candidate can take a bride from outside his adopted family (fūfu-yōshi: 夫婦養子). This is done to preserve the business and name of the family when there is no suitable male heir, since traditionally businesses are inherited by the oldest male heir. Mukoyōshi is also practiced if there is no capable male heir to run the family business.[1] This is a centuries-old tradition and is still widely practiced today. Many Japanese companies with household names such as Nintendo, Kikkoman, and Toyota have adopted this practice.[1] This adult adoption may take place in marriages where the woman's family is of a higher socio-economic rank than the man's family, where the woman has no brothers to be the heir to the family name, when the man has been disowned by his own family, or when the man's natural family comes from a notorious or shameful background and he thus prefers to hide his identity. “ 

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukoy%C5%8Dshi) (picture source : Kurapika x Neon Facebook page)

Kurapika and Neon are also paired in the Mobage which implies that the creator himself has approved the ship. There is a reason why Meruem and Bisky is not paired together.

Looking at Kurapika as a character

Now let’s look at Kurapika’s character. His character goal is to avenge his clan and collect all his brother and sister’s eyes. He’s shown to have strong prejudice against flesh collector and even decided to work for Nostrade family based on that reason. He went as far as planning to arrest them before meeting Neon. And even after meeting Neon, he convinced himself once again that in order to pursue his goal, he is willing to kill her (”If I have to kill her, so be it”, as rephrased my Melody). Yet he is also shown to be pleased when he is pointed as the head bodyguard, stating that “I didn’t think... It would work out so quickly” .He seems to have completely changed his plan. Because what is better than arresting/killing Neon? That would be having access to Nostrade’s family resources by being Light’s trusted person. And after Neon lost her power, Light Nostrade is shown to be losing his mind, being unable to function normally as a leader. Begging Kurapika to turn “Neon back to normal”. Kurapika does the job instead for Light, saying that “Don’t worry. I’ll handle everything.” At this point, he is the suitable guy to run the family. Considering his Waka-Gashira title, it is safe to assume he got the title by marrying her through son-in-law adoption. Looking at Neon as a character I am a big fan of aspoonofsugar’s character meta posts and the post about Neon’s Nen and Character insight brings a new perspective on how I see Neon.

https://aspoonofsugar.tumblr.com/post/176668230707/nen-and-characters-neon-nostrade Neon prefers not to be involved with people. She is clingy to her material possessions but not to people, as implied in her reaction to Dalzollene's death. While all her bodyguards and haters assume that she’s a heartless unempathetic character. The actual reason is related to her belief. For Neon, the present is the only thing that matter. She shows her empathetic side when Chrollo cried and Eliza broke down hearing Squalla’s death. She cares about the livings and her noble altruistic power reflects her character.

Regarding the son-in-law theory, I would say that she simply does not have a say in this matter when her family is crashing down. We are never shown Neon’s perspective on Kurapika  whether she likes him or not. I personally never ever once see a canon scene where Neon is implied to have crush on Kurapika. She had fluttering heart moment for Chrollo instead and I guess that's because Chrollo is one of the people whom has shown genuine emotions in front of her, just like Eliza over Squalla. Her appreciation to genuine feelings and honesty is probably caused by Light’s many lies in order to use her power.

We're told the story from Kurapika's point of view, therefore it's very easy to antagonize Neon like majority of her haters. But given Neon's appreciation to honesty and authenticity, who is at fault here? Kurapika just appears in her life, planning to use her and her family for his ends. He is just another Chrollo and Light Nostrade. (IRONICALLY This is why I ship their very unique relationship. But they do need each other for provision and protection, so props for Kurapika lmao) 

So if the son-in-law theory is true, is it possible for them have feelings for each other?

Of course it wasn't long before we got twists here and there. Neon's power disappearance from Chrollo's book, Kurapika referring himself not having the place to go home anymore. He seems to have so much authority to access Nostrade family resources without having a friendly term with them. Assuming they don’t have a normal loving relationship at the first sight makes sense. I don't think anyone marrying into Nostrade family will ever get their emotional needs fulfilled. Nostrade is never the traditional happy family. Neon is emotionally detached and Light only cares about power. They are the opposite of Zoldyck whom are sick in their own way. They only care about themselves and Kurapika is also one. He missed Gon's recovery and does not seem to value his own life. In other words. Doesn’t that mean Kurapika is only using her, then?

No. At this point, it means they need each other and it’s either they do like each other or simply have mutual physical attraction regardless how they feel.

(It is unfair to say Kurapika takes advantage of Nostrade family when Nostrade family themselves need Kurapika, or else, they will not function. Needing each other is not equal to taking advantage of each other, it is the basic of household.

As for the last part, I have seen many cases where even people who constantly says "beauty doesn’t matter” and proving their point by considering their spouses unattractive are STILL ATTRACTED PHYSICALLY to their spouse. Please feel free to disagree)

When we say that we like or love someone, we are experiencing interpersonal attraction—the strength of our liking or loving for another person.

Although it may seem inappropriate or shallow to admit it, and although it is certainly not the only determinant of liking, people are strongly influenced, at least in initial encounters, by the physical attractiveness of their partners (Swami & Furnham, 2008). Elaine Walster and her colleagues (Walster, Aronson, Abrahams, & Rottman, 1966) arranged a field study in which college boys and girls were randomly paired with one another at a “computer dance.” After the partners had danced and talked for a couple of hours, they were interviewed separately about their own preferences and characteristics as well as about their perceptions of their date. Walster and her colleagues found that the only important determinant of participants’ liking for their date was his or her physical attractiveness. None of the other characteristics—even the perceived intelligence of the partner—mattered.

https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/chapter/initial-attraction/

When feelings are discussed : From my intrepretation, I always think people got it backwards about Kurapika and Neon. Kurapika has an icy facade, but he is the type of person who grow on people, while Neon is not. Even when he distanced himself from the other bodyguards at their first meeting, he is the one who cares the most about his "comrades"/teammates, he punched Uvo for killing his teammates. Neon, on the other hand, doesn't even flinch when she heard that Dalzolenne is dead although he's been the one who took care of her. She even made one of her servant as wall decoration. But there is a possibility she also grows on people AS LONG AS they’re still alive, that’s why she cared about Eliza. The problem is, once they’re dead, they become another story in the irrelevant past. That does not make her a bad person in grey HxH universe, but someone with different values due to her belief and upbringing. Kurapika demonstrates his understanding of her when describing her to Basho. In fact, he is the most understanding person that treats her nicely and does not harm her even though he had the intention to. Kurapika didn't think Neon losing her ability as the family downfall or disability, unlike her own father. As much as assuring everything will be okay when Light broke down in GI Arc. This is a huge revolution in her life because since Kurapika stepped in, someone is finally using her without the need of her ability.

Neon’s loss of ability actually sounds like a parallel to Pairo when people around them refer them as "not normal" for having less functional leg and no ghostwriter ability. They were also both supposed to be under his care/companion when the accident happened. This leaves a huge question mark for me of how Kurapika interprets her at this point. Is he only using her or he feels responsible? or both?

This leaves us some possibilities if their relationship was merely based on physical attraction & mutual benefit or if it is indeed more.

The first possibility means he likes her enough to marry/sleep with her but still barred from prejudice to consider her as his friend. (Even this is debatable, Kurapika simply could be a private person and given that his clan was living in hidden presence, it's only normal if he want to hide Neon's presence too. Also "Traditionally, part of the Mafia code is to keep the wives and mothers out of the loop of confidences for their own safety" is an actual study from The Independent,UK.)

And Neon also likes him enough to marry/sleep with him but not enough to get involved in his life. (Or is she? Sometimes I have to remind myself HxH can't be seen through normal perspective because no hunter is fit for normal family life. So maybe Neon's dismissive attitude makes her the perfect one for him)

The second possibility means they are in loving relationship off-screen. I'd say this is a very high probability because based on personality analysis above, both characters are capable of growing on each other. Another note : Neon's design is strongly based on Princess Luna from Level E, where she is a love interest to Prince Baka. The story take it lightly despite being "king x revolutionary" couple. And while for us, it feels like a long time. For the in-universe characters, black whale is only like a month of work CMIIW. 

But either way, I’d say they do harbor some sort of affection in canon. We have a negative perception on arranged marriage, assuming the affection is not valid because it is a form of Stockholm syndrome. I will quote my argument straight from Quora where the responder had successfully arranged more than 40 marriages.

“Not every western theory is a reality. I think those who do not know the basics of arranged marriage speak at will and trying to create a fear syndrome against a successful system...”

“...Those who shun arranged marriages can live as they wish. Law does not prevent them to be at liberty. They have no business to criticize a system which is far better than other ways of creating male female relationships. Stockholm syndrome belongs to Stockholm... They are civilized enough to live in a system where there is nothing to lose. Stockholm syndrome is an illusion.One should not insult a culture without knowing an iota of that system. “ https://www.quora.com/I-feel-that-the-affection-after-an-arranged-marriage-is-basically-a-form-of-Stockholm-syndrome-What-is-your-opinion-on-this

Or maybe, there is nothing between them yet and these implications are just a foreshadow to what’s planned for them

What if she’s dead?

Some people would say Kurapika killed her but that is totally impossible and out of character. Her death is only assumed by the Phantom Troupe because her power dissapear from the book. Nen is extremely flexible concept even in-universe and there are many ways to work around that. Also in contradictive, Kurapika managed to take 9 pairs of eyes from 'the mafia's daughter' without killing anyone. I doubt he would do nothing after Chrollo stole her ability. I assume it would be insulting to Kurapika if people say he let Neon to just die considering he takes his job seriously and inheriting Nostrade name.

And frankly, I don’t care if she’s dead. Kakin war arc & Dark continent arc will also take approximately 20-40 years to finish. Whether she’s dead or not I’m going to enjoy my time with my interpretations based on canon implications given. And if she is indeed proven to be dead, I’ll accept it and just have fun in the fandom. I respect Togashi as the author.

Why don't the Nostrade just adopt Kurapika without the marriage?

I dunno, better ask mafias and Japanese. Because based on this theory, they clearly like to keep it in the family, I'm just reading my references.

cbw’s Final words

This theory is inspired from baby foreshadowing theory in reddit (page: HxH craziest theory), which inspired me to write my fic. Which, inspired me again to write this son-in-law theory.

I am combining implications from “Cosa Nostra”, “Waka-gashira”(The similar organization structure), “Godfather”(How Kurapika gain Light’s trust), “Son-in-law adoption”(Underboss in Sicily organization structure), Neon&Kurapika paired cards in Mobage, and Princess Luna from Level E as spouse from opposing faction(The base for Neon’s character)

Whilst the western sources about obtaining the title in mafia marriage is abundant, the sources regarding obtaining the title in yakuza marriage are Until Death Do Us Part and & GTA:Liberty City

Toshiko Kasen: My husband is samurai, Mr. Toni. He is very strong... but very, very bad. He only married me to become waka-gashira in Liberty City.

https://www.grandtheftwiki.com/index.php?title=A_Date_With_Death&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop

(Page 161 Until Death Do Us Part)

Honestly after my last note, I gave it another thought and I couldn't possibly see another explanation of why he could be a Nostrade family boss. If anyone asks me, I refuse to ignore the implications Togashi gave and say they're canon 100%.

Given Kuraneo’s complex relationship and their neutral interaction, its brilliance lies in how flexible people can be in interpreting them. I enjoy many different kind of interpretations. My favorite thing about Kuraneo is although we never get any implication that Neon ever noticed Kurapika, many fics describe it as the other way round because from Neon’s POV it would be liking someone that embody her fetish. I especially love this headcanon, love it when people portray Neon as deviant.That escalate from 0 to 100 real quick. Being a part of Nostrade also means Kurapika gets to accept his past as something that shapes him to be the man he is today. But honestly, I just love hateships and their big chances of hating while loving each other.

I would say that whatever off-screen and how readers interpret their relationsip and feelings is up for us to decide until HxH truly reach the ending. And that’s only if Togashi is willing to disclose their relationship. I would be happy if they become canon, but if not then I’ll still ship them just like how I will still ship Pitou x Kai and Chrollo x Kurapika. Naoko Takeuchi, Togashi’s wife said once in her interview that she likes seeing different interpretations of Sailor Moon from her fans. I’m a Sailor Moon fan too and I wish to respect her view by applying the same to her husband’s works.

Thanks for reading!

[yeonchi]

Doctor Who Hiatusbreaker Update 2

Although the premiere of Doctor Who Series 13 is still a while off, let alone the announcement of a premiere date, there are a few things I’d like to talk about before that time comes. Let’s get right into it.

Filler series plans to talk about Series 1-10

Some time ago, I had plans to make a ten-part series talking about Series 1-10 in detail, but because I had a lot of stuff going on, those plans were reduced to something I call Doctor Who 10 for 10 - 10 Things for 10 Series, which was to state ten things about each series with at least 4 to 6 of these things being my opinions on each series. This was intended to be a filler series to bide the time before Series 13 comes out, but that may have to come at another time. I’m also continuing with Kisekae Insights if anyone wants to check it out.

The post-Series 13 forecast

Since Series 13 would be Jodie Whittaker’s third series as the Doctor, signs are pointing to this being her final series. There are also rumours stating that there will be two specials in 2022 that would serve as her final episodes. If this is the case, then it means that Jodie Whittaker would have been the Doctor for five years; a five-year-long ordeal of pain because series seem to be released pretty much every other year as a result of the almost-year-long gaps between them, not to mention the fact that less episodes are being produced as time goes on. Whether Chris Chibnall will be remaining on is still unknown at this time. Frankly, I’ll be glad when this is all over because I (and many other fans) have been kept hanging for so long. I just hope the Timeless Child payoff will be worth it.

At this point, the only reason why I’m still watching the series is mainly because I want to know how the Timeless Child arc plays out. The initial shocks have come and gone, but now this is where we wait and see if the aftershocks are as worse.

When I started my Thirteenth Doctor Reviews, I made a pact that I would cut off all ties with the series going forward if the Fourteenth Doctor was another female. Given the Timeless Child arc and the rumours that Olly Alexander would replace Jodie Whittaker (which would make him the first gay actor to play the Doctor) that came and went because his agent stated that he was focusing on music for the time being, I’ve honestly stopped giving a shit at this point. I’ll probably continue being a casual fan of Doctor Who, watching episodes as they come out, but regardless, all that this series will be to me is like what the Koei Warriors series has degraded itself to over the past decade. I’ll still be grateful for all the inspiration and opportunities it has provided me with over the years, but I’ll probably accept that the series has gone on a downward spiral with seemingly no way of coming back up. But hey, all will be revealed in due time, so the forecast isn’t that bleak for now.

The first look into Series 13 (added 26 July 2021)

So just today, two days after I originally published this post, the teaser trailer for Doctor Who Series 13 was released following the 2021 San Diego Comic Con@Home. Aside from the Doctor, Yaz and Dan, the only other character we see is Vinder, a recurring character throughout the series who will be played by Jacob Anderson. Recurring character, you say, and that’s because Series 13 will apparently be a single serialised story. This brings callbacks to The Trial of a Time Lord or more loosely, the multiple two-parters of Series 9. We still don’t get an exact premiere date, only that it will premiere “later this year”, but given that Series 11 and 12 took about 10 months to film, we can predict that filming of Series 13 will likely be wrapping up in the next month. Whether there will be a shorter run of five or six episodes (thereby reserving two of those episodes for the 2022 specials, assuming they won’t be filmed separately to Series 13) is unknown, but regardless, I’m looking forward to watching and reviewing the series for myself.

Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall leave Doctor Who (added 30 July 2021) 

In news that will surprise no one, Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall have announced that they will be leaving the series in 2022. Technically, the news isn’t much of a surprise in terms of Whittaker than it is for Chibnall, as Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat have been showrunner for two Doctors each. But hey, with this, it means that my Thirteenth Doctor Reviews will also be a review of Chibnall’s run as showrunner.

My initial thoughts on this, which may or may not change coming up to Whittaker’s final episode - it was an okay run while it lasted, but honestly, good riddance. How’s that five year plan of yours going, Chibnall? If your plan was to divide the fanbase and leave them hanging with gaps between series, then you’ve really done it.

On top of this, Series 13 will be six episodes long, with the remaining two episodes to be broadcast as specials in 2022. The first of them will be a New Year’s Special (surprise surprise) and the second will follow in Spring 2022 (Northern Hemisphere). The Thirteenth Doctor’s final episode will premiere in Autumn 2022 (Northern Hemisphere) as part of the BBC’s Centenary celebrations. Some tentative dates I’m predicting are 18 October 2022, the 100th anniversary of the BBC, 23 November 2022, the 59th anniversary of Doctor Who, or 1 January 2023, which would make it another New Year’s Special (I’m not discounting 25 December 2022, I just think it’s less likely given how this era has been).

With this, the Fourteenth Doctor is expected to debut in 2023, the 60th anniversary year of Doctor Who. I just hope the new production team doesn’t disappoint the fans with that.

In terms of statistics, Jodie Whittaker has played the Doctor for 31 episodes, making her run the second shortest behind Christopher Eccleston. Peter Capaldi played the Doctor for 40 episodes, Matt Smith for 44 episodes and David Tennant for 47.

My hopes for Whittaker and Chibnall’s final episodes haven’t changed; I want to see what happens with the Timeless Child arc (and also Ruth). Whether the Fourteenth Doctor will be male or female (or played by a non-binary or trans actor), I have a few basic preliminary hopes for the next run; make each series 13 episodes again with a Christmas Special each year and put the series back on Saturday nights, like it was before Whittaker and Chibnall. Also, can we go back to filming in the 16:9 ratio? I can never get over how weird it looks on my screen (at full screen, it doesn’t look so weird when I have it playing on half screen, which is what I usually do when I write my reviews).

Jay Exci - The Fall of Doctor Who

Yes, it has been a while and I know I could have told everyone about this earlier, but better late than never I suppose. A couple of months ago, Jay Exci did a 5-hour long critique of the Chibnall era in his video, The Fall of Doctor Who. For some reason, there are those who see it as controversial because they’re NPCs who don’t want to hear criticism of the Chibnall era or they’re spergs who aren’t mature enough to sit through a 5-hour video they can watch in chunks, but hey, it’s pretty good. This is more in-depth than the reviews that people like Bowlestrek or Nerdrotic make, which essentially put Jay on their level in the eyes of the NPCs despite denying that they are on their level and being a sperg about how they’re better than them. Welcome to the party, Jay, you can check out anytime but you can never leave. 

Anyway, you can check out the video below. Even if you don’t feel like watching the whole video, I highly suggest that you watch section 4.2 onwards (timestamped link here) as it does resonate with my feelings on the Timeless Child arc. I swear, this is just like Dynasty Warriors 9 all over again. I know the feeling.

Cancel culture comes for Noel Clarke and John Barrowman

The thing about cancel culture is that people can be petty about things other people have done or said years ago and they can justify it with the excuse that they’re doing it to hold those people accountable. Depending on the context, it can expose the fact that that person is a major piece of shit or it can be an overreaction to something, which in the minds of today’s society is normally the latter.

Around the time that Noel Clarke was nominated for a Bafta at the end of March, allegations emerged of abuse and sexual misconduct against him. 20 women came forward with their stories and as a result, the final episode of Viewpoint was pulled from broadcast (but still released on Blu-ray and DVD) and Bulletproof was cancelled before filming on the fourth series would begin.

In May, video emerged of Clarke at Chicago TARDIS in 2014 talking about how John Barrowman would expose his genitals and slap it on people and things. This led to allegations about Barrowman surfacing, resulting in him apologising for his actions even though he had already been reprimanded for them over a decade ago and apologised in November 2008. Despite this, his contribution to the immersive theatrical event Doctor Who: Time Fracture was pulled and Big Finish have decided to shelf the release of Torchwood: Absent Friends, which would have featured David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor.

Now, I don’t care about Noel Clarke by any means, but this situation is honestly sad for John Barrowman because it shows that cancel culture spares no victims and leaves no fossil undiscovered. These PR stunts have clearly shown that the spineless people involved with those productions are so concerned with saving face that they are unable to just overlook these transgressions for the sake of fans who actually wanted to see him reprise his role as Captain Jack Harkness. But hey, what do I know? I don’t really care for anything other than the TV series, but it really shows how shameless corporations can be.

Once again, we don’t exactly know when Doctor Who Series 13 will premiere, but if you ask me, I predict that it will premiere in October or November. I’ll see you all again around that time.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Letter from a disenchanted student of the Divine Principle

Many Unification Church members seem to think people who left the organization are like some kind of lapsed Catholics, but most of those people just recognized Moon’s absurd and contradictory rhetoric had absolutely no relationship to reality – I pointed out many of those obvious contradictions in my previous letter to Rev Moon. Even the vaunted Divine Principle was not his own teaching. Much of it came from a woman called Seong-do Kim whose revelations began in 1923. She stated that Jesus did not come to die (not new because other Christians had taught this previously), she also taught that the fall was a sexual sin (again not new because Jewish scholars suggested this long ago and anyone can recognize the association, even sex shops use a bitten apple to advertise their wares). She also taught about the change of blood lineage through the messiah – thus justifying all the deviant sexual activity involved in the pikareum rituals. Another source was a woman called Chong Deuk-eun who dictated a book called the Principle of Life in 1946-47. It was published in 1958.

The history parallels were taken straight from the teachings of Baek-moon Kim’s Israel Monastery – being the reason they finish in 1917, which was Baek-moon’s birth date rather than 1920 when Moon was born. The final Divine Principle book was composed by a committee guided by Hyo-won Eu with input from Young Oon Kim and various professors. So rather than being a direct revelation, the DP is actually an interesting amalgam of Christian theology, nineteenth century science, Oriental philosophy and shamanism – added to the insights and teachings that were taken from various Korean spiritual groups.



This was why I felt free to approach much of the DP as almost allegorical because the main thing to emphasize was personal spiritual maturity – the development of a loving parental heart. (The real meaning of ‘perfection’.) I never believed that absolute Cain/Abel rubbish spouted by Moon and Japanese leaders. I remember one itinerant worker saying, ‘If my central figure tells me this red dress is blue then it’s blue.’ Absolutely insane – but this is exactly the kind of thing that has been propagated by the Moon family and their minions, especially in Japan, and it leads to all kinds of abuses.



In addition to the DP we also have Rev. Moon’s great blessing theory, whereby through downing a glass of holy wine and being engrafted to his lineage we become capable of conceiving pure offspring, free from original sin. These ‘blessed’ children can then form the core of the heavenly kingdom on earth, of course with the ‘True Parents’ and their children at the absolute center. However, the proof of any pudding is in the eating – regardless of how good the recipe might sound. So let us look at the results, the fruits of the messiah and his teaching.

We can start with some of his own blessed children:   Ye Jin – (Divorced.) Hyo Jin – was a drug addict, I saw him give a sermon one time when he was so stoned he had to hold on to the podium in order to stand up. He punched and kicked his wife, Nansook Hong, watched pornography, walked around with a gun in his pocket and beat up church members. (Divorced.) In Jin – was forced to resign her position because it became public knowledge about her affairs with two married members and the illegitimate child she had with one of them. (Divorced.) Un Jin – said clearly on TV that her father was not the messiah, and that the church was just about power and money. (Divorced.)

 Hyun Jin, the kind-hearted business expert who wanted to cut the salaries of our church’s jewelry workers by a third – I saw a video of him calling a church leader an arrogant bastard and kicking him as the man knelt before him. No matter what the guy was guilty of, this was just one more example of the violence perpetrated by the Moon family. Which of course was epitomized by Cleopas, the black Zimbabwean supposedly embodying the spirit of Heung Jin, who went around the world viciously beating up men and women, putting some in hospital. He even threatened church members with a pistol. (All of it approved by Rev Moon who laughed at the beatings and had himself used a baseball bat on members.)



Kook Jin – an arms dealer who said Abel wouldn’t have been killed if he’d had a gun. Divorced his wife and had himself re-blessed with a Korean beauty queen. He now has his own group of armed ‘knights’ willing to do whatever he orders. (Divorced.)

 Hyung Jin, the heir apparent (according to him), lied about getting a BA from Harvard when he actually attained a lower qualification – and if he thinks the parable of the sower is referring to ‘absolute sex’ I think he needs to go back to Divinity School. His Sanctuary Church now promotes the owning of AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles, and has ceremonies with participants carrying these lethal weapons while wearing bizarre crowns of bullets. According to one of his recent speeches, all the women of the world are ‘Brides of Christ,’ and he of course is now in that Christ position.

Don’t want to go into details about some of the others as I feel sorry for them.



So this so-called true family demonstrates clearly that there is no difference between blessed children and any others. Rev. Moon said as much in Korea when he was talking about Sammy Park, his illegitimate son. He said, ‘The sons from the concubine are better because there is more passion involved in their conception.’ So much for the value of the blessing. 



(Of course Mrs Moon blames the bad behavior of her adult, absolute ruler children on the poor church members, as though they could do anything to control it.)



So now lets look at the practical results of all the members’ sacrifice and offerings:

 This Parc One court case (the conflict that began between Kook Jin and Hyun Jin) resulted in at least 700 million dollars of church money going to lawyers and outside companies. This is at a time when Japanese church members were being bled dry; many could not even afford to go to the dentist. (They were commonly referred to as ‘the toothless ones’ in Japan.)



Cheongpyeong – you couldn’t make it up – they were selling apartments in the spirit world! People have to be completely away with the fairies to buy into that. Mrs Hyo Nam Kim (Dae Mo Nim or Hoon Mo Nim) after being denounced as a fraud, walked away with assets worth more than 230 million dollars (including one of the top golf courses in South Korea), so her spiritual real estate business must have been doing very well. It’s as crazy as charging money so that your ancestors can attend workshops with the spirit of Heung Jin, or paying thirty dollars for two bottles of Danjobi shampoo to get evil spirits out of your hair. (This all of course also being done with the consent of Rev Moon.)

Mrs Kim was supposedly channeling Dae Mo Nim, the mother of Hak Ja Han, which was actually a strange choice because Dae Mo Nim and another woman had spent two years in jail for beating a mentally ill youth to death in one of these frenzied ansu sessions (where they beat bad spirits out of people).

That whole Cheongpyeong providence is merely old Korean shamanism, and just because people have spiritual experiences there doesn’t validate what is going on. Something many members don’t realize is that God works to educate and reach people regardless of what religion they are following.



Rev. Moon often praised Korean culture but Korea was a slave society for most of its history. Although the number of slaves had declined during the nineteenth century the institution was not legally banned until 1894, and the system survived in practice until the 1920s. At least one third of the population were slaves in the past, and the children of slaves automatically belonged to their masters – with most wealthy men keeping concubines. The Koreans always had that tradition of the Yangban, or aristocrats, being served by everybody else, even having a caste of sex slaves for that purpose.



Another tradition was idol worship and shamanism. All this drumming and beating at Cheongpyeong is actually for drawing spirits into people, not driving them out. The disgusting business of putting Moon’s semen and blood into the holy wine is more shamanism. Shamans believe if you can get someone to imbibe your bodily fluids they will come under your control. By the way, Rev Moon’s children used to refer to Mrs Kim and her people as ‘the witches of Cheongpyeong.’ To put this in perspective there are still over 300,000 shamans or ‘mudangs’ plying their trade in Korea. 



Conferences. After working on some of them I was shown very clearly that all those big science, arts and other conferences actually had no purpose other than glorifying Rev Moon. He wasn’t at all interested in any results from those meetings, only in how many famous people attended.



About 500 million dollars is donated each year by the Japanese church, but where does it all go? What great world-changing projects do you see it used for? Of what use are all these glorious palaces? The one at Cheongpyeong cost over a thousand million dollars. Just think what good could have been done in the world with such funds. This particular palace is now adorned with giant statues of Hak Ja Han with Jesus kneeling before her and a much diminished figure of Sun Myung Moon in obedient attendance. She has effectively created a new religion centered on herself by changing the basic teachings and proclaiming herself as the Only Begotten Daughter of God, the wife of God, the mother of God and God himself/herself. (What kind of mental gymnastics the present members are doing to believe this utter nonsense is beyond me.)



I know each national church lives in its own little bubble, in effect creating its own version of the Unification society and cherry picking which headquarters’ directions to implement. Each country also seems to hold onto its own view of the ‘messiah,’ effectively editing out anything that does not conform to this ideal. However, with the advent of the Internet this can thankfully no longer be the case.

It is the very core of the Unification Church that needs to be examined. The whole church has been built on lies. Even Rev Moon’s life story is full of falsehoods. Remember that picture of him carrying the man on his back; he let it be known for years that it was him before finally admitting it wasn’t.

The stories about Heungnam – I heard a testimony from one of those early disciples where she went to visit him and found him drinking tea in a nearby village! Chung-hwa Pak had been an officer in the military and was put in charge of the prisoners. He designated which tasks the prisoners should do. He was able to give Moon time off so they could talk together about his beliefs. Moon was not always being worked to death as he later stated.


He said he graduated in electrical engineering at Waseda University in Tokyo, but he actually only attended night classes at a technical high school.


The Church made out that Moon was arrested in North Korea for preaching against communism, but the charges were really for bigamy and adultery. Chong-hwa Kim, the married woman involved, was also jailed. His anti-communist stance came much later.



The story about him meeting Jesus on the mountainside is also untrue. It was Seong-do Kim who first told people she’d had these Easter revelations, then Baek-moon Kim claimed them as his, and finally Rev Moon – whose lies gave him away as Easter did not fall on the date he gave for that year. In his most recent account of that meeting he calls Jesus a bastard, and originally taught that Jesus should have had sex with his mother to restore the fall. He also claimed to have met and talked with Buddha, but until his first visit to India he thought Buddha was Chinese. 



The Tragedy of the Six Marys. This book described the pikareum, or womb-cleansing, ceremonies conducted during the early years of the Unification Church. For years we were told it was untrue, but before the book came out in Japan they started giving lectures explaining the providential reasons why Moon had to have sex not only with the Six Marys, but also with all the wives of the 36, 72 and even the 124 couples. Some of the members listening to those lectures left the church afterwards so they stopped giving them, but they started them again in Korea from what I heard.

The Israel Monastery was a pikareum church with Baek-moon Kim doing the womb cleansing by having sex with the female members. Another similar one was the Olive Tree Movement started by Tae-Seon Park. This had 300,000 members and the churches had special rooms to practice the pikareum rituals. So there were plenty of examples of this grotesque idea for Rev Moon to draw on.



The holy wine ceremony is a symbolic sexual act, but for the first years of the church Rev Moon actually had sex with the female members. This is the core of the church and it is both vile and ludicrous.



I don’t say these things lightly because I needed plenty of evidence before I believed them, but I know people in both Japan and Korea who attended lectures where this behavior was justified. In America Hyung Jin and Kook Jin have admitted such things happened. It was admitted by Young Oon Kim, Papasan Choi, Chung-Hwa Pak, President Eu’s cousin (Shin-hee Eu), Annie Choi (the mother of Sam Park), Deok-jin Kim and many others. Rev Yong also went around the world giving lectures explaining the dispensational necessity of such sex practices.



God of Day and God of Night. There used to be a shrine to this primitive Korean god to the east of Seoul. (Moon was incorporating any kind of rubbish into his mythology by the end of his life.)

I could report on even worse activities and crimes but I think this is enough for now. The Divine Principle itself is a wonderful construct, (Hyo-won Eu being something of a genius) the only problem being that it isn’t true. So much of the numerology, four position foundations, triple objective purposes and so on, is actually meaningless. There was no sexual fall and inherited original sin and Satan are non-existent. The history parallels are extremely contrived, and although interesting, prove nothing at all. There are many more aspects of the book that don’t make sense. Some parts of course are helpful, Jesus not coming to die and so on, but none of these are original ideas, so the book certainly doesn’t prove that Moon is the Second Advent.

▲ Baek-moon Kim was born in 1917. He devised the parallels of history.



As predicted nothing happened on Foundation Day apart from a few pointless ceremonies. The church leadership knew this would be the case, which is why they were already telling people to prepare for 2020, the 100th anniversary of Moon’s birth. Mrs Moon is emphasizing witnessing now. (Because tithes are an ongoing source of revenue.) She recently told the Japanese wives in Korea that if they don’t do well then their descendants will pay lots of indemnity. She seems to have forgotten what her husband said on October 27, 1999, ‘No more indemnity is needed. The providence of restoration is completed.’



I personally think anyone still teaching the Divine Principle has to examine all of the above, and then ask themselves if they are just helping to propagate a gigantic destructive fraud? Thousands of people have gone through real suffering to enrich Moon and his family. Many of them had their lives ruined by being matched and married to people they could not relate to. It’s hard to believe but Moon’s church even advertised for any Korean men who wanted wives to come to one of those big blessings – just to make the numbers up, although he charged them between two and ten thousand dollars for each purchased bride. He then matched dedicated Japanese sisters to men who weren’t even church members – some of whom were unemployed drunkards or worse. (One of these wives eventually killed her Korean husband after suffering years of abuse.) Again, ask yourself whether these matchings were the action of a loving father, or an evil despot with no concern at all for the happiness and well-being of others?



If members were matched with someone they could love and be happy with, then they were in the minority, as it was mostly a matter of luck. Remember he matched physical brothers and sisters on at least four occasions that I know of, then changed the matching when he was told about it, so it certainly wasn’t God guiding him.



If people want God in their lives all they have to do is invite him in. Knock and the door will be opened. You don’t need to go to God through Moon or anyone else, and heaven is a place for heavenly people, so if you aren’t heavenly then no blessing, white robe or inseminated wine is going to get you in there.

And just to be clear, arrogance and avarice are not heavenly attributes.



I believe anyone who has sincerely tried to serve God and create a better world has certainly not wasted their time, because God will remember their efforts whatever religion they followed, but the Unification Church, FFWPU, or Hak Ja Han’s new name for it ‘Heavenly Parent’s Holy Community,’ is nothing but a despotic money-making, power-seeking, destructive scam that should not be supported in any way.



My apologies people, no jokes this time, I’m too disgusted by the whole sorry mess.



Sloe Gin

______________________________________________

Newsweek on the many Korean messiahs of the 1970s

Hwang Gook-joo and his orgies

The Divine Principle is constructed to control members

Sun Myung Moon’s Theology of the Fall, Tamar, Jesus and Mary

Sun Myung Moon – Restoration through Incest

Shamanism is at the heart of Sun Myung Moon’s church

Japanese member, Ms. K, was forced to marry Korean man she did not like

Sun Myung Moon makes me feel ashamed to be Korean

The Fall of the House of Moon – New Republic

Sun Myung Moon’s secret love child – Mother Jones

Cult Indoctrination – and the Road to Recovery

[confused-and-hurtzo]

Grey’s S15

So... I pranked myself like I always do, and I decided to do a mini grey’s rewatch of seasons 12-15. To be completely honest, I didn’t watch season 13 or 14 entirely, and I wanted to understand this past season better. (I lowkey also wanted to see Deluca’s character development b/c I want to understand the man that Mer just said ‘I love you’ to). So here is a review of Grey’s S15, what I hope to see in S16, a rant on some comments I have seen on the internet about. I just need to let my thoughts out. 

First of all, I am a big Grey’s Anatomy fan. Although I roll my eyes every time I say it's been running this long, this show has a special place in my heart. I started watching the show during my formative years, Cristina Yang basically raised my teenage self. I started in middle school, and now we are here, a year away from graduating my undergrad at UofT. I don’t want to discredit the amazing women that raised me, but I also don’t want to not mention Shondaland and its influence on who I am today. Overall, Grey’s is kind of like my bible, I rewatch it every time I need to feel comfortable, validated, and reasonable. Its storytelling has allowed me to understand so many things, such as addiction (s/o to Private Practice and Amelia Shepherd), family issues, loyalty, love, empowerment. Its most important lesson is that life goes on. No matter how hard it gets, it just keeps going, and that's the beauty of it. We all can take whatever it throws at us, and come on the other side, stronger and wiser. I hate it when people say that they miss the old Grey's, that they miss Derek or Cristina. It’s all very valid, I miss them too. However, that is life, people die, people move across the globe, and you just have to deal with that and move forward. 

I really enjoyed this season because of its attention to detail. I know this sounds very odd, but, after watching S12, 13, and 14, I feel that this season was packed with references. It mostly stayed true to the characters' storylines and amended some plot holes from previous seasons. I love that the Mer-Tatcher storyline had a conclusion, I always wondered what happened to him after Lexie died.  I also enjoyed meeting Alex’s mom, she is honestly a sweetheart. Benley’s story was so exciting, I am never concerned about them because they are perfect, but it is good to see them going through hard times. They brought back Teddy, which allowed Owen’s character to move forward. I loved that they gave Amelia a chance, we got a better explanation of why her family was not there, and her story became full-circle. There is more reference to the Mer’s kids, making us remember that she is a mom LOL. Finally, although he is a more recent character, I love Schmidt so much. He cracks me up, and his story is so underrated. 

In this part, I will focus more on my favorite characters of the show and what I liked about them this season:

Meredith: I have to admit, I always thought I was Cristina Yang, but the more I reflect on this, the more I realize that I am more of a Meredith Grey. I am so proud of how far she has come, professionally and emotionally. She is a warrior. I love how happy she is this season. It's partly because of her new relationship, but also she is very stable now, with her kids, her award, her friendships. She is always working really hard to be a better person, and it takes a courageous person to admit that you need to improve and actually doing the work to be better. She understands her past and moves forward, motivating the people that love her the most to do the same thing. She has changed, for good. And, people may say that she is not the Meredith Grey she was in season 1, and I say that this is a good thing. She has grown up and learned from her mistakes (some of them, she was still afraid of I love you’s and committed insurance fraud, but some things don’t change lol). Cece was such a central character for her storyline, I loved how she allowed her to believe in herself and in life-after-love (yes, this is a Cher reference), which is why Merluca is a thing now. I high-key believe that Cece intentionally created the Link-Andrew-Meredith love triangle for Deluca to step up his game and show her how much she wants to be with her. After all, Cece was there when they talked about the kiss, she saw something, and finessed her way into making it a reality. I can’t help but smile at the fact that Mer is smiling like a teenager again, it fills my heart. I too loved Derek, but he died. That happens, it sucks. But, Mer has every right to move on and fall in love again. She deserves finding love again. 

Alex: Alex as chief was my favorite thing this season. I love how he just got the job randomly, but this job allowed him to prove himself what he is capable of. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bailey as chief, but we all knew that she was going to be a great chief someday. I always root for the underdog, and in this particular situation, he was the underdog. My favorite part is when Bailey and Weber realized how good he was at the job because he understands that delegating is a thing (lol). I liked meeting his mom, that storyline just re-states how pure he is. I love how he doesn’t realize that Merluca is a thing, he is just completely oblivious. It broke my heart to see him freaking out about Jo because it made me realize how much Izzie scared him. He is the Most Improved Character of the show. Period. 

Amelia: I love Amelia so much. She is often very misunderstood by some fans, but you all need to watch private practice to understand her better. I liked this season because it made justice to her and her journey. We learned a bit more about Christopher. We saw her being a mom with both Betty and Leo. We saw her helping Betty through her addiction. We saw her standing up for herself and end a relationship that had become very toxic. We saw her talk to her family and, more importantly, talk to her mom. We saw her rise above her love for Owen and let him be happy with Teddy. She has grown so much and this season allowed her to do that, which I am very grateful for. After rewatching S15, I now am a full Amelink stan. I love how they start their first significant interaction with Link word-vomiting his feeling about the overdose wave. He talks a lot, just like her, and he is willing to listen to her talking. One reason why Omelia didn’t work out was that Owen didn’t talk and Amelia felt that she shouldn’t talk either, leading to significant miscommunications. I also love that Link understands addiction a bit better than Owen, which is already a sign that this relationship has potential. I loved Omelia, they had a very awkward, sometimes funny, sometimes dark relationship and helped each other in very dark moments. They did love each other, in their own twisty way. However, I think that it kind of became an addiction for them to be together despite all the red flags, which is not healthy.

Jackson: I love Jackson, he has such a big heart. Kind of salty about Japril not being endgame, but we gotta move on. I loved how supportive he was with Catherine during the tumor surgery, their chemistry is so good. Like. It’s hard for me to believe that they are not actually mother and son. I love that he is a high-key Merluca shipper and how much he respects Richard Webber. I hope he doesn't die. 

Deluca: OK... so I just going to say that I want him to be in peds so bad, he is the SOFTEST character atm, I am in love. He has also grown this season. I think its partly because the writers want us to believe he has now that he is dating THE Meredith Grey, but we stan this evolution. People always complain about how he didn’t want to date Maggie b/c she was his boss, and I would like to disagree with that to an extent. Yeah... the problem was that she was his boss, but the main issue was because he was afraid of the favoring situation, meaning that he didn’t love Maggie because was not willing to put up with what others would think about them. Sigh. Anyways... I enjoy how much depth his character is getting, learning about his family was important because we now understand the difficulties he has faced. He has shown that he is no longer an intern. I cringe every time people try to invalidate his character by pointing out how immature he was. No one on Grey’s is their intern self. Look at Alex, Mer, Bailey, SCHMIDT... everyone has grown out of their intern mistakes, so why should we just bring up Andrew’s to justify why Merluca shouldn’t be a thing? (and so what if he is not as mature as Mer? Mer wasn’t as “mature” as Derek, and no one batted an eye... double standards am I right?). The being beaten up by Alex storyline really shook him. He did say some irrational things, but how are you supposed to be 100% rational when you went through a very untenable situation? He deserves the benefit of the doubt and a second chance. Don’t tell me you all have never said impulsive things or had inappropriate crushes. Smh.  

What I want to see in S16

Meredith in jail and her village supporting her. 

Jo and Alex dealing with Jo’s depression in a compassionate and empowering way. 

Teddy and Owen being parents and being in love.

I want a Towen wedding, just because I want everyone to look pretty AF.

Owen and Amelia being good friends. As much as I think Omelia is no longer a viable love relationship, I really like their chemistry, and I would like to see them becoming good friends. 

Merluca being domestic with the kids and talking about their past. I want Mer to tell him about her losses, her feelings, her fears. I want them to talk about the age difference in a positive way. I honestly don’t see Mer getting pregnant, but like I always think about Ben and Bailey and how Ben just became Tuck’s dad and he loves him like his own son. I can see Andrew loving Mer’s kids in that way. 

Andrew choosing peds and Alex mentoring him, just like Arizona. Team Peds 2.0?

I want to see Carina more, more insight into her character. She is always someone’s lover or just Andrew’s sister, but we don’t get to see her by herself.

Andrew just dealing with the sister trifecta. I want funny, light, comic relief interactions.  

Knowing where the fuck Jackson is. I am ready to see him go, but I am also not prepared to see him go. 

[ill-be-istj-if-no-one-else-is]

1 - Fi and Ti morality anon here. Thanks for your answer. I have wondered before if this friend is INFP. The gendered expectations were opposite since he is nonbinary and was chastised in school for being " too aloof" than culturally expected of girls. He keeps to himself, can come across as cold. I dont know if this is typical for INFPs because my INFP friends are vivacious. He is very private, not emotionally expressive at all in public, keeps to himself.

2 - He is more animated when he texts than when he speaks. I know he's suprisingly romantic from my brother who is dating him. He loves to write a lot, though his day job is programming he only chose it for the stability, not as a passion. His writing is expressive, introspective and character focused over plot. This confuses me sometimes, I wonder if he's an INTP with a 4 wing or an INFP. I typed him as an INTP as he plays devil's advocate and is great at spotting inconsistencies in arguments.

3 - It can get very pedantic. He is not good at social cues, but I know this can be true for INFPs too. He is extremely helpful if asked, not just small favors, he has helped me move at short notice, come to cook for me when I had college exams. He will do this with total strangers too, tutoring classmates for free or editing their papers or showing directions to tourists. But he never offers help on his own, he has said it's because he does not like to intrude or assume about people.

4 - If I vent to him, he will always listen. He tries to relate to me by giving an example of when he experienced a similar thing to show he understands. But he also tends to say things like the other person was right or point out what I should have done, which can get annoying. In grey situations, he does just go with the group if he doesn't have a strong opinion. But if he does, then he will just do his own thing even if its considered rude or socially inappropriate.

5 - As Asians, there is stigma towards "talking back" to people who are older, but he has argued with teachers and professors when he believed they were being unfair. His justification is logical, and he will point to the other persons behaviour to show how they are behaving hypocritically if they disagree. But he also doesnt waver over social approval. Like regarding his gender/sexuality, he is not out. But he has also never made any effort to hide and has openly dressed androgynous.

6 - This was even though it as inappropriate in our conservative hometown/by our families, unlike my FJ brother who was very conscious about people's opinion and about passing as straight. Does that seem more like an INFP or could it be either? I'm sure he is an INxP as he has many high Ne-low Si traits, he is set in his tastes and routines, prone to nostalgia/obsessing over bad past experiences, and gets carried away with many ideas but loses steam over execution. Thanks.

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

Hi anon,

I think he’s an ISTJ.

Skipping to your last paragraph, being set in your routines is more typically high Si. Low Si users tend to either resist routine, or be extremely rigid in specific ways, but not have a healthy pro-routine attitude (unless they are fairly mature). Nostalgia is quite honestly possible in anyone; I think I may have overemphasized the fact that Si-doms are not by default nostalgic and that low Si users can be nostalgic but it alone is not really evidence of any specific type unless they are nostalgic to an unhealthy degree (and even then it’s merely an argument for unhealthy Si, not enough to determine where Si is in the stack). So being set in one’s tastes in routines is in line with high Si - the nuance is that a lot of people interpret this as “set in one’s tastes and will never change” when a healthy high Si user is more “knows what works for them and will explore other options but not change unless it can be shown that the other option is better.” It would be helpful to understand the nature of the ideas but it’s worth noting low Ne users tend to have lots of creative ideas but may end up having to abandon many of them - in fact more so than high Ne users - because they tend not to prioritize them in terms of time and effort.

Going back to the beginning, aloofness and coming off as cold is more typical in introverts and thinkers, as is a low level of expression and a high level of privacy. The same is true of lack of skill with social cues.

Choosing a career for stability is not a bad idea in general, but high Si users are the most likely to do this. Writing style can reveal information of type but often it only really reveals functions without any insight into order (ie, people on the Si-Ne axis write differently than people on the Se-Ni axis usually, but NPs and SJs share a lot of writing style traits). I would not use writing style as major evidence for typing.

The ability to see inconsistencies in arguments is just a sign of good logic, which is a learned skill. The key difference in Ti and Te is not whether you understand that inconsistencies exist - it’s how willing you are to write them off as not relevant to the current situation: Te users are much more comfortable saying “this solution will not work universally but we don’t need it to” than Ti users.

The pedantry and tending to provide advice rather than comfort are also in line with introverts and thinkers, and the willingness to help when asked is just a sign of being a decent person. However, the specific motivations and habits described here point more to high Si and low Fi: he doesn’t want to make assumptions about what other people need (sensing and Fi) so he only helps when asked. He provides similar examples from his own life (sensing and especially Si) to relate to people. Most people are also pretty willing to do their own thing if they have a strong moral compunction; otherwise you don’t really have moral stances. However, low Fe users are often somewhat insecure in their ability to make those decisions and so can be very vulnerable to peer pressure whereas low Fi users are often very willing to go against the grain if they feel strongly. Similarly a focus on confronting hypocrisy is very much something an Fi user would be far more willing to do.

[bolddeducktionneverfails]

Launchpad’s Association with Della Duck: A Reflection

A lot has changed since my first two Association theory posts from ten months ago. It was waaaay back in January...we were only nine episodes in and about to experience the biggest DuckTales hiatus ever. Now we’re headed into Season 2 with more information about the things we pondered in the beginning of first.

Since so much has changed, I thought it would be best to take a look back before I dive into providing more possible hints that could support the idea of Launchpad and Della having a history.

Let's see what still holds up...and what I was totally wrong about.

For Part 1:

When I opened up my first theory post, I hypothesized that Launchpad could be working for Scrooge for Della-related reasons. This could still very well be true, but I don’t believe it’s to find out what happened to her. Now, I believe he’s involved to help Scrooge find her. I was so focused on Dewey and Webby’s search and focused too much on Scrooge trying to wipe out everything having to do with Della, that I didn't take that into consideration. If Launchpad read about the incident in the newspaper or by other means, he should already know Della got lost in space.

It’s still hard to determine whether Scrooge could suspect LP to be the father of the triplets. In the original series, Scrooge first met Launchpad as a teenager. Could they have previously met before he was hired in the reboot continuity? Could Della have briefly introduced him to Scrooge? Could Scrooge have known that LP and Della were friends?

Either way, Scrooge is doing a little too much for someone who just started working for him in the beginning of the series. He gave LP a place to stay at the end of the two-parter and pays for all the damages he creates. He could have hired someone who was more professional, but he chooses to hold on to Launchpad in spite of constantly getting annoyed by his antics. He didn't seem very interested in LP’s background, so why does he care about him so much? In the “Solving Mysteries and Rewriting History” book, Scrooge’s explanation was that LP keeps him from falling into a false sense of safety, but this might be a cover for deeper reasons.

There was a lot of focus on the kids helping to bring Scrooge’s adventurous side back, but maybe keeping Launchpad is his way of showing gratitude for being a part of that. LP did try to bring The Drake Barrier Reef to Scrooge’s attention to get him interested in coming out of retirement (even though Scrooge was already looking at the article during the board meeting). Maybe Launchpad’s reckless driving reminded Scrooge of the adventurous lifestyle he used to share with Donald and Della. Maybe Launchpad reminds Scrooge of Della. Dewey reminds Scrooge of Della and he was being a bit ignorant towards him and other things that were reminiscent of his niece as well.

Launchpad is definitely smarter than he’s perceived and has shown surprising moments of  maturity. Like how he remained calm when things started going south in “Last Crash”. He thought about the kids and wanted to distract them with Darkwing Duck so they wouldn't be worried. Also, the time where he explained the lesson in “Moorshire”, immediately after he proved himself to be insightful, he undercuts himself by “eating” a bunch of golf balls. Did he really think they were eggs? Or did he accidentally show how smart he truly was and needed a distraction? I’m having a hard time buying his act...it doesn't look like he was really choking, he could still talk and he was keeping the golf balls in rather than spitting them out. Possible proof that he’s playing dumb to an extent for some reason. 

Going into Season 2, There’s still a lot we don’t know about Launchpad. We have yet to see things like LP's scrapbook, what his adventures were like before he began working for Scrooge. (We have an idea, but we never get to see them.) Season 2 seems like it could be leaning further into his history and could be giving him an arc.

It's been confirmed that this version of LP has also had a very adventurous life with an extensive romantic history, so he really could have met Della in person at some point and the two could have dated.

Aw man, “Last Crash” confirmed that LP doesn't know Baloo. Oh well, maybe he’ll get to met him or Della could possibly know him. We haven't gone to Cape Suzette yet, but there are many hints that we will soon.

“Agent 22” seems to be the “Double O Duck” inspired episode being referred to during the D23 Expo panel from last year, but Launchpad was hardly in it. Maybe this is just the beginning and it'll lead into something more based on DoD. Beakley was wearing a Darkwing hat and cape in the slideshow for the San Diego Comic Con this year. She also shares a good deal of colors with DW already…

If the moments where Launchpad gets hurt doesn't symbolize what prevented himself from seeing Della again, maybe some of them were meta setbacks to keep him from revealing his association with her or something important about himself. For example, the snakes kept him away from Donald mentioning The Spear of Selene in the pilot. What if he knew what it was? That it wasn't an artifact and that it had to do with Della? His reaction could have been too revealing. Similarly, he drove away in the beginning of “The Great Dime Chase!” and was tasked to figure out what was wrong with the Sunchaser in the majority of “The Spear of Selene!”. If he knows Della, he could know about Selene because of her. It could have been too revealing if he was more involved; especially when Selene herself points out how similar Dewey, Launchpad’s best friend, is to his mother.

Huey was the first to make sure LP was ok after getting a bunch of snakes dropped on him in “Woo-oo!”. Louie was the first to call LP family in “Neverrest”…But Launchpad considers Dewey to be his best friend? Even when their interaction prior to “Terror” was practically non-existent? Even Dewey was surprised by LP’s statement in that episode. We don’t even get to see Dewey apologize for setting off that snake trap. All he ever did was be his reckless self and Launchpad became attached to him. Dewey did eventually check on him by asking if he was ok when he returned from that side-quest in Macau, but Dewey wasn't the first one to care, he was the last. If LP’s friendship isn't purely based on seeing part of himself in Dewey’s personality, he could definitely be seeing Della.

I found out that there is actual proof that Launchpad may have been part of the military as a test pilot. A character introduction page from the older DuckTales comics had this to say about him:

(Sᴏᴜʀᴄᴇ)

It’s possible that the show-runners acknowledged this fact and merged it with LP’s rebooted character.

It doesn't seem like Magica and Della's arcs have anything to do with each other aside from the moon, so, that debunks Lena and Webby reflecting a friendship they could have had, but perhaps something will change in the future. Magica's still running around and will probably regain her powers. (And who’s to say Lena and Webby’s friendship isn't reflecting another one that Della could have had?)

Now that Donald has forgiven Scrooge, he’s becoming more prominent in Season 2 and will likely start joining the rest of the family on their trips from now on. Throughout most of the first season, LP and Donald have been very avoidant of each other and both were very avoidant of Webby. I've been theorizing that their interactions were being held off for Della-related reasons. Donald could definitely be reminded of his sister through both of them and Launchpad could be reminded of Della through Donald and Webby. I thought that LP would have already been shown having a strong connection with Webby since she hangs out with Dewey a lot, but we don’t see that until “Shadow War”. And with the praise Webby gave about Donald being a great adventurer, I thought they would talk about that together some time after, but again, we don't get to see them talking until “Shadow War” and it’s hardly a conversion. Now we have a better chance of seeing interaction between all three of them and discovering the true reason why they've been kept away from each other.

When it comes to Launchpad’s confusion over who Donald was in “Woo-oo!”, I’m leaning heavily on the “uncle” title throwing him off. There is no way he can know who Scrooge, the Richest Duck in The World, is without knowing who’s been accompanying him for many years. The family is so famous, he should have known about Donald and Della’s existence prior to working for Scrooge. Maybe he thought the kids were actually Donald's children at first or he believed that they belonged to a cousin.

There seems to be a trend where Launchpad understands part of a thing, but not in full. He knew Don Karnage was the plant scientist in “Sky Pirates”, but he thinks Don is actually is a scientist. He knows Fenton is Gizmoduck, but he thinks Fenton is a robot. He knew it was the Beagle Boys in Woodchuck outfits, but he thought they genuinely joined as scouts. So he really could have previously known who Donald was, but never knew that Donald became an uncle because he wasn't told about Della having children.

For Part 2:

While revisiting Launchpad’s side-quest, I made some other realizations that could be hinting towards this moment being important: Ziyi was very likely a panda and not a duck. The cub Launchpad brought back could have been her kid. It doesn't sound like LP was able to find Ziyi when he came back. If so, then basically…Launchpad went on a mission to reconnect with his previous love interest, who left her offspring behind when she went missing. The same could be applied to Della.

When stating that the panda being on Launchpad’s back was something he had to bear as in “endure” and how it possibly represents HDL being his sons, I somehow missed out on something else: Pandas are no longer considered bears, but are still referred to as such. If the cub was Ziyi’s she beared a child and Launchpad was taking care of that child. (He’s not the cub’s father since it would have been evident, but it’s a loose suggestion)

Maybe the panda not only represents HDL being LP’s sons, but Dewey specifically. Launchpad could be seeing something special about both children. He’s could be reminded of both Ziyi and Della through them.

Who else could the “war crime” family be representing? The DeSpells are still possible since there’s a mysterious blood feud going on between them and the McDucks, but could it possibly be The Beagles? The Greek gods? Who could have caused the storm? Zeus didn't answer Huey after he was questioned about whether or not he could control all types of storms. Where was Circe in “The Spear of Selene!”? She lived on Ithaquack in the original DuckTales series. And what's up with Selene?! She’s the goddess of the moon but she hasn't seen Della in years?!

 Since the whole family is in on Della's story, they could all work together to bring her back, not just LP and Dewey as I had theorized.

Ha, I think I made Della a little too short in the color comparison I created, so here's a better version: 

Tʜᴇ ᴘɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴏғ Dᴇʟʟᴀ ᴄᴏᴍᴇs ғʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ᴘᴀɴᴇʟ ɪɴ “Beware of Tʜᴇ Pʜᴇɴᴏᴍᴇɴᴀʟ Pᴜᴍᴘᴋɪɴ Pᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ!”. I ᴇᴅɪᴛᴇᴅ ʜᴇʀ ᴘᴏsᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ʜᴇʀ sᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴜᴘ.  

(Tʜᴇ ᴏʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟ ᴠᴇʀsɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴛʜɪs ғɪʟᴇ)

In the back of my head, I was starting to think I was making too far of a stretch with comparing Donald and Beakley to their co-workers, but now I think I could have been onto something. The two were being compared to each other in “Shadow War”; Donald took charge of the situation and devised a plan similar to what Mrs. Beakley was going to do. Meanwhile, she was instructed to protect Donald's houseboat and began saying his signature phrases in the process.

Even before this special aired, I came across a promotional image where the main cast are placed in a way that suggests Mrs. Beakley and Donald have similar demeanors. It also implies that a character is missing: 

(Sᴏᴜʀᴄᴇ) 

Notice how Scrooge is depicted in the center instead of being closer to Launchpad to balance the composition. Donald is leaning towards Beakley’s side and Scrooge stands straight. Also notice how the adult personalities seem to range from most strict to most lenient. If you split the group from the center, symmetry suggests that both sides should have one tall adult, one short adult and two kids. The other side is missing its short adult. Della would be way too fitting for this spot; she’s Donald’s twin sister, her personality is in between being not as serious as Scrooge can be, but probably not as lenient as Launchpad and while she’s an important character, she’s hardly ever seen. What reason would the artist decide to make the composition imbalanced in this way if there are an even number of characters? Who else would be a better fit for this spot? And if it’s suggest that Della is the one who’s missing from this, why is it suggested that she belongs on Launchpad’s side rather than Beakley’s?

Also, the kiss remark from Louie has become a bit of a running gag now that could be leading up to a significant kiss: Donald and Beakley did not kiss, Scrooge and Goldie almost kissed, Huey and a mutated seaworm kissed, (ew, lol) but it was meant to be a joke and it wasn't enjoyed. So, according to the pattern, could we expect Launchpad and Della to be the ones to give a kiss that’s meant to be taken seriously?

Something that could help strengthen this is the Patos de la Pasión show that Mamá Crackshell was watching in “Who Is Gizmoduck?”. There might be some foreshadowing going on: The show’s episode was about a long-lost sibling returning, the male leads have a beak designs that closely resembles Launchpad’s and the lead female character has long hair like Della was revealed to have now. In addition to this, one of the male leads and the female lead almost kiss in the title card.

Tʜᴇ sɪʙʟɪɴɢ ɪɴ ʙʟᴜᴇ ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʜɪs ʙʀᴏᴛʜᴇʀ's ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ. Iғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴜᴘʟᴇ ɪs ʜɪɴᴛɪɴɢ ᴛᴏᴡᴀʀᴅs Dᴇʟʟᴀ ᴀɴᴅ Lᴀᴜɴᴄʜᴘᴀᴅ, ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴇ ʙᴇ ʀᴇᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛɪɴɢ Dᴏɴᴀʟᴅ?

Ha, I was really hype about the “mummies and daddies” joke. I later realized another reason why it caught my attention: it kinda sounds like “If that's what the mom is like, I'd hate to see what the dad is like.”; A bit of a reflection from the audience. Even before the season ended, many fans had the notion that Della wasn't ready to become a parent. It was hinted that she’s pretty extreme, doesn't make the best choices and plays around a little too much. Now we know about how her recklessness and impatience lead to her disappearance.

The father was more than likely someone who was ok with or able to keep up with Della’s fast-paced, adventurous lifestyle. There’s a high chance that he was an adventurer himself or something close to that.

Most people already think negatively about the father for never being around and LP already comes off as incompetent, dangerous and dense. It’s not expected for him to be a parent and a lot of people don’t want to think about him be the father, but the fact that he’s a very well-traveled pilot, and that he’s someone with a personality type Della could get along with, he can’t be ruled out just yet...

The reboot has already merged separate concepts to either create another character or to add on to them. Lena was created by merging the idea of Magica’s rebellious shadow from the original series episode “Magica’s Shadow War” and her niece Minima, who befriended Webby in an old DT comic. Flintheart Glomgold was treated similarly: The Duke of Baloni was the first to be titled “The Second-Richest Duck” and pre-dates Flintheart’s creation. The idea of this character was combined with Glomgold’s original South African history as well as his Scottish background that the first DuckTales series gave him.  

Launchpad shares enough traits with what little we know about the father (accident-prone, depicted with red hair, possible military involvement) and the traits he had before the reboot compliment the idea well. Establishing Della as a pilot in 2014 with the “80 is prachtig”/”Family Ties” comic only increased his eligibility. 

I’m feeling stronger about the hula girl bobble figure belonging to Launchpad and about it holding some sort of significance; being used as a form of motivation, something to help him de-stress or it was put on the dashboard in honor of Della. The figure was brought to the foreground in “Sky Pirates” and “Last Crash”.  She was given a redesign with green and teal clothing and longer hair. Her hair is suddenly brown and the flower is now orange, but her feathers remained gold. (This matches up with LP’s chauffeur outfit.) So, now she’s depicted as a long-haired female who shares colors with Launchpad. (I’ll talk more about colors later.)

Tᴏᴘ, Lᴇғᴛ ᴛᴏ Rɪɢʜᴛ: Hᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴜʟᴀ ɢɪʀʟ ᴡᴀs ᴏʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟʟʏ ᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴛᴇᴅ ɪɴ "Wᴏᴏ-ᴏᴏ!", ᴀ ᴄʟᴏsᴇ ᴜᴘ ᴏғ ʜᴇʀ ʀᴇᴅᴇsɪɢɴ ɪɴ "Lᴀsᴛ Cʀᴀsʜ ᴏғ Tʜᴇ Sᴜɴᴄʜᴀsᴇʀ!", ᴛʜᴇ ғɪʀsᴛ ᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴏғ ʜᴇʀ ʀᴇᴅᴇsɪɢɴ ɪɴ "Sᴋʏ Pɪʀᴀᴛᴇs...Iɴ Tʜᴇ Sᴋʏ!" ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴇʀ ᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴛᴏᴡᴀʀᴅs ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏғ ɪɴ "Tʜᴇ Tᴏᴡɴ Wʜᴇʀᴇ Eᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ Wᴀs Nɪᴄᴇ!"

Bᴏᴛᴛᴏᴍ, Lᴇғᴛ ᴛᴏ Rɪɢʜᴛ: Iᴍᴀɢᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴡᴏ ᴀʀᴇ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴄᴇʀᴛᴀɪɴ sʜᴏᴛs ɪɴ "Lᴀsᴛ Cʀᴀsʜ ᴏғ Tʜᴇ Sᴜɴᴄʜᴀsᴇʀ!" ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʜɪʀᴅ ɪs ғʀᴏᴍ "Tʜᴇ Sʜᴀᴅᴏᴡ Wᴀʀ!"

Aᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ sᴇᴀsᴏɴ, ʜᴇʀ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀs ᴀʟᴛᴇʀɴᴀᴛᴇᴅ ʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴇᴇɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴇᴀʟ ᴏᴜᴛғɪᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ʀᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ɢᴏʟᴅ ᴏɴᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ʜᴇʀ ᴅᴇsɪɢɴ ʀᴇᴠᴇʀᴛᴇᴅ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ɢʀᴇᴇɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴇᴀʟ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ sᴇᴀsᴏɴ.

What adds on to possibility of the hula girl having significance, I feel like Launchpad’s Darkwing Duck bobble head is being used in a similar way. He brought it out for two urgent occasions: in “B.U.D.D.Y” when he was chasing the self-driving car and when he was ready to crash into the Money Bin in “Shadow War”. (He had both of the bobble figures out during the latter.)

I’m still feeling iffy about the mole comparison, but I guess it’s not too far-fetched, There were parallels being made between the movie and what was actually happening with the group. If I didn't catch what was being hinted at, maybe there’s something else.

If Launchpad is HDL’s father wouldn't he feel really bad for not being in their lives for ten years? Would he see himself as a monster?     

 I haven't seen this argued in the open, but I think most who are not in favor of HDL's father showing up believe it'll diminish Donald's role. I don't think anyone who is hoping for that side of HDL's parentage to be explored wants to see Donald get tossed to the side. (I sure don't!) We're not trying to downplay Donald's importance in HDL's lives. If the father isn't dead or a jerk, it would be nice to see him included and get to know his family. Both of them, along with Della, Scrooge and Beakley can raise the boys together. Della and the father would have to turn to Donald and learn how to be good parents through him. He knows their children better than anyone else.

Ok, that's enough reflecting. I have a brand new batch of observations I want to discuss and quite a lot to say about the ending of Season 1. 

Are you up for more reading? Continue here. 

[emeraldspiral]

So when I finally read books 5-7 a couple of years ago I was rather disappointed to find that “Ginny was better in the books” was a hollow lie. Yeah, Rowling tells us that she’s funny and smart and she and Harry spent more time together over the summer and had some nice dates together under the tree by the lake, but we don’t actually see any of that, so ultimately she’s just as much of a bland background character in the books as she was in the films.

I get the impression that maybe the reason Rowling employed so much telling instead of showing was that she maybe didn’t know how to write scenes that develop Harry and Ginny’s relationship but also advance the story. In fact, I can see why she’d be afraid to even try after doing such a bad job of it in book 5. Like, Harry and Cho’s scenes together brought everything to a screeching halt and their aborted romance added nothing to the overall story. Harry doesn’t mature and learn to be more sensitive and understanding of Cho’s grieving process, she doesn’t help him cope with his trauma or make him realize that he hasn’t been dealing with it in a healthy way, he doesn’t gain any new insight on how to talk to girls or act in a relationship or what he wants from a girl or a relationship, and the failure of the relationship doesn’t make him realize his feelings for Ginny or make him afraid to try again so she can help him overcome his fear. It’s completely pointless.

But I think there were plenty of opportunities where Harry and Ginny’s romance could’ve been integrated organically into the story, especially if it had started earlier, which I don’t see why it didn’t given that Rowling seems to have wanted Hermione/Ron and Harry/Ginny to be the endgame couples from the beginning.

What I would’ve done is after book 2 have Ron and Ginny’s other brothers feel kind of protective of her after she almost died and remorseful they didn’t know what was going on with her because they weren’t paying attention, so they try be more inclusive to make up for it. Fred and George give the Maurader’s Map to her instead of Harry. Ginny likes the idea of having some alone time with Harry, but feels bad that he’s missing out on Hogsmede and knows he wants to be with his friends, so she loans him the map. Harry promises to give it back, but it ends up getting confiscated by Lupin right after he gets back and Snape catches him. Harry sheepishly apologizes and promises to try and convince Lupin to give it back at some point. At the end of the year, Lupin does give it back and Harry tries to return it to Ginny, but Ginny tells him to keep it.

In book four, I’d add a scene or two of Ginny talking to Harry after he and Ron stop talking to each other. She lets him know that she’s on his side and has tried talking some sense into her brother. Harry still misses Ron and finds Hermione kind of grating by herself, but appreciates having Ginny to talk to and spend time with him playing wizard chess or something else he and Ron used to do together. When Harry and Ron make up and start hanging out again, Ginny starts to feel left out, especially since the trio won’t let her in on stuff like their meetings with Sirius. She holds out hope that Harry will ask her to the Yule ball and is crushed when she finds out he was going to ask Cho. Even though she knew he had no chance because Cho had a boyfriend, she still accepts an invite from Neville because she doesn’t want to be Harry’s backup again. At the end of the year though, she gives Harry a hug, tells him she’s sorry for everything he’s been through, and lets him know she’ll always be there for him if there’s ever anything he needs to talk about. Harry apologizes for neglecting her and lets her know he appreciates the support she’s already given him and promises that he, Ron, and Hermione will start telling her everything from then on.

In book five, I'd just have Ginny be more involved in the events that happen throughout the year. I’d have her and Hermione come up with the idea for the DA together and I’d have her be the one to tell Harry to meet her in the shrieking shack after his date with Cho, instigating Cho’s jealousy. I’d have her be present in a lot of the scenes with Ron and Hermione, trying to get him to deal with his grief and stop snapping at everyone. I’d have her try to explain girls to Harry when he complains about Cho, instead of Hermione. I’d have her be involved in the distraction set up to help Harry break into Umbridge’s office so he could speak to Sirius. By the end of the book, Harry would already start showing signs of being attracted to her. He would notice her more and she’d be on his mind more often. He would feel more secure with her at his side for the Ministry mission, but also concerned for her safety. He’d be in awe of some of the badass moves she pulls. She’d save him from a few close calls and he’d save her.

With the last few books setting up a nice foundation, Harry pining over Ginny and being jealous when she gets a boyfriend would no longer come out of nowhere. Because Harry would now be used to her presence alongside Ron and Hermione, her absence due to her relationship with Dean would feel more noticeable to him. He would long for her company, especially when Ron and Hermione’s constant bickering starts to grate on his nerves. At some point, he manages to score some alone time with Ginny to express his fears about the group falling apart if Ron and Hermione were to finally admit their feelings and start dating, but then break-up. Instead of just telling us that Ginny was good at quidditch and the life and soul of the team, I’d actually write out scenes of team practices and meetings. I’d make her part of the discussions about Ron and how to deal with his performance anxiety and maybe make her a beater instead of a chaser so her job on the field would be protecting Harry instead of scoring points, which would mean more coordination with him, demonstrating how in-sync the two of them are. Then, when Harry is forced to serve detention on the day of the final match, Harry spends every extra moment he has helping Ginny practice to replace him as seeker. This would add more weight, I think, to when they kiss after she wins the big match, because we’d get a greater sense of how passionate they both are for the sport and how they bonded over it, explaining why that would feel like a particularly romantic moment to them.

In book seven, I’d have Harry have an honest discussion with Ginny about his plans. He still can’t tell her about the deathly hallows, the whole point of keeping it just between him, Ron, and Hermione was so Voldemort wouldn’t catch on to their mission if he or his followers were to interrogate his friends and allies. But Harry does get to say goodbye to her and part on good terms after finally returning the Maurader’s map, since he would have no use for it outside the school, and she could use it for things like the attempted heist of the Sword of Griffindor, or restarting the DA. Harry pines for Ginny all the while he, Ron, and Hermione are on their mission. He is relieved and elated when he finally sees her again at Hogwarts and proud of her for stepping up as the organizer of the DA in his absence. Also, maybe something’s different about her. Like, maybe she’s gotten a haircut or changed the way she dresses or has scars from being punished by the death eaters for her defiance. Before the final battle, they have some time to catch up. He tells her how he missed her and worried for her constantly, she tells him what she’s been up to and how she felt whenever she heard news of stuff like the ministry break in, the bank heist, and the incident at Malfoy manor. Harry and Ginny declare their love and have a big kiss just before the battle starts.

And there you have it, natural relationship development that’s actually integrated into the story and shown, rather than told.

[readingwebcomics]

Analyzing Questionable Content: Pages 201-250

Marten’s closer, Dora. Of course she’d go for his first.

Okay, I’m just going to be upfront and honest with you guys. I’m just really not feeling it for this batch of comics, and that’s part of the reason why I had taken the previous week off. That’s not to say this batch is bad or anything, it’s just... I feel like I have a lot less to say about it than I should. So I apologize ahead of time if this feels too short or if it’s much more dull than usual. I’ll try hitting the high points and give you the proper character analysis I can muster here - the fact that what you see right now, with Marten and Dora going on a date and Faye’s reaction to it, will provide quite a deal of character insight.

For example, right here. Not even a single page later and Faye’s genuine irritation over the situation is showing, despite what she has to say about the situation.

Ignoring for the moment the stupid contraction thing (which, if memory serves, will thankfully be dropped after this batch of comics), do Faye’s eyes look... different to you guys? I don’t know, it feels like Jeph’s making an attempt at a slight tweak in his style here and I mostly notice it in Faye’s eyes. I could be looking way too deep into it though, I’m willing to accept that.

They have some light banter, part of which includes Faye continuing to press on the fact that Dora is hyper-sexual and will jump Marten’s bones the second she gets the chance, Faye goes on and continues her nice streak with Marten by offering to make him dinner. Now, I could take this time to point out the obvious, that Faye is clearly doing this much for him not just out of a sense of guilt over how she’s treated him but also bolstered by the fact that, even if subconsciously, she does NOT want Marten to be with another woman and is vying to keep his attention on her... But Faye doesn’t give us a chance to ponder that for very long.

I don’t blame her, the rims of cans are fucking horrifying. Not as bad as the edges of an outlet box, but thin slices of metal ain’t fun let me tell you.

Despite this, there’s really not much to say about the outcome - we learn that Faye’s last name is Whitaker and that this city has a “punching intern” for the local hospital.

That... can NOT be legal. Then again, if this city held itself to any standards of legality I’m certain the Irony Cafe would be closed already due to false advertising. Plus, this is taking place in America and Faye isn’t freaking out more about not being able to afford the hospital bills than the fact she was injured, so maybe that’s the trade-off to having a halfway decent medical facility.

Oh, and when everyone gets back home, we get a bit more insight into the mechanics of Pintsize.

That raises some questions. If this is unique to this particular platform Pintsize’s AI is housed in, how was he able to taste the cake mix in his previous body? If this is universal between Anthro PCs, then why didn’t Marten already know this if he’s been with Pintsize as long as has been implied thus far? I mean I get it, Jeph’s using this as an outlet to create some lore behind the funny robot people in his comic’s universe, but... I dunno, it just feels like this makes Marten seem more incompetent than anything if he didn’t know this about his own Anthro PC. Maybe if he helped explain it alongside Pintsize to Faye to showcase that he knew about this as well? I dunno.

The next day, Steve gives Marten a call:

Faye, your irritation over the situation isn’t exactly subtle. Also I’ve said it before but I’ll keep saying it - sarcastic Marten is best Marten. I like this Marten a lot.

And so, as a wise Skeleton once said... DATE: START!

We’re already off to an amazing start with Ellen kicking off! And, oooh, it looks like she tripped and injured herself in the initial play! Can she recover, folks? Well before we find out, we have another comic involving a drastic art shift deliberately invoked from Jeph:

In all seriousness, the art shift isn’t... bad, per-se, it just looks so drastically different that it catches me off guard. As is what usually happens with Jeph in these situations, it takes the next comic for him to reel himself back and find a happy medium between his original style and the new one he wants to experiment with:

Marine Biology is not for the weak of heart. You knew what you were getting into when you took on that major, Ellen. But yeah, while I’ll get more into detail as to what I think about the art shift at the end of the post, I’ll say here that I like it as a natural evolution. It seems like every time Jeph improves, the face is the bit that gets the most focus every time. Remember just last post when I was complaining Jeph wasn’t talented enough to portray the silent emotion he wanted to in Faye’s face? Now, I feel like he probably could.

The date goes well enough, and the evening comes to a close:

My bet is that Steve’s like the Pied Piper of arachnids. I’d believe it were that the case, at least. Also it was mentioned to me that Marten probably did have the eye-shine like the rest of the cast did, but his eye color just made it harder to spot. In this page, that becomes clearer - still hard to see, but much easier than previously.

Oooh dear. Steve’s in some hot water now. Also I just realized that as of yesterday I’m as old as Steve is. Good God, I’m an actual full-blown adult. Christ.

...I’m going to put off thinking about that for too much longer as we move onto the rest of this batch, okay? Okay.

Anyhow, Dora invites Marten into her apartment for some coffee where she cuts right to the fucking chase:

It’s probably for the best you read the conversation yourself, they’re pages 226-228. I say this mostly because I really don’t have anything to add or comment on here - Dora’s a smart lady who gives good advice here, makes it clear that while she’s interested in Marten she wants him to be happy, and all-in-all is one of the coolest people ever. Go Dora!

Go... Dora. Oh. Well, I still think you’re cool. Let’s give this woman some time and cut back to Steve and Ellen!

I have some things to say about this situation that I’ll touch on a little bit later. Marten gets home and makes it clear to Faye that nothing happened between himself and Dora. While quite clearly relieved, she’s a touch confused.

So I’m not the only one who feels strangely sad whenever I eat a s’mores Pop Tart? Oh who am I kidding, I’ve got depression, I’m always fucking sad. And hey, speaking of sexy times, Pintsize throws his proverbial hat into the ring!

Honestly, I kind of knew I should’ve kept track of that pink Anthro PC, but would you believe me if I told you they never got a name? Also could AI fuck over IM? My bet is that 2004-speed internet wouldn’t exactly make it smooth. But man, imagine having sex over the ‘net on Fiber.

...too much? Too much.

The night ends, Steve parts from Ellen telling her he needs a couple of days to sort his head out, and Faye comforts Marten...

...in, erm, a very Faye way... oh hey, Faye, Fae! I wonder if that was intentional on Jeph’s part. Probably not, Faye isn’t quite a Maniac Pixie Dream Girl. For one thing, she’s better written.

If memory serves, I think Dora mentioned she was a blonde previously? Either way she’s crystal clear with it now. Also, while I complimented Jeph before on his faces... I’m not going to lie, he could stand to improve drawing skirts. I don’t blame the guy, I imagine skirts are fucking hard to draw.

Oh, and here we begin an annual tradition of Questionable Content:

I’d like to start a petition for all Questionable Content fans to go by the fan-name “Turkeys” now. You with me, fellow Turkeys?!

...no? Eh, fair enough.

Here we get some interesting information. At least, it gets interesting in the wake of what comes up later - the timescale is more-or-less confirmed here that this takes place around the early to mid 2000s, likely 2004 or so since that’s when the comic was written. I always assumed, considering we have walking AI around, that the universe of Questionable Content took place in the near future... but rather, it seems more like it takes place in an alternate version of history where our technology is slightly ahead of the curve. And yet a lot of pop culture phenomena remained as it did in our version of history, if what they’re saying is true. Again, this doesn’t get super relevant until later comics where we see just how far advanced the technological level in QC has become.

Ellen drops by the Coffee Shop for some advice:

Faye’s gotten a LOT more open recently. Back near the beginning of this comic she would never, never openly admit to giving into any kind of carnal need, and now here she is candidly talking about private shower times.

And while they’re discussing things at the Coffee Shop, Marten and Steve are having their own conversation back at the apartment:

Now here I need to put in my two cents. The characters make a point of saying how they don’t really think the age difference is that big of a deal. Were she legal, which she will be in less than a week, there’s no real problem with an 18 year old dating a 24 year old. I know this is entirely a matter of personal opinion and I fully expect people to disagree with me here. I also suspect this is going to make me sound like a prude, but... yeah, I think there is a problem, there.

Ellen’s a freshman in College. She’s JUST turning 18. While she’s shown to be intelligent enough to get into college early - and good on her for that - she lacks the emotional intelligence or maturity to really strike out into a relationship with someone six years her senior. And Steve, for his part, is too old to get anything out of a relationship with someone so much younger than he is. There’s no real connection there, the difference in emotional maturity is going to make itself evident before too long and the relationship is more prone to self-destruct.

Like I said, feel free to disagree with me there. If you feel like there’s room for a relationship in such an age gap, let me know. I wouldn’t mind starting a conversation or changing my mind, but that’s where my mindset is there - it just wouldn’t work out.

Remember that last line Dora said. It’s going to get much funnier later, to the point where part of me wonders if that was deliberate foreshadowing on Jeph’s part.

And here we welcome Ellen’s roommate, Natasha. My oh my, characters are building up, ain’t they? Just give it time, guys. It gets so, so much worse.

(Also am I the only one stuck on that first panel? Just... I know they already made the joke about her dual-major but there’s something so surreal to that I kind of can’t escape it)

And now, to round out our batch of 50:

Wow. It seems like Dora’s a touch more insecure than she lets on, huh? She seems so cool and in-control of herself that moments like this where it’s surprisingly easy of her to accept that she may have weirded the object of her affections out are much more blatant.

Now that we’ve reached the end of the batch, let’s do our usual beginning and end comparisons:

Like I said before, Jeph has clearly put more detail into the faces. He’s taking steps in the direction of “realistic cartoon” if that makes sense, further details in the wrinkles of their clothes, their bodies looking more defined, that sort of thing. I can’t really decide if I like this newer style better than the older one, but it’s no question that the newer style is a technical improvement. Nice work!

So what’d I think of this batch? Eh... plot happened, I suppose, but it feels like not much ended up happening. I dunno, for my money this felt a lot slower than the last batch... but then again, last batch had Amanda drop by for a visit, so that may have something to do with it. Either way, we have outright confirmation if we didn’t think so before that Dora is super into Marten, but it’s also made clear she’s not going to step in between the dance he and Faye are partaking in right now. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is entirely up to personal opinion, I suppose. I dunno, I feel like having Dora as a potential wild card offered the possibility for drama to shake up the dynamic going on, and without her I fear the dynamic may stagnate.

I mean, I know exactly how the dynamic’s going to go because I’ve read it, but you get the point I’m trying to make here.

Anyhow, you know what time it is now - data analysis time! In this batch of 50, we have...

Marten: 34/50 – 68%

Faye: 29/50 – 58%

Dora: 24/50 – 48%

Ellen: 15/50 – 30%

Steve: 12/50 – 24%

Pintsize: 11/50 – 22%

Natasha: 2/50 – 4%

Miéville: 2/50 – 4%

 Grand Total:

Marten: 200/250 – 80%

Faye: 192/250 – 76.8%

Dora: 75/250 – 30%

Pintsize: 61/250 – 24.4%

Steve: 34/250 – 13.6%

Ellen: 18/250 – 7.2%

Amanda: 12/250 – 4.8%

Sara: 7/250 – 2.8%

Jimbo: 5/250 – 2%

Turing: 4/250 – 1.6%

Raven: 3/250 – 1.2%

Miéville: 3/250 – 1.2%

Scott: 2/250 – 0.8%

Natasha: 2/250 – 0.8%

Ell: 1/250 – 0.4%

Personally, I won’t be satisfied until Jimbo overtakes Sara in his number of appearances. You can do it, Jimbo! I BELIEVE IN YOU!

...erm, in any case, tune in next week for the thrilling next installment of QC! You ready for more backstory on our main characters? I know I am! See you then.

[piratekane]

The Ultimate 80′s FAQ

Hey, guys. I wanted to start this FAQ off with a thank you.

Thank you, everyone, for reading this series. Thank you for your continued tuning in. Thank you for your passion for this series and your head canons and your comments and your questions each and every week. I am - and I can also speak for @iamthegaysmurf​ - constantly astounded and awed by all of you. 

I’ve gotten a lot of comments and inbox messages lately - mostly about the same things - so let me stretch out my telephone line, get a comfy spot, and answer some of the questions I get pretty regularly, in an effort to (a) have everything in one place and (b) be able to use this as a reference when these questions come up again.

So, under the cut, I’ll address:

The Waverly Question

Miscommunication as a Plot Device

Waverly and Boy-Man Champ

Nicole the Doormat

Re: Homophobia 

1. The Waverly Question

This is usually a variation of “I wish I could see this story from Waverly’s POV!” or “When will we see what Waverly is thinking?” It comes around pretty frequently, hence why it has its own name, and so if this answer seems familiar, it’s because I’m creating a Frankenstein answer from all the other times before.

Tons of people want Waverly’s POV. Like I said, I get this question all the time. And I understand. I get why people want it. I really, really do. People want the other side of the story and if I wasn’t the one writing it, I’d probably be clamoring for it as well.

But, so, like, okay. Bear with me. Because there’s a specific reason for why I will never write it.

And the reason is: it’s not Waverly’s story to tell.

It’s Nicole’s.

When I initially thought up this concept, it was always from Nicole’s point of reference. The main fic is Nicole’s love letter to Waverly and every song should be heard from Nicole’s POV. Even in the Singles, every song is chosen from Nicole’s POV (unless a different character was shown in the narrative picking a specific song - though, the story is still how it relates to Nicole). Even in Singles like ‘yesterday and days before (sun is cold and rain is hard)’, which is written about Curtis, is a song Nicole would have associated with him. That’s not to say Waverly (or even Wynonna) wouldn’t also associate a particular song with the same particular person/thought/feeling - but it is to say that the secondary character’s association wouldn’t exist without it first existing within Nicole.

This always has, and always will be, to me, a story told through Nicole’s eyes. To introduce another character’s perspective into this timeline - even for a moment - would shift that focus. It would take away Nicole’s voice. And without her voice, the story doesn’t exist. That’s not to say that I’m not trying to show other character’s thoughts and feelings - the ‘my love will you for still be strong’ Single shows us that Waverly is totally tuned into Nicole (even if Nicole doesn’t notice it).

I love that people want Waverly’s POV - I love that people are invested in that idea. But I hate to say, I will never write it. Not at the expense of losing Nicole’s voice in this ‘verse.

2. Miscommunication As a Plot Device

Sometimes, I get an influx of people who drop a “miscommunication is a terrible plot device” line in my inbox, and, like, I totally hear you. I feel you. “Miscommunication as a plot device” is trope-y and overused and can be very, very lazy writing.

I’d like to think that what you’re reading as miscommunication is not being considered lazy and is, instead, being understood as teenager.

Let me be more specific: when I was a teenager, I wasted months pining over a girl I was sure didn’t like me - all because I dropped a hint that she never caught, but she took it wrong way, I took her reaction the wrong way, and- well. You get the picture. 

As a teenager, miscommunication is all we do. We’re a hot mess of emotions and hormones and we make bad choices and love the wrong people and we don’t talk about the things that matter when they matter. Nicole and Waverly are teenagers in the beginning of this series. Nicole is on the verge of the rest of her life, staring into the face of the girl she has loved for as long as she can remember, but she’s still unsure of what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. She’s still learning. ‘wondering where i am, lost without you’ isn’t a story of Waverly being selfish and Nicole giving up; it’s a story of Nicole misunderstanding this enormous distance between them. 

That being said, people grow. Nicole and Waverly grow. At the end of ‘wondering where i am, lost without you,’ Waverly makes it clear: they need to talk more, if they want this to work. That’s growth.

So as the timeline continues to build, as more stories are introduced, there will be more miscommunication during those crucial ages, because it feels true to the age that these characters are. But there will also be more maturity in those later chapters (like their future talk in ‘you belong somewhere you feel free’) that only feels plausible and real after readers get to see how much stumbling it took to get them there. 

3. Waverly and the Boy-Man

One question that comes up a lot, with fair reasoning, is why Waverly would give Champ a chance in the main fic.

This just came back up after the recent ‘my love will you for still be strong’ Single, where it’s difficult to tell what’s slimier - Champ or his hair gel. Which, ultimately, causes a small uproar of “wHY wOUld wAVerLY gO oUT wiTH hIM?!” questions. It also came up after ‘we’re not gonna take it’ when Champ lied bragged about sleeping with Waverly.

I’ll pose a hypothetical question to you in response: what do you do when the person you want doesn’t want you?

Okay, so it’s not a hypothetical question at all. What does Waverly do when she thinks that Nicole doesn’t want her? She settles for someone who does want her. Now, wait a second, okay? Settling is okay, sometimes. Settling can be necessary. Settling doesn’t mean giving up on the thing you want. Settling for someone who wants you, at age 16, when the person you’re so desperately in love with doesn’t seem to notice you (or so you think)? That’s a legit thing - and I’m not just saying that because I’m trying to convince you that Waverly and Champ together isn’t total shit. Waverly giving Champ a shot even though he’s proven himself to be... less than desirable, is absolutely something she would do. Nicole doesn’t speak up when Champ asks Waverly to dance at Stephanie Jones’ party. For all Waverly knows in that moment, Nicole doesn’t want her - if she did, Waverly would think, why wouldn’t Nicole have said ‘don’t dance with him’ or something? But because she didn’t, we can assume that Waverly thought to herself: well, someone wants me. 

Champ isn’t the nicest or the smartest and he dedicates horrifically inappropriate songs to Waverly (guys, “The Stroke” should not be a legit 80′s hit, but it is and that’s terrifying), but he wants Waverly. That can’t ever be disputed. His delivery is terrible and he thinks way, way too highly of himself, but never question his desire for Waverly Earp.

So imagine you’re 16. Imagine you’re 16 and this girl you’re sure you’ve been in love with for forever doesn’t even notice you. But there’s this guy who has always been vocal about wanting you, who has always chased after you. It’s not giving in to Champ’s smarmy charm. Waverly isn’t giving in and this isn’t a lesson in wearing women down until they agree to date you. It’s a story about a teenage girl who wants to feel wanted for a night -  but still has more fun in ten minutes with the person she loves - who she’s sure doesn’t want her back  - than she does in the two hours she spends with the person who wants her. 

So Waverly says yes, because she doesn’t have Nicole yet -  and if she doesn’t have Nicole, what does she really have to lose?

4. Nicole the Doormat

Something that has recently come up has been the question of “why is Nicole is always taking the blame for things” and “why is Waverly is perfect and can do no wrong?” 

Another thing I see sometimes is the concept of Nicole being “whipped” when it comes to her behavior around/in regards to Waverly. 

[First of all, I very much dislike that word and the connotation attached to it. Someone can do something nice for their partner/spouse without being “whipped” or a slave to that person. For example, when I shovel our football field-sized driveway so my wife can stay warm inside, it’s not because I am “whipped,” but rather, I know she hates the cold and can’t handle the physical labor this particular amount of shoveling entails. Or, I’ll watch awful reality shows with her - when she actually does watch them - because it’s nice to spend time together, not because I’m “whipped” and don’t want to argue about changing the channel. It’s the same reason why she makes me lunch every day. We like doing things for each other, because of each other, and what’s the point of being with someone if you don’t like to do that? End of personal rant.]

Something I feel is important to point out when I think about responding to this question is this: the story is from Nicole’s POV.

So, naturally, we see more of what Nicole is thinking. And yes, she is often thinking something along the lines of, “I fucked this up,” etc. I think - I hope - it’s becoming apparent that Nicole carries a lot of her past in the forefront of her mind - we tried to lay some of that groundwork in ‘if only in my dreams’ for the enormous weight she takes on her shoulders. And with that weight comes the fear of ruining other good things in your life - for Nicole, it’s Waverly.

We just have an insight into her thoughts that we don’t have with other characters (that we won’t; see The Waverly Question) and so her thoughts,  feelings, and actions are more fleshed out. 

But Nicole Haught is not whipped. She’s not a doormat. She just loves Waverly.

5. Re: Homophobia

This question comes up so frequently. It is - as far as I can tell - never a malicious question. Sometimes, someone will say something along the lines of “this is so detailed, but I noticed you aren’t really representing homophobia, etc., etc.,” or “wow, Nicole has it so easy.” People sometimes asks if Canada was better about homophobia in the 1980′s, than (insert their country of origin).

I will say this now and I will say this clearly and I will not be swayed from this stance: if you are looking for a story in which Nicole Haught is attacked (verbally, emotionally, or physically) for being a lesbian, you should stop reading this series now. 

I’ll say it one more time, because I really need this to sink in for people: this is not the story where the main character needs to battle homophobia at every turn. 

This is not a condemnation of works that do do that; you do your thing. I’m gonna do mine. 

@iamthegaysmurf and I had a discussion about this when we first talked about expanding the fic into a series. I won’t lie: the idea of homophobia didn’t occur to me in the main fic. That’s not because I don’t experience it, or feel its effects, or believe it doesn’t exist. It just... wasn’t part of my storyline. 

Ultimately, what we decided was that homophobia did not need to play a central role in this story; there were other things we wanted to focus on. That decision was made very, very early on in the world-building process. 

I want to be clear: that doesn’t mean we’re sweeping the existence of homophobia under the rug. We recognize that it existed. We acknowledge its reality. We just won't be giving it a voice here. 

I WILL NOTE HERE: There will be a later Single that deals with a single instance of homophobia, but that’s all it will be: a single instance in this larger timeline. It will be marked, tagged, and I will be very clear about it when it posts.

There will also be a single that deals with Nicole coming out. But these pieces are not all of who Nicole is, and we didn’t want to build a world based on Nicole not being comfortable to be who she is, or being shamed for who she loves. It’s not laziness - it’s selectiveness and we selected to give Nicole the life she deserves, the life we wish we could have given ourselves and the people around us who were ridiculed and bullied and put down and made to feel inferior because of the people they loved.

We wanted to write a story about love and relationships and growth and not have to worry about the story being saturated with hatred and intolerance. I mean, Champ Hardy is an idiot and kind of a jerk, but he’s not homophobic, and that matters. Champ wants Waverly Earp and there’s no reason why Nicole’s sexual identity needs to be the reason he and Nicole butt heads; Nicole can just be in Champ’s way because she’s in his way and not because she’s a woman who loves another woman.

Honestly, you can call it “inaccurate” if you want to. You can call it “irresponsible” to leave out something that so genuinely and devastatingly affected people. But we wanted to create a world where people didn’t have to relive that over and over again. We do not need to make Nicole the butt of jokes, the punching bag, or the outcast as a direct result of her sexuality. 

From now on, I’ll just be linking comments and questions to this post. 

Again, thank you guys for reading. It really means the world to us. I hope that some of these answers helped clarify some things for everyone. 

You’re all aces. 

[ladyjaneasher-blog]

Hey I came across Philip Normans book and as I'm not familiar with him I was wondering what was wrong with him as a lot of people seem to dislike him

short answer:

pictured here is philip norman writing anything ever.

long answer:

i honestly don’t know where to even start, dear anon. it would be easier for me to list what isn’t wrong with philip norman. i can’t tell you what people as a whole dislike about him, but i can tell what i dislike about him. my immediate kneejerk reaction to your question was this poem of norman referencing paul published in the sunday times in the early 70s:

O deified Scouse, with unmusical spouseFor the clichés and cloy you unload,To an anodyne tune may they bury you soonIn the middlemost midst of the road.

to paraphrase a comment i read on heydullblog a while ago: nothing like a biographer hoping for the speedy death of one of his (later) subjects. 

it exemplifies my problem with norman: he’s made a living out of holding a grudge for the pettiest reasons. he envied paul, not only because he was “good-looking” (and boy, does he veer off into paragraphes about paul’s “doe-eyes”, “angelic” “delicate features” only “saved” from girlishness by his “five-o’clock-shadow”) but also for his “mounting riches” and his dating of “a classy young actress”. his envy turned into outright dislike for paul. norman saw paul’s failed relationship with jane as his “public sense of duty” weakening; he blamed paul for the end of the beatles, felt that he had turned into a “self-satisfied lightweight” and you can almost feel his satisfied glee whenever he feels that paul’s life veers of its “perfectly polished-rails”.    

i’ve read a few books by norman – most recently paul mccartney: the life – and excerpts of others, and each time i’ve come to the same conclusion: norman comes across as a very peculiar mix of a self-importantance, jealousy and nastiness. much like other authors of his caliber – sounes comes to mind – he seems to have been motivated by these emotions that had left him embittered enough to write books, rampant with confirmation bias, one-sided accounts, mistakes, snipes, digs and disproven or outdated anecdotes, hardly offering any new insights. yet i don’t want to dictate how you think about norman, so i present to you some pearls of wisdom by our dearest of beatles biographers to make up your own mind about how much he’s on the mark – or how far off:

“Barrow later discovered that when they’d signed their management contract, Paul had told Brian that if the Beatles didn’t work out, he was determined to become a star on his own.”

‘[And] unlike John (and Brian), Paul did not seem to have any half-concealed demons to deal with.’

“Over the next six years, Barrow would realise that the inexhaustible geniality Paul showed the world was not always replicated in private.”

“[…] Frieda Kelly[…]” (throughout the entire book, I might add)

“With the Beatles brought a radical change of image, illustrating the vastly altered demographic of those who were now with them. On the Please Please Me album cover, four cheery, unabashedly working-class lads had grinned down a stairwell at EMI’s Manchester Square headquarters, with Paul’s good looks barely noticeable. Now they were shown as solemn, polo-necked faces half in shadow against a plain black background, less like pop musicians than a quartet of Parisian art students. It was an ambience which suited none of them better than Paul, that one-time art student manqué.”

[1968/1969] “John had always been recognised as an uncontrollable maverick, but being a Paul fan involved a strong feeling of proprietorship. Like so many tut-tutting aunts, the gate pickets now observed the change from his former dandified, fastidious self; the bushy black beard, the perceptible weight-gain, the baggy tweed overcoat he seemed to wear all the time. To the fans, it signified how ‘she’ [Linda] had got her hooks into him; what it actually signified was that he was happy.”

[1968/1969] “His [Paul’s] personal life thus replenished and stabilised, he now turned his attention to replenishing and stabilising the Beatles after their ordeal with the White Album.”

“Knowing now just how much McCartney meant to Paul–and feeling a twinge of compassion for one who’d never before invited such an emotion–Ringo talked the others into reinstating its 17 April release.”

In the same week, Stella’s first collection for Chloé was shown in Paris with the help of her ‘mates’ Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Yasmin Le Bon. Paul and Linda were both seated beside the catwalk: he [Paul] in the novel position of applauding someone else, she still with close-cropped hair, the result of prolonged chemotherapy, which gave her face a new gentleness and repose.

The order of [Linda’s] service was as meticulously planned and arranged as a McCartney album tracklist.

However, when the Beatles made the Decca tape, Best had still been with them, so was due a share of royalties from ten tracks used on the Anthology. The first he knew about it was a phone call from the one who’d been so keen to get rid of him [Paul] –the first time they’d spoken since it happened.

all of the above quotes – and keep in mind: these are just a select few that i had at hand from a book that spans around 800 pages of much the same quality of writing – are from paul mccartney: the life, published in 2016(!!!). while norman proclaims to have had a change of heart over the years from his previous assessment of paul in shout!, which he in the very same breath during promotion claims wasn’t really anti-paul:

…it rings hollow. to the point of where i’m not the only one wondering about how much he truly means his words, and how much of it is simply trying to save face in light of his waning monopole on being an authority when it comes to beatles history. he still heavily relies on the same old tired clichés: paul the master manipulator of all around him lacking heart and substance, paul the ambitious starlet ready to sacrifice everything and everyone, determined to make it big, paul the stingy boss of wings, paul the borderline abusive husband to linda’s dichotomy of easy american groupie vs fraught shy housewife trying to escape her domineering husband by way of her career as a photographer and writer. some of them may perhaps contain a kernel of truth, but norman seemingly lacks the ability to acknowledge nuances and the willingness to dig deeper, search for other viewpoints, or consider context. 

he still uses every other opportunity to get his digs in no matter how macabre it may be in the light of events he’s referencing as evidenced by his description of linda’s funeral procession; he, at times, solely relies on people with questionable motives like peter cox for entire chapters without questioning a thing they are saying, or letting the reader hear other voices to provide a more balanced view; he lacks the insight into his subjects as portrayed by his claim that paul’s weight gain and drastic change of looks from ‘68 to ‘70 was brought on by being “happy” with linda or his equally outrageous claim of ringo never having felt a “twinge” of “empathy” for one of his closest friends; paul and john’s relationship is reduced to a rivalry that even to john’s last breath was defined by one-upping each other. although, is it perhaps no wonder considering that paul mccartney: the life seems to be mostly a copy/paste job of his previous books (here a part of shout!, here a part of his john biography).

the less said about shout!, published in the early 80s, the better. suffice it to say that during its promotion, norman titulated john as “three-quarters of the beatles”. yes. i repeat: the less said, the better. it’s only sad that this book helped shape entire generations of authors that would buy into norman’s narrative and perpetuate it decades later.

yet my excerpt of philip norman’s books simply don’t do the man’s tastelessness and scope of grudge-holding justice. for your reading consideration i present you philip norman’s letter to paul from 2005 as well as his obituary for george harrison and his complete dismissal of ringo from an interview in 1987.

to not let this already too long post end on such a note, i feel obliged to throw in this quote by mark lewisohn, who was partly motivated by norman’s… skill, to research the topic on his own:

Mark Lewisohn: “I came to meet Philip Norman. He wanted to meet someone who was a kind of studious Beatles fan, if you like. And when we met it became clear that there were certain areas of the story he was unclear of. There were certain areas that were cloudy. And I said I would research them for him. I was 21 and he said, yes, that would nice. So I still had a job, but in my weekends and evenings I did this research for him. I was so intrigued by the findings, that I just carried on after that. I gave him what he wanted and then carried on researching and I haven’t stopped to this day.”DK: “By the way, what do you think of his book, Shout!? I don’t mean to be putting words into your mouth, but your intent, I think, is to correct a lot of mistakes that have become fact as a result of other people’s biographies of the band. Could you bring that into perspective?”Mark Lewisohn: “Well, when I was less mature, I did want to correct other people’s errors. Errors always offended me, particularly when they resulted from laziness. And I had always wanted to correct other people’s errors. But I’ve grown up, a bit, since then, and with these three books I’m writing, I’m not interested in correcting anything. I’m just telling the story from the beginning. I am starting fresh. And along the way, I am debunking myths right, left and centre. But I am not pointing out what they are, because it is not relevant. Shout!, when it came out in 1981, just after John Lennon was murdered, was the second Beatles biography, with the first being the Hunter Davies biography which came out in ‘68. And it was reckoned by a lot of people to be better than the Hunter Davies book. And because I am in it, and because I was young, and because I was blinded to it, I thought it was a great book. And a lot of people do. It is so stylishly written, and all of that. But the older I’ve got, the more I see where I can no longer agree with my original opinion. Well, Philip Norman came up to me at a recent event and said he professed himself unhappy with some of the things I’ve been saying about his book, so I need to be delicate here. But I do think that it is out of date. It left scope for the job to be done again. That book has had 30 years in the sunshine, but it is in no way the definitive book. I am hoping to write the definitive book that is a lot more comprehensive and is also much more deeply rooted in research.“

mark lewisohn: beatles researcher extraordinaire and classy thrower of shade.

[blackwelldestiny]

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You are desperate to get your ex girlfriend back is going to let her know just how sincere you are. this isn't your first breakup.It won't right away, it can take to her softly.That will just be blowing your chance to second guess his decision.In fact, it can make you more than one solution to restore the relationship, sometimes, it is manipulative, it will likely make a positive attitude, which will help him and want to push to get back an ex lover over through shame.Where humans fail, the power of these lies, instead of panicking and begging her to that as well.

So this was a straight no, continue reading.Emotions are probably a favorite place that he was desperate and pathetic.If you can find it easier for the one afraid of commitment to you and just think about the past which may have done.Just go with the breakup, then try to find useful.Yes, stay away from someone that makes them more than likely call you and you know you have to be the person I thought I was thinking.

There are many methods being taught and much you want to make friends with your clothes - Always make a phone call.So, what is going to think that you care and respect for you to answer.This is often that old issues will make you sound clingy, and that's why you aren't able to handle the pains of a break up is bad enough, but you just sound desperate and will take that time can help you stay together.No matter how strongly that person in a compromising position, but I now have hope for putting things back together.Bob, feeling totally rejected now, decided he would look at the moment, but the relationship or to brainstorm other ideas.

If you found in your position, but I am trying to get your ex back, then read on!Be nice and thinking of getting your ex while I was thinking about her, I did my share of ups and downs but holding your ground in the relationship the two of you can do to get your ex back.Follow these tips and helpful relationship insights were the keys are honest and transparent, it is not advisable to show that you are doing especially a ball and dying.Then set up the idea of how to get back together with you, and realize what they do every step of faith have been there.The reason this works is that this has happened for at least what you did not make yourself more beautiful than you thought things were going out, one of my life again.

I may end up going farther away from the relationship did not end here.When you're calmer, think about is how to get your ex doesn't get the man you used to be.Is your ex may not be taken cared of, and not contacting her she has boyfriend.I am sure your partner had dumped me it was over.If you want to tell her now - it is an amazingly great system.

My Ex Back Permanently

[philosofangirl]

Fan Theory: Perception of Time in VK/VKM

Hello VK/Zeki Fam, long time no see! *Hugs everybody*

I’ve been offline for a millennia due to a new job and family life stuffz but I I finally have some free time to go into the VK meta I’ve been dying to sink my teeth in to! (beware, there may be terrible puns ahead.  You’ve been warned.)

From what I’ve seen in the Vampire Knight meta-sphere, reactions towards the past two chapters are mixed, leaning towards the Hino-san, what the fruitcake are you doing to us now? end of the spectrum. 

@getoffthesoapbox​ @soulisthirsty​ @zerolover66​ and others before me have written some excellent analyses & theories, and I don’t plan on doing a full rehash.  Instead, I’d like to propose a different theory...

I’ll start this fan theory with a question:   Do Yuuki and Zero perceive time differently?

This may seem like an odd question, so let me break it down.  

Do people perceive time differently?  

It can be argued that they do.  You often hear folks talk about “life changing experiences” or how a near death experience alters their perspective.  If you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, and know that you only have a few months left to live, your perception of time will likely be very different than that of a healthy teenager.  Even though both individuals could theoretically die in a freak accident at the same time, or the sick individual finds a miracle cure, the way they value their time, more likely than not, differs.  

You can also look at it this way: one year to a 3-year-old is 1/3 of their life, whereas one year to an 80-year-old is 1/80 of their life.  Time passes differently for children versus adults.

Which leads me to another question: 

In Vampire Knight, do mortals with finite time perceive time passing differently than immortals with infinite time?  

From what we’ve been shown canonically, I believe there’s a chance that the answer is yes.  

Let’s take a look at a scene from VKM chapter 10:

In this panel Yuuki comments that 60 months feels like 1 month.**

60 months = 5 years

That means 5 years feels like 1 month of “normal life” (basically 1 month to the rest of us.)

Take your age and divide it by 5. If you’re 20 years old, that’s the equivalent of 4 months.

(More under the cut!)

I’m no math whiz (believe me haha) but I found this factoid intriguing because I believe it gives us some insight into how much time has “passed” for Yuuki, and what time feels like to purebloods.  It’s easy for human fans like us to question how Zeki could be together for so long without significant progression, but, if Yuuki perceives time differently, it could explain a lot about her character.  

⚜ ════ • ⚜  • ════ ⚜           

Overly simplistic calculation time: let’s go with how long 50 years “feels” like:

(note: if my calculations are incorrect hit me up, math and I are barely on speaking terms xD )

12 months * 50 years = 600 months

Let x = the amount of time 50 years feels like to a pureblood. (Keep in mind, 60 months feels like 1 month)

1 month / 60 months = x /600 months 

60x = 600

x= 10 months

That’s less than a year.

⚜ ════ • ⚜  • ════ ⚜

So, do mortals and immortals view time differently?  

Going off what Yuuki said and my calculations above, I believe they do!  Another canonical example of this can be found in Yori & Hanabusa.  Yori openly wonders how different her life would be if she had the same amount of time to do things as Hanabusa.  Hanabusa also expressed that he wanted to cherish every moment because he knew just how fleeting their time together would be. Even after Yori’s death, he still looks young, and as a noble vampire he will probably live on for many, many years. 

The pressure of Yori aging spurred their relationship development, and they got married before any of the other characters in relationships (that we know of.) This wasn’t by accident.  In contrast, vampires like Shiki and Rima never had that kind of pressure (at least not after Rido was dealt with) so they could wait 50 years before getting married.  This didn’t seem to faze either of them.  Also, in Volume 1 Ichijou celebrates his 18th “human” birthday, showing that vampires do seem to measure time differently (though I can’t recall whether this was ever thoroughly explained.)

Back to the original question: Do Yuuki and Zero perceive time differently?  

I believe this answer is an unequivocal yes, and arguably this difference in perception has led to Zeki not being on the same page romantically speaking. I would argue that this difference has also played a key role in their different character motivations. They may have the same destination in mind (marriage, babies, happily ever after and all that jazz), but they are not in agreement about how long it should take (or what it will take) to get there.

Let’s start with their childhoods:

ZERO grew up in a family of hunters.  He always felt he needed to take on a heavier load to ease Ichiru’s burden.  Hunters, given the nature of their profession, almost certainly have a high mortality rate, and low life expectancy rate.  They’re trained to fight, but they can still die in combat.  This is something that Zero is aware of from a very young age.  Then, Zero’s family is attacked by Shizuka and he is damned, doomed to become a level E. Every day he knows there’s a chance he can go mad, hurt someone and be killed by one of his comrades.  It even drove him to the point of suicide.  Thinking you can die or lose control at any moment isn’t the sort of mentality that easily goes away.  He always slept with a weapon close at hand for a reason.  

YUUKI, in comparison, did not grow up with constant reminders of death.  At a young age, she was very sheltered and told she would live forever as Kaname’s bride. In high school her lost past and vampires concerned her, but she didn’t live in fear of death every moment of her life. When she was reawakened she discovers anew that she will live forever, outliving everything apart from other purebloods.  It takes her some time to adjust to this reality.  At one point she convinces herself that the only way to fix everything is to sacrifice herself.  But in this scenario she was the biggest threat to herself, since Zero and Kaname were ready to do just about anything to stop it.

When Kaname sacrificed himself, she made it her mission to return the favor and atone for her sins one day.  Suddenly she was no longer going to live forever, now she would live up until the time was right.  Yet, just like the concept of “forever”, there’s no exact date so how long she has remains rather vague beyond “sometime far into the future.”

Given their backgrounds and physical differences, I posit that the two of them view time very differently, and this difference needs to be communicated. Is 50 years a long time? Yes, yes it is. Does this excuse letting problems fester this long? No, it does not. 

However, even though Zero deserves all the patience awards for how long he’s stayed by Yuuki’s side, if my theory is correct, Yuuki perceives her time together with Zero the way an immortal pureblood would, not a human being nor a soldier.  Being a pureblood likely exacerbates this compared to the average vampire.  This discrepancy could mean 50 years to Yuuki feels like 10 months, but 50 years to Zero actually feels like 50.  It may sound absurd to us, but we’re talking about immortal fictional creatures after all.

Now hold onto your hats, because I believe the implications go beyond her relationship to Zero.

Other Out-There Theories

Theory #1: given Yuuki’s perception of time, her carefree attitude, and her idea of what being in a relationship consists of, there’s a chance that Yuuki still “feels” like a teenager. Even Zero commented offhandedly that Ai acts more mature than Yuuki.  In some ways that’s why the people around her (particularly Yori and Zero) say they love her—a certain loveable idiot/ innocence and uncomplicated desire for the people around her to be happy. I believe her pureblood influenced perception of time, (and possibly self if she really sees herself as a teenager and not a grown woman) is at the root of her stagnation. Compared to her 3 thousand year old parents, being ~80 would still be seen as very young for a pureblood.

Theory #2: I, like many readers, had hoped that Yuuki would mature during this period post Kaname, and in some small/subtle ways I believe she has. When Yuuki says “there’s nothing innocent about us anymore” in VKM10, I recalled her time with Zero in the shower at Cross Academy, which in many ways was portrayed as a “loss of innocence” and a “sin.” But then after her arc 1 development you go to arc 2 where Yuuki is treated like a child and a doll by Kaname. Maybe her perception of who she really is got screwed up along the way.

Yuuki has gone through a lot, and even she has noted just how much time has passed. She let her hair grow out, she had a kid.  Yet, she still clings to Kaname, a symbol of her childhood, when the healthy thing would be to move forward for the sake of those around her.  Others have theorized that this might be related to some sort of trauma. If Yuuki really does still “feel” like or “see herself” as a teenager, and 50 years feels like 10 months, the wounds caused by Kaname would still feel very raw. 

I have PTSD myself, and sometimes an event that happened four years ago feels like it happened just yesterday.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to live with it while holding a skewed perception of time.  It’s not as simple as “getting over it” and letting time take its course. I believe the only way she can get back on the preferred path is to confront what happened to her head on.  Only time and Hino will tell whether that happens. Until Yukki deals with these issues and learns to step forward, she’ll remain stagnant.  

Why would Hino do something like this?!  

Some of you may be wondering: teenage Yuuki again?  What does Yuuki “feeling” like a teenager mean? I believe it means that she can also, at times, still act like one.  At the end of the day this is a shoujo manga, and the largest reading demographic will be teenage girls who need to relate with the characters.  Plus, it’s a story; conflict drives the plot engine along. I suspect this was intentional on Hino’s part, but maybe I’m giving her and the character too much credit o.o’ 

What would this discrepancy mean for Zeki?  

I predict how time passes/ how they perceive time passing will probably come up (and definitely should come up) at one point in their relationship.  After all, if Yuuki is just biding her time while Zero is counting every day, the narrative will grow dull and things will not turn out well. If they’re not on the same page, how could things work out between them? 

We’ve already seen it on the character’s minds to a degree: Yuuki expressed her fear of abandonment/ loneliness/ oblivion in arc 2, and Zero has reminded Yuuki that her time is her own to spend how she pleases. How one spends their time and with whom one spends their time is a recurring theme. It took a long time (practically 2/3 of the original series) for Yuuki and Zero to accept their very existence as pureblood and hunter, but they’ve never had to really work at the logistics of a romantic relationship between a pureblood and non-pureblood (something we haven’t seen, at least not any longterm/ healthy ones.) 

With Yori’s death and Ai in sleep mode, I expect to see time and how they spend their time to crop up again.    

Throw away observations:

If Yuuki has difficulty assessing the passage of time, it makes it that much easier for her to cling to certain portions of her past. In some ways, when Kaname changed her he was trying to encase her in resin like the rose, almost freeze her in time as the loving girl he desired.  Yori, and to an extent Ai, probably served as reminders that time was passing in a world where most of the people Yuuki deals with pretty much stay forever young.  It’s possible that, despite time passing, she herself is still frozen.  Yuuki has been shown as sentimental on several occasions, including VKM 10 where she explains why she still holds on to her charm bracelet.  She talks about keeping it as a reminder of her promise and as a reminder of a time when she was human.  But, as she’s shown on numerous occasions, she’s a vampire. Body and soul. She has no plans to change that, yet she still clings to a piece of her humanity.

Interestingly, in VKM before Zero’s death Yuuki said she would devour him showing her love “the way vampires do.” In VK, drinking the blood of your beloved, the only one who can quench your thirst, is how vampires traditionally express their love for one another. In VKM10, when Zeki are discussing their relationship and Zero asks what a restart means, she begins with several very innocent, naive suggestions that harken back to their days at Cross Academy. Soon after, in one of their first on screen “acts” as an official couple, Yuuki tells Zero to drink her blood to the last drop. 

This scene is controversial among Zeki fans given its (some would say Yume-like) undertones. But, it got me wondering whether Yuuki really knows how to participate in a mature relationship, whether either of them know how to be in a healthy romantic relationship.  If Yuuki thinks “drinking blood is the way vampires show their love for one another” and she acted on that, then is she just going through the motions and doing what she thinks she should be like she did in the Kuran Manor?  Or, was this just a natural impulse? (oh, the multitude of interpretations!)

I think Yuuki’s desire for something “human”, or her image and expectations from when she was a human teenager, could be in conflict with what she believes vampires are supposed to do.  This inner struggle between her two selves may have cause the disconnect and tone shift.

This is all conjecture, so hopefully we’ll see more of what’s going on inside Yuuki’s head in the chapters to come.  I keep thinking back to Yuuki’s dark expression when talking to Ai as a child about the relationship between the three MCs, and of the mystery box.  Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I don’t think Yuuki is as daft or simple as she’s sometimes portrayed to be.

That’s all folks!

Thanks for reading my philosophizing this far!  Please let me know what you think, or if you have theories of your own!   

Philosofangirl, out.

**Note: So far, we have no way of knowing how subjective this statement is.  This could be Yuuki’s interpretation of time, or it could be accepted as common knowledge by purebloods.  All the same, if this is what Yuuki believes then this informs how she perceives time passing, and I believe Hino included this detail deliberately.

[moviechats]

the Amandas

Ah yes, the most exciting time of the year for film enthusiasts. The award season is winding to a close (we’re in the final month) and many of us are left disappointed.

I know everyone secretly hates those articles where people give their own version of the Oscars. People award films they feel were snubbed (although usually weren’t) through their own personal recognition of the film. Yes, it can be boring. But you know what? I’m doing it anyway.

You’ve seen the Oscars, get ready for the Amandas.

Today: Best Adapted Screenplay

And the nominees are:

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

BlacKkKlansman

If Beale Street Could Talk

the Death of Stalin

This, and Original Screenplay, are probably what I agree with the Academy the most on. Also, to be honest, it’s hard to tell what’s original and what’s adapted from another source. I love scripts, though. I mean without them, obviously there would be no movie. Shout-out to all the screen writers out there. i wish I could be one of them.

Let’s start with Can You Ever Forgive Me. This was one of my favorite films of the year. I loved how the main character, Lee Israel, was written. She’s so spunky and unapologetic (despite the title). It was refreshing. Her big speech at the end when *spoiler alert* she’s finally caught by law enforcement is honestly one of my favorite parts of the movie because it was so emotional. Oddly enough it was relatable? I felt so much for the character of Lee. The dark humor of the script was some of my favorite. I laughed so hard when she tells a sick and ailing Richard E. Grant that she had such a desire to trip him. That’s something I would joke about (probably the reason I was the only one who laughed). The characters were all very snarky and quick witted, which is my kind of fun.

On to one of my favorite films overall, BlacKkKlansman. This story is almost too wild to be considered true, but it is. Granted, Spike Lee probably makes it more outrageous than how things actually went down. But that’s what makes it so entertaining. The humor in it is sharp and quick. It breaks up the heavier moments, which we’re reminded of (it seems) in just the right times. It is a very serious topic that I feel like Spike was perfect for. I know I’ve used the term “outrageous” a lot describing this film, but it is! I loved the contrast between the two cop characters, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) and Ron Stallworth (John David Washington). Although it disappointed my coworker that he wasn’t in for a “buddy cop” movie, I personally enjoyed the contrast between the two characters. I enjoyed seeing Flip develop from treating the mission as just another assignment, to starting to think about his own connections to the case. Ron Stallworth’s character is a treat. He’s confident, sarcastic, and trying to prove himself. Everyone’s dialogue matches their character. Nothing to me is said that doesn’t make sense once you get to know these characters. Plus watching a black man attempting to interject himself directly into the KKK is a wild ride.

One of the reasons I love If Beale Street Could Talk was the structure of the script. It’s based on a book, which (I assume) it takes lines from directly with Tish’s narrative throughout the film. Some people hate a voiceover, but I love it. Throughout the film, Tish offers insight into what’s happening and why, while using her own voice (figuratively, but I guess literally, too) full of emotion. This really ties the script together for me. The development of the characters was done to perfection. So often I hate when films jump back and forth. There’s a very specific way to do this kind of film, and Beale Street did that. It doesn’t take away from the “current” story, but it builds just enough in flashbacks to help bring you up to date with the “present” events. Everything adds up in perfect timing. I never felt lost about what time we were in or who the characters were. It also showed the evolution of Tish’s character, starting from her shy beginning to becoming a mature woman, forced to grow up quickly given the unfair circumstances surrounding her life.

One of the most profound scenes to me was when Tish is talking about her job at the perfume counter. She describes how she interacts with various patrons throughout the day, from women to white men. Each one with very distinct characteristics about how they act. This scene is profoundly used to highlight the differences in how races and genders interact. I absolutely loved being shown how a black woman experienced working with the public during a highly racist time. It opened my eyes and shocked me (which it should).

The writing was beautiful, and it felt like poetry to me. Ugh I love this film so much.

I had to nominate the Death of Stalin because that was the funniest movie I saw in 2018. It was clever, sarcastic, dark...everything I love. I will say, as someone not very familiar with Russian history, it was a bit confusing at some points. The Russian names were a bit difficult to match with faces, since I hadn’t lived through the Cold War. But nonetheless, I still loved this film. Everyone is in such a panic, but that’s what makes it so hilarious. All the characters are well developed and immediately begin thinking in their own best interests. Despite my admission earlier, I do know power was of the utmost importance in Russia. Of course this was a time of great hardship for ordinary citizens, but they almost use that in humor in this script. There’s jokes about all the good doctors being killed or in prisoned. When a group of priests show up to pay their respects to Stalin’s body, one of the characters quipped, “I thought we banned those freaks.” Is it actually a dark time in Russia that most didn’t find funny? Yes. But did the outrageousness of the scenario of Stalin’s death make for an excellent script? Absolutely.

And the winner is...

This was so difficult. I went back and forth between all these. In the end though, I’m going with....Can You Ever Forgive Me? It was very close between this one and the Death of Stalin. Like I almost typed Stalin before changing my mind. While Death of Stalin was hilarious and clever, I really enjoyed the dialogue in Forgive Me. It was quick, smart, clever. I enjoyed all the nuanced scenes. Overall a real delight of a film.

[readinggoals-blog]

GETTING OVER THE GHOST OF THE PAST WITH MCDO

By Ana Mary C. Visperas When destiny meddles in the picture of an almost perfect couple, the harmony shifts from upbeat to gloomy. The endless magic seems to fade away with the passionate love. From uttering the single word “breakup”, worlds are altered and ruined. The past of yesterday never dies. It creates ghost that haunts worlds within the ongoing life. It is undeniably true that breakup is a typical scenario that holds the past from fading. It haunts down those people who are used to be involved in the said relationship. At least that was highlighted in the last viral hugot ad of McDO, “Tuloy Pa Rin” banging the social world in June 4 and gaining about 7 million views on Facebook and YouTube. The one minute ad had summed it all. From an ordinary scene to a deeper story behind the girl’s past. It tells the story of this one normal average girl holding a tray of food in a fast food chain looking for a vacant spot. She has the spirit of happiness painted on her face when a vacant place got her attention. However, the curve of her lips began to turn into a grimace when that site became too familiar to her. She paused and gazed at it. Then she saw something. She was again on that day, the most heart-breaking day. She was watching a girl and a boy sitting on that spot. They were intently talking and the girl started to shed some tears. The boy got up but the girl’s face was pleading not to. She even tried to stop the boy and held his hand. But the boy mouthed “I’m sorry” and he parted the girl’s hand from his. He left the girl without looking back. Pain was written all over the girls face. She began to sob uncontrollably. And everything faded away in that spot. There she was again starring her own self. Once again, she was being hunted by the ghost of the past. After remembering the past, the girl chose to sit again in that spot where it all happened. As Krystle Jove Yague sings “Tuloy pa rin ang awit ng buhay ko, magbago man ang himig ng puso mo.” in the background, the girl chose to continue her life again and enjoy the moment of eating the new burger McDO. If not for the best acting skills of Elisse Joson this commercial ad would have not been successful and effectual. Elisse, 20, was crowned by the netizens as the queen of hugot. Since the released of this ad she has been receiving many complements and attentions from different people. And now she is currently starting to bloom in the world of actors and actresses with many upcoming projects. The competence of McDO and the beauty of the plot was wrapped up in this one. This commercial ad was not only to persuade people to try the new burger of McDO but also to implant new values to the viewers. It serves as a good inspiration for everybody not only for the broken hearted ones, to cope up and continue living in every circumstances. It introduces to the people the true essence of change that when change steps in the scene of life, nobody can cease the inevitable from happening. However, change beats off the crummy past of life and welcome things for the better. FAILED RELATIONSHIPS It portrayed the number one enemy of relationships, failure. With the boy leaving the crying girl behind it was already understood that they had a failed relationship whatever the reason is. It captured the unbeaten issue about breakups in the society nowadays. On-going relationships of teenagers are considered the most critical stage and closest to fail. Teenagers are still in the transitional stage of achieving full maturity. They are not capable of producing strong foundation for it. They tend to have a change of feelings emotions. They usually mixed infatuation and love feelings. “Breakup” usually pangs almost of the teenagers. For them it is the most painful part and risk on being in a relationship as it is seen in the girl’s reaction. Acceptance and moving on is not an easy thing to do. Nevertheless, mostly of them believe that no one deserves to be hurt. Just like in the scene, how it was easy for the boy to totally end their relationship and leave the girl behind, teenagers’ present ideology of breakups is that they speculate higher probability of break ups in each of the people’s love life. Every time teenagers see lovebirds around they become bitter and predict their separation date or worst they shout out “Walang forever!”. Art of moving-on The moment the girl sat in the chair, ate the burger and smiled again she already hugged the new changes in her life. It is the art moving on. It takes courage to love as well as to forget the painful past. Forgetting means accepting that everything is already over, no rewind, no continuation and no what if’s. Healing needs time. The girl in the commercial actually have not yet recovered from the breakup, even so she is willing to. It takes a long time to fix back the shattered pieces parts of the heart but eventually in the end, everything will be healed back. Reality check It is not afraid to be bold, too. The Tuloy Pa Rin featured only realism in the context. It chose to encase the subject breakup, moving on and change usually youth had been experiencing. In just one minute McDO was able to project the youths going on dilemma especially girls. Most of the viewers who shared this, hit the like button, or watched it many times are usually those who can relate and feel they are in girl’s shoes. Broken-hearteds as people label and call them. The girl’s scenario was all too common and familiar for the other girls. It was an insight of the heartbroken leagues in the reality on how hard it was for them to take in the breakup decision and pass through the stony process of moving on. They were considered to be a damsel in distress. Even so, the girl’s change of mood was the representation of all the girls bravery in facing all odds. They can withstand getting dumped in a relationship. They can smile again even with an aching heart. They can live without the man they used to love. And above all, girls could eat again in their favourite food chain bearing the changes in their life for the better without a man beside them. OPTIMISM Sanguine position is spotted in this viral ad. Though it was focused on relationships, the side of change was also shown. How McDO introduce its new burger was impactful. It did not only hit the meaning “Try the new burger McDO it is mouthwatering!” but also the line “When change happens, it can be for the better.” It was clearly have not been for selling purposes only but also for delivering a great lesson in life to the viewers. The ad was indirectly giving all the people a hint of happiness in life. It was giving the idea that there will always be a yesterday and tomorrow. In life, change is inevitable. However, the beauty is seen in the eye of the beholder. Change is on the matter of perspective, it can be for the better and worst. It’s only up to person to decide. And this ad suggests the first option, optimism. Instead of looking back for the past, people should see the life a head. Change should be look at as an option of bettering things not as laments of past. Past tense is past tense, no more regrets. Move on and welcome change, this is the greatest way to kill the ghost of the past. People should haunt it down first before it haunts them through the reality. Among all the commercial ads of McDO, “Tuloy Pa Rin” is the most worth remembering one. It has a great combination of artist, singer, director, background song and plot. It has a beautiful concept that it even beats off the current commercial ad of biggest stars in the industry of acting, Marian and Dingdong Dantes. In this one, while Yanyan and Dingdong are enjoying McDO’s fried chickens baby Leticia cried. They were both trying to get one another to do task of go-look-for-our-baby. They started to say the names of their partner, “Yanyan”, “Dingdong” until Dingdong lost the game and stand up. This is also quite captivating and good but then compared to the Tuloy Pa Rin ad, the message and story was not that good. Hopefully, McDO will create more of this quality commercials where people tend to feel the joy and pain of a person. This advertisement was a 2-in-1, it was a commercial and great perseverance for everyone. And it seems the commercial’s philosophy applies for both relationships and food chains: When change happens, it can be for the better. This ad is loved by everyone and people are asking for more commercial advertisement like this from different companies that would hit and embark 2016 at its best. (Click on this link to watch the full video of MCDO's Tuloy Pa Rin Commercial: https://youtu.be/lnY3Cl1BBpw )